According to my Fitbit in the last two weeks I have walked 50 miles! Granted since I have gotten the Fitbit I have been trying to go for daily walks of a minimum of two miles. Additionally I have begun parking farther away from the entrance to the office building and I have been trying to take the stairs everyday as well. I hope these behaviors continue as I am sure they will have positive overall effects on my health.
Author Archives: Ed
Now I Feel Old
I have an old, miniature Frogger arcade game from when I was a kid. I brought it back from New York the last time we were out there. I remember my brother Chris and I playing this game and another we had of Donkey Kong, for hours when we were younger. I have told Kylie this very story when I first showed her the game and showed her how to play it. She seems to enjoy playing the game occasionally. Today she saw the game again, apparently she had forgotten about it, and then immediately asked me a question that made me feel old. When she saw the Frogger game she was momentarily excited and then immediately asked if I had Frogger “back in the old days.” I laughed and asked if she meant when I was a kid and she said yes. So now my childhood is back in the “old days,” amazing how quickly we can feel so old.
Photobomb!
Kylie totally photo bombed Melissa tonight! I’m so proud. 🙂
Help me get fit, Fitbit
For a while now I have been checking out Fitbit and looking to get one. Well today my Fitbit arrived! I am really looking forward to seeing how much I walk during the day and I am also hoping that it will motivate me to walk more and take the stairs when possible. The fact that the Fitbit automatically uploads to the site and tracks everything with little to no intervention from me is great. I think one of the features I am really looking forward to is the ability to also track my sleep pattern, especially since I rarely feel like I get a good nights sleep. I have already set up my profile and connected it to my various accounts. Let’s see how I do.
It’s Been Six Years Dad
So much has happened over the course of those years. Your family has grown, you have two more Granddaughters and there is finally a Grandson on the way. The girls are all so big now. Chris went back to school, graduated, and got a good job working in the operating room at U of M. You’d be proud of all he has accomplished. Wayne has been teaching martial arts and helps others learn the value of self protection in terms of both self defense and the confidence it can instil in them. Along with meditation and finding balance in their lives. He too has come far and achieved much. As for me, I continue to work for the same company as I was the last time we spoke, but I have slowly moved up. Learned new skills and become more valuable to the company, even gotten certified on one of my vendors hardware. Mom’s doing good too, she misses you more than anyone, but she knows you’re always with her. She keeps her head up and continues to help and put others before herself, sometimes to a fault, just like always. You know, typical Mom. Don’t worry though, she gets out and has fun too. She’s gone to the casino a few times recently and really enjoys the time out. Not going to lie to you Dad, there have been hard times too, for all of us, but we make it through. We stick together and help each other when and how we can, just like a family should. We think of you everyday, sometimes at the oddest moments and for the oddest reasons. But it’s those moments that I know your still here, watching over us, and that makes the sadness a little easier for me to bear…. We miss you and we Love you, Dad….
Four Years Shaving
So I just realized that yesterday also marked four years since I got my new shaving paraphernalia and began wet shaving. After four years I am still using the original 10 blades that I purchased (I still 4 brand new blades that I have yet to use) and the original Omega shaving soap (about half left)! The badger hair brush never got used because I ended getting my Grandfather’s old shaving brush from my Mother (it was her Father’s) and so I have been using that. I am happy to say that after four years I am very happy with my decision to change to this method of shaving. Not only have I saved a lot of money on disposable razors and shaving cream, but I also have a lot less razor burn and general skin irritation after I shave. I still get some irritation occasionally and because of that I am thinking about purchasing an Alum Block, but we will see. I would recommend to anyone that they make the switch to wet shaving though, I think it is much better.
Happy Birthday Melissa!
Today is a very special day, it’s Melissa’s 31st birthday! So today we decided to do what ever she wanted to, and it started with breakfast at Ihop. Of course while we were there I took the liberty of letting our waitress know that it was her birthday. Of course when she gave us the option of a Sundae and a song I agreed and requested it, because I thought it would be funny to have the staff serenade her (read: embarrass her), and I was right! She did enjoy the sundae though, as you can see. 🙂 After breakfast we went over to Target to do some random shopping and pick up a few items Melissa wanted. Later after spending the day relaxing after shopping, she decided she wanted to go to the Quarter Bistro for dinner. Dinner and dessert were delicious, just as we have come to expect from the Quarter Bistro. All in all it was a very nice day.
Happy Birthday Melissa, I Love You!
There Goes the Fourth Tooth
Got an excited phone call from Kylie this morning. She was all excited to tell me she lost her fourth tooth this morning while brushing her teeth! We knew her tooth was loose but none of us thought it was loose enough to come out yet. This morning though while Kylie was brushing her tooth with her spinning head tooth brush, her tooth feel out and into the sink! She was very excited and called for Mommy to show her what had happened. At first Mommy wasn’t sure why Kylie was so excited and yelling. She told Kylie she needed to be a little quite because Aunt Sissy was still sleeping, but then Kylie was able to show her what was so exciting! Though Mommy said it was kind of concerning to see Kylie standing at the sink with her mouth bleeding, until she realized why she was bleeding. Then it was an exciting surprise.
Kylie and Her New Bed
Tonight was the first time Kylie got to see her new bed. When we got home I tried to prevent her from seeing the frame to her old bed hiding in the corner, but because she is so super observant I had no such luck. At first she wasn’t sure what it was, but as she got a little closer she could see all the pieces and realized immediately what it was. She looked at it and said “Hey, wait a minute, what am I going to sleep on?” and before I could even answer her she was on her way to her room. I was able to get my phone out to catch a quick video of her reaction and if you want you can view it here. Needless to say she loves the new bed and is very excited about it.
[EDIT: 03/31/2012]
As you can see from this picture she had no trouble sleeping on her new bed last night at all!
Leather Levers
Earlier this week I realized the chrome on my levers is flaking off again! I say again because this happened before, though I apparently didn’t write about it. Back in 2009 the levers were replaced as part of a larger overhaul do to some damage and they were replaced with a set of Kuryakyn’s that were supposed to be very good. My 2009 riding season was rather short (due to said service) and everything seemed fine, then came the 2010 riding season and all seemed well. Until mid way through the season, when I swear the levers felt odd. Every time I checked, and others checked for me, they looked fine, so I let it go. But then in the beginning of August while out for a ride it felt like I got a splinter in my finger, when I stopped to check I did have a splinter, a chrome flake splinter! The chrome plating on the lever was indeed peeling off. I ordered some replacement levers from Nicholson’s and waited for them to come in and in the mean time I just rode wearing my full finger gloves. By the time the levers came in the riding season was just about over so I decided to wait to put them on until the 2011 season. Chuck was nice enough to install the new levers for me during the off season and they felt and looked great all season. Now this year I get the motorcycle out, the earliest ever I might add, and after riding it home for the first time I once again feel like the levers are pitting and flaking! When I checked it turns out they are. At this point I am thinking that maybe I just have a high acidic level to the oil in my skin. Maybe? In any event I have decided not to order a third set of levers, instead I have ordered these leather lever covers. I purposely chose these because there are no long tassels, I am personally not a fan of them. So now I need to wait for them to arrive and hopefully they look good when I put them on.