I have decided to only post photos to Facebook going forward, since nobody was really aware of this blog anyway. Friend me if you wish to continue following me.

Samoas

Backyard Sledding

Kalebs Birthday

Backyard Hill

You know it is a snowy winter when I inadvertently create two picasa albums called More Snow. Needless to say we got more snow and I took a few photos. The snow has gotten somewhat out of hand as you can see from the photos. At this point Boston has 70 inches officially at the airport, so I imagine we have to have somewhere above that maybe 80 inches if I had to guess. We have been lucky enough to not have the storms change over to a mix or rain. In non-weather related news, Camden is finally feeling better after his respiratory virus, he was really good about using the nebulizer. Somehow magically after he was feeling better he was able to crawl and even pull himself up. So now he is Mr. Mobile and doesn’t just nicely sit in one place. I am currently happy about this and think it is a dramatic improvement over the uselessness of just sitting in place even if it means we need to be a little more aware of him. Kaleb is finally sleeping through the night again and actually slept past 6AM today. We were also able to bribe him into being potty trained again by purchasing a toy helicopter and only letting him have it after 7 successful days of not having an “accident”. I wanted to move it back a day every time he did have an accident, but we decided that might be too harsh. Okay so here are the photos.

More Snow

We have mostly stayed in for 2011, with the exception of a trip to IKEA and snowshoeing. Enjoy the photos, sorry I didn’t get any from the big snowstorm.

New Year

Snowshoeing at Maudsley

Well we made it through another Christmas. The house is nearly settled in with all of the new goods. We didn’t get to do our tradition of taking the tree and decorations down today, but will probably have a chance to do it tomorrow.

Now we are snowed in with the Boxing Day blizzard sitting next to the fire with full bellies from eating the last of our Crumbs cupcakes. The office is closed tomorrow so if we have power I will be working from home. Nice. Here are the photos.

Christmas 2010

Christmas is almost here and we are thick in the middle of holiday spirit. An Elf on the Shelf, advent calendars galore, Christmas cards, a little tree with a VW topper, pine needles shedding all over the floor, enough cookies to quickly erase the last four months of dieting and a never ending supply of clementines.

All is in order for Camden’s first Christmas and what appears to be the first Christmas where Kaleb will actually get fired up as we come downstairs in the morning. We finally got our first snow today even if it is barely covering the grass it still covers the grass.

Kaleb had his holiday performance at preschool and as per usual didn’t really participate, maybe they should have made him the Christmas tree in the Nutcracker rather than a soldier and Russian dancer. It is not like he is a shy kid. Who knows, maybe it is because he wakes up every morning at 4am and get sick every other week. He was quite a little firecracker last night when we were driving home, I was given a taste of the sarcasm and harassment to come. “Daddy what did you say?” “Daddy why did we go this way?” “Daddy why is that guy beeping at you did you get in his way?” “Why are you driving the car Georgie? (in a ridiculous accent that Gilbert Gottfried uses in an impersonation of Vaudeville star George Jessel. Here is Gilberts Impression) This kid is too friggin much.

Well here are some photos from the past few weeks leading up to Christmas.

December Photos

Sorry there are a lot of photos in this album, but I didn’t split it into separate events yet. We went to a couple Santa parades this weekend and also got our Christmas tree. One of my favorite pictures is when Kaleb sees Santa in the parade and has such joy on his face. Its kind of bittersweet knowing that the joy is based on fiction, but I guess that is what growing up is all about.

Santa Parades

We went to Thanksgiving in Connecticut and here are some photos I took.

Thanksgiving 2010

I finally got around to uploading the photos from Halloween and here they are.

Halloween

Last weekend we made a quick overnight trip to Vermont to visit Jen’s family’s cabin. We stayed in a little hotel in Ludlow for the night, upon arriving we unpacked our stuff and then figured out the heat wasn’t working. So we moved to a different room. In the middle of the night Kaleb woke up and had to throw up, so we were up for about an hour at 1:30AM and then again at 5:30 when he woke up with a fever and still feeling sick. Kaleb was well enough to point out the snow on the car, Jennifer and I thought he was only seeing frost, but it was indeed snow (just a dusting).

We packed up the crew and headed over to the cabin for an enjoyable and brisk day outside. We had a great walk down to the stream with lots of tree clean up. We made the trip home and it was eventful, Kaleb needed to stop to possibly throw up and Cam cried the last half hour.

Here are pictures

Vermont

Fall Fun 2010

Squash Picking

NMC Costume Party / Salem Visit

Camden Leaf Pile

Here is the latest round of photos.

Kate Mark Wedding

AppleCrest 2010

Gagas House with Britt

September is finally here and I am thinking things may slow down a little bit, of course this probably isn’t true, but I can dream can’t I. We just had Camden’s six month appointment and he is a beast at over 18 lbs. Can’t wait to see how long it takes him to weigh as much as Kaleb.

Well here are some photos from Fort Foster park in Maine, the Casenet BBQ we hosted and also swimming at my mom’s.

Fort Foster

Casenet BBQ

Swimming at Gagas

I finally got around to rating photos and sorting them. So here they are
First is Canobie Lake Park

Canobie Lake Park

Now a bunch of random photos from the past month

Late July Early August

I took Kaleb to his first movie last week at the AMC Movie Theater in Methuen at the Loop. I picked Despicable Me, because it appeared to be less troubling for little ones. He was really excited to go and really enjoyed getting popcorn and was completely focused on the trailers and the movie. Unfortunately it was a bit over his head and a little too scary for him so we had to leave early. It seems that as long as I pick the right movie it should work out better next time.

One more from National Night Out

National Night Out

Our vacation continues and things have been great. The weather has been a mixed bag and Kaleb also got sick tonight which is crappy, but I think he is going to wake up like his old self

Jersey Shore Part Two

Jersey Shore Part Three

Just uploaded some photos from our first couple days in New Jersey.

Jersey Shore Part One

It was rainy and super humid on the first day, but today was gorgeous. The waves are crazy high and aren’t super safe for the little ones, but we have managed to have a great time anyway.

In preparation for vacations I always try to make sure and sync/backup all of our iOS devices and also get all the photos off of the camera. It is a bit tedious, but once complete I back up our MacBook just in case something should happen to it while we are on vacation. I am a bit paranoid when it comes to backing up now that I have the family archives of 20,000+ photos and movies stored on our MacBook.

Without further discussion here are some photos I imported this morning:

Maudsley with Camden

Fourth of July 2010

Merrimac Fire Department Visit

We had a fun filled and packed Friday with trips to the ocean beach, the yummy Corner Store burrito place, pond swimming, pizza and finally s’mores. Coming home yesterday was bittersweet, the obvious ‘bitter’ part being the leaving the vacation house and all of its fun, but sweet is being back at our own house and bed. The whole week was pretty amazing with the exception of Kaleb’s sleeping patterns and occasional bad behavior. I definitely ate food like I was loading up prior to going on the Biggest Loser, ice cream, pizza, beer, two helpings of everything at dinner and big old sandwiches everyday. I probably spent a little too much time on the iPad, MacBook and iPhone, but that is relaxing to me. Unfortunately due mostly to the increased number of children in our family I was unable to work on iPhone-iPad apps, but I think I have some good ideas and hope to schedule a couple nights a week to them. As always it was great vacationing with Cara, Jeff and Maddox, many thanks to them for putting up with the chaos that comes along with our family and also Kaleb’s nearly disconcerting obsession with “Cawa”.

Now it is time to go back to work for a couple weeks before we once again head out for a week long vacation on the Jersey Shore with the extended Riebe family. The Cape trip was the perfect dry run leading up to the expected craziness that is bound to ensue down near home turf of Snookie and ‘The Situation’. I hope Jersey can handle “Parkles”, Kaleb’s new nickname after trying pop rocks and announcing his mouth was ‘parkling’.

Here is the last round of photos:

Cape Cod Part Five

I am a bit late with Cape Code Part Three because of the internet problems at the house. Today we went to Nickerson State Park twice, we initially went to do a little beaching, but it was kind of cool with the wind so we went home and then came back later to do a little hiking. Kaleb was a champ and must have walked over a mile before requiring a lift up on my shoulders. We then went swimming for about a half an hour. Here are the photos.

Cape Cod Part Three

Cape Cod Part Four

After another horrid night of sleeping by Kaleb, we gathered up the toys, blankets, bags, umbrellas, diapers, etc… and went to Head of the Meadow Beach We were one of like 6 cars there, which goes to show it pays to go in the offseason. Good times were had by all including the construction of a stone road for Kaleb’s tractors and some very successful skipping of stones.

On the way home we stopped at this great Pizza/Ice Cream/Espresso shop and had lunch. The pizza was “fire kissed” and tasted delicious. The ice cream selection was amazing with flavors like, Maple Bacon, Mocha Fudge Brownie, and Celebration cake. We had our own individual ice creams and also bought some pints for the road. It was called Savory and the Sweet Escape, the web site seems to be down, but it is right on Route 6 in Truro.

I spent the rest of the day in a state of complete exhaustion, so now I am ready to hit the hay.

Cape Cod Part Two

We completed the first full day of vacation and so far it has been wonderful. The only bad part so far has been Kaleb’s sleeping habits. He was up this morning at 2AM and then 5AM. This isn’t really new for him and I think it is related to how damn bright it is at 5AM. We went to the beach today and set up our little tent in the 30MPH wind. Kaleb was really brave and went in the water and even got his hair wet which is a huge leap forward for him.

Jeff and Jennifer are getting dinner ready, tonight dinner consists of Bonanaza Steak tips(don’t know what flavor that is, but it looked good in the store.) and Basil, parmesan, sun dried tomato chicken. Tonight I hope to do a little iPhone app development, my goal for the week is to improve the MoonLite app and to get started with a graphical app for the iPad. We’ll see how far I get given my current level of exhaustion.

Here are some pictures:

Cape Cod Part One

Marsh Rail Trail

Camden Day 101

I took a little vacation and haven’t been to work since last Thursday. Of course as of today I am now feeling sick and I don’t know what symptoms are related to allergies and which are related to having a cold. Arghh! I have been doing a ton of family historian stuff which includes importing all the photos from the last few weeks and uploading to Picasa. So here they are.

Discovery Day at Joppa Flats

Day Trip to Portland

Annual Canoe Trip

Gagas Birthday

Parker River Visit

Just a quick post to sum up a beautiful weekend. We didn’t leave the house on Saturday and spent most of the day in the yard. Today was a different story and we went all over the place. We started at the Farmers market in Newburyport and then hurried back to Merrimac with a brief stop on Deer Island to check out some machine that is residing off shore. We met Cara and Jeff at the house and then went out for lunch with them at Hodgies. We came back so Kaleb could take his nap. After his nap we went to the beach for a great early evening adventure. Kaleb got a new velcro baseball glove so we actually played catch for the first time. We also spent quite a long amount of time climbing on the jetty and shooting water at each other by squeezing sea weed. We had beach pizza for dinner and ended the weekend on the back deck watching as the Space Shuttle and Space Station flew overhead. It is the last flight for Atlantis and I was glad Kaleb was able to see it although he was disappointed that he couldn’t see the wings or the spacemen.

Well I have had my iPad for almost a month and decided it was time to give a review. Before i start I will admit i am an Apple fanboy, but I am always quick to point out any flaws I see in Apple’s products I.e flickering MacBook screen, cracked case on MacBook, slowness in iPhone. so rest assured you should get a relatively honest review out of me.

Now the biggest comment i typically get from laptop owners is “my laptop does that too, big deal.” This is important, because Steve Jobs mentioned the key to the iPad succeeding is it being able to do a bunch of things a laptop or mobile phone can do, just doing them better. i will come back to this throughout the review, but first impressions are really more important.

After taking it out of the box I laughed at the one page mini instruction manual and fired it up. Right away it was better than expected, the size of the screen was great and it was very quick especially comprared to my iPhone 3G. I was tempted to just play around, but knew it would be best if I synced some stuff from iTunes. Synching was a breeze and I was even asked if I wanted to load from an iPhone backup. While syncing I did notice that the iPad wasn’t charging and as I later found out this was true, it can only charge from the included adapter (allegedly if the iPad is sleeping while plugged into a laptop it will charge but i haven’t tested this). The synch was about as fast as a usual iPhone sync. I only bought a 16GB model because i figured i would have my iPhone at all times and wouldn’t need all of my music.

Once I was ready to go I quickly played around with the apps that came with it. First the updates to Mail and Calendar are great. They are both much more robust than the iPhone versions, but are so much more usable. The Photos app is also improved with some more multitouch functionality and also support for some of the native iPhoto concepts like faces, and places. The only other app that comes out of the box I really cared about was the iTunes app. It is a little easier to navigate and also supports creation and editing of playlists. Besides that it is a music player so i don’t that one would expect more.

The most common app people want to see when I give a demo is the iBook app and usually they are pretty impressed. The readability on the backlit screen is great and the added features of a dictionary, font type and size control and bookmarks are really great additions. I will admit i haven’t spent several hours in a row reading, so I don’t know how it will effect eyes, but I did do some reading and really enjoyed being able to read hands free. I also went through the process of buying a book, the best part is the ability to preview a book. The sample I downloaded for a 350 page book was about 70 pages, which seemed very generous.

Oh I almost forgot about Safari. It was made a lot more usable in the new iPad version with support for a bookmarks bar and also more controls in general available at the top of the screen. Surfing the internet is a great experience and feels so much more natural than on a laptop. There is something to be said about tapping and pinching web pages on a 9 inch screen. When i bought the iPad I mostly intended to use it from the couch at night while watching tv. Basically whenever i was at home and looking things up on the Internet with my iPhone would be a time i would use the iPad. It turns out I did use it for those occasions and much more, it seems the only time i use my MacBook now is when i need to import photos or do some iPhone app development.

Okay I think that takes care of the basic set of apps. Now as with the iPhone you can download apps from the App Store (that is actually where I got iBooks). Going into this I heard about support for iPhone apps on the iPad and thought I would just use those apps on the iPad. Initially I loaded several apps I had come to love on my iPhone on the iPad, but once loading them you can either see them in a 1X size which is exactly the size of an iPhone or you can tap the 2X and see them in double the original size. Unfortunately, most apps just look distorted and the graphics get very 8-bit block like. A couple apps are okay, but I ended up removing most of the iPhone apps and went to the App Store in search of new apps. It is actually cool to see some of the apps that have been created so far and how they take advantage of the big screen. One of my favorites so far was Solitaire, which is great to play on the big screen.

So far it has all been rosy, but there are indeed some frustrations/annoyances/problems. First and foremost I think is the on screen keyboard. When held in the landscape orientation the keyboard is a really decent size with keys almost as large as on a standard apple keyboard. Unfortunately for the “touch typist” it takes a lot of practice to get good with the keyboard and typing anything longer than a couple paragraphs (like this review) isn’t worth the trouble. Yes, the keyboard does inline corrections, but I find I am constantly deleting or moving the cursor back to a spelling error for correction. Also the keyboard in portrait mode is virtually unusable, it is too wide to type like on the iPhone, and the buttons are two narrow for a regular typing stance.

The screen is another annoyance for me, mostly because it gets messy very quickly. Unlike the iPhone though you can’t just rub it on your pant leg and instead need to find a towel or sleeve to wipe off any oils you lathered the screen with. The other problem with the screen is that it is glossy, so it is almost unusable in direct sunlight, well unless you want to use it as a mirror. If you are able to sit in the shade and can sit with darkness around you then it is okay, but the reflection is still there.

One other important thing to mention is how important the Apple iPad case may be for the iPad. I had the good sense to buy the case when I got it so I can’t say not having it is bad, but if you ever intend on typing on a table or other flat surface I think it would a pain without the case. Now I am not a huge fan of cases on Apple products, but I planned on using it at work in meetings and knew I would be putting it on a flat surface. I have also found it provides a few more options even when sitting on the couch.

So the big question: Does it do things better than a laptop?
Internet - Yes, great experience.
Book Reading - Yes, it is slightly wider than a book, but the brightness, availability of titles and hands free reading is great.
TV/Movies - Yes, I downloaded the ABC app and really enjoyed sitting on the couch watching Lost. There is less concern about battery life and it isn’t hot on your lap like a laptop.
Music - The jury’s out. Its not really practical for listening to music, but neither is a laptop.
Calendar - Yes, flipping through the calendar with the tap of a finger is great.
Mail - Yes, if you are just reading and not typing out super long emails.
Word Processing/ Note Taking - No, typing a ton of stuff isn’t reasonable.

In general as long as the way you use an app isn’t keyboard intensive, the smaller size and touch navigation of the iPad give it a leg up. Oh yeah and the lack of Flash Player is rubbish. Despite claims that the internet is full of Flash content, I only come across Flash content every once in a while and while somewhat annoying isn’t a deal breaker.

Overall, I love the iPad. There is certainly room for improvement: front facing camera, multi-tasking for third party apps (coming this Fall). I only got the WiFi version because I already pay enough for internet and also plan on using it primarily at home and at work where I always have Wi-Fi.

I just realized I hadn’t done a real post about Camden being born. It seems only fair since I did a relatively long post for Kaleb’s birth. I know I did post on Facebook and Twitter, but they seem less archive friendly than the LJ.

Okay so we have to go back in time to February 18, 2010; Jennifer was feeling some contractions so we went to the Anna Jaques Hospital. After observing her contractions for five or so hours she was transferred in to Beth Israel in Boston. I hopped in the car and nearly beat the ambulance there. The contractions while irregular continued randomly through the night and into the next day. She was around 4cm dilated at this point so they weren’t comfortable sending us home and so we were sent down to the ante-partum floor. Friday and Saturday were fine, just a bit of settling into the new room. Kaleb who had been bounced around a couple of times came in to visit on Saturday.

Things changed on Sunday. The morning went well, but then as the day progressed the contractions returned, until we were sent back upstairs to Labor and Delivery. The contractions continued to increase until Jennifer received a dose of medicine to stop contractions, at which point they stopped in their tracks. Once they were stopped for a couple hours we went back downstairs. No change Monday or Tuesday. After spending five days in Boston with Jennifer I actually went back to Merrimac on Tuesday and picked Kaleb up at school, before quickly returning to Boston. However, it became clear that Kaleb was in dire need of one of his parents so after going to work on Wednesday I went home and picked up Kaleb. We spent Wendesday night at home, which was great for him and me.

On Thursday everything started out like normal, I dropped Kaleb off at school and went to work. Jennifer went through the regular set of tests and was doing fine at Beth Israel. However, as the day progressed things started to change and they started monitoring her closely. I stayed at work a little late to see what would happen, plus there was a crazy storm going on outside and didn’t want to go out driving in it. I did end up heading home, but just as I was passing through Lawrence, I got the call to go into Boston because they were moving Jennifer upstairs again. By this time the rain was coming down heavily and the wind was blowing the car all over the highway. I made it into Boston eventually and made it upstairs to see Jennifer around 8:30.

The contractions continued to get stronger and more frequent for the next hour. The doctor’s would come in every fifteen minutes or so to see how quickly she was dilating. At around 9:30 she was stuck at about 7cm, but the contractions continued getting stronger. Finally around 9:50 the doctor’s decided it was time to break her water and get the process started. The whole crew of nurses, doctors and neonatologists came in the room and labor started around 10:00. About four minutes later, Camden was born. He was a healthy baby boy, born at 34 weeks and 2 days. He weighed 5lbs 5 1/2 ounces and was 18 inches long. We spent a little time with him before he was sent down to the NICU. In the meantime we just hung out in the room in complete awe of what had just happened. We also got to see the placenta and I even took a picture of the hemorrhage that gave us a big scare back in October.

I stayed with Jennifer until we were able to go downstairs and see Camden in the NICU. Once she was settled in her not post-partum room I drove back home. It was about 1AM when I returned to Merrimac and noticed that the power was off all over the area and also at our house. I quickly looked in the basement and saw about a half foot of water and decided there was nothing I could do so I packed a bag and went to my mom’s house.

I spent most of the next day trying to get a hold of a generator to pump out the basement, but through some miracle I was able to drain it just before it went up over the pilot light. The power didn’t come back on until Saturday night. I got up a couple times on Friday night just to run the generator over in Merrimac, it was exhausting because I had to get up at 11pm and 3AM. It all worked out well in the end though.

Camden stayed at Beth Israel until Sunday afternoon, when he was transferred to the Anna Jaques. He stayed at the AJ until today, when he finally got to come home and meet his big brother.

Today we celebrated Kaleb’s 1000th day. I know it isn’t traditional, but it seemed like a cool thing to celebrate. We got him a present and he got to blow out a candle too. I don’t know what to celebrate next 1500 or 2000 days, I just added 2000 to my calendar, August 9, 2012. Can’t wait.

Kaleb Day 1000

Early November

Finally on the third Halloween Kaleb started to get excited and wanted to keep going to more and more houses. Apparently there was a very low turnout in the neighborhood so each house gave him at least two pieces. Needless to say he did pretty well and is now bouncing off the walls.

Here are the pics.

Halloween

Kaleb Day 974

Kaleb Day 974

Fire Safety at AFD

Fire Safety Event

Uploaded photos from this year’s Autumn Harvest Party.

Autumn Harvest Party

Here are some photos I took over the past weekend on our trip to Sunday River, the Mount Washington Auto Road and also Glen Ellis Falls.

Weekend in the Mountains

Sailing in Connecticut

Sailing in CT

Random September Photos

September So Far

Peach Picking with Max

Hurricane Bill went through the Gulf of Maine over the weekend and made waves. We first went to Salisbury Center about an hour before high tide and the waves washed up over the beach and down the street. We then went to the line and could barely find any beach because the waves were reaching up to the dunes. Of course I disobeyed the whole closed beach thing and went swimming in the water for about two hours. It was crazy and I was tossed around a bit, but never felt like I was in danger. Here are photos:

Hurricane Bill

Summer Rain

Beach with Britt

Old Orchard Beach

For an encore to our vacation we went to Plymouth and visited Mark and Kate at Long Pond. It was the perfect end to a great vacation. Kaleb LOVED being on the pond and wasted no time marching right into the water. Mark helped him catch his first fish and also took us out for a boat ride. Good times. Now we are back home, unpacked and finally just resting on the couch.

Here are the photos:

Cape Cod Vacation 5

We went with a little change of pace this summer for vacation and are on Cape Cod in Chatham. We rented a house with Cara, Jeff and Maddox (see photos). Growing up on the North Shore meant I wasn’t ever really exposed to Cape Cod, since well we have pretty good beaches up there and Maine is just about 20 minutes away. Also being a North Shore person also meant I considered most South Shore people to be crazy, btw this hasn’t changed, but it was probably also a factor in my avoidance of Cape Cod. A couple years ago we came down for a weekend and had a great time and so I was game for an entire week. Well I have to say the place is growing on me, mostly due to the knowledge of all things Cape Cod provided by Cara and Jeff. I think my two favorite things are he variety of beaches we have gone to and also how close everything is to each other. We have been on super sandy beaches, flats that stretched for miles, beaches in harbors and on the open ocean. All have had their own unique twist, making it an adventure every time. Of course Kaleb likes that they all have sand and has become obsessed with going to the beach and playing with his tractors, trucks and machines.

I have also managed to do some other projects I can’t find time for at home. I finally added lyrics to a song I have been writing, it isn’t close to being finished, but at least the ball is rolling. I also spent more time than I should writing an application for the iPhone, but it did come from a necessity so I don’t feel too bad about it. I have also imported some video and uploaded photos as per usual. Now we have just over 26 hours until we have to vacate and I can say I am not even close to being ready to come home.

Here are some photos I have taken so far.

Cape Code Vacation 3

Cape Cod Vacation 2

Cape Cod Vacation

We had a chill weekend and spent Sunday afternoon at Maudslay for a nice lunch picnic and then went to Salisbury beach in the evening. It was my first time in the water this year and it was wonderful.

Maudslay Picnic

Here are photos from our whale watch

Whale Watch

Well it has been a crazy few weeks for me at work. Since we need to (or used to) keep track of our hours I know that I worked about 205 hours in the last 19 days. Crazy, comes out to over 10 hours each day. Needless to say I am pretty tired, but looking forward to taking it easy this weekend.

Beach with Nonna

We went to the tall ships and I took these photos

Tall Ships

After several weeks of cloudy and rainy weather the sun returned in style this past weekend. We took advantage of it or as much as we could since I did a lot of working. We went to the beach one day, went to Odiorne Point, went swimming at my mom’s house, had ice cream at a new place in Newburyport and other things I am sure I forgot.

Here are some photos:

The Sun Returns

It has been a really rainy June so far, but thankfully on thursday the sun came out for the first time in weeks. We celebrated by going strawberry picking at Cider Hill Farm. Today it was nice and warm at our house so we went to the beach, but once we were there it was really cloudy. It helped cut down on traffic and also kept the beach uncrowded. Afterwards we came home where it was sunny and then went to see a performance of The Velveteen Rabbit at Maudslay. Kaleb was good for the first act, but was loud and ran across the field for the second act.

Here are photos I took:

Summer Finally Arrives

Post Wedding

Drove down to Quakertown Pennsylvania for Jen’s cousin, Kelly’s wedding. Don’t know if we actually spoke with any quakers or not.

Here are some photos I took.

Kelly's Wedding

I got a cold at some point on Friday I guess and have been relatively miserable all weekend. I have the whole runny nose, cough, chest congestion, blah blah. On top of that Jennifer came down with some sort of stomach issue and has been feeling nauseous all day. We are quite the bunch over in Merrimac.

We were able to get out a couple times this weekend including Lilli’s birthday (see photos below). It was Dora themed and even had a stroy line like the show, Kaleb had a great time. Kaleb and I also got to go out to Skip’s tonight for dinner. Jennifer stayed home so it was just the boys and it was awesome. He behaved so well and stayed in his seat the entire time and ate a ton of food. Aftrewards we picked up some ice cream at Hodgies. The whole time we were both singing the chorus to the new Dave Matthews Band song and making up different lyrics. One of those days that makes all the sleepless nights and tantrums of parenthood worth it.

Lilli's Birthday

Dave Matthews Band was back at Fenway Park for the first time since our honeymoon and this time we were able to go to both shows. The first night Jennifer and I went to Tapeo for a quick bite of tapas and then met up with the BoCaNO crew outside the show. It was a great show and they played a bunch of new songs, a couple of those were for the first time.

The next night was another great show, we started the night by having dinner with Andy and Nicole at Parish Cafe, as always it was phenomenal. The show was again really great, although the setlist and slightly lower amount of energy made it rank behind Friday. We also made a special occasion of the weekend and stayed at a hotel. It was a really big deal because it was the first time Kaleb spend the night with somebody else since we brought him home from the hospital. He stayed with Nonna and Pop Pop. Of course he slept the entire night and didn’t wake up until 6:15, later than he ever slept for us.

On Sunday Kaleb got a chance to drive a backhoe, a very exciting event for anybody.

Riebe Beach Trip

Kaleb Drives a Backhoe

Here is a video of Kaleb at dinner the other night making a silly voice and saying hippopotamus. He is a silly kiddo

It was a great Memorial Day weekend, the weather was pretty good and we got a lot of stuff done in the yard. Trip to Boston, Newburyport and various other places along the way.

Memorial Day

My step-sister Kelley was married a couple of weeks ago and here are some photos

Kelley's Wedding

We also were doing some work around the yard last weekend and found a driveway hidden under our walkway and side yard garden. It was only a few inches below the surface so we decided to uncover it, first the top soil, then the rocks and then the tar. It was time consuming, but in the end the side yard looks about ten times better.

Around The House

Upon moving into our house back in the summer of 2007 we had considered cutting down this enormous pine tree which sits right next to the driveway. However after having a discussion with the neighbors it seemed best if we just left it up. Fast forward to the nasty ice storm of 2008. Huge limbs of the tree came down and busted up the smaller trees beneath it. All night long we lived in fear of a limb coming right into our bedroom. Once the storm cleared the yard was anything but clear. It was at that point we decided it was time to take the tree down.

Finally today after getting the yard surveyed to verify it was our tree, we had it cut down. Since it was an enormous tree it took four guys over five hours to take it down, but I am happy to say it is down. The yard is now so much brighter, I am really looking forward to a sunny day to see how bright it will really get. My favorite part is how you can actually see our house from the top of the street.

Down with the Pine Tree

Here are two new albus. The first album is from our three days in Charleston, including the trip to Fort Sumter. The second album is from Wrightsville Beach and a little excursion to Wilmington.

April Vacation II

April Vacation III

We have started our trek down to South Carolina. On the way we spent a night in Connecticut and are now in Rocky Mount, NC. Yesterday on our way here we stopped in Washington DC and took these photos

April Vacation I

Kaleb was a trooper and despite being in the car for about 10 hours he handled it relatively well. Part of this was helped along by the new portable DVD player we bought last week. Despite our reservations about Kaleb watching so much television, it seems to be a necessary evil for these long trips.

Today we will be driving the rest of the way to Charleston, which is about four and a half hours away from here. Then we get to settle in for a couple of days.

Follow me on twitter at twitter.com/keegsands

We ponied up a bunch of money and paid for three seats to the Thomas & Friends Live Show at the Citi Performing Arts Center formerly known the Wang Center. It was Kaleb’s first time at the theatre and it went very well. He didn’t seem to follow everything that went on, but at the same time he didn’t once request to go home. We were both very proud of him.

He has been such a big boy lately, from the constant talking to the running around and stubborness. Yesterday we left him at Brendan’s house and one of the first things he asked upon getting there was, “Where are the kitties?” This is weird because it had been nearly a year since he was last at his apartment. Sometimes his memory really freaks me out.

Time to watch The Office.

Keeg

Playground-Thomas Live-Easter Eve

Big Boy Bed

Easter Eggs

Sunny Spring Day

March Miscellany

After learning a couple days ago that Kaleb could lift his leg up over the crib rail we decided to move him towards the direction of a big boy bed. So tonight we took his mattress out of his crib and put it on the floor. He was pretty overwhlmed by the newness, but went right to sleep. Now we need to see what happens when he wakes up in the middle of the night. His door is shut so we aren’t to worried about him leaving the room, my guess is that he will stay right in bed until we come check on him.

We woke up this morning and Kaleb asked for the iPhone. Now he has been using the iPhone in some capacity for at least six months now. He started by using some fun kid apps that played animal sounds, and then figured out how to slide and unlock. This morning he put together the following actions: Hit home button, slid to unlock, swiped to the third home screen, tapped the new “Wheels on the Bus” app, tapped the bunny to make it jump, dragged the hat up to reveal the bunny, hit the next screen arrow and swiped the bus to make it go, navigated to the wipers screen and swiped back and forth to make the wipers clean the window of rain. Its amazing how easy to use a computer device can be when it only requires a couple simple touch gestures.

The other moment was during my shower. Usually in the morning Kaleb randomly wanders around the upstairs unattended while I take a shower, Jennifer says I am brave, perhaps I am just over-confident in Kaleb. Most days he stays in the bathroom and other days I holler for him and eventually clamor around dripping wet and in just a towel to find him quietly playing away in a different room. There are the occasional freak outs like when he was standing on top of the headboard of the guest bedroom bed looking out the window. Today was one of the days he stayed in the bathroom. I heard him playing with toys and the next thing I know there is a magnetic fishing rod sticking through the shower curtain with a starfish hanging off it. Two minutes later and the rod sticks through again with a crab. Crazy kid. Then he insisted on splashing in the puddle left over from my shower.

Pepe's House

March Miscellany

Windy Day at Sunday River

Afternoon in Boston

Junior Firefighter

Kaleb's Real Birthday

Random February Photos

Super Bowl

Brunch in North Reading

Okay, first here is the low down on movies/tv shows with iTunes and the iPhone.

The iTunes store sells all TV shows in SD (Standard Definition) and some shows in HD. When it comes to movies they sell/rent all movies in SD and if you have an Apple TV they also sell/rent HD versions of movies. I am not sure why HD movies are only available on the Apple TV, but I would guess it has to do with file size and the way Apple TV is always running and can continuously download very large files.

Now if you do download an HD TV show in iTunes, you will not only get the HD version for viewing on your computer, but will also get an SD version which is viewable on the iPhone. Again size and screen resolution is an issue here, a single HD movie would probably max out an 8GB iPhone so it doesn’t make sense to put the HD version on it, plus the iPhone doesn’t have a resolution high enough for viewing HD content.

So now you have a little background and I can answer your original question about the “Video Out” capabilities of an iPhone and your old iPod for that matter. There are currently two cables available for using the “Video Out” capabilities of the iPhone and iPod.
The Apple Composite AV Cable
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB129LL/B?fnode=MTY1NDA0OQ&mco=MjE0NTAzOA
The Apple Component AV Cable
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB128LL/B?fnode=MTY1NDA0OQ&mco=MzE3MTc0OA

Both of these cables cost $49. The composite is the older set of cables, which I am sure you have seen with a video cable (Yellow) and the two audio cables (Red and White). The component has the newer set of cables with three video cables (Red, Green and Blue) and two audio cables (Red and White). You should check on the back of your tv, you probably have one input with composite and another with component. The component is technically better because it splits out the Red, Yellow and Blue colors into their own specific cables, making for more vivid images with better colors. However, this type of cable is still considered analog and can only deliver SD resolution(480p). After reading a bit about the comparisons on these cables, it turns out the Composite being slightly earlier technology actually provides a smoother image, compared to the Component which has a crisper image, but will accentuate the flaws in the lower resolution video.

So to answer your original question yes you can buy/rent a movie from the iTunes store and using the Component or Composite cable put it on your TV. The resolution will not be HD, but it should be near/at regular DVD quality. You could also buy an HD TV show from iTunes, but unfortunately putting the movie onto the iPhone will result in a SD signal for your TV.

Finally, there is another option for you assuming the iPhone is synced with a MacBook. There are also a couple different cable/adapter you can buy for the MacBook to output to a TV. I bought a $19 cable to convert from Mini-DVI to VGA because my TV has a VGA input. However, if you don’t have a VGA port (its the same connection as you use to connect a PC monitor) there is a way to convert to HDMI. If you have the white MacBook then you need a Mini-DVI -> DVI adapter ($19) AND if you the Aluminum MacBook then you need a Mini DisplayPort -> DVI adapter ($29). You then can purchase a DVI -> HDMI cable ($20).

The beauty of this set up is that you can use your TV as a monitor for the MacBook. We use it like this when doing video chats, because we can sit on the couch and chat. The other benefit is that you can take advantage of the Front Row software on the Mac which provides a full screen interface for accessing content from iTunes. www.apple.com/macosx/fe… The MacBook actually comes with a remote which you can use to control Front Row, so you can sit on the couch and control your computer. I am not certain, but using this methodology you could also possibly watch HD TV shows purchased in the iTunes store.

If your TV supports VGA then the MacBook is the way to go, but if not then it is really a toss up.

Keeg

I don’t know what happened to me this year, but I have been sucked into more reality shows this year than normal. I have found the shows are very cleverly produced and make sure you get attached to at least one person or story line, which hooks you in for weeks to come. For example, I accidentally tuned in to The Bachelor and before long I was wondering if Megan would really make it through the first night and if he would really let Shannon move to the next round. Of course they both made it through two more weeks before getting eliminated, unfortunately I didn’t get eliminated and now wonder if Holly will make it to the end. You see what a vicious cycle it can be. Thankfully I have shed a least a little bit of weight by dropping “The Biggest Loser”. Of course I am curious as to how much weight the 500 lb teenager is going to lose, but there are some other shows which take precedence over that dramatic mess.

On a separate note, I bought the latest edition of iLife and after playing around with it for a few hours there I am mostly happy with it, although there are a couple of disappointment. I was most excited for the iPhoto changes because it is the application I use most often and the features they added were things I had been wanting in the app for a while.

I was most excited for the Faces functionality which adds facial recognition to all of your photos. Basically, you let it analyze your photos, in my case it took about three minutes to do 100 photos (I start my library over each year). Once the analysis is complete you can go to any photo with a face and put a name to the face. The person will now appear in the faces view where by double clicking on them you can see suggestions of other faces that may be theirs. The faces are nicely laid out at the bottom and only requires a single mouse click to confirm their identity. After labeling a couple people you can quickly label 90% of the faces in your library.

Now for my complaints, after you have tagged several people and start going through photos you see a couple things, first you are reminded the feature is called Faces and not People. A bunch of photos with people standing at an angle or slightly obscured didn’t register as faces and so a bunch of people didn’t get tagged. I decided to look beyond this deficiency and accept that by clicking on Kaleb’s card in the Faces view I won’t necessarily get every photo with him in it.

The second issue I had was with unknown faces and how difficult it is to see a summary of them and to tag them. I added myself, Kaleb and Jennifer and then confirmed the faces suggested to be ours. Again I went through some more photos and there were several faces with the unknown name tag. What would be nice would be a roll up of all the “Unknown Name” tags and the quick ability to add the names to them. It just seems like a more efficient process and would prevent some photos from falling between the cracks.

The next feature I really liked was the Loation view. It is a way of viewing where your photos were taken on a map and it also provides a great way of searching by location, similar to the way you can search for music in iTunes. If you are an iPhone owner your photos are automatically tagged with the location so you will see results right away. However, when it comes to your average digital camera they don’t geotag your photos and so you are forced to manually set the location where the photos were taken. Setting the location is pretty easy and can be done as high as the event level or as low as the individual photo level. The location functionality also is tightly integrated with google maps so searching for addresses or landmarks is quick and painless.

Overall the features are cool going forward, but it is going to be quite tedious to go back and update all of the photos from the last ten years. I found a couple months ago that the built in features such as ratings and smart albums are actually really useful later on when trying to find diamonds in the rough. I am hoping the Faces and Locations will also pay off in a similar way.

Maybe I will do an iMovie review another time.

Today we went up to Portland and visited the Children’s Museum. Kaleb loved almost everything there, from the giant play fire truck to the indoor stream.

Portland Children's Museum

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

I have downloaded this app but never really used it. Now I am going to give it another shot.

Kaleb loves shoveling

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Kaleb had his first haircut

Snow and Haircut

Present Wrapping

Christamas Eve

Christmas

Boxing Day

Kaleb's First Time on Skis

New Years

Thanksgiving

This was an early picture it didn't take long for him to realize he could also make his hair orange. Good times.

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I just downloaded a new iPhone app for posting to this Lj

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

We finally took the plunge this weekend and painted the living room/dining room. We had a couple goals, first and foremost to make the living room brighter, especially the dining room. We decided on Midday yellow because it was bright, but not too bright. It turns out at night the yellow dims quite a bit. The other goal was to possibly reconfigure to provide Kaleb with a dedicated play space. We ended up accomplishing both goals. Here are the photos:

Living Room Remodel

Kaleb was sick on Saturday and very clingy so Jennifer had to do her part while lugging him around in one way or another. The first layer didn’t go very well, but then for round two we used a special edging tool and finished in almost half the time. We were able to finish around 7 last night and then played around with the furniture. Today we got up nice and early and I spent most of the day working on the trim. For some reason the previous painters decided to paint the trim around the windows the same color as the walls, which was a beige color. Now you actually notice that there are windows in the living room. Also by removing the dark table and dark rug from the corner of the room it makes the play room very bright and the white rug helps it out too.

Finally, after finishing all of the trim I wanted to take a photo of it, but couldn’t find the camera anywhere. We looked all over the house and I decided to go for my last resort and checked the trash. Sure enough after five minutes of digging around the trash, yep the one with the old paint try, I found the camera covered in yellow paint. Luckily it was all superficial and it works fine. It is hard to say whether it was Kaleb or not, but it seems likely. He denied it and claimed he thought it was in the car though.

Keeg

Halloween

Back to the City

Waikiki Beach

Farm Friday

Here are some more photos from this past weekend. Some big news today was that Kaleb said his name for the first time. He says it like this “Kay-bah”, but at least he is on the right track.

Rainy Weekend

Leaf Pile

Autumn Harvest Party

Topsfield Fair

Beach with Nonna and Sir

Tampa Bay Rays Trip

It sure has been ages since my last post. I don’t exactly know why I haven’t posted, probably mostly from being very busy and then just plain forgetting to post. We have taken tons of photos of Kaleb’s, but the process of rating them, uploading and posting them is apparently too much at this point. Hopefully, it will change soon.

Kaleb has grown up quite a bit over the last month or so. He has mostly switched from using signs to actually saying words, which you may think is good, but at least the signs were pretty clear cut where the words are sometimes hard to figure out. Mom, milk, tomato and lawn mower all sound pretty much the same. We are managing though and he is picking up more and more words everyday. He also understands tons of words he can’t say and follows directions more than ever. As for sleeping there was a really good stretch where he would sleep from 8pm until 4 or 5, but now he is back to waking up around 12:30 or 2:30. We have been very good about putting him back to bed, despite the price we pay for being up so late.

Work has been okay lately. It has been busy, but not really with much new stuff, just fixing some of the stuff we worked on over the last few months. Basically same old same old there.

I am getting pretty excited for the coming weekend because I am going down to Tampa for the last two home games of the Rays season. It is lining up like they probably won’t get first place, but are nearly assured their first playoff spot. My fingers are crossed that they clinch a playoff spot during one of the games I attend. Currently there magic number over the Twins is 7, with four games against them this week. They just need to register a win against the Red Sox and they will be on their way.

Okay now I have to get back to work.

Keeg

Mid August Fun

We had our second annual BBQ at the house and it was a success. This year we grilled pizza and everybody loved it. After all of the festivities at the house we then went to the beach to cool off. The waves were huge and the water was warm (for Salisbury). All in all it was a great weekend.

Keeg

Here are tons of photos.

Nonna Visits

Pressure Washing the Deck

Odiorne Point State Park

Weekend at Home

New Patio Table

Morning at the Beach

Jennifer and Kaleb have gone off on vacation, so I am again home alone. It is a work week so I am sure to busy, but I still miss them. Last night, Mark and Kate came up to visit and we went did a local food tour first stopping at Skip’s (which is not closing) and then to Hodgie’s for some ice cream. We then came back to the house and I showed off the Wii Balance Board.

We did some major work at the house over the weekend. It was a two fold effort, Jon worked on putting up a railing and squaring off the upper deck and I tore apart the old lower deck. Now there is just a dirt area next to the shed where the lower deck used to be and a couple of cement footings (out of the ground). The ground is very damp and hopefully now that it is exposed to the open air it will dry out, before I start leveling it out and creating a nice patio or terraced lawn area.

That’s all for now.
Keeg

Kaleb fell asleep within two minutes of getting in the car.

At the Yankees-Red Sox game. not sure who to root for though.

Okay so it has been four days since I purchased the iPhone and here is my little review so far. First of all as I expected the phone service from AT&T is complete garbage. Despite the coverage map on the website showing I should have a strong signal at our house (we can see the tower from the porch) I still have had moments of No Service while sitting in the kitchen. As far as I am concerned this is completely unacceptable and I will be calling AT&T every week until it is resolved. I have had more dropped calls and poor reception in the last four days then I had with Verizon in three years. I am also having a hard time getting solid 3G coverage as I drive around the area and usually end up on the Edge network, which is much slower and what the old iPhone supports.

The phone service aside the iPhone has been working out really well. I have switched over my work email to use the new Microsoft Exchange functionality on the phone and the push calendar and mail have worked as expected. The new apps have been really great and expand the functionality of the phone to a whole new level. I am still getting used to some of the features, but the phone address book is easy to use despite some lag when loading my entire contact list which contains about 200 contacts.

Unfortunately I have witnessed a couple bugs which are rather annoying because it requires a reset of the iPhone. First of all the accelerometer sometimes gets confused and then is only fixed by resetting. I don’t have solid steps to reproduce, but it effects several applications including the camera which ends up taking photos upside down. The other issue appeared for the first time this morning, the phone didn’t have any wifi capabilities. I tried to pick a network and the menu option was disabled. Both of these issues have been reported online and will hopefully be fixed in the next bug fix release in the near future.

Overall I really love using it and have integrated it into my life. Now I just have to hope AT&T gets there act together and fixes the service, because I don’t want to have to spend a few hundred dollars on a cellular repeater.

Keeg

First photo from my iPhone!!!!

We went to the beach again today for about an hour so here are some photos we took.

Kaleb: Day 518

Sorry I didn’t get photos up sooner, but Picasa was broken over the weekend. We are now back from our vacation in Maine. I went up today to pick up Kaleb and Jennifer.

Maine Vacation Part Two

Maine Vacation: Part Three

I am testing out a new way to post to my LJ.

Maine Vacation Part One

Here is the first bunch of photos from our vacation in Maine. We are currently staying on Westport Island which is about fifteen minutes south of Wiscasset. The weather so far has been gorgeous, although a little bit hot today. We have done a little exploring and today visited our favorite village in Maine, Camden. Kaleb slept all the way there, which was perfect. We got there earlier than expected, so we went to the library amphitheater to let Kaleb run around a bit. Next we went to the water's edge so Kaleb could see the ducks before eating lunch at the Camden Deli. We did most of our usual stuff and had a lovely time. I really like Camden and wish we could have spent more time there going out to eat, hiking and other various activities we didn't have time for today.

Kaleb has been great on vacation and despite the giant change of living in a different house has been pretty much on his regular sleep schedule. You can see how being in a new place has helped stimulate his brain and he has really stepped up his walking and signing. He actually runs around now and has been walking up the dock and hilly backyard. The list of words and signs he now can pull from is extraordinary. He is such a smart little guy and is always wandering around exploring something new.

Tomorrow we are going to the beach, which should be a nice change of pace. Oh yeah and I have also been working on a computer program to resolve issues I have been having with iPhoto and iMovie. Apple was really great with the new iMovie and gives you the opportunity to access movies from your iPhoto library, but you can only view movies in your default iPhoto library, which is problematic if you archive your library on a separate disk. So I wrote a java application this week that shows you all of the events in your iPhoto library with movies and lets you copy them directly to your iMovie Events directory. It still has some UI issues, but overall works well so far. I even packaged it into a Mac OS X application package so it looks just like a standard Mac program. This is probably only exciting to me, but I just had to blog about it.

Keegan

We are currently on vacation in Maine, but thankfully have interweb up here. So here are some photos from the week prior to our vacation.

Kaleb: Day 500

Seacoast Mothers Pool Party

Fourth of July

Gunnie's House

Cooperstown - SPAC DMB

Kaleb: Day 491

Maudsley with Jeny

The Noonans Head South

Strawberry Picking

I think over the last several entries I have failed to really touch upon Kaleb’s milestones. As you know and can tell he now walks and is getting better at it everyday, well except when he tries to look up and walk at the same time. He is getting much better on the stairs and has been extremely stable while going up and down with and without help. He has even been starting to climb things besides, for instance tonight he climbed up on a kitchen chair and then up on to the table. Ten minutes later he was in the living room, put his leg up on my computer bag and then onto the dining room table bench and finally up on to the table.

Outside of the major movement category he recently learned how to use a recorder and a kazoo. His hand eye coordination is greatly improved, he can now put the tops on bottles and also connected the wii remote with the nunchuk. He now eats with his hands and also drinks water from water bottle with ease. Tonight we got some bathtub crayons and he was drawing all over the inside of the tub and even better he cleaned it up and scrubbed the walls to make it disappear.

Communication-wise he has been awesome. As of this morning he knew the signs for Up, Bunny, All Done, Drink, Out, Hot, Bird and Airplane. As for spoken words, he has mastered All Done, Up, Mama, Dada, That, Duck and Yep. He also knows several animal sounds like Sheep, Elephant, Cat, Lion, Dog, Duck and Horse. So as you can see he is doing very well. Of course there are many other amazing things going on with him, but I seem unable to document them right now, plus they aren’t really easy to document. The most important thing has been how much easier life has become with his newfound communication skills. It makes life so much easier now that he can answer our questions and let us know what he really wants.

Okay that is all for now.

Keeg

New York City

We went to New York City yesterday to visit Auntie M. I have uploaded the photos and plan to make a movie in the next bit of time.

Keeg

I bought more space on Google Photos so now I have uploaded albums from recent weeks.

ScooperBowl

Tree Removal

Park with Jamison

Kaleb: Day 475

We just got back from the ScooperBowl and Kaleb is now running around the house like a crazy man. Unfortunately it was an event I planned so only one person, Andy, showed up besides Jennifer, Kaleb and I. We still had a great time, but I wish more people could have gone. I didn’t try for any records tonight and ended up only eating around ten cups of ice cream. I did take photos, but haven’t put them on the computer yet.

The other thing I want to mention is that the grass I planted a week and a half ago is sprouting like crazy. It popped up all of a sudden on Saturday morning and everyday has grown by leaps and bounds. I was reminded of this when I pulled into the driveway tonight and it looked like we had one complete lawn. I know it will be a while before I have to mow, but I am so excited about it. The best part is that our neighbors re-did their lawn a week before me and they only have spotty bits of grass. Nice!!!

Keeg

Kaleb went to his friend Lilli’s first birthday on Sunday. We all had a great time, especially Kaleb when it came time to eat the cupcakes.

Lilli's First Birthday

In other news….it is hot in the Boston area. We officially had a heat wave today and it is going to continue tomorrow. Luckily it was a bit cooler in Merrimac, I am thinking it is because of a nice cool east wind. At one point I swear I could actually smell the ocean. Either way it is now pretty cool here (lower 80’s) and all of the windows are open. Tomorrow I will be back at work so hopefully there won’t be any problem with being hot.

Finally, today was another big Apple announcement, but just to make it interesting I didn’t read about the announcement via some poorly updated web site’s blog. I am trying to actually learn about the news via the actual keynote address. So it has been really hard for me since it takes them an extra long time to post it. I also haven’t been able to go to my usual web sites for fear that I may spoil the news. I will update this as soon as I have the scoop.

Keeg

EDIT: I just finished watching the two hour keynote presentation from the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference and after rambling on about stuff I already knew about they finally announced the new iPhone 3G. It will basically be a little bit thicker than the current iPhone, but will be able to access a higher speed data network AND it will also have GPS. Yep you got it right now you will be able to do directions and mapping in real time. Nice!!!!!! It goes on sale July 11th, right in the middle of our vacation. I think it is now time to upgrade, even though the next phone will probably be pretty bad ass and have some sort of video chat capabilities. I figure if I buy the 8GB model it is only $199 and has as much space as my current iPod Touch.

Today I went to the dentist for the first time in a few years (well if you don’t count yesterday’s scheduling mishap). It was my first time at this particular dentist in Newburyport, so I was slightly nervous not knowing what to expect. I met the hygienist and went in to start with some X-Rays. The first couple went well, but then she needed to get for the front of my mouth and my gag reflex kicked in. I ended up trying it a few times and on the third try I threw up a little in my mouth. Awesome start!!! Once that was complete she called in somebody to record the recession of my gums for each tooth. She quickly went through each test yelling out numbers between 2 and 6, the entire time I was trying to figure out what the number represented and figured it out correctly thanks to a poster on the wall. I would say the average was around 3 or 4 which is okay, but not great. At one point she came to a tooth and sighed for a second before scoring the tooth an 8.

After the exam she told me that I would need to return a couple more times to do really intense gum scraping to help remove some of the tartar. However, I couldn’t do that until after my root canal and wisdom teeth are removed. More details on that later.

I know its been ages since a post, but at least on the photo front I have run into a snag. My account at Picasa is full and now I have to decide whether I want to pay to add storage or switch to another service. I will probably just upgrade since I love google so much. Anyway here are some photos from the recent Agawam River canoe trip.

Agawam River Trip 2008

This weekend we stayed home most of the time with the occasional trips here and there. We have been working really hard in the yard trying to figure everything out. Most recently I seeded part of the lawn and Jennifer planted more flowers in the garden. Kaleb has been doing well and is getting more and more personality every single day. Luckily he still isn’t at the point of having too much personality i.e. temper tantrums. Although you can see it coming around the bend.

Apparently I have to go take a shower now so I have to go.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day 445

Kaleb: Day 449

I finally got around to posting another entry with photos. The first is from around the house and then when we went to the beach for the afternoon last week. The other album is from this weekend. We went to Rockport yesterday and then today for my birthday and Mother's day today we pretty much spent most of the day in the area. We started with brunch at my Mom's house and then came back home. Once at home I decided it was time to mow the lawn despite how much I really wanted to take a nap. After the yard work we went exploring in Amesbury near Lake Gardner. There are several trails in the area which I had never been on before so we went for a little hike in the woods. We put Kaleb in the back carrier to see how he handled an hour long walk. He did okay, but was a little irritated by the time we got to the end. After the hike we went up to my dad's house for dinner.

Now we are back home and getting ready for yet another week.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day 442

I know it has been a long time, but the photos and movie here should make up for the long delay. The movie is something I put together from the videos I recorded while in Florida. I was able to put it together while on the flight from Orlando to Baltimore. We have now been back for a week and thankfully the weather has been miserable so we are much more appreciative of the nice weather we experienced in Florida. Hopefully tomorrow will be the first day of many gorgeous and warm days to come. As for today it was pretty miserable out with rain and an unparalleled rawness. We started the day with a visit to Brendan's house. After that we moved on to a breakfast at Bickford's with friends. It was pretty crazy in there, but I was able to enjoy some yummy french toast. Finally we went over to the Kid's Playground, an indoor playground with all sorts of different fun activities for children. Kaleb really liked it a lot and wandered all over the place, he has grown up so much over the last month.

We finally made it home and he had a nice walk with his mom along the river while I napped. Once they returned Kaleb and I went outside to investigate the tree out back and to take the new arbor out of the box. It was nice to have a little helper following me around while I moved stuff around and dug with the shovel. The day ended with another battle at bedtime. Over the last two weeks Kaleb has hated taking a bath and will only stand in the tub before freaking out and trying to climb out. We don't exactly know what happened, but the one thing that seems to have helped lately is to have Jennifer hop in first and then slowly get Kaleb into the tub. We continue to try and work this out. Next up was the nightmare of actually going to sleep. Ever since we went on vacation it has been a nearly hour long chore of trying to get Kaleb to sleep. He pretty much goes crazy and starts bawling and stands up the second you put him down in the crib. My method last night was to continually lay him back down on his back and repeat for about a half dozen times before holding him and calming him down for about a minute. I would then continue the process of laying him down on his back again. I think this went on for about 40 minutes before he finally fell asleep. Tonight we discussed plans for fixing this situation. The only conclusion we have come to is that the "sleeping in our bed" thing is starting to effect his initial sleeping in his crib part of the night. Still now sure if we have the energy or will power to keep him in his crib all night.

Keeg

Florida Vacation Part Two

Well it is now Sunday and I am sitting at Orlando International Airport at Gate 102 waiting for our 8:30 flight to Baltimore and then on to Manchester. It feels good to be connected to the rest of the world again. Since I last wrote we stayed with Jennifer's grandparents in Leesburg for a couple nights. They had never met Kaleb and were so excited to get to spend time with him. It turns out our timing for a vacation couldn't have been better because Kaleb has been walking now more than ever. It is now officially is preferred means of transportation. The transformation became apparent while in Leesburg, where he just walked everywhere. Its very exciting and so nice to be able to go walking somewhere outside and not having to carry him.

After Leesburg we drove all the way to the Atlantic side of Florida and spent the afternoon with Meme. She gave us a walking tour of the clubhouse and fed us a yummy chicken lunch with her classic mashed potatoes. Unfortunately we had only budgeted a few hours and had to head back towards Orlando to check in to the hotel right near the airport. We ordered room service for the first time which was really nice when compared to eating in a restaurant with a baby.

Now we are at the airport calmly waiting for our plane. In only a few hours we will be back up north.

Keeg

Hi all,

We have taken a quick break at Panera to recharge and upload some photos. Here is a link to the album:

Florida Vacation Part One

We have had a great time so far. Kaleb slept through most of the flight down and while awake was a very good boy. Port Orleans at Disney World was really great and such a change of pace, its amazing how it is like a different world. I went to the Rays game last night, which they won 5-3. We all went swimming yesterday and Kaleb was unsure about it the whole time, he didn’t have a sad face or a happy face, just his timid look about the whole thing.

We are now off to Nanny and Papa’s for a couple days in Leesburg and then will spend the afternoon with Meme before returning to the airport area on Saturday night.

Hope everybody is doing well.

Keeg

Yep you guessed it we went to the beach again today, remember we have a big sandbox to fill and only one pail. Jamison and Megan drove up for a day of fun with Kaleb. We started by playing at our house for a while, Kaleb had just woken up from a nap so he was a bit shy at first. We then took the car and went down to the Salisbury Reservation. They two of them had a great time playing in the sand and trying to stay out of the water. Afterwards we drove over to Newburyport for lunch at “Not Your Average” Joe’s. It was pretty good even if I did get a mango iced tea by accident.

Here are some photos from today:

Beach Day with Jamison

It was a busy weekend for our family. I went up to Sunday River….

Parrot Head Weekend

and Jennifer and Kaleb went down to take care of Jamison while Megan was feeling under the weather.

Play Date with Jamison

Kaleb continues to experiment with walking, but isn’t using it as his primary means of travel.

Keeg

On Wednesday afternoon Jennifer called to me from the living room and said that Kaleb took his first step. He had been holding on to the table and took a single step without using his hands over to the chair. Of course after that we couldn’t get him to do anything more than that. Then yesterday my mom said he was standing by the bottom of the stairs at her house and all of a sudden he took a bunch of steps and walked over to the front door. Again no cameras were around so I don’t have anything to show for that.

Once Jennifer picked him up and brought him home he really had no interest in walking, mostly because he was so tired and wanted to sleep. Today my mom was watching him and he did lots of short little walks throughout the day. So tonight we went into the living room to see if we could get a little bit of him walking on camera. It only required a little bribing, but he kept taking turns walking back and forth between Jennifer and me. I was able to get a couple short clips and have now posted them on YouTube for all the world to see. We are all very excited about this and know it is only a matter of time before he leaves crawling behind for good.

Yesterday I mentioned taking Kaleb into Boston on the commuter rail to get his birth certificate. So today we left the house around nine so we could catch the 9:36 train out of Newburyport. Kaleb fell asleep in the car so when we got to the station about twenty minutes early I decided it best to just sit in the car. About five minutes before when the train was supposed to arrive I woke him up and put him in his Baby Bjorn. We braved the wind and stood on the platform for five minutes before somebody said the train would be 20-30 minutes late. So we went back to the car and I let Kaleb play around in the front seat until we saw the train arrive 25 minutes later.

We ran to the train and found a nice three seater, Kaleb really seemed to like it because when he stood up he could just see out the window. Of course the outside only kept his attention for one or two stops. Our next set back was with the speed of the train, for some reason the train had to travel slowly for some reason and by the time we made it to Boston it had taken about an hour and a half. Fortunately for me Kaleb did very well and only was mildly irritated at being in one seat for over an hour.

I put him back in the Bjorn and we walked to Quincy Market so I could get money from an ATM. We walked through all the food places and came across Kaleb’s favorite place of the day, because of all the overhead fans. After getting money we walked over to City Hall only to find the Birth, Marriage and Death Certificate office is closed on Wednesday. I rolled with the punches and decide we would go to the Common so Kaleb could stretch his legs and crawl around.

Now I had my next dilemma, do we catch the 1:15 train back to Newburyport or wait for the 3:00 train. The 1:15 would have meant only a short break from the train before getting back on the train, but the 3:00 train would mean Kaleb could be completely exhausted and unwilling to deal with another train ride. I opted for the early train and we went to Boston Beer Works for lunch, it seemed to be the only place I could think of where I wouldn’t mind if he crawled on the floor. Of course he didn’t really eat any lunch and just threw stuff on the floor.

Just as we were leaving I smelled Kaleb’s diaper and was nearly knocked out by the smell. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to change him in the bathroom and decided my only option was to change him on the train. So once we found our seat I quickly took care of the stink. The ride home was shorter than the ride in, but Kaleb’s patience was also smaller. He never really cried or anything, just fussed a little bit. I did all I could to keep him entertained and I think it went as well as it could considering all the traveling we had done and the little sleep he had.

Once we got back to the car, he was unhappy to be there, but after about a minute he passed out asleep. Thus ending Kaleb’s first train ride.

Kaleb's First Train Ride

It snowed again on Friday, which is kind of crazy considering it was March 28, but I guess that is New England. The weekend was just all-around chilly and not your typical spring weekend. We did brave the chilly weather on Sunday and took Kaleb to the park and the beach. Unfortunately he wasn’t feeling well and didn’t really enjoy either place.

We then came home and confirmed that he had another fever, his third in three months. At one point his temperature was up around 104, but was only their briefly. Similar to last time his temperature went up and down based on the medicine we gave him. The fever continued for Sunday night, through Monday and into Monday evening. Luckily when we woke up this morning he was feeling much better and was himself again. It is really sad when he is sick because he just sleeps and mopes around all day. It helps you really appreciate how much fun he is when he isn’t sick though.

Tomorrow I am doing the babysitting and the current plan is to go to Boston to get a copy of Kaleb’s birth certificate. I decided we will take the train in because it will be a good test of how well he may do on the plane when we go to Florida in a few weeks. I will be sure to update after are trip.

Here are some photos:

Wintery Spring Weekend

Day at the Park

We took Kaleb to the park this afternoon because finally the weather has turned around. He really liked it a lot although he wanted to eat the rocks. He got to go down the slide and swing on the swings a couple times. Unfortunately the weather is changing back to winter mode again, with an expected 2-3 inches here tomorrow. I did see that the forecast for Tuesday involves temperatures in the 60's. I think we are all ready for Spring, especially Mr. Kaleb who is a huge fan of the outdoors.

Keeg

We recently completed our taxes and as originally discussed we bought a new HD TV for the living room. I researched for a couple days and settled upon an older Sony 40" LCD 1080p TV. I went and picked it up at Circuity City and also bought the new cables necessary for improved resolution on the Wii. Setting it up was very easy and it was even able to find some HD programming which was a huge surprise since we don’t even have a digital cable box yet. Of course we only get the major networks at the current time, but it is enough to satisfy my thirst for HD programming for the time being.

Jennifer was slightly impressed with it up until tonight. However, now she is amazed because we are watching the Oscar winning animated short of “Peter and the Wolf” and the quality is unbelievable. You can see the smallest details with everything.

I have been super excited about everything, especially the Wii now that we can use it in wide-screen format. Super Mario Galaxy is amazing and makes for a completely new gaming experience. I have only played around with it so far but look forward to really going crazy and playing for hours on end in the near future.

For those of you concerned about it possibly tipping over on Kaleb, well it came with a special strap which screws into the entertainment center so it won’t be able to tip over, the entertainment center itself also has a large set of counter weights to prevent it from toppling over.

So far I think this has been one of the best investments we could have made. Now I just have to convince Jennifer that we need an Apple TV.

Easter Weekend

Kaleb has once again become sick, this time he has a fever again. It all started yesterday afternoon and he has been sleeping a lot since then. Once in a while he does snap back to his normal self, but the rest of the time he is very lethargic.

Prior to getting sick again he was doing very well. Over the last few weeks his recognition of common objects has improved dramatically, he recognizes items like: ball, ducky, doggie, oyster crackers, cheese, vaccuum, broom, shovel, boobie and as of this evening belly button. He also has been more consistent with saying “All Done” and “Uh Oh”. He has become a lot busier and can now just play by himself on the floor for minutes at a time before crawling off to climb the stairs. He looks more and more like a little boy each day, which is just crazy to watch. Crawling is still his preferred method of transportation, but he is moving about more easily while standing up and holding onto things. Here are some photos of the last few weeks.

Kaleb: Day 387

Sunday River Weekend

Sunday River Powder Day Movie

We all went up to Sunday River this weekend for a little family vacation. It was Jennifer, Kaleb, Jon, Zach, Brendan and myself. We got up there with out much trouble although we did hit a couple frost heaves. Kaleb cried for about a half hour before falling asleep. The snow started falling over night and didn't stop until Saturday night. We ended up with about ten inches total from the storm, which just added to the existing mountains of snow everywhere. Zach and I went up early and went all over the mountain. I then met up with some friends and skied with them for the rest of the day. I lasted quite a while considering how long it had been since I last skied and the exhausting conditions. I was pretty tired by the end of the day and was sound asleep by about 8:30.

Today I decided to stay off the mountain because it looked like it was going to be a cold windy day. We stayed around the house until around 11AM and then went into Bethel so I could commit some code I had worked on Friday night. We then drove to Portland for lunch at Oh Naturals, before returning home this evening.

It was a great weekend and felt good to ski again. Kaleb seemed to have a good time and I think he enjoyed the change of venue, its been a long boring winter at home for him. I am sure he is going to be overwhelmed come the summer time and how much time he will get to spend outside. He also has started standing on his own more than he had lately, which leads us to believe he is on his way to walking upright. Of course we have said this before, but we will see.

Keeg

Kaleb's First Birthday

Last weekend we celebrated Kaleb's first birthday at our house on the 17th. We had the Riebe's up from CT and NYC for the weekend so they could attend the party. All in all it went very well, Kaleb had his own cake which he was slow to get into, but eventually ate a good chunk of it. Of course there was a giant pile of presents which he really enjoyed.

We also went to his one year physical and found that he now weighs 16lbs 7oz which puts him in the 2nd percentile. On the flip side his height was 28.75", putting him in the 20th percentile. So weight-wise he is progressing at a consistent rate, but height-wise he is growing taller at a greater than average rate.

The first week of his second year with us has been relatively difficult due to illness. Already in 2008, he has had a cough and runny nose for most of the year. Back in the middle of January he had an ear infection. Now over the last week he has the cough and runny nose, with a high fever and a little conjunctivitis thrown in for good measure. Luckily he seems to be feeling much better now and is back to his old self again.

Yesterday we had yet another winter storm which brought in about 7 inches of nice light snow. It is now all shoveled and we are ready to start the day.

Thats it for now.
Keeg

Kaleb: Day 358

I only have a minute, but I wanted to put some update on here. This weekend was primarily spent in our bathroom, either tearing it down or helping Jon to put it back together. You see originally we planned on just stripping the wallpaper and painting the bathroom, but once the paper was off it was clear that we needed to put up new sheet rock. Thankfully Jon rocks and came over on Saturday and showed the bathroom walls who is the boss.

It was interesting to see what is behind the walls especially where the squirrels apparently use as Grand Central station. Right behind the bathroom is where they come in and there were so many nuts stored there. We covered up the hole and cleaned up all of the nuts.

Besides that I also spent the rest of the weekend working. It is almost time for us to send a new release to one of our customers and I have been working around the clock. Thankfully once it is out the door I will finally get a chance to relax. It looks like I might even get a few days off for free.

Only one more week until Kaleb's first birthday. We have several gifts for him that he is sure to love. I can't believe how fast the year has gone.

Until next time.

Kaleb: Day 350

As I said before Kaleb had another cold, we seem to be on pace for one every month. Luckily this one lasted only five days instead of fifteen. The other difference was that this time he was tugging on his ears, so we thought he might have an ear infection. The doctor thought otherwise although my mom still has her suspicions. For now he seems to be in better spirits and his nose isn't as runny as it had been.

On the bedroom front we do have a new difficulty with him though, now he likes to stand up in his crib. Now at first this is very cute, but it takes him forever to fall asleep. The other problem is when he finally does fall asleep it is usually in an odd position like a crumpled little pile, its very sad.

Kaleb had another first over the weekend, his first Patriots loss. It was a crazy game and as you probably know it was quite a disappointment. We had a small group of friends over for some pizza, nachos and ice cream sundaes. It was a nice evening and now we have a ton of extra food again.

We did a little bit of work on the house over the weekend. Originally we planned to strip the wallpaper in the bathroom upstairs, but once we peeled back the paper the underlying walls were a mess. So now we are going to tear down and then put up new sheet rock in our bathroom, with Jon's help of course. We were lucky enough to have Jon over this weekend installing our dishwasher.

We had some other house problems on Saturday. I went down to the basement to see how it was fairing after the previous night's rain and found about five inches of water. We had recently shut off the pump because the exhaust pipe was frozen and now I had to set up a separate pipe out the bulkhead. At first I didn't fasten the pipe tight enough and it popped off causing a geyser of water to shoot out of the pump. Eventually I got everything worked out and the basement drained. As you would expect that isn't the end of the story, the next morning I went down to check things out and there as just as much water, it seems that the bobber that tells the pump to start was stuck down so it didn't run all night. It is now nicely settled in the hole and there haven't been anymore problems. Tonight I actually bought an extension so the water wouldn't be draining into the neighbors yard. So far so good.

Two more things, yesterday Kaleb and I went to lunch with Tammy and Lilli at Me and Ollie's. I hadn't seen Tammy in probably ten years, our parents were friends growing up and then we also were friends way back in the North Brook days. We all had a really great time and are looking forward to getting together again. Jennifer is especially excited to know somebody around our area with a small one.

Finally, work has been insane lately. We are nearing the end of our next release and I have been working night and day. Thankfully it looks like this will be my last project of this type and my work life will begin looking up. I am very excited because at this point I am working myself into the ground.

Thats it for now. Hope all is well.
Keegan

Kaleb has caught another cold and it has been a long miserable week. Jennifer is also sick and that combined with Kaleb’s sickness has really made for some long nights. We have found the three most useful items are an aspirator, Ocean drops and baby tylenol. There really isn’t much you can do with babies with regards to cough medicine and they don’t quite understand blowing their nose or clearing their throats. He does seem to be feeling better this morning, which is hopefully a trend.

In other news we are now in February and it is only 16 days until he turns one. Its amazing how time has flown by and how big he has grown over the last year. He has really stepped up over the last few weeks and really turned into a little boy. From the pointing at things by command “Where are the birdies?” to the climbing up the stairs. We still haven’t planned his birthday, but it will probably be something small involving cake and pizza.

We had a bit of a surprise snowstorm today, which helped extend out travel time to Newton this morning out to about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The weather people all said we might get a dusting, but when we headed out at 9:30 AM there was already about three inches on the ground and there weren’t any plows out cleaning up the roads. It ended up snowing all day and we probably ended up with about 4-5 inches in Merrimac.

Yesterday we went over to Newburyport for breakfast and ran several errands before returning home for the afternoon. I re-wrapped the plastic on the back porch, originally I had put the plastic on the outside, but after every windy day I had to keep stapling the plastic back up. So I switched it so each panel is now individually wrapped, its not as airtight, but should do the job.

Here are some photos from the weekend:

Kaleb: Day 344

I am feeling a lot better although I do have a nasty cough. Not much to say except congratulations to Jamison on her first steps, Kaleb is going to be right behind you. I have intensified his training program so he should be up and walking in 2 weeks.

Here are some photos from yesterday and today. The first is my favorite it is from yesterday when Jennifer tried to put Kaleb down for a nap in his crib. Unfortunately after 10 minutes of crying he realized he could just stand up so I took a photo of him through the crack in the door.

Kaleb: Day 339

Kaleb: Day 337

Well Kaleb was sick a couple weeks ago and then late last week Jennifer was sick, well lucky for me I am now doing my family duty and have started feeling sick. I don't have an upset stomach, but I do have a fever and I am quite achy. Hopefully it will pass quickly and I will be able to move on with my life.

We were lucky enough to have a visitor stay with us this weekend, Nonna drove up on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, Sir was stuck at work so he couldn't make the trip up. We have had a lovely visit thus far and I am sure it will continue until tomorrow when she has to return home.

Today we went to the Starboard Galley in Newburyport for lunch and Kaleb had his first pickle. One would think that he would have cringed at first taste, but he just loved it. You will see some photos in the album of his first pickle experience.

Okay, bye for now.
Keegan

Kaleb: Day 331

Kaleb: Day 335

Yep that is right our little boy is now eleven months old. It is amazing how far he has come. The poor thing has had diarrhea the past few days which isn't fun for anybody, although he doesn't seem to mind. Its been a crazy week here, first there was a snow storm which cancelled school on Monday, Tuesday my mom had jury duty so I watched Kaleb, Wednesday we refinanced our mortgage and yesterday Jennifer came down with a bad stomach bug. Now we are moving into a long weekend, well at least for Jennifer since I have to work on Monday. It does look like it will be another busy weekend. Nonna and Sir are coming down this afternoon and will spend the night, I also have to do a ton of work this weekend. Besides all of that not much else is going on, we are just trying to stay warm.

Keeg

It was another warm January weekend, but apparently all that is going to change tonight when the heavy snow starts to fall. We are supposed to get over a foot of the white stuff, they are so certain Jennifer’s school was cancelled at 7pm tonight. I don’t know if I reported it here yet, but Kaleb has an ear infection. We brought him to the doctor on Tuesday because of his nasty dry cough and the doctor said he had an ear infection. He is now on Amoxicilin(sp?) and has been doing well, he never really complained about it in the first place so it is hard to say if it is truly getting better.

Yesterday we took a trip up to Exeter for lunch and then took a nice long back road drive home. I then did a little work on the house, by taking apart some of the rotting wooden shelving structure in the basement. I am not sure of the support it provides for the living room floor so I left the four by fours up, but the rotten wood is now out of the basement and hopefully once we get a dehumidifier the place will be a little drier.

Today Jamison and Megan came over in the morning for a little play date. The two kids played well together and at one point Kaleb even pushed Jamison around in his wagon. It was really cute as you will soon see from the video. We went over to Newburyport for lunch and settled on Not Your Average Joes. It was yummy and filling. We came home afterwards and hung out here until it was time to go over to Pepe’s house for Mike’s birthday. Kaleb was very well behaved over there and was wandering all over on his hands and knees. It was great to see everybody over there and it has been a while since I have been so full.

For now I am going to say good bye but should have some good photos of the snow tomorrow.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day 330

Kaleb: Day 315

New Years 2008

Well they say that a picture is worth a thousand words so here is 34 pictures each worth a thousand words. The New Year was good, except that Kaleb is now sick and has had a cold for the last ten days. It started with a runny nose and then he started coughing, fortunately the runny nose has stopped but the hacking cough continues. Besides that he has been doing well and is more mobile than ever. He gets into everything now and despite our calls of "No" he still proceeds to do it, but with an additional head shake.

And now for the photos...

Kaleb: Day 322

Christmas 2007

We celebrated Kaleb's first Christmas last week and it was exactly what one might expect from a 10 month old. First of all he didn't really get it and just ended up getting frustrated with the whole thing. I think he didn't like how crowded it was in his normal play area and on top of that every time he got a hold of wrapping paper we took it away from him. He seems to look at paper these days in the same way that Jennifer and I look at chocolate. Today he even managed to get some paper from an emery board. Anyway once the morning of present opening was over he had a very difficult time falling asleep, which only compounded the problem. Eventually he did fall asleep in his bouncy seat, which ave us a chance to prepare for the party. Once everybody arrived for the party he was wide awake and glad to see all of the guests. It didn't take long for him to run out of gas though and a couple hours in we tried to get him to take a nap with no luck. He was pretty exhausted, but still behaved so well. Finally once everybody cleared out we were able to get him to take a nap and upon waking up he was in good spirits.

Fast forward to Friday and Kaleb came down with a cold and has had a runny nose and a dry throat ever since. He is still happy, but is very squeaky and slimy. Besides that he is doing well and has really become super mobile over the last couple weeks. We are finally to the point where you can't leave the room without him tearing across the room and getting in to something he shouldn't be touching. Standing up is no big deal now and once he is up ends up cruising all over the place. I can say with almost complete confidence right now that in only a few weeks he will be walking on his own.

A snow storm has already started and depending on the network you listen to we are getting anywhere from 1 to 10 inches. This coupled with my mom's New Year's Eve party tomorrow afternoon probably measn we won't be going in to Boston to see the ice sculptures and other First Night displays. Oh well maybe next year.

Keegan

A little video I put together from various clips.


And some photos

Kaleb: Day 307

Kaleb: Day 298

Kaleb: Day 300

The snowstorms continue to hit us up here in Merrimac. On Thursday we were hammered with a quick daytime storm that dumped about 8 inches on us in a short five hour time span. Luckily I left work around 12:40 and my commute was only an extra ten minutes compared to some people in Boston who sat in traffic for up to six hours. Some students at Jennifer's school didn't get home until 8 pm.

Today we were hit again with another 8 inch storm, but this one dragged out for a much longer period of time and fell short of its true potential when it turned to rain about halfway through the day. I ended up shoveling at the perfect time while the snow was still dry and light.

Besides the snow it was a very busy weekend. Yesterday we went out for a late breakfast at Me and Ollie's and had our photos taken for the locals board. I stayed around and worked while Jennifer and Kaleb went back home to prepare for our holiday party. Once I was home I started making pizza sauce for the pizzas I planned on making at the party. It turned out to be a good idea because the pizza was a big hit. The party was also a hit, we ended up with about 15 people at the house and it went very well. Its always fun when we have a party, because it is such a hodge-podge of our friends. Everybody usually has fun, well at least it seems that way plus they drive all the way up from Boston, we must be doing something right.

Kaleb had a great weekend although he was mostly stuck in the house, which I am sure at this point is getting old. Jennifer and I both recognized how much he has changed over the last couple weeks, not only is he standing up and moving around (not crawling or walking yet) with great ease, but his personality has really come out as of late. He now reacts to more things and is much more animated. He also has been talking a lot more adding several new sounds to his repertoire. He had another first yesterday, the first time he reacted to me taking something away from him. He was chomping on some bread and I grabbed the bread and he immediately started growling at me until I gave him the bread back. Before that he would normally just move on to something else and forget about the bread, but not this time.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day 296

I watched Kaleb today and while I cleaned off the car I had him sit on a piece of cardboard in his snowsuit. He was a great kid and just played around with the snow. Once my car was cleaned off I dragged him around the yard a little bit. We eventually made it to the back yard where there is a little bit of a hill. You know what comes next, I helped pack down a little trail for him and he took several short trips sledding down the hill. He loved it and even tried to scootch forward to get the ride started. Unfortunately he did do one face plant before one of the rides down, but recovered quickly.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day 295

As strange as it may seem so close to Christmas we had a very quiet weekend. Saturday we met up with some friends for lunch, but before we did we took the opportunity to get a little shopping in. Oh I almost forgot on Friday night we went out to dinner and we ordered Kaleb his own meal for the first time. It was a grilled cheese sandwich at a Mexican restaurant, but he loved it and did very well. Ever since Jamison showed us that baby's can eat more than just canned baby food we have stepped up the difficulty level a bit. Of course sometimes that makes for nervous instances of coughing and spitting up. Kaleb also has progressed with movement. He sits up from lying down without a problem now and even crawled a couple paces forward. He is as daring as ever when it comes to standing next to things, often times going from one object to another.

Today we didn't have anything planned, so I decided to go out and do some work at a local cafe called Me and Ollies. It takes about fifteen minutes to get there, but is the best place around for just sitting, sipping a coffee and working. I was able to get a lot done so I only have to work for a few hours tomorrow evening. My mom is working tomorrow so I will be watching Kaleb, as long as the weather is okay we will be going into the new CaseNET office tomorrow to unpack my stuff. Unfortunately, we are supposed to get a few inches of snow tonight followed by sleet and freezing rain in the morning.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day 290

Here are some new photos of recent events at our house. First we went out and got a Christmas tree and set up all of our Christmas decorations. We also received our first snowstorm and I learned the joys of shoveling a crushed stone driveway.

Keegan

Kaleb: Day 285

It was another busy week, especially due to the extra time I had to put in working. It all paid off on Friday when I went with the sales team to a demo of our software in Boston. Now I know its further from coding than what I am currently doing, but it still more fun than what I am currently doing. Unfortunately getting to Boston for 9AM isn't exactly easy so I left around 6:30 and met Kate for breakfast, just in case traffic was crazy. We met at True Grounds, the same place we used to meet all the time. The scones were just as good as I remember them.

As for Kaleb's week, he slept a lot more than me and didn't have nearly as many meetings. He did have his first bubble bath (you can see how he felt about that in the photos). He is standing up while holding on to things all the time now and it really seems like only a short while before he will take those first steps. He has also been eating level 3 baby food without trouble, when he first started he had a little trouble with the big chunks.

Bedtime has changed slightly since last month, our doctor told us to try and feed him as much as possible and to push his bedtime back an hour. He suggested this because we told him how we always have to rock him to sleep before putting him down. Now we put him down and he cries for a couple minutes but then goes right off to sleep from pure exhaustion. Unfortunately he continues to wake up between 9:30 and 10:00, which is tough because he won't just go back to sleep easily and letting him cry to sleep has failed to work so far even after 20 minutes of sobbing. Now we are determined to break this awful habit, so we can enjoy our bed without a little person stuck in between us.

Yesterday Jamison and Megan came up to visit. We played at the house for a couple hours and then we went downtown to Flatbread for lunch. Jamison is such a cutie and is such a great kid, Kaleb is lucky to have her for a girlfriend.

Today we are hoping to find a nice Christmas tree and will try and attend the Merrimac Santa parade. It sounds like a busy day ahead, I am sure Kaleb is up for it though considering he just slept for quite a while in his high chair. Oh yeah and one more thing it sounds like snow is on the way for tonight and tomorrow, although it is not really clear how much we will receive in Merrimac. Being this close to the ocean always messes things up and makes each storm a complete mystery.

Keeg

Kaleb's First Thanksgiving

We went down to Connecticut for Kaleb's first Thanksgiving. I would go into more detail, but right now I have a pounding headache and I am exhausted.

We did have a great time though. Kaleb has been mumbling "Momma" all weekend long, it is his new word thing. In other development news he successfully sat up from laying on his stomach Saturday morning. He also managed to crawl/scootch backwards. He seems to have come down with a cold and his voice is very raspy. Sometimes its funny because his crying just doesn't sound right.

Okay now we are off to bed.
Keeg

Kaleb was a bit sleepy while eating yesterday morning. Here is a video:



We are heading down to Connecticut for the holiday. The plan is to leave on Thursday morning to try and avoid the traffic. We’ll see if thats going to work.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Keeg

Another busy week is finally coming to an end and once again I am exhausted. It is a little combination of being busy, almost frantic, at work and Kaleb’s early mornings. Its okay though because it means time is scooting right along and we are that much closer to paying off our house (only 356 more payments to go). Kaleb has been doing very well and got a clean bill of health from the doctor. For the record he is now 26.5" long and weight 15lbs 3oz. His height actually puts him in the 5th percentile for his age, which means he is now on the chart. After talking to the doctor about his sleep schedule we have pushed back his bed time an hour so he is more tired and it has really worked out well. Jennifer has been putting him to bed while he is still awake and he cries/fusses for about five minutes before passing out.

I am not quite sure about our itinerary for the weekend outside of a couple get-togethers with friends. I have compiled quite a queue of shows on the TiVo and kind of feel compelled to watch all of that stuff. I also bought the latest installment in the Mario series called Super Mario Galaxy and I want to get some time in playing it. Jon has also said he will come over and we can remove the rotted shelving from the basement.

That’s it for now.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day 266

The true autumn like weather has arrived and for now I am okay with it. It hasn’t been cold enough to break out the winter jacket, which still keeps me happy. It was another relatively quiet weekend, a little yard work, a little trip to Newburyport, a little shopping, nothing to involved. Yesterday we went over to Stella’s in Newburyport for a delicious breakfast, Kaleb was a good kiddo and just hung out in his high chair snacking on our his food and a little of our food. We then returned home and I went outside to rake leaves and went crazy on our grapevines. You see we have these wonderful Concord grapevines in our backyard, but they were really taking over several smaller bushes and were just plain out of control. So I ripped them out of the trees and trimmed them back so we can hopefully attach them to an arbor in the spring. After the yard work we piled into the car and went shopping up in Salem, NH.

Today we had the morning I have always dreamed about having. My wife and son in the kitchen of our house eating a breakfast of scones and mocha’s, while listening to some nice “coffee house” type music. It was just wonderful, and goes to show just how great things have become in my life. A little later in the morning, my mom and Jon came over to install new smoke detectors throughout the house. We had some, but they didn’t have a battery back up so if the power went out they wouldn’t have worked. I had also bought some electronic themostats a while back and Jon was able to hook those up. No more cold mornings downstairs!!! After they left we went over to the cemetery to pay our respects to my grandparents, Arthur and Gigi. Jennifer had asked if we could a few weeks ago and since it was Veteran’s day it seemed like the perfect time. Kaleb slept in his car seat while Jennifer and I shared a few tears. It was beautiful over there with the giant oak leaves falling in the chilly autumn sunshine. We then grabbed some lunch before returning home for the rest of the day.

Since five I have been working on a little project for work. I am working on something I would like to get done during the work week, but just don’t have time for it. Its sort of strange that I can’t do the my real job during the week and have to save it for the spare moments I can scrape up.

There was some big news in the world of Kaleb. Friday afternoon he rolled over from his back to his front for the first time. He has been rolling from front to back for a while now, but this was the first time that he was able to pull the other arm from underneath him. Of course this means he is now able to roll across the floor and has on more than one occasion rolled off onto the hard wood floor.

Hopefully I will have some photos up soon.
Keeg

New England Aquarium

As my dad pointed out today it was a long weekend thanks to the moving of the clock back an hour to officially end daylight savings time. We had a very relaxed Saturday and an uber busy Sunday. We mostly stayed in on Saturday with the exception of a late afternoon trip to Panera. Today we met the Noonan’s at the New England Aquarium, where we wandered around for a while and then we went over to the North End for lunch. After saying farewell to them we went shopping at Downtown Crossing. We then jumped in the car and drove up to my dad’s house for dinner. We spent a good two hour there and watched the big Patriots/Colts game (some called this the biggest regular season game in history) the Patriots ended up winning in the lat few minutes.

Once we were back at home Jennifer and I sat on the floor of our bedroom and had Kaleb practice walking on his own. He still isn’t very stable but for the first time balanced himself all by himself for a couple seconds before toppling over. He also took a step or two towards Jennifer before falling over. I don’t think we are going to go as far as saying it was his first steps, but he is definitely getting close. I will be sure to document it on video when it happens.

Very exciting times!!!
Keeg

Kaleb Making Some Noise

Halloween Photos

Another crazy week has passed at the Sands household. Kaleb’s teeth continue to make their way up through his gums and his trouble sleeping has increased. We have had a really hard time with him the last few days going to sleep and staying asleep. Besides that a slight loss of appetite he seems to be weathering the storm fairly well. He has really taken off in his walker and marches around the house quite a bit. We have even taken him outside, my mom got him to climb her entire driveway and I took him to the Amesbury Skate Park for a little exercise. Despite the occasional fussiness at home he is still a very well behaved little boy.

As for Kaleb’s parents we have been very tired lately. I have been burning the midnight oil and then waking up at six which is starting to catch up with me. Jennifer on the other hand has been working all day and then taking care of Kaleb in the evening. Parenting is a strange thing, it seems that you always think you are at the most difficult time for one reason or another, but a month goes by and it seems even more challenging. Like for instance right now Kaleb is pretty demanding attention wise and his attention span is pretty short so there is a constant pressure to keep him busy and moving around. This compares to a few months ago when you could just put him in one place and he would sit there quite content. Right now I think if only he could walk things would be easier, but I am sure it will just bring up more different and challenging issues. The bottom line is probably that each stage is equally as hard as the last, but just different. I am certain of one ting we will soon see if I am right.

This weekend we are off to the New England Aquarium on Sunday with the Noonans followed by a birthday party up at my dad’s house.

Busy busy busy!!!

You can probably guess from the subject what exciting development has occurred with Mr. Kaleb Arthur. Yep you are right his first teeth are starting to make there way to the surface of his gums. Jennifer noticed it on Saturday morning, we can’t really see anything yet, but it definitely feels different. Everything seems to be moving along so quickly.

It was a busy Friday, Kaleb and I spent the day around the house because my car was in the shop getting another new glove box. We did a little raking and then I let him run around on the deck in his walker. Once Jennifer was home we rushed around to get my car and then I got picked up by Kelly and Andy for a night in Bethel. We got up to Bethel around 8 and met Mark and Kate at Suds. After a yummy Suds pizza we went up to the mountain for the Entrain concert. Around midnight we left the show and went back to Mark and Kate’s to sleep. Kate woke me up nice and early and we went back towards Boston.

Once in Merrimac Kaleb, Jennifer and I piled into the car for a weekend at Nonna and Sir’s house. We had a great time as you will soon see from the photo album I uploaded. Today Jennifer’s family from New Jersey made the trip up for a yummy lunch of the world’s best pasta. It was a wonderful afternoon and the trip back was pretty good despite the pockets of traffic we ran into along the way.
Weekend in Connecticut

Kaleb: Day 257

We went to the Head of the Charles Regatta this weekend. The weather was great, there were lots of free samples and a good time was had by all. Today I went out and bought Kaleb a walker so he could finally move around at will. He loved it!!! You could tell that he was excited because he was screaming with joy the entire time he was in it. He kept going back and forth across the kitchen floor. He is still learning how to navigate with it, but I have no doubt that in the next week or so he will be an expert. Hopefully this will provide some relief for our aching backs.

Head of the Charles Photos

Kaleb in his new walker video

The end of the week is here and it has flown by. I watched Kaleb two day and tried to successfully juggle a handful of meetings at the same time. Luckily I made it through and feel like I got ahead of some of the work that was crazy out of control.

Yesterday we got Kaleb’s first Halloween costume in the mail. Given his timid nature we decided the cowardly lion would be the most appropriate costume for him. So here is a little preview of his costume until next week when he puts the whole thing on.


Kaleb: Day 244



Tomorrow we head off to the Head of the Charles, that should provide for some interesting photos.

Keeg

Today my mom was working so I got to spend the day watching Kaleb. We are really getting into a routine for days with me and my mom. I try to stick to the same morning routine which involves Kaleb and I playing from 7:45 to 8:30. At that point I put him in his bouncy seat and take a shower. Usually if it is my mom’s day he falls asleep in the car which works out really well for both of us.

Today after his morning nap we ran a couple errands and went down to Newburyport for lunch. First we stopped at Starbucks so I could pick up the free Song of the Day and then we went to get me some pizza. We ended the trip out on the grass near the waterfront. Kaleb started to get fussy because he hadn’t eaten in five hours. We went home and he ate a nice lunch. The rest of the afternoon went well. Pepe came over to visit us and Kaleb continued to behave splendidly. He really is a great kid.

Keeg

I have had more then a few complaints due to my lack of entries. In my experience whenever you don’t update at least a couple times a week your readership drops of dramatically. Unfortunately, my friends and family haven’t discovered the joy of RSS feeds, which allow you to get a subscription to my blog and whenever an update is made it is delivered to your reader. Check out reader.google.com and this video:


I have been using the google reader for about four months and I love it. I have signed up for all sorts of feeds including: Eastern Essex County weather alerts, Tampa Bay Devil Rays news, Dave Matthews fan site news, Apple daily news just to name a few. The more you get the harder it is to keep up, but it sure beats going from one website to the next. Here is the feed for my LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/keegsands/data/rss

Okay I will now stand down from my soapbox and return to your regularly scheduled program. Kaleb will be 8 months old in less than a week, my how the time flies by. He is definitely turning into his own little person, a very quiet and timid little one, who seems to have his parents wrapped around his finger. You will see if you spend more than a couple hours with us that we “coddle” him a little too much and never hesitate to pick him up if he starts fussing. We aren’t the strictest of parents and I think it is going to possibly bite us in the butt in the near future. Even now we are starting to feel the pain in the early evening after we put him down, he wakes up every two hours, whines and slams his feet down until we go pick him up. Once he is on your should he falls right back to sleep and then the real challenge comes, putting him down. If you don’t wait long enough he will wake right up and you are back at square one. He also has a knack for waking up just as we are heading off to bed, and by that point we are both too tired to go through the motions and we just bring him into bed. It seems that as long as this continues he is never going to sleep through the night.

Developmentally he is doing very well, although he has been extremely quiet the last week, very different compared to his jabbery couple weeks. It is very strange how his chattiness goes in cycles. Walking around (assisted) is still his favorite thing behind going outside in his Bjorn. Today he actually pulled himself up from a sitting to standing position for the first time. It was kind of awkward because he used my guitar for leverage, but it is all he can really use given his height of 2' 2". His sitting skills get stronger and stronger each day and now he rarely tips over. He still doesn’t crawl, mostly because he hates being on his stomach and is really good at rolling over.

I have been watching him the last couple days and he has been great. Today we went in to Jennifer’s school to visit the kids and then went down to CaseNET. He slept for most of the car ride and behaved wonderfully at both places.

Okay I have to get back to work. Hopefully I will put up some photos soon. btw I got an iPod Touch and I love it!!!

-Keeg

There has been a problem with the slideshow feature for some, so here is the link, Weekend in Vermont

Kaleb made his first trip up to the Riebe cabin in Vermont. We left early on Saturday morning and he slept all the way up there. We had great weather the entire time with the exception of a relatively short rain shower on Saturday evening. Kaleb slept in bed with us, I kept waking up throughout the night because of various reasons. Jennifer was still recovering from her cold, but she seemed to sleep okay. We got a chance to wander down by the stream and even celebrated Jennifer’s 30th birthday. It was a great weekend and Kaleb behaved very well, which was very nice.

Today was Jennifer’s 30th birthday. We didn’t really do anything to special because she had “Parent/Teacher” night at school, I got her a new Citizen’s watch that doesn’t use a battery, but instead gets its power from ambient and solar light. She did manage to come home for about an hour to feed Kaleb. My mom dropped him off and also brought dinner and a pumpkin cheesecake for Jennifer. I then got the fun task of getting Kaleb to sleep. He had been fussy all day and dinner was no different, I think a combination of him being full from Jennifer feeding him and his general fussiness kept him from eating most of his dinner. He enjoyed the bath, but was upset when I tried to get him dressed. Luckily he fell asleep relatively quickly and now I am downstairs updating my LJ.

Keeg

Work has been crazy busy this week, but I finally found a chance to post some photos from the past week. Kaleb is doing very well and is really adjusting well to spending the day with my mom. I hope you enjoy the photos. This weekend we are going to Vermont for Kaleb’s first trip to the Riebe cabin.

Keeg

Today marked seven months since Kaleb was born. We don’t have exact numbers, but he weighs somewhere around 14 lbs and is about 25" tall. He has adjusted fairly well to Jennifer’s return to work and is warming up to Gunnie. He is now eating solid food twice daily and has really expanded his repertoire to now include prunes, apricots, peaches, carrots, pears, applesauce, green beans, peas and sweet peas. He still doesn’t like tummy time and usually cries after just a few minutes of it and so as a result hasn’t had any success crawling. However, he does really like standing up and does a great job of walking if you hold his hands. We have been somewhat weak parents lately in that he spends half of the night in bed with us. It really just comes down to sleep deprivation and by having him in the bed, Jennifer can easily just feed him and he falls back to sleep on his own as opposed to having to rock him and spend an hour trying to get him back to sleep. The important thing is that he does start in his crib and spends some of the night there, if he could just learn to sleep longer we wouldn’t have a problem.

Anyway that is it for now. Happy Seven Months little man!!!

Keeg

I was messing around with my phone last night and realized I never uploaded some of the photos I took immediately after Kaleb was born. So without further ado here are photos I took on my phone from the delivery room. Also included is his first photo with his mom.



Last night I went to the BoSox-Devil Rays game at Fenway and while it was exciting the Devil Rays blew an 8-1 lead and ended up losing 16-10.

Keeg

After a couple scorchers we finally got some much needed rain. Saturday evenings brief rain showers marked the first measurable rain we have ever had while in the new house. The roof finally got its first test drive and I was finally able to see if the gutters were all hooked up correctly. The gutter on the shed is still sloping in the wrong direction, and the new gutter on the side seems to be leaking near the bottom, but no big deal there. I also made our first attempt at figuring out what animal is spending some time in our ceiling. We assumed it was a squirrel because there is an obvious hole in the soffit and because it seemed to be much bigger than a mouse. So I covered up the hole with computer paper and duct tape just to verify that something was coming in and out through the hole. It took a half day, but finally the paper had been pulled back and is now just dangling. I am not sure of the next step, from what I read we are going to have to catch the squirrel and move him or kill him because now that he has a home in there he will do whatever possible to get back inside, regardless of whether or not we cover over the hole.

We had a nice relaxing weekend. Megan and Jamison came over yesterday and we went over to my mom’s to go swimming. Today we did a little shopping in the morning and then stayed home in the afternoon before Amy came over to visit us. At this point I am not sure what else to do in the yard, it might just be time to call it a year and start fresh in the spring. Now it is time to compose a list of all the things we need to do this fall and winter.
- Fix the drainage around the house
- Buy a de-humidifer for the basement
- New electrical panel
- Build/buy an arbor for all the grape vines out back
- Get rid of the giant stump in the back yard
- Fix the spigot outside
- Remove the rotting wood structure in the basement and replace it with lally columns
- Install a railing on the stairs
- Rid house of squirrel
- Railings for the deck
- Replace some rotting trim
- Get chimney checked out
- Put in new smoke detectors with a battery back up

It seems like quite a list, but I don’t think any of the things are too crazy. I think I will certainly be busy this winter though.

Keeg

First here is a video of Kaleb stepping, it is his latest trick. He seems very excited about the prospect of joining the rest of us upright walkers.



Now that school has started up again for Jennifer I am shifting my work schedule around. Two days a week I will be at home with Kaleb during the day and then working at home in the evening. Yesterday was my first day and it went very well. We stuck to the schedule we had used for the earlier part of the week, to try and begin a routine. He was very good, taking two naps, both over an hour long and even drinking some milk from a bottle. We did some grocery shopping and also went for a walk later in the afternoon. It was certainly a long day, but it was great to hang out with my son.

Keeg

Our weekend on Cape Cod was a complete success. We really had a great time out there and I feel like I got a pretty solid taste of what it is all about. On Friday evening, we went took advantage of Jeff’s over sand permit and drove down the beach in the Liberty. There were a couple seals, lots of wind and some big waves. On Saturday we went up to Provincetown to check out that whole scene. I think living in Somerville has desensitized me so I didn’t see anything that seemed to out of the ordinary. After P-town we tried to find a restaurant and ended up in the middle of the woods, it was pretty crazy. We finally got to the restaurant, but the parking lot was full so we had to move across to the bay side and eat at a different restaurant. We stayed in that evening, played whiffle ball and cooked pizza on the grill. On Sunday we walked out on the beach at low tide in Brewster. It was really cool because you can walk about a mile from the beach and the water was less than knee deep. We saw all sorts of sea creatures including, but not limited to, moon snails, jelly fish and horseshoe crabs.

We rolled out of there around 12:15 with the intention of catching the final race of the Long Pond season at 2PM. Unfortunately the traffic was a bit crazy and we made it in time to catch the final three legs. Mark ended up winning the Long Pond Cup and also won the Labor Day Weekend races. I helped put the boats away and then we hopped back in the car to get Kaleb home in time for his regular bed time.

Kaleb has had a rough couple of days. First we had him in the car for most of Saturday and then again on Monday. Last night his schedule was pretty screwed up, so he was up kind of late. Today the day started off well, but since it was Jennifer’s first day of school he had to go to my mom’s house. He had a long day with a bunch of crying and as I type this he is awake and crying because of what is most likely constipation. Poor Three!!!

The good news is that he really likes to stand up. He still needs assistance, but has now started actually moving his feet like he is walking now. I keep hoping it won’t be long before he can balance without assistance.

Okay time to get back to work. I added some new photos to my Cape Cod photos in my previous entry.

Keeg

Cara and Jeff were kind enough to invite us to spend the weekend with them in Brewster. I have never really been to Cape Cod except for a brief winter time excursion to Hyannis so it should be a great experience for me. Here are some photos I have already taken since we arrived this morning.



Here are some other photos from this past week.


Later,
Keeg

We had a tough start to Kaleb’s first day with Gunnie, but he ended up being just fine. Given the relatively stressful situation I left work a little early and the three of us went to the beach. I really love being at the beach in the late afternoon/early evening, the light is great and it usually isn’t hot. Anyway I have attached several photos from the beach.

This weekend we will be heading out to Cape Cod and staying with Cara and Jeff at a house they have rnted in East Brewster. Oddly enough its my first time out on “the Cape”. I am excited although I don’t know the best way to handle the traffic.

Keeg

The cool and dry weather of the middle of last week was officially replaced with classic summer weather. Apparently there was even a record high temperature at Logan Airport yesterday of 96 degrees. It was hot in Merrimac, but not too bad. We did go up to my mom’s house and went swimming, but it was a little toasty to be refreshing (ninety two degrees). We spent the rest of the day laying around and watching a bit of tv. The house stays very cool in the hot weather so the fact that we don’t have AC downstairs isn’t really an issue.

Today I got outside early and cleaned up the back of the right side of the yard and now the yard work, at least the cleaning up, is nearly complete. I opened up a ton of new space and now we just have to decide what to do with it. My initial thoughts are to plant some grass seed, but we may end up putting in some sort of a vegetable garden for next year. Either way the mess that had been there is gone, it was just a bunch of dried up old weed stalks and a rotting arbor that collapsed long ago. The grapes over there are crazy they have grown up the apple tree and up towards the willow tree, some of them are at least twenty feet off the ground. We really need to figure out what we are going to do with them, since they seem a little bit out of control.

Kaleb has been handling the heat fairly well, but it has made him extra tired. He has really been downing solids very well and moved on to pears this past week. I have been working with him on his standing.

Finally, tomorrow is the first test of Kaleb spending the day at my mom’s house without Jennifer or I there. Jennifer has a class all day at school and I have to be at work. Luckily I don’t have to leave for work until 9:30 so he will only have to last six hours. So far whenever we leave him there he just cries the whole time, its going to be a long day for all involved, but hopefully we can get him to understand that we will be coming back.

I’ll keep you all posted on how it goes tomorrow.
Keeg

This past weekend we had a little get together to celebrate Kaleb’s six month birthday and our housewarming. We had a ton of people here and did some cooking on our new grill (thanks to the in-laws). Everbody seemed to have a good time although they all left before we actually got to eat the cake Jennifer made. It worked out pretty well for us though since we had an entire cake to enjoy over the last couple of days.



Since Jen’s parents were stayed with us we were able to cut down a bunch of trees. The yard is really coming along. I finally got a start on the back and right side of the yard. I can’t believe how good it looks, it should be done just in time for autumn :P


Kaleb is doing better than ever, he is now eating solid foods such as oatmeal cereal, peaches, bananas and apple sauce. Tonight it was really cute because he was really excited about eating. Jennifer would move the spoon towards his mouth and he would open it right up and do his pit bull impression as the spoon approached. He was downing the food like crazy. He also kind of took a bottle this morning, which is some major progress. We went over my mom’s house for a little while and left Kaleb there and as is typical for him lately he cried like crazy. It is certainly going to be interesting in a couple of weeks when Jennifer goes back to school.

The other big news was with the house. The roofers finished our new roof in just a couple days. It looks really great and we are really excited about having that huge task behind us. Now we need to focus on the wet basement and getting it dried out.

Thats the update for now.

I know I have been bad about doing entries, but you have to understand I am now a homeowner and need to do lots of yard work. Speaking of which, over the weekend we went out and bought a new lawn mower. It is one of the manual one’s, as in it doesn’t use gas or electric. I know people probably think I am crazy, but for the size yard we have I think it is good enough, plus it is good for the environment. We ended up buying it after my mom refused to buy us one although she said she would get us a gas powered one if we wanted it. The other important bit of yard work I did this weekend was cleaning the gutters. They had been pretty bad and hadn’t been cleaned in so long that there were five inch maple tree seedlings growing in them. I quickly used my new ladder (thanks dad) to clean them out and now I am just waiting for a rainstorm to see if they work.


Kaleb has been doing very well. We are still struggling to get him to eat out of a bottle and he will have about three spoonfuls of food before he starts whining. While the food hasn’t been going well, Jennifer has done a great job of getting him into a nice bed time routine. It is sometimes a bit of a struggle, but seems to be getting easier every night. He has been very vocal lately and is constantly yelling or talking to himself. He gets more personality by the day.

This weekend we are having a house warming/six month birthday party. It should be fun and also good to have some friends and family over to our new house.

Keeg

Yesterday Kaleb was standing up in my lap and so I took a chance in stood him up next to the foot stool for the chair and he stood there for a good two minutes. His legs stayed strong and didn’t buckle.

Keeg

My apologies for the huge delay between entries. It has been a very hectic over the last week between moving, closing, moving and work stuff. So last weekend I ended up driving back and forth between Amesbury and Somerville about six times, on the bright side we got most of our stuff moved. On Monday night we had the walk-through of the new house, which went well. However, near the end of the walk-through we got a call saying the mortgage company was having trouble verifying Jennifer’s employment and the closing was postponed from 9AM to 1PM. We tried our best to keep things on schedule by calling Jennifer’s HR worker, but the mortgage company needed to talk to them at their work number. The next morning things were find and we went through the entire closing and received the keys. The catch was that it was getting late in the day and they weren’t sure if they could get the house “On The Record”, but the attorney gave us the keys and let us go. Now the seller also closed on a place earlier in the day and couldn’t move in until we were “On The Record”. Anyway we started moving in when we got a call at 3:45 saying the closing still wasn’t “On The Record” and almost had to move our stuff back out. At the very last minute everything worked out though and we were able to continue the move.

Since then we have really settled in and it feels like we have lived here for years. Jennifer has done a wonderful job of unpacking and we are pretty much all moved in at this point with the exception of some crates of clothes on the back porch. I have been hard at work in the yard. Yesterday and today I spent a good eight hours total lopping, sawing and raking. You can really see the difference in the front corner of the yard where I have really cleared out a bunch of stuff and it is really coming along.

Now for the update you have all been waiting for, Kaleb. He has handled the move relatively well except for his sleeping habits. Before we left he would go to sleep without too much difficulty, but since we have been here it has been a real struggle. Tonight has worked out the best, but it didn’t come easy. The other problem is that we are so tired and don’t have the energy to battle with him so we have been letting him sleep in our bed. Developmentally he reached a new milestone by rolling over. He has only done it once, but we were quite proud of him when he did it.

Okay I am tired it is time for bed now.

Keeg

Ever since returning from vacation we have been non-stop busy. Jennifer has been working hard packing and I have spent more than my share of time driving back and forth between Somerville and Amesbury. As of this afternoon we have about 90% of our stuff moved up to my mom’s garage. Its been a lot of work, and we will hopefully reap the benefits of it once we move in and don’t have to drive back down here for anything.

Of course this process hasn’t been without a snag. Today we went up to Merrimac and everything went very well and then we got a call from our mortgage broker. Apparently the banks are now doing a lot of last minute double checking on people and decided to call Jennifer’s employer today to make sure she is actually working there. They weren’t able to reach anybody so they put a hold on our closing. Now we have to move the closing back to one, which is going to cause trouble for the seller because she needs to close on her new place at eleven. It basically a big mess, but should hopefully all be resolved by 2PM tomorrow. We will then start driving back and forth from my mom’s to the new place. It is sure to be a long day, but in the end we should be officially moved up to the quiet suburbs.

I’ll keep you posted once we are all settled.

Keeg

"Fort Running" on Google Video
Episode One: Lakitu Goes Fort Running Here is a video I recently made while on vacation in Maine. I really love our MacBook. See you all soon!!! Keeg

Our vacation is coming to a close today, I have actually been working up here in Maine for the last two days. I will provide more text updates soon, but in the meantime here are more photos. I will say that Kaleb has made a lot of progress sitting up on his own as you will see in the photos. He also has a lot more aware than even a week and a half ago. He is growing up so fast.



It’s back to Somerville tonight and then we start moving up to Merrimac for the big closing date on Tuesday.

Keeg

All is well in Maine here are two more slideshows.

Here is a quick post from a cafe in Bath, Maine.



We are currently on vacation and everything has been wonderful. I will hopefully post more later when I have more time.

Keeg

"Kaleb's New Noise" on Google Video
A short clip of Kaleb demonstrating his new screeching abilities. He also goes over the list of things to bring on vacation with mom. Sorry I don't have any photos, but we are going on vacation and I should be putting a bunch of stuff up soon. Keeg

I first want to apologize if it takes a few days before you get any updates or see any photos of Kaleb. The truth of the matter is that I have been working non-stop and on top of that I have started the process of moving things up to my mom’s garage. My days at work pretty much go like this:
10 AM Arrive at work start up my computer and check email.
10:15 AM One of the emails is from somebody asking for assistance.
10:45 AM Return to my desk briefly to check email and update my source code.
11:00 AM Go into the kitchen for a snack and on the way get dragged in to an impromptu meeting.
12:00 PM Return to my desk to check email, and read anything new in my Google Reader.
12:15 PM Lunch time
1:15 PM Return from lunch, check email, update source code and do another local build.
1:30 PM Head to kitchen for chocolate. On way back get called into the boss' office for discussion.
2:00 PM Return to my desk to check email and see message from engineer who needs assistance.
2:30 PM Back to my desk again and get to install the software before getting bug emails that I need to review.
3:00 PM A scheduled meeting is planned, which runs anywhere from 1 to 2 hours depending on how side tracked we get.
5:00 PM Finally, I return to my desk and start to pack things up so I can get home in time for dinner.

I don’t know really why my title is Software Engineer, because I don’t seem to do much of it lately. I know being a jack of all trades is a good thing, but seriously I just want to sit in a room for eight hours and get some work done. Oh wait actually I do get to do that, but only after 8PM at home. The second part of my day, when I actually get work done starts at 8PM. I pull up a seat at the dining room and quickly get to working. The only breaks I take occur about once an hour when I creep into the nursery and lean into Kaleb’s crib to make sure he is still breathing. Once I confirm that everything is okay I return to my dining room station and work until about one or two depending on how tired I happen to be and how much work I NEED to get done.

Thankfully a big break in all this madness will be here and I will get to rest. You see at the end of the day on Friday my vacation begins and I am going to be keeping the work computer off for the entire week. No email checking, no phone calls, just the peace and quiet of coastal Maine. I will be using a computer though, but it will be our MacBook and I will be editing all of the movies I have filmed so far this year. I can’t wait!!!!!

Keeg

Kaleb had a couple more first today. First we went up to Plum Island to meet Nonna and Sir at the beach. Once out on the river side of the beach Kaleb got his first chance to touch sand at the beach. He was cool with it and didn’t have any reaction. Later on I took him down near the water and dipped his feet in, of course being New England the water was super cold and he cried a little until I pulled him up. We then sat down in the wet sand and made his first footprints in the sand. After a couple hours we packed up and went over to my mom' house.

Once there Kaleb ate some lunch and then I got to take him into the pool. He was surprisingly calm and didn’t mind it at all. We hung out in the pool for about fifteen minutes going back and forth in the shallow end and just swimming around. He was a bit tense at first, but eventually relaxed and had a grand old time.

Now I have to get over to the dining room table and start doing the work that I have been putting off all weekend. Only five more days until I start my vacation!!! I can hardly wait.

Keeg

Kaleb had a couple of firsts over the last few days. The first first was eating solid food. I think it was the Fourth of July, we mixed up a little breast milk and rice cereal for him. He didn’t really eat it very well and most of it ended up on his bib, but we are confident at least a little bit made it to his little stomach. We have since continued solids every night and he gets a little better at each feeding.



The other first occurred today and it was his first boat ride. We were invited to Liz’s birthday party which was on Georges Island in Boston Harbor. So we met down near Christopher Columbus park and boarded the boat. Kaleb didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, but I would say he enjoyed seeing all of that water. It was a first for me too, I had never been to Georges Island. The island was pretty cool and at one point I wandered off and checked out the cool fort on the island. It was a really great day and another successful first for Kaleb.

More details later. Be sure and check out the actual album and view the album view for the Georges Island trip.

Stay cool out there, a heat wave is on the way.
Keeg

We originally had grand plans for this lovely Independence day, but around 8AM this morning I woke up and decided I might just need to take my day off and rest for a change. Jennifer and I also weren’t feeling too well so it made the decision a little easier. So we stayed in bed for a few more hours, I made Jennifer a latte and brought in a plate with our anniversary cake and some blueberries. It was then back to sleep for me for a couple more hours. I woke up around noon to find Kaleb sound asleep next to me. We put him in his fourth of July outfit and went up to True Grounds for lunch. Now we are back at home watching the Devil Rays-Red Sox game.

Hopefully after the game my mom, who is at the game, will be coming over to visit, well if she can find her way here.

Keeg

Saturday marked the last weekend day until the first week in August that we didn’t have anything in particular planned. Since I had seen a movie in as long as I can remember I went in to Boston and saw the latest Die Hard movie. I have to admit I am such a huge fan of the entire franchise, it is the perfect mix of humor and action. Of course this installment didn’t disappoint and I left satisfied. Once back home I ended up working for most of the evening, but the good news is that I made some great progress.

This morning I spent some of the morning with Kaleb, before walking up to True Grounds for breakfast. I enjoyed a scone and a nice mocha while doing some more work. I took another short break from work and went for a walk with the family. I then did some more work before we piled in to the car and went up to Winchester Hospital for a little reunion. We really had a great time there. I have been helping out with a google group for parents in the Special Care Nursery, which will hopefully get some use soon.

Its getting late so I am going to close this up now. Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary, which certainly caps off a crazy year. In honor of the day we are going to dinner in the North End at Bricco. We are both very excited to eat some amazing food.

Keeg

The summer has finally arrived and we have been forced to live in the bedroom, because it is the only air conditioned room in the house. Kaleb has been doing okay and the heat hasn’t bothered him too much. I think he actually likes it because he gets to just wear a diaper. Sunday was a quiet day, we met Cara and Jeff for breakfast and then walked down to Harvard Square to relax at JFK Park. Rich came over and met us at the park and we went and got some ice cream. We came back home and that was the end of our quiet weekend.

Keeg

EDIT: Google has come up with another amazing feature to Picasa photos. You can now link photos to locations on a map and then view photos on the map and all sorts of cool things. If you want to check it out click the link to view the album and there are a couple places where you can view the photos on a map.

Not much to report, since my last entry. Kaleb went in for his four month check up and the doctor says he is doing really well. He weight 10lbs and 12 ounces and was 22 3/4 inches long. So he is really progressing well. He also had some more vaccinations which he didn’t really enjoy too much. He also was extra sleepy and not himself the day afterwards, which was tough including the evening following the shots when he just screamed for about twenty minutes.

Yesterday Jennifer had to work again so I brought Kaleb up to Amesbury so my mom could watch him while I worked. He slept almost the entire time and didn’t wake up until 11:45AM. I ended up leaving around lunch time and went to a espresso/wine bar in downtown Amesbury. I loved it and can’t wait to go back once we move up to Merrimac. It is a place called J. Bucks and is located in the building that used to be the railroad station. The place is huge and was perfect, now I just have to hope they don’t go out of business.

Today we didn’t do much besides walk out to Alewife so Jennifer could go shopping for something to wear to a bachelorette party tonight. It was a real Boston party with stops at some of the hipper clubs in the city. I think it is great that she is getting out there and taking some time for herself, it is a huge part of staying sane and keeping touch with yourself.

Okay, I think Kaleb just woke up so I have to go check on him.

Have a great weekend everybody!!!
Keeg

EDIT: I almost forgot, Kaleb touched his feet with his hands for the first time. I included the photo, but it is a little fuzzy, sorry about that.

After the super buy weekend we thought Kaleb’s fussing was just because he was tired, but we are beginning to think more and more that he is now teething. We aren’t certain, but he is definitely touching his mouth more often and has been chewing on his pacifier more often than he has been sucking it. Apparently it isn’t unheard of for a baby to be teething at four months. Luckily he has to go in for his four month appointment tomorrow so we should know for sure. Its been two months since his last appointment and he is almost twice as big as he was then. We are looking forward to finally getting answers to questions we have been curious about for weeks now, such as cradle cap, teething, the flatness of the back of his head, the pace of his overall development (cognitive and physical) and the recent green poo.

The other big thing happening tomorrow is my longest stint flying solo with the little man. Jennifer has to go to school two day this week, tomorrow I am on duty and Friday my mom will be watching him. I am a bit nervous about the milk situation, because he hasn’t consistently eaten from a bottle yet and if he doesn’t take it tomorrow it will be a long, loud day. He took one from me tonight though without much trouble, so hopefully it will go well.

Kaleb continues to perfect his hand eye coordination. Today he hit his beach ball for the first time and also swung at a couple other toys. Its amazing how in the last few days he has gained even more personality. He is looking around more than ever and really enjoys going outside and checking out the sights, actually taking him outside is like magic, because it really calms him down. Okay its getting late and I have a long day ahead of me, so I am going to bed now.

My first father’s day was super busy and involved lots of driving, but it was wonderful. I woke up bright and early as usual and got a couple lovely cards from Kaleb and Jennifer along with some great framed photos. I then tried to get back to sleep, but by the time I was back in dreamland it was time to get up and get going. We were in the car by 9:45 and at AppleBee’s in Sturbridge by 11. We had a lovely dinner with the Riebe’s and hung out for a couple hours before going to Old Navy. It wasn’t a very successful visit, but Kaleb did get his first pair of shoes.

We got back in the car, this time accompanied by Auntie M and drove up to Amesbury. The Amesbury agenda included a Father’s day dinner at my dad’s, a pit stop at Hodgies and a quick visit to see my mom. All went well, I could type some details in, but I really want to watch tv with my wife right now so you are going to have to imagine how it all went. The one thing I have to point out is that Kaleb was exhausted for the entire day, which really effected his demeanor. He was really fussy and not on his best behavior, but Jennifer and I fully take the blame for that problem, since over the past few days we have dragged him all over god’s green earth.

Finally, today I put Kaleb in the pool for the first time. It was really just some basic testing of his tolerance of the pool since it all occurred from the steps, but I did lower him into the pool. He was a bit unsure at first, but once he was wet he was pretty cool with it. I am thinking on Friday I may just have to jump in and get him in a little more.

Keeg

I made it an early day at work yesterday and Jennifer, Kaleb and I went for lunch at the Grand Prix cafe. We then came home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. However, Kaleb did make some more progress with objects. Today he was in his pack and play and was swatting at a dangling toy. He batted it around for a good ten minutes. It is the first time he has ever swung at something on purpose. He was so very excited and kicked his legs like crazy. We are both very proud of his progress.



Today we went to the Fells for a brief hike, before meeting Megan, Jamie and Jamison for an afternoon at the Charles RiverFest. Here are the photos:

While looking through some of the photos today we noticed a slight resemblance between Kaleb and Yoda. Kaleb recently lost some of his hair and the hair that remains on the top is relatively sparse and coarse, just like Yoda. He also has ears that are a bit pointy like Yoda and his cradle cap also looks a lot like the top of Yoda’s head. I suppose you should judge for yourself though.



Today was another milestone of sorts, when Kaleb became the Lord of the Rings. Jennifer bought him some rings (links) to play with and yesterday he kind of grabbed on to them, but today he not only grabbed on, but flung them around a little bit. It is the first time he has ever held on to something and tossed it back and forth. He almost moved it towards his mouth, but stopped at the last minute. Here is some video of that for you to see.

Not much news to report this morning. Kaleb was nursing and as usual was pooping away at the same time. All of a sudden Jennifer goes “ewww” and starts looking at her hand. My first reaction was to grab the camera and take a picture and then since I had volunteered to change him pre giant poop explosion I took him over to get changed. I think the hardest part about it was trying to change him without getting poo all over the changing table. After a lot of struggling with Kaleb and tipping him on his side I successfully removed the nightgown and then got the diaper off without one drop of poo on the changing table. I really have come a long way with diaper changes over the last three and a half months.


Here are a couple videos.

Kaleb Howling


Kaleb Swinging at the Bunny

I got an email from Melissa wondering if Kaleb, Jennifer and I wanted to meet her at the Scooper Bowl. I finally got a hold of Jennifer late in the afternoon, because she was at mommy/baby yoga and then shopping at the worst Target store around. We decided that ice cream would make for a perfect dinner. I came home a little early and we made our way into the city around 5:00. It was a bit chilly downtown, but it didn’t stop me from breaking my previous record of ice cream cups. Today I downed 16 cups of ice cream total and that was even considering the fact that Ben & Jerry’s had some random non-chocolate based ice cream flavors. Not only did I break my record, but Kaleb also got to attend his first Scooper Bowl. We were kind enough to give him a few tastes of the yummy drippings at the bottom of our empty cups. He seemed to enjoy the few drips we gave him which is very encouraging.

Kaleb was also weighed again at yoga class and with his onesie on he weighed 10 pounds and 6 ounces. He seems to continue to gain a half pound a week. He is growing by leaps and bounds. The other big change with him is his recent babblings. Tonight we made wolf noises to him and he kept making similar noises back to us. It was really funny to watch him move his lips and then belt out a loud howl.

Keeg

Not much to report. LiveJournal is finally working again so I was able to post the full entry from the weekend (see below). Last night we once again put Kaleb down in his bassinet at nine to get him more used to going to bed early, so far so good. This morning we gave him a bath to help clean him up after he had poo all the way up his back. He didn’t seem to care and actually got a kick out of me showing him the messy onesie.

I came home a bit early from work to spend time with him and we had a great evening. We went for a couple walks, the second walk started out slowly, because we kept stopping and chatting with people. It gave Kaleb a chance to really go crazy though, he was jabbering so much and kicking his legs. It was hilarious, I will be adding a video to this post later.

EDIT:


I just updated KeegSands.com so it will display the actual livejournal because there was a problem with some of the photos and slideshows not showing up. So in the future just go to Keegsands.com

Keeg

The weekend started off a bit early because I decided to take Friday off. We ended up sleeping in until around ten, which is crazy late, but once up we moved quickly and were in Portland by one. The goal of the trip was to first of all get out of Boston and away from work, but also to pick up some Dave’s Insanity Salsa. I know it seems silly, but it is the hottest I have ever had and it can’t be bought anywhere else that I know of besides the internet. We went to Le Reux found the salsa and then went for lunch at the Crooked Mile cafe, our typical lunchtime destination when in Portland. We shopped around for a little while, before returning to the car. Once we were underway I called Jennie and we met her for ice cream in Wells. We caught up with her for quite a while and then continued towards Amesbury. We stopped in at my moms while Kaleb ate and then made it back home.

Saturday I woke up bright and early, well at least early for me nowadays. I had to get up because it was the annual Agawam River Canoe trip. I picked up a mocha and made my way over to the Back Bay to get Amy. We made it down in record time and met up with everybody else. The logistics of the trip had been worked out before we got there, but all the components were still in transit. Once everything was in place we set out after the first cranberry bog, which helped cut out a lot of the bushwhacking. It was a very humid day, but there was a nice wind to balance it and kept it cool. I was partnered up with Amy and while we did struggle a bit, due to my terrible driving skills, we did make it in one piece. I did manage to fall in at one portage, but luckily all of my stuff was on dry land at the time. The highlight of the trip wasn’t my fall though it was when Kelly managed to get the kayak stuck sideways in the rapids and then capsized sending her thirty feet down stream. She was alright, but I have to say it was crazy to watch. We emptied the water out of her kayak and all continued on our merry way to Wareham harbor. It was another great trip, I can’t wait until next year.




Today required another early morning and I was in worse shape than yesterday. We needed to go down to Connecticut for Kaleb’s postponed baby shower. He was supposed to have one in Connecticut, but since he came early it was never able to happen. It turned out okay because now everybody got to attend a meet Kaleb party instead, which I think everybody benefits from. There were a ton of people there, so I won’t bother naming everybody. A fun time was had by all especially after they all indulged in some apparently strong margaritas care of sir. Kaleb as expected was passed all round and he handled it fairly well, although somewhere near the end he started to get fussy. We ended up settling him down and he slept until right before we had to leave, so we were able to feed him and he made it home without waking up. All in all a fantastic week, with lots of activity and not much sleep. Thank god the work week is about to start. Oh yeah and on the way there I passed the 100,000 mile mark on my odometer. Not bad for only having the car for 4 1/2 years.

I am a bit late on updating this information, so bear with me. On Monday Jennifer and Kaleb went to baby/mommy yoga, and at some point in the day had access to a scale. Since it has been over a month since he was last weighed, she of course couldn’t resist and plopped our little man onto it for a weigh in. The results showed he now weighs in around 9lbs 14oz and is now about 22 1/2 inches long. Assuming one ounce a day, he is now probably right at 10 pounds. So he is now almost three times his lowest weight of 3lbs 6oz. He sure is growing up fast.

Okay now I need to get ready for breakfast with Kate and then back to work for another long day, thankfully I have tomorrow off though. Hopefully we will be driving up to Portland tomorrow, assuming the weather isn’t going to be too bad.

Keeg

Today the 100th day since Kaleb was born. Its hard to believe so many days have since that crazy day back in February. We didn’t really do anything special for the day, it was a weird day because of the weather forecast, which originally predicted rain for the day. It rained a little, but then it was sunny and then cloudy and then sunny and then clear. I had to do a lot of work so I was in most of the day, but we did get out for a couple hours and ate lunch at Panera. We also went for an evening walk over to Andy’s house to visit with him for a little while. On the way home we stopped by Auntie M’s for a couple minutes and now we are home.

Oh yeah one more thing…last night we were sound asleep and then all of a sudden Kaleb lets out a squeal, not a cry but a squeal. Jennifer and I were both startled awake and looked over at him. He was jabbering away over there, and after a closer look he was wide awake. Once the lights were on we could see that he was just having a grand old time entertaining himself, talking, kicking and swinging his arms. It was hilarious, but made sense since he had slept most of the day before.

Here is an entry sandwiched in between two slideshows. Yesterday, Jennifer and Kaleb took a little play date trip into the city with Jamison and Megan. Despite the heat he was okay and didn’t seem to mind being hot for a change. They spent most of the day down at the Public Garden just hanging out having a grand old time. Meanwhile, I left a busy work day and drove an hour up to Newburyport for a doctor’s appointment. You see a few weeks ago I cut a mole on my neck and slowly it got bigger and bigger. I think it was somehow filling with blood, and that is why it just kept growing. Anyway, it got a little too big for my tastes and I decided to go see a plastic surgeon to have it removed, per my mother’s recommendation. Once at the office the doctor took a look at it and kind of did a double take. Luckily they were able to make room in the schedule to remove it and within a half hour, I was under the knife. I warned both the nurse and doctor that I tend to be a bit squeamish when it comes to this sort of thing and they said they figured based on my reaction during the examination. I didn’t end up having any problems, thankfully the nurse let me hold her hand through the hardest part. Twenty minutes or so later and I was all stitched up with four stitches, but more importantly mole free. I hopped back in the car and drove to Amesbury to visit my mom before returning to work at around four o’clock.

When I finally got home after work I was glad to see that a new toy for Kaleb had arrived from our friends Liz and Brett, the Bebe Pod. I think it is one of the only things I helped register for and when I saw that somebody had grabbed it for us I was so excited. Basically the Bebe Pod is a hard foam plastic seat that babies can sit in even when they aren’t able to sit up. It has a curved back and a piece that sticks up in the front to hold him in, very much like the old sit’n’spin toys from the eighties. Here is a photo of the Bebe Pod:

Here is a photo of a Sit’N’Spin:

So the first thing I did when I got home was to put Kaleb into the Bebe Pod. He fit in perfectly, but his neck muscles don’t really have the stamina for him to sit in there for extended periods of time. You will see in some of the photos how he slowly leans over to one side. Since he doesn’t like tummy time, which is a good way for his neck to get stronger, this will be the perfect neck strengthening activity.

Last night we went to John Joyce’s 30th birthday party at the Cellar in Cambridge. I had never been there before, but it was a really cool restaurant with a great ambiance and some really amazing food. My two favorites were the tater tots, which should really be called fried mashed potato balls and the chicken flatbread pizza. Yummy!! Kaleb was very well behaved and pretty much slept the entire time, which was good considering the hot weather.

Today we all slowly woke up and hung around the house in the morning. I did a little work, but realized I left my power supply at work so had to drive in at noon to pick it up. Once back at home I noticed that the annual EarthFest concert was going on and we decided to go check it out. So around 1:30 we got our act together and took Kaleb to his first live music concert. We got to hear Mat Kearney and KT Tunstall. I have downloaded a ton of KT’s songs and really think she is great artist. We also walked around EarthFest and picked up some free food, like yogurt, juice and granola, although there didn’t seem to be as much stuff as last year.

Now we are at home sitting on the couch. Kaleb is squeaky clean thanks to his bath, which went smoother than ever. He actually smiled a lot, so I had to break out the camera and ended up adding the second slideshow to this posting.

Oh yeah one more thing, Ben came over tonight and we were telling him a Kaleb story that I am not sure I ever documented, but wanted to make sure I wrote it down. A couple months ago right after he came home, we were supposed to give him vitamins via an eyedropper. So after he was finished eating we took the eyedropper and put it in his mouth, squeezed it and he immediately spit it right back at us. He continued to spit it out for a couple minutes, before we put him down in his bouncy seat. Once he was in the bouncy seat he didn’t make a noise and kept his mouth locked shut for a half an hour, he was noticeably angry with us. The worst part about it though was that he ended up getting the vitamin stuff all over him and smelled like a Flinstone’s vitamin for the next two days, until we gave him another bath.

While I am posting I just wanted to give you more information about the embedded slideshow above. If you click the lower right corner you will be given access to a link that will bring you to the old style photo gallery. There is the possibility that when you click on it your browser will try to block the pop up, to prevent this you can either hold the ctrl key when clicking on a Windows machine or hold the fn key when clicking on a mac.

If you still have trouble viewing the regular gallery let me know.
Keeg

"Kaleb Talking It Up" on Google Video
A two minute long video of Kaleb chatting or at least babbling, taken at 1:30 in the morning. Isn't it nice to have no concept of day or night.

I found two great websites this morning. The first is SpotStory, where you can write a story about a specific spot and upload photos so people can share there favorite spots. The second is a.spacebetween.us, it is a site for finding a location halfway between two locations. So if you lived in Merrimac and wanted to meet halfway with people from Southbury for coffee it would recommend Sturbridge Coffee Roasters. I think I remember talking with somebody about this idea a year or so ago, its good to see that somebody has gone out and done it.

Kaleb: Day 90



Kaleb: Day 93


Scottie and April’s Wedding


I got a ton of grief from my dad for not updating the photos since Wednesday, so now you get three whole albums with all sorts of photos. Of course I have an excuse for my neglect of the site, we have been busy with new house stuff. On Friday, we signed the purchase and sales agreement and also submitted our mortgage application. Now we are officially moving into new territory and if all goes well, we will be closing at the end of July. It was very anti-climactic, but I am sure once the house is actually ours I will barely be able to contain myself.

Now for the Kaleb news. He continues to be extremely well behaved, and we are so grateful for that fact. On Friday, he slept through the signing, and then went to the mall with his mom and his grandmother. On Saturday, we didn’t do much of anything, I mostly spent the day trying to get through the TiVo. Developmentally Kaleb has changed a little bit. He continues to follow things with his eyes, but now with a little more focus. He is more aware of Jennifer and I so he smiles a little more often and at definitively different times than when he is pooing. I guess the most recent change would be a possible grabbing reflex, we are not sure though. We were sitting on the couch and playing with his stuffed lamb and he seemed to be reaching for it. Later on we put him in the playpen and ran the mobile, again he swung his hands in the direction of the bunny, but it could just have been chance. He is slowly becoming more aware of his hands and hopefully in the next few weeks he will know exactly what those things are flailing around in front of his face.

Today we stayed in for most of the day, until the afternoon when we hopped in the car and drove to Natick. Jennifer’s former dance students had a performance, so we went and checked it out. It marked Kaleb’s first live performance, as always he was very good and was quiet through the entire show. I did have to walk around holding him, but not because he was being crazy loud. After the show he got to eat and the car and we headed back home, on the way we did do some Keegan stuff, like buy a 1/2 Terra Byte hard drive for storing all of Kaleb’s movies and photos. I think that should last us until he is at least two.

Okay time to get going.

Keeg

Mr. Kaleb has been sleeping alot lately, but when he isn’t sleeping he has been very active. He has been smiling more than ever and also doing more talking. Its so great to see him learn and grow. Last night we went out for a walk and for most of it kept him reclined as usual just up from completely reclined. About halfway through the walk we realized he was awake and put his seat up a little more so he could see better and he was so excited. Once we started going again he was looking around at things like crazy, we then went into the supermarket and he was in heaven. All of the bright lights and bright colors had him mesmerized and we just kept kicking his feet and swinging his arms around. Finally when we got to the check out I came around the stroller and poke my head in front of him to say hi and he had an ear to ear grin. It just blew me away that he recognized me and not only that, he also smiled. I continued to be amazed by him everyday.

Here is a video of him smiling at his new lamb.

Weekend in CT

Kaleb added Connecticut to his list of states visited over the weekend, when we went to the Riebe's house. He was so good all weekend, he slept most of the time, including the car ride up and back. It was nice to get out of the house for a change and to spend the night in the suburbs, having somebody else watch the baby so we could sleep late was also nice. I finally managed to finish the Christmas DVD and also added two more slideshows to the original series of two. Next up is a podcast, which I haven't been able to get to, but I am sure will be worth the wait.

We also received the home inspection over the weekend and were very pessimistic about the house. So today we arranged for Jon to go over and check it out for himself. I decided to leave work early, picked up Jennifer and Kaleb and we all went up to check out the house too. After a double check of all the items in the house inspection report it turned out that things weren't as bad as they themed and wouldn't require as much work as we originally thought. There are still a couple things left to take care of, including an estimate for fixes to the roof and a search for some building permits. Hopefully if all goes well we will be signing the purchase and sales agreement on Friday. Once that is done we are good to go, well once we get the mortgage squared away.

I have a really busy week ahead at work, but I think I will make it through unscathed. Work has been crazy lately, I did a ton of work this weekend on a demo, which will be taking place tomorrow. Hopefully all will go well.

Keeg

30th Birthday

Well today was my thirtieth birthday and I have to say it turned out great. It didn't start out so well, because I was up late working last night, so I got to see May 11th arrive. However, after sleeping for a bit the day started off on a much higher note. Jennifer got me a new Apple Airport Extreme router, so we will have a faster network at home, will be able to print from anywhere in the house and also be able to hook a hard drive up to it so we can ease the strain on the laptop itself. Kaleb also gave me some presents, two books that I can read to him when he is more appreciative of books. After opening my presents I got to lay with Kaleb while Jennifer showered and got ready for the big home inspection. It was really nice just sitting in bed with my son on my birthday and thinking that 30 years ago I was smaller than him.

Unfortunately, Jennifer and Kaleb had to take off relatively early so I was left at home alone. Since we were having a party in the evening I decided to do some cleaning and two hours later the house was in great shape and ready for guests. I rolled off to work for and had a relatively uneventful day, which I have no complaints about.

After work I went to the store in search of a nunchuk controller for the Wii in case somebody wanted to do some two player boxing. I finally returned home, only to turn around and head back out to the store to get ice cream for the party. I came back home, stuck the ice cream in the freezer and got ready for the big party.

The guests slowly arrived and before long we had a smorgasboard of food and everybody was having a grand time. After eating a while we turned on the Wii and several games of tennis, bowling and golf were had before the main event of two player boxing. All was going well except, Kaleb was super fussy, partly because he was hot, but mostly because he was tired from his long day, long week for that matter. Besides the fact that Jennifer wasn't able to enjoy the party everything went really well. It was so nice to have my friends over just hanging out and having a good time. It wasn't the craziest party ever and it didn't involve a lot of bells and whistles, but I enjoyed it all the same.

So now here I sit in a house that is nearly returned to its original state, recounting one of those major birthday milestones. Of course it really hasn't sunk in that I am now thirty years old, it is hard to believe that ten years have passed since I returned home from my sophomore year of college and celebrated my 20th birthday. Actually what is harder for me to believe is just how much my life has changed and how many experiences, good and bad, I have had over the last ten years. I have learned so much about myself and really became my true self.

The last five years though were probably where most of the change occurred. I went through small changes like making new friends and going out in the city and traveled by plan for the first time in fifteen years. Next I began a quest to climb all of the 4000 footers in New England, then I got a ski house and finally started dating again. I then bought my first new car, went on my first online date (which was complete disaster), and went for my first ski trip out west. I slowly began to expand my horizons more and more with each passing month, finally I passed one major milestone and moved out of my mom's house and lived by myself. It was tough living alone way out in Salem, but it taught me how to live alone and helped me experience a bit more of the real world. Next up was my first trip to New York City to attend the largest Dave Matthews Band concert ever in the middle of Central Park (just plain amazing). The next winter was spent skiing again and strengthening friendships that I had made over the previous two years.

Once spring began, I bailed on the annual ski trip in favor of a once in a lifetime trip to Europe. It was truly a sign that I had made great progress, because when I was 25 if you had asked me if I would ever go to Europe you would have recieved a resounding "No way". I did go and I grew up a whole bunch on the trip, I learned to be even more independent and learned about the beauty and uniqueness that existed elsewhere in the world.

Once I was back in the good ol' US of A I returned to the online dating scene and while I went on many dates, I wasn't exactly successful, but it did help me learn what I was looking for and also helped make me much more comfortable while on dates. I also decided it was time for me to move in closer to the city, because I really enjoyed city life and all the things it had to offer. Within minutes of signing my lease to live in Somerville, I met Jennifer for our first date. My life was once again changed forever after meeting her and starting a relationship with her. She helped me continue my personal growth spurt and helped to show me what true love was all about. We had so many wonderful experiences and my life was forever changed for the better.

Things progressed very well and before long we moved in together, another huge step and proof that my growing had not stopped. By the time fall came around again we started to talk about marriage and right before winter started I had popped the question. At the time I remember thinking how crazy the year had been and how I didn't know how I would possibly top it, little did I know what I was in store for over the next 17 months. 2005 ended quietly and 2006 began without much fanfare. We started the somewhat stressful process of planning a wedding, but given our relatively quick decision making, we didn't have much trouble.

Last May I turned 29 and began what looks to possibly be the craziest most amazing year of my life. We had the perfect wedding in front of friends and family in July, spent an unforgettable two weeks in some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen in all my life and upon returning home learned that we were going to have a baby. It was insane in a matter of a few weeks I went from being a plain old fiance to a husband to an expecting father. It was all a bit overwhelming at first, but I didn't think I could be any happier (boy was I wrong). The pregnancy went along quickly and every week we would read about Three's development learning what body parts had been created and a comparison of its size versus various household items.

The new year came and went and Jennifer's belly continued to grow. Then once we got to February the two most stressful weeks of my life began, when Jennifer showed signs of pre-term labor. It was really hard not knowing what was going to happen and wondering if the baby would be okay. Finally, the single greatest moment of my existence happened on February 17th, when Kaleb was born healthy, small, but healthy. It was just an unbelievable experience that I will never forget, although I might remember it better if I had brought my camera with me. Unfortunately we weren't out of the woods yet, we had a healthy baby, but he needed to stay in the hospital and we visited him everyday. I think this was probably the most difficult experience I have ever had, going in to the hospital everyday to see Kaleb all hooked up to machines and with beeping all around and then having to leave to return home every night. Well eventually he got bigger and we were able to take him home.

Which brings us to today the first day of my 30th year. I can safely say that I think it is safe to say I am happier right now than I ever have been or at least that I can remember. I have the most amazing wife in the entire world, who understands me, supports me, makes me laugh, is truly the greatest mother in the world and most importantly loves me with all of her heart. I have a son who is just the cutest litlte thing in the whole world, a teeny person who makes me smile constantly despite the fact that he can barely control his own smiles, a boy who has been through so much difficulty, but passed through it all to become a normal healthy baby. I don't think I could have wished for my life to turn out better than it is right at this moment. I certainly didn't think at 25 that I would ever get here, but somehow through all the odd twists of fate, and random occurrences I seemed to have done very well.

As you can tell from the long drawn out ramblings above I am getting tired, not to mention the fact that I am in my thirties and just can't stay up as late as I used to back in my twenties. I just want to thank all of you out there who have helped me grow so much and have helped me to the state of sheer bliss I am in today starting my third decade on this wonderful planet. Here's to many happy returns of the day!!

Keegan

New House: Merrimac

Kaleb: Day 82

Kaleb had another busy day, in the morning he went with Jennifer to pick up Auntie M and they drove up to Salem Willows. Apparently he loved being up there and out in the fresh air. He spent most of the time in a portable we got from a neighbor. It was quite a lovely day, with lots of sun and temperatures up in the 80's.

When I came home from work Jennifer and Kaleb were sitting on the front steps waiting for me. We sat out on the front steps for a while watching the cars drive by. Kaleb even turned his head a couple times as they zoomed by.

Later on we put Kaleb in the Baby Bjorn and walked around a little bit before going over to Spirit Bar for his first BoCaNO. Everybody was surprised to see him there, but he was definitely a hit. Everybody took turns holding him as he went in and out of consciousness. He behaved really well and made sure to tell him that I was proud of him, of course he didn't understand what I said, but maybe someday he will read this and appreciate my kind words.

He really had a great day and continues to talk more than ever. We are both very excited to see how he is going to do next week and what new things he will learn.

Keeg

"Kaleb Talking At Salem Willows" on Google Video
Here is a minute long clip of Jennifer and Kaleb chatting it up at Salem Willows park in Salem, MA. You can really hear him chattering away.

Kaleb: Day 80

In the album above I included some of the more painful moments that Kaleb goes through in the course of a day, such as the painful nose sucking aspirator moments and the occasional poop all the way up his back incidents. Of course there are also the moments not captured like when we have no idea what is wrong and he screams or when we have to change his diaper while he isn't quite awake yet, which results in lots of screaming. We also had an incident yesterday where he was really tired, but since he is a baby he doesn't know this, anyway he was screaming and we knew as soon as he went into the Moby he would fal asleep. So we put him in the movie and he was calm, but foolishly we forgot to put an extra layer on him so we had to take him out to put his hoodie on which resulted in an extremely "MadOne". There is also the removal from bath or shower incidents where he is actually enjoying himself and we must take him out of the warmth and into the cold air. The other diaper related issue is when one of us (generally me) doesn't put the diaper on correctly and the wetness gets all over the place.

So while at first it may seem like being a baby is the best thing ever, because you don't have to do anything but sleep, in reality it is a lot more difficult than it appears.

Now for more house information. The house we are currently under agreement on is at 5 South Pleasant Street in Merrimac, MA . It is a dead end street, in a historic district, within two blocks of the Merrimack River. If you saw the virtual tour yesterday then you saw that it has a really funky layout. It has a good sized backyard that is bordered by wetlands and a preserve so there isn't much chance of new neighbors behind us. We have a home inspection planned for Friday morning, so hopefully we will have some more photos. If all goes well we will be closing at the end of July.




Keeg

Kaleb: Day 79

Just a quick post before I go work for the day. Yesterday we went up to Merrimac and looked a house down near the river and it was fantastic. So we have placed an offer on the house and now are awaiting a response from the sellers. I will post more details of the house later when things are more locked in.

After submitting the offer we stopped at AndyMan for some lunch and went back to my mom's house. We spent most of the afternoon there and then went over to my dad's to visit. Kaleb enjoyed yet another trip to Amesbury. Everybody is so amazed at how fat he has gotten since they last saw him. Unfortunately we don't have a scale that measures such small things so we don't know how much he weighs at this point, although our estimates from holding him and standing on the scale and then just standing on the scale put him around 8.5 or 9 pounds.

Okay thats all for now, I will keep this updated with any new house information.

Keeg

UPDATE: We had one back and forth with the offer, but around 4PM this afternoon it was accepted and we are now under agreement.

Kaleb Day 76

Mr. Kaleb was lucky enough to travel into the city on this lovely day with his mother. They made a stop for lunch at Finagle a Bagel, which was later confirmed by the presence of a sesame seed in his diaper. After lunch they went to Border's bookstore, H&M and finally visited Auntie Em at Skinner. Apparently the little man was a big hit there and everybody loved him.

Once back at home the big agenda item tonight was to work on cleaning up his "cradle cap". So we put him in his bath without water and lathered his head with mineral oil. Afterwards we did the bath thing, which again went well and now he has been asleep for a couple hours. He's such a good kid.

Now for whats going on in the rest of my life. I went to work today and already had three meeting lined up, I am definitely at the point where I am spending more time in meetings than I am coding. I guess I am okay with this, but I am not really sure what I want at this point. Currently I am faced with a pretty solid Java project, but I am really not too excited about starting it. I don't know if I am not interested because I am out of practice or if it just isn't my deal anymore. It does seem that coding doesn't involve enough human interaction for my tastes, I mean if you meet me can you imagine me just sitting at a desk and not talking for eight hours. There is certainly part of me that can ADD and focus on something for hours at a time, but there is also a huge part of me that loves interacting with people and helping people solve problems, maybe my mom wasn't so far off when she said I should have been a teacher. The coming months will probably be huge for me and help define the role I take within CaseNET, whether I start focusing more on project management or whether I get back into coding. Only time will tell.

Keeg

"Kaleb Mobile Watching" on Google Video
Here is a short clip of Kaleb in his Pack 'n' Play watching his new mobile. At the very end of the video you can see him give a little smile.

Kaleb Day 73

Kaleb has been really wonderful lately, last nighthe slept for four hours in a row at one point, which is a new record for nighttime sleeping. The high points for me today were seeing him follow his mobile, while "talking" to it and then finishing it off with a nice smile. The past week has been amazing for him with regards to development. Just a few days ago we would put him in his pack'n'play and he would follow the mobile for a couple minutes, and now he can sit in there for fifteen minutes just watching the mobile and looking around. It's pretty amazing watching him grow up and we are so lucky to have such a well behaved kid.

Today he had another play date with Jamison, unfortunately his mother didn't take any photos so I don't have anything to upload. They walked quite a bit in Newton and enjoyed a nice lunch at a cafe. I actually came home from work early because I was exhausted, probably because I went to the gym for the first time in quite a while. It felt so good to exercise and hopefully I can get back into the gym thing, because it did work out so well for me last time.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day 70

Its hard to believe that ten weeks have passed since Kaleb was born. He has changed so much especially in the area of his chubbiness. We gave him a bath tonight and I can barely get my fingers around his thighs because they are so big. He surely is a little monster. Today Jennifer left the two of us for a few hours and while we got off to a good start when he got hungry I tried to give him a bottle of formula and he wasn't having it. So we struggled for about an hour of him being hungry and me trying to feed him from the bottle. I think it is time to get him trained on how to eat from the bottle again, the only thing is that I am not sure if it is the bottle he doesn't like or the old breast milk.

Tomorrow we are driving up to Amesbury to look at some more houses. Hopefully we will find something good, because it would be good to put the house search behind us. We will then rush home afterwards so we can go to Mes' birthday party at Border Cafe. It will be a busy day that will certainly find me working for as much of it as possible. We have another big demo coming up, that will require some more new functionality.

One thing to note about today was the rain storm we had in Somerville. It was the first really April shower and was so refreshing. Smelling the fresh air from a heavy shower is one of those top smells a nose gets to experience.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day 70

Jennifer brought Kaleb to West El today for a visit to her classroom. Apparently he slept the entire time despite the loud and excited kids. So far he gets an A for conduct, not a bad start.

I am testing out a new photo delivery system for everybody, so please let me know how you like it.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day 67



Just two quick notes I want to get out before starting dinner and because I just had to get these new photos out to the public. First, Kaleb got his first Red Sox cap yesterday and it almost fits him. It is actually a batting helmet, but looks just great on him. It was a gift from my mom AKA Grandmother who has not been named, she was lucky enough to drop it off in person last night and got to hold the little man.

Now for the second item, today Kaleb had his second play date with Jamison and while I wasn’t there I heard they had a wonderful time. They both dined on warm breast milk and enjoyed a long walk together. After returning to the house they also had a very candid and heartwarming photo shoot. You can see how upset Kaleb was and how Jamison kindly offered her hand out to comfort him, what a sweetheart. In return he was a little fresh boy and reached out to grab her buns. Having him sit side by side with her points out just how he has such dark skin. It looks like he has been tanning in preparation for the prom, so very metro-sexual of him.

Bye for now,
Keeg

Kaleb: Day 63

Today was Kaleb’s first doctor’s appointment in over two weeks and he now weighs 7lbs 6oz, twice his birth weight. That’s right he is now twice the baby he was less than nine weeks ago. He continues to grow at over an ounce a day, which is just fantastic. He also got his first shots today, four in all. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it because I got held up to work. Apparently he screamed at the top of his lungs and even held his breath for a few seconds because he was so upset. The doctor said he will probably sleep a lot over the next day or so and will be very sensitive on his legs where he got the shots. Since I have been home he has been sound asleep, but he will get a shower shortly.

We are looking forward to a visit from Nonna and Sir this weekend. Also on Sunday we will be going to look at houses in Amesbury. Its a long weekend for me, so I get to spend a ton of time with my favorite short person (19 1/2 inches as of today).

Keeg

Kaleb: Day 59
Since Kaleb has been growing so much over the last few days, we thought it was a good time to try and get a plaster casting of his hand print. So we used the smaller of the two hand print plaster kits we received and started mixing. All seemed to go well until we actually got his hand into the plaster. It didn’t go in very straight and was a disaster, we decided to smooth it out and try the other hand. It lined up much better this time, but then he clenched his fist and made a mess, all the while we were focused on the hand making the print the other hand was going for his ear. The result of this was that we had a completely screwed up plaster hand print mold, and a baby with plaster all over his hands and face. We tried to halt the progress of the quick drying plaster, but ended up with a bigger mess.

We then decided Kaleb needed to clean up using more than just a face cloth and figured it was a good time to try and put him in the shower. Since Jennifer was planning on taking a shower everything worked out fine. We were unsure about how well he would take it given his hot and cold response to baths (no pun intended). So Jennifer hopped in the shower and I stripped him down, he cried as expected once he was undressed, but settled down once in the bathroom. I handed him to Jennifer and he was as quiet as a mouse and seemed to enjoy the shower. After going out to get the camera and some warm towels I saw that he was loving the shower and didn’t even care about the water running over his face. It was a great relief and he peacefully finished the shower before I took him into the dining room for changing.

Oh yeah here are some of Kaleb’s nicknames for record keeping purposes: Dog-Bear, Sugar Buns, Sweet Pea, Melon Head, Little Butt, Mister Mister, Little Man, Little Nut Brown Hare, Fussy Gus, Frankie, Cashew, Frog Prince, Little Monster and Love Bug. We are slowly narrowing the list down, hopefully we will have only a couple by his first birthday.

Kaleb: Day 57

Yep, Kaleb is now eight weeks old, its hard to believe he has been home almost twice as long as he was in the hospital, time surely does fly. Things continue to go well in the Sands household, luckily it was a bit warmer today, so we were able to go for a really long walk this afternoon and then again in the evening. Unfortunately the forecast doesn’t look so good for the next few days, so its going to be another week of staying put in the house for us. Its been really hard to have this cold and damp weather, because I think if Jennifer has to spend another week confined to the inside of our apartment she might just go crazy. I am lucky enough to work so I can go somewhere, but she is stuck here. Kaleb doesn’t seem to mind either way since he mostly just sleeps when we go out anyway. Tonight after coming back from a nice dinner of crepes with Hannah and Jane, we gave Kaleb a bath and it was a success. He barely cried and pretty much just acted chill throughout the entire ordeal. I am convinced that the crying before was caused by the water being too hot. Its really hard to get the water temperature just right, because you are accustomed to one temperature, but the baby needs it much cooler, but if it is too cool that isn’t good either. We have a rubber ducky that has a temperature thing on the bottom and if it is too hot the word hot appears, I have used this religiously lately to gauge the ideal temperature.

Last night we moved Kaleb’s co-sleeper from our bed to the bassinet and slept just fine. It is really nice to have the entire bed for just the two of us again, don’t get me wrong it was nice to have him close, but the bed just wasn’t meant for three people. We are still far from having him stay in his crib, because it is just too far away from our bedroom. What else, oh yeah, his eyesight seems to be improving and he can now follow an object that is moved from one side to the other. He has also been focusing (well at least it seems so) on one of his mobiles. It is so cool to see him grow up and slowly learn new things, I am sure this will only ramp up in the future as he becomes more aware of the world around him and can better react to other humans. We’ll see, I’m sure.

We don’t have much planned for the next few days, although I have set aside time tomorrow for the following: editing of home movies, Super Paper Mario playing, a little work, and possibly a new podcast episode. I have learned a lot about the mac, but haven’t really had a chance to sit down with the iMovie or Garage Band applications to do some really fun things. I can’t wait to get completely lost in my own creativity, it should be great.

Until next time, try to stay dry.
Keeg

Kaleb: Day 54

I know I haven’t been updating and I apologize for that, but I have been busy with work stuff and finally have a couple minutes to upload photos and write up a little update. Everything has been going very well with Kaleb, I haven’t provided a weight update because he hasn’t been to the doctor’s so we have no idea what it is right now. We are thinking it is up above six and a half pounds, probably closer to seven pounds. He is definitely getting bigger by the day and is acting a little more grown up (more crying and less sleeping). He is still amazing us everyday with his humorous behavior, just the smallest things crack us up, from all his squeaking to the random facial expressions.

Over the weekend we went up to Amesbury for Easter. It was Kaleb’s second trip up there in as many weeks and it went very well. He was very good most of the time and everybody was so excited to see him. They were all surprised about how big he has gotten over the last few weeks. He really seems to enjoy riding in the car, which is super important if you are going to be my son.

Finally with regards to his sleeping, he has done very well over the past couple weeks. However, I think part of this is due to the fact that we are used to him and his noises so we don’t get up and check on him as often. Jennifer has been a champ and has been doing a great job with him at night and letting me get my sleep, I can’t say how grateful I am for her late night feedings and trips to the living room when he is crying.

I guess thats it for now. Its time to prepare for more snow tomorrow.

Oh boy!!!
Keeg

Here are a couple of albums from the past few days.
Kaleb: Day 46
Kaleb: Day 48
Today Kaleb is seven weeks old and has been home for four weeks. Its hard to believe that we have known him for forty nine days or that he has been home for so long. Kaleb has been doing great and has been doing a much better job of sleeping at night. The last few nights he has slept for three hours at a stretch, which has been a nice change.

Today we were visited by the Noonans, for the first time since Kaleb was born. It was so great to see them. It was so weird seeing a full sized baby, Jamison was so much bigger than Kaleb. It’s hard to believe that someday he is going that big and even bigger, and only in a few months time. I am sure it is going to fly by, just as the last 49 days.

We did get out today, when we went over to Cara and Jeff’s for dinner. I got to play the PS3 again and did a little better on F1 Racing, although I struggled once I started competing against other cars.

Now we are home and getting ready for bed. Tomorrow we make our way back up to Amesbury for Easter dinner at my dad’s house. We can’t pass up the opportunity to meet my brother’s new lady friend. It is very exciting that it is Kaleb’s first Easter. We didn’t get him anything this year, but I am sure he will get plenty of goodies, that I will have to eat.

Happy Easter!!!
Keeg

We brought Kaleb in today for another weight check and we were surprised to find out that he now weighs 6lbs 2oz. So what this means is he gained 11oz in the last eight days, which is an amazing growth rate. He also moved up to newborn sized clothes today, they are a bit big, but that is how the preemie clothes started. Since he is doing so well we don’t have to go back to the doctor’s office for two more weeks. It is amazing how much he has changed over the last few days, you can definitely tell he is heavier and he is certainly more aware. I think we are both beginning to realize that he is going to grow so quickly and before we know it he will being doing baby signs back to us. One more thing worth mentioning, I was holding him on the couch tonight and he flung himself up about eight inches off of my chest and landed way on the other side of my body. I know his neck, arms and legs are strong, but I didn’t think he could do something like that at this stage.

Okay that’s it for tonight.
Keeg

While up in Amesbury yesterday I spent a little time going through some old photos and came across a bunch of me as a baby. It was weird to see how much Kaleb looks like I did. So in an effort to steal some of his spotlight here are some photos of me as a young one.

Keegan: Year 0-5

Nice!!!
Keeg

Kaleb: Day 42

I think the title says it all. Today was Kaleb’s first trip to Amesbury, which also included a couple other firsts including first trip on the highway, first trip out of state, we were in New Hampshire for about three minutes, first trip to both Amesbury grandparents house, etc, etc… We were planning on going up since the middle of last week and then my dad invited us over for dinner. I have to say I am a bit jealous of all the attention my boy gets from his Pepe. So we hopped in the car in the early afternoon and drove up to my mom’s, we are still working out a name for her, today I came up with “Grandmother who has not been named.” We also threw around the name UNG, Unnamed Grandmother. I guess we will leave it up to the little man.

Since I am tired I am going to truncate this entry. The trip up north was fantastic, it was great to see everybody and everything was pretty much the same except for a little bit of passing around of Kaleb. I am sure this will all change once he gets bigger, but for now everything seems just like normal. As for Kaleb he behaved wonderfully today and barely made a peep. He slept most of the time, did have a bit of awake time and fed without much trouble. However, once we got home he was fussy and had his worst bath so far. We set up a video conference with Nonna and Sir, so they could watch the bath and they witnessed quite a show. He screamed through most of the bath and only settled down once he was in a nice warm towel. We are determined to figure out the bath thing.

Okay I am falling asleep at the keyboard, I was up with Kaleb from 2 until 5 this morning, not because he was crying, but because I didn’t want to do anything to disturb his sleep after a bit of fussiness. I am definitely paying for it now.

Hope you all had a good weekend.
Keeg

Today is a pretty important day in Kaleb history, it is his expected due date. I remember back in July after we came back from the honeymoon looking up due date calculators and learning that March 31st would be the big day. Little did we know at the time that February 17th would actually be the big day. Thanks to the marvels of modern medicine I am happy to report that Kaleb is right on schedule for size and length that we expected about now. I estimate that he currently weights almost 6lbs and is about 19 inches long. Given that Jennifer was 5lbs 12oz and I was just over six pounds it seems that he may have been about the same weight at birth.

I suppose in reality today really isn’t different than any other day since he was born and his expected date is kind of irrelevant. However, now we can start to use baby books again to compare his progress to other babies. Before today, it was really hard to see what sort of development we could expect from him. Yes he is six weeks old today, but he can’t do all of the things a typical six week old can do. Based on what his doctor says we can expect him to track a couple weeks ahead of schedule for most developmental things.

In honor of the special day, I have created two new slideshows for your viewing pleasure. They are a bit different than the daily shows because they are from a longer period of time and include music.

Kaleb’s First Three Weeks Video Slideshow
Kaleb’s Second Three Weeks Video Slideshow
Kaleb: Day 40

Happy expected birthday Kaleb!!!

Keeg

Since getting the new MacBook I haven’t completely had a chance to get into a normal flow of updating photos. So as an added bonus in this entry there are two sets of photos.
Kaleb: Day 34
Kaleb: Day 38

Things have been relatively uneventful on the home front. I have been fairly productive at work, which has been great although a bit exhausting. Tonight we gave Kaleb a bath, as you will see in the photos, and it was the best one yet. He did pee on me on the way to the bath, but luckily it only ended up on my arm. Okay he’s getting fussy time to go.

Keeg

Kaleb had another follow up weight appointment at the doctor’s office today and now tips the scales at 5lbs 7oz, that translates to an ounce a day. Given his amazing weight gain abilities the doctor says he can now do all breast feedings with the bottle to supplement each feeding. Not only does this mean he won’t have to have the breast milk, formula and corn oil mixture. We aren’t sure, but hope this will help with his gas. Jennifer is super excited because it means she won’t need to do anymore pumping and I am excited because we might get to tap into the breast milk reserves in the freezer.

Now moving backwards I need to talk about the weekend. It was really a great weekend, one of the highlights being the big purchase of a brand new MacBook. Yep thats right we went crazy and picked up a new computer on Saturday. So far it has far exceeded my expectations, within minutes of turning it on I was video conferencing with my mom up in Amesbury. After a couple nights of tweaking the settings we were also able to do a video conference with Jennifer’s parents. I can’t say how cool it is to be able to see people hundreds of miles away.

The other big events of the weekend were Kaleb’s first trip to a coffee shop, his first trip to the supermarket and a surprise visit of Nonna and sir. It was really great to get out of the house with Kaleb and to go to a coffee shop for the first time in ages. Besides that everything is going really well and we are really enjoying parenting. Our little man is such a character and is always making us laugh. He’s just crazy.

Keeg

"Kaleb Getting Burped" on Google Video
Another audio focused clip of Kaleb getting burped. He makes some crazy sounds!!

"Kaleb Sleeping Sounds" on Google Video
This is a short video of Kaleb making sounds while sleeping.

Kaleb: Day 33

The big news to report is that our little boy is getting plenty fat and fast. It is amazing how his little cheeks have puffed out and he is getting meat all over his bones. I am sure he ways nearly 6 1/2 pounds at this point, we will know for sure on Monday morning. He has been downing milk like there is no tomorrow and tonight finished nearly 3 ounces compared to the 2 ounces he could barely finish last week. The sooner we get him up in weight the sooner Jennifer can switch over to just breast feeding, we don’t want him to get too comfortable with the bottles. Besides his weight he has been a bit more active and stays up for over an hour in sometimes. It is still a week until his due date and I think he is going to be right on par to where he would have been if he stayed where he belonged. Its amazing that his due date is almost here, because it feels like we have known him for so damn long.

In non-baby life I am excited to get a couple days off from work, because it has just been crazy. I have been working like crazy, yet still not getting to the work I would really like to do. We are starting to grow at such a fast rate, we are having a hard time keeping up with it and progressing. It feels like we are doing more customer roll outs, but less work to make customer roll outs easier. Luckily there are more people on the team that are able to work on customer stuff which makes life a little bit easier. We’ll see how things go in the coming months. The other big news is that we are going to buy our new MacBook tomorrow. The old laptop has served us well, but it is starting to frustrate us between the slow speed, lack of hard disk space and broken keyboard keys, we decided it is time to move on. I am really excited for the new computer because I will finally get to do some movie editing and will get some nicely edited movies up on google video by the end of the weekend. I’m not making any promises, but they should be much better than the past few movies. I also will be able to do some podcasting again, which I thoroughly enjoyed and maybe even some video podcasts.

We’ll see!!!
Keeg

Now that he weighs five pounds I wanted to play a game with his weight so here it goes. Which weighs more:
Kaleb or 1 gallon of water
Kaleb or 1 gallon of gasoline
Kaleb or 7 average size oranges
Kaleb or 16 billiard balls
Kaleb or $100 dollars in quarters
Kaleb or the combined weight of the 2002 Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals


1 gallon of water equals 8.33 lbs.
1 gallon of gasoline equals 5.8 to 6.5 lbs.
7 average size oranges weigh 4.8125 pounds
16 billiard balls weigh 6 pounds
$100 dollars in quarters weighs 5.02653958 pounds
The combined weight of the 2002 Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals weigh 3.5 pounds



Hope you all did well. Sorry there aren’t more, but our laptop keyboard really sucks and I can’t stand typing anymore.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day 30

Kaleb went in for his big weigh-in yesterday and is officially five pounds. It seems a bit crazy that he gained a half pound in a week, but you know what we are going to take it. If he keeps up this pace he should be at six pounds for his due date, which should be about where he would have been anyway considering Jen and I were both around six pounds. The other big news is that he has been doing a better job at night, or at least Jennifer tells me so. Since I have to work, Jennifer has been getting up with him at night making things a lot easier for me.

Today I stayed home from work so Jennifer could go to the doctor’s office and hopefully figure out why he came early and whether we should be concerned in the future when we decide it is time for Four. Yes we are going to continue with the numbering system for the next one, but I can assure you it will not be for a few more years. Apparently the doctor didn’t seem to think the baby came early because of a Uterine Septum as we had been suspecting for the last month or so. Next week she is going in for an x-ray that will help show the actual shape of her uterus and we will know for sure what is going on.

This evening we went back to Winchester Hospital for a reunion. They were having what they call the Spring Fling. It gives parents a chance to meet and discuss parenting and their experiences at the hospital. It was cool to meet some other parents that went through a similar situation. I also volunteered my services to help out with a google group for the Winchester Hospital parents. It was really easy to set up and should also be easy to hand off when the time comes.

Okay it is getting late and I need to get some rest. Hope all is well out there.
Keeg

PS - Here is a photo for my mom who complained about the movies and how none of them showed Kaleb being happy.

Kaleb: Day Twenty Nine

After a somewhat more successful night of sleep, I think at least, because I sleep pretty soundly and don’t know how often Kaleb woke up and whether he needed to be changed multiple times, we had a great day. We had a few visitors lined up, one of which was Ellie and Meg, marking Kaleb’s first play date. Mes and Heather stopped by first and were kind enough to drop off rolls, cold cuts, lemonade, chips and peanut M&M’s. Ellie and Meg showed up next and joined us for a little lunch. It was also the first time I had experienced a double breast feeding session, normally having two women in your house with a breast exposed would be something to really brag about, but in this case it had a different sort of feeling. Later in the afternoon I went over to Target to pick up some baby things, it was nice to be out and I was surprised to see how much snow we actually got from the little storm over the weekend. I made it back in time for our next round of visitors, Hannah and Jane, who visited for about an hour. It has been so nice to have people over, it certainly makes the day go by much faster.

After watching television for a couple hours, with Kaleb asleep on my chest we had a second go round with the baked ziti. Now I don’t usually eat left overs, but there was so much of it and yesterday it tasted so good that I couldn’t refuse. After dinner we cleared off the table and prepared for Kaleb’s second bath. We learned a few things from the previous week and this time made the water a little bit warmer and also put some towels on the heater to keep them warm. Kaleb screamed at first, but settled down a bit once he was in the water. I have to say it went much better this time around. We are going to try and give him more frequent baths so he is more comfortable having them.

Okay I am tired and want to get as much rest as possible before returning to work tomorrow.

Hope you all had a great weekend!!! Only a few days until spring starts.
Keeg

"Screaming Naked" on Google Video
Kaleb hates being held when he is naked, here you can see his reaction.

"Pacified Screaming" on Google Video
Kaleb makes a unique sound while screaming with a pacifier in his mouth.

"Kaleb Pees on The Couch" on Google Video
In the middle of a changing session Kaleb pees all over the couch and the TiVo remote.

"Hungry Hungry Kaleb" on Google Video

Kaleb: Day Twenty Eight

Feb 17th, 2007	March 17th, 2007

Exactly one month prior to meeting typing these words, Kaleb Arthur was born weighing 3lbs 11oz. It has been a crazy four weeks since Kaleb arrived and screamed out for the first time and continues to scream in the exact same way today.

The first week at the Brigham & Women’s went by quickly and all seems like a blur now. We learned all about having a preemie and were permitted to hold him for the first time since the delivery. We both learned how to change diapers and also how to get around the Longwood area of Boston. Kaleb got better and better with each passing day and as expected lost 5 ounces and bottomed out at 3lbs 6oz before beginning the climb back to his birth weight. Before the end of the first week, he had nursed briefly for the first time, sun bathed through billirubin, graduated from his IV and successfully pulled out his nose tube multiple times.

At the end of the first week he was feeling well enough that he was moved to Winchester Hospital and started his second week of life at the Special Care Nursery. He continued the weight gain, nearly perfected nursing and started feeding from bottles. We learned more about how to take care of him and also gave him his first bath. By the end of the second week, he moved out of the isolette, mastered feeding enough that his nose tube was removed and surpassed his birth weight.

The third week started with high hopes of his coming home within the next few days. He continued to progress well over the weekend, finishing more of his requirements like the car seat test and feeding continuously for 48 hours. We were super excited and there was only one more day to go before he could come home, when we found out he had a spell in the middle of the night. It was the first time it happened to him and the first piece of bad news we had received since learning about the preterm labor. It was hard on us, but we knew it was for the better and the five days would fly right by. He got right back on the horse and the end of week was there in no time.

Saturday morning at the beginning of week four we drove to the hospital on a bright, warm day and brought Kaleb home for the first time. It was so great to finally have him home after a long three weeks of hospitals. It took a few days for it to actually sink in that the little person in our house was ours. Kaleb quickly adjusted to life in the house and basically maintained the same schedule as the hospital, although he did have more difficulty with gas. At his first pediatricians appointment we learned that he weighed 4lbs 8oz, which was a five ounce gain from when he left the hospital. Even in the last few days he has changed so much not only does he look a lot fatter, but he is noticeably more aware of his surroundings and looks around all the time. He is feeiing very well and besides his fear of being held naked and the bouts with gas he is doing wonderfully.

So sitting here a few feet from my lovely wife and my tooting child, I am happy to say that I am now ready to start the second month. The first month was a heck of a challenge, but aside from a few breakdowns we prevailed and are now sitting pretty, a bit tired, but doing well. Now we are focused on taking care of our newborn, just like everybody else and no longer think about how we had a six week premature baby. He now cries, feeds, poops and drives us just as crazy as any newborn who comes home from the hospital right away, just a little smaller.

Let the games begin!!!
Keeg

Here are some more videos. I apologize for the boring factor, but until we get our new computer I can’t do any video editing. I hope you enjoy them

Kaleb Getting Burped
Kaleb Whining
Kaleb Fidgeting
Kaleb Sleeping
Kaleb Up Close and Digital

Keeg

Kaleb: Day Twenty Six
I finally got a boat load of sleep last night because Jennifer’s mom is here helping us hold down the fort. I stayed up late, but then this morning I didn’t have to do my usual five AM shift and actually slept until around ten o’clock. I probably could have stayed in bed longer, but sometimes you just have to say no. I also made a pact to work less today, because I have been a bit stressed out with work and this week was supposed to be a break from all of that craziness.

We had a visit from a home nurse today and learned that Kaleb now weighs 4lbs 10oz, which makes him up seven ounces since Saturday. Hopefully we can get him to five pounds by the next weigh in at the pediatrician’s office on Monday. Besides his weight the nurse checked him out, managed to get him to scream at the top of his lungs and told us things we already knew. The nurse was a bit different, not only to she tell us how small babies lose heat quickly, she also spoke loudly, wore a lot of perfume and used the word “honey” like it was going out of style. Of course it was nice to have somebody come check on our little man, but the only thing we really got out of it was his weight.

Besides that its been a good day for Kaleb. We have tried to put him down more often, so he will have a better chance of sleeping at night. He has been sleeping very well today and we have had to wake him up for his feedings. He still doesn’t do the naked thing well and continues to cry at the top of his lungs if you take off all of his clothes. Since coming home he has definitely changed a lot, his face is fatter, he is definitely more vocal than he was in the hospital and he is spending much more time awake. The other change has been his recent bouts of gas and pooing. He gets so upset and his face gets all red and he whines a bit. Its tough to watch, because there really isn’t much you can do for him. Whenever this happens he also puts his hands up to his face and scratches himself. He loves playing with his arms and winging them all over the place.

After I post this I will be uploading some more movies. I am not sure if anybody is really watching them, but some of them are fun to watch. You can see some interesting faces he makes. Hopefully I will get together some good whining movies and I will string them together to show him how difficult he was on the ears. Just kidding he is a really great kid and rarely cries.

Keeg

"Kaleb Looking" on Google Video
Here is a little video of Kaleb looking at the camera. It is the first video I have release of him so far.

Kaleb: Day Twenty Four
We have worked on the night time scheduling and it went even better last night with each of us getting in around five hours. We are now pretty confident we can put him in his bassinet and then fall asleep. The problem we keep having is not sleeping during the day. I have been busy with work and we have had some visitors so we have been putting it off. Hopefully I will get some in this evening before Jennifer does her late evening nap. I want to make sure I am rested tomorrow, because I am going in to visit a new customer and give them a demo. It is my first time doing a demo for a customer so I think I am a bit nervous. Thankfully I am so tired it should help numb my nerves.

Kaleb has behaved today, although I did have a tough diaper change a couple hours ago. I took his diaper off and he started whining and then he peed on his outfit. So I took off his wet outfit and held him up (he hates this more than anything) and he started to scream. I put him back down onto his new outfit and he peed on the new one, it was my fault though because I should have put the diaper on first. I then found a pacifier and stuck it in his mouth to calm him and the rest of the change went well. Unfortunately this tuckered him out and he couldn’t finish his bottle.

I also can’t forget to thank Amy for coming by today and bringing us a super yummy soup and sandwich lunch. I was also lucky enough to unwrap her brand new computer and play with Windows Vista for the first time. I think Vista is just too much, with all the pop ups and prompting for restarting, it just ridiculous. It made me want the new MacBook more than ever, only a few more weeks.

Okay I am tired an I am going to grab a few quick zzzz’s.

Later,
keeg

PS - I uploaded a short video of Kaleb, but it is in a processing state at google video. Eventually it will appear under this link

Kaleb: Day Twenty Three
Life with baby at home is still going along very well. Thankfully I spent many years working at Shaw’s and running on little or no sleep, so this is no sweat. Of course it will probably catch me in about three days, but after a little more rest I will be recharged. We are slowly becoming more and more comfortable with the fact that Kaleb won’t just randomly stop breathing, as a result we have been leaving him in his pack’n’play to do chores and other things. I think we got a little carried away with the holding him thing yesterday and it was making it harder for him to get put down.

So we had two big events today, Kaleb’s first pediatrician visit and his first walk outside. After much difficulty we got him into his car seat, which is much more difficult because of his size. The first order of duty at the doctor’s office was to weigh and measure him. Believe it or not he is now at 4 1/2 pounds, we don’t know how it happened, but somehow he gained five ounces in the forty eight hours since we took him home from the hospital. We worth both surprised and couldn’t stop talking about it. Besides that everything looks good and we don’t have to go back for a month. While there we also got the green light for a walk outside. After his lunch I got out the BumbleRide Rocket and tried to inflate the tires and somehow the air just rushed out of the tire. The pump that came with stroller was a piece of junk and after a few minutes of frustration I walked down to the bike shop and bought a pump. 30 psi later and we were changing Kaleb for his first foray into the outdoors. He wasn’t too fond of all the changing and screamed out at the top of his lungs. Finally after much wrestling we managed to get him into his new outfit and into the stroller. We didn’t go very far and only walked within a few minutes of our house, but it was still nice to get outside as a family. Its great how the weather has changed into spring so quickly.

The rest of the day I have been doing a bunch of work stuff and Jennifer has tried her best to get some rest. Well dinner is ready!!
Keeg

Kaleb: Day Twenty One

Saturday morning we called bright and early and found out that Kaleb would finally be able to come home. It was such a bright sunny and warm day, a much more perfect day for his homecoming. Before driving to the hospital we did make one last trip to the store for milk, corn oil and detergent. It was our last true outing as just the two of us, I mean yes Kaleb has been here for three weeks now, but we have still been able to carry on with life as before. The fact that our last outing as just the two of us occurred at the same place as our first outing together two years and 8 months earlier seemed rather poetic. Crazy!!!

We drove in around eight, had one last feeding at the hospital and then after a quick exam by the doctor we made our way out of the hospital. The only hitch was that we had to wait for a volunteer to walk us down, so they wouldn’t think we were stealing a baby. Finally after about ten minutes of impatient waiting she showed up and walked us down to the car. The sunlight was bright on his eyes, and he had to squint, but I think he enjoyed his first breaths of fresh air. The ride home was rather uneventful, which is what we were hoping for and in no time we were in the house with the baby. It was such a surreal feeling and only now is it truly beginning to sink in that we this little person we have to take care of all the time, for at least the next two decades.

The day went very well although it didn’t take long for him to go off of the schedule he had been on at the hospital. I modified a CaseNET installation for the purpose of tracking Kaleb’s feedings, diaper changes, measurements and doctors appointments. I am not sure whether Kaleb is going to appreciate the fact that I am recording nearly every moment of his life, but I think I would love to have a record of when I was that small. Nonna and Sir came over in the afternoon, to visit, which was really nice. They hung around for a couple hours and then we were on our own again. We decided to try and split up the night between the two of us, so we could get some rest. Jennifer decided to sleep first, so I watched Kaleb while watching Die Hard 3. Around eleven we switched and I went to sleep for a few hours, before Jennifer joined me in bed. The three of us then slept for an hour together, before Kaleb got all squirmy and I took him in to the living room for an hour. I then attempted to feed him a bottle, but he was just not having it. He is super hard to burp because he curls up into a little hedgehog ball.

Overall the night was okay, we both got about four hours of sleep, which is nothing to write home about. I think the biggest hurdle to overcome is sleeping while he is sleeping. I am sure it is going to take a while to accept the fact that he is going to be fine and nothing bad is going to happen. I guess it is something we will learn. The bottom line is that its going to be a long week, but I have no doubt we will make it through and somehow find a way to get some rest. Heck it is my vacation!!!

Keeg

Unfortunately this entry doesn’t have photos, which is really the best part of this little blog here. I do have an update, Kaleb gained another 25 grams last night and is now up to 4lbs 2oz. He is now taking almost 2 ounces from his bottles, which means his feedings nearly doubled in the last four days. We are hoping he does well tonight and then we get to take him home tomorrow morning. It is hard to express just how happy we are to have our little boy at home. Yes it means less sleep, but we miss the little guy and it will be so nice to not have to say goodbye to him every night. Once we get him home we are going to do our best to fatten him up, so we can all go out and explore the world with him this spring. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Keeg

Kaleb: Day Seventeen

Yep the headline is true, Kaleb is now a four pound baby. He gained 35 grams yesterday and now is over four pounds. Its taken a while, but he is on his way gaining about an ounce everyday, which means in two weeks he will be a five pounder. Not much news from yesterday, everything is still going well and we are on pace for him to come home on Saturday. I went over after work and held him for a long time, long enough that he peed and left a wet spot on my shirt. I think I am really starting to get this bottle feeding thing. Yesterday, I fed him his bottle and he finished it in no time. I still need to work on the burping, it is really hard to hold him because he rolls up into a ball whenever I try to reposition him.

Bye for now.
Keeg

First with the good news, Kaleb’s circumcision went well this morning. I actually made a special morning appearance so I could see him after the surgery. He seemed okay, although his eyes were a bit red from crying. He went right back to feeding though and was doing well when I left.

Now for the bad news, apparently at some point last night he had an oxygen saturation issue or a breathing spell as they call it. It means he is required to stay for a minimum of five more days. I haven’t talked to Jennifer about it yet, because my phone was off when she left the message. We are both disappointed that he won’t be coming home tomorrow as originally planned, but we know it is for his own good. Hopefully he can get his situation settled and will be home Saturday.

:o(
Keeg

Kaleb: Day Sixteen
Sorry I haven’t put any photos up recently, but I have been at the hospital which means I am away from an internet connection. So the photos you see by clicking on the link include a few days worth. You can see from the photos that Kaleb has many visitors in the past few days and even more that were camera shy. My dad, Anne, Auntie M, Uncle Brennie, Auntie Babe, Cara, Jeff and Jeny. He has been in different states of preparedness for these visitors and while some have been able to hold him others only got to see him sleep.

Let’s see what to say about his progress, well he is definitely done with the nose tube and actually had 24 hours of successful feeding. In order to go home he has to have 48 hours in a row, so we are definitely working towards that goal. Besides that everything is on pace for him to now come home on Tuesday. Of course this assumes everything continues as it has been for the last two weeks. He gained another twenty grams today and now weighs 3lbs 13.5oz. I actually got Jennifer out of the hospital during daylight hours today for some last minute supplies, such as diapers, wipes, formula powder, a humidifier, an additional car seat base and a diaper bag. We seem to have everything we need for his arrival. This morning I rearranged our room and set up the travel bassinet we received from Matt. He was supposed to get a family heirloom cradle, but it needs to be repaired and won’t be ready in time for his arrival. We also discussed getting a brand new one, but at this point it seems like a waste, consider he sleeps in a plastic tub now and seems to do okay.

Tomorrow is the big circumcision around 8:30am, but he should be back in time for his 9am feeding, hopefully he won’t be too traumatized to eat. Only a few days to go!!!

Keeg

In less than three hours little Kaleb will be two weeks old. In reality it seems like he was born two months ago, not only because I barely remember it, but also because he has changed so much. He is really becoming his own little person these days and has a personality all his own. I won’t lie and say the last two weeks have been easy, but I think overall we have been very good about being positive and taking it one day at a time and it has really paid off. Of course there were a couple times when the stress of it all became to much to bear that tears were shed, but we let out the emotions that were pent up and hopped back on the positive train. I know Jennifer and I have only been married for eight months and one day, but the strength of our relationship over the last few weeks has really been amazing. We are such a wonderful pair, we both challenge and reinforce in our own ways at the right time and it is really so perfect the way we are matched. I can’t be happier to have found such a wonderful partner who has not only helped me get through this difficult time, but has spent countless hours with our teeny tiny baby making sure it got all the love it needed to get better and come home. I am truly grateful for her devotion and could not be more certain about my love for her.

Enough of that sad, sappy stuff though and on to the stuff you really want to read about, Kaleb’s progress. Sorry I wasn’t able to update yesterday, but it was a busy day and I was tired when I finally got home. We are still on pace to have Kaleb home sometime this week. Yesterday he has gained 35 grams since Thursday morning putting him up around 3lbs 13oz. His tube for feeding has been removed and barring any uncoordinated feedings will remain out. Last night he passed his hearing and car seat test. For the car seat test they put him in his car seat for 90 minutes and make sure he can keep his oxygen saturation up while seated. Today he hasn’t had any bad feeding yet, although I think I am up for the six o’clock bottle feeding, wish us luck. Jennifer and I watched a CPR video as part of our checklist of things we need to do before bringing him home.

The other big news of the day was that we officially decided to have him circumcised, which will be happening on Monday morning. We have gone back and forth on this for a while and settled on it just this morning. You see there is a great debate going on about the merits of circumcision. It seems to be a cultural and social tradition, since there aren’t many studies showing it has much of a medical benefit. Not having it done increases the chance of some cancers by 10%, but the chance of those cancers in men is so small that it is unimportant. One person in particular helped change our mind, apparently he hadn’t been circumcised and at some point in his thirties he needed to be for medical reasons and it pretty much incapacitated him for a month. So we decided if we can do something that will barely effect him now, but will prevent a serious effect later no matter how small the chance we might as well do it. I will let you know how it goes, but the nurse claims the worst part of the operation is restraining there legs, but after that they pretty much don’t feel a thing.

Okay I have to get going to the six o’clock. I will have some photos later.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day Twelve

We got some major news that we have been waiting for ever since Kaleb was born just under two weeks ago. If he continues to progress at his current rate, it looks like he might be discharged next week. We weren’t given specifics about which part, but to know that by this time next week he could be living under our roof is such a wonderful thought. In order to help his progress he was put on a regiment of only nursing and bottle feedings today, with no feeding through his tube. Tomorrow morning they will check his weight to make sure he didn’t have a lack of calories due to the change in feeding style. After a couple days of no tube feeding he will most likely get his tube removed on purpose (he really likes to pull it out now). He was also allowed to come out today without his leads on him and because of this Jennifer got to bring him into the parent room for some nice quiet time with him and my mom, who actually got to hold him for the first time. It was an amazing day, and while we are excited, we are also cautious at the same time and doing our best to keep in mind that the current plans may change.

I went up for the six o’clock feeding per my usual day and did his “do up” (temperature, diaper change and feeding) He was a little fussy about the diaper, but he settled down and I managed to give him almost his entire bottle. We had a little bit of struggling, but he is getting much better at it especially compared to Saturday. It seems the key is to get as much in as fast as possible before he falls asleep. We came home afterwards and unpacked the car seat we received from the shower, because we need to bring it to the hospital. One of the tests he has to pass before coming home is to sit in his car seat for 90 minutes without having oxygen troubles. Apparently having the baby sitting up in the car seat position can be a problem for their breathing. I am confident he will do fine though!!

Okay I need to get back to work now.
Keeg

Kaleb: Day Twelve

We started the day off with some more good news, Kaleb gained another 30 grams over night and now ways 1670 grams or 3lbs 10.91oz. He is nearly back to his birth weight, which is fantastic. The other news was that he finished an entire bottle overnight and he also had his feeding tube moved into his left nostril although he did manage to pull it out twice today. I left work early so I could get over to the hospital for his first bath. I took off his diaper and he was fussy again, but it was only the beginning of his whining. Once he was stripped down and moved him over to the bath things really got interesting. He really freaked out as soon as he was placed in the water, luckily he calmed down relatively quickly and actually enjoyed the rest of his bath. It was a pretty neat moment. I managed to capture some of it on tape and hopefully if I can get up to my mom’s house this weekend I will be able to get some of the video on the internet. We finished up his bath and I once again tried to give him a bottle, it went much better today than the last time, I think mostly due to the fact that I am much more comfortable holding him now. He made it through half of his bottle, which was pretty good, we are going to try again tomorrow, but will give him more rest throughout the day so he isn’t so tired.

After the hospital I went in to BoCaNO at the Kinsale. We really did poorly at trivia and quit halfway through. It was good to see everybody though.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day Eleven

It was another great day for Mr. Kaleb today. The biggest news was that he graduated from his greenhouse and moved to a bathtub crib. The reason for the move is that he has been keeping his temperature pretty steady and there is no need for external heating. It is just another step in the direction of his eventual move back home. The only big hurdle left is to get him to feed without the use of his feeding tube. He has had some success with bottles, but it is a real crap shoot, on the other hand his breast feeding has continually improved. Yesterday his weight only increased by 5 grams, but that is okay because it is still in the upward direction. What else… oh yeah we were supposed to do his first bath tonight, but due to time constraints we are pushing it back to tomorrow night. I have the video camera all loaded up and ready for the big adventure. Hopefully the bath will go better than the diaper change I went through tonight. I don’t know what his deal was, but he sure was fussy. Not only was he crying, but his heart rate went through the roof, its super scary when you are trying to change a diaper and not only is the baby crying, but a machine starts beeping like crazy.

Tonight after coming back from the hospital we were treated to a fantastic dinner at Rendezvous by Cara and Jeff. I went with a nice lamb shank and finished the meal with a fine piece of chocolate cake. I had never been there before, but I highly recommend it to anybody looking for a really tasty meal. Thanks again to Cara and Jeff for such a great treat!!!

Keeg

Nonna sent me this photo of her with Kaleb and I think it is a cute one so I have posted it. Today we found out that Kaleb gained 40 grams over the last 24 hours, which was phenomenal progress. He also lost the last bit of his umbilical cord this morning, Jennifer saved it for me to see and she also took a photo that will get posted later. For lunch today Andy and I drove over to Winchester hospital so he could visit the little man. It was really great that he wanted to visit, it is just too bad that Kaleb was so sleepy and he didn’t get to see him in action. I am sure he will have plenty of time for that later though.

I am just about to close up work, so I can get back over there and visit.
Keeg

Addendum:
Kaleb: Day Ten

I just got home from visiting Kaleb. We had a little father/son time at the six pm feeding and then my mom and Jon stopped in to say hi. Unfortunately he was back in in house when they got there. Speaking of his house, it seems that he seems to be managing his temperature relatively well and my be taken out of the insolette and put in an unheated bassinet. Very exciting although a bit louder for him.

Kaleb: Day Nine

I have said it before and I have to say it again, it was another banner day for Kaleb today. Jennifer went in for the 9AM feeding and came back with tons of good news. First we learned that he actually gained weight over the last twenty four hours, we also learned that he did an entire feeding from a bottle. So a couple more positive news bits. Since Jennifer was in early I went in for the noon feeding and got to do my first temperature check, diaper change and bottle feeding. I did an okay job with the diaper although Kaleb noticeably missed his mother and was a bit fussier than normal. The bottle feeding didn’t go quite as well. He is still having a hard time getting down the timing of breathing and swallowing so more than once we had to stop because his oxygen level dropped. We did manage to get half of the bottle down his throat before giving up and going through the stomach tube. I then held him for an hour while Brendan took a ton of photos. It was the first time he had met his Uncle Brennie and it was just a taste of all the photos that will be taken of him. Hopefully I will get those photos up sometime soon, there are a ton of them so it might take a while.

Jennifer returned from the shower for the 3PM feeding and we stayed until after his six o’clock feeding. He really downed a ton of milk at the six o’clock feeding via the breast and actually got so much that his stomach overflowed and he spit up all over his new clean outfit. The good news from that was it means he will start getting less through his feeding tube.

That’s all for now. Thanks to everybody for all the stuff we got at the shower today.
Keeg

Kaleb: Day Eight

Well our little man is officially a week old, actually at this point he is one week, two hours and forty minutes old. He continues to impress us everyday with his progress. As I said in the previous entry his weight has possibly bottomed out and he is hopefully on the way up up and away. We spent most of the day today at the hospital and were lucky enough to have a few visitors. First, Nonna showed up during the noon time feeding and was lucky enough to hold the little guy. No sooner had the feeding begun when my dad and Anne showed up to visit also. We figured out a schedule and everybody got some face time with the little guy. It was really nice to spend the whole day with him, normally I only get to stop by for about an hour, but today was a different story. It was nice to see him out of his little house three times. You hear it all the time, but I am also going to utter this, “He changes everday.” Its just amazing how much of a difference one week makes. He is much more active now and when he wakes up he looks around for quite a while taking in all of the views. I have been lucky enough to hold him twice in the last twenty four hours and it is the greatest feeling in the world to have him looking up at me. I always get him to do a little smirk here and there which is very rewarding. I think tomorrow I might go in during Jennifer’s shower and meet my brother while I feed Kaleb a bottle. It will be my first time there without Jennifer, but I think I will be able to hold my own, it also helps that there are a bunch of nurses there to help me out.

Keeg

Kaleb: Day Six

Yep that’s right Kaleb had his first bottle today. He only had the equivalent of two teaspoons, but it is a start. He is still under the lights, but even that was lowered to just one light. The other milestone today was the removal of his IV, which freed up his left arm. He also had an ultrasound on his head today because they were concerned about his squished head. The test results came back and there weren’t any issues. I know the good news just keeps flowing. The final huge piece of good news was that he is getting transferred to Winchester Hospital tomorrow. We originally planned to get him sent back to Mount Auburn, but the nurses have been ranting and raving about Winchester. It apparently has a great level 2 nursery and is a lot better than the Mount Auburn nursery. Sorry I didn’t take more photos today, but I spent most of the time taking video today. I am still having trouble downloading the video to the computer, but once I get it working I will be sure to upload it to one of the various video websites.

Here’s a fun added bonus. Every Sunday night starting on September 24 (Week 13), we took Jennifer’s measurements and took a photo of her to document the growth of her belly.

Jennifer’s Growing Belly

Here are some more photos of my boy.Kaleb: Day Five Check out his mad karate skills!!

Kaleb had another great day in the NICU. I dropped Jennifer off around eleven and she spent almost the entire day by his side. She did get to take him out for lunch and he successfully latched on and had a little breast milk. He really seems to be getting the hang of it and hopefully he will be able to get his entire meal that way instead of via the stomach tube.

In other news, he may be able to come out from under the lights tomorrow, which means he can try on his new outfits. He may also get his IV removed tomorrow night, which will be a huge step. I am sure he will now be a southpaw after all of the strengthening he is getting on his left arm. We also are reconsidering going to Mount Auburn and instead having him transferred to Winchester Hospital instead. It sounds like they have a better NICU facility there and that he will get more specialized attention. The distance is about the same, but there is free parking and it is on my way to work, which will be much nicer than the current setup. We still need to work out the details, but I think I am in favor of that move. The details about when he will transfer and when he will come home are still questionable. The current prognosis as far as we can tell is that Kaleb will be moved on either side of this weekend and then from there we don’t really know.

The bottom line is that he is doing really well and we are excited with his progress.

Kaleb: Day Four

Just a quick posting to put some more photos online. Jennifer was discharged this morning, but before we left we went and visited Kaleb. He is now officially under lights to help his bilirubin and he has to have protective eyewear similar to tanning glasses. Conveniently the extra light allows for much better quality photos.

Well we are home now and I have started back with work. Jennifer is getting settled back in for a little bit and then heading back in to Boston this afternoon.

Everything is well here.

I started the morning off quite early again and did some laundry, ate some breakfast and then went to CVS to get some photos printed. Afterwards I went into Boston to see Jennifer and Kaleb. When I arrived Jennifer was down in the NICU so I waited in her room. When she returned I found out that she had been holding Kaleb for the last hour. I was happy to see her so overjoyed and happy. I helped her with some breast pumping and right before noon we went down to see Kaleb for his noon time diaper change. We watched him a little bit and then Jennifer changed his diaper, he had a little meconium and as she wiped his butt he decided to add another slimy blob of blackness. The nurse then came over and asked if I would like to have some “Kangaroo Time” with him. I hesitated a bit, but then realized I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. So I took off my shirt and the nurse placed Kaleb down on my chest. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever. To have his warm little body snuggled up on my chest was just the greatest thing ever. He slept there for an hour. Once the hour was over he had to go back into the isolette. We returned again for his four o’clock feeding and he was wide awake. We stood there for about five minutes just watching him stare back at us. He was so cute looking out at us and taking in the big blurry world in front of him. Since he was awake, the nurse let Jennifer hold him for an hour or so.

The bottom line is that he is doing really well. Hopefully in the next few days they will remove his IV as he gets more of his calories from Jennifer’s breast milk and less from the sugar water. Are fingers are crossed for this event because it is a huge step for him. Once he gets stable without the IV the possibility of him moving to Mount Auburn hospital increases and current estimates have him moving there next weekend. It will be so nice having him closer and on this side of the Charles River. We did get a teeny bit of bad but expected news today, he will have to go under a bright lamp over the next few days because he might be developing jaundice. Apparently this is very common for preemies and the only real drawback is that he won’t be able to spend as much time outside his little greenhouse. It should only last a couple of days, but it will be difficult given his recent adventures outside of his house.

Tomorrow, I have to go over and pick up Jennifer in the morning because she is getting discharged. It will be hard leaving the hospital without Kaleb, but we have talked about it and are trying to prepare for the dreaded moment. We are also not looking forward to leaving our newly created routine of seeing Kaleb by riding and elevator and instead having to take the T or drive all the way to Boston. I am sure it will take a bit of getting used to, but we will no doubt get into a comfortable new routine that will keep us sane in these difficult times. I think we are both confident that he is in good hands and will make it out of the NICU sooner than later, but it is still so hard to not have him with us all the time and visiting is great, but no substitute for having him with us. Thankfully the nurses at Brigham & Women’s have been fantastic and allow us to participate as much as possible with Kaleb’s daily activity.

Day Three Photos

Hello again,

I just got back after the day two and everything is still going very well. I took some more photos and even got some video today. I have uploaded the photos, but the video will have to wait until tomorrow. Jennifer changed Kaleb’s diaper today for the first time. The NICU staff has been really great and they have let her change the diapers if she is there and also has been taking Kaleb’s temperature. Jennifer also got to hold the baby quite a bit today and at the eight o’clock feeding she was able to hold him for over an hour. Besides that Kaleb had a great day and got to meet some grandparents today and got to see his Auntie M again. Jennifer is feeling great and is looking wonderful. Tomorrow is her last full day in the hospital before
being discharged on Tuesday, after that we still need to work out the schedule of when we will be visiting Kaleb.

Kaleb Day Two

I guess that is all for now. This will be the last email about Kaleb, but if you want more photos as they come available and the video, you can go to www.keegsands.com . Hopefully I will get to post photos at the end of each day.

Keeg

Hello all,

On February 17th, 2007, at 8:15 EST Kaleb Arthur Sands was born at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Despite his being born six weeks early he is doing very well and breathing on his own. He tipped the scales at a super light 3 lbs 11 ounces and measured 17" in length. He scored a perfect 9 out of 9 on his APGAR score, a simple system to determine the health of the baby immediately after birth.

We weren’t really given anytime to plan for the trip to the hospital, since we went right from child birth class, so I didn’t have a camera on me during the actual birth. However, I did go up to the NICU and took several photos that you can view at the following link.

Kaleb Arthur Sands

Hope this finds you all doing well!!! More details and photos to follow.

Keeg aka Dad

“May your first child be a masculine child.” - Luca Brasi

I’ll try to give you a quick recap. About two weeks ago Jennifer had some pre-term labor symptoms and we went to the hospital for three days in a row. She was definitely showing some signs (50% effaced and 1cm dilated), so they put her on bed rest for two weeks. Oh yeah and she also got two steroid shots to help the baby’s lungs develop. The entire week of bedrest went very well and the symptoms all seemed to subside. When we woke up on Saturday morning, Jen thought she had a little bit of a discharge, but we just figured it was nothing and decided to monitor it while we were at child birth class. During the lunch break at the child birth class she had a little spotting and decided to call the doctor on call. So we finished out the class and around 3:30 we went over to the Labor & Delivery department of Mount Auburn hospital. They examined her and decided she needed to be observed for 24 hours. I went downstairs to call our parents around 4:45 and when I got back upstairs at 5, she told me her water had broken. So now we had to decide whether to stay at Mount Auburn or go to Brigham & Women’s since 34 weeks is the border line for Mount Auburn. We thought it best to go with Brigham & Women’s and Jennifer got an ambulance ride and arrived there around 6:45. She started to have minor contractions around 7 and then once it got to be about 7:30 they started to get a little more intense. The doctor came in around 7:45 and examined her and found that she was 8cm dilated and the baby’s head was visible. At about the same time the anesthesiologist was about to give her an epidural when she had the sudden urge to push, so it was going to be a natural child birth. The labor team came in all at once and started to set up there gear. Then around 8:19 after about twenty five minutes of pushing Kaleb was born.

The predicted snowstorm has caused a giant mess in Somerville. I think it snowed about two inches overnight and then today it has been a combination of rain, sleet and snow for the entire day. On top of the overnight snow we have picked up another two inches of yucky slush. I decided to work form home because I didn’t want to mess with the commute and because I figured Jennifer could use the company. The gym was empty this morning, which was a surprise because usually the weather doesn’t have an effect on the attendance. Besides that I have been relatively productive with work stuff and enjoyed a yummy Thai lunch care of Cara and Jeff. They stopped by around one and had lunch with us which was a nice treat.

Around four o’clock I looked out into the street and saw that it had become flooded because of clogged drains and knew something had to be done. I donned my winter jacket, hat and gloves and marched out the front door to rectify the situation. First I cleaned off Jennifer’s car and managed to move it back a few feet so I could access the sewer grate. After about ten minutes I had cleared a nice path for the water and it was quickly rushing out of the street and down into the drain. I stayed out for an hour making sure it didn’t clog and attempting to clear the drain on the other side of the street. I didn’t have as much luck on the other side, but either way I certainly made the water go from the original six inches in depth to around one inch. It was nice to be outside despite the messy cold weather.

Now I am just waiting for the nightly build to finally succeed so I can close up shop and join my wife for a Valentine’s evening on the couch. We talked about getting some Emma’s pizza, but it is a bit of a drive and there really isn’t a lot of parking there. Hopefully we will figure out something romantic to do for dinner.

Hope everybody is staying warm and dry out there.
Keeg

Addendum:
I tried to post this entry last night and it just wouldn’t stick. So I am posting it now. I do have an update to the snow story. This morning we woke up and looked out on sunny Somerville, so see our cars buried. It took an hour total and Jennifer actually had to come up and help me with her car (she just sat in it and pressed the gas). We did manage to get them both free, which was quite a relief. There was also a dummy from across the street whom I had seen in the morning backing his car on top of a snow bank in then returning to his house in his boxers. As I finished dislodging the cars he was attempting to get out of his space, but in the least effective manner. Instead of rocking the car back and forth he was just putting the pedal to the metal. The smell of burnt rubber filled the air, when I walked over to help him. After a few minutes of attempting to help him I gave up because he just didn’t have a clue. He made it out ten minutes later. Dummy!!!

The last four days have probably been some of the most stressful days I have ever experienced in all my thirty years of existence. I believe my last posting was after the crazy Wednesday, but things only got more interesting after that. On Thursday morning we woke up as usual, but Jennifer was having some cramping, which was different and per the doctor’s instructions we called the hospital and they told us to come in as soon as it opened up. We rushed into the hospital and were sent up to Labor and Delivery where they put Jennifer on a monitor to keep track of contractions and the baby’s heart rate. After sitting around for a couple hours a doctor came in and said everything looked okay and to just show up for our scheduled appointment on Friday. We were feeling pretty good about everything after we left, because the doctor was very reassuring and explained that the cramps were probably just caused by the baby’s head moving further down towards Jennifer’s pelvis.

On Friday I went to the gym and work per my usual day and then came home after lunch to pick Jennifer up for the appointment. We went in and met another doctor, who performed a FFN test, a test to see if hormones are present that mean the baby could be coming in the next two weeks. After she took the test, she noticed that Jennifer was now 1cm dilated, which got us sent back up to Labor & Delivery for more monitoring. We sat up in the same room as the previous two days for a few hours before learning the results of the FFN test. The nurse came in and told us the test came back positive, which really got us on edge. Apparently a negative result is very certain, it means the baby is not going to be coming in the next couple of weeks. However, a positive doesn’t necessarily mean it is definitely going to happen, but it does mean there is a higher risk of labor in the next two weeks. The doctor finally came in and explained all of this two us, examined Jennifer one more time (everything was the same) and decided it would be a good idea to get a steroid shot for the baby. You see at this point in the baby’s development the lungs may or may not be ready for breathing. Apparently somewhere between week 33 and 34, they mature enough to work without assistance. The steroids help the lungs develop more quickly and have been shown to work very well. Jennifer got the shot and we were given instructions to come back in 24 hours for a second and final shot. We thanked the doctor for her help and headed back home to contemplate all we had experienced over the past seventy two hours.

I took all of the information pretty hard and it has taken me a couple days to recover. It just makes me so scared to think that the baby may come so early. I know we are at a very good point in the pregnancy, but it is still 48 days until the due date. Jennifer has been a rock though and has been so upbeat, which is super important for the baby at this point. I know I am supposed to be the strong one, but man it is so hard for me. Thankfully we have the nintendo and oddly enough playing has helped me snap back to a better place.

Yesterday we woke up and everything seemed to be okay. Jennifer wasn’t having any new issues and we didn’t need to call anybody in the morning. In the late afternoon we did drive over to the hospital for a quick shot of steroids in the butt, thankfully that was all that happened and we came right back home.

Today, Jennifer’s parents came up from Connecticut to spend some time with us. It was really great having them up here showing there support. We have been so lucky to have so many wonderful people around us and in our life giving support. I can’t begin to list all of the people who have sent their best wishes and offered to help out with anything we need. We are both so thankful for this and couldn’t ask for a better support network. Thank you all!!!

For now we are counting the minutes until Saturday when we will make the big 34 week mark. Of course we want to get beyond there, but as of right now that is the biggest milestone we want to reach. Five more days….

Stressfully yours,
Keegan

PS - We have our regularly scheduled appointment, hopefully everything is still the same and we can continue on as we have been this weekend.

Well we had a bit of a scary day with the pregnancy. Yesterday, Jennifer noticed a little blood and called the doctor, who said it was normal, but if it happened again to give them a call. So this morning it happened again, we called and they told us to come in. We went in and met with a new doctor, we also mentioned that the baby’s movement had changed over the past week. After examining Jennifer’s belly the doctor pointed out that it is all baby, which was nice to hear. She also said its size is about right for the 32nd week, which is also good. The last observation was that there may be a lower than normal amount of amniotic fluid, and we would need to get an ultrasound to check it out and also a fetal stress test. So that was the examination of the baby and now for the blood issue. Apparently due to the fryable(sp?) nature of the surface of the cervix the blood is not a big deal. However, after an examination the doctor said she was 50% effaced, which apparently isn’t as good as what would be ideal at this point. The cervix is not dilated which is good, but the effaced part was a cause for concern. The doctor recommended Jennifer takes it easy for the next few weeks, until we reach a safer point in the pregnancy, to prevent further effacing, of course given the nature of her job it looks like it will be very difficult to accomplish. Luckily school vacation is coming up in two weeks which is the perfect scenario. Now we just have to figure out what the plan is for next week, I am leaning towards taking the five days off and then coming back for as long as possible after vacation. We still need to figure it out though, we are both aware that the health of the baby is our primo concern though.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the ultrasound. Everything looks really good with the baby. There was plenty of amniotic fluid, the heart and lungs were working very well and the baby was moving quite a bit. We were able to see the baby’s face, which had big chubby cheeks, cute little lips and a tiny nose. We didn’t get a print out of the ultrasound, so I don’t have anything to post. I didn’t see the ears, which either means they are really small or I just wasn’t looking. You see with our small ears we figure the baby is only going to have seal like ear flaps.

Bottom line is that the baby is doing very well and hopefully it isn’t coming anytime soon. 52 more days until March 31st.

More “snow” is predicted for overnight, although the current predictions on say about one inch. Earlier in the week they were really talking it up, but of course it is turning out to be nothing. Work has been busy today, I am still working on the problem from yesterday. The end is near though and I will hopefully get to move on to other things.

I don’t really know what else to talk about, so I will just go now.

Many suns since my last entry, but I have a second here at work and I figured it was time for an update. As you can see from the title it is only 60 more days until the expected arrival of Three. Three is getting bigger and bigger everyday. Usually with things being so gradual you don’t notice the minor changes, but with Jennifer’s belly it definitely looks larger every morning. We have officially signed up for childbirth class for February 17th. We were a bit late in signing up, but apparently they had ample space for us. Three has finally reached the size where we are beginning to feel individual body parts better, although it is still hard to distinguish the top from the bottom. At the last doctor’s appointment he said the baby seems to be upside down, which is a good thing.

Mentally we are slowly preparing for the sudden upheaval in our daily lives. Every once in a while we will appear startled when we realize what is really going to happen in just over 8 weeks. The fear of something going wrong still pesters us both and I am constantly asking Jennifer how much Three moved over the course of the day and trying to compare it to its movement in prior weeks. I continue to forget that it now sleeps about 90-95% of the day and since it has less room, probably won’t be moving around as much. Last night we took time out, Jen had some juice, I played the guitar and Three moved around quite a bit. It was also relatively active this morning when we woke up, which was a great way to start our day.

Besides that we have also been trying to spend the weekends resting and doing things that will not be so easily accomplished in the next few months like going out for dinner. Unfortunately I have had a tough time sleeping lately and have been really tired in the afternoons because of it. I just want to get as super rested as I can, but my body refuses to cooperate.

Work has been alright. I have accepted the fact that my primary purpose here is not writing Java code and it has made my life a lot less stressful. At this point it is just easier to focus on one thing instead of trying to relearn Java for about two weeks of usage and then forget it for two months while another non-Java project comes along and takes up all of my time. I also have been doing a little bit of project planning and using our bug reporting system for projects, which has been pretty cool. I know it is bad to get out of an engineering position once you get one, but the idea of working for the implementation team doesn’t seem too bad. Bottom line is I love the flexibility here and wouldn’t give it up for the world.

Besides the above stuff I have continued to go to the gym regularly (4-5 times a week). I moved from a completely cardio workout program to a cardio w/ a side of weight lifting program. So far I am relatively happy with the results of going to the gym. I haven’t been as good with my diet, but I still keep in mind what I am eating and try to only eat until I am full if I am eating a non-Special K meal. I also stopped charting my weight because it was getting to be very stable and predictable. It was amazing to see how much it can fluctuate in as little as 24 hours. Now I am hovering around the 171 - 173 pound range, which is good enough for me. I think it would be pretty difficult for me to go much lower than that considering my arms are super skinny and my legs are mostly muscle. I have learned it is super hard to get rid of anything in the area of your stomach, it just likes to stick around.

Okay back to work.
Keeg

As you can see from the photos it was a busy day in the Sands household. Yesterday, Jennifer’s mom showed up and we went to the store to buy some paint. So today we got up relatively early and moved all the stuff out of the nursery for painting. We used exactly one can of paint for two coats and it looks phenomenal. Once the paint dried, we moved all the furniture back in, hung up some tapestry and put pictures on the wall. It was a pretty painless process fr such wonderful results.

The other thing I have been busy doing is selling things on Craigslist and I have to say it went much better this time around. On Friday I sold a tv, yesterday I got rid of a futon and today I sold a desk and some speakers. All I currently have left to sell is a storage cabinet and some electronics, but I haven’t even posted them yet. Cha-ching, thanks for the $200 and space in my basement. Sweet!!!!

On Thursday we did some recalculating of the baby’s progress in the pregnancy books and realized we miscalculated. So while the baby is still due on March 31st, we realized we have been off by a week in the week by week schedule. So this week we are repeating Week 29. Mentally it has been weird going over the same week twice, because as you complete the weeks you breathe a little easier. Oh well I suppose the grand scheme of things I suppose there was really no difference.

I don’t really get the whole back tattoo movement. I always see them on women at the gym and just don’t understand the attraction of these things. One girl in particular really made me laugh. I was on the treadmill and these two women got on the treadmills in front of me. Apparently were friends, and while I don’t know for sure they could have had their back tattoos done at the same time. The one on the right was okay looking on the top half, but she had a big butt and large thighs, which is fine we are all at the gym for a reason. The problem I had was with her choice of pants. She wore tight lycra leggings, a less than flattering look for her. So as she ran on the treamill you could see every bit of her butt and thighs jiggling around. Now the best part of this was her tatoo which was a picture of a wave and said “Try to catch me”. I think the wave was a perfect symbol but a bit redundant considering the waves of fat that were created from her running.

Our first big task of the new year, as you can see, was preparing the nursery. We started by tearing up the old flooring, which was a vinyl surface on top of a relatively nice wood floor. It was easy to remove and we quickly stuffed it into the empty stroller box. We swept up next and moved some of the furniture around to make for a better nursery layout. Later in the day my mom and Jon bought the crib and dresser we had picked out at the Baby Depot in Peabody, a very generous and kind gesture. We unpacked everything, and it all looked great except for one slat on the crib, which was bowed inward. Since it was a big purchase and such an important piece of furniture, we decided to wait a day and see if we could get a replacement piece from the store. So yesterday Jennifer called the Baby Depot and they said we could bring the side in and switch it for a new one. So we hopped in the car and drove up to Peabody to get the new side and also a mattress. Once we were back home I quickly put all of the stuff together and within an hour of so Jennifer began putting the bedding into it. So now it is in a good state. The only things left to do are to remove my old white desk and to paint the room. It is all very exciting, we are both eagerly awaiting the arrival of Three.
Nursery Video

Here are some other photos from the last few weeks.
Christmas Photos
Ice Sculptures in Boston Common on New Year’s Eve

This morning marked the beginning of the 28th week of the pregnancy. Here is a link for Week 28. There are only twelve or so weeks to go and the wheels are now in motion to start work on the nursery. We will be out looking for furniture this weekend and will also be getting permission from our landlord to paint the room and remove the old vinyl flooring. Christmas was great and thankfully most of the presents were for Three, so I didn’t have much stuff to put away once we got home. Some of the highlights include: a new BumbleRide Rocket stroller, the bedding set we registered for at Babies’R’Us, a new camcorder for filming every moment, an old cradle that has been in my family for over a century and assorted other goods.

Okay I have to get back to work. In other news I downloaded some new games to the Wii, Mario 64, Sonic the Hedgehog and the original Zelda. I am more than halfway through Mario 64 after only three days, perhaps it is time to slow down.

Later,
Keeg

Here I sit in my living room with only one week before Christmas. The most recent weekend was quite busy, but very efficient and enjoyable. On Friday night, I went out with some State Street people for Marisa’s last day. Yep its true she is leaving State Street and going back to New York. It was fun to see some old faces and to hear things haven’t changed at all there. I also learned that the cube wall of fame is still there with the name plates of past employees.

On Saturday we went to see one of Jennifer’s old dance students perform in the Nutcracker. It was a great show and flew right by. Afterwards we decided to battle the mall scene and after forty five minutes had finished 95% of our Christmas shopping. It’s amazing sometimes just how fast we are able to make decisions together. We made it back from the mall and immediately hopped back in the car for a little Wii party over at Cara and Jeff’s house. They were excited to try it out and I was excited to play on a giant flat panel television. It was a lot of fun, the Wii is the best.

Yesterday I pretty much stayed on the couch most of the day trying to catch up on the hours of shows I had accumulated over the past couple weeks. I know I should probably ration them out since most shows are now on hiatus until mid-January, but I just couldn’t wait. In the afternoon I had made a big dent in my TiVo stockpile and decided it might be a good idea to get out of the house. We grabbed some wrapping paper and then did some major grocery shopping. You may or not know that Jennifer and I tend to keep the cupboards relatively bare, mostly because the store is a short walk away and because we never know when we will be eating at home. However, we basically ran out of nearly everything, which resulted in some major difficulties for my pregnant wife. So I decided that we were going to go crazy at the store. So $143 later and we have a bunch of food. Hopefully it will last and not too much will go to waste.

The last task of the weekend was to make some Christmas cookies. We originally planned on making a gingerbread house, but realized we just didn’t have the time for it, so instead we made some sugar cookies. They turned out really well and might even be able to compete with my mom’s classic cookies. Here are some photos: Christmas Cookie Making

We have another doctor’s appointment today and should get a chance to hear the heartbeat. All very excited. Oh yeah and that may also be followed by a trip to visit Megan, who went into labor this morning. Only about 105 more days until Jennifer follows suit. Oh man it won’t be long now.

Keeg

Sorry I have been so bad about updating, but I think it is mostly due to a shitty keyboard on our home computer. The space bar and o key doesn’t really work well, which is super frustrating. I have been searching far and wide for a good deal on a new MacBook, our budget will only cover the lower model, which has a small, 60 Gigabyte hard drive and it doesn’t have a DVD-RW drive. The next model up would work a lot better, but it is a little out of our budget. Now the reason I want an Apple is because a) it looks cool 2) it handles media (movies, photos and music) d) I really think its a better product. Hopefully after the new year I will be able to find a good deal on eBay. This is among two other electronics I would like to have in place before Three arrives. The other two things are a camcorder and a new digital camera. A few weeks ago I did all of the research on camcorders and decided to go with a MiniDV format. While it is a bit more difficult and time consuming to get it on a computer, the quality is much higher than DVD or hard drive based systems. Besides the media at least versus the DVD is a lot cheaper. I am not quite sure about what brand of digital camera to get, but I think I am focusing on getting one with a bigger lens. Only 109 days to figure it all out.

Besides that I have been playing the Wii alot lately and have even had some people over for a little demo. I am thinking of starting a business where I bring a projection tv and the Wii to people’s house for a Wii party. I have also moved on beyond Wii Sports and returned to the land of Hyrule to help Link save Princess Zelda. The new game is a bit time consuming, but not so complicated that I can’t figure out most of the tasks in a reasonable amount of time. I only seem to have time to work on it over the weekends though, hopefully I won’t forget over the course of the week.

Last weekend we picked up our Christmas tree, which measures in at around five feet. I actually prefer the shorter trees, not only because they are cheaper but because seven foot trees are just unnecessary. The tree seems to be holding up well and has acclimated to our house. It has been using up a ton of water, which has kept me very busy, but we have decided it is a good thing. The only other thing of note was our recent attendance at Cara and Jeff’s annual Christmas party. The Yankee Swap was less lame than last year, but only a teensy bit due to the fact that there was only one swap, which involved me losing the U2 singles CD.

Oh yeah, I haven’t written much about the pregnancy, but I have been very excited about it. Jennifer is really starting to show now and today she went to hug me and thought my gym bag had slid in between us, when in reality it was just her big pregnant belly getting in the way. It was a really cool moment. I have started a countdown on our chalkboard, only 109 days to go. Over the past weekend I was able to hear the heartbeat for the first time, which was really cool, Three doesn’t really appreciate it much and shows its disapproval by kicking me in the head. Bottom line is that the whole miracle of life people talk about truly is a miracle and one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed.

That’s it for now, I need to get ready for BowlCaNO.

I only have a moment, but I can report that I was able to pick up a Wii on Sunday morning. I had to stand in line for three hours, but got number 25 out of 43. So far the system has been great. Jennifer and I played tennis, bowling and golf yesterday after I came home with a new controller.

In other news the Three is nearing the middle of Week 24. This week the final touches are being made on the lungs. Once the lungs are done, the only new developments left are on the brain. The baby has been moving around a lot and is around 8 or 9 inches long. Jennifer says it has been rotating around, and she can feel the entire length of it adjusting its position. I was also able to hear the heartbeat the other day, which was super cool.

This morning I was at the gym and a woman passed out and nailed her head on an elliptical machine. I only heard the thud and saw tons of people running over to help her. She finally got up after a lot of poking and prodding. Crazy!! btw I weighed myself this morning and I dropped below 170 for the first time, 169.5. Nice!!!!

It’s Sunday morning and I am sitting in O’Naturals cafe having almost completed my medium mocha and I have to say life is good. The weather outside is perfect, a chilly 40 degrees, clear skies and a bright Autumn sun. It looks like the temperature today in Boston will peak around 60 degrees which should allow for a nice relaxing afternoon walk outdoors. The only required task for the day is to pick up a crib from one of Jennifer’s co-workers, but besides that the sky is the limit.

Yesterday we returned from our Thanksgiving visit to Riebe’s in Connecticut. I had a really great time down there despite spending most of Thursday in front of my computer working. All the time I spent did pay off though and now I don’t feel nearly as overwhelmed as I did on Monday morning. On Friday we went on the annual search for a Christmas tree and after an hour or so found this untapped part of the Christmas tree farm that had more than enough choices. Once there it only took another half hour to locate the official tree. I did take some videos and will hopefully put them together into a nicely packaged movie in the near future.

Once we made it back home we were on a mission to get rid of some of the clutter in the house and at the same time start thinking about the nursery and how it will be set up. First we removed Jennifer’s desk from the back room and then moved a ton of storage bins into the front closet. Next we emptied out the media cabinet and put it into the basement. When all the dust settled we had removed two pieces of furniture from the living room and one from the back room. The next big thing to get rid of is the futon in the back room, luckily we found some mattress bags at Tag’s which will help prevent the mattress and box spring from getting moldy in the basement. I will be posting a ton of stuff on craigslist in the near future, so check back here for lots of good deals.

The last thing I need to mention is about how excited I am about Three. It has been moving around so much lately and I with a little patience you can easily feel its little kicks through Jennifer’s belly. The other morning we were lying in bed and Three kicked me in the head twice. It was really funny. Friday marked the beginning of Week 23, which puts us just over four months from the big delivery day. Time just keeps marching on at a crazy pace. As we get closer to April 1st I have been starting to read more about babies than about pregnancy, which led me to the concept of Baby Sign Language. Apparently, this was a big story over the past couple years, but I am only hearing about it now. What you can do is teach babies sign language starting around six months and it they should be able to learn a few signs which will allow them to communicate with you before they are able to talk. I still need to get a book on this, but I am really excited about this new technique.

Okay, Jennifer isn’t feeling well and we need to get back home. Talk to y’all soon.
Keeg

After a warm spell in Boston temperatures seem to have returned to normal. Luckily before things cooled back down I was able to enjoy the warm weather. On Saturday morning, John and Steph picked me up in the morning and we drove down to the Blue Hills reservation south of the city. Here are some photos Hiking in the Blue Hills. Before Saturday I had only driven through on the way to a concert in Mansfield and only knew that there were some decent views of the city. We stopped in at the headquarters and grabbed a map before setting out. There were a ton of trails to choose from, but we ended up on the popular Skyline Trail. It was a nice place and a great change of pace. If you are ever in the area and want to get outside for some decent hiking you should check it out.

Yesterday, I woke up around seven and went over to Target in hopes of getting my hands on one of the new Nintendo Wii consoles. Unfortunately I was around fortieth in line and they only had 24 units available. So I went home empty handed, but hopefully in the next few weeks I will pick one up somewhere. Once I made it back home, Jennifer and I went to the store in preparation for the dinner we were having later in the day. We grabbed a turkey, and all of the other fixings and returned home to prepare. We cleaned up, set the table and were all ready within a few hours. The turkey was hard to judge and we ended up taking it out a couple times before finally letting it cool. We had a bit of an issue while I was carving the turkey. Jennifer came over next to me and we heard a dripping noise. Turns out I had put a hole in the baking pan and the turkey fat was leaking out of the hole, into the ridge around the cutting board and then onto the floor behind the stove. It was a real mess and threw a wrench in the gravy works. Fortunately after a little help from Ben, the gravy was saved. I ended up cooking it in a saucepan, but I think it turned out okay. We finally served the food, it might have been a bit cold, but nobody seemed to complain. The one cool thing about dinner was that we were able to use all but one of our place settings. The problem with that was all of the washing we had to do.

Everything else is going well. Three seems to be moving around more than ever, which I take as a good sign. Jennifer has been feeling really good, with the exception of the occasional pain here and there and a cough. We are now in the middle of Week 22. Only a couple more days and we head southward for the annual Riebe Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas tree hunt.

Have a good holiday,
Keeg

Apparently I never officially announced the big news, so now that I have a fully functioning keyboard, I will fill you all in on the details. As you may have seen from my previous entries, which included photos from a recent ultrasound, Jennifer is pregnant and the baby is due March 31st. Now I know you are all doing quick math in your head and wondering whether March 31st minus nine months is less than July 2nd. I can assure you the baby was conceived after the wedding, but at some point before we left for the honeymoon. We never thought it would happen on the first try, but I guess we are just lucky or I just have some damn good swimmers. The timing couldn’t be more perfect because it will allow Jennifer to take the rest of the year off without taking more than a couple weeks without pay, so she will be lucky enough to stay with the baby for about five months before returning to work in September.

I have learned lots of things about pregnancy since we officially found out right after we returned from Newfoundland. One of the most interesting things is how much people who haven’t had a kid don’t really know the whole weeks thing. I was unaware of the complex system used for dates and stages of pregnancy. First of all the number of weeks pregnant is based not on conception, but the date of the last period. So by the time conception happens you are already at the end of Week 2 and by the time you get a successful pregnancy test you are already deep into Week 5. We are currently in Week 20, which ends on Thursday night and brings us to the halfway point.

The first half has been a crazy rollercoaster. It started off with a ton of excitement followed by nervousness about the health of the baby, somewhere around Week 10 you feel some relief as the chances of problems declines and you get to tell close friends. Immediately following this stage the morning sickness begins, which from what I can tell from my vantage point is not pleasant. Jennifer never actually threw up, but had a few close calls. It was always a balance between what to eat and when to eat it, every night there was a brief window where dinner was hard to decide on, but if not decided on by 7:30 things quickly went downhill. Finally at around Week 15 all of that craziness goes away and life essentially returns back to normal. The reality of the situation sinks in and you realize there is still quite a ways to go before the big day. Its a good chance to get back to being the couple you were before seeing the positive pregnancy test.

Over the last week or so we have moved into what appears to be the next phase, which is my favorite so far. It all started when Jennifer first felt Three moving around in her belly, which has only increased tenfold everyday. Just last week I was able to feel Three bump around while watching television. The ultrasound from Friday only strengthened the idea that another person is alive and getting bigger and bigger by the day. I can honestly say I don’t think I have been this excited about anything before.

We have decided that we are going to be surprised by the gender of Three, because our parents have encouraged us. Of course there are some that want us to find out and think we are inconsiderate ;o) but its not everyday you get a surprise as huge as this one. I can’t think of anything else at this point, but I wanted to share some of my thoughts and feelings from the last four months.

Keeg

On Friday afternoon we went to Mount Auburn hospital for our first sonagram since back in early August. The baby has grown quite a bit from that teeny little circle we saw back then. Everything looked good according to the tech and the doctor, although it took a while to get the right hand to open to make sure it had formed correctly. Later in the day I was also able to feel Three move for the first time. Jennifer had been feeling some movement for about a week, but this was the first time anybody had felt it from the outside. I have to say it was pretty amazing.
Here are some of the photos from the ultrasound:

Profile of from the left side


Two little feet


A stubborn hand that didn’t want to open

We had a very low turnout for Trick or Treat last night. I think the total was about ten. Now I can understand my dad getting only that many because of where he lives, but we are in the middle of the most densely populated city in New England. Oh well I guess that just means more candy for Jennifer and I. Its not very good for my diet though, which seems to be going well. My weight as of yesterday was 174, only about ten or twelve more pounds to go.

UMaine Visit
NYC Wedding
2006 Head of the Charles

Above are some photos I have taken over the past few weeks. In that time I have been all over the place from back to my alma mater of UMaine all the way down to NYC. On Sunday we went to the Head of the Charles which was par for the course. We only spent a couple hours there which was nice, I am still not quite sure why I go back every year. A couple weeks ago we went up to Vermont for the weekend which involved a lot of dirt shoveling, a very chilly evening and a wonderful walk in the woods. I have been to a few AHS soccer games over the past month and they haven’t won yet, but they continue to play better. It looks like it is going to be another winless season, but at least they tied three games.

Life has been pretty normal aside from the random weekend trips for weddings or visiting family. I did recently decide that I need to lose a little weight and started the Special K diet, which promises I can lose a dress size in just two weeks. All I have to do is eat Special K two times a day and then I can eat whatever I want for the third meal. Since our scale at home isn’t very reliable I won’t be able to accurately post my daily weight. However, my starting weight on the first day of my diet (2006.10.23) using the gym’s scale was 178 pounds. So far I have stuck with the diet and my yesterday at the gym I tipped the scales at 174 pounds. My goal is to get down to around 160 pounds and then change my workout from cardio to weight lifting.

Okay I have to get to work, but I will try to keep you posted on the weight loss. Hopefully we will get a new scale this weekend and I will be able to post daily updates.

Peace,
Keeg

Last night I met Scottie in Framingham to see the latest installation of the Jackass series and it was hilarious. I have a hard time remembering everything from the first movie, but I am going to have to say this topped, because I can’t remember a time I have laughed so hard at a movie. Of course not many will agree with the humor and not find it funny, but they are really missing out if they don’t go see this movie.

I have been completely engulfed in entertainment the last few weeks, since the new television season started. Once again I have to say the TiVo is an amazing device and is working better than I could have ever imagined. I have been able to see more shows than ever since I can now record two shows at a time. Of the new shows this year my favorites are Jericho (constantly keeps you wondering what happened to the US), Heroes (super powers are always cool) and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (witty dialogue West Wing style). The new shows I haven’t enjoyed are Tuesday Night Lights (although I have only seen the pilot) and Six Degrees (why do I care about these people and what is happening to them). The returning shows haven’t disappointed either, starting with a top notch premiere of Lost last night. The long unfolding dramas like Lost and Jericho are awesome, but get me so antsy for the next bit of information about the show. Its basically like watching a movie, but it is split up over 22 weeks.

Back to work.
Keeg

Jennifer’s birthday was Sunday, but to celebrate she set up an evening with some of friends on Friday night. We all met at the Rockbottom Brewery and enjoyed a nice dinner, despite the hard bread. It was a fun time and very relaxed just as Jennifer hoped. On Saturday we went to Elizabeth’s wedding up in Ipswich. It was a rather rainy day, but didn’t take away from the festivities. The reception was fantastic, as soon as we walked in we were offered the option of signing the guest book or a baseball. Next we grabbed our place card, which had a baseball card on the back directing us to the correct table. The baseball theme was evident throughout and gave a very playful feeling to the day.

After the wedding we came home and barely made it to nine o’clock before running off to bed. We woke up early this morning because I was impatiently waiting to give Jennifer her birthday gift. She seemed to enjoy the bracelet and necklace, which made my day. We stayed in bed for a couple more hours and then went to breakfast at O’Naturals. I ended up doing a little work at the cafe and then we drove up to Amesbury for a little apple picking before the rains came. The fun filled weekend didn’t end there, we next moved on to my dad’s house and then on to my mom’s house. It was good to see the family although I was quickly fading.

We finally made it home at around six, when I realized I would be working for the evening. It was mostly busy work and it is all for a good cause, but I am exhausted right now.

Enjoy these photos.
AHS Soccer vs. Triton
Elizabeth’s Wedding
Apple Picking

Started the weekend at home with my lovely wife on Friday night. The next morning I woke up bright and early to go on a hike of Carter Dome with Mark & Kate. I drove up by myself and met them at the trail head at 10AM. It was the perfect day for hiking and the trail was great. There was the perfect mix of an easy start, followed by a cool lake in the Carter Notch, a nice steep climb followed by a gorgeous view of the Presidential Range from the top of Mt. Hight. The view from Carter Dome is a bit obscured by trees so we really had to wait a bit before getting some good photos. We made it back down to the car after about seven hours of hiking and I was exhausted. I hadn’t been in the car more than five minutes before I started feeling nauseous. We met at the Red Fox restaurant and I went inside and placed my order, but immediately excused myself so I could get some fresh air. While outside I threw up in the bushes, but unfortunately didn’t feel better. I told Mark and Kate that I had to take off and hopped in the car. Right away I started to get a fever and had to roll the windows, which was immediately followed by cold sweats. Kate then called me and told me Mark had the same symptoms and that they would also be going home. We agreed to caravan and made our way south. After about an hour I began feeling better and by the time I was back in Somerville, I was just tired, but didn’t have any other issues. Mark felt the same way. It was very odd, but I wasn’t about to complain for my good fortune.

On Sunday I hung around the house all morning and then walked down to JFK park in Harvard to read my book, Compass. I finished the book and came home to do laundry before Jennifer got back from Connecticut. Once she was back we went to Rudy’s cafe for dinner. Yummy Mexican.

Yesterday I worked and then drove up to Amesbury to watch Zach’s soccer game. I will admit I was a bit vocal, but I like to think it was in an inspirational way as opposed to criticizing them. I would encourage them to move up and kept telling Zach to cover different players. The lost the game, but seemed to make a comeback at the end.

That’s it.
Keeg

I know I haven’t been good about posting, but I guess documenting day to day life isn’t too exciting. I suppose at one point I was posting that sort of stuff and it was relatively interesting. Hmmmm…. Anyway I have been thinking about getting a new domain name soon and moving the LJ to my own personal server so I can control the address and also make more of a web site with a page for photos. I am researching different software and hosts and I am leaning towards WordPress, which is a cool blogging software that is supported by several different hosting companies. The good news is that I should be able to migrate the all of the LJ entries to the new blog. I should have everything figured out over the next few days and get this party started.

Keeg

Cleaned up the basement this weekend and I have to say it is oddly clean and room like down there, well except for the lack of light, finished walls and ceilings. We bought a new mattress on Saturday, which will be arriving on Monday. Yesterday was spent at Maudslay State Park along the Merrimack River followed by a visit to my mom’s house. Today Jennifer went back to school and I went to the gym bright and early.

Jennifer and I went up to Camden, Maine for our third annual visit to the Nathaniel Hosmer Inn. We stayed in the Mary Wheeler room once again and it was as good as ever. It’s really cool when you get to know the inn keepers and can chat about all sorts of things. We finally climbed Mount Battie and have now climbed all of the peaks in Camden Hills State Park. It was a short, but steep trail. Before we left I made sure to read up on the mountain and found a cool web page explaining its importance, geologically speaking. Here is the page Bedrock Geology of Mount Battie I was able to spot a few of the examples they mention, which was pretty cool.

We also tried something else new this year and went to the last day of the Union Fair. I know some people are sketched out by fairs and for good reason, but it seemed like something to do and it is always fun to see the animals. Unfortunately since it was the last day a lot of the animals had gone back home, but there were some pigs, sheep, cows and goats still hanging around. After exploring all of the areas we walked back towards the car and noticed a ton of people filling the grandstand. I asked Jennifer what was going on and she said the only thing she knew about was a demolition derby at seven. I thought it was odd since it was only six, but then realized we had to stay because if all of these people were lining up an hour early it must be a good show. Sure enough it didn’t disappoint! We only stayed for three heats of the small foreign cars and left, but not before seeing some crazy crashes and even getting hit with a little exploding tire shrapnel. Overall it was a good time and we can now say we went to a demolition derby.

On Sunday we did a little hike up to Maiden’s Cliff, the hike Jennifer and I went on two years ago. It’s a great hike with some amazing views. We then let the GPS guide us back to the highway and towards Freeport for a little shopping. Then it was back on the road to good old Somerville, where we tested the heat for the first time. I think summer is officially over, now its almost time to go apple picking and cider donut eating. YUMMY!!!
Keeg

Two pieces of news…

First last night for BoCaNO we went to the Kinsale for trivia and got second place in a tie breaker. The tie breaker question was “What is the population of Rhode Island?”. We guessed 3.2 million and were the closest of the other two teams. As a result we won a 30 dollar gift certificate. Nice!!

The other news is that we will be staying in our current apartment for another year. Woohoo!!

Keeg

Do we start with the good news first or the bad news?

Okay I will go with the bad news. We are not going to buy the house, because the house inspection revealed several issues that we just can’t afford to take care of at this point in the game. The good news is we aren’t going to be buying a money pit. I won’t go into detail about the issues, but it was going to be several thousand dollars worth of repairs. Now most people would say to negotiate the price down, but that still wouldn’t give us the capital we need to go ahead with the repairs. So now we will begin the search for an apartment since we have given our notice already and want to find a place with cheaper rent.

If anything we did learn a whole lot about the house buying process so when we do decide to get back out there, we know exactly what we are getting ourselves into. Oddly enough Jennifer and I aren’t too shaken up over the deal, which is strange and makes me wonder if we were doing the right thing. It all happened very quickly and the costs of closing and everything else kind of got out of control. Live and learn.

Keeg

It was a relatively quiet weekend in Somerville. On Saturday morning we met with our landlord to discuss moving out October 1st. Knock on wood, we will go through the home purchasing process without any delay. After the meeting we went for a drive to find an outdoor place to walk. I originally intended to go to a state park I had been to in Georgetown, but after ten minutes of driving, I realized we were past the general area of the park. So we continued driving westward to find something to do. In Essex I spotted a used bookstore and we stopped to fulfill Jennifer’s need for used books and rest my tired leg (gym + driving standard = sore leg). While in the store Jennifer ran into a teacher she used to work with in Lawrence, although she couldn’t remember her name. Rachel, the name we later found out from Meghan, knew of a cool little walk only a few miles from the bookstore. We got directions from her husband and found the little parking lot next to Route 128 and started walking into the woods. After about twenty minutes we were standing atop this giant rock that overlooked all of Cape Ann. It was a bit cloudy so we couldn’t see Boston, but the view was great and the wind up there was refreshing.

We climbed back down and hopped in the car and drove towards Gloucester. There was a little festival going on so we walked through the shops and enjoyed the sea air. It was such a beautiful afternoon and it was nice to be outside. Afterwards we stopped at the mall to look for stuff for Jennifer and came home and made some pasta.

Yesterday, Tom and Jeny came over for breakfast and hung out until about noon. After that we just sat around until the late afternoon, when we went for a walk all over Somerville. It was a relaxing Sunday and yet I was still exhausted at bed time and went right off to sleep.

If any of you are surprised by our jumping into the house thing, I can assure you we are just as surprised. We literally went from looking online last Wednesday to making an offer on the following Monday. Last night reality began to sink in as we reviewed several mortgage offers from a bunch of lenders. I suppose if we had done some research we would have learned that closing costs are a bit crazy. However, once we separated the deposit from the closing costs we were dealing with more friendly numbers and it all seemed a little more possible. While many of you might not care about this information I want to pass the word on since I wish somebody had provided this sort of info to me before I got here. Once again I have to thank Jennifer, because she really pulled it all together. This morning we woke up with a new focus and have now successfully sent an application for the mortgage, since we were required to this by Friday. Luckily Cara stopped by last night and let us in on the little secret that you can negotiate your interest rate with the lenders and so Jennifer was able to cut almost .5% off of our original quote, which over the course of the loan saves over $10,000. Nice!!!

Looking at the big picture it is really an easy process, but it when you don’t know all of the steps it gets a little nervewracking. So the next step is the home inspection next week, followed by the signing of the purchase and sale agreement next Thursday. Then all we have left to do is wait for the closing at the end of September. It will all be done soon enough.

It’s the little one in the center with the wide driveway and two car garage.

We made an offer today and as of 7PM this evening it was accepted and we are one step closer to owning our own home. Next up is finding the financing, which shouldn’t be a problem and then getting the home inspection before signing the bill of purchase and sales. I have to give tons of credit to my wonderful wife for driving up to Amesbury today and doing all of the paperwork and leg work for this deal. It’s all happening so quickly, but I think we are both please with our purchase. The address of the house is 14 California Street. Here is a Google Maps link. The pointer seems to be a bit off, but from the photos above and the map you should figure it out. We own from the corner of California all along the California Extension.

I have to get back to work, but I wanted to put up some details.

Keeg

Well it really does come down to Location, Location, Location. After a string of open houses today our favorite house has now shifted a little bit. While the house from last night is still number 2 on the list, we found a place today with the same style, but in a much better location. The new house sits on a .3 acre lot and has a nice flat yard. It also has a two car garage and is in a very quiet neighborhood on a more or less dead end street. Now of course we are thinking in the back of our heads, how do we know that there isn’t another house out there that is better, if we wait a little longer. While we tend to make these big decisions relatively quickly, I think we do use logic and try not to over analyze things. Yes we could look at house for the next three months, analyze trends with regards to location, sale price vs list price and see hundreds of houses, but what is that really going to save us in the long run. I think we have a good idea after only a couple days and over a dozen houses, about what the value of some of these places should be and what we should offer. The top two right now are far better than anything else within this price range and really fit us very well. We originally thought of maybe getting something that we could fix up, but we really don’t have the capital to do that anytime soon, so we shifted to looking for something that we can move into and might need a few things done here and there, but no major renovations.

The plan for now is for Jennifer to go up to Amesbury tomorrow, talk to the planning office about a first time home buyer grant (apparently they have a few of these that they give out if you attend a couple seminars and of course buy in Amesbury, stop by the Provident bank to see what sort of interest rate she can get for first time buyers and then meet my mom and Jon at the two houses in question. At that point assuming everything goes well we will put in an offer. Its a big step, but at this point we have seen about half of the houses available in Amesbury within our price range and we are comfortable with the place. My how quickly things can change.

Keegan out!

I am sure this is going to come as shocking news to some reader, well to those few readers I have left, but Jennifer and I are really close to making an offer on a house in Amesbury. We decided on a whim to go check out a few houses this weekend and really fell in love with this one place. In our opinion it is a really amazing place, hopefully we are the only people that feel this way. It’s relatively close to downtown, the only drawbacks seem to be that it is on a very busy street and the street the driveway is on is extremely steep. Besides that though we have had a hard time finding much wrong with it. The inside is amazing and was done over recently and wouldn’t require much if any work at all. So what’s next? Well we don’t want to seem over anxious, although it would be a huge disappointment if somebody were to make an offer on it before we get the chance to. The plan is to talk our agent tomorrow to set up another showing on Monday, so my mom and Jon will get a chance to check it out. If they find it acceptable, I think we will be to quote another recent BoCaNO house buyer, “Pulling the trigger.” What that means is that barring any other buyers trying to get in on the action or major disapproval from my mom and Jon, we will be one very giant step closer to moving out of Somerville and back home to Amesbury. For now we just have to hope that anybody interested in it was enjoying the tax free weekend, and not thinking about the house.

More positive updates soon, hopefully.
Keeg

Finally this afternoon, Boston’s fever broke, and now the temperature has dropped below 70 degrees. At sometime between 2 and 3 some cold air overtook the area and tonight we have shut down the AC and opened the window for a change. We played our annual whiffle ball game for BoCaNO and then went to the Sweetwater Cafe. I passed on eating and drinking because I have already been out a couple times this week and we really need to start saving money. I am looking forward to the weekend and taking a break from code writing. Hopefully it won’t be too hot and I will get a chance to go to the beach for the first time this summer. I really want to go swimming in the chilly ocean.

On Friday afternoon my wife picked me up at work and we drove towards Hartford for a later than usual show at the “venue formerly known as the Meadows.” Luckily on the way there we encountered some crazy thunderstorms north of the city. The further south we drove the darker it got before the rain started pouring out of the sky. A little known fact about me is that I love thunderstorms as long as I am in the safety and security of a car. Anyway I used the video camera on my phone to try and catch some of the lightning and I succeeded.

Connecticut Thunderstorm Video (Requires Quicktime)

Eventually the rain subsided and we made it safely to Hartford. The show was pretty good, but nothing that really stands out against the rest of the shows. The band did play Sleep To Dream Her for the first time in over three years, which was pretty cool. Besides that there weren’t any other real stand outs from the show.

Afterwards we drove down to the Riebe’s for the night. The next day we went to KettleTown State Park, where we had a nice picnic and did some kayaking. The water was kind of nasty in the little cove we were in and there was a done of goose poo all over the place. However, after getting in the kayak and paddling around the corner and out into the open lake I was able to find a nice spot to go swimming and boy did it feel good. I will say though the condition of the water in the lake made me appreciate Long Pond that much more. We stayed at the Riebe’s again on Saturday night and came back to Somerville on Sunday morning just in time to catch the latest Pirate movie at Assembly Square. The movie was okay, but nothing to write home about, I am sure I will end up seeing the third installment next summer though. After the movie I slept for about two hours and then upon waking up decided we should go to Newbury for a hike at the Old Town Hill.

We made it to the Old Town Hill at about 6PM and quickly realized we needed bug spray, but didn’t have any. We quickly made our way through the trail system with our arms flailing like crazy people to keep the bugs off of us. We didn’t see much, but it was nice to be outside in the unusually cool air, the calm before the heat wave. We capped off the trip to the north with a visit to my mom’s house to get Red Sox tickets for Monday’s game against the Indians.

Oh yeah I almost forgot, before we went back home we went to dinner at Skip’s. For those of you not in the know, Skip’s is a local classic, it is an old school restaurant that is only open in the summer. They serve greasy burgers, but their trademark is the Curly Q fries which are to die for. We ran into my old friend Bonnie at Skip’s and I introduced her to my wife, which seemed to surprise her. Of course we made a quick stop at Hodgie’s before leaving town.

Somerville Rain Photos
Here is a random album with photos from a deluge we experienced in front of our house on Friday afternoon. It rained so fast the sewers just couldn’t keep up.

We made it back safely from the honeymoon and without further avail here are the photos.
St. John’s and Terra Nova National Park
Trinity East and Skerwink Trail
Western Brook Pond (Fjord)
The Tablelands in Gros Morne National Park
Bay of Fundy

Now for the written details of the rest of our amazing tour of Newfoundland. First of all I need to clear up the pronounciation of the word Newfoundland. The locals pronounce it like New - foond - Land, with a stress on the word land. When I first got there I wouldn’t give the land part its full glory and instead say it as if it was missing an a (lnd), sort of like how we say New England like New Englnd. So if you run into me and I stress the land part of Newfoundland I am just trying to spread it the way the locals say it.

So when I last left off we were in St. John’s and preparing for our journey into the most rural parts of the island. The next morning we woke up and drove up to Terra Nova National Park for some hiking. As soon as we got on the Trans-Canada Highway we noticed that my car was not behaving correctly and it would make a weird noise if I turned towards the right. We dealt with the noise all the way up to the park. Once there we walked on a nice trail along the coast with some amazing views. Unfortunately, I heard some guy talking about black bears, so the entire time we were super concerned that about bears. Apparently they aren’t a big deal, but it didn’t stop me from making extra noise while I walked. We got back to the car and the noise was worse than ever. I was starting to get nervous, luckily we did have a couple days of staying in the same time so we figured that would work out okay. We continued to deal with the noise and stopped at the first garage we saw. I got out of the car and walked up to these two guys standing in the door and told them about the noise. They quickly replied in a very rough British-Irish accent, “We’re not the mechanic we are just a couple of stand-ups, we will get him for you.” I think they literally just stand up all day. They got the mechanic and he put the car up on the lift and quickly found the problem, one of the wheels had loosened up. We lowered the car and tightened the lug nuts and the problem was solved. I thanked the mechanic and despite his offer for it to be free because it was our honeymoon, I still gave him some money.

Very much relieved we drove another hour or so to our destination of Trinity East and the Fisher’s Loft Inn. Jennifer had found this place a while ago and couldn’t wait to stay there. Apparently it was the place the cast of the Shipping News stayed at including Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore and Dame Judi Dench.

Oh boy I am out of time for now. I will update more later. Enjoy the photos.
Keeg

Here is a quick entry to say two things: we are back in town and we got the official wedding photos.

Click on the link below. You will have to register your name and email first and then on the next screen enter the event code 4866. Once through that annoyance you can view and buy the photos.
The Official Wedding Photos (Event Code 4866)

Here is a photo of Jennifer and I at the Easternmost point in all of North America.

More photos that were originally at the bottom of this, but I figured people might miss them.

Nova Scotia Part One
14 Hour Ferry Ride to Newfoundland
Puffins, Whales and Gulls
Cape Spear (Easternmost point in North America)

I only have a minute since, well, it is my honeymoon and I shouldn’t be on the computer. However I had to upload some photos, mostly so I don’t have to do it later. Right now I am sitting in our room in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The inn we are staying in tonight is unbelievable it looks like an old mansion from the movies. The lobby is enormous with all sorts of fancy looking things. The room itself is nice although the toilet isn’t really separated from the rest of the room by a door, so its kind of weird. I guess we are married so all that shouldn’t matter. There is also a giant jacuzzi tub, but it is too hot to use. Enough about right now, since it is one of the more boring parts of the trip so far. I will instead start at the beginning.

Saturday morning we drove up to Portland and got on the CAT for a six hour ferry ride to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The trip over was great, the boat had tons of things to do and before we knew it we docked in Yarmouth. The first thing we did was test out all of our satellite technologies, Sirius and GPS, and both worked perfectly. I have to hand it to the satellite radio industry, they have something great. I can be driving in a completely different country and still have the same channel line up as I had at home. Even in the most rural areas where there aren’t any radio stations, I know that if I want to listen to 90’s music I can turn to channel 9, The Pulse, or if I want some acoustic music just turn to channel 30, The Coffee House. Enough promotion of satellite radio for now. We drove about an hour to hour bed and breakfast for the night and the GPS nailed the location.

We woke up in the morning, had breakfast and started our long trip across Nova Scotia. We stopped at a couple scenic spots along the way and even got to walk in the Bay of Fundy, although we won’t see it at low tide until next week. We also went to a winery to help break the trip up. After seven hours of driving we arrived at our next B&B, in North Sydney, the home of the ferry to Newfoundland. We had an okay dinner at a local restaurant, where I ordered spaghetti and they gave me a plate that seemed to be filled with an entire box of spaghetti.

Monday morning we woke up early (4AM) and went to the ferry. We departed from North Sydney at 6AM, and thankfully were given a cabin so we had a home base and a couple bunks to sleep in should we get tired. I had been nervous about the 14 hour trip to Newfoundland, but it seemed to fly by. The weather outside was so nice we just spent most of the day on deck reading and laying in the sun. Finally, at about 8:30 Newfoundland time, 7:00 Eastern time, we arrived in Newfoundland. Our first views of the place were breath taking. The mountains seemed to have formed right out of the ocean. We were actually greeted by a Bald Eagle that flew across the bay. It was amazing.

Once ashore we had to drive about 45 minutes to the next B&B. Unfortunately the fastest way there involved driving down a dirt road for about 15 miles. It was brutal. At one point a moose was blocking the road and we had to wait about five minutes before he ran off. We did make it to the B&B, where we passed out after a long long day at sea.

Now this morning we had our breakfast and then drove to Bay Bulls for a puffin and whale watch. It started raining before the trip, but as soon as we were out on the water it cleared right up. First we saw a huge colony of puffins, birds were flying all over the place. The puffins are fun to watch when they are in the water, because sometimes they can barely get off the water and often times crash back into the water. After seeing all of the birds we set out for some nearby whales. We saw a couple dolphins and a humpback whale, but they quickly took off for more interesting things. There was another boat within a few clicks, so we went over and saw that they had a whale swimming right next to it. We spent about forty five minutes watching the whale swim around our boat. You can see from the photos that he was really close and I got some fantastic shots.

After the whale watch we went out to Cape Spear, the Easternmost point in North America. It was a beautiful spot that we could have spent many hours at, but since we were getting hungry we drove in to St. John’s. After checking in we went to a yummy dinner and walked around the downtown area for a bit. After a few hours we wandered back to the room and I logged on the internet for a little while to update this journal.

Tomorrow we are going to Terra Nova National Park for hiking and then ending up in Trinity where we will be spending two nights (finally a chance to rest). Then we will drive across to Gros Morne National Park and stay there for a night, I am really looking forward to that place. The next day we catch an overnight ferry back to Nova Scotia, where we will spend a night. Finally, we return to the states on Monday night in Bar Harbor where we will stay with the Riebe’s for a night. An action packed week ahead. Hopefully I will get another chance to upload.

Last night Jennifer and I kicked off our honeymoon with a Dave Matthews Band show at Fenway Park. We arrived at the park around 5:30 and made our way to the third row seats I received from the Warehouse. The seats were unbelievable. We were on the field about halfway between where Manny Ramirez and Coco Crisp position themselves. The show was pretty great although the setlist was a bit strange and quiet for a stadium show.

I have decided that they should ban all electronic devices from shows including cell phones, blackberrys and cameras. At least 25% of the people there seem to care less about the show and more about calling their friend from the show or taking eight million mobile phone photos. One guy in front of us was such a tool and he kept snapping shots of everything and constantly looking at the crow with a complete disregard for the show on stage. He was driving me crazy. The only other major event was when some girl behind us passed out from drinking so much and then refused to get treated. She was a real mess.

Afterwards we met up with Andy and Amy at Game On before catching the T back home. Conveniently the red line is doing bus replacement between Park Street and Kendall Square which tacked on an addition 15-20 minutes to our ride home. Oh well, it was a great show on a beautiful night and was the perfect way to start off our honeymoon.

So in two short hours we pack the car and drive up to Portland to catch the CAT to Nova Scotia where we will be spending the night. After that its off to Newfoundland for about five days before returning to Nova Scotia and then finally returning to the states in Bar Harbor. I’ll try to keep you all posted when I get a chance.

TTFN
Keeg

You may be wondering why on this night before on of the biggest days of my life I am making an entry in my LiveJournal. Well there are many reasons, including the fact that I need to capture and record this moment to remember always and because my bride, due to some old tradition is not allowed to spend the night with me. Today was truly an emotional roller coaster. I woke up this morning and was frustrated because I had failed miserably at writing vows the night before. Luckily at somepoint between 6 and 7 I had a breakthrough and it all came together. It actually came together a little too well and the next thing I knew tears were streaming down my face. It had been quite a while since I had last cried, probably over a year, and I couldn’t control myself. After working so hard in the logical world of computers over the last few weeks, my emotional side finally got its turn to speak and apparently it had a lot to say. For the next few minutes I just held Jen and let it all out. I finally gained my composure and sat down to finish the rest of the vows and was finally ready to print it.

After coming back from the gym I hopped in the car and went to pick up my tuxedo in Amesbury. The tux fit perfectly and I dropped it off at my mother’s house. I washed the car because it is going to be in the lime light tomorrow and also helped Zack fix his BMX bike. On the drive home my emotions began to get the best of me and I was on the verge of tears again. I did make it home without shedding one, and ate a nice big sandwich, which really helped calm my nerves.

We finally set off for the hotel Jen and all of her relatives are staying in tonight. Upon arriving I was whisked away on a Magical Mystery Tour of relatives rooms. We wandered the halls of nearly every floor to meet an uncle from here and a cousin from there. It was crazy. A little later than I hoped we left for the rehearsal and when we got there most of the people were already there. We quickly walked through the ceremony and jetted for our dinner at Hard Cover.

There was a bit of an issue with tables at first, but it was quickly resolved and we all sat down for a nice dinner. It was great to see everyone and it seemed like a good time was had by all. I actually got up and played the guitar for everybody and felt I did fairly well. I did get a little teary in the middle of one of the songs, but managed to pull through and finish. After I performed Brendan showed the slideshow he put together and I lost it. Some of the photos just brought crocodile tears to my eyes. It was really hard seeing photos of me with people who have passed on. Hopefully I have taken things from them and their legacy lives on today through me. So basically I was a mess through most of it, but I think its good to let out that raw emotion. It helps make you feel human.

Things wrapped up after the slideshow, so Jennifer and I had to part ways until 1PM tomorrow, when she will emerge from the farm house and my eyes will fall upon my beautiful bride. Its all very exciting and a bit nervewracking, although I do blame most of the nervousness on things that are beyond my control, like the cake, the DJ or the weather. I want all of these things to go smoothly and without flaw. Certainly everything will work out and people will walk away with some story to tell, whether it be the wedding where they saw the heaviest down pour of rain ever or the wedding where the bride and groom were so lost in their new found marriage that they looked as if they didn’t have a care in the world. I am hoping for the second one, but either way it will certainly be a memorable wedding for me.

May the rain come, but only after we are finished with the ceremony.

Yours truly,
Keegan (The Groom)

I am sitting at home right now attempting to do some work and looking out at the clear blue sky. It seems a bit strange since, the sun has been so hidden over the last week or so. Last weekend I was out of my mind because I had been stuck inside all weekend and didn’t get a chance to enjoy the outdoors. Now two days into the work week and it is gorgeous outside, what’s the deal.

Preparations for the wedding are nearly complete and even if they don’t all get done, it will all be done in five days. I think at this point I am more stressed about getting all of my work done before the honeymoon than I am about the wedding. It just seems that the stuff I have left to do for work is never ending. In a couple weeks I can forget it all and disappear to Canada for a week with no thoughts of CaseNET. Perhaps I should have taken a couple days off before or after the wedding to settle down before the day. It’s hard to pull myself away from work although I am sure I will be settled down for the wedding. The tough part will be finding time to clear my head for writing my vows and also finding enough time to practice my guitar playing before the rehearsal dinner.

Well I have to get going for now. Hopefully I will have at least one more entry before the big day.

Keeg

It was a busy weekend for me. On Friday, I stopped working early and picked Andy up for a drive out to Saratoga Springs, NY for my 49th Dave Matthews concert. Yes I know its crazy, but it is one of those things I just can’t get enough of in life. The first show was fantastic. We got to see the 2006 debut of a few old songs (Don’t Drink The Water, What You Are and Typical Situation) and I heard two of the new songs which I really enjoy. The cool thing about SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center) is that it is an amphitheater in the middle of a beautiful state park. It is a great place to see a show and beats hanging out in the dusty parking lots of the Tweeter Center. One place in the middle of the park was a disaster with drunk college kids everywhere wandering around looking for the show. It was nice entertainment for our walk to the show. We were stuck in heavy traffic on the way out and after about an hour we made it out to the main road.

Saturday morning we woke up late and were able to catch the end of the continental breakfast. After breakfast we went over to the park and found the perfect picnic spot next to a river. We grabbed two picnic tables and sat there waiting for the rest of the BoCaNO crew to show up. A few hours later the big white rental van showed up and out jumped Kate, Mark, Jen Thomas, Kelly, Dr. Mark, Noelle and Amy. We unpacked the van and then Rich showed up with the rest of the supplies. Now that everybody was there, Andy presented me with plastic ball and chain I was required to wear for the night. I obliged and did wear it for the entire night including the three hours of the concert out on the lawn. I’m getting ahead of myself though. At the picnic area we did some grilling, played a little whiffle ball and also played a few rounds of celebrity. The police were a constant presence and stopped many people from playing Beer Pong and drinking out of cans. We also got to see a big old cat fight, which was broken up by police on horse back. Late in the afternoon Brendan and Brittany showed up and I found them up near the concert and brought them back to the party. We all hung out for a couple more hours before filing into the show. Once inside Andy made an expedition down the lawn to a great spot in the center of the lawn. Slowly we all migrated down to the spot and by the middle of the show everybody had regrouped, except Rich who was lost in the shuffle. It was another great show with tons of old songs as well as two of the brand new songs I was really looking forward to hearing. After the show we walked back to the car and drove up to Rich’s mom’s house north of Saratoga Springs. We all settled into the house and went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up and Kate made us a super yummy breakfast of pancakes, bacon and tater tots. We hung around for a few hours before packing up the cars and driving back home. It was a very memorable weekend. It was great standing at my 50th show surrounded by all of my friends. I felt like somebody who had just finished a marathon or a trip around the country and was lucky enough to have a bunch of people there supporing my quest. Thanks you guys!!!

Friday Night Show Details
Saturday Night Show Details

In a short three weeks from right now I will in a seaside room at an inn overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Rockport with Mrs. Keegan Sands. Hmmm…. that is just crazy stuff. All the wedding planning is in the final stages, we made a list of the things left to do and it totals to about a dozen relatively easy errands that we will easily accomplish in time for the big day. Overall the process has been less stressful than expected, of course it hasn’t been a little more stressful for Jennifer, but she has done an excellent job planning. We didn’t get this far without a few tears and more than a few compromises, but thats what its all about. As far as how our relationship is holding up despite the planning, I am glad to report that things are better than ever with us. I have heard horror stories about how the wedding can push couples to the edge with all the decisions, finances and the like, but no horror stories to report here. We are still waiting on a bunch of RSVP’s, but most of mine are back so that makes me happy (I do have the home field advantage). The number of attendees looks to be dropping below 140 by the end of the week based on our estimations, which is really good considering we invited over 150 people and the wedding is on a holiday weekend, which has made people take little vacations to Massachusetts.

The wedding gifts have begun to pile up in our back bedroom. Apparently its bad luck and bad taste to use anything before the “You may kiss the bride” thing so we have refrained from using the new Waffle maker, serving containers and flatware. I am not quite sure where we are going to put all of this stuff when all is said and done. I still need to work on some honeymoon stuff, Jennifer booked all of the ferries and hotels in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, but now it is my turn to plan the day to daily itinerary. No big deal though, as long as I have my new wife, my old car and my satellite radio, I will be a honeymooner.

Now on to the past weekend and what I have been up to. I can sum it up in two words, “Not Much”. I was super tired from working until 3:30 in the morning Friday and spent most of the evening napping and playing with our new TiVo. Saturday we stayed out of the rain, went to the gym and went to see one of Jen’s students perform in a ballet recital. Afterwards her student’s parents took us out for crepes in Harvard Square, we shared a mango strawberry and dark chocolate one and it was fantastic.

Today we woke up and went over to the cafe for breakfast and then returned home to work on wedding things. I backed up all of my music and burned cd’s for the DJ. We went to the gym in the afternoon and then came back home and watched the BoSox game. Now I am sitting on the couch updating this journal. Unfortunately, I seem to be coming down with a cold and haven’t felt well all afternoon, hopefully it will pass though.

See you all real soon.
Keeg

Poison ivy is nearly gone.
Shopped and saw the Breakup on Saturday.
Fifth day of the gym in a row today.
Worked at home yesterday.
Jennifer made a fantastic stir fry last night in the wok.
Dishes are all done.
Damn its been cold and rainy lately.
Back at work this morning and the office is freeeeezzzzing!!!
Ballet two nights this week (Tuesday and Saturday)
DMB next week (Show #49 & #50)
Less than four weeks to the wedding.

That’s all folks!!!

Not only did I get good photos from the canoe trip, but I also picked up a nice poison ivy rash. It’s only really bad on my hand, but is also sprinkled throughout my body. Now typically I would just let it be, but when I woke up this morning a part of the rash on my hand had turned black so I will be visiting some sort of medical facility today. I’ll keep you posted on the situation.
Poison Ivy Slideshow

It’s that time of year again for us to gather in Plymouth and canoe/kayak down the Agawam River. We extended the trip on both ends this year, starting in Halfway Pond and ending in Wareham Harbor. From start to finish it took us about seven hours, but it flew along and seemed to take less time than in past years despite the shorter distance. Thanks to the recent rainfall the water level was very high and made the trip smoother. Enjoy the photos sorry I am at a loss for words, which may be caused from my insane level of fatigue.

Keeg

The last few days have been rather busy in my little life.

On Friday afternoon I left work and picked Jennifer up at school and we drove up to Manchester airport. We flew down to Orlando to visit her grandparents for a day or so. While there I took these Florida photos. Saturday down there was gorgeous with only a few clouds in the sky. Early on Sunday morning we packed up and flew out and back to the rainy north at seven AM. In total we were on the ground in Florida for 32 hours.

Once back in New England we drove down to Amesbury and checked out the high water all over the town. I took these Amesbury Flooding photos. All of the photos were from downtown, but we did see many other flooding in the typical Amesbury spots. Afterwards we went to my mom’s house and hung out there for a while. We ended up giving Britt and Carol a ride to the DoubleTree hotel where they were staying for the night leading up to Britt’s graduation.

Now this morning I got all dressed up and commuted into the city to go to Britt’s commencement. I met Carol at the hotel and we walked over to the Wang Center for the commencement where I took these Emerson Commencement Photos. It was a long ceremony, but I did get to here Senator John Kerry speak. His speech while it sounded more like a late night talk show monologue was really good and very funny at times. My favorite joke was when he criticized the president for wanting people to leave the country that don’t speak English when he in fact can barely speak correct English himself. We found Britt and the Morins after the commencement and I then came back to Somerville to do some work.

It was a crazy and wet few days, but I think a lot was accomplished despite my exhaustion.

Keeg

Thanks to my aunt Carol I have made it onto another Boston website.

Got to BostonChannel Mother’s Day Tribute. You can see a photo of my mom and I at the Red Sox game a couple weeks ago.

Have a great weekend. Jen and I are headed to Orlando tonight, but will return early on Sunday.

Keeg

Okay well I have recently learned something new about this whole getting married thing. If it wasn’t enough that planning the wedding is sometimes stressful, annoying, frustrating and once in a while fun, we are now finding out that planning a honeymoon has moved in to a solid second. Originally as many of you know we had planned on going to Norway, but the thought of spending over $1000 just to get one of us over there, not to mention the costs of traveling over there for a week quickly sent us looking to another part of the globe. Next stop Alaska, hopefully you are all more knowledgable of the world than my hair cutter at SuperCuts, and can see the theme we were trying for. That being glaciers, cool weather in July and extended daylight hours. Well we aren’t finding it much cheaper on the other side of the world either. Between the base cost of the cruise and the flights to Vancouver and from Anchorage, our original plan may be cheaper. At this point I think we would be better off renting a mansion in the mountains of northern NH since it would cost about the same price.

All kidding aside thought it is really difficult to find a “once in a lifetime” vacation that doesn’t exhaust your savings. I know everybody is all up in our grill about making it special and apparently spending the little life savings we have, but I don’t know about that. I guess I am being childish, but to me a down payment on a house just seems a lot more important to me than a vacation. The older and wiser generation will probably have something to say about it, but those are my thoughts.

I was recently looking at my logs on Google Video and was amazed by all of the hits my movies have had since I uploaded them. Here is the breakdown:
BoCaNO Ski Movie - 109
First Snow Christmas Tree Hunt - 7
Mark On 3-D - 25
Road Trip to Tarpon Springs Florida - 56
Ski Film 1 - 7

I was very excited and added a new film last night from the videos I took up at Tuckerman’s Ravine a couple weeks ago. I think this will be a big success because of all the people crashing and getting destroyed. It should be showing up soon, look for it at BoCaNO Films on Google Video.

Thanks for spreading the news!!
Keeg

I just dropped off the invitations at the post office, so you should be expecting one in the mail in the coming week or so. I was a bit frustrated there and had to hold off on four that still required postage. I walk into the West Somerville post office and there was a line, which seems typical of most post offices. I stand in line and notice this guy at the counter with a stack of thirty or so envelopes. He is having the postman weigh them one at a time. I wanted to go over and punch the guy in the face, or at least buy him a book of stamps and tell him to just do it like everybody else. So since it was now approaching eleven, I ran over to the slot in the wall where you can put mail and deposited all 80 invitations two at a time into the wall. I quickly filled up the bin on the other side before taking off. I do think I accidentally dropped in one that I was supposed to hand deliver, it doesn’t have a return address, but hopefully they will put two and two together and figure out the return address.

Things are rolling along with the wedding planning and getting the invitations out will remove a huge burden. Only two months from tomorrow and this will all be done and life will return to normal, well more or less.

Later,
Keeg

On Friday night it was an evening at the old ballpark. I met mom at the Common and we walked to Fenway Park for the BoSox-Mariners game. After a little confusion we met Jennifer and Melissa on the way to the game. We took some photos outside the green monster and then we parted ways for our seats. Mom and I sat in right field right under the over hang, so when the rain came we stayed relatively dry. I was excited about the game because I had decided to keep score, so I was glad to get there early and get situated with my score card and my pen. I have developed my own system and while I did miss a couple pitches here and there I was able to record most of the game. It got tricky after the rain started, but I was able to keep the score card dry. The next morning I totaled up all of the statistics and my box score was correct. Tomorrow night Jennifer and I are going back to Fenway and once again I will be keeping score.

Here are my score cards from Friday’s game. Click to zoom.

Here is a photo of our new table and the chairs we bought at K-Mart for $25, there not the best chairs ever, but they match the table and I think they will last us a few years at least. I also uploaded some photos from Bust ‘n’ Burn a few weeks ago. I didn’t get many, but here they are Rainy Bust ‘n’ Burn weekend

I know I never update and that is just something I have to accept for the time being. However I wanted to thank you all for the recent surge in viewings of my videos on Google Video. I have had 66 total views of my three movies. Its cool that people are actually going online and looking at those things. It is all the inspiration I need to do some more.

While I am here I will let you know what I have been up to lately. On Friday night I joined Mark, Kate and Amy at Jennie’s Art Exhibition. It was a good time and there was a huge Su Doku bulletin board of countries which we managed to finish the puzzle. The next morning Jennifer and I woke up and drove down to Connecticut. Saturday night we went to Jennifer’s 10 year reunion and had a fantastic time. Unlike my reunion, where Jennifer didn’t know any of my classmates, I knew a whole bunch of her friends and their boyfriends so it was great.

Yesterday we went to a flea market in the morning and then drove home in the afternoon. I did get the chance to clean my car, which looks fantastic right about now. We bought a new table last week, which is huge, but unfortunately the chairs we had don’t match the table so we went and bought some cheap chairs at KMart. So I had the fun job of putting the four chairs together and they look really great.

Okay until next time.
Keeg

I was just reading about the protests currently going on in France and wondered if Americans are happy with our situation and if we weren’t would we still be able to create a gathering of so many people. Personally I feel like the whole protesting thing doesn’t get much accomplished and is more of a nuisance. Is it possible that if enough people came out in protest of the war, we would actually get the troops out of Iraq? In this day and age I doubt it.

The other thing I have to announce is a new addition to my recent submissions to Google video. A couple years ago Brittany and I drove to Florida and brought along the video camera. Since we forgot to record while we were down there I ended up doing about a 25 minute narrative of our trip. I recently came across the video and decided to upload it to google video.
So here it is:
2003 Florida Trip Narrative Video

Last night I pulled together a few movie clips and put them into some software, edited the videos, added an audio track and cut it as a 3 minute movie. So here is the link to my first officially rleased film, Ski Movie

I hope you enjoy it, I also have a higher resolution copy, but it was too big to upload to the internet. I can’t wait to get started on my next film, oh yeah and this weekend I will be bringing my video camera up to Sunday River.

Jennifer and I had a fantastic weekend, despite the chilly temps. On Friday night we went to the Paradise Lounge to check out a live show of Jeff Tuohy (the DJ for our wedding) and Percy Hill. We did the long T ride over there and had an okay dinner at the lounge and a couple hours later the show started. Right before the show started, Pants and Britt showed up and stayed for quite a while before jetting to another happening club. We finally got back to Somerville around one in the morning and went right to sleep.

The next morning we woke up too early, which left me tired for most of the day. Most of the day was spent indoors since it was cloudy and cold outside. Eventually we did venture out and walked to Whole Foods, I couldn’t believe how cold it was so late in March. Saturday night was a lot more low key than Friday night.

Yesterday we were up relatively early and the sun was actually shining on Somerville. We strolled down to the cafe and ate our typical Sunday morning breakfast. Upon returning home we set out on a mission to clean up the house and let me just say “Mission Accomplished”. It was intense cleaning, I moved furniture around, removed things from shelves and polished every wood surface. We did a little furniture movement and put the dining room table into the entry way in anticipation of buying a new table later in the day. Unfortunately when we got to the store the table was a little to big to fit in my car and now we have a dining room with four chairs, but no table. So now I have to figure out how to get a 7ft by 3 1/2 foot, 150 pound table from Everett to Somerville.

Now the week is beginning and I have a big project I need to work on, can’t wait to get started.

Hello all. I have two photo albums for you to enjoy.
Rockport Photos
Sunday River Photos

Enjoy and Happy Spring!! Despite the 20 degree temperatures.

I received my annual mailing from the American Skiing Company telling me all about why I need to buy a season pass for NEXT winter. That’s right I have until May 2nd to buy a season pass for the winter of 2006/2007. Last year was the first year they moved the deadline up from the standard August to May and this year they pushed it ahead another week. The other new things this year are that they are going to make even less passes available in order to “improve the experience of passholders” and the price will go up even more than it did last year after the deadline. So I have decided once again to hold out and not buy the pass until October again and if they run out of passes I guess I won’t ski next year. I could understand the earlier deadline last year because the conditions were good and there had been an okay amount of snow, but this year the conditions are just, IMHO, horrible. I mean seriously they are just opening trails for the sake of opening them and not because they are worth opening. 90% of the trails are covered with thick ice sheets, that aren’t exactly fun to ski on. The other recent development is the state of the bathroom’s up there, I was in the White Cap bathroom and every stall was a mess, I won’t go in to detail. Maybe they should take all of this extra capital and do something new with the mountain or keep things clean. Ahhhhh I am so annoyed.

This evening I took a walk down to my local pub and took in another open mike night. To my surprise I didn’t see anybody peform from last week, so it was fresh and new. The first guy to perform was right of the boat from Japan. He barely spoke a word of english, but could play the guitar really well. He sang two songs in japanese and the other was in english. The round of applause this guy got was amazing and I am hoping he will return again in the future. Another change this week was that a woman got up and played a set. She was really good and had a great sense of humor, which really made for a great set. I might not be good enough to play at the open mike, but I sure do enjoy going to watch it.

A last minute change of plans sent me packing the car on Saturday morning and driving northbound towards Bethel. I have worked out a really good system that lets me spend time with Jennifer on Friday night and Saturday morning as well as get in some skiing on Saturday and a full day on Sunday. I used my tele skis on Saturday and had a nice afternoon, on Sunday I switched back to my alpines so I could keep up with the group. I have to say I have a lot more fun on the alpine skis then I do on the tele. The tele skis would be great if I went up more often and my body had a chance to strenghten the correct muscles, but this skiing once every doesn’t allow for a very enjoyable tele experience. I am still on the fence for what I will use the rest of the season, but I am leaning towards the alpines especially if I want to compete in the Bust ‘n’ Burn competition. I did hit the bumps a little bit today and it felt good, although my legs aren’t strong enough to complete an entire course.

Thanks again to Kate, Kelly and Mark for letting me crash at their house. I can’t seem to get enough of sleeping on the couch in my sleeping bag. It might not be the couch though, and may actually just be the sleeping bag. You see my sleeping bag and I go way back, I somehow inherited it about 15 years ago when I lived in my mom’s little ranch on Woodlawn street in Amesbury. You see back in those day I used to sleep on the pull out couch in the maroon sleeping bag. I used it a few times camping along the way. A couple years ago I brought it on a hike up Mt. Madison with Mark and Kate, at the time I wasn’t too happy with it because it made the hike extremely difficult. You see I never had one of those carrying bags that really compresses the sleeping bag to a nice hiking friendly size so I had it attached to my backpack in an awkward uncomfortable way. Just picture me climbing up a trail with my head tilted over at a 45 degree angle with a giant marshmallow shape on my shoulder. Talk about a sore neck!!! Anyway I recently took the sleeping bag out of storage and have been keeping it in my trunk (I read that you are supposed to do that in case you get trapped in your car). Oh maroon sleeping bag I want to thank you for keeping me so warm and cozy over the last fifteen years, without you I would have frozen on one of these cold New England nights.

Keeg

As you all know I am a huge television fan and lately I have realized I hate the networks. They are so concerned about having good programming on during sweeps weeks that they make us suffer through countless reruns at all other times of the year. Seriously I haven’t seen a new CSI in at least three weeks, all of this and they can’t understand why there shows are turning over faster than ever. I realize our culture has the attention span of a 3rd grader with ADD, but there are still some of us out here who appreciate consistency in our programming. When was the last time you were actually hooked in to a tv show and couldn’t wait to see the next episode. In my case it would have to be last spring, when I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next on Lost. This year they have had about eight new episodes of Lost, sometimes with up to six weeks between new episodes. If its not one thing its another, we can’t run new shows against the MLB playoffs, or between Thanksgiving and New Years (the longest six years ever) or during the Olympics. The best part is now that they are finally running new episodes they have moved them all over the schedule. AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!! I am still on the fence about the new practice of only doing a show for a half season, but doing it non-stop, a-la Alias or 24. I like seeing them all in a row, but the six months of waiting between seasons is unbearable. Finally have you noticed that the number of commercials continues to creep up. I downloaded an episode of the office that was barely over 20 minutes, that translates to 10 minutes of commercials in a half hour, are you kidding me?

I had a strange dream last night and I am going to try and type as much as I remember for you right now:

When the dream started I was in the middle of the desert and trying to warn some people about an impending RPG attack by some terrorists. I yelled and screamed, but they couldn’t hear me, shortly thereafter the rocket turned into a small helicopter, like a drone, and I grabbed it and tried to turn it around and aim it at the terrorists. It did work, but my hands were cut up badly by the blades of the helicopter.

Next scene. Kate and I are running from some government agency, because we work for the agency, but have not followed some protocol. We are in the Boston area running around and avoiding getting caught. Eventually we run into my brother and need to find a place to stay for the night. Kate knew of some random house in Cambridge that lets people spend the night their for free with no questions asked. It was some sort of Hassidic Jew community house next to several other community houses of a similar nature. While in the house we needed to avoid emailing and using cell phones because the government would find us in two seconds. We then realized my brother could safely return home since as far as the goverment agency knew he wasn’t involved. In the morning we woke up and were running through the streets and eventually through a mall to get my brother back home.

Final scene. I am now in the future at some subterranean lab where you can tell that science experiments are going on behind the scenes. I am with two other people, but I don’t know who they are. Apparently I was aware of the fact that they had once been killed and are now living. The scientist goes on to explain a process where they have been able to bring people back to life and then implant memories into their brain. Some shooting went on and then I woke up, it was very strange. I wish I could remember all of the details, because it would have been a fantastic tv show or movie.

Portland Vacation Photos

I was flipping through the TV channels the other day and came across one of those Haunting shows on the Discovery Channel. I don’t know the exact name of the show, but I am sure you have seen it at some point. Most of the time they are using the nightvision video camera and walking around some old house. I think this is the dumbest show I have ever seen, because it really is a bunch of idiots standing around a house talking to ghosts. I have stopped and watched quite a bit and haven’t once seen anything that proves the existence of the supernatural. The worst part is that they put on marathons of the show so I am guessing that a ton of people must be watching it.

Just a thought I had this morning.

Keeg

Its been a good week so far, the weather was so good today that it has me very excited about spring. Our engagement was recently in the Newburyport News and also in some CT newspaper. Here is the link to the CT newspaper Engagement Announcement.

Last weekend I spent Saturday in Somerville doing some cleaning and a little bit of work. On Sunday I got up in the morning and drove up to Amesbury to visit my mom and then continued on to Bethel. Kate and I went for a walk when I got there and after we picked Mark up we hung out at the house for a while. For dinner we did a take out deal and watched Wedding Crashers. The next morning I woke up and got ready to go skiing, when I got a message that I had to do a little bit of work. Eventually I made it up to the mountain and skiied for a few hours. The conditions were pretty bad, but luckily they made snow on a couple trails so if you stayed on those trails it was okay. It was nice to be outside and enjoying the fresh air for a change.

I drove home afterwards and went to dinner with Jennifer. Today my C. Crane FM transmitter arrived in the mail and I have it hooked up at home now. What this means is I can turn the Sirius radio on in the bedroom and hear it on every radio in the house. It is very exciting and now I can work in the morning and still listen to the Stern show, we can also listen to commercial free music anywhere in the house.

The end of the week is nearly here, which is great because Jennifer and I are going up to Portland for a couple days. I took Friday off from work and told her we needed to go away for a couple days. It will be awesome to go on vacation especially since it has been so busy at work lately.

Keeg

Yes it’s true I still do own my camera, but unfortunately haven’t taken many photos lately. I think the reason for this is that I have taken photos of most things I see everyday and it seems silly to keep taking them of my car or Somerville. Maybe its time I get out and go to some new places so I have a reason for taking photos. Either way I hope you enjoy these assorted albums from 2006.

Well its the time of year again when the Dave Matthews Band announces there tour and there is some good and bad news. The good news first, the band may be playing at Fenway Park this summer. The bad news is it seems the shows might occur during the weekend of our wedding. The dates aren’t posted yet, so I guess there is no real reason to jump the gun on this issue. Well really there wouldn’t be an issue at all, I just wouldn’t be able to go to the shows. It would mark the first time in nine years that I didn’t go to the Boston area shows, but then again it is the first and only time I am ever getting married which kind of trumps the Dave Matthews obsession. We’ll soon see… maybe we can arrange to have a rehearsal lunch instead of a rehearsal dinner ;o)

Hey now everybody!!! I am sitting at home on a Tuesday morning and just waiting for the traffic to subside before I head off to work. It was a boring weekend here in Somerville. On Saturday we picked up our wedding bands and then I stayed home all afternoon while the girls went to look at bridesmaid’s dresses. I did make it over to the video store before the storm and rented Elizabethtown, Lord of War and House MD Season 1 Disc two. First of all the only thing I liked about Elizabethtown was the road trip at the very end. Lord of War was less than spectacular, it didn’t really go anywhere and then it ended. The House DVD was great. If you have never seen this show you need to check it out on Tuesday nights.

On Saturday evening I spoke with Kate on the phone and helped her book a flight so she could get out of Boston a day early to avoid the snowstorm. Everything worked out and she ended up in Utah on time.

The snow began late on Saturday night and by the time Sunday morning came around we already had about eight inches of snow. We stayed inside most of the day doing work and watching movies, until about three o’clock when the snow slowed down. We went out and cleaned off our cars and then went to the store. In all we ended up with about forteen inches here in Somerville.

On Monday I decided I didn’t want to lose my parking space so I worked from home. I was able to get a lot done although I did end up working rather late to resolve all of my issues.

Not much else is going on in my super exciting life. Hope all is well with everybody.

I finally made a trip back up to Bethel this past weekend. I drove up on Saturday morning and skiied for most of the afternoon. Since it was only my third day of the season and first in about a month, my legs were a bit shaky. The good news is that I have perfected skiing alpine on telemark skis. It might seem like I am wussing out, but it is the only way I am going to be able to ski for more than two hours. The conditions weren’t exactly great, with lots of hard pack ice everywhere, I did hear from sources that on Monday the skiing was fantastic because of a half foot of fresh snow. After skiing we all went to a packed Grizzly, which was too much for me. Mark, Kate and I had a classic dinner at Suds, followed by a quiet evening back at the house. I only lasted a few hours on Sunday before making the long trip back home. I never realized before just how long it takes to drive from Bethel to Somerville, it’s crazy. It gave me a great chance to test out my satellite radio which worked like a charm the entire ride. I actually listened to one channel all the way from Bethel to Somerville, which was much better than trying to figure out what channels had good music throughout the journey.

Not much else going on. All the wedding stuff is still about the same, although we began discussing where we will be staying the night before the wedding. I really want to stay in my own bed in Somerville instead of renting out a room in a hotel fifteen miles from here. Jennifer will most likely be staying in the hotel because of the age old tradition of not being allowed to see each other before the wedding. I don’t know what difference it makes, but what do I know. I’ll keep you posted on where I am going to be that night in case you want to come by and visit.

Hi everybod!!! Sorry I have been MIA recently, but I just haven’t had time to sit down and type one of these entries out. The last couple of weeks at work have been busy in preparation for our next release. Things are still going well at CaseNET, as long as I stay focused and on task I really love it. Besides work the only other thing that is going on in my life is preparation for July 2nd aka “Our Wedding Day” aka “A Real Difficult and Stressful Event to Plan For”. First let me be clear and say it isn’t really stressful for me and Jennifer is mostly bearing the weight of it all, but I indirectly feel the stresses of the event. Most of the stuff is already set except for the photographer, florist and cake, but there are also so many other things which are just plain annoying, like registering, building a guest list and trying to comprehend how much everything costs.

I have to address the whole registering thing first, because while this seems like a fun and easy task it really is the worst of all things involved in wedding preparation, in my opinion. We went to Bed, Bath and Beyond on Saturday and after about twenty minutes of looking around at bedding, we decided it was time to get one of the registry guns. Jennifer went to the Bridal Registry office and got sucked into filling out forms for at least a half hour before she returned to the sales floor. She came back with the gun and a list of things we “Need”, I took the liberty of finding this list online so you can register along at home, Registry Checklist. The list is a bit ridiculous. What newlywed couple has enough space to store all of those things? If we were to receive all of the kitchen items I don’t even think we could fit all of the stuff in our pantry. Also is it really necessary to have three sets of sheets for your bed. I mean seriously we have one set of sheets and when we wash them there is a quick turn around and usually have the sheets back on the bed within two or three hours.

Anyway armed with the registry gun and checklist we began walking around the store and trying to decide what we want to register for. One big problem I have with this is that we are registering for things we already own, they might not be quite as nice, but they seem to be doing the job. I mean we have two sets of plates that serve our non cooking needs really well and it seems silly for us to register for a set of twelve plates. On top of that we are registering for all sorts of cooking things, such as pots and pans. Call me crazy, but spending $500 for a 10 piece cooking set just so I can cook my macaroni and cheese or spaghettio’s, don’t sit right with me. I guess it all just comes back to tradition. Tradition is the driving force behind all wedding planning and it just drives me crazy. Of course the average human only knows a bit about the traditions, but thankfully there are bridal books which help fill you in on traditions, like who should pay for what, who should be invited, when to send out invitations, where the bride sleeps the night before the wedding and on and on. I have come to accept this whole tradition thing even though I will admit it makes me crazy. Either way I love my bride very much and have to say she is doing a wonderful job planning our special day.

Okay I have to hop in the shower, maybe I will have more ranting and raving later.

Keeg

For a few weeks now the toilet in our bathroom has been on the fritz. It all started in the middle of the night at around 2AM and I thought the water I heard was from the shower of the neighbors upstairs, but upon further inspection it was the toilet. A high pitched hissing noise was coming from inside the tank, so I took off the cover and everything looked okay. Upon further investigation of toilet valves on the internet that morning (yes still at 2) I found a users manual for the equivalent model from the company that bought the company of the toilet valve. From the manual I deduced that the valve had sensed that the water was near the top and closed the valve which lets water into the tank, but it was so weak it couldn’t close it all the way so a small flow kept coming out of it. Luckily the flow in compared to the flow out of the overflow tube prevented the tank from overflowing. After flushing a few times it fixed itself for the time being only to return a week later and more often as time passed. Eventually it annoyed me enough that I would just shut off the water to the toilet and go to sleep.

On Friday night I walked into the bathroom and the tank had a lot of condensation on the outside. Upon further investigation the tank was out of water. I flushed the toilet and it filled back up and there didn’t appear to be any leaks. The next morning the same thing occurred and I flushed the toilet, but this time the valve didn’t stop the water and it started to flow at a rate greater than what the overflow could handle and I shut off the water valve. Now not only was the valve broken, but the gasket at the bottom was also leaking. I left the water off for Saturday night and planned to fix the toilet on Sunday. We ran into our landlord who said it would be okay if I tried to fix it and said she would reimburse me for the cost of the parts. I was ecstatic, because ever since getting a bunch of tools for Christmas I have been dying to do work around the house.

Sunday afternoon I went to Home Depot to getthe parts I needed, but they didn’t have the brand I wanted, so I went back home and walked to the hardware store in Porter Square. They also didn’t have the brand I wanted, but since my options were limited I bought it anyway and headed back home. I quickly drained the tank and began unscrewing it from the toilet. The first two screws came right off, but the third was being difficult. After about a half hour of messing around with it, Melissa came over and spent another half an hour with me trying to get it off. I had espresso that morning so I was a bit shaky and impatient so I went to the hardware store again to buy WD-40 and a hack saw just in case. I made it back home after what seemed like forever and sprayed the WD-40 on the screw, but it didn’t improve the situation, so I just sawed the bolt in half. Once the tank was off I cut the giant gasket off the bottom, but once again came across another stuck screw road block. I fiddled with it for five minutes before just hack sawing through it too. Melissa and I moved the now clean tank into the living room for better work. Twenty minutes later everything was screwed into it and we placed it back on the toilet. It wasn’t long before I turned the water on and did a couple trial flushes without a problem. I cleaned up the huge mess I made and put my tools away before checking on it again.

Everything was okay except for a small drip around one of the screws in the back. There wasn’t anything noticeably wrong for it and let it slowly drip while we went to dinner. After chatting with my dad he suggested that either there was some dirt between the gasket and the tank or the screw was so tight it was pushing up the sides of the gasket. I drained the tank again and slowly loosened the screw to the point where I could clean underneath the gasket. After it was tightened I filled it up with water again and haven’t seen a drip since. I have to say I am looking forward to this do it yourself thing.

January 9th is here again today and that means its Dave Matthews' birthday. So in honor of his 39th birthday I am going to reveal all of the song statistics from the 48 shows I have been too. My Personal Dave Matthews Band Statistics

It was another great weekend. On Friday night I met Scottie at Margaritas after work and then we watched a whole bunch of Howard Stern OnDemand. Since we don’t have Comcast at our house I haven’t been able to watch the new OnDemand show, so I was pumped that I finally got to see some of the stuff on there. On Saturday, Jennifer and I checked three things off our wedding to do list. First we picked out invitations at Paper Source, I can’t believe it costs $80 for just 50 invitations. Next up we drove down to Romm and Company and picked out wedding bands, I learned that I have really fat fingers after trying on the first ring and barely being able to pull it off. Finally on the ride home we got a call from Melissa’s friend Jeff Tuohy about DJing and it looks like he will be able to do it. Here is a link to Jeff’s Cd on CD Baby, its good stuff. So we are moving right along and are on pace for July 2nd. Jennifer is wedding dress shopping this weekend and next week we go meet the caterer. So the major things left to do after these two are the flowers for the bouquet, a photographer and a wedding cake. This wedding stuff is easy, I don’t know why people hire planners ;o)

Okay now moving on to Sunday, I woke up and since it was snowing out I decided it woulddn’t be worth it to drive up to Sunday River, so I stayed in bed. Finally we went to the cafe down the street and then Jennifer left for dance stuff. I hung around the house for a while and then went for a walk in the sunshiny afternoon. Later on I looked over some cookbooks for something new and clever for dinner and decided to make Kung Pao Chicken. So we went to the store and grabbed all of the ingredients at the store. Jennifer and I worked the wok together and put together a fantastic meal. I have to say I am a huge fan of the wok.

The Stern show today has been phenomenal, I don’t know how I am going to pull myself away to go to work this morning.

I finally joined the revolution on Wednesday, when I purchased my Sirius satellite radio. You see Howard Stern has moved to Sirius and the first show will broadcast on Monday. It was tough finding a radio in the Boston area because they were sold out all over the place, luckily I used Circuit City and found the two pieces I needed in Burlington and Salem, NH. I drove all the way up to Salem, got my new toys and headed back to Somerville to install them in time for the Howard 100 news at six, basically this a real newscast, with all Howard Stern related news. Within ten minutes of returning home I was listening to my first satellite broadcast and I was so excited. Once it was up and running I moved it into the bedroom in preparation for Monday morning when I will wake up at 6AM, fire up the radio and listen to history being made. I know most of you don’t like Howard because of what you have heard from others or maybe even listened to yourself, but I personally think the guy is a genius and damn funny. Its nice to hear honesty for a change in the mass media instead of all the sugar coated crap you hear from most celebrities. The next time you watch Jay Leno pay attention to the lame softball questions he asks and think about questions you wished he asked them.

Anyway that is my little rant for now.

Wedding Update: We sent in a deposit for the Smith Barn in Peabody for Sunday July 2nd, 2006 from 1PM to 5PM. Save the Date!!!

Another year and another Christmas has finally come and gone. Now don’t get me wrong I enjoy spending time with the family and such, but really the whole being stressed out for no real good reason just drives me crazy. It had been a few years since I felt the Christmas stress, but this year I nearly went crazy. It was the first year I didn’t completely give out photos as gifts, there were a couple reasons for this including lack of truly great photos, time constraints and I figured you can only have space for so many photos. So this year I joined the rest of the world in the regular shopping world and had a difficult time. Thankfully I was able to do most of my shopping online, which made things a whole lot easier, but it didn’t make it easier to find gifts for people. Either way it is over now and everybody got gifts they hopefully enjoyed and will have a use for.

The actual holiday itself wasn’t very stressful, we did have to drive all over the place, but the time was spaced out nicely and allowed for some relaxation between journeys. On Friday night we went to my mom’s house and then went to dinner at the Barking Dog before returning to the house and opening presents.

On Saturday morning we woke up and drove down to Jennifer’s parents house in Connecticut. We didn’t encounter any traffic and were there in no time. Since we were staying down there for a couple of days it was nice to kick back, relax and actually enjoy the holiday. I learned all about the Riebe Christmas tradition, such as lighting luminaries along the driveway, paella on Christmas eve, waking up at 5 o’clock to open presents and then going through stockings first?!?! and many other great traditions. On Monday the extended family from NJ came up for a meet and greet. Everybody was great and I think I fit in rather well with the whole bunch. We took off soon afterwards because we had to go up to my dad’s for dinner.

Unfortunately we didn’t have the same luck with traffic as we did on the way down. There was traffic in Waterbury and then near Hartford and again as we neared the Mass Pike. The entire drive we had been testing out a new GPS device I had received for Christmas that plugs into my laptop and gives directions. Once we hit the last bit of traffic we decided to truly test out the GPS. First we turned off the highway and it told us to make turns to get back on, but eventually it realized what we were doing and recalculated with a new route. It’s a pretty cool little toy and I can’t wait until I am in the passenger seat and really play around with it.

We eventually made it to my dad’s, but too late for dinner. Instead we just hung out, exchanged gifts and then went home. It was nice to be back in our place for the first time after the holidays. I made up a rule that all of our new stuff had to go into the back room until we found a place for each thing. On Monday morning I woke up and put most of the stuff away before leaving for work and Jennifer put hers away not longer after I left. Finally last night we removed all of the Christmas stuff including the tree and now our house is back to normal with a few new things here and there. Phew we made it through another Christmas.

Brickett Christmas Photos

Riebe Christmas Photos

Now moving on 2006!!!! Wedding planning is now the topic of conversation as well as the primary activity in our house. I think Jennifer sat at the computer for six hours yesterday looking for places online. Finally at ten last night I made her shut the computer off and join me in the living room for a break. Things are slowly coming together and hopefully after checking out some places today we will have a where and a when. We are definitely shooting for somewhere around Boston in September or October. While this won’t allow us to go on a honeymoon aftewards it is probably the best chance we have for getting married this year. I will keep you posted on all goings on and put up the wedding date as soon as I know. Who needs Save The Date cards when you have an LJ?

Happy New Year!!!

I can’t believe how cold it has been the last few days. It is starting to make me nervous about January, because I know it is usually the coldest month. For a minute I began to think I hated the cold and then I remembered how miserable I was in the summer. When you are hot there isn’t much you can do to cool down, but at least in the winter you can put on more and more layers. I hear it will be warming up in the next couple of days to the mid 30’s which is very exciting. This weekend I plan to pick up my new skis and take them up to Sunday River.

I am really excited about tonight because one Dave Matthews Band is in town performing at the TD BankNorth Garden. As expected I will be in attendance at the show in the third row. For those keeping score it is my 48th show, which means sometime next summer I will be attending my 50th show. I can’t wait.

Stay warm out there!!
Keeg

Last night Jennifer and I were strolling through the Public Garden in Boston and we stopped on the bridge over the lagoon, she thought we were stopping because of her request for a kiss on the bridge. Little did she know I had been thinking about this moment and in my mind stopping on the bridge hundreds of times over the last two days. As we stopped I kept looking around making sure we were completely alone, which is a tall order when you are standing on such a heavily traveled foot bridge. Finally when the last pedestrian had left the bridge and was no longer within earshot, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small white box, bent down on one knee, opened the box and asked, “Jennifer Rose Riebe will you marry me?"

In a state of shock and surprise she realized what was actually taking place in front of her and answered, “Yes!!"


Now I suppose I should go back to the beginning of the story, so you can all have a better picture of how all of this went down. So about a month and a half ago I hinted about asking Jennifer to my mother and asked about the diamond from her engagement ring from my dad. Now this diamond has enough stories behind it that it warrants its own livejournal entry. Anyway eventually she gave me the diamond on the one condition that I was not allowed to show Jennifer the stone. Since I am bad a keeping a secret I immediately made Jennifer aware of the passing down of the diamond, but obeyed my mother’s rule and did not show it to her.

The next weekend Jennifer was up in Vermont and I called her sister, Melissa, to see if she would like to go on a shopping trip with me to Brockton. Now for years at State Street I had listened to WBCN and everyday they would play these quirky commercials from Romm and Co. jewelers. Now I reasoned that maybe if there ads were awkward it was a good sign of how good they might be as jewelers, sort of in the same way that athletes are bad at acting, but good at sports. So I decided to try out Romm and we drove down to their little store in Brockton. Once inside I told the sales person what I was looking for an antique setting for my pear shaped diamond. She immediately went over to the case and pulled out a beautiful setting and I knew it was exactly what Jennifer wanted. However since it was such a big purchase I asked to see others, but they didn’t compare to this one. With the help of Melissa we debated different metals and different versions of the ring and I finally came to a decision. The next step was to look at the diamond so I could know it whenever I saw it in the future. At first glance the diamond didn’t have the shine of all the diamonds I have typically seen on women’s fingers, but I just figured it was because it was from the late 70’s. The salesperson took it off to clean it and came back with one of the shiniest diamonds I had ever seen. Turns out it wasn’t out of date, but just a little dirty. I learned about my diamond and it was wrapped up to be shipped off to Chicago for its custom made setting. It was supposed to take about four weeks, so the waiting game began.

I told a few people about my purchase, but for the most part kept it quiet, well at least I tried. Time passed and I began to think about how I would actually “pop the question”. I knew a couple things, first I wanted to do it outside, second I wanted it to be a place we had been before and finally I wanted it to be a public place so we could always go back there again and again. My initial thought was Odiorne Point State Park where we went on our second date, then I thought about Plum Island since it was an important commonality on our Match.com profiles, but the more I thought about these places the more I realized that the current weather and short days would limit the times when it would be possible. Then I began to think locally, there aren’t many nice places outside in Somerville or Cambridge for that matter, where we had been together. However Boston had a few nice spots and one in particular stood out for me, the Public Garden.

Earlier in the year we had taken a wine class on Comm Ave and one night after the class it was snowing and we were walking through the Public Garden. It was a magical scene, with snow falling, the skyscrapers lit up all around and I remember being so happy and so in love with this amazing person. We stopped on the bridge, giggled a bit at just how happy we both were and decided that it was such a wonderful night we should go get some dinner instead of just going back home. Looking back it was almost like a scene right out of a movie.

Back in the present I decided this is where I would ask her to marry me, now all I needed was for the ring to get back from Chicago. The wait continued and life went on, and things were wonderful. We did notice though that with BoCaNO being on a Thursday we only had two week nights together, and following in the footsteps of two of my closest friends, we decided to start a date night. The first date night was supposed to happen last night. The original plan was to go skating on the frog pond and then go out for dinner. I thought the ring might be in for last night, but wasn’t sure and then got concerned that somehow people might draw parallels between my proposal and the proposal on my favorite sitcom, Mad About You. Paul actually proposed to Jamie while skating at Rockefeller Center in New York. Luckily for me the forecast turned bitterly cold and we ruled out skating as a viable option and settled on a nice dinner.

I got the call from Gladys at Romm on Monday morning. She said the ring was beautiful and more importantly ready to be picked up. I was so excited I couldn’t help but tell somebody and Miguel was the first person to know about it. I left work early and drove in traffic down to Brockton. The whole time I was thinking of what I would tell Jennifer if she called and asked where I was. I picked up the ring and headed for home and realized I had one more thing left to do before I could actually give her the ring, I needed to ask for her father’s blessing. The whole way home I thought about how the conversation would go, I know Jen’s family really well and definitely had nothing to be nervous about, but it is still a huge thing to ask a father for his daughter’s hand. Once I made it home I hid the ring in my desk and dialed Jennifer’s parents house. I easily got the question out and was given the green light for the final step in this oddly stressful endeavour. Jennifer finally came home from work and I tried my best to act normal and more or less accomplished the goal, although I was a bit hyper all night long. I slept fairly well considering all of the things that were going on in my head. I was concerned about the ring, wondering if the location was right, thinking about what I was going to say and worrying about how I would focus at work the next day.

Yesterday we woke up and I once again tried to contain myself so I didn’t give Jennifer any clues as to what was going to be going down that evening. All day at work I couldn’t stop thinking about what I was going to do and was sweating profusely. I made reservations at Via Matta near Park Plaza so we would have a warm place to go after. I left and went home to prepare for our first date night. I took a shower and shaved, which I feared would make her suspicious, but I made up a great excuse as to why. Finally she came home from tutoring and we were on our way into the city. I had the ring in my blazer pocket and kept a hand on it the entire ride in on the subway. Once in the city we began walking through the Common, her first comment was about how it reminded her of the night we walked in the snow after the wine tasting. I breathed a sigh of relief, because my plans were starting to line up perfectly. We walked across the Common and chatted about school, work and regular things, just like a couple might do on a date night. After crossing Charles Street we entered the Public Garden and walked towards the bridge. My brain began racing about a mile a minute as we approached the bridge. Jennifer then pointed out just how beautiful the Garden looked with all of the snow and lights on the trees. Once at the middle of the bridge she asked me if I would stop and give her a kiss. Once again as in our first date when she pulled me in for the first kiss, I was thankful that she had acted so I wouldn’t have to. So she thought we were stopping because of her request for a kiss on the bridge. Little did she know I had been thinking about this moment and in my mind stopping on the bridge hundreds of times over the last two days. As we stopped I kept looking around making sure we were completely alone, which is a tall order when you are standing on such a heavily traveled foot bridge. Finally when the last pedestrian had left the bridge and was no longer within earshot, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small white box, bent down on one knee, opened the box and asked, “Jennifer Rose Riebe will you marry me?"

In a state of shock and surprise she realized what was actually taking place in front of her and answered, “Yes!!"

We embraced and mumbled things I can’t exactly remember right now, it all happened very quickly. After about a minute I asked her if she wanted to put the ring on or not. She was so caught up in the moment that she forgot to even look at the ring. I placed it on her finger and she let out a squeal of delight. We enjoyed the moment for a little while before I told her we had reservations at Via Matta and should start walking over towards Park Plaza. I also told her that she would not be allowed to call anybody until after dinner, because we needed to enjoy the moment for ourselves. Before we left the bridge though we stopped a guy walking along and asked him if he would take our picture. I felt I have been so good at documenting everything with my camera that this moment should not be missed. The smile on her face was priceless and could see just how happy she was, which made me extremely happy. The entire way to the restaurant we laughed about the future and how we were getting married and all of the silly things people talk about after such an event.

We happily walked into the restaurant and were quickly seated. The meal was wonderful and certainly a perfect fit for our wonderful evening. Jennifer couldn’t stop looking at her ring and giggling. Let me tell you, once a woman gets one of those things on her fingers, they go a little wacky. We finished our dinner with some delicious desserts, I wanted to spare no expenses on such an important day. Once outside I told Jennifer we could start calling people and we both set out calling our parents as we walked back to the subway. Everybody was ecstatic and the phones were passed around both between us and between parents. We finally made it back home and even the apartment felt different. It will definitely be a night I remember for the rest of my life, one of those once in a lifetime moments and you know what I wouldn’t change a thing.





Click to zoom.

St. Louis Sightseeing

St. Louis Zoo

Busch Stadium Demolition

The Wedding

Our Christmas Tree

Another busy long weekend, which involved lots of walking and surprisingly a lot of video game playing. First let me get everybody up to speed Jennifer and I had to attend a wedding in St. Louis of Jennifer's co-teacher from last year. The wedding was on a Friday, but since Jennifer was reading at the wedding we needed to show up on Thursday night for the rehearsal dinner. I took the last two days of the week off and we left for Manchester airport early on Thursday morning.

I flew Southwest for the first time and was introduced to general admission plane seating, this is where you get to pick your own seat as soon as you walk on the plane. Now in theory this would be a good thing, but the reality of it is that people go sit in line forty five minutes before the flight, so it doesn't give much flexibility in how you spend the hour before the flight, you can't just wander around the terminal to pass the time. Anyway we boarded the flight and noticed a few small children at the front and I insisted we get back to at least the seventh row to avoid any screaming babies. So we sat down in a nice seat, I grabbed the window because Jennifer is kind enough to let me have my way in situations like this. We look across the aisle and notice two women, the one against the window is rather old and frail, while the one on the aisle is younger, but rather obese. After looking closely at the pair we notice two things, first is a black dog, which was probably a little bigger than the average housecat and second is a clear plastic storage bin between the two which contained a decent sized parrot. My first thought is we need to move, because its going to get crazy over there, however at this point we might end up sitting in aisle seats of different rows back in the plane. I argue that we need to stay there and not risk getting a bad seat. Jennifer agrees and we sit and watch as the show across from us begins. Once the doors are closed the heavier woman takes out two surgical masks and puts one on before helping the older woman put hers on. Now the parrot comes out of his storage bin and the heavier woman is playing with its beak, all the while the other woman is trying to hold the dog. Right before take off the aisle seated woman decides to take a photo with her camera phone of the other woman and bosses her into smiling. Finally the plane starts down the runway and the woman buries the parrot into her over sized chest and carefully rubs his head. Once in the air for a little while you might think things would settle down, but it just gets wackier. The animals are now moving all about. One minute I look over and the woman has the parrot on top of her head and the next she has the dog behind her like a pillow. The flight attendants keep stopping by and talking, but I don't really know what they were talking to them about. When the in flight food was served the larger woman doesn't remove her mask, but instead just lifts it up while she eats or drinks. It was truly a priceless flight. After we landed in Chicago, they stayed on the plane, because they were continuing on to Phoenix, now I thought this was the last I would see of them, but I was wrong. After telling my mom the story on the phone I looked over and saw the heavier woman running back towards the plane carrying a McDonald's bag. Later we walked by the McDonald's it was in a completely different wing of the airport, all I could think at that point was "I'm lovin' it."

Once the show from above ended we learned that our flight to St. Louis had been cancelled and we were put on a later flight, which meant we wouldn't be able to check in to the hotel before the rehearsal dinner. We walked around Chicago Midway airport searching for some Chicago pizza, but oddly enough there weren't any places serving pizza. After eating some lunch I played Mario 64 for about two hours. I downloaded it onto my laptop and have now managed to gather over 70 of the 120 stars you can get in the game. We finally boarded the plane and made it to St. Louis, unfortunately our luggage didn't catch the flight. We stood around for a while waiting and then stood around some more waiting for the next flight from Chicago. No luggage!! So we just went to the rehearsal dinner in our jeans, thanfully it was casual and we didn't really stand out. Later that night we found our luggage waiting for us at the hotel. We stayed downtown in a really nice hotel, which we got for the low low price of 40 dollars thanks to Hotwire. We were on the 16th floor overlooking the new and old Busch Stadium. Yes this is the stadium where the Red Sox won the World Series last year, unfortunately it been nearly completely demolished to make room for the new stadium. Notice I said nearly because every night while we were there they were doing the demolition with a wrecking ball until 3AM. Now at first this seemed cool, but once I tried to fall asleep it wasn't as much fun. The wrecking ball was crazy, the entire hotel shook with each wing of the ball. It makes you wonder just how loud it was at Ground Zero when the World Trade Center towers collapsed.

In the morning we did a bunch of sightseeing which included going up in the Gateway Arch and a trip out to the Central West End. St. Louis was okay, there were still a couple things we didn't get to do, but they really need to get some cool things to draw in tourists. We went to one part of town that was supposed to be like Newbury Street and there was really nothing there. It was a great day and all, but it was also kind of boring. They do have a subway line, but it seems a bit unnecessary since there are parking spaces and parking garages on every corner. The only people that actually take the subway are people who can't afford cars, which made it a bit sketchy (think Ashmont train). We went to the wedding which was really beautiful. I mean it was a wedding so you know what went on. The reception was a little interesting though, thanks to the DJ. The guy was Adam Sandler straight out of the Wedding Singer, well except he didn't sing. He was dressed up in his tux and had disco lights, police lights and a disco ball. The music started off okay with the couples first dance, then father-daughter, followed by mother-son, but then the guy went right into the chicken dance. Haha I couldn't believe it. Next up you guessed it the Hokey Pokey and then Celebrate. He couldn't have been more cliche with the music. Celebrate was then followed by none other than the electric slide. At this point the bride and groom stepped in and asked him to play some newer stuff. So begrudgingly he played some "newer more upbeat" songs. He actually made a passive aggressive remark about having to play the songs. The music improved from that point on although every once in a while the DJ would make a random comment here or there that would make you shake your head in amazement. We left the wedding and made it back to the hotel in a timely manner.

On Saturday morning we started off the day by going to the Soulard Farmer's Market, because Jennifer always likes to check out the local markets. In the past we haven't had much luck with this (Roanoke, Asheville), but we had time to waste. The market turned out to be pretty cool and was really big. They were selling all sorts of fruits, vegetables and other foods. My favorite booth at the place was selling raccoons and beavers, how strange. After buying some tangerines and strawberries we shot over to the St. Louis Zoo, because everybody told us we just had to see it. They were right it was amazing. We started in the penguin-puffin house, where you are literally inches away from the penguins. Jennifer was mesmerized by the close proximity of the penguins and kept greeting each one as they swam buy with a quick and peppy "hi". I eventually dragged her away from them and we continued walking around the park. Some of the animals had gone south for the winter, but we still saw, lions and tigers and bears (oh my) and camels, leopards, cheetahs, camels and zebras. At one point we went in to see the snakes and turtles. Jennifer noticed an Egyptian Tortoise that had tipped over and couldn't right himself. Despite my telling her he would be fine she stood there watching him trying to coach him about how to flip over. Finally after about fifteen minutes he managed to rock himself over and we were on our way.

The flight home was uneventful except for me playing a lot more Mario 64. Yesterday we did some decorating for Christmas, instead of driving up to Amesbury in the snow, I came up with the great idea of walking to the local Christmas tree seller, buying a tree and carrying it home. It was pretty cool carrying the tree the half mile home, plus since there were sidewalks it was much easier than carrying through the forest, plus my car doesn't have a scratches on the roof or a pine needle inside. Only 20 more days to go.

I haven’t forgotten about this LJ and I am currently working on the entry for Thanksgiving weekend. In order to get something out there here are three slideshows from my long holiday weekend.
Thanksgiving Snowmen
Riebe Christmas Tree Search
10 Year AHS Reunion

More details later.
Keeg

Mark, Kate and I have finally had our day on the Sunday River website. Go to this website to see us in the middle and background of the photo. Of course we weren’t on the main page, but this is a good start.

Last night we had our annual BoCaNO Thanksgiving at our house. We cooked the turkey (okay Jennifer did) and it turned out really well. My responsibility was making gravy and carving the turkey. Here are some photos from last night BoCaNO Thanksgiving Photos. It was a fantastic time.

Keeg

I just wanted to report this now since in a couple years when the pandemic is in full force I can say I remember when I first reported this on my LJ. You can read the article, but I will summarize by saying that at least two people in China have contracted the bird flu. Both were children a nine year old boy and a twelve year old girl. Apparently the girl died from the flu. My biggest fear is that the kids contracted it in October and China denied it, I wonder how many people actually have contracted the flu. I just don’t feel the Chinese government will be super forthcoming with the information. Oh well good luck everybody and keep your hands off of those subway poles.
Bird Flu Found In Humans article

I am sitting on the couch right now next to Jennifer and she is just plain bawling her eyes out. Now at first you might think something terrible has happened but in actuality they are tears of laughter. What is she laughing at? We are watching the ridiculous show called America’s Funniest Videos and they just had a segment where one person after another got knocked down, bonked with or whacked with some sort of ball. Yes its true she is a sucker for these shows and always ends up with tears in her eyes. I must say it is quite a sight.

I forgot to make an entry about my weekend. On Saturday I got into a car accident within a block of my house, only adding to the statistic about most accidents happening within a mile of your house. I was rear-ended by some guy and luckily Precious was okay. Unfortunately Jennifer and I have had sore necks for the last two days. On Saturday night we invited some friends over and had a great turn out of three people. We still had a great time, but I am coming to the conclusion that I should stop sending invitations to things, because nobody every shows up. It seems like nobody shows up for the BoCaNO’s when I send the email. Oh well maybe its just coincidence.

Sunday was a momentous day for me, because my dad and Anne came to Somerville to see our house. My parents don’t have a good history of visiting places I have lived. However since it really isn’t a competition I won’t post the totals, but I can say between my mom and dad the total number of visits to some place I have lived is less than five. Maybe I just need to move closer to Amesbury for better results.

Okay I am tired and need to get a little rest.

I put up some photos from the hike on Sunday.

I also put out a new podcast (see the link below). In this podcast you can hear the outcome of Mark’s recent trip to a Maine courthouse to refute his speeding ticket. Once again I played some music, to break up all of my talking. I also recount the hike of Mt. Tripyramid. I think its super funny, but then again I made it. Check it out!
Listen to the Breaking News Podcast

I had a rather busy weekend. On Saturday I went shopping in the morning and then came home and helped our landlord cut a limb off the tree in front of the house. I took a nap and then met Andy in Davis Square. We went over the Jillian’s on Landsdowne street to watch the Penn State game. It was a great game and I was surprised to see all of the PSU fans in Boston. I estimate that there were around 100 fans at the bar. After each touchdown the place would erupt with cheering followed by a repeat cheer. After the game I went home and did a bunch of laundry and dishes.

On Sunday Andy and I went up to climb Mt. Tripyramid. The hike started off really well and was pretty easy until we turned on to the Mt. Tripyramid Loop trail. We crossed a river and then struggled through six inches of snow and poorly marked trails for about forty five minutes before getting to the hard part of the hike. We finally got to the bottom of the north face of the mountain which was a trail straight up the steepest side of the mountain. Since it was the north face the snow was really deep, which when combined with the steepness made for a difficult ascent. We struggled up the side of the mountain and finally made it to the top of the slide an hour or so later. We continued up what we thought was the trail only to find it was a dead end. After scrambling back down a little we found the actual trail and were at the top within 15 minutes. Once at the top I quickly took off one of my wet boots and warmed my toes in my fleece vest. They warmed up a little, but were still a little numb when we set off back down the mountain. The trail we descended on was much easier than the trail on the way up. It was a really tough hike, but I definitely feel like I earned that 4000 footer.

Photos and a podcast to come later in the day.

I have a new podcast episode. And if you don’t want to add the rss feed or subsribe to it in iTunes. Just click on this link Episode 3: Little More Music and your computer will figure out the rest.

My podcast is now officially listed in the iTunes music store. Click Here
Enjoy

Hi everybody,

I have added a new episode to my podcast. In an effort to get people listening instead of reading I am going to keep the text short for now.

To make it easier for you all to listen here are some other ways besides using iTunes. All I have really done is set up an RSS feed. You will probably see RSS feeds on all your favorite websites. It is basically a way of packaging content that is easily read regardless of the type of content or where it is from. You can do the iTunes thing or you can use any RSS reader you want. For the most lightweight version I would use the google reader (setup instructions below). It allows you to play the audio without requiring a download. You can also add other feeds to the google reader such as the livejournal.

If you have a gmail account go to http://reader.google.com
Log in using your gmail account and password.
Once on the reader page click the “Your Subscriptions” tab.
Click add a feed.
Paste www.digisans.com/lakitu/po… into the box and click Preview.
My podcast will automatically load.
Now click the Subscribe button.
The feed has now been added.
Now if you go to the My Subscriptions tab again you can see the feed and if you click on it you can see all the episodes below.
Click on play to hear the episodes.

If you want to add this Livejournal to the google reader here is the path www.livejournal.com/users/kee…

Hi everybody, I have exciting news. I am going to begin providing podcasts for you all to listen to as an addition to the regular livejournal content. I have submitted it to the iTunes music store, so those of you with iTunes can subscribe to it and have it automatically downloaded whenever you open iTunes. If you have an iPod this will mean it will be added to your iPod also. Here is the link for the First Keeg’s World Podcast. Let me know what you think.

UPDATE!!!! They haven’t added the podcast to the iTunes Music Library yet, but I know the easy steps you need to take to subscribe to the podcast.
1) Go to Apple.com and download iTunes. Click here to download
2) Install iTunes.
3) Once it is installed go to the Advanced menu and select Subscribe to Podcast.
4) Enter www.digisans.com/lakitu/po… as the podcast URL.
5) After hitting okay iTunes will automatically load your podcasts window.
6) You should see an entry called Keeg’s World. Right click on it and choose Update Podcast.
7) The most recent episode will download to your computer.
8) In the future new episodes will automatically load for you.

If you have an iPod the episodes will be transferred to it.

Keeg

Fells Foliage Photos

Jennifer and I took advantage of the beautiful weather yesterday afternoon and went for a little hike in the Fells. The hike didn’t start out so well due to my stepping in a big pile of dog poo, but after that everything was wonderful. I had never actually been there before, but I really liked the trails, except for the general lack of blazes. We went up to Wright’s tower and saw a great view of the city. The tower was covered in lady bugs which I thought was strange, and the longer you stood next to it the more ladybugs attached on to your clothing. We wandered aimlessly for a little while and then stopped next to a brook. I spent a few minutes redirecting the water before deciding I should just leave it the way it was when I got there. Finally we stopped at the Panther Cave and did a little spelunking.

Today was halloween and I bought a bunch of candy to hand out to trick or treaters. Only about 20 kids showed up so I started handing candy out to adults walking by, but only one adult accepted the offer. At least I know how much candy to by next year.

Happy Halloween everybody!!!!
Keeg

On Friday night we all got together for Amy’s annual pumpkin carving party. Two things changed this year though, it was in Concord and costumes were preferred. For weeks I tried to come up with a costume, first I was going to be Napoleon Dynamite, but my hair just isn’t long enough for that right now, then I was going to be The Greatest American Hero, but once again it would have been better with longer hair. I searched online and came across some video game characters and almost decided on Link from the legend of Zelda, but instead decided to call Andy and see if he wanted to be one of the Mario Brothers. He was down with it and my search for overalls began. I never realized how hard it was to find something out of style. I looked all over the place with no luck, finally on Thursday afternoon I went to Work ‘n’ Gear and picked up a pair for thirty dollars. They were perfect and now I have a great pair of denim overalls.

The party was once again great and I have to say I think Mark definitely took the top costume prize with his CDC worker costume (see photos). The award for the best pumpkin once again goes to Amy, for an intricate design of a ghost. I did a bat, but instead of using the actual pattern did it free hand from the picture on the book, and I think it turned out okay. It’s amazing how hard it is to draw symmetrical shapes, one side of the bat ear was huge while the other was small and his feet were a real mess.

Yesterday Jennifer and I spent the day at home watching tv and doing nothing really, when all of a sudden we looked out and it was snowing. That’s right it wasn’t even Halloween yet and snow was falling from the sky. I assumed it was just going to flurry all day, but by four o’clock it was starting to stick on the grass and cars. We went for a walk in our new Autumn Wonderland and I decided to take photos. Today the weather has returned to normal though, there isn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperature is supposed to reach 65.

First Snow of the Season Photos

I have to say Laguna Beach on MTV is one of my new favorite shows. I wasn’t really into it during the first season, but the second season has been captivating. For those of you not in the know, Laguna Beach is a show that follows a group of real high school students around for an entire year documenting all aspects of their lives. It’s billed as the real Orange County. I was just on the MTV Overdrive website watching the post show review and wished my friends knew the show so I could dress up as one of the characters for Halloween. So check it out on Monday night at 10PM.

Keeg

I have been busy the last couple of days scouring the area for my halloween costume. I came up with the idea on Sunday night and finally found the hardest part of the whole thing yesterday. It annoys me sometimes how hard it is to find certain things in stores. I had a list of specific things I wanted and no matter where I went they just didn’t seem to have it. In this day and age it is frustrating to know something exists out there in mass production, but still you are unable to find it. On top of that living in Somerville can sometimes be challenging when it comes to shopping. You would think living in the city would provide you with plenty of places to buy things, but I have found that usually the places I want to shop or eat just aren’t in such an urban setting, I have even found that Waltham is lacking the amenities I seem to need. The worst part about Waltham though is that within ten miles there are tons of places to shop such as Framingham and the Burlington Mall, but the traffic is so bad its not feasible to actually go. I guess I am complaining because I felt so spoiled back in Salem, when I could drive ten minutes and be in Peabody where they have basically every store you could possibly want to go to.

Okay thats all for now here are some photos from last weekend. Head Of The Charles Photos

Another washout of a weekend hit the New England area and at this point I have given the hope of spending another weekend outside in the sun. The worst part about this weekend’s rain was that it was so nice out all week long and as soon as Saturday came around the sky clouded up. On Saturday I spent some of the day doing work and then went to the mall to try and straighten out my phone situation. Basically my replacement phone is a piece of garbage and I need the insurance company to send me another phone. More on that later. I didn’t end up getting a new phone at the mall, but instead bought this great wool blazer. Now the first time you see me you will probably chuckle about it, but I really like it. I’ll get a picture of it up soon. On Saturday night Jennifer and I went to babysit one of my coworkers kids. It was a fun night, 19 month olds are so busy and hard to understand.

Sunday morning involved more work and a trip to the cafe. Afterward Amy, Any and Melissa met at our house before we went down to watch the Head of the Charles. Just like last year it was a raw damp cold, but we survived for a couple hours. At one point we took a snack break at John Harvard’s and downed a plate of nachos. Unfortunately the spinach and artichoke dip was extra oily, so we sent it back to the kitchen a couple times before they gave us a gift card for a free appetizer next time. Despite the cold and wet it was a great day.

Now back to the phone situation. I called up the insurance company again today and explained the situation with my replacement phone. After talking to a half dozen people I finally convinced a guy that my phone was not working. He kept questioning me about it and I kept explaining to him that the phone would just stop working if I didn’t press it firmly against my head. After ten minutes he was convinced and said he would sent out a new phone and should get it tomorrow. What a freaking nightmare?!?!?! On the bright side Verizon said I am eligible for a discount on a new phone in February. Hopefully they will get some cool phones by then.

Here is my entry for no apparent reason. I am currently at work and just returned to my desk from a meeting. I need to get back into my hard working mode. Yesterday I came in early and left around four and it was fantastic. It is so great to get home early in the afternoon although I didn’t really do much and didn’t go to the gym. My gym attendance lately has been poor and I am going to try to change that this week.

Okay I don’t really have anything else to say for now.

Keeg

After over a week of cloudy rainy weather the sun finally appeared in the eastern sky this morning. It’s amazing how different the world looks now basked in the bright glow of sunshine. In honor of the return of Sol I have compiled some quotes and photos for your viewing and reading pleasure.


Just living is not enough… One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
Hans Christian Anderson

I’ve been waiting for that bright sunshine to show up and shine in my back door someday.
Luther Allison

October gave a party; The leaves by hundreds came - The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples, And leaves of every name. The Sunshine spread a carpet, And everything was grand, Miss Weather led the dancing, Professor Wind the band.
George Cooper

Sunshine is a welcome thing. It brings a lot of brightness.
Jimmie Davis

Pleasantly, between the pelting showers, the sunshine gushes down.
William Cullen Bryant

The glorious lamp of heaven, the radiant sun, Is Nature’s eye.
John Dryden

Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World.
Christopher Columbus

Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe. All this is suggested by the systematic procession of events and the harmony of the whole Universe, if only we face the facts, as they say, ‘with both eyes open’.
Nicolaus Copernicus

The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
Galileo Galilei

The mid-day sun is too much for most eyes; one is dazzled even with its reflection. Be careful that too broad and high an aim does not paralyze your effort and clog your springs of action.
Learned Hand

Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it.
Ninon de L’Enclos

I’m gonna soak up the sun
Sheryl Crow

Here comes the sun.
The Beatles

I need to laugh, and when the sun is out
I’ve got something I can laugh about
I feel good, in a special way
I’m in love and it’s a sunny day
Good day sunshine
The Beatles

The dawn is breaking. A light shining through.
Howie Day

What has the world come to? Look at this article Renting a Handful of Luxury. This has to be a joke. Why would anybody pay up to 175 dollars a month to rent a hand bag? You know what I am just speechless and really have nothing more to say about this whole thing.

My car is finally back after a two day visit to Boston VW. I brought it in for the 60,000 mile service which includes a whole bunch of things I don’t care to list right now. If you want to find out you can just google it. Anyway I brought it in the other night and originally intended to get my radio reception fixed, but the guy said it would cost $300 to fix since my warranty has expired. I passed on the radio thing and decided instead to have my reverse lights fixed. They said my car would probably be done by the next morning which shocked me since my appointment really wasn’t supposed to be until the next morning. Late yesterday I had checked the status of my repairs online and finally decided to call. The guy on the phone said it was still in the queue and hadn’t even been looked at yet. I was so annoyed, but he said he would call me as soon as they had checked it out. The rest of the day went by and then this morning they finally called to tell me that it was going to fix 125 dollars to fix my reverse lights, they weren’t working because of faulty wiring near the transmission. I told the guy to fix it and now began to wonder how much this little trip to the dealership was going to cost. They finally called when it was finished and the grand total was around 410 dollars. On one hand I was thankful that more wasn’t wrong with it, but I had still just dropped almost a half a g on my car. Hopefully I won’t need any major service again for a while. Grrr!!!!

Given the amount of rain lately and my recent carpentry conquest, I am considering building an ark. The forecast doesn’t look promising, the seven day forecast involves lots of rain. Maybe we should be happy that it will at least be different levels, (showers, light rain, sprinkles, rain, heavy rain). Variety is the spice of life, although I prefer ginger.

I was so tired yesterday and could barely keep focused at work, once home I didn’t feel like a nap and just watched some tv before dropping my car off at the shop. I brought it in for a 60,000 mile service. They will also be doing four recall jobs on it. My radio has had poor reception lately, but they said it could be a $300 job to check the antenna out. Since my warranty is over I decided to pass on fixing it for now and will just listen to Cd’s. I think the whole warranty thing should be changed. I think I had a five year 60,000 mile warranty. Its unfair that things completely unrelated to the mileage should be excluded if I pass a certain threshold. The radio reception should be covered no matter how many miles are on the car for five years. You would think they could come up with something a little more flexible to try and lure people towards their cars.

Last night we had all sorts of problems with our stove. About a month ago I woke up in the morning and smelled gas. I was able to track it down to the stove and noticed that one of the pilot lights went out. You see on our stove we don’t have the clicking noise, but instead there are two pilot lights which stay on all the time. Well one of them went out. So after calling more knowledgeable parental units Jennifer lit the pilot back up and our problem was solved. At about the same time the oven started acting up too but in a different way. After being on for about ten minutes it started making a humming noise, it actually sounded very mechanical. It still worked so we kept using it. Fast forward to last night. I lit the front burner on the stove and it just didn’t sound right and the entire burner wasn’t lit, so I used the back burner instead. After I was finished I tried the front burner and it wouldn’t light because the pilot was out again. We relit it and then watched tv before bed. At 4:30 this morning I woke up and smelled gas. I got up and went to the kitchen and both pilots seemed to be on so I went back to bed. Of course since I am paranoid about things like that I was unable to sleep and finally around six asked Jennifer if she could smell anything. She could not. I was frustrated and just figured I was overreacting, however after her shower she did notice the smell and upon closer examination noticed that the other pilot was out. We again relit the pilot and things have returned to normal. We left a note for the landlord and hopefully she will get somebody to come in and look at it. Now I am super tired again and leave for work in a few short minutes. I can’t wait to be a homeowner ;o)

Last night Jennifer and I ventured across the Charles River to the BU Agganis arena for a David Gray concert. The ride wasn’t nearly as long as we thought (Red line into the city Green line out of the city), which was a welcome surprise. We walked around the area for a little while until they opened the doors. Once inside we found our seats in the middle of the arena only two rows off of the floor. The view from our seats was fantastic and the sound was just right too. David came on stage and was fantastic. He has such an amazing voice, it easily filled the arena and he wasn’t off key once. If you haven’t heard his new album, Life In Slow Motion, you should definitely go listen to some clips on his website. The show lasted a couple hours and ended with a great version of Babylon. I have to say he is definitely one of my favorite performers to see live.

Afterward we walked out to wait for a Green line train and after about twenty minutes one finally showed up. Of course being the Green line it was packed all the way into town. Luckily the wait for the Red line was much shorter and we were back in Somerville in no time.

My 7 favorite musical artists at this very moment:
7) John Mayer
6) Jason Mraz
5) Jack Johnson
4) Howie Day
3) Coldplay
2) David Gray
1) Dave Matthews Band

At BoCaNO last night I couldn’t remember the name of the tallest man ever, but this morning on the way to work the name Robert Wadlow popped into my head. Here is a little info on him Robert Wadlow Official Site.

It’s been a good couple of days. Work has been fantastic, I have been busy with new and interesting things. My relationship has also been fantastic. I was walking to the train last night and thinking about how happy I am with everything. I love my job, love where I live, have great friends, and can’t express in words how happy I am with Jennifer. Sorry to gush so much, but life is unbelievably good.

Have a great weekend everybody!!! Try to stay dry!!!
Keeg

It has been weeks since I have updated this silly journal and I can’t help but feel bad about it. I have been busy doing all sorts of things. First off Jennifer’s birthday went well, I have a bunch of pictures, unfortunately they are on my computer at home. Work has finally settled down a bit, we made our release on Monday and now we are working on other projects. It is really nice to go home around five and not stress about what I have to do at work tomorrow. The commute lately has been tough, I can’t believe how many cars there are out there and how long it can take one person to drive nine miles. On Monday I did a lot of things on a to do list that had grown out of control. First I phoned my phone insurance company because they claimed they hadn’t received my damaged phone, of course they haven’t called back yet. I made an appointment for a physical, which is going to be in January. I even scheduled an appointment for my car to have its 60,000 mile service. It was an uber productive day that ended with me exercising at the gym. I do feel that a certain amount of stress has been lifted from my shoulders, at least for the time being. Oh yeah I also got information on where to send my retirement rollover money. I can’t believe how much I actually have saved in my 401k at State Street. Thank goodness for automatic pay check deductions.

On Sunday I went over to Amy’s new abode to watch the baseball game. It must have been the longest game ever, well next to the huge blow out against the Yankees in last year’s ALCS. It was great hanging out with everybody on a weekend and not in a bar. I think I need to make a greater effort in rounding up the troops for weekend get togethers. Especially since I won’t have a ski house this winter and won’t get to go up every weekend. It is almost time to buy my pass, I have been debating about whether or not I should. My conclusion is that I will probably want to go up at least six times and I don’t want to burden friends by asking for free tickets. So this weekend I will drop the 369 dollars and get the pass. I find its harder to part with my money these days, but its just something I have to do. Now I just need to find a cheap pair of 160-170cm skis for telemarking.

Alright time to get to work.
Keeg

Since my last entry the season has changed and today the weather is definitely reflecting the change. It is now about 60 degrees outside and sunny. I was actually cold this morning with only a t-shirt on and had to grab a long sleeve shirt. I have been concerned recently with the goings on in our country, from the two hurricanes that have slammed into the Gulf Coast over the last two weeks to the emergency plane landing in California. Things are going crazy around here, I wonder what is in store for us in the near future. The news programs can’t even keep up with all of the news. I am glad I don’t live down where the hurricanes have been hitting, I can’t imagine having to evacuate and leave all of my belongings behind to be destroyed by the wind, rain and storm surge.

Aside from it being autumn already, today is also Jennifer’s birthday. We have a busy day ahead of us, we are currently at the cafe down the street from our house, afterwards we are going up to Amesbury for an afternoon of apple picking and cider donuts. This evening we will be heading in to the city for a little wine and appetizers at a swanky restaurant/wine bar. Tomorrow we are going to Sturbridge for lunch with the Riebe’s at Picadilly Pub. At some point I will be removing part of my desk, so I can realign one set of legs, because I didn’t put them on straight. I must have been rushing towards the end and just measured wrong. I also need to add some cross pieces to help keep it from swaying. I will put pictures up once it is all back together.

I spent most of Saturday trying to get my iPod to work and after about six hours it began to work with normality. So I am bag on track now and can listen to all of my music. I was worried at one point that I would have to buy a brand new one. My technical prowess came through in the end though. On Saturday night Jennifer and I met up with some friends at Ned Devine’s in Boston. I wasn’t sure about the place at first, but the food was great and the band was great too. From the outside it looks like the type of scene I wouldn’t belong in, but once in there it was fantastic.

On Sunday we picked Andy up at 7 and drove up to Crawford notch for a day of hiking. The weather on the way up fluctuated all the way up to the trail head. For the entire hike it rained and misted all over us. Of course this prevented us from seeing anything besides whiteness. It was a fantastic hike and I was happy to bag to 4000 footers. After getting back to the car the sky cleared right up. How annoying?

Since it was a NASCAR Sunday in NH we stopped by Andy’s dad’s house on the way home and enjoyed a super dinner. A few hours later we drove the rest of the way home and another busy weekend came to an end.

Another long work week has come to an end. We once again managed to do the impossible and finished our project on time. Hopefully things will slow down for at least a little while so I can catch my breath. Maybe I will even find some time to go to the gym, get a haircut and get my car fixed. I haven’t taken my car to the shop in such a long time. I know it is going to cost me, but I want to bring it in and have a bunch of things done to it including: an oil change, replacing my seat warmers due to a recall, replace the center console inside that was ruined by a scented pine tree thing, get some new brake pads and new shocks. I figure while I am dumping money into I should have them fix my car alarm so it will actually beep when I lock the car. It needs a lot of work and I want to get it down before winter sets in.

Yesterday when I woke up the chrysalis we have had since returning from Vermont was clear and you could see the newly formed butterfly inside. I had decided to spend my morning at home and a couple hours later I looked inside the tupperware container to find a butterfly dangling upside down drying its wings. It was amazing how quickly the change occurred. Unfortunately I had to go to work and wasn’t able to let him out. When I came home Jennifer was out on the back porch and had just put the butterfly onto a vase of flowers. He wouldn’t fly away though and stayed on the same flower overnight through the rainstorm. We woke up this morning and checked on him to find him still clinging to the same flower. Jennifer went online and looked up some information about butterflies and learned they can go over a day without finding a food, so we weren’t too concerned. In the afternoon we went out to look at him again and he was still sitting on the same flower, so Jennifer had him climb on her finger. He was shaking and started flapping his wings a little bit. About 30 seconds later he took off and flew up into a tree next to the house. It was amazing seeing him fly for the first time. It was also sad to him go. As of about an hour ago he was still sitting in the same tree, he must be getting pysched up for his long trip to Mexico.

One other thing I spent a majority of my down time doing over the last couple days was getting my iPod to load correctly. Ever since we got Jennifer’s iPod Shuffle working I have only been able to update my songs once. It has been extremely frustrating and after spending two hours trying to figure it out last night, I drove to my mom’s and picked up her iPod to test my set up. So this morning I spent another six hours erasing, charging, restarting, plugging, unplugging and testing all sorts of combinations. Finally after about twenty restarts I was able to update my iPod’s software. However I was still getting a big fat error when I tried to copy songs. I was about to give up when I switched firewire cards and was finally able to upload my music. I recently bought a USB2.0/Firewire PCMCIA card so the iPod Shuffle would load in a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately it only had one Firewire port so when I hooked my iPod up I used the port on the back of my external hard drive instead. I guess by using that port I ended up overloading the firewire port on the card and confused the external drive. Once I switched back to my old Firewire PCMCIA card everything worked. In the end it seems that the problem started because I had bad software on my iPod and then was compounded by the new PCMCIA card. I still need to test my iPod cable, because I think it played a role in this whole mess. Thankfully I didn’t lose my music and I don’t have to buy a new iPod.

Tomorrow will be a day of hiking up in NH. If anybody is interested let me know.

Keeg

The desk you see in the photo above was designed and created by me!!! Yep its true I put my carpentry skills to the test and things turned out really well. It all started a couple months ago when Jennifer decided to bring her computer upstairs. We went back and forth discussing ways to rearrange the room and I had the idea to build my own desk for the corner. Before makinga anything I went and checked out the floor models in a couple of stores to see if they had what I wanted and also to get design ideas. One night I began measuring and doing a whole bunch of geometry on a piece of paper and voila I had plans for the top of the desk. I still had no idea how to do the legs, but I figured that would be the easy part.

Fast forward to this weekend. Since I had a bunch of free time I figured now was the perfect time to put my plans to the test. I narrowed it down to four different lower parts and went to Home Depot with Jennifer. We were there for a while and thankfully she was extremely patient with me and at one point convinced me not to give up. So I bought all of the wood, a saw, and some screws, grand total for the supplies was under 80 dollars. We loaded up the Jetta and came home to begin construction. Since I don’t have a skill saw I used a hand saw for the entire job, which turned out to be a rather tedious task. Three hours after starting and I was finished with the sawing.

We picked up Jennifer’s drill from her sister and plugged it in to charge. Unfortunately something seems to be wrong with it, because it just doesn’t go at full speed. So once again I had to go manual and just use a screwdrive to piece the whole desk together. It slowly came together and after another six hours I had finished it. It is certainly not perfect, because of a couple scratches here and there and it is also a bit wobbly, but I don’t think thats too bad for all of the inaccurate manual sawing I did. I am excited to have it finished so I will be able to be more comfortable when working at home.

On Saturday night we met Vanessa, Britt and Ryan at Charlie’s Kitchen. We had a hell of a time and I managed to tag three hooes (drink three large Hooegartens) in just a few hours. Needless to say I was quite drunk and don’t know how I managed to walk all the way home from Harvard Square.

Well I have to go, its been a busy weekend and I have a very busy week ahead of me.

Looks like a scorcher tomorrow, summer just won’t quit.

Keeg

Another weekend is here after only a few long days and I am excited to be staying in Somerville. I don’t think I have spent the entire weekend in town since the middle of August. I have been considering a hike tomorrow, but I am a bit weary of paying 3.50 for a gallon of gas. In my car it comes out to about 10 cents a mile and this is a bit pricy for me. I love hiking and all, but at a cost of $30 it doesn’t really seem worth it to me.

I guess that is all for now. I have been working a lot lately so my brain is kind of tired. Hopefully I will find time this weekend to work on my new desk, or at least a temporary test desk. I have the plans all drawn out, but now need to put it together.

Have a great weekend!!!
Keeg

First of you can see the nice picture I took of another insect. We were up at the Riebe’s cabin in Vermont and there were several Monarch caterpillars around, so of course I took a bunch of pictures. To learn more about the Monarch, click here. Jennifer put one into a milk carton and it soon moved into the pupa stage. It was a bit dangly so she decided to take a caterpillar version instead. As soon as we got home it began to curl its body into a J shape and by morning it had completely become moved to the pupa stage. Its amazing how much it changed just in ten short hours. I have tried to convince her that we need to keep it here and the third graders probably wouldn’t be interested in something as boring as metamorphosis.

Now for the title. I recently signed up for the gym at Bally’s right around the corner in Porter Square. Upon signing up they give you a free trainer session, so I went early in the morning on Thursday to meet my trainer. I haven’t exercised much since I was running daily at the beginning of the summer, so I was a bit nervous. The guy proceeded to put me through a bunch of exercises including pull ups, dips, push ups, ab crunches, squats and some weird jumping exercise. Apparently my body couldn’t handle so much activity all at once and I nearly passed out. I told him I had to take a little break and then I had to lie down. It was embarrasing and a bit scary. He then told me I should probably leave early and get something to eat. I proceeded to struggle out of the gym and somehow made it back home after only stopping a couple times along the way. Once home I put my feet up and regained my composure a half hour later. The worst was yet to come though. On Friday the pain started in my arms and by Saturday I could barely stretch my arms out. Thankfully I feel much better today and hope to go back tomorrow, but my question is why in the world would the trainer do that to somebody they know hasn’t worked out in so long. Ouch!!!

Here is the final track listing of the BoCaNO best CD ever.

Track#	Song	Artist	Length
1	Mr. Jones	Counting Crows	4:32
2	Just Like Heaven	The Cure	3:32
3	Brown Eyed Girl	Van Morrison	3:05
4	Sweet Child o' Mine	Guns ‘n’ Roses	5:56
5	American Girl	Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers	3:33
6	The Space Between	Dave Matthews Band	4:03
7	Linger	The Cranberries	4:34
8	American Woman	The Guess Who	5:07
9	In Your Eyes	Peter Gabriel	5:29
10	Amazed	Lonestar	4:00
11	Wonderful Tonight	Eric Clapton	3:44
12	Pop Song 89	R.E.M.	3:05
13	Gold Dust Woman	Fleetwood Mac	5:04
14	Pictures Of You	The Cure	4:48
15	The Lady In Red	Chris De Burgh	4:16
16	No Rain	Blind Melon	3:37
17	A Thousand Miles	Vanessa Carlton	3:57
18	Closing Time	Semisonic	4:33

In other news I joined the gym.

A year ago Jennifer and I spent a weekend up in Camden, ME at the Nathaniel Hosmer Inn. We had such a great time we decided to go back again this year and once again we had a fantastic time. I took off from work a little early and I stopped in Amesbury to meet Jennifer, because she was going to leave her car at my mom’s house. After that we were on our way north to my most favoritest state of Maine. The weather was gorgeous and we had the radio cranking in the old Jetta. Instead of taking the normal way (Route 1) we decided on a more scenic route through the heart of Maine. It truly paid off because not only did we make it to Camden in record time, but we saw some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. At one point we came up over this hill by a farm and you could see for at least fifty miles. The perfect combination of a farm on top of a hill let us see the outlines of the western mountains, it was breathtaking. We continued over narrow bridges, around sharp corners through more farm lands and across dirt roads before regaining the main road about a half hour west of Camden. It’s amazing how much we miss by travling the interstates.

Once in Camden we set up residence in the same room as last year and before long were wandering down Main street. All of the memories from last year came rushing back as we peered into the familiar store fronts. Our first stop was a coffee shop where we picked up some baked goods to settle our hungry stomachs. We ate them in Harbor park overlooking the harbor and the Megunticook River waterfall. The sky was cloudless and the streets were filled with tourists going in and out of the little shops. We explored for about an hour before returning to the Mary Wheeler room. We were both quite exhausted from a long busy week and it wasn’t long before we were both fast asleep.

The next morning we woke up to the smell of bacon frying. I had slept through the night and didn’t wake up once, it had been weeks since the last time that happened. The queen sized bed, quiet street and cool weather made for prime sleeping conditions. At 8:30 we walked into the dining room for breakfast. Only five places were set, which was quite different from the full house we experienced last year. The other guests were a woman from Stratham, who was planning on a day of cycling over in Isleboro, and a couple from Somerville. We chatted with them and the two inn keepers over a “divine” peach cobbler, followed up by a bowl of local fruit. The main course of this little three course breakfast was a crepe, cheese, and bacon creation. I was a bit weary at first, because it looked a lot like egg, and the texture was very similar, but once I made it through the top part the rest was great.

After breakfast we strapped on our hiking boots and drove over to an isolated parking lot I had scouted out the night before. There is an intricate network of hiking trails in the area and I had chosen the least congested routes in advance. Once again we passed up Mt. Battie, the tourist trap mountain with an auto road, and ended up at the top of Zeke’s lookout and then Bald Rock mountain. Both spots provided gorgeous views without the crowding of the more popular Battie. The trails weren’t well marked, but we did manage to find our way rather easily. One trail in particular seemed to have had few visitors at all because it was very grown in and the spiders had taken over. There webs were strewn across the trail at five and six foot intervals. At one point I ended up with a spider dangling near my head, but instead of backing away in fear I showed it a thing or two and took a dozen photos of him swinging around. Of course only one actually came out clearly, but as with most of my pictures it takes about a dozen bad shots for the one memorable shot you frame and put on your living room wall.

Five hours later we returned to the car with two empty Nalgene bottles, sore legs and an interest in wine. We had heard over breakfast of a small winery over near the trails we would be hiking and decided it was the perfect way to end the hike. We pulled up to the three hundred year old barn and weren’t exactly sure what we were in for. Another couple was just about to start a tasting so we joined in and grabbed a couple clean glasses. We tried about eight different wines in all and they were wonderful. The oddest wine they had was a blueberry wine, which was made entirely of blueberries, it had an aroma much like blueberries, however the taste was much like a red wine. It wasn’t the best wine ever, but certainly better than one would anticipate upon hearing of such a thing. We purchased two bottles from the winery and drove back to the inn for much needed showers.

With clean clothes on our backs we ventured back downtown in search of some lunch. It was nearly four and we planned on going out for dinner, so we made it a light lunch. We walked into the same sandwich shop from our first day and ordered a bit of food. The woman behind the counter asked for a name on the order and I quickly suggested Janet, and smiled towards Jennifer. Ever since our arrival the inn keeper had been introducing Jennifer as Janet and despite a couple tries to correct the situation, we weren’t able to correct her. Finally, the name Janet was called and I paid for lunch, that’s what happens when you try to be funny. Again we dined in Harbor Park, but this time the view was slightly different because the sun was brightly shining down upon the harbor. Looking out to sea you could see a fog starting to push its way across Penobscot Bay towards the harbor, I was thankful I wasn’t aboard a boat trying to find my way back home.

Since we had time to kill before dinner, we walked around all the shops in the downtown area. As always, I didn’t buy one thing. Of course I saw several things I would have liked to take home, but for some reason on vacation I don’t tend to buy souvenirs. In the grand scheme of things this could be a good thing, because I don’t need a bunch of useless junk lying around the house for years. We strolled down by the water and saw a couple schooners returning to port. They were out for an evening cruise, but the fog had stopped them dead in their tracks. I overheard one of the captain saying, “The fog rolled right over us. It was as thick as pea soup and to top it all of the sun was shining so much it lit the fog right up and you couldn’t see a darn thing.” It turns out most of the charters for the evening had been cancelled due to fog, much to the disappointment of many tourists. The long hike and afternoon of shopping had worn me out, so we returned to the inn to rest before dinner. Apparently my head was on the pillow for thirty seconds before I fell fast asleep. I awoke an hour later to the sound of a cork coming out of a bottle of wine. We had stopped at a store to buy a cheap bottle of wine to drink before dinner. I was still pretty thirsty and don’t think I was able to truly enjoy the Riesling, but given different circumstances I am sure it would have been wonderful.

We walked in to Zaddik’s Mexican-Italian restaurant and were surprised to find it so empty. We sat right down and quickly order nachos, which we had planned on ordering ever since we sat atop the acme of Bald Head Mountain. As soon as they were placed on the table we immediately devoured them and only after I was nearly full did I decide it was completely necessary that we finish them. We moved on to the main course which was individual sized pizzas. I was quite full at this time, but somehow managed to finish my mushroom and ham pizza. It wasn’t the best pizza I’ve had, but it filled me up and given the relapse of exhaustion I was feeling I didn’t really care. We walked outside and noticed the fog had finally reached town and was making its way up Route 1. It rolled up the street oblivious to the busy scene it was penetrating. Our full stomachs encouraged us to roam around the foggy scene and we obeyed there wishes. First we went on a walk through the airy stone and grass amphitheater at the library. Continuing down towards the water I noticed how the rope hand rails were covered in moisture from the fog. The stores began to close and we new it was time to go back to our room and begin another night of restful sleep.

Ten of the fifteen gongs sounded from the church bells before I woke up only to wonder why it was so light at five o clock in the morning. After glancing at the clock I realized the church was in fact announcing the beginning of mass because it was actually eight in the morning. I began packing my things and showered before we walked over for another full breakfast. Two new people had arrived at the inn overnight and now there was seating for seven. The food was just as delicious as the prior day and probably even better given my trepidation towards the crepe the prior morning. Upon completing our meal, Glen, the inn keeper told us all about the history of the house and the person was named after. He was quite the storyteller and would always try to sneak in impossible tidbits here and there. Following all of the stories I packed the car while Jennifer got a tour of the rest of the house. Once the car was loaded we went back inside and bid farewell to the inn keepers, telling them we would definitely be back next summer and possibly sooner.

We sat in the car looked back at the inn one more time, turned onto Route 1 South and began our long journey home. It was the end of another vacation, but the start of a fun and relaxing tradition. The perfect way to end a summer and begin the wonderful season of autumn.

I was on the internet the other day looking up information on David Gray and on his website I saw his album can be pre-ordered on iTunes. So I log in to iTunes to check it out and can’t find it anywhere. In a moment of confusion I go back to the website and notice that it is only available on the UK iTunes music store. Sure enough I go back to iTunes and switch to the UK store to find it on the main page. Now here is the reason this topic deserves an LJ entry, if you aren’t from the UK you can’t buy things from iTunes UK store. Now maybe it is just me, but this really seems ridiculous, music is music is music, why should it matter where a person lives. After a little research I learned the different countries music stores might carry different artists as well as music and albums. Have we really progressed so far with technology to limit ourselves by international borders.

It is time for the record companies to step up and let us have our music. A few years ago the record companies were whining and complaining about the Napsters and Kazaas of the world. They have since sued a bunch of teens and slowed the piracy down to a trickle. In the meantime online music stores have popped up and done a killing, especially iTunes. For those of you that are unfamiliar with these online stores they are very convenient and at 99 cents a song I don’t mind purchasing a couple songs every now and then. Of course there are some drawbacks, first and foremost is the lack of artists from certain stores because a record company isn’t affiliated with the music store. For instance only until recently could you find Dave Matthews Band on iTunes. Other artists missing from the world’s largest music store are AC/DC and the Beatles among others. Now I find out the artist restriction is based upon the record label and country of the artist. Why wouldn’t they want there music available to everybody? It just seems counterintuitive to sell something and not want it available in every market across the globe. Its time to bring down these musical borders.

In other news my weekend was pretty good although I am still tired from working last week. The weather hasn’t exactly helped. Enough of the sticky humid weather already, lets get back to the nice dry weather from early last week. Saw two movies this weekend: Broken Flowers and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Bother were very good, obviously two very different movies, but each great in its own way.

Keeg

It has been crazy this past week at work and I have been there for about 15 hours a day and I feel completely drained. Thankfully the project we are working on is finished and we just need to make sure everything is working correctly. I can at least say I learned a lot over the last few days.

Besides work I haven’t been doing much of anything except sleeping. I had to miss BoCaNO last night, which was trivia again. I hope they did alright.

Jennifer and I were hoping to go up to the mountains this weekend, but it seems like the weather isn’t going to cooperate and will be rainy. It really stinks considering how nice it has been around here lately. The last couple of days have me so excited for the fall. It is by far my favorite season. The cool crisp air just brings back such wonderful feelings. I also decided I need to hike as much as possible this fall since I wasn’t able to go much in the spring. Time to make up for lost time I guess.

Okay we are heading out for dinner in Arlington.
Keeg

Jennifer is still away so here I sit at 11PM updating my LJ. I am completely exhausted and should be going to sleep, but for some reason I just can’t get into bed. It has been a busy week at work and I have already put in three ten hour days with a couple more still left to go. Hopefully by this time next week I will be able to breathe a little easier.

Tonight for BoCaNO we went to the Hatchshell for a free classical music concert. It was great to lie in the grass and look up at the stars. It was also nice to be hanging out with friends, so very relaxing. Afterwards we went to Cold Stone, but I had to pass since I had already eaten so much all day long. I suppose it is time to hit the hay and get some rest in preparation for another long day. Man do I spend a lot of time in front of a compute screen now.

Peace out!!!
Keegster

Back in my car and finally starting to enjoy the commute. It has been almost two months and I think I have found the most efficient way to Waltham from Somerville. Of course I am not going to disclose my secret route, because it won’t be long before word spreads to the rest of the Waltham commuters and it will be back to the drawing board. At first I took the obvious path to Route 2, but it was just driving me crazy. So I hopped on Google Maps and began experimenting with different back roads. The key is to find as few stoplights and more importantly try to find stoplights where you will rarely have to sit through more than one light. My final route might be a little longer, but I don’t end up sitting through three or four lights. It’s all about average speed, for the three lights your average speed is zero, but if you drive an extra mile at 30 MPH you are doing much better. The average speed also comes into consideration when driving on 95 North. The traffic on highways can be very deceiving, it looks like it is going much slower than it really is. I can now consistently get to and from work in 20 minutes, that is down from up to 45 minutes in my trial phase.

One thing about my commute that does kill me is the voluntary “toll” near Alewife station. Most of you probably don’t know about this “toll”, but I have to deal with it everyday. The “toll” comes in the form of three beggars who pace back and forth and pester people for money. They make me crazy every time I drive to work. They are making a killing, so I guess I can’t blame them for doing it, heck they make a couple bucks on each red light. One guy in particular is always carrying a huge wad of bills, but to his credit he has perfected his limp.

Okay enough ranting and raving. Good night all. Sleep well!!!

Keeg

I’m back to make an entry. You may be wondering where I was since I never update my LJ anymore and didn’t let you in on my plans. Well starting last Saturday I went up to Maine to spend a week at a house Jennifer’s parents rented. The house was on its own island called Gem Island in South Bristol. The house rental comes with a small boat so you can get back and forth from your car to the island. Let me start by saying I had a fantastic and relaxing week. Jen’s dad and sister were only there for the first day, and from that point on it was just Jennifer, her mom and me. We kept busy all week doing all sorts of random things including reading, crosswords, kayaking, hiking, shopping, espresso drinking, boating, swimming, a little bit of working and a lot of just hangin out.

I took a bunch of pictures you can see by clicking on the sunset picture above. There were a few interesting sunsets so you will see a few pictures of the same portion of sky, but on different days. The weather was good all week, except for a cloudy day early in the week and a thunderstorm here and there. I was a little freaked out during Wednesday night’s storm, but I think it had a little to do with how asleep I was when this happened. Two days later, we had another storm and I sat out on the porch through the entire thing. Towards the end of that storm the rain had stopped and Jennifer and I saw a bright flash of light, followed by a huge crack of thunder. It was weird how close it was given the fact that the storm had already passed.

As I said above I did work a little bit early in the week. It basically involved me checking my email on a super slow internet connection and then staying on the phone for a ninety minute conference call. On the bright side I did get a better idea of the requirements for our upcoming project. Oddly enough I am looking forward to going to work on Monday and closing out our big project. I have a week and a half to finish, but hope I can wrap everything up by Friday.

Okay it is getting late and I need to go to bed. I can’t squander all of the extra sleep I was able to get over the past week. Tomorrow may involve a trip to Plymouth or a day of work with a trip to the movies thrown in to mix things up. I haven’t quite decided yet. See how I feel in the morning I guess. Of course I could go on forever about my wonderful vacation, but a picture is worth a thousand words and I think there are about 40 pictures for you to check out.

Hope everybody is doing well!!
Keeg

PS - Here is a slideshow from a recent trip to Plymouth

Hi, yes it is true I am still alive. I haven’t updated in weeks, but somebody made a comment on my LJ wondering where I was, so here is the answer.
Things I have done since my last entry:
1) Attended two Dave Matthews shows. At the first one the band played a song they haven’t played live in twelve years, #34. Jennifer finally got to go to her first show and she loved every minute of it. The next day I brought Mark and we sat up in the fourth row on the right side. Both shows were fantastic. It brings my grand total of shows attended up to 47.
2) Fourth of July weekend was extremely busy for me. On the Friday before I went to Quincy for a BoCaNO get together. Good times good times!!! On Saturday morning I shot down to Plymouth for the day and enjoyed a little swimming and relaxing. I love going down there and just chilling. Afterwards I drove up to Wakefield for Scottie’s birthday party. On Sunday I stayed around Somerville, cleaned the house and stained the shelves we bought back in April. Amy came over and we went to Dr. Mark’s party, where I stepped in dog poo. On the actual holiday I once again drove down to Plymouth for the Independence Day festivities. Afterwards I drove back to Somerville because Jennifer was back from Vermont. We walked down to Cambridge and watched the fireworks. I finally got to see fireworks in Boston.
3) Jennifer and I celebrated our first year together on Friday night. We went back to Dali and enjoyed a quiet evening at home afterwards. It is hard to believe a year has passed already. It has been an amazing year and I can’t put into words how happy I am with her.
4) Last Saturday I woke up bright and early so I could go pick up the new Harry Potter book. I found one right away at Stop and Shop and started reading at 7:30. I kept reading and reading throughout the day. At one point we went to our cafe where I read some more and then we went up to Amesbury for Brendan’s birthday. I just kept reading though and finished it a little after midnight, the book had 650 or so pages. It probably falls to third in my list of Harry Potter books.
5) Hamlet in the Common. Jennifer’s mom came up on Sunday and we went to the free Shakespeare show at Boston Common. I didn’t know anything about the play so it was fresh and new for me. I was blown away, we were able to sit really close and I could actually here what was going on. The guy who played Hamlet kicked ass, he actually reminded me of John Rapoza (see my Friends link). I think John could definitely be his understudy. All y’all collage girls go check it out and see what you think.

Besides the above story life has been pretty normal or at least as normal as it gets for me. I still love my job and look forward to working everyday. I don’t necessarily look forward to commuting to work, but the actual work part is good. You see now I don’t get to just walk to the T and read my Metro as I coast to work. Now I have to navigate my way out of Somerville, which is no small task between eight and nine. I have experimented with all sorts of different routes and finally settled on a favorite. While it may take a little longer, I don’t have to sit in traffic for ten minutes straight just to get through one light. It has been so long since I commuted in traffic, that I forgot just how much I hated it. This week I have been attempting a go in early or go in late policy and it seems to be working in my favor. The go in early works the best, but since it is so hot I haven’t been sleeping so well. Once the weather settles down I think it will be easier to do the early thing. Who knows though?

Before I started typing this today I was considering joining the PodCast community. It would basically be me recording a little radio show and uploading it to the internet. I could then take the link to it and put it on the iTunes Music Store. It would be a good way to stay on the cutting edge of technology and also once again allow me a creative outlet. Oh yeah I also have not forgotten about making the Best CD ever. Hopefully I will have it done by the end of the summer.

I hope this satisfies all of you eager readers.

Hope all is well,
Keeg

I have been really busy lately and haven’t had much time to update and I am really lazy so that doesn’t help either.



Fourth of July was good, I spent most of it on the road or at parties.




Have a great day!!!
Keeg

Hi everybody it is your favorite tired, hot LJ writer. As most of you know it was a hot weekend in New England, but lucky for Jennifer and I we spent a measly 100 bucks and bought an air conditioner. Definitely the best money I have spent in a while. Since we don’t have a three prong outlet in the bedroom, the back room has been converted into a temporary bedroom.

What else did I do this weekend? Went to see Meme in Kingston and then went to Amesbury to chill by the pool and chat with the family. Afterwards we went to the beach to watch the sunset. Yesterday we did a little shopping and I scoped out desks for the one I plan to build in the coming months. We came home and put together Jennifer’s desk and computer, so she could have her own little workstation. It turned out pretty good.

I am extremely tired and now I must go make dinner. Work is wonderful, although all this new stuff in my brain is keeping me up nights. You should see the bags under my eyes, haven’t seen bags like this since I worked at four in the morning at Shaw’s.

It is Wednesday and I have had a busy week so far. First of all somehow I caught Jen’s stomach virus and was sick for 24 hours, starting early Monday morning. It all coincided with my first day of work, but I made it through without any problems. Luckily I woke up yesterday and felt 100% better. Since I was feeling better I rollerbladed over to Andy’s house for work. We installed some more software and then went to Matt’s to work for the afternoon. I learned a ton of stuff, mostly watching Andy walk through some modifications. It was a good day. Last night we had some people over for dinner and had a great time. Jennifer cooked up some chicken and we had tacos. This morning I will be working from home for the morning and then meeting up with Andy later to finish up the project from yesterday. I had some mySQL issues, but have since resolved them. Now on to bigger and tougher problems.

Out with the old and in with the new. I start my career at CaseNET today some time after nine. I have also been informed of the dress code: You have to be dressed in a least a pair of mesh shorts and a t shirt. Could it be true I am going to work somewhere that realizes how you dress doesn’t make one bit of difference. I am excited and quite sure this is one of the best life decisions I have made.

Alright now for my weekend. Friday night I went to the Bell In Hand for Elio’s last night. It was a good time and afterwards Jennifer and I went to get pizza in the North End. After that we picked up some canolis at Mike’s Pastry. In the morning we picked Jennifer’s sister up and drove towards Connecticut. Unfortunately Jennifer got a case of food poisoning and was extremely sick all day Saturday and wasn’t able to go to the Dave Matthews concert. However I did go and had a good time although the setlist was less than spectacular. The next morning Jennifer was still feeling ill, but throughout the day she got better. Once we were back home I did a bunch of chores around the house before we drove up to Amesbury for Father’s Day. It was good to see everybody and we also got home early. In the middle of the night last night I felt really sick and then proceeded to throw up this morning. It seems a lot like the illness Jennifer had this weekend, but if it was food poisoning I should have had it on Saturday too. I don’t know, I have been taking it easy and despite being a little weak I am feeling much better than I was at five. Oh well its a beautiful day outside and I have to start a new job!!!! Rock on!!!

My last day at State Street is finally here. It has been five years seven months and two days since I first walked into Launch class. Over the time I have been here I sat in five different desks, had five different positions and four different bosses. There have been good times and bad times, but overall I am happy with my experience.

Now it is on to smaller and better things. I am very excited to start work in a new company and learn the ins and outs of a new industry. Obviously I am a bit nervous about it, but the last few months have shown that I can fit right in rather quickly. Heck I was only in my most recent job for three months and somebody baked me a cake for my last day. How cool is that?

I guess that is all I have to say for now. If you are in the city tonight a bunch of people are going to the Bell In Hand after work.
Keeg

How do you like that picture? I found him on the beach Saturday. Jennifer, Melissa and I went to Salisbury on Saturday to cool off from this awful heat wave. The good news is that the awful weather is coming to an end. It is supposed to drop down into the sixties this afternoon. I can’t wait these last few nights have been unbearable.

It was a relatively busy weekend. Like I said we went to the beach on Saturday and then visited my mom’s house. On Sunday Jennifer and I went to the cafe down the street and then to Harvard Square to watch the Dragon Boat races. It was really hot even down by the river and we only lasted about an hour. In order to cool off we went and saw Crash at the movies. It was a strange racially charged movie, at times I felt uncomfortable by some of the things they were saying onscreen. Overall I guess it was a good movie though.

The countdown continues toward my last day at State Street. Only four more days to go. It has been hard getting motivated once I am there, but the number of projects I have has decreased to two. I can’t wait to get out of there.

Have a great day!!!!

Hi everybody I hope you enjoy the photo above it was one of my favorites from my past weekend. Saturday Jennifer and I spent a lot of time up on the good old North Shore. We first stopped in Wakefield to go to the annual Friends of Beebe library book sale. She bought a huge bag of books while I walked around the lake listening to my iPod. After the book sale we went up to Salisbury beach and enjoyed the sun and sand. I actually went in the water, I mean all the way under. It was frigid and I only did it once. Afterwards we went to Maudsley State Park and walked around for a bit. Jennifer stubbed her toe pretty badly, luckily I had some duct tape on my water bottle and I patched it up (see the photo). We were starving at this point and went to Flatbread for dinner. Since I hadn’t seen my dad in such a long time we went to his house and visited. We were lucky enough to see all of the pictures from his most recent cruise.

On Sunday, Mark and Kate picked me up and we all drove up to Mount Passaconway. It was a long drive up there and when we got there it was really hot. The hike started off okay until we started getting attacked by bugs. They were out of control and followed us through our entire hike, including our stop for lunch. The hike up was also challenging because we ended up going to the top of a ridge and then way down in between and then back up again and then down. We probably ended up climbing the height of the mountain twice. The trip down was much better and was very gradual all the way to the car, except the bugs were still all over us. We finally made it back to the car and dove into it to get away from the bugs. Lesson learned do not hike in the summer, because its too hot and there are lots of bugs.

In other news I got a new job and will be leaving State Street on June 17th. My new title will be Software Engineer at CaseNET. More details on this to come in the near future. It’s time to say goodbye to the corporate living and hello to a nice small start up.

I have found its not always easy to update this journal because I hate making a narrative style entry saying I did this on Saturday and that on Sunday. I suppose those entries are just as important as the clever entries that sometimes end up on this page. Well enough of that and on to the news.

The weather finally broke this past weekend, of course it wasn’t the perfect weekend, but there were moments when not a cloud was seen overhead. Saturday we spent the morning cleaning the apartment from top to bottom. I found that I had a flat tire and tried to change it except my wheel was stuck to the car so I had to call AAA. They came, put on the spare and I went to Amesbury to get it fixed. Since I was in town I stopped by the house and spent the evening with the family.

On Sunday Jen’s parents came up and we helped her sister move into her new place. Its a great apartment with lots of space and glossy hardwood floors. After moving Jen and I went back home and began putting together a pizza dinner for everybody. It was a lot of work, but everything turned out really well and I think everybody enjoyed the pizza.

Monday was my favorite day of the weekend because it involved a lot of time outdoors by the ocean. After Jen’s parents left in the morning I told Jen to pack a bag for the beach. We jumped in the car at nine and were in Rockport by ten. We found a great spot on the rocks and spent the next few hours enjoying the clear skies and beautiful views. The clouds started to roll in so we decided it was time to go back towards Somerville. We stopped by the mall on the way back so I could get a camera bag and then slowly made our way back to Somerville. It was such a nice day, I am so glad summer is finally here.

I guess that’s all for now. Have a great day!!!

I just got back from Starbucks, where I received and unexpected glance from everybody near me when I ordered an iced coffee. Normally ordering such an icy beverage on May 26th wouldn’t elicit much of a reaction, but given the current cold weather snap, that has been May in Boston, people shook their heads in confusion. Luckily I was quick on my feet and joked that it is only a few more weeks until spring starts, oops I mean summer. Phew I made it out of that one unscathed.

Well the 2004-2005 television season officially ended last night with Vaughn telling Sydney he was not really Vaughn, just before they were sideswiped. ABC did a good job this year of keeping lots of things up in the air, Lost was out of control, we basically learned nothing and were only more confused at the conclusion of its finale. Now I just have to wait four months to be teased a little bit more. I am looking forward to having my mornings and nights free and I am sure my VCR is looking forward to some much needed rest.

On Tuesday night Andy, Mark and I went to see Star Wars at Loews Boston Common. We showed up a half hour before the show and weren’t able to find any seats together or apart for that matter and were forced to sit in the second row. Needless to say it was an interesting, neck bending experience. We sat through around 12 previews which took about 25 minutes before the movie started. As the words scrolled up the screen in typical Star Wars fashion we were so close we had to turn our heads back and forth, as if we were watching a tennis match. I did enjoy the movie and look forward to seeing it again with my neck in line with my torso and not tilted at a 60% angle from vertical.

Sitting in the second row made me think how seating is one of those situations where the definition of good is relative to the event or object. At a concert second row is fantastic, same with a sporting event, but not when it comes to the movies. Another one that goes either way is riding on a bus, apparently in the time of segregation the back was a bad place to be, but ask any kid on a school bus and he will tell you that is where all of the cool kids sit. Its similar to beverages, you want a coffee to be hot unless its iced coffee in which case you want it to be really cold. Milk needs to be cold, soda cold, tea hot, soup hot. It is amazing how much preference can be so different among such similar types of situations. Just a thought!!

I just finished a bowl of Chocolate Lucky Charms and I am not impressed. They were just missing a real chocolate taste and ended up tasting a lot like regular Lucky Charms. Lately I haven’t been eating “junk” cereal, but they were on sale at 66% off and I had never tried them before.

So I just had another weekend away from Somerville this time we spent the weekend at the Riebe’s cabin in Vermont. I hopped on the train Friday afternoon and Jennifer picked me up at the Lawrence train station. A brief stop at McDonald’s, a few hours of driving and we were at the cabin. It wasn’t long before it was time to go to sleep. The next morning we woke up bright and early and had breakfast at around 6 AM. It was clearing in the morning and we just hung around doing not much of anything. Later in the day we actually did some work and lopped the trail all the way down to the stream.

We left for Somerville yesterday morning and drove back. The weather was crazy, it would rain like crazy for a few minutes and then it was sunny. I am really sick and tired of this rain, I can’t believe it has rained the last three weekends in a row and doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Could we please have spring?

Vermont Pictures

Hi everybody,

It is finally time to make the CD we have always talked about at BoCaNO. For those of you not familiar with the CD I am speaking of here is a little background…

One night many years ago there was a discussion about songs that remind people of a bad time, person, situation or moment in your past. Now those songs could be songs that remind you of a past relationship, or that remind you of a shitty time in your life, or even songs that you used to love, but can’t stand now. The theory is that most likely since you did like those songs at one time they are pretty good songs, but eventually you soured of them. Now if you took one or two of these songs from each person and put them on to a CD it would turn out to be a really good disc with the exception of the songs you contributed. We have talked about this CD in BoCaNO for years and I think it is time to actually make this dream a reality.

So think of one or two songs you used to throw down the windows and crank up the volume for, but now would rather just roll down the windows and throw out the radio.

Post a comment below for your choices.

Thanks,
Keegan

Click for organized list.

Last night to celebrate Amy’s 30th birthday ten of us went on a Horizon’s Edge Casino cruise out of Lynn. It was a great time. I did a little gambling, okay I basically spent four dollars on the slot machines and ended up with six dollars. The buffet was fantastic and I think everybody had a good time. Hope you enjoy the photos.

I finally uploaded some pictures from the wedding. I hope you all enjoy them.

More Florida Pictures
BoKeegNo Pictures
Keegan

The latest album by Dave Matthews Band has now been officially released. Pick it up at your nearest record store or at the iTunes music store. I have had a copy for a week or so and it might be the best album so far for the band, they definitely take it in a new direction.

Keeg

Here I sit back in Somerville on a cold and dreary night, wishing I was sitting out on the porch at my grandmothers in Florida. The only bright spot about being back here is that I am listening to a live Dave Matthews Band webcast from the Roseland Ballroom in NYC. So far they haven’t played any new songs, but I think one will be coming up very shortly.

You probably want to know how the trip to Florida went, so I guess I should tell you it went very well. The flight down was fine and when we got there it was a bit humid, we remedied the situation by swimming in the pool that afternoon. On Saturday we drove down to the beach in the morning, but forgot towels and couldn’t enjoy the beach to its fullest potential. Despite the lack of a towel I still went swimming in the eighty degree water and it felt fabulous. We drove around a bit before closing out the morning by the pool. In the early afternoon we drove up to our hotel in Vero Beach and checked in. After showering and ironing we were ready for the wedding which was scheduled to start at 5:30. We got the beach club a little after five and had the car valet parked. Once there we found the rest of the crew and took some pictures before finding our seats. It was amazing, the weather was perfect, the waves were crashing behind the altar and the brass band was perfectly in tune. One by one the wedding party walked down the aisle and finally Jennie appeared and looked fantastic. The ceremony was relatively short which I really appreciated especially since I was baking in my suit out in the sun.
After the rings were exchanged and “I do’s” were said we enjoyed cocktails and hors’d’ouevres next to the pool. We stood in a circle, chatted and kept an eye open for the trays of food. My personal favorite was the cheesy poofs which tasted a lot like fried Cheez-Its.

Once the cocktail hour was over we started across the street to the golf club. On the way I noticed Ryan Hogan from Amesbury High and chatted with him for about fifteen minutes. Its very strange running in to somebody from good old AHS especially in Florida of all places. Once at the golf club we found our table and it was conveniently located right next to the band and the dance floor.

As soon as the band started playing their first song there were people out on the floor dancing. I found to be somewhat refreshing since at the last few weddings I went to it took about half of the reception for people to warm up. Of course being so close to the dance floor made it hard for Jennifer and I to just sit there so we were out there dancing 80% of the night. I have to admit we did get a little bit crazy out there dancing. At times it felt like we were in our own little world. We were really cutting up a rug and were getting comments from people constantly about our dancing. It was great and since Jennifer and I just love the attention it only encouraged us to dance more. Needless to say we had a great time dancing and met some really nice people. I can’t forget to mention the food, I had an amazing piece of beef that just melted in my mouth. The cake was also yummy, we were confused because it wasn’t the actual cake Brett and Jennie cut since it stayed whole even after we had finished our cake. By eleven I was a sweaty mess in my suit and the reception ended with all of the guests tossing rose petals on the happy couple.

We went back to the hotel and passed right out. The next morning we packed up the room and headed back to the beach club for brunch. Once again the food did not dissapoint. I loaded up on pastries and had some fresh squeezed orange juice. We all hung out in the sun for a couple hours and then we jumped back in the car and headed south towards West Palm Beach.

We spent the afternoon lounging by the pool and then came back and had a dinner of pork chops and meatloaf. It was the biggest meal I had eaten in quite a while and could barely finish the amazing chocolate cake we had for dessert. It was great staying with Meme and I was really glad she got to meet Jennifer. It was great to hear so many stories about her, she has certainly had a ton of crazy experiences. It was also nice to see David and Sally since I hadn’t seen them in so long. They were also kind enough to help in our West Palm Beach orientation and transportation to the airport.

Overall the weekend was very relaxing and a lot of fun. I was able to do so many different things in such a short amount of time. We also found time to just chill and enjoy being in 80 degree weather for a change. Florida isn’t my favorite state ever, but it was a pretty good place to go last weekend.

Hopefully I will have pictures up soon. Stay tuned.

I just wanted to check in before we left for Florida. Jennifer and I are flying out of Logan this morning at 9 AM for sunny West Palm Beach. It is currently 70 degrees there and the forecasted high is 84. We are going down and staying with Meme tonight and then driving to Vero Beach tomorrow evening for Jennie’s wedding. It looks to be an interesting weekend all around.

Have a good one,
Keegan

Jennifer and I were in Brooks Pharmacy the other day and came across the new Venus Vibrance razor for women. I think Gillette maybe trying to expand into a different line of business. Okay now stop and think for a few seconds about what I am getting at. I can’t imagine the designers didn’t immediately think of the dual usage their razor might have. Okay I am late for work but wanted to share this observation.

Venus Vibrance

Here’s the official press release from Gillette on the Venus Vibrance
Venus Vibrance is the world’s most technologically advanced women’s razor. Utilizing the advanced technology that Gillette pioneered with the introduction of the M3Power men’s razor at retail in May 2004, Venus Vibrance delivers gentle pulses to the shaving cartridge to provide the closest, smoothest Venus shave ever.

Venus Vibrance also features Gillette’s proprietary Comfort-Coated blades, which provide the closest shave for women. In addition, new Moisture Glide� strips provide a gentle and smooth shave.

Venus Vibrance will be available in North America early next spring in food, drug, convenience and mass merchandise stores. The shaving system, which includes the refillable razor, one cartridge, storage compact and an AAA Duracell battery, will retail for approximately $9.99 - $11.99. A package of four refill cartridges will retail for approximately $9.99 - $11.99.

I had the following thoughts throughtout the morning and put them on a piece of paper when I was in a meeting so I wouldn’t forget to update this here LJ with them.

Once again the commuters in the Porter Square T station gave me a laugh again. I can’t get enough of these business professionals sprinting towards a waiting train. I am so looking forward to the day somebody busts a high heel or slips and falls. Haha sadistic I know, but seriously plan ahead.

The second thought I had was about the Bring Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day Today is that day and I saw a couple kids around the office. I honestly don’t know what these kids could possibly learn from sitting in an office. Most of the time they just sit the kids at a computer and let them play games all day. How ridiculous?!?! I remember one person I used to work with that would bring her sons in every year and I am sure it wasn’t because they would learn anything, but just because she could. I can’t stand that woman to this day and it bothers me that I immediately thought of her when I thought of today. See in the old day’s at Shaw’s the kids would come in and actually do stuff that was fun and kind of gave the kids an idea of the shitty jobs you can have in a supermarket. I don’t know of any fun things they do here although maybe they should race around the office in office chairs or something. You have to spice it up. Or even better put them in a meeting and make them sit listening to somebody on speaker phone talk for an hour or so. Teach them just how boring it can be to sit in a meeting. Ironically these kids would know about as much that is going on in the conference calls as I usually do. Or maybe the kids could get micro managed and tell them to color in a coloring book. About every five minutes a manager could come over and ask why they used blue as the color for the ocean and why they didn’t consult with them on the choice of blue. The process could be repeated until the child realizes he has to get approval for every damn thing he does. Of course the child’s mother would be happy to put it up on her cube wall either way, but at least the manager feels like he deserves a bonus next year. Hmmm a little hostility I think!!!

Finally I read about iPod thefts on the T and thought a lot about it. I could go and change my headphones so people wouldn’t know that I had an iPod. I was originally going to say the robber would have to pry it out of my cold dead hands, but somebody used that quote in the NY Times article. However this is my stance, if somebody tries to take my iPod I am going to put up a hell of a fight and will run to the end of the Earth chasing after the low life who managed to take it from me. I am beginning to think the right to bear arms isn’t such a bad idea after all. Does anybody know the number for the local NRA office?


Photos from Jennie and Brett’s Finale Shower

Three strange dreams last night. I think all of the shows on television may be impacting them.

First I dreamed Jennifer and I were driving in the car and this guy in a truck in front of us started shooting at us. We slowed down and he continued to aim at us so he was obviously trying to hit us.

The second dream involved me in a detective role and I was working with a psychic to solve a crime. A woman had been hurt and we finally proved it was these two brothers. In the meantime the brothers were trying to track me down and they nearly found me before the psychic solved the crime. They were comically stupid and I was not only able to subdue the really stupid one, but I also avoided gun fire from the other brother. My dream even had the slow motion bullet action of similar to the thing in the Matrix.

My final dream was the strangest of all three. It involved BoCaNO. We were all rich, but being blackmailed by a bad guy. He would say he was going to do something bad to one of our relatives if we didn’t give him a million dollars. Thankfully we were smart and figured out what the blackmailers were going to do and went on missions to stop the bad guys. On one such mission they were going to steal a diamond from somebody so for some reason we order a Wookie. He came in a crate and we unscrewed it, but right as the last screw was undone these women came in and had t-shirts similar to Hooter’s but instead they said Babe’s. Anyway Andy became distracted by the women and the Wookie escaped. A couple of us set out to find him and I immediately decided a Wookie would go to McDonalds if he escaped. However when we went there the Wookie wasn’t there. So in an effort to catch him we went to a restaurant and made it look like a McDonald’s. After setting it up I woke up so I don’t know if the Wookie was ever caught.

Yes I know entries of this magnitude are annoying to read mostly because they are long and drawn out, and not due to their content. Either way here I go trudging on through the recollection of the second part of our trip to the South. I believe if you look below I left off late at night in a Holiday off of Route 29 in Charlottesville, VA.

Wednesday (April 20th)
We woke up this morning and decided it was time to make a change in our daily breakfast routine. The past three morning we stopped in at a local coffee shop, proudly not once was it a Starbucks, this was a vacation void of any of our typical chain eating establishments. Jennifer was also having withdrawals from her high fiber cereals, so we went to the supermarket and found the cereal aisle. I wondered around looking for something to fill me up in the store, but was unable to find anything. At that point I decided to go back to my roots and eat a healthy Burger King breakfast. We checked out at the supermarket where Jennifer was berated by the clerk for not knowing how to use her credit card in the Kroger debit card system. Once in the car we drove over to Burger King where I order a couple Crossanwiches and we jumped on I64 West towards Sky Line Drive and the Shenandoah National Park. For the second day in a row we hopped right back on the road where we had left off the day before. Sky Line was very similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway, if it wasn’t for the National Park toll and the signs saying it was a different road I wouldn’t have known the difference. It was still the two lane road we had come to enjoy so much with scenic overlooks, campgrounds and picnic areas every five miles or so. We even passed the same stone mile markers which came to be an important navigational aid. On this day we had planned at least one major stop with hiking and had plenty of time to make periodic rest stops for picture taking, snacking or napping. At mile 54 we pulled into the parking area of the Bear Face trail. It was described in the guide as a moderate hike with a scramble up some rocks for a panoramic 360 degree view of the mountains. Jennifer thought it was right up my alley. After twenty minutes of easy hiking we were at the top and enjoying an amazing view of the Shenandoah National Park. A man at the top introduced himself as a geologist and began to explain the history of the rock we were standing on. It was amazing to hear how old the mountains were and to learn that the little bubble like formations on the rock were from gases bubbling up through the volcanic rock. He left us alone on top of the mountain and we sat up there enjoying the view and thinking how perfect our vacation was going. Once our moment of reflection was over we climbed back down to the car and continued the trek northward. We made an occasional stop to see the sights and nibble on some food and before long came to the end of the Sky Line Drive. We stopped at the Shenandoah sign and chatted it up with an older Canadian couple. We took turns taking pictures in front of the giant sign before saying adieu and dropping back into the hustle and bustle of modern society. Once back on the intersate we were quickly on our way towards Washington DC before turning northward towards Aberdeen. The drive to Aberdeen should have taken a couple hours but due to traffic took over three hours. We found our Red Roof Inn and then went out for a true american dinner at Outback Steakhouse. I hadn’t been there in years and afterwards wasn’t too glad to be back. I don’t think the food there could be worse for you.

Thursday (April 21st)
After getting a slow start for a change we drove up to Philadelphia. Since it was so late there wasn’t much traffic and we easily found our way to TJ’s house for parking. It was then time to go to the art museum to pick up the tickets for the Dali exhibit. Since the tickets came with museum passes we walked around the different galleries. For lunch we decided to walk into town and get a bite to eat. We really had no idea where we were going and just kept walking until we found a great little pizza place. Afterwards we continued to wander the streets of Philadelphia. Just as it was about time to turn back Jennifer spied a market out of the corner of her eye. So we checked it out and found a huge indoor farmer’s market. It was like Quincy Market, but about six times the size. Unfortunately we had already eaten, but did grab a couple cookies before walking back to the museum. The Dali exhibit was fantastic. There were over 18 rooms of paintings and it was well worth the price of the tickets. Once we got through the exhibit I could barely stand up due to sore legs and complete exhaustion, so we sat along the water and waited for TJ’s call. After he called we walked back to his place and he made us a delicious dinner. It was so nice to spending an evening in a home and just chat with somebody I actually know.

Friday (April 22nd)
In the morning we all had breakfast together before Jennifer and I went to IKEA. I had never been there before, but I have to say IKEA is overwhelming. We walked around aimlessly for a good half an hour before understanding the lay out of the store. We bought all sorts of things for the house from rugs to lamps to a chalkboard for the front hallway. We loaded up the car and continued the trip northward to Connecticut. Of course the horrible state of New Jersey stood in our way. I think overall we spent more time in NJ then any other pass through state, they need to limit the number of cars there or something. Eventually we made it to Jennifer’s parents house in Connecticut. We had another dinner at home which once again was fantastic.

Saturday (April 23rd)
I didn’t sleep very well again and was up and about by 7 in the morning. We had a relaxing morning with the family. Late in the morning I went to the store with Jennifer’s dad to pick up a kayak. In the afternoon we went out for lunch and searched for a couple odds and ends for the apartment. Around four o’clock we got into the car for the final leg of our trip. I was quite exhausted at this time, but we made it home safely. It was so good to be home and back in our apartment.

It was such an amazing week. We saw so many beautiful sights and had so much fun together. Only three months until my next vacation. I hope I can make it that long.

Keeg

You didn’t think I was really going to wait until I got back to Somerville before updating my LJ did you. The way my luck was going with wireless internet connections its a wonder I got this far. Now for a quick update and maybe a few pictures if you are lucky and I can stay up that long.

Saturday (April 16th)
Woke up bright and early and drove south. We made great time and were in DC after only about eight hours. Since we were trying to be spontaneous we hadn’t booked a hotel so using google text messaging and good old cold calling we managed to find a place about ten miles outside of Chapel Hill, NC. Finally twelve hours after leaving Somerville we were at the hotel. After unloading we rushed out to take in the sites of downtown Chapel Hill. It is a classic college town and reminded me a lot of State College, PA. It was rather deserted, which we found strange. After wandering around for a little while we ate and then retired for the evening.

Sunday (April 17th)
After an early start we decided to go back to Chapel Hill and see what it looked like in the daylight. The weather was fantastic and the town was even more beautiful. The streets were oddly quiet because there were preparations going on for an annual festival called Apple Chill. We grabbed a couple coffees and were back on I-40 driving westward before long. A few hours later we arrived in Asheville, NC. It is a city nestled among the mountains. The downtown area was really cool and small enough that you could walk most of the area in a couple hours. We walked around a bit, ate lunch, had some dessert, booked a room for the next day and just plain relaxed. For our night in Asheville we had booked a cabin at the Log Cabin Motor Court. It was this place where they built about eight different cabins and you get one all to yourselves. Quite different from the Carolina Duke Motor Inn from the night before. In the afternoon we went to the botanical gardens and then to Beaver Lake, a small recreational lake for fishing with a very relaxing area of land around it. I was beat at this point and went right to sleep out in the warm sun. We had dinner back at the cabin before going in to town for a little live music.
Chapel Hill, NC and downtown Asheville, NC
Botanical Gardens and Beaver Lake, Asheville, NC.

Monday (April 18th)
After sleeping in a little it was time to get started on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We found our way up this windy dirt road through the forest to the parkway. It was amazing. Basically picture the Kancamagnus Highway, but almost five hundred miles long. We followed the road for about thirty miles to Mt. Mitchell State Park. We drove to the top of Mt. Mitchell, the tallest point east of the Mississippi. It was chilly at the top and nobody was around except for a couple park rangers. On the way there we had seen a bunch of signs about the road being closed and found out there were some landslides north of where we were and we had to go back to Asheville. So we turned around and drove an hour back to Asheville. Even worse we had to make a two hour detour to meet up with the parkway again above the landslides. 150 miles of interstate later and we were back on the parkway just north of the VA-NC border. The part we were driving on now wasn’t as mountainous, but it was still quiet and peaceful. We continued along stopping at overlooks or little sights along the way. I have to say driving down this road was so peaceful and relaxing, it might have been slower than the interstate, but I liked flying up and down mountain passes and around curves without the annoyance of three lanes of traffic. Three hours after getting back on the Parkway we were in Roanoke. Our arrival was very abrupt since we were immediately thrown in to a commercial zone. We found the hotel and once again set out to find the hot spots of Roanoke. Unfortunately we were disappointed to find that yet another southern city was devoid of any people in its major downtown area at night. Luckily Jennifer remembered the name of a place she had seen in the Let’s Go USA book and we ate a fantastic dinner of pizza. I couldn’t believe how dead the place was, granted it was a Monday night, but at least a couple of places should have been open.

Tuesday (April 19th)
After a horrible nights sleep we made our way back downtown to check out the farmer’s market, what we found was three little stands set up one of which was selling fruit and the other two were selling flowers. What a bust? So it was back to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a few more hours of the most scenic road I have ever driven. Once again we stopped along the way and did a little hiking and a little picture taking. According to the books it was the most popular part and I can now understand why. It starts off in farm country and gradually climbs upward until you are weaving around dangerous mountain passes. Truly amazing!!! We completed the parkway in the early afternoon and found ourselves in Charlottesville, home of the one and only Dave Matthews Band. The first thing we did in C-ville was go to the Thomas Jefferson Vineyards. I found it on the internet and figured why not check it out. The wine was delicious and the tasting only cost a dollar each. The wine server was great and filled us in on places to see in town. It was getting hot and humid and even sprinkled a bit before we found our hotel. Once again Priceline had come through and provided us with another decent place to stay for the low price of $45. We weren’t in the hotel a half hour before it was time to get back out there and explore the latest southern city. Downtown Charlottesville has a really great feel. There is an area called the mall where there are a bunch of shops, restaurants and cafe’s. It is outside and a great place to hang out. We stopped in a bunch of shops and I even had a beer in the bar where Dave Matthews used to work. For dinner I was craving Mexican so we found this awesome place called Mono Loco. The food was phenomenal. It was still early in the evening and we couldn’t wait two hours for live music so we decided to come back to the hotel.

Tomorrow will involve driving Sky Line Drive through Shenandoah National Park and after following Route 66 back to DC, we shall turn north for Aberdeen, MD. Lots more to come since the week isn’t even half over. Talk to y’all soon.
Keegan

I just finished packing everything for vacation. It took me a whole ten minutes to figure out what clothes to bring. I am not exactly sure, because it is hard to say what the weather will be like a week in advance, plus we will be in the mountains. It could be a lot colder up there so I need to pack a couple extra layers.

I suppose I am getting ahead of myself though. Jennifer and I are going on a road trip for April vacation. We leave tomorrow morning early and drive all day to Chapel Hill, NC. After checking out Chapel Hill in the morning we will head out for Asheville, NC. Asheville is supposed to be a pretty happening town. On Monday morning we will leave Asheville and begin driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway. The rest of the week is up in the air, although we will end up in Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon for the Salvador Dali exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. On Friday we plan on stopping at IKEA and then visiting Jennifer’s parents in Connecticut. Completing the round trip back to Somerville a week later.

It looks to be an exciting week. I will be bringing my laptop on vacation so hopefully I can update the LJ from the road. Talk to you all soon.

Keegan

All I can really say is WOW!! I think yesterday might have been the most picture perfect day I could possibly have imagined. It began lying in bed listening to Acoustic Sunrise on the radio. We slowly woke up and made our way over to Oh Natural for coffee and pastries. I had an Apple Strudel that was just delicious, my mocha was also very yummy with its hint of cinnamon. After eating, chatting and reading there for about an hour we went back home and packed up the car for a day at the beach. The sun was shining and the car was warm as we left Willow Ave with the sunroof wide open. Forty five minutes later we were in downtown Newburyport ordering lunch at Middle Street Cafe. We took the sandwiches and stowed them away for later. Once at the end of Plum Island I parked my car between two giant dump trucks and we walked out toward the jetty. It was a bit chilly in the wind, but we found a nice spot next to the jetty which was sheltered from the wind. We just sat there in the sun for a while and me being the antsy creature that I am grabbed my new book and started reading. An hour or so later we stopped to eat our lunch. We had also packed some fruit which made the picnic complete. After lunch there was some more reading before we started planning our vacation next week. It was just beautiful out, sunny, warm and muffled waves crashing behind us. We finally walked back to the car and then drove along the river to Amesbury. It was a perfect day for a drive. After briefly stopping at my mom’s house we grabbed an ice cream at Hodgies before heading back towards Danvers where we needed to do a little shopping. It was such a picture perfect day and something I am looking forward to in the coming months. Yay for SPRING!!!!


Saturday at Sunday River

Some ski videos:
Mark on Caramba
Keegan on Caramba
Mark on 3-D
Keegan on 3-D
Mark on 3-D

Its been almost three days now since we started moving our stuff in and I am happy to say we are all finished. Finished as in we are all unpacked except for two boxes and the house is all put away and in normal working order. On Thursday night we started moving things around 5:30 and within an hour had seven people helping us. Andy came by with his Jeep. Britt, Sara and Vanessa traveled all the way up here from the North End. Melissa came by on her way home from work. Tom and Jeny also came by with their Subaru. Since there were so many people we had nearly all of the stuff done by nine o’clock. All of our helpers dispersed and turned down the offer for free pizza, so Jennifer and I went to Bertucci’s. We were so hungry and tired we nearly finished an entire pizza. Due to the progress we had made moving and how it was only two hours until April 1st we decided to stay at the new place. It was a nice surprise since we originally planned to stay on the futon at Jennifer’s old apartment.

Due to a lack of curtains and a new situation we didn’t sleep well and woke up bright and early. We did a little arranging in the morning and then went over to finish up Jennifer’s old apartment. It took us about four hours to empty it, because there was a bunch of stuff that wasn’t packed and we also had to clean up. However by 1:30 we had moved everything to Willow Ave and started up towards Amesbury to return the truck. We made it back to Somerville a couple hours later and I was able to renew my parking permit. In Davis Square we grabbed a couple sandwiches and started the unpacking of everything. Starting in opposite sides of the house we slowly made our way through the boxes and furniture and within a few hours we actually had made a lot of progress. By the time we went to bed everything had found a place and we only had about a dozen boxes left to unpack. It was amazing how much we had accomplished. I think it had something to do with the fact that neither of us can stand stuff not in its right place.

Saturday morning was great. We unpacked a little more and deocorated a little more before setting out for a five hour shopping extravaganza. First we went to HomeGoods, I really don’t like that store. Afterwards we went to the Burlington Mall and picked up a brand new wine tower from Crate and Barrel. It matches everything perfectly and holds twelve bottles of wine. Lunch at Finagle A Bagel and then off to Target. We bought curtains, curtain rods, baskets, a hamper and eight million other things it seems. I was happy because we got the extension cord and coaxial cables I needed to finish up my electronics projects. After a brief stop at Home Depot for some tiles and another brief stop at a second target and we were on our way home. Once back at home I finished up the entertainment center and left for a while.

Today I made some french toast and puttered around with some of my stuff and also assembled the wine tower. We walked to the store and bought a bunch of groceries and then came home. Which brings us to right now. After this entry I will be attempting my first batch of salsa. If its good I’ll be sure to have some at the house warming party later this month or early next month.

Happily settled on Willow Ave,
Keeg

Yesterday was a rainy day and luckily I was able to spend most of the day inside. Apparently Sunday River got 3-4 inches of snow, but who knows how much rain fell afterwards. I realized one major difference between last year and this year was the lack of rain storms up north. It seems like it rained a lot more by this point last year. Speaking of rain I am hoping it doesn’t rain on Friday while we are moving. I moved once before in the rain and it wasn’t a fun experience.

On Thursday night we are going to begin moving stuff and hopefully getting through most of it, so on Friday we will only have a few odds and ends to move. In an effort to make things go smoothly I would like to ask you all for help in our moving effort. We already have a few people coming by, but I wanted to see if I could get some more people to speed things along. For those that do end up helping not only will you get to see our new apartment, but we will also be purchasing some pizzas for consumption after the move. We aren’t necessarily trying to move everything, but just what we can move before 9 PM.

I have turned the message board back on so you can post comments about who is available.

Hope to see you there!!!
Keegan

Once again its Good Friday and I have the day off. So since I hate having nothing to do on a weekday I am leaving in a few minutes for a lovely day of skiing in Maine. Now I know I should be home packing this weekend since we are moving in a short seven days from now, but I won’t be able to ski next weekend so I figured it best to get some skiing in now. The temperature up in Maine should be in the mid 40’s and perfect weather for a ski day. I can’t wait. I also can’t wait for next Friday, it will be so nice to be in a place that will feel more like its all mine. Don’t get me wrong it was a good experience living with the girls, but I definitely prefer having the run of the house i.e. I can eat whatever food is in the cabinet, I don’t have to worry about being late to work because I had to wait for the shower. I started to get nervous about all the moving and how long it will take, but really it is so close that I don’t think it will take too long.

Oh yeah I almost forgot, last night I went to Border Cafe with Britt, Becky and Vanessa. I had a ton of fun, it was good to see you girls, you will definitely have to stop by the new place sometime next month.

Have a great weekend everybody!!!!
Keeg

Hi everybody,

The new Dave Matthews Band album will be release on May 10th. It is the first back to basics release since Before These Crowded Streets in 1998. So far I have heard the first single, American Baby. The final setlist hasn’t been released, but it looks like some new songs from last summer, Joy Ride and Hello Again, may be included on the album. The fan club is having a contest for its members and the person who get the most people to sign up for the pre order can win certain prizes. That’s where you all come in. Please pre order Stand Up and help me win the contest.

Here are the details:
Dave Matthews Band’s new studio album, Stand Up will be released on Tuesday, May 10th. Stand Up will be offered as a CD, CD/DVD dual-disc* and as a digital download.

Preorder Stand Up and you will also receive a special live CD featuring 3 B-sides from Stand Up and 2 songs pulled from the soundboard tapes of the 2004 DMB summer tour. Preorders of the CD will also include several bundle options listed below.

CD with a Stand Up T-shirt

CD with a Stand Up Tank Top

CD/DVD Dual Disc with Stand Up T-shirt

CD/DVD Dual Disc with Stand Up Tank Top

CD/DVD Dual Disc and DMB Live Trax Volumes 1-3

*dual discs contain a DVD, which includes a short feature of the making of the album plus the album in 24-bit stereo; the Audio side contains the full-length album. To learn more about dual discs, please click here.

Please include the following promo code when placing your Stand Up preorder: BMDKB8QCHBF

The Warehouse is the official Dave Matthews Band Fan Association. Benefits of Warehouse membership include: Opportunities to purchase tickets in advance / Access to special recordings / Chances for select members to attend gatherings with the band / Contests for merchandise, ticket giveaways, ticket upgrades, travel packages to shows, photo passes / Members-only website with news, photos, audio & video clips, message board, store and chat room / Annual membership packages which include the WAREHOUSE 5 CD. To join the Warehouse, visit www.warehouse.davematthewsband.com.

It was another beautiful weekend up at Sunday River. It was sunny and warm both days although due to lack of wind yesterday it was certainly the better of the two days. We had Aldis, Jason and TJ up this weekend and it certainly made the weekend that much better. Saturday night we went out to the Phoenix after skiing. I really love going there for Apres ski. For dinner we stayed in and made a lasagna and played board games. Sunday morning we all woke up and made breakfast together and just had a lovely time. The skiing was fantastic with soft spring like conditions all over the mountain. I actually skied without my backpack yesterday and forgot how great it felt to hit the bumps. Now I have a sunburn on my face and it really smarts. I need to remember to wear sunscreen next week.

Here are a couple movies we made yesterday:
Keeg on Lost Princess
TJ on Lost Princess
Mark on Northern Exposure
TJ on Northern Exposure
Mark and TJ in the Enchanted Forest
Mark and TJ on the way to 3D
Mark on 3D
TJ on 3D
Mark on 3D
Mark, TJ, Kate and Doug on 3D

Looks like a long weekend coming up since I have Good Friday off. I hope the weather stays nice.
10 days until we start moving in!!!

Here is a link to the new single American Baby from the Dave Matthews Band.

Last night Jennifer and I went to our new apartment to do measurements and also to take some New Apartment Pictures. We were there for an hour or so and measured nearly everything in the place. There is also a movie I might try to upload later on today. It is very exciting that in less than two weeks we will have our stuff all moved in over there. I can’t wait!!!

Since my last entry not much else has gone on, besides a lot of work at my new job and BoCaNO. Oh yeah Jennifer and I did go out for Ethiopian food on Tuesday and it was pretty good. We both agreed afterwards though that for the price we could certainly expect more food than we received. Plus my hands smelled of spicy food for the rest of the week, which I didn’t really enjoy.

Tonight I am going up to Maine for the weekend. It sounds like a picture perfect spring skiing weekend, sunny with highs in the 40’s. It might be time to leave the backpack at home.

Have a great weekend,
Keegan

Today is my last day in the MFS group here at State Street. On Monday I officially start my first full day over at my new position. I have always thought when this day comes I would be sad, but it is truly not the case. The prospects of a new job, new building, new desk and new people is just overwhelming. It will be a huge adjustment getting used to the set up over there, but in time I am sure I will know where everything just as well as I know things here now. If you are going to be in Boston tonight we are all going to the West Street Grille after work for a few drinks.

Sunday River Photos

I don’t really have time to make much of an entry, but I wanted to put up pictures from BoCaNO last night. We got our asses kicked at trivia night. Oh well!!! Is the winter over yet?

BoCaKnow Photos

Hello there everybody. It was a fun filled weekend up in Maine, Zach came up and snowboarded with me both days. The weather was okay a little bit cold and yesterday was extra windy, but nothing out of control. I actually telemarked yesterday with Mark and tired myself right out. I was working so hard at it I was actually sweating like rain. Unfortunately I started feeling sick on Saturday and the day of exercise didn’t help any. I got to Jennifer’s last night and we filled out our Oscar guesses (I lost 12-10) and tried to check them off as the show went on, but I fell right asleep. I woke up this morning and didn’t feel any better. All day long I have been in another place my brain seems to have stayed up in Bethel or something because I am having a hard time putting together a complete thought.

This morning I worked at my new job for a few hours. It was interesting to see there systems and ways of doing things. I believe I have my work cut out for me over there, on the bright side I am a very good fit for their group. I am doing split shifts all week. Friday night I think we should all go out to Peking Tom’s in celebration of my last day.

Recently while walking I have come up with some good live journal ideas, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to remember them by the time I actually get to a computer. However this time I have remembered one thing and I am going to write about it. I noticed when people walk to a certain destination they always tend to take care of the shortest dimension first and then leave the longest for last. I do it all the time and when I try to act differently it is nearly impossible. For example, say you are on the left side of a street and you need to take a right turn a quarter mile ahead of you, the natural instinct is to cross the street as soon as possible and then walk the quarter mile as opposed to staying on the left side of the street until you get to the corner and then crossing there. Now please take into consideration that this only works if crossing the street does not involve going across four lanes of heavy traffic. If you think about it crossing now or later will not make your trip shorter, since either way you have to do the length and width. Now you are all beginning to think about it and will soon realize once you leave the building you are in just how correct I am with my assumption. The only explanation I have for this behavior is the need to make our path a straight line and as soon as possible. Once you cross the street you will then be on the most direct path to your destination, we all know the most direct path is the shortest. However by walking along the left side the entire way you are taking the longest possible route to the most direct path. Now that is something to think about while you are walking.

I went to work today and was extremely bored. I can’t really get involved in a new project since I am leaving in a week, so instead I am documenting and looking over old stuff. It is really an awful way to spend nine hours. The internet is rather boring and it has been a while since I have seen anything exciting there.

I have noticed an increase in iPod usage on the T, it now seems like two in five people have them and are listening to them. The numbers are even higher at work, nearly three in five. I started working on going through all of my albums and have made it to the E’s. I decided I really like rap music a lot and need to listen to more of it. I also feel a little more confident when I listen to it for some reason and that is a good feeling.

It is now official Jennifer and I will be moving to 40 Willow Avenue in Somerville on April 1st. After a week or so of waiting to hear from the landlord she finally called on Friday night with the good news. I was also fortunate enough to find somebody to fill my vacant room on Summer Street. Now a little bit about the place, I will have to rely solely on memory since I didn’t take any pictures. It is on the first floor of a two floor house on Willow Ave. The apartment has two bedrooms, a dining room a living room, bathroom (obviously), an entry way, a funky kitchen with a sink in the pantry. The walls are painted colors besides white, it recently received new windows that are going to be stained to match the molding. In the living room is a beautiful mantle and the dining room has a pass through china cabinet. The bathroom has a checkered tile floor with an iron foot bathtub. The stove and refrigerator are in the kitchen, but the sink is off to the side in a pantry type room where there are cabinets for food and dishes as well as the giant sink. It is very large and should provide us with plenty of space to get used to the whole living together thing. We are both very excited and are counting the days until we move in.

I promise to upload pictures as soon as I can get in there and take pictures!!!

Last night Jennifer and I went for an amazing dinner at Radius. She had received a gift certificate a couple weeks ago and since it is near Valentine’s day we decided to go. We got all dressed up for our fancy dinner me in my suit and her in a lovely black dress. Thankfully the weather was beautiful and we didn’t have to worry about any rain. We took our seats and perused the wine list, since the lowest price for a bottle was over forty dollars we opted for wine by the glass instead, she had the Riesling and I the Pinot Blanc. For my first course I had Potato Gnocchi with mushrooms. It was good although I felt it was a bit to soft in texture for my tastes. Jennifer had a Spicy Crab Tart, which I stayed away from but she claims was delicious. My main entree was chicken in a sauce with green beans and mushrooms. The chicken was fantastic and melted in my mouth. Jennifer experimented with a vegetable medley, which included five different smaller dishes of vegetables. Once again I avoided her meal due to the odd nature of the vegetables. Of course we went for dessert since we wanted to use up the whole gift certificate. I decided to try something new and had a mango Panna Cotta. It was so tasty, I made sure to take my time and enjoy every single bite. We paid our tab and then made our way back to Somerville. It was the most expensive dinner we have had yet, but it was nice to eat somewhere so nice. I can’t believe only six hours earlier I was ordering things off of the 99 cent menu at Wendy’s.

Here is an excerpt from yesterday’s Boston Globe.

Okay maybe it is just me, but doesn’t the below situation seem a bit sketchy. I mean what guy sends all of that stuff to a person they have never met.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. Take Tracey Chaney’s Valentine’s Day experience last year, for example.

Chaney, 32, a financial analyst with a Boston healthcare insurer, will never forget arriving on the 9th floor of her building to find her colleagues surrounding her desk.

“There was like a thousand balloons coming out of my cubicle,” she said. “You could smell the roses from the elevator. Everyone was smiling at me."

The gifts were from a co-worker she hardly knew, who had also sprinkled dozens of Godiva chocolates on her desk and rose petals on the floor.

There was also a bouquet, a couple of teddy bears, four romantic cards, and an arrangement of red and white balloons.

“I was amazed” she said. “I had seen him before, but we were never introduced or anything."

At first it was a bit embarrassing, said Chaney, and not every woman in the office was happy for her. But, in the end, she said, she was impressed and that’s all that mattered.

“We’re still together,” she sighed.

Where do I start this entry? I have so many ideas bouncing around my brain I just don’t know where to begin. Alright I have decided I am going to start with a funny story (well for everybody but me) and then move on to other things.

I woke up Friday and didn’t have to go to work, now most people would consider me lucky, but when I don’t have anything to do I just hate days off. I started the day by watching some television I had taped over the week. The videos occupied most of my morning and after helping my coworker solve a couple problems at work I hopped in the shower to get clean. The only task I had hoped to accomplish all day was getting my car inspected, so I hopped in my car and began driving around Somerville looking for a place to get the job done.

Finally in Medford I found a gas station that did inspections and pulled in to the parking lot. I saw a sign in the back of the lot that said, “Park here for inspections have money and registration ready.” As per my usual situation I didn’t have any cash on me so I parked the car next to a pick up truck with a plow, and ran inside to ask if I could pay with a debit card. They said debit cards were fine, so I ran out to the car and started to drive towards the sign from earlier. I started moving and then heard a terrible scraping sound. I stopped the car, tried to back up, but found myself stuck. I immediately jumped out of the car and walked around to the passenger side only to see a long scrape along the side of my car and the plow now stuck under my rear wheel well. I was perplexed and couldn’t figure out how to get the car out. I walked in to the garage and told the mechanics my situation and they quickly came out to assist me with my problem. It was really wedged in there, so they had to bring a jack out to raise my car off of the plow and then the other guy backed the plow up. I was/am so angry with myself for doing something so stupid. It isn’t that bad since the piece of trim took most of the brunt of the damage. I am sure it will cost several hundred dollars to fix. Stupid stupid stupid.

Other things that happened over the weekend:
Saw “The Aviator” and thought it was okay.
Checked out an apartment over near Teele Square. Eh!!
Ate a scruptious dinner at Amelia’s
Checked out an apartment on Willow Ave and it was amazing. More details to come hopefully.
Saw “Finding Neverland” with Jen and Melissa. My favorite so far.

Today is Valentine’s day and it I find it very unusual how so many people actually where red today. You look everywhere and all you see is red. I think it is strange how the holiday has affected our culture so much that people now change how they dressed based on the day.

Have a happy Valentine’s day!!!!
KWS

Hi everybody,

The Patriots are world champions once again and I was out in full force taking photos again. We were able to plan better and only stood outside for about fifteen minutes before the duck boats came along. Here is the link to my pictures of the Patriot’s Parade III.
Patriot’s Parade III

For a trip down memory lane here is a link to the my pictures of the Patriot’s Parade II
Patriot’s Parade II

And even further back here is a link to my pictures of the Patriot’s Parade I. This was the coldest by far and we stood outside for hours in the sub zero temperatures.
Patriot’s Parade I

If you need the full size picture of any of the above pictures just email me and I can send it to you.

Why are dimes so small?
Keeg

• Patriots won again and it really isn’t exciting
  - Started getting responses from people interested in my apartment
  - Skied on Saturday really warm
  - Took Jennifer to Screw Auger Falls, but it was frozen :o(
  - Ate dinner at Liam’s
  - Saw Chrissy Reed for the first time in what seemed like forever. She is still the coolest ;o)
  - Went to see Sideways at the Casablanca theater
  - Packed up the car because we don’t have the ski house next weekend
  - Found my way to Freeport via the back roads without a map
  - Shopped the day away in Freeport (didn’t buy a thing)
  - Ben and Jerry’s for dessert
  - Visited the ‘Bury and finally cleaned my car. (No more dog hair, yippee)
  - Found a parking space in Somerville on first drive by and parked in the smallest space I could possibly park in (Didn’t bump the other cars)
  - Went to Super Bowl party at Ben’s
  - Left early with Jennifer due to exhaustion from long weekend
  - Watched interception sealing Patriots win, while Jennifer slept on couch

BREAKING NEWS: I was offered the position this afternoon and accepted it.

The week is on its way out and I am rather happy about it. I just want to get back up to Bethel and enjoy the sunny weather and great snow conditions. Plus it will be nice to leave Boston behind and the massive mess of snow here. I hate not being able to drive my car for fear I won’t find a parking space, which drives me crazy. Yesterday I went for my second interview for the State Street job I interviewed for last week. I think it really went well and I am supposed to hear from them today, keep your fingers crossed. Besides the stress of job hunting, Jen and I recently began looking at apartments. We are hoping to move in on April 1st, but it all depends on whether people move in to our current places. On Monday we saw a really great apartment in Medford. It had a driveway, a great backyard, an amazing kitchen and looked great. However knowing its not good to jump at the first place you see and because it was a bit far from the T, we passed. Tuesday night we saw another place which wasn’t as modern, but still would have been acceptable. So the countdown is on we have about 55 days to get everything straightened out. If there is anybody out there who knows a person that would like to move to Somerville and share an apartment close to the T with two roommates, please let me know. The rent is cheap and the neighborhood is awesome. I will keep you all posted on all of the searches I am currently involved in.

Last night we went to the Kinsale for BoCaNO and once again tried our hand at trivia. We started strong again, but lagged in the middle. If it wasn’t for our strong third round bonus, picture round and final round we would have been sunk. I don’t know why we have been having so much trouble lately. Okay I have to get to work.

Yep thats right the temperature actually got up over 30 degrees in Maine yesterday. It was the perfect day to be skiing and I was right in the middle of it. I left Somerville on Thursday night and made it safely up to Bethel by midnight. The ride was uneventful except for the lack of an open supermarket after 10PM in Windham and the slowest gas pump in the world in Bridgton. On Friday I woke up early and threw on a bunch of layers to prepare for the single digit temperatures. To stay warm I telemarked and actually made it until two in the afternoon. My legs were really sore and as a reward I bought myself a nice Pat’s Pizza. Jen (from the spy house) and I worked on the Wizard of Oz puzzle that Mark and Kate had started. After four hours we finished the puzzle, see the pictures in the slideshow. I went to Sud’s at eight after falling asleep on the couch. On Saturday Kate and I went up to the mountain and skied the entire day together. The weather was great and the conditions were even better. For dinner we went to the chinese restaurant and it was so yummy. I got them to edit meal number 18 and they substituted mushrooms for the broccoli. A fantastic meal!!! We drove around for a little while and then went back to the house where we watched television. I ended up watching a PBS show about the influenza epidemic of 1918, unfortunately I never got to watch the conclusion. The Grizzly was okay, we got there early and just sat watching people play pool. It then became too crowded and loud so we left around 11. Yesterday I woke up super early and was on the mountain a little after eight. I skied by myself for the entire morning before meeting everybody at the Peak Lodge. We skied until 2:30 and then ate lunch. Lunch was rather eventful and comical from the goggle wearing to the straw flipping. We even learned an interesting tidbit about Amy and New Year’s Eve ;o)

Last night I drove back home in average time and was able to find a parking space very easily. Afterwards I walked over to Jennifer’s and made some crazy cheese quesadillas. If anybody has suggestions on exactly how to make them let me know.

Sunday River Slideshow

I made it into another Boston.com feature Tom Green Look-A-Like

I figured out what it is I don’t like about the winter. Everthing you do in winter takes twice as long as it does in the summer. In the summer when I want to leave my house it is as easy as slipping on some flip flops and opening the door. In the winter I have to make sure I grab my hat from my room before I go down the hall and put on my hiking or snow boots, then I have to put on two layers of coats. It is such a pain in the butt. Walking everywhere also takes twice as long because you have to navigate through the snow piles and it is much harder to get any traction in the mushy snow. I also have found it takes a lot longer to go visit Jen because I can’t drive over there anymore and must walk the mile to her house. Let me tell you it is a really long walk in these conditions.

Work has been going really well lately. I have a second interview for the State Street job next week, so apparently I have made it to the second round. I am very excited for this position and have my fingers crossed. Tonight I will be leaving for Sunday River because I have tomorrow off. It will be nice to ski on a Friday when there aren’t many people on the mountain. I might even try to telemark this weekend for some extra exercise.

I just found a cool new internet search feature on the Amazon.com website. Go to this link Amazon Yellow Pages. Type 02114 for the zip code and then on the left in the yellow search box type in a business. Try Dunkin Donuts or CVS and you will certainly get a hit. Now in the search results it will list different locations and some of them will have pictures next to them. Click on the picture and you will be shown an exterior shot of the actual business. You can then move up and down the street and see other businesses in the area. Cool stuff.
Have a great weekend.
Keegan

At my desk is where I sit
Expenses run on my PC
Waiting for the process to finish
The LJ needs an update
Snow has fallen all around
More seems to be on the way
Sidewalks like ancient passages
Is that a snow pile or a car?
The T is running behind schedule
Crowds overflow the platform
Late to work once again
My stomach rumbles from hunger
Ninety minutes until warm pasta
Blaring music bellows out of the speaker
Status bars whiz along the screen
The recalculation is now complete

Wow!!! I think that word almost sums it up. The biggest snowstorm of the winter hit this weekend and it was just amazing. On Saturday I went to work to get something accomplished without pesky people bothering me every two minutes. The snow started to fall around three and by the time I left at five it was really starting to come down. As the red line passed over the Charles river, I glanced back towards the city and it was just a large white blur. It was snowing so much I could barely make out the lights on the old Hancock building. My first stop was at the Star Market in Porter, which was truly a mob scene. The lines for the registers were halfway down the aisles. I gathered all of the supplies I would need to make quesadillas and pizza. Everything I needed was available except shredded cheese. The entire section was empty except for a couple packs of shredded swiss cheese, so I improvised and grabbed block cheese instead. The checkout had died down a bit by the time I got there and I quickly got out of that mad house and walked home. Earlier in the day I had moved my car in anticipation of the snow emergency and it was nicely placed two cars in from the corner and close to the curb.

Once at home I quickly packed my backpack with clothes, books, dvd’s, a pizza stone and anything else I might need over the next 24 hours. After packing I threw the bag on my bag and nearly tipped over from the weight. I put on my boots, gloves, hat, vest and jacket and trudged out in the half a foot of snow. Ten minutes later I arrived at Jennifers and unloaded all of my stuff. We quickly went to work making quesadillas, which turned out to be a success. Oh if you ever make quesadillas it is definitely easier to use one tortilla folded in half than it is to use one on top of the other. We watched a whole bunch of television and read a little before going to bed. At bedtime we looked out the window and estimated that there was about a foot on the ground already. The wind was blowing so heavily when you first heard it you thought a plow was driving by the house.

Sunday morning we awoke to about two feet of snow on the ground with drifts up to three feet deep. We would quickly move from window to window peering through the blinds trying to get a complete picture of our surroundings. I quickly became bored with this and decided to make brownies and pizza dough. After I was finished with the dough we decided to go out and shovel around Jennifer’s car. She had parked the car in the armory parking lot, because there weren’t any spaces available on the street. At first this seemed like a good idea, but it would later lead to a bit of a challenge. We waded through the sometimes waist deep snow out to her car and began shoveling around it. Thankfully the snow was light and it didn’t take too long. Afterwards we walked around a bit and checked out the snow on and around Highland Avenue. Cars on the main road were buried so much at first you thought it was just a snow pile until you could see the little antenna sticking out of the top. People were walking around awkwardly in groups, it reminded me of the end of The Day of Tomorrow, when all the survivors start popping out of their shelters. We started back towards the house and helped a guy whose car was stuck on the corner of the street.

We made it back inside where I continued my kitchen work and made sauce for the pizza later on. I finished the sauce and was bored once again, did a couple of crosswords and read another chapter in my book. I realized I hadn’t eaten lunch so I went back to the kitchen and began making the pizza. The pizza came out really well although I think there was a little too much sauce. After dinner Jennifer began calling around and trying to find out if she had to go to school today. Finally we found out that her school did have school, we couldn’t believe it since it seemed like every school in and around Lawrence was closed. The snow finally stopped and it began to clear around sunset. I checked the temperature and throughout the storm the highest it reached was 24, but for the most part it stayed around 15 degrees. I became extremely bored at around seven o’clock and started playing Minesweeper on the computer, which kept my attention for about fifteen minutes. I became completely stir crazy and told Jennifer I was going to go for a walk. The walk back to my house wasn’t too bad although it was starting to get cold. It was nice to be in my house and I quickly changed into some long underwear before going out to see my car. I was worried it would be buried up over the roof, but when I turned the corner to my surprise it didn’t have any snow on it. It did have a little on the hood, but besides that it was free and clear. I started the car and began shoveling around it and within ten minutes it was free and clear. As I tend to do with shoveling I took it to the next level and actually pulled the car out of the space and shoveled out the entire space down to the pavement. I was quick about it and put it right back in to the space and left the car for home.

The walk back to Jennifer’s wasn’t too bad since I was still sweating from clearing out my car. The temperature began dropping again, so by the time we went to sleep it was about five degrees. The interesting thing I have noticed is that before all of this snow a temperature of five degrees would have felt so cold, but now when you go outside it doesn’t seem like a big deal at all. Anyway this morning we woke up and Jennifer called the school only to find out she definitely had to go to school. I looked out into the armory parking lot and it still hadn’t been plowed, but there was somebody out there shoveling a couple cars down from Jennifer’s car. I saw this as a great opportunity, because it was going to be a lot easier to shovel if there were other people helping out. Of course Jen protested, but I insisted that it wouldn’t take long since there were other people to help. I went out and started shoveling at 6:10. It only took about a half hour before we had shoveled about sixty feet and managed to force both cars out to the end of the driveway. We went back inside to get ready for the day and rushed out to the car. She ended up leaving on time and made it to work safely. I walked home and finally got to take a shower. After getting out of the shower I looked at the clock and realized I was right on schedule to start a regular day.

FYI - Jennifer made it to school safely and they had a total of seven kids show up out of the usual twenty six. No waste of a day there :oP

Okay the temperature was below zero this morning. What is going on with our climate? I don’t remember it being this cold when I was young. Of course I don’t remember much from when I was young. Yesterday I was walking out of the parking garage at work and this guy was driving his car and his ski carrier slammed right into the low clearance bar, but he didn’t care and kept driving. I don’t know if he got stuck somewhere, but I was waiting to hear the loud bang of the ski carrier ripping off of the roof.

I had another job interview yesterday at State Street. It was for a Technology Analyst II, which technically is a grade level below my current position. The interview went well and I thought the guys I would be working with were really cool. Cool in the sense that they were excited about programming and could discuss technology with me. In going to the interview I also realized the job I was about to get an offer for from IBT was not the right thing for me. The IBT job was basically doing the same thing I do now except over there. They weren’t going to pay me more money and looking back I was only excited to leave SSC and not excited about the position itself. In the afternoon I had a call with IBT to discuss the offer and broke off the whole deal. I am disappointed about not taking a new job, but at the same time I am glad I didn’t make a huge decision for the wrong reason. Now I just wait to hear back from SSC.

Last night I called my grandmother, Meme, and talked for quite a while. It was so good to speak with her. I also found out she will be around in May so Jennifer and I will have a place to stay. After the phone call I helped Jennifer set up for her little cocktail party. About six people showed up and we enjoyed cheese, crackers, hummus (well not me), grapes, cookies and some wine. We had some Reisling, Pinot Grigio and Chianti. I only had the Reisling, because I just love it.

Yes I know I missed a day and I am sorry, but I had a lot of stuff going on. First of all it is cold out there, I had hoped we would make it through this winter without the extreme cold like we had last year. On the bright side I noticed the commute isn’t nearly as bad as last year because I just have to walk to the subway and I am all set.

Last night was our second and final wine tasting class and once again it was great fun. We learned a lot in the three hours we were in class and I now actually enjoy wine. I did drinking a lot of wine last night, which when combined with my empty stomach made for a long drunk walk home. Jennifer was rather amused so I guess that was good and I was able to fall right asleep. I have had trouble the last four nights or so trying to sleep through the night. This morning I woke up at 5:30, which was a great improvement over prior nights.

On Friday night Jennifer and I went to Helmand, an amazing Afghani restaurant in Cambridge. We ordered a whole bottle of wine, a Riesling, a wonderful sweet white wine. For an appetizer we had baked pumpkin with a ground beef sauce. I had a prime rib and Jennifer had leek-scallion raviolis. If you are looking for a nice place to go that isn’t too expensive you should try it. Helmand Restaurant

First of all here is a link to some pictures from trivia night on Wednesday BoCaNO Trivia Pictures

Well it is my first Flex day since we started them and conveniently it is rainy and I am just sitting in my house using the computer. I would have been better off just going in to work at least I would have had something to do. Oh well no sense in complaining. I just walked down to Davis Square and had lunch with Andy at Mikes Pizza. It was good stuff. Now I am going to look at pictures and try to label them before going to CVS and printing them out. Tonight we are going to an afghani restaurant in Cambridge. I am a bit nervous, but I know everything will be fine and I will find something to eat. If only they had Chicken Borek.

Enjoy the rain everybody.
KWS

Last night was trivia night at the Kinsale and the BoCaNO crew was in rare form. We ended up with under 80 points. Oh well you can’t win them all. It was nice to finally all be settled back in after New Years. Afterwards I went home and watch Project Runway. I must say it is a damn good show, one of the most dramatic reality series out there.

I guess thats about it. Check out this new drink from Starbucks. Chantico There goes my food budget for the year.

KWS

EDIT: I just tried the Chantico and must say it is so very very good. The taste reminds me of the warm chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie. I highly reccommend.

I just had to post an entry today because I am very happy today. Last night we went to the Wine Tasting class in Boston and it was so much fun. We learned all about white wines last night and it was really cool to learn the differences between each variety of grape. We had two Chardonnays one that was stored in oak barrels and one that wasn’t, the smells were very different. I really enjoyed the Riesling wine from Germany, nice and sweet without too much bite. I can’t wait for next week’s class on red wine.

Afterwards we were walking through the Public Garden in the snow and decided to go get dinner at Parish Cafe. I always have a hard time finding something I will like, but last night it was easy. I ended up with a pasta dish with tomatoes and a ham like meat in a pesto basil sauce. It was amazing!!! I think that is the best Tuesday night I have had in a while.

Believe it or not this is my second entry in as many days. So now I have to come up with something clever to say. This morning I walked by the free Boston Globe person and grabbed my much Metro on the way down to the train and saw this picture:

Now thats a big boulder, can you imagine driving down the street and you see that thing rolling down the hill towards you. AHHHHHHH!! I then started to read about the ACLU trying to get the police out on the Cape to stop getting DNA samples from everybody. I then thought maybe we should have DNA samples of everybody stored somewhere. After thinking for five seconds more I realized it might not be the best idea because with the DNA you could use it for clones which is a scary thing. I just remembered being young and going to the police station to provide them with my fingerprints for record keeping purposes. So now I sit on the fence and wonder what would be best? I think the government will have to trick us into using our DNA for identifcation purposes before everybody gives up their deoxy ribonucleic acid.

I recently realized I have a very hard time using question marks. I will often times write a question in an email and end the sentence with a period. It probably has to do with my horrible history in the subject of English. Wow looking back at my writing today is very disturbing. What is wrong with me these days? I can’t write anything that makes sense or is in the least bit interesting.

Since I can’t write today here are some pictures:
BoCaNO at Grendel’s Den
Weekend In Bethel

After battling the flu a.k.a. The PIP all last week Jen and I went up to Sunday River for some rest and relaxation. It didn’t start off that way though because first I had to sand the driveway at the Outpost. We stopped in Amesbury to get sand, which was an adventure in itself since the 100 lb container I put in my trunk broke and required me to take all of the stuff out of my trunk so it would sit nicely on the floor. We finally got to the Outpost at 11:00 and I spread out all of the sand with my hands because the shovel didn’t fit in the container. It was a mess, but I survived. Saturday was a ski day and upon returning home my very wonderful girlfriend had baked brownies and walked to town to get food for dinner. We ate a lovely dinner of bow tie pasta, feta cheese, sun dried tomatoes and chicken sausage before going to the Grizzly for some dancing. It was a great time. Jen got to see “Middle Aged Dancer Woman”, who’s breasts nearly popped right out of her shirt. We also saw the weird guy with the tight white shirt dancing. He is a freaky dancer, I mean really freaky. Sunday morning had me waking up way too late and rushing to a full mountain. The conditions were okay, but it was just too crowded for my liking. I went home at one and was back in Somerville by five.

A nice weekend overall, it was so nice to get out of Somerville for a change. The week ahead looks to be relatively busy with an evening of mulled cider today, wine tasting tomorrow night, BoCaNO on Wednesday, dinner on Friday night and on Saturday we are driving to Connecticut to spend the weekend with Jen’s parents.

KWS

One of my resolutions has been to save money, so in the beginning I figured I would bring a bag lunch everyday. So on Sunday night I went to the store and bought groceries for the week. First I stopped by the deli counter to pick up some turkey, which now runs at about six dollars a pound. I bought a half pound of turkey and then decided to get Swiss cheese. I asked the man for the cheese and he asked if I wanted domestic Swiss cheese, which I didn’t really understand. Did he mean domestic as in from the US? Because to me that doesn’t make much sense. You should only be able to buy domestic swiss cheese in Switzerland. It’s like buying domestic french wine or a domestic Toyota, it makes no sense to me. The confusion didn’t end there, I asked for six or seven slices of swiss cheese and he began slicing. He threw the over sized sliced pieces, over sized in both thickness and overall surface area, on the scale. The total weight was two thirds of a pound. I didn’t want to admit my guffaw, so I just said it was fine. Now I have to eat swiss cheese sandwiches with a little bit of turkey. I bought some other lunch things like apples, cookies and granola bars. Next I decided to shop for dinner things, which for me is one of three things: macaroni and cheese, spaghettios or cajun chicken soup. I have been eating this way for months and it is getting very old, but since I never know where I will be for dinner I never buy stuff to make a good dinner. Not to mention the fact that all of the recipes I have make way too much food. I finally checked out and found I had spent $36.

Fast forward to yesterday morning when I put together my lunch at quarter to seven in the morning. It took me about five minutes to put everything together. I went to work and once lunch time came around grabbed my bag lunch and went with my friends. Of course none of them brought a lunch and instead went to Viga and bough $3.50 worth of the yummiest looking pasta. I sat there with my stupid sandwich trying to eat it slowly so I filled up quicker envying my companions. Only then did I officially conclude that I would save more money, time and effort by setting up a fixed budget of $20 a week for having lunch outside instead of bringing my lunch. Now I just have to get through the rest of my swiss cheese and it will be Jay-Bo and viga once again. Woohoo!!!!

The holiday has passed once again and now the bank account needs to recover from a shopping spree. The good news is that I didn’t use my credit card for one purchase, the bad news is that I have about fifty dollars until January 14th. That leads me to my primary New Year’s resolution, which is for me to save money. Part one of this goal is to pay off any credit card debt. Part two is to maintain at least a $3000 balance in my checking account at all times and part three is to begin saving money so someday I won’t waste money away on rent. Obviously this won’t be easy, but I am determined to accomplish these goals by the end of 2005. Any donations will be gladly accepted in the pursuit of this goal ;o)

Okay now back to the past week. Jennifer and I did Christmas on the 23rd, we started by walking through the monsoon to Rustic Kitchen. The food was yummy, afterwards we opened up presents. I got a nice new long wool coat, a 1-UP tshirt, new iPod headphones, hot chocolate and a photo for the house in Maine. Dec 23rd Christmas Photos

On Christmas eve I stayed in most of the day and did laundry. Later in the afternoon I left and went to my dad’s house for a small party. I went over to Nissa’s house for her little party and then I drove to Somerville. I basically repeated that for the next two days. Drive to Amesbury… hang out… drive to Somerville. On the 26th Jennifer came back from CT and we drove up to Amesbury for the 39R Christmas. 39R Christmas Photos

It was snowing heavily, but we still ended up driving to Maine. It took four hours, but we finally made it to Bethel. The next morning we woke up and the high was supposed to be 5 at the summit and 17 at the base. We went up to the mountain and signed Jennifer up for her lesson. I met her after the lesson and I was happy to see a big smile on her face. We sat in the lodge a little while to warm up and then skiied a few runs before going home. Later on we went to dinner at Noelle’s house and had an amazing time. It was so nice to be having dinner with such great and interesting people. The next day we woke up to find the temperature was five degrees below zero. This morning we took our time and got up to the mountain at 10:30. The first two hours of the day we stayed down in South Ridge and Jennifer successfully skiied every trail down there before taking a break. After the break we headed for Dreammaker. I was relieved when Jennifer said she liked it. She did very well and didn’t have any problems at all. We stopped up at the Peak Lodge and had lunch before taking one last run down Dreammaker. We made it down safely and went back home. Jennifer said she had a lot of fun and really enjoyed skiing. Woohoo!!!! Jen Skiing

Here is something I found while looking for something my grandmother used to say many years ago:
“GOG."

(TO THE AUTHOR OF “JONG,” PUNCH, SEPTEMBER 19TH.)

O singer sublime of Beeyah-byyah-bunniga-nelliga-jong,
It isn’t envy, the green and yellow,
That makes me take up my lyre, old fellow,
And burst with a fierce cacophonous bellow
Across the path of your song.
I want to propose another name,
Unknown to you and unknown to fame;
It is like the sound of a hand-sawn log
Or the hostile hark of a husky dog:
Chagogagog-munchogagog-chabun-agungamog!

This cracker of jaws is a lake, I’m told,
A lake in the U.S.A.,
And first the Indians, the red sort, owned it,
But later to Uncle Sam they loaned it,
Who afterwards made no bones, but boned it
In the fine Autolycus way;
And though life wasn’t a matter vital
He kept with the lake its rasping title,
Which recalls the croak of an amorous frog
Or a siren heard in an ocean fog:
Chagogagog-munchogagog-chabun-agungamog!

Wow the season is now upon us and so far I have had a wonderful holiday. Of course I did spend more money than I should have, but on the bright side I didn’t charge one thing, now thats progress. In the past I have had less than spectacular holidays, however this one is shaping up to be very good. Last night I finished the top secret Christmas project for Jen and then went over to her house while she finished up her wrapping. I had so much fun with her last night wrapping, playing the guitar, working on a little gift project for tonight, drinking hot chocolate and dancing around to Christmas music. It feels great to be excited about the holidays for a change. Not being able to spend Christmas day with Jen will not be a highlight this year, but our Christmas tomorrow night is going to be off the hook. Plus after Christmas we are going skiing for two days.

Merry Christmas!!!
Keegan

Believe it or not I actually went skiing this past weekend. I drove up on Friday night did the Suds thing and skied on both Saturday and Sunday. It was very cold on Saturday, I was a bit scared when I called the ski phone and the temperature at the base was two degrees. I ended up skiing with all sorts of different people, one might say a perfect mix of ski companions. What else, hmmm?!? Not much really just a typical weekend in Maine. I did go to the Mattherhorn for the first time since they remodeled it. I liked what I saw. Last night I drove home and finished up Jen’s my top secret project for Jen. Now I just have to put all the pieces together. This week looks like a busy one with wrapping on Monday and Tuesday, Amy’s party on Wednesday and Christmas with Jen on Thursday night. No work on Friday woohoo so I will be sitting home all day until a party at my dad’s on Friday night. Saturday will be another day of sitting around Somerville not doing much of anything and then on Sunday Jen comes back from CT and we go to my mom’s for Christmas brunch (Boxing Day Brunch) and then it is off for two days of skiing at Sunday River.

Sunday River Slideshow with Andy in a one piece ski suit Email me for the full size picture for your desktop. keegsands@gmail.com

I woke up this morning at 5:30 to find that the temperature outside was 16 degrees. I wasn’t too excited about this, but at least I was prepared and bundled up in a fleece and my heaviest parka. It turns out the walk wasn’t too bad. I had to come in to work early because we were getting a new network drive and so far everything is working just fine.

Last night was my last Spanish class. Only five people showed up, but it was a lot of fun. We played a couple games and other fun activities. I was actually pretty funny and had people laughing out loud, which made me feel pretty good. I went home and had a nice yummy bowl of Spaghetti-O’s with sliced franks. It was such a healthy dinner I know.

Now I am sitting here at work considering a trek outdoors to get a bagel.

After a discussion at work about the origins of referring to Target as Tarjay; I decided to try and search for the result. In my searching I came across a long discussion where users submitted different names they use for common place or words.

Here are some examples:
McDonalds => Mickey D’s
Home Depot => Homers
perfect => perfeck
sandwich => sangwich
Taco Bell => Taco Smell
Salvation Army => Salv Al
Dunkin Donuts => Dunkins => Niknud Stunod
Wal-Mart => Wally World

I was wondering what other sayings people have for places or things. Please add some comments!!!

Interesting Craigslist ad Click here

I am sitting at my desk waiting for my second and final Career Discovery Workshop. In a few hours I will know what I should be doing here at State Street, which is a very exciting prospect. Chances are it will be a computer job of some sort. I’ll keep you all posted.

Last night I completed most of my Christmas shopping. Only a few more small gifts here and there and it will be in the books. Thankfully this year I didn’t even have to rely on a credit card either. Here’s to fighting credit card debt!!! Once again I did the Ofoto thing again, which makes my life a whole lot easier, plus people really enjoy there gifts. I don’t feel like I am ruining the surprise because this year there are a few new photo tricks up my sleeve. You will all see this though in a short eighteen days or so.

I guess I haven’t updated in a week or so. Basically I have been around doing things here and there. I stayed in Somerville this weekend to work on Christmas presents. Jen and I went to dinner at an Indian restaurant called Diva in Davis Square. It was phenomenal!! On Sunday I was at home most of the day looking at pictures and then decorating Christmas cookies with my roommate. It was a very relaxing and fantastic weekend. Tonight I have my second to last Spanish class followed by BoCaNO tomorrow, work holiday party on Friday, Sunday River on Saturday and then going to see Jen in the Nutcracker on Sunday with Auntie Babe. The calendar sure does fill up fast at this time of year.

Have a great day,
Keegan

Yesterday was the last day of the month, which means I had to go and buy a T pass for December. So we went down to the Washington Street concourse and stood in the sixty person line. Thankfully it moved along rather quickly and after about fifteen minutes I made it up to the window. I asked for a Subway Plass and then corrected myself. Next I gave my credit card and license to the woman behind the glass. The reason I gave both was because my signature has worn off of my credit card, probably due to excessive use. The woman gave the card back and asked me to sign it before she processed the transaction. Now this seems kind of silly because now my signature is definitely going to match the card, not much security gained there. I tried to sign it, but what it can’t be written on and handed it back to the lady. She gave me a receipt to sign, I signed it and gave it back. She then said, “In the future to make it easier for us could you please make your signature on the receipt look more like your license signature.” I nodded and then walked away in awe of this woman. I figured my picture on the license was enough proof that I was me. I mean if my signature didn’t match she could look at my face and see that it was me. Ahhh how aggravating.

So December is here and its raining again. I looked at the radar for New England and Maine seems to be getting soaked again. After the rain up there on Sunday and then again last night and today. Its like one step forward and two steps back. Hopefully by the end of early next year they will have more than six trails open. It has to get cold eventually right. On the bright side they may open two more trails (33% increase in run count) this weekend (Lazy River and American Express) bringing the true grand total up to 8 runs. I think at this point in the season you can’t go on the trail count because it is inflated. For instance Sunday River says they have 11 trails open but in actuality only four runs are truly open. What variety!!!

Well it took me a good twenty four hours to get back to updating this, so here we go. It is now the day before Thanksgiving and in just a few hours I will be leaving work picking up Jen, Melissa and Bailey the beagle for the long commute down to Connecticut. Yep that’s right I am spending the holiday weekend with Jen’s family. I can’t wait its going to be fun.

The ski season started two weeks ago and I have skied three times. I started on telemark and last weekend due to a random overnight injury had to alpine. The cold weather really hasn’t been around much up there and they haven’t had a chance to really make much snow. Hopefully a cold spell will come soon and make it worthwhile to drive all the way up there. I am sure Mother Nature will have more than a few surprises up her sleeve over the coming winter. The house Kate and I rented is great. There are several different rooms so you don’t feel squeezed in with everybody in the house, you can really go into another room and just do your own thing.

Work has been hectic the last few days while I have tried to get a special project completed by today so I get Friday off. It seems to be working okay as of noon today, lets just hope nothing crazy happens between now and Friday. I will be on call though, so if something does go wrong I can help patch things up from CT.

Spanish class at the BCAE (Boston Center for Adult Education) is great. I have refreshed my memory on so many topics its tough to keep track. We are halfway through the class and I am already beginning to remember the preterite. Ahhh not that!!!! The class is very laid back and the Argentine teacher is hilarious.

Can you believe how everything Christmas is out already? Macy’s was putting things out in the middle of last month and now have full displays set up. It won’t be long before they just leave stuff up year round.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!!! Gobble, Gobble!!!!

Well I learned one thing for sure yesterday, I am not in shape. I went up to the mountain yesterday morning for my first day of skiing. Instead of taking the easy route, I decided to push myself and brought my tele gear. Let’s just say after two runs I was so sore I couldn’t ski more than fifty yards without stopping. Now I could have gone to the car and put on my alpine skis for a bunch of runs, but I am not one to give up and stuck it out for a few more runs. I know it makes my ski days shorter for the time being, but after a few more weeks of this I will be able to tele for much longer then if I had given in to my alpine skis.

Let’s go back to Friday. Work wasn’t nearly as bad as on Thursday and I was able to get out on time to go see a Boston Chamber Music Society concert with Jen. It was great especially the last performance, which had two people playing Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring on one piano. It was an intense song and the pianists were even more intense. On Saturday we drove up to the Portland Museum of Art. It was nice, much smaller than some of the places I went to in Europe, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. We walked around the Old Port for a little while and then drove up to the Outpost for the night. I took a bunch of random pictures.

BoCaNO Funny Faces
First Weekend Up North

I began the Career Discovery program at State Street. Basically they give you a few surveys and help you figure out what you want to be when you grow up. Here are the primary and secondary motivators for me. Do you think they describe me?

Intellectual/Physical Challenge
For those with this Career Driver, the one thing that matters most is being challenged at the highest possible level. Success is defined in terms of winning the war, the game, the contract or the sale, overcoming obstacles, being the best, being first, beating the competition, reaching for their highest, surpassing previous goals, and so on. This Type sees the area of work or the specific job to be performed as secondary to the experience of challenge. The challenge can be intellectual or physical, and occasionally both (planning an ascent of Mt. Everest or putting out oil-well fires in Kuwait). The challenge may be defined by the stakes-a big contract, a major gamble on a new product, or a complete reorganization of the company. These people often seek variety in their careers (and lives in general) and, in the absence of challenge, become highly dissatisfied. They are often initiators of imaginative projects. Easy things are boring for them, as is the long-term, repetitive nature of ongoing project or team management.

Professional Excellence
Those driven by Professional Excellence are most motivated by being very knowledgeable and producing highly effective work in some field of specialization. They are primarily motivated by the content of the work they perform and the form of the results they achieve. These people tend to identify strongly with their field of expertise, and their self-concept is dependent on their ability to succeed and be recognized in their area of specialty. Professional Excellence may lead to a managerial position, as many companies promote people who are good at what they do, rather than because they have managerial or people skills. But, people with Professional Excellence as a Career Driver are only satisfied if they can manage within their discipline and would avoid promotion if it meant leaving their specialty and losing their connection with that field. People with this Driver are seldom satisfied in a generalist position. Every occupation and organization has its professional achievers who are capable of making outstanding contributions when they are allowed to develop and use their expertise. It is usually of great importance to people with this Driver to be recognized for their achievement and contribution by others in their field whom they respect.

Yesterday was a real roller coaster, I had a good morning until we had a fire drill and had to stand outside in the cold. Afterwards on a whim I went to the Morale Committee meeting for our group. It was interesting and I was able to find out when they might have the Holiday Party. The work part of my day was very boring. Lunch was good I ate Jay-Bo pizza for the first time in a while. At three we had a meeting that lasted an hour and a half. It was comical, but very long.

After work I went to Spanish class on Comm Ave. Oddly enough I wasn’t too nervous about it and it turned out there was no reason to be anyway. The class has about 15 people in it. I am probably one of the youngest people in there, but most people are in their late 20’s or early 30’s. I couldn’t believe how quickly it all came back to me. We are pretty much required to speak in Spanish for the entire two hours and about 95% of the time I knew what everybody was saying. It was funny to hear somebody make a mistake, like when this guy walked in and the teacher asked his name and he replied, “Good.” Haha. After finding out one guy had two dogs, one large and one medium sized another student asked him which dog was the boss and he definitively said, “Yes, they do run the house.” Haha that was the same guy who was supposed to read the role of Sr. Gonzalez in a dialogue, but he ended up reading Sr. and Sra.’s parts. It was crazy. I am looking forward to the next five weeks.

I went home and played a little Donkey Kong Country. I had never played it before and I am not too impressed with it. I know at the time everybody was raving about it, but the play control is horrible and it seems too easy. I am sticking with Mario games.

I did witness something funny this morning while watching TV. I flipped to a channel and somebody was reading letters about people who had made money or received a promotion after a $58 seed. The read letter after letter of success stories after $58 seeds. Finally the camera pulled back and it was some sort of religious guy trying to sell membership into this club of 3000 people. I can’t believe people actually send money to this organization. How dumb can people be? I then realized those are probably the same people who voted for Bush last week. What is wrong with this country?

Once again I spent a weekend in the Boston area, but still it was a wonderful weekend. On Friday night, Scottie came in to Porter Square on the commuter rail and we went to eat at the Spirit Bar. Afterwards on the way to my housewe stopped by the liquor store and picked up a bottle of razberi stoli, Sprite and cranberry juice. We played a little Super Mario Brothers and I quickly learned that the more you drink the worse you are at video games.

On Saturday I spent most of the day at home, watching tv, playing video games, strumming the guitar and reading my book. I have now finished two of the books I bought at the book sale a week ago, “All Quiet On The Western Front” and “Brave New World”. Now I am tackling the biggest so far, “Lord Jim”. In the evening Jen and I went out to dinner at Cambridge Commons, which was very good. After dinner we drove to Waltham for a party at Scott’s house. It was great, there were a bunch of people there and he had just bought a new video game thing with 76000 games in it. I played Contra and 1942, very cool. Unfortunately, the extra life code in Contra didn’t work so I had to play with the standard 5 lives. Jen had never heard of the code and thought I was weird, I reassured her that I was in fact normal and that every guy in the room knew the code. So I asked and they all knew, at least the essence of the code. Do you know it?

On Sunday we just stayed in all morning and decided against our planned drive to Provincetown. Instead we walked to the T and went into the city for a little shopping and lunch in the North End. The lunch was fantastic and we followed it with coffee and dessert. Yummy!!!! We walked back to Charles/MGH took the T to Harvard and then walked the rest of the way home because it was such a nice day.

Next week ski season starts. Who’s going up? I will be there on Sunday for a little while to see if my legs are strong enough for another year of abuse. I am thinking about switching my tele bindings to my shorter skis, because this year will mainly be on tele. I won’t do the Bust ‘n’ Burn on them, so I will need to find another shorter pair before April, but Tele is the way to go this year.

Its been a while since I last updated, so here is a little update about what I have been up to. Well last weekend was very lazy, which is something I needed. I seem to have been going going going for the last couple months and it was nice to slow down for a little while. Jen and I went to Newburyport on Saturday for a book sale at the public library. It was my first used book sale and at one dollar a bag I couldn’t have picked a better place to start. I ended up with over ten books, most were classics since I need to get a good base before I really start to experiment with new authors. Afterwards we went over to Starbucks and had coffee, I finally got to say “For Here” before the order so I would get it in mugs. Afterwards we went to my mom’s house and then over to Flatbread for an late lunch. I really appreciate that place more now since I have been much more adventurous with my food choices. Sunday was such a beautiful day, we opened all of the windows up and did some cleaning and organizing. In the afternoon I met up with Andy for lunch at Pizzeria Uno, yes I know pizza two days in a row who would have thought.

Monday and Tuesday were tough days at work because of good ol' expenses. I made it and I am currently working to solve the problem well for at least the next six months. After work on both days I had to drive up to Amesbury and drop my car off for service. It was just an oil change, but I really like my dealership and don’t want to switch down here just yet. I voted on Tuesday in Amesbury, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get my presidential choice selected. What is the deal with the people in the South and Midwest? Last night BoCaNO went to see the latest Warren Miller offering at the Somerville Theater. It was okay, I am just not as in to these movies as everybody else is. It does get me excited for skiing, but only about as much as when I see the first snowflakes of the season. Besides that not much is going on. Everything is very well and I am very happy.

Peace out,
Keeg

Tiffany Staelin Slideshow

Obituary from the Toledo Blade

Last night was Amy’s annual pumpkin party. Jen and I carried are pumpkins on the T and then walked down Newbury Street. We were both exhausted, which caused me to be extremely hyper and Jen to be overly giggly. Thankfully we kind of settled down by the time we got there. As always everything was set up when we got there including the food, pumpkin carving tools and the table cloths we sit on to carve. Everybody showed up within the next half hour and we began carving pumpkins. I decided to just use a pattern this year because I couldn’t really come up with any good ideas on my own. We carved them while watching Survivor, which was interesting because Mark had never watched a full episode before. I think he is now confident in his decision to not watch it ever before. Once we completed the carvings and lit the pumpkins up it was time for a little Trivial Pursuit: The 90’s and a little drama care of me. Haha, you people didn’t think I would let it rest after just twelve hours did you.

We split up in to two teams one with four people the other with five. At around nine o’clock the game got under way with our team rolling first. It took us a couple of turns but we finally landed on a pie piece question for the Wired category. The question was about a Science Fiction television show that underwent major changes or something in the early 90’s. My first instinct was Myster Science Theater, so I checked with my team and it seemed to be the correct answer.
So I said, “Myster Science Theater.”
The other team then said, “What is the number after it?"
I looked at my team and we discussed for a minute. We had it narrowed down to 2000 or 3000.
In a complete guess I said, “2000.”
The other team apologetically replied, “Oooh I’m sorry its Mystery Science Theater 3000."
I came back and said, “Come on that is close enough."
Diligently they retorted, “No its not if it is for a piece of pie."
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Somehow we had magically been transported to the Trivial Pursuit World Championships and only the exact answer was going to get you anywhere. Now don’t get me wrong I am all for accuracy, but seriously is it necessary to be so particular about the most insignificant part of the answer. The game of Trivial Pursuit typically takes a long, long time to complete. Now it was already late and I think if there’s anything we can do to make the game move along faster, go for it. Its not like we answered with Horror Sci-fi theater 3000. Nobody would agree with me so we went on playing. At first I passive aggressively gave everybody a hard time about their answers, making sure it matched exactly to the answer on the back of the card. It was truly all in good fun and while I was still a little bitter about the incident I really just wanted to keep playing.

Fast forward a few turns back and forth and my opponents were up for a piece of pie. The category once again was wired and I volunteered to read the question. Basically the question said What destination did Jennifer Ringley create using webcams? They pondered the question for a while and then answered JenniCam. I asked if that was their final answer, they affirmed and I said in a completely serious tone, “No, I am sorry its JenniCam.com.” I didn’t say anything else and was ready for our roll of the die, but not more than two seconds later people are making comments about how I am still bitter. At this point I flipped out. I was just trying to play the game by the rules they had established thats it, I wasn’t trying to be vindictive, but they apparently thought so. I don’t see how my adherence to the standards they set up make me a bitter person. I just said they were wrong using my judgement solely based on a precedent that had been set. Would I have given it to them using my rules? Of course, you got the point, one out of ten times the questions are poorly worded anyway. Did I overreact? Well yes a little bit, but I felt like I was being attacked after just playing by the rules and I was extremely tired. Will I ever play again? Yes only if we have a third party judge who completely understands the rules as determined prior to the game.

Keith Foulke fielded the ground ball ran towards first base and nervously threw the baseball to first ending a lot more than just the inning. Once the ball landed in the glove of Doug Mientkiewicz it was the end of the inning, the game, the season, the World Series and the Curse. It had been 86 years since the Red Sox last clinched a World Championship, year after year people have watched this team religiously only to be left disappointed and waiting for next year.

So I am left to question, why now? Why should I be so lucky to get to experience this especially at such a young age? Unlike some of the older fans I have only had to live through two major disappointments the ‘86 World Series and the ‘03 ALCS. The World Series loss was difficult because I was only nine at the time and it was probably one of the worst things to ever happen in my life. Fast forward to last year, I was 17 years older and unfortunately had experienced a few things worse than the Buckner incident of ‘86. It was still a tough night watching them lose to the Yankees, on the Boone homerun, and had a major impact on how I watched this year. Over the last few weeks it has always been in the back of my mind that they could easily lose it all even though they were doing so well. It was difficult, because as much as I wanted to watch the game and see the drama unfold, it was still scary to think of the drama actually unfolding and the impact it would have on my poor stomach. I would make jokes about how they would not lose the ALCS in four games because it would be too easy on us. Later I felt them winning the first three games of the World Series was just a giant teaser to the biggest let down yet. Always lingering in the back of my mind, as was the case with most in Red Sox Nation, was the thought of the impending possibility of failure.

We all tried to counteract this anxiety with crazy superstitious actions. For instance, when the playoffs first started I wore my Red Sox hat on game days, but once they started losing to the Yankees I stopped wearing it and made a point of grabbing a different hat on the way to work. Other superstitions I witnessed over the last few weeks included watching games at the same bar, sitting at the same table, not paying the bill until the last out, anger towards people counting outs to go and the list could go on and on. It was strange to see people in this day and age having their behavior influenced by otherworldly forces. I guess with a history like this you need to think outside the box and try anything no matter how small and insignificant the gesture may seem.

I don’t know if all of our little oddities worked together or maybe, call me crazy, the Red Sox were just a well skilled team of baseball players, but it doesn’t really matter now. We can finally rest easily and not worry about hearing the 1918 chant at Yankee Stadium anymore. I might not have emotionally earned it, but I am going to take it and enjoy every minute of it. I am going to enjoy it for all of those who went through years of pain and never got to experience the thrill of victory. For people like my grandfather who watched more baseball than anybody I know, although he was around for the 1918 World Series (when he was three years old), he still endured all of the other heart aches. It was funny as I was watching the celebration on television last night, Tim Wakefield came on the screen and the first thought I had was of my grandfather cursing at the television because he couldn’t stand how slowly Wakefield delivered his pitches. I was happy to know that he had been with the franchise long enough for this connection.

Now we must look ahead to the winter and reflect back on this monumental victory. I don’t think it has sunk in for many of us yet, it is a much different feeling than the pain of losing. I think in losing you feel the pain immediately and it slowly fades, but in winning the joy comes in waves. There is an immediate joy when the final out is called, but then it subsides only to reappear at the most random of times. Thankfully the joyous times will occur, now and then, for the rest of our lives always with a nearly equal amount of joy. I look forward to being an old man climbing a mountain somewhere and being briefly reminded of the year the curse was broken and how I was so lucky to be a part of such an amazing event. I am sure there will be more Red Sox disappointments between now and then, but I will always remember the 100th World Series when the Red Sox did the impossible and came back from a 3 game deficit in the ALCS against the Yankees only to move on to the World Series and sweep the St. Louis Cardinals. We all “Kept The Faith” and were rewarded with an “Unbelievable” performance by a bunch of “Idiots”.

LJ Entries of major BoSox games of yore
‘03 ALDS LJ Entry
‘03 ALCS LJ Entry

For a little change of pace last night I went back home and stopped by the Salisbury Beach State Reservation for a few pictures. It had been a while since I walked the beach and enjoyed the waves pummeling the shore. It was a long drive up from Somerville, but I got to the beach just in time for the sunset. The sky was very clear and made for a beautiful end to a long day. After taking in the last few rays of light from the sun I turned my attention seaside and took pictures of the moon. It was nearly full and looked wonderful over the extremely rough ocean. After enjoying the ocean I had a little beach pizza before going home to visit my mother. I hadn’t seen her for a while so we caught up for quite a while and then the baseball game was on. I watched some of the game there and then drove home. Jen was driving through my neighborhood, just as I got home, so she stopped in for a little while. After she left I turned the television on and saw the BoSox had won their third game in a row against the Cardinals and now are only one win away from the World Championship. It is just unbelievable. I am glad Pedro had such a strong outing. He really deserved to have a good start for such a special game. Let’s hope D-Lowe can pull through tonight and make magic happen. THE CITY WILL COME ALIVE!!!

BTW The All For One Ski Pass is still available on the website even though October 25th has come and gone. American Skiing Company is such a scamming company. Next year I am skiing at Mt. Cranmore or Gunstock, no more ASC.

I know it has been over twelve hours since this happened, but I am still annoyed by it a little bit. This morning while riding down the escalator in Porter Square towards the trains I noticed a huge mob of people lining up at the turnstiles. Some were running other were impatiently waiting behind somebody who couldn’t seem to get their T pass to work. Who was this conglomeration of annoying commuters? The commuter rail riders. I have a love hate relationship with Porter Square, I love that it is so close to Boston, I love that it is close to my apartment, but I hate the steep stairs and the annoyance of it being a commuter rail stop. Everyday they appear out of nowhere just messing up my commute and forcing me to wait for yet another train. The worst thing about them though is how impatient and in a hurry they always seem to be. I have never seen so many people running for trains as I have here. Somebody should let them in on a little secret another train will be buy in a matter of three minutes, there is no need to run. Ahhhhhhhhhhh they drive me crazy.

The St. Louis Cardinals were crowned the NLCS champions yesterday after 5-2 vicotry over Roger Clemens and the Astros. In honor of there victory here is a link to My St. Louis Trip Slideshow. I went a few months ago for a Dave Matthews concert and thought it was a good time to put back the pictures of the Gateway Arch.

Go BoSox!!!

Question of the Day
“What flies when on and floats when off?”

They did it!!! The BoSox are going to the World Series for the first time since 1986. I don’t even know what to think anymore. Last night we watched the game at Johnny D’s in Somerville. I was still recovering from my wisdom tooth extraction, which probably wasn’t great since I think the high blood pressure from the game has prevented my mouth from clotting. Anyway they won and became the first team ever to come back after being down 0-3. During the game I was so nervous especially once they had scored a bunch of runs because there is one thing the BoSox do best, losing big leads. I refrained from cheering too much during the game until the very end when it almost seemed certain. Okay I am going to stop writing since these sentences are very incoherent. I think I might go home because I am really not feeling well.

Go BoSox!!!

Its true the BoSox are going to game 7 of the ALCS again and will once again be playing the Yankees. After Saturday night’s blowout, like many other citizens of Red Sox Nation I vowed to not watch game four. Unfortunately I missed a good game. Fast forward ahead two games and 21 innings later and I have witnessed some of the most stressful, but successful baseball to date. I just can’t believe they have come back from a three game deficit to tie the series at three. Unbelievable!!!! I actually never intended to watch Game 5, but Jen had it on so I decided to watch the rest of it. Little did I know it was going to go until the 14th inning. Finally, all of the stress I felt last year was back in place, including the cold sweats and nervous Francona’esque rocking. When Ortiz hit the double I almost had a heart attack. Tonight I was on the fence about watching the game, on the one hand I knew it would be difficult, but I also needed to feel the anxiety. It has almost become like a drug, the constant need for an adrenaline rush. Being a BoSox fan is like participating in an extreme sport, the only difference is that while the risks are high in both only in being a fan do you guarantee you will get hurt. I prepared myself as best I could and went over to Melissa and Ben’s to watch the game on a fat projection HDTV. Oddly enough we went ahead, but of course the Yankees slowly clawed there way back. Curt Schilling pitched a spectacular game, the perfect set up for the let down we have all come to expect. I will cut to the chase and go right to the ninth inning with Foulke on the mound. After a couple horrendous calls by the umpire there were men on first and second with the game winning run at the plate. The wind up and the pitch, strike three the Red Sox win and force a game 7. You heard it right, here we go again the roller coaster ride we have all been excitedly dreading.

Go out there boys and show Tim McCarver how his statistics are irrelevant. After tomorrow night I want him to have to say only one team has come back from being down 0-3 to win the ALCS and that was the Red Sox in 2004.

A bunch of us (Mark, Kate, Amy, Jen and I) went apple picking up in NH. We made some pies and then had a nice dinner at the Winnen’s. Afterwards we watched the sad sad showing of the Red Sox. In the morning we went out to breakfast and then Jen and I went to Vermont to see her cabin. It was very busy and I am too lazy to update a complete story right now, but there are pictures and they are worth one thousand words. Enjoy!!!
Vermont Cabin Pictures

Yes I know the BoSox lost again last night. I don’t think Pedro did too bad, the problem seems to be the hitting. What happened to the offensive machine that was the BoSox? Thats all I have to say about that for now.

Now I want to talk about the newest telvision show I am hooked on called Lost. It is about a commercial airliner that crash lands on a remote island. The survivors have to do the best they can to make it on their own. Okay I know what you are thinking, “What a boring show?”, they are probably going to be saved in a number of hours. It turns out for some reason they had their transponder turned off and the rescuers are looking in the wrong place. I have really fallen in love with this show, for many reasons, but the number one reason is the need to know more information about the characters and the island they are on. I would say there are about twenty survivors and every week we learn a little more about them and better understand the motives behind some of their actions. Just when you think you have somebody figured out, you learn something new about them to completely blow you away. The island itself is also a character you learn about in this way. So far we know there are some very odd and large creatures, a polar bear, an outgoing distress signal that has been broadcasting for 16 years and some sort of magical man that appears and then disappears just as quickly. Yes it is a bit strange, but through the entire hour I am constantly looking at the timer on my VCR wishing there were more than just ten minutes left. The only problem I have with the show is it feels a lot like a movie and I can’t take the stress of seven days in between scenes in this movie. I am also nervous about this show because it seems like one of those amazing critically acclaimed shows that will be cancelled due to lack of viewers, like My So Called Life, Once and Again or Freaks and Geeks. I just don’t want to invest in a great show that won’t end properly. Bottom line is its a great show and you should try to watch it on Wednesday nights at eight.

What else was there? Oh yeah the new google desktop. Hopefully by now you have all downloaded the Google deskbar and the Google toolbar and if you haven’t then you should. The latest advancement out of the Google labs is called Google Desktop. Basically what it does is runs on your computer and scans your files and stores the information. You can then do a google search of everything on your computer. It will search emails, text files, Office files, IM chats (optional), or just plain old files. It is super fast and its amazing how much stuff it comes up with. Try out the Google Desktop

What is more Autumn than apple picking and eating cider doughnuts at Cider Hill Farm? Well thats just one of the things I did this past weekend. The weekend kicked off with the BoSox game at John Harvard. I am sure most of you watched and know it was a crazy game. The highlight of the night was definitely Mark yelling at Terry Francona for putting Foulke in so early with the score tied. I thought it was hilarious, well everybody else there was a bit frightened. Haha, oh yeah Ortiz’s home run was also pretty cool.

On Saturday Jen and I went to Peabody for the Real Sale at The Limited. So we went clothing shopping for a couple hours and also ate a nice lunch at Bertucci’s. Afterwards we drove out to Halibut Point State Park to see the quarry and sit at the seashore. It was a bit cloudy, but the it was warm enough that it was quite enjoyable. I got a bunch of pictures and even a couple decent sunset pictures. The new tripod my dad gave me is fantastic and makes my life a lot easier. After the beach we drove back to Somerville and rented two movies, “Safety in Objects” and “The BFG: Big Friendly Giant”. We watched Objects, because the giant movie is actually for Jen’s third grade class. SiO was really weird and a little bit depressing, but it was the best thing left at 7:30 on Saturday night at Blockbuster Video.

At eleven we picked up Ben and Amanda for an afternoon of Autumn activities. The first stop was Cider Hill Farm in the ‘Bury. We climbed up the hill and began picking apples. Jen was quick to climb into the trees and grab apples from the top branches while we stayed down on the ground catching her pickings. We ended up with ten pounds of apples, I don’t know what we are going to do with them, hopefully some sort of apple dish will be in my future. After picking it was time for some apple cider doughnuts, which of course didn’t disappoint. After a brief pit stop at Burger King we went to the Topsfield Fair. I forgot how expensive that stupid thing costs. The ticket to get in was $12 per person and the parking was $7. Once inside it was the same as it has been for the last fifteen years. It was great to be back for the first time in years, but I don’t think I will be back next year. After walking around for ten minutes it became apparent that we did not fit into the demographic range of the fair. We were too young, too thin, don’t eat half of the food they offer and don’t have awful Boston accents. My favorite quote, “Where is that lahhgest pumpkin?” We made quick work of the place and then went home. Mark I took several pictures just for you so you can see what you missed.

The week is now beginning, and with it brings the stress and emotional difficulties of another ALCS series with the Yankees. Everybody find a wishing stone and toss it in to Boston Harbor and wish for an end to the BoSox drought.

Keegan

I now have a Super NES up and running in my apartment thanks to my cousin OJ. I drove up to Amesbury last night and tested out my system and it didn’t work, so I borrowed OJ’s until I get my second console from the ebay seller. I got home last night and popped in Super Mario Kart for a little Mushroom Cup Grand Prix action. It didn’t take long before I was jump sliding the turns and leading Koopa Troopa to the Gold. It was strange how quickly it all comes back, similar to hearing a song on the radio you haven’t heard in years and you remember all of the words. Next up was F-Zero, which once again I got the hang of after only one lap. When I woke up this morning the first thing I did was begin playing Super Mario World and had finished the first world before leaving for work. My goal is to start at Super Mario Brothers and go through each level of each game without using a warp. I don’t know how long it will take me and I am hoping it will take weeks.

While sleeping last night the heater was loud once again, but I am beginning to get used to it. It just makes some really weird noises. I have noticed a problem lately now that the sun rises later it is hard to tell when I wake up whether the night is over or if it is still the middle of the night. I have a really bright street light outside my window that is actually brighter than the dawn light.

I missed BoCaNO last night because I was really tired and didn’t feel well. I also never ate dinner, which is an ugly pattern I keep falling into right now. Hopefully I can turn that around because while it is great to only weigh 158 pounds I’d rather be closer to 170 pounds. I need to eat more pizza.

I was just searching for Amesbury High School, because I wanted to look at the academic calendar, but why is unimportant. So I came upon a page for Amesbury Pride Homecoming Weekend. I didn’t know we had a homecoming weekend. There is also a soccer game on Saturday for alums to play in vs. the current varsity team. Anybody from the ‘Bury going to this thing.

In other news, my new Super Nintendo finally arrived in the mail yesterday and of course as is my typical luck it didn’t work. So now I have to send it back across the country or find one on craigslist that is in the Boston area. All I want to do is play my Super Mario Brothers and be done with it. Ahhhhhhhhhh!!! WTF!!!!

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It was road trip time this weekend and we made the most of it. On Friday morning, Andy, Kate, Mark and I piled into the car and drove to Penn State for the first Vote For Change concert featuring Dave Matthews Band. The drive down was great and relatively traffic free. I was able to do some reading and crossword puzzles I had been storing for a few weeks. Once in State College, Andy gave us the walking tour of campus including a visit to Old Main the building that houses the President’s office as well as a tower which overlooks the campus. We went up the tower and took some pictures, before going to the President’s office for some desserts. The next stop was a bar Andy used to frequent “when he went there”. The beer was cheap even if they only offered Bud, Bud Light, Coors, Coors Light and Miller Lite on tap. We then left for the Bryce Jordan Center to catch the show. On the way there we passed several Bush supporters and Kate was quick to take off her sweater and show off her Kerry ‘04 shirt. Andy and I went to our seats in the fifth row and enjoyed Jurassic 5 and Ben Harper. Shortly afterwards DMB came on and played an amazing set. After the show we went to the Ramada and went to sleep, despite Andy’s request to go out again.

In the morning we were rudely awoken by a soccer team dragging their luggage down the stairs of the motel. After dropping Andy at the airport, Mark, Kate and I made our way towards Philadelphia. Unfortunately, we missed a turn and ended up driving through the ghettos of North Philadelphia. It was scary, but eventually we found our way to Tiffany and TJ’s. We had a little lunch and then hung out for a bit before going for a walk along the river. We saw a bunch of cool statues and went up to the Frican art museum. The view of the city was great, as can be seen above. It was time to eat again and we went to a really cool restaurant that had a very European feel to it. They also had a bunch of Belgian beers, which made me consider drinking, but in the end I knew I would still end up not enjoying it. It was a cool place to eat and hang out, I wish it was in Boston. After dinner we went back to the house and played Cranium, boys vs. girls style. We really did well and the girls struggled on the trivia questions. It was a lot of fun hanging out and just having a relaxed night.

We woke up on Sunday and had a yummy breakfast of french toast. Next up it was time for some touring of the Old City. We hopped in the car and drove downtown to Independence Hall. We got tickets and waited for our tour. Andy showed up from Scranton and joined us right before the tour. We saw the Liberty Bell and then had our tour of Independence Hall. It was really cool to see such an important place in our history. Once back in the car I requested that we drive by the Real World house(bank). I snapped a picture and we were on our way back to the house. We left in the afternoon around two. It was so nice of TJ and Tiffany to host us for the two days we were there. Thank you guys so much we all had a great time.

The drive back was fairly smooth except for our stop at a rest area on the NJ turnpike. For starters my coffee from Starbucks was a dollar more than usual. Mark was hungry, but the two food options were Roy Rogers and Nathan’s, which are two of the nastiest fast food restaurants you can eat at. He decided to pass and we went to get gas. Now it is a law in NJ that all of the gas stations have to be full service. This caused lines similar to those I have seen from the gas shortage of the 70’s. The station had 12 pumps, but only six of them were turned on and three men were working the six pumps. It took forever to get through the lines. We finally made it out of that god awful state. We finally made it back to Boston at around nine. It only took about six and a half hours to get home. I will admit for the last hour we were a little crazy, talking about the Frican museum, my idea for a fantasy hurricane league for next year, a parrot voice, the beeping of Philadelphian car horns, listening to the same CD over and over again and many more things.

Ahh today at work has been so stressful and crazy. My boss also told me I could leave early, which in most cases would be fantastic. Unfortunately, he doesn’t realize I can’t leave because I still have one more project to finish. I wanted to post a picture of me trying to hide from people here. Its not working, but oh well.

btw last night at BoCaNO, Kate and I had our own trivia team called KeKa and we battled against our cronies. It was a tie until the final round, but we were able to pull ahead on a question about the animal that is responsible for the most human deaths in the US each year. The answer, which I am all too familiar with is deer. Woohoo, go KeKa!!!!

Matt found some funny comic strips today. For you office workers this will all make sense

Enjoy,
Keegan

Friday night I took Jen out to the Parrish Cafe for her birthday dinner. It was very delicious, I even tried Polenta, which is a cornmeal bread topped with tomatoes, mushrooms and mozzarella. After dinner we walked to the Public Garden and then joined her sister for dessert at Finale. It was excellent.

We woke up on Saturday morning and went up to Newburyport to go kayaking. I was a bit nervous since I had never kayaked before but after being in the river for a minute or two I quickly got my bearings. We paddled out towards Joppa Flats and even went up the river towards the Plum Island bridge. At one point we just stopped along the marsh and watch these tiny little birds running along the shore. It was so very peaceful.

The tide was still going out, but instead of waiting for it to change we made our way back up river against the tide and wind. It turns out to have been a good idea, because we barely made it across the Flats before it was a giant sandbar. It was a tough paddle back, but after a couple stops and some cormorant chasing we made it back to the ramp. It was an amazing four hours and I can’t wait to go out kayaking again.

After kayaking we headed straight for Salisbury beach and I introduced Jen to Christy’s pizza. As one would expect she loved it. Next stop was Dairy Queen and then back to Somerville for my housewarming party. I only had a few people show up, but I was grateful that they did. We kept to ourselves most of the night and watched the baseball game. It was a good time though.

Yesterday I went up to Amesbury to visit the family and then drove out to Plum Island to read and enjoy the beautiful weather. I took some pictures and here they are Plum Island on a sunny day

I just went to CVS to stock up on candy, because for some reason I was feeling the sweet tooth. When I got back up to the office I noticed something funny about the coupon they gave me on the bottom of my receipt. It was for a $1.50 off Oral care products. Now I know at the supermarket they sometimes give you coupons for certain products. Do you think I got this coupon to counteract all of the candy I just purchased. Very strange. Here is a Photo of my receipt

Have a good weekend everybody. Housewarming party at my house Saturday night at 6 PM. Be there or be square.

Happy Birthday Jennifer!!!

Last night for BoCaNO we went bowling in Davis Square. It was lots of fun and was followed up by a nice dinner at RedBones. Here are some pictures from BowlCaNO. So has anybody else been up late at night watching Keith Foulke single handedly cause me intense stress. I don’t know if my nerves are ready for another extra inning game seven playoff game. These games are taking time off of my life.

Okay so I wanted to update my LJ, but first I need to apologize for any spelling errors or accidental use of homophones, such as their and there OR threw and through. I rarely if ever read over my entries before hitting the post button, because it is usually early in the morning and I have to get to work. So please forgive me. My mother was very upset and embarrassed when reading my entry from a few days ago. I promise to try and read before dumping things out on to the interweb.

Next up… I am sick and tired of being inundated with free newspapers when I go to work in the morning. The Metro is fine because it is small and you can read it on the train, but for the last couple weeks they have been giving out the Boston Globe too. Now don’t get me wrong I am not being ungrateful, but seriously I only have so much time to read the paper every night. I just can’t see people reading the Globe on the train because it just involves way too much work. Why couldn’t they have done this when I was commuting to Salem? On the bright side I can now finish the crossword without looking at the answers.

Here’s a question for you. In the picture below what emotion am I expressing? Please answer so I can prove Jen and her sister wrong. I know it must be a NewYorkTexasOhioCaliforniaConnecticutan thing.


Check out the new poster I made at work for our new PC team work response system. PC Team Poster Aren’t I just the most creative creature you ever met.

Lots of big plans for the weekend, but most were rained out on Saturday due to the crazy rain in the area. My mom, who I was unable to get a hold of all weekend, would certainly have said, “If this had been snow we would have over two feet on the ground.” I can’t even imagine how great that would have been, snow in September. Actually I guess it wouldn’t really do me much good since I don’t even have a ski pass yet. On Friday night I went out after work for Chris Hayes' going away outing at Foley’s. A ton of people showed up and it was great to hang out with some former State Street crew members. On Saturday morning the rain prevented us from going on a hike, so instead Jen and I stayed in for a while before braving the rain and going to IHOP in Revere. We then picked up some piping at Home Depot for her new portable washing machine (more on that later). After a chill and relaxing afternoon, where I slept for a couple of hours, we went down to Quincy for a pizza and movie rental with Mark and Kate. We rented The Station Agent a quirky comedy about a dwarf. It was one of those movies that is different from the norm and in the end not many lose ends are tied up, but it was fantastic and very funny.

Sunday morning Mark, Kate and I drove up to Mount Osceola for a day hike. The sky seemed great in Somerville, but the closer we got to the mountains the cloudier it became. When we got out of the car it was fifty degrees and cloudy, perfect for hike with a view, NOT! It was a brief hike and unfortunately we couldn’t see anything from the chilly summit. We did see our first ice of the season, you can see it in one of the pictures. After getting back down four hours after leaving the car we drove back towards Boston. We stopped at Not Your Average Joe’s for dinner. One highlight of that was when Mark tried to flip his straw around in his mouth without using his hands. We all proceeded to give it a try with me being a complete failure, the only way I could get it to work was by chewing up the straw and spitting it back out.

Once I returned from Somerville and hung out at my house a while I drove over to Jen’s house. When I got there she was washing her first load of laundry, but it would not do the spin and drain cycle. It would fill with water and then it would agitate, but right when it should have started to drain and then spin it just stopped. We played around with it for a good three hours, which included us manually draining it three times. Of course since I have no idea how to do anything around the house I was unable to fix it. Jen did figure out that her landlord had tested it and so it must have drained since she bought it. Hopefully he will be able to help us out.

Oh yeah and Mark the whole caliber thing with regards to bullets was the diameter of the bore of a firearm. See the definition of Caliber. .45 caliber is 45 hundredths of an inch in diameter and an 88 mm gun has a bore that is 88 millimeters in diameter.

Last night Jen threw a little cocktail party at her house and invited some of her friends as well as some of my friends. I arrived at her house around 5 and we immediately began preparing. I made a fantastic vegetable platter with carrots, celery, mushrooms and tomatoes. It looked great if I do say so myself. A bunch of people showed up and I will spare listing them all for fear that I will most likely spell their names incorrectly. It appeared that a fun evening was had by all. The clean up was even fun. Since I never really use dishes at my new place, it was nice to get into the sink and just wash a ton of dishes. I even took a sip of wine because I didn’t want to waste or mess up my dish water. I don’t know whether it was linked to the wine, but afterwards my face broke out in a little rash. It was strange since I have never had an adverse reaction to food before. Hmmm very interesting.

Looking forward to Chris' going away party tonight at Foley’s. Tomorrow will involve a hike somewhere up in NH of some mountain over 4000 feet. Sunday is the day Jen’s sister moves to Somerville, which is very exciting. Busy weekend ahead. Hope y’all have a good one.

Meredith’s Top Ten Favorite Things About Southerners

Asperger’s Syndrome Information Apparently it occurs in both boys and girls. I guess that means score one for Meghan and the girls team.

Funny Advertisement making fun of Bush

In an apparent misstatement while speaking of medical liability for OB-GYN doctors, the president said, ““We’ve got an issue in America. Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country."

On Saturday I went hiking up Mount Adams with Mark and Kate. We went up the King Ravine and I must say it was absolutely beautiful. Of all the 4000 footers I have done so far it has to be my favorite. The ravine was huge and made me feel as small as dust next to the giant rocks and the steep headwall. If you ever want to go on a somewhat difficult, but amazing hike try this one out.

Mt Adams Slideshow

I was surprised to find it so nice out yesterday. It was definitely what the meteorologists call a top ten day. I spent most of the morning recovering from the hike and then met Jen’s parents out in Sturbridge. They were great and I think they even might have liked me. Lunch was hilarious there were all of these elderly people at the Sturbridge Bistro and they were just classic old people. One of the women was having the worst time trying to use a video camera so Jen went over and helped her out. I must say though it was frightening when they all left because each little old woman hopped into a different car and they kept backing up all over the place. I thought for sure I was going to get hit.

I rarely make entries where I poke fun at somebody I dated or give an account of a bad date (remember the farewell email from the girl with the priority list), but Mark brought an interesting article to my attention this morning. Now for a little background, do you see the girl on the left in the picture above that is Emily aka E5. We met up at Sunday River last winter, we hung out a couple of times, but nothing materialized. One funny thing I remember distinctly was finding out she was a Republican after I saw her gym bag with a Bush/Cheney ‘04 sticker. I couldn’t fathom how anybody would seriously posess one of those stickers unless it was for a joke. I could go on and on with a bunch of ridiculously funny stories, but none will comepare to what Mark found in the New Yorker. Apparently she has been busy with the presidential campaign and the New Yorker was great enough to interview her at the RNC last week. Here is the New Yorker Article Emily’s interview starts in the third paragraph. All I have to say is Newportant?!?! WTF!!! Absolutely!!!

Here is the Slideshow from February 16th, 2004. Look at how long and crazy my hair is in that picture. Our pizza party isn’t exactly like a British High Tea Party.

I forgot all about updating this thing and so here you go. It was a very exhausting and busy Labor Day for me. I rollerbladed on Friday night and then dealt with a Red Line shuttle bus. Saturday involved a trip up to the ‘Bury to do laundry and see my dad and grandmother. I left there and drove down to Plymouth to hang out with the pond people. It was so nice to be down there for sadly the last weekend of the year. We played wiffle ball in the hall at midnight. I felt like a kid again, just goofing off and making up different games. After a long Sunday in Plymouth I went back to Somerville to see Jen. Monday was super relaxing, we just hung out, walked to Davis Square for a Starbucks, did some shopping and then went to Ben’s BBQ. A great way to end a superb weekend. However I am now completely exhausted and really need to get some rest. I have been running every weekday so far in September. Only two months to go until ski season starts. Woohoo!!!

It was a day of several good things:
I got out of work at four o’clock which is good.
I brought my other guitar (the one Scott gave me) to the repair shop and they fixed the tuners for only five bucks (well four because thats all I had on me)
Met up with my bestest friend in the whole world, Kate Harvey!!!
Talked about how my mind can sometimes drive me crazy with its constant thinking about things. One, two, three, RELAX!!!!!
Walked the bike path from Davis Square to Alewife.
Ate at Anna’s Taqueria for the first time. It was pretty good. Not as yummy as Qdoba, but half the price.
Played with my newly repaired guitar. A much different sound than my other guitar.
Wrote a letter using the classic nib pen and ink. Boy writing cursive is hard.
Went to Jen’s and saw all of her new school clothes, including 8 new skirts. Haha I have like six pairs of pants total.
Realized how lucky I am to have great friends, live in a super apartment in a fun city, the basic ability to play a guitar, a job (okay I am working on that), a wonderful family back up in the ‘Bury and an amazing girlfriend who is a true match (pun intended).

Have a great Labor Day weekend everybody. I’ll be in Plimoth all weekend. The Chowdah race is tomorrow.
Keegan Willis Sands

I was walking to the train this morning and the nice Metro guy handed me my daily copy. On the front cover is a big picture of Dick Cheney with a giant grin on his face and it really irritated me. Why was I irritated? Because he knows as do I now that Bush will win the election in November. Let’s face it I don’t want him to win, but that is the way the insane rest of our country feels. I just don’t appreciate the whole rubbing it in, because they are so certain and know there is nothing that can be done. It’s amazing what money can buy. Of course the democrats aren’t exactly putting up a fight. I don’t think I could be less excited about John Kerry. Is he even running for president because it certainly doesn’t feel that way. The Democrats should have picked somebody that at least had some chance in the South. He also doesn’t look presidential, the phrase always a senator never a president definitely come to mind when thinking of him. I don’t want to discourage anybody from voting, because it is obviously not a done deal, but its beginning to look that way. Our country is just plain, DUMB!!!!

Does anybody else see a likeness between Dick Cheney and the Penguin?

It is now September 1st and the weather has changed accordingly to a comfortable coolness that lets you sleep through the night. It was so refreshing waking up to such nice weather. I also began training for ski season this morning by going for a half an hour run. I don’t know how far I ran, but i would estimate somewhere around two and a half to three miles. I did okay, well considering I haven’t run in quite a while. I was considering the gym, but for the time being I am just going to try and run everyday and maybe start the gym in October. I don’t know, we’ll see how it goes.

So I didn’t buy my season and decided to hold out because I knew they would still be offering the pass after the date they said. I was right they have now extended the deadline to October 25th and added $30 to the price of the pass. So now I get to wait and definitely won’t have to put it on my already mountainous credit card debt. While on the subject I have decided now that I have less rent to pay I am making a focused effort to dig away at the mountain. I have vowed that by this time next year, September 1, 2005. I will be in a completely different situation with a mountain of savings, so if I have to move I will be able to something more effective with my money than just paying rent. September 1st this year is like everybody else’s January 1st. I have so many New Year’s resolutions. Now it is just a matter of following through. I know I will definitely have support so I am not worried.

Learn about American cheese
White Bread vs. Wheat Bread
The Air Sign Libra