46,650,380 and a New Sister
Tammy's niece and her husband were over for dinner during the holidays and while they were here Pat had an incredible game on Simpson's Pinball Party. He got the high score on the machine which up until that time had been held by Rachel at 29,000.000+. I'd been nowhere near that score and seemed content to be happy with anything over 10M. Anyway, Pat comes over and racks up a score of 32M+, blowing Rachel's score out of the water. I'm scratching my head wondering why I suck so bad. I watched him play and I couldn't see anything he was doing which I wasn't. He did mention that he got a bunch of multi balls during his game and those racked his score up. So, this past couple weeks I've been playing it a few nights a week and finding my touch. I had my best game on Monday where I finished with a score just 200 points shy of Pat's machine high score. Talk about bittersweet; I get my high score ever and it's a measly 200 points less than Pat's after scoring 32,000,000. Hey, at least I got to enter my initials. This story doesn't end there though as I had the game of my life the next night when I scored over 46,000,000. I was playing out of my mind and loving it! It sucked to drain the last ball the way I did as I lost it on a rookie move, and I was so close to 50M. I made sure to tell Pat's mother-in-law so she could pass along the bad news to Pat.
Our Chia Homer has sprouts but they're not so evenly distributed. I'm rotating the thing every day so it gets even sunlight but one side is definitely doing better than the other. I think I'll give it another week and then it will have worn out its welcome. Tammy got it for me as a gag gift and didn't think I'd actually do anything with it. Hey, if she's going to take the time find it, buy it and wrap it for me for Christmas the least I can do is spread the seeds out over it and give them some water. These things do require a bit more attention than you might think. You have to water it twice a day as the head is made of porous clay and the water seeps out into the tray below. Keep it topped off or your seeds toward the top won't germinate—sort of like ours.
Tammy painted and redecorated our spare bedroom as well as our bedroom over the last few weeks. It's nice to have a new look. She's really good at that sort of thing—home projects and such. We're talking about doing hardwood floors on the main level sometime in the next year. Between the two of us, I think we can do it ourselves without too much trouble. I recall how before I met her she re-laminated her countertops in her town-home. I couldn't tell they'd been re-laminated and she did that herself. I love that about her. Like last night, for example, I've been trying to find a simple laptop stand for my laptop but what I'm looking for is no longer available. I can't even find it on the net. Some guys at work have these simple little brackets which the laptop sits on top of and allows for airflow underneath to keep it cool while also tilting the keyboard up for comfort. Anyway, Tammy has this simple idea using a wine cork and a heavy gauge piece of wire, and walla, ghetto laptop stand! I can't wait to show the guys at work.
I was on a ride the other day (another beautiful winter day with fall-like weather) cruising through Bloomington and having to wait yet again for the light rail choo-choo. It never seems to fail that I have to wait for the thing every time I pass by the Mall of America. I suppose I wouldn't mind so much if it were actually carrying people but this thing hardly has anybody on it. I had to wait for it twice this time through and I made a point of looking at how full it was; I'd guess no more than 5% for each of the choo-choos. We paid a lot of money for the thing but I'm not seeing much of a return on the investment. Maybe it will prove to have been a good investment years from now, just not yet.
Rachel has a new baby sister: Amy Nguyen. We dropped Rachel off at her dad's house last night and stopped in to see the little one. She's a sweetie for sure with long slender fingers—artists hands. She was born on Monday morning. We spent 45 minutes with them. It's nice that we've built our relationship to the point where we can enjoy each other's company. There is 15 years difference between Rachel and Amy so I'm not sure what sort of sister bonds will develop over the years. I mentioned to Rachel that when Amy is her age she will be 30. I'm sure that in the next few years as Amy grows and develops her own identity it will be fun for Rachel to spend time with her. As it is now she's not too thrilled about going to see her dad for the weekend. Amy will give Rachel a reason for getting excited about spending time there. I have no doubts that Rachel will be a great older sister.
We came home last night and watched Little Miss Sunshine. What a funny show. If you grew up in a dysfunctional family as I did you'll enjoy it all the more. Toward the end we were laughing so hard...a good belly laugh.
Our Chia Homer has sprouts but they're not so evenly distributed. I'm rotating the thing every day so it gets even sunlight but one side is definitely doing better than the other. I think I'll give it another week and then it will have worn out its welcome. Tammy got it for me as a gag gift and didn't think I'd actually do anything with it. Hey, if she's going to take the time find it, buy it and wrap it for me for Christmas the least I can do is spread the seeds out over it and give them some water. These things do require a bit more attention than you might think. You have to water it twice a day as the head is made of porous clay and the water seeps out into the tray below. Keep it topped off or your seeds toward the top won't germinate—sort of like ours.
Tammy painted and redecorated our spare bedroom as well as our bedroom over the last few weeks. It's nice to have a new look. She's really good at that sort of thing—home projects and such. We're talking about doing hardwood floors on the main level sometime in the next year. Between the two of us, I think we can do it ourselves without too much trouble. I recall how before I met her she re-laminated her countertops in her town-home. I couldn't tell they'd been re-laminated and she did that herself. I love that about her. Like last night, for example, I've been trying to find a simple laptop stand for my laptop but what I'm looking for is no longer available. I can't even find it on the net. Some guys at work have these simple little brackets which the laptop sits on top of and allows for airflow underneath to keep it cool while also tilting the keyboard up for comfort. Anyway, Tammy has this simple idea using a wine cork and a heavy gauge piece of wire, and walla, ghetto laptop stand! I can't wait to show the guys at work.
I was on a ride the other day (another beautiful winter day with fall-like weather) cruising through Bloomington and having to wait yet again for the light rail choo-choo. It never seems to fail that I have to wait for the thing every time I pass by the Mall of America. I suppose I wouldn't mind so much if it were actually carrying people but this thing hardly has anybody on it. I had to wait for it twice this time through and I made a point of looking at how full it was; I'd guess no more than 5% for each of the choo-choos. We paid a lot of money for the thing but I'm not seeing much of a return on the investment. Maybe it will prove to have been a good investment years from now, just not yet.
Rachel has a new baby sister: Amy Nguyen. We dropped Rachel off at her dad's house last night and stopped in to see the little one. She's a sweetie for sure with long slender fingers—artists hands. She was born on Monday morning. We spent 45 minutes with them. It's nice that we've built our relationship to the point where we can enjoy each other's company. There is 15 years difference between Rachel and Amy so I'm not sure what sort of sister bonds will develop over the years. I mentioned to Rachel that when Amy is her age she will be 30. I'm sure that in the next few years as Amy grows and develops her own identity it will be fun for Rachel to spend time with her. As it is now she's not too thrilled about going to see her dad for the weekend. Amy will give Rachel a reason for getting excited about spending time there. I have no doubts that Rachel will be a great older sister.
We came home last night and watched Little Miss Sunshine. What a funny show. If you grew up in a dysfunctional family as I did you'll enjoy it all the more. Toward the end we were laughing so hard...a good belly laugh.
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