Swim meet

Overall the swim  meet was a lot of fun.  We went there afterwork yesterday.  I wasn't too sure what to expect.  We got there a little early so I was able to warm up a bit, and then I was sitting there, and all of a sudden Neil pointed out that my event was up.  Oops I was heat number one and everyone else was on the blocks.  So I quickly stripped off my sweatshirt and put my cap and goggles on.  They didn't have to wait too long.  It actually worked out kind of nice, because I didn't have time to get nervous.  

When we signed up for the meet we were supposed to put down times for our events, only I didn't really know, so I just put down the time that Paula usually gives us to swim them in practice.  So, some of my swims were a little mismatched for the heats.  At Whitman I only ever swam the 50 and 100 yard free.  And I think that my times were about the same as they were back then.  (Although I was telling Neil today that this swim program has far better coaching then we ever got at whitman).  My times were 1:23 100 IM, 31 50 free, 1:09 100 free, 7:03 500 free.  

This evening we're off to Neil's boss's house.  They having a DNA party.  Neil is brining stuff to make long island iced teas.  I'm going to try and get some Thomas Kemper root beer to bring too.  We're also going to bring Cranium, but no Banjo.  He'll have to stay home and be guard dog.

week 15

This week peanut turns 15 weeks, meaning that it is now resembles the size of a navel orange.  According to the book it can now wiggle its fingers and toes, and suck them too--the fingers at least.  I'm thinking that it may have webbed feet with all the swimming that I've been doing.  Tomorrow is our swim meet.  I'm riding the bus to Neil's work so that we can go straight there.  I'm swimming the 100 IM and something else.  On Saturday, Meet day 2, I'll be swimming the 500, 100, and a relay.  It should be fun.  I'm just hoping that my goggles don't pop off when I dive in.  

Seizure and a haircut - two bits

Starting in January our Saturday routine has been to wake up around 6:30am so I can make it to my 7am basketball game at the Mormon church, and then Emily goes and swims at 8. But my team had a bye this week, so I got to sleep in.

But my rest was interrupted when Banjo made some strange burping-like sounds. I got up to let him outside, but he had a little vomit before he made it out. It looked like the one he had back in December, so I knew he was about to have another seizure. Sure enough, when I ran outside to see the poor 'Dood, he was on his side and non-responsive. But this time I didn't freak out as much, so I noticed that he was still breathing, and I swore his eyes were looking at me. My bare feet got cold (I was just in my pajamas) so I went inside to put on my new slippers that Sarah got for me. By the time I was going outside, Banjo was at the kitchen door, waiting to come in.

When we took Banjo in to the vet for his yearly check-up two weeks ago, she said that if the seizures are more than 6 weeks apart they usually don't do anything about them because the medication has such bad side effects. These two were probably 8 weeks apart. We just want the 'Dood to get better.

After Emily got home, we decided that Banjo needed a haircut. He likes to roll around in the snow a lot, which is why his fur has tons of dreadlocks in them. The fur was too tough to use the guard with our clippers, which he normally do, so we took off the guard and free-styled. Well, let's just say that we got a lot better by the time we were done cutting Banjo. With Emily's first swipe with the un-guarded blade, she took off a little more than she thought. I'm guessing you can spot where it was. We like to call it Banjo's airstrip.

It took over an hour to trim him up, and we filled up the garbage can in our bathroom with his doodle-fur.
Banjo after his haircut, where he likes to hang.
Can you spot Emily's first attempt at using the clippers without the guard?
Banjo needed to take a water break. Check out his two different legs.
Zooooom!
Up close. We still need to trim his face a bit.
We put peanut butter in his red kong to keep him still. We let him finish it off afterwards as a reward.

Portage Bay - Part II

When we made it to the trailhead of Byron Glacier, that's when the real workout began. Since it was pretty warm out still (a little above freezing still I guess), the snow wasn't that compact and wouldn't support our weight all that well. Meaning with every step we took, we sank. A lot. Sometimes past our knees. Emily was nice enough to break trail for us, but that only lasted about 100 yards. I got to do it the rest of the 0.8 miles. We all walked in a straight line (including Banjo) so we all could have an easier time hiking back.

But in the end it was worth it. It was a nice day and fun to be outside. But it might be a better hike in the summer time, because you can probably see the glacier a little better since everything isn't covered by snow.

Emily posing in front of the sign.
You think the snow is a little deep? I don't think Emily is normally as tall as a STOP sign.
Breaking trail sometimes leads to a loss of balance - and me falling in the snow.
The Byron Glacier - somewhere under all that snow.
Ahhh...family photo op.

Portage Bay - Part I

On Tuesday I went into work early (6:30am) so I could analyze my data for a few hours. Then we went out to Snow City Cafe, which is one of the better breakfast/lunch places in Anchorage. It's a place that I could see doing well on Capital Hill or something.

After breakfast we drove to Portage Bay, which is about an hour and a half south of Anchorage. There is a visitor's center that talks about the glaciers in the area. It was closed, and there was so much snow in the parking lot we had to turn around to get back out.

We decided to hike to Byron Glacier, which is only a 0.8 mile hike. But we couldn't drive to the trialhead because the road was under about 10 feet of snow. So we had to snowshoe in just to make it to the trailhead. It was probably on about a mile or so. But we had to break our own trail, which wasn't too hard, put a little deeper in some parts.


Banjo is always ready to go for a hike. Backpack: check. Dog boots: check.It's hard to see, but you can see the top of our Explorer in the middle of the picture, just over teh snow. This picture was taken on top of the snow-covered road.
Here is a picture looking down onto the car.
cEmily and Sarah coming back from our long trip.

Skiing at Hatcher Pass

Sarah getting ready to go cross-country skiing at Hatcher Pass.
Sarah and Emily making their way around top.
That's one of the old mine building behind them.
There's the old mine in the mountains.
More skiing fun.

On Monday Emily, Sarah and I drove up to Hatcher Passs, which is about an hour and a half north of Anchorage (out in the Mat-Su valley). We drove to this place that use to be a mine. You can cross-country ski up to the mine, and there is a track that winds around some old buildings, and a visitors center. There weren't a whole lot of people, and I think I figured out why: it was pretty warm out (probably a little above freezing), so the snow was a little soft and slushy. We kind of lost our barings going around the track up top, so we had to backtrack to make it back to the car.

We made a stop at Target on the way home so Sarah could check it out.

Happy St Valentine's Day!

This Valentines Day began like any other Saturday.  We got up super early to go to Neil's basketball, and then I left to go swim.  After swimming I picked up Neil and he Kari and Jared and I went out for some breakfast at Lily's Diner.  It was pretty tasty.  I couldn't decide between the special, which was reindeer sausage eggs benedict, or the cheese blintzes.  About 6 months ago we attempted to make cheese blintzes at home one morning, but it ended very badly, because the crepes just stuck to the stupid pan so I got mad and threw all the batter and filling away.  I'd wanted to try them ever since.

So, being the standup Valentine that he is, Neil offered to get the reindeer meal and I got the blintzes and we shared.  Both were really tasty.  Our overall verdict was that we'd definitely return (perhaps for dinner so Jared can get his liver and onions).  After breakfast we came back home and started getting ready for our Valentines Day Feast Extravaganza.  

We decided that instead of maneuvering the crowds and going out to eat we'd cook a fancy dinner at home.  Originally I was going to make dessert and Neil would be in charge of dinner.  But, then he couldn't think of what to make, so we decided to recreate some dishes we'd made on previous Valentines days.  

Valentine's Day Menu

Stuffed BL (bacon and Lettuce) cherry tomatoes

Rosemary Focacia Bread

Spinach Salad with tangerine pineapple vinegrette

Dungeness Crab Cakes

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie

Ginger Beer

We were busy cooking the entire afternoon.  Everything was pretty tasty.  Especially the crab cakes, which used an entire two whole crabs.  I didn't really like the dessert that much, because it was really rich, but Neil gave it 4 out of 5 stars.  

Now it is time for me to return to beating Neil at 2 handed pinoccle.

Week 12

Emily had another doctor's appointment for the Peanut today.  We waited, and waited, and waited, and finally the doctor came in to see us.  She just wanted to know if things were going smoothly for Emily, if we had any questions, things like that.  She asked us if we had any inklings on what we think the sex of the baby will be.  Emily told her that I think it's a boy.  The doctor then commented on how Emily has had little nausea, and that in her experience that usually suggests that a boy might be on the way.  Once again, score one for Neil being right.  Ha!  (Emily would like to point out that I don't know if I'm right).

One of the cool things that the doctor did was to listen to the baby's heartbeat with this little machine.  We couldn't hear anything for a little bit, but then she found the baby, and the heartbeat.  It was really quick, and was like 'whaju-whaju-whaju-whaju'.  The heartbeat is 164 bpm.

No more confusion

Hello all.  I officially have my own blogging identity now thanks to Emily.  Too bad I don't really have much to say right now.

The Peanut and Banjo

Here is a sonigram. The strong heartbeat is at the bottom - 167 bpm.
A little blurrier shot.
Banjo would be one fast runner for Prep Track.


So I realized I haven't put any pictures of the baby up for our followers yet. When Emily and I went in for our first doctors appointment a month ago the lady took a few ultrasound pictures of the Peanut. It had a good heartbeat - 167 beats per minute. Emily's due date is August 21st. We have our next appointment tomorrow.

Ice Skating Fun

Emily putting her skates on at the bench.
Banjo loved chasing us around the ice.
Me and 'Dood pose for a picture.
Emily racing around the lagoon.

Last Monday Emily and I went to West Chester Lagoon to play with our new skates some more. We decided to take Banjo with us, since we didn't think too many people would be out there on a weekday (we were right - there was only one guy there and he didn't stick around long).

It was pretty fun. They had a little circle plowed off so people can skate in a circle. And there is a place they plowed off adjacent where people can play hockey. Banjo had a lot of fun running around us while we skated. Most of the time he could just saunter to keep up with us.

Super Sunday

Me kicking back with some Pyramid Apricot Ale with Banjo.
Rachel and Emily digigng into the Super Nacho.
Our tasty spread.

I know this is a little late. Last Sunday Emily and I watched the Super Bowl with Emily's co-worker Rachel. We had a pretty yummy spread of Tim's Cascade Jalapeno chips, peanut butter M&M's, Super Nacho, inari, and even some red peppers, cucumbers and carrots with hummus. Emily and I helped move a couch to Rachel's apartment earlier in the week, so she baked some chocolate chip cookies, too.

A fun time was had by all. I mostly watched the game, while Emily knit and Rachel looked at our magazines. And shockingly - Pittsburgh won with the help of some shady calls from the refs. Go figure.

Monday Monday

This morning after breakfast we went to Westchester to go ice skating.  We were a little leery about bringing Banjo with us, but we decided that there would probably not be that many people out on a monday morning.  It was pretty cold out, but it was still fun.  And, Banjo did a really good job at staying out of our way.  There weren't any other people there, so Neil and I would just skate around whichever way.  And Banjo would try running between the two of us.  Since he was running on ice, it was a little to slick for him to get into his full out Banjo sprint, so he'd just trot.  Maybe we'll try skiing with him next.  I think Neil and I are getting a little more coordinated at skating too, or maybe this ice was just a little smoother.  

Super Day XLIII Predictions

This is the first Super Bowl that I haven't been in the state of Nevada since 6 years ago when I watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers destroy the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII.  I watched that game in in beautiful Sherwood, Oregon at my friend Matt Conrad's house with Jesse "Jigga" Jack and Yarrow.  For the past 6 years my brother Scott and I have ventured to Nevada (Las Vegas the first 5 years, Reno last year) with a third party, to place a wager or two on the game.  It's going to be weird this year watching the game with no action on the game.  But it will be fun because I will get to watch it with Emily and our friend Rachel, and we will be making the Hoff classic Super Nacho along with some sushi (the sweet kind that you stuff inside a little skin).  And we'll have some classic Super Bowl junk food staples that I developed at Whitman like a bag of Peanut Butter M&M's, a Costco bag of Tim's Jalepeno chips, and some Pyramid Apricot Ale.  Good times!

I don't know why I'm doing this, but I'll toss out a prediction.  I can't talk about the Cardinals - Steelers matchup without talking about the travesty that was Super Bowl XL, when our beloved Seahawks played their worst game of the year against the Steeler's, still outgained them, had a better turnover margin, AND controlled the clock more.  Yet somehow the damned Steelers won - namely because the Seahawks crapped the bed and the refs blew about, oh, 5 horrible calls.  

 

So how does all of that effect today's game?  Well, I'm saying it here first - the only way the Steelers win this time around is if the Cards play absolutely horrible and refs help them out again.  Sure they have a good defense.  But so did the Eagles, and we all know how Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald et al destroyed those foolios.  And don't forget how the head coach and offense coordinator spent about 6 years with the Steelers.  Remember the last time a head coach faced-off against his old team in the Super Bowl?  That's right - SB XXXVII - Buc (John Gruden) vs. his old team, the Raiders.  And we know how that turned out.

Final score:   Arizona 34, Pittsburgh 17

An Alaskan Day

This morning Neil and I had our usual Saturday activities:  wake up at 6:30 so that Neil can go play basketball (I'm stuck going with him, because we only have one car and I have swimming at 8), go to swimming, go get breakfast afterwards.  Today we went to middleway cafe, which has some of our favorite breakfast in town (huevos rancheros=mmmmmm).  During breakfast I was feeling ambitious, because I had just signed up for the swim meet at the end of February.  So I decided that I wanted to sign up for the Ski for Women, a fun ski event for women that always occurs on the day of the superbowl.  (Apparently that is the top day for domestic violence calls.  I guess too much testosterone).  So we walked over to REI to see about signing up.  But, in my haste, I didn't realize that yesterday was the last day to sign up.  Darn!  

Instead we went skiing on our own during the afternoon.  At first we started on this intermediate trail system, but we're not intermediates.  (we were at Kincaid, the place we went during the summer when everyone came to visit---you may recall someone peeing in the middle of the path).  So we went over to the novice side and hopped on a trail over there.  Because the Ski for Women is coming up tomorrow the course was already marked.  So, we followed the course.  It was pretty fun.  During the race everyone dresses up in costumes, which we didn't do.  But I think that my ski hankering was satisfied.

Afterwards we did a little grocery shopping to get stuff for the superbowl tomorrow and for dinner tonight.  Mac n' cheese with beets.  Afterwards we watched our Netflix, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.  I seriously did not get it.  Did she really have a son?

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the part that made it all a very Alaskan Day.  Today I applied for my permanent fund dividend (PFD).  I've paid my dues and now I'm ready for the payoff of living in the last frontier.

Code Orange!

Redoubt eruption in the early 90's.

I decided to write a blog from work, because our internet at home doesn't work (again) and there's nothing else to do. Mt Redoubt has been threatening to erupt for the last week or so. If it did and the winds were blowing the right direction apparently Anchorage could be covered in quite a nasty fog of ash. This triggored the IT department to worry so we're now supposed to cover our computers with plastic bags while we're not using them. Neil is picking some air masks up for us. They're giving them out 2 per person.

Neil in his new mask.

I was worried that Banjo would get black lung (since we're only alloted 2 masks) but, aparently they do make little chambers to go around the kennels to protect the dog's airspace. That's the most rediculous thing I've heard of all day.

Making blogs at work is fun!

Viva la prune

It's been a while since we wrote a blog, so I thought we'd better update it, although there aren't really any updates.  We haven't done anything too exciting this weekend.  Ever since we had that really warm streak, all the trails have been a sheet of ice covered with a light dusting of snow--not really ideal for skiing or snow shoeing.  We've been to the dog park the last few days, which Banjo has appreciated.   Yesterday we went out to Village Inn beforehand.  Neil and I both had the skillet meals, which included a lot of breakfast meats.  I didn't really want mine, so I brought them out to the car for Banjo.  What could make a dood happier than bacon, ham, sausage, and a trip around the dog park?  Perhaps a moose.  While we were walking around the park there was a mama and baby moose out munching on some trees.  We were afraid how Banjo might act, so we put him on his leash, but he didn't seem to too phased.  We walked by without any incident.  

Today for our day off we're just planning on running errands.  We may also try to walk Banjo out to the lagoon to see if it's re-frozen over again.  I'm also going to try to go to a yoga class by our house.  I fear I'm getting old, because I seem to be developing all these kinks from sitting at my desk too long at work.

The baby is now ten weeks in marination.  I've been reading a website that provides a food-sized equivalent for each week.  This week it's a prune.  A bunch of commentators didn't like it being called a prune.  But it reminded me of  when I was in Ecuador and got really excited about purchasing a bag of the most big and juicy raisins, which later turned out to be prunes.

A great day and anniversary rolled into one

This is how Alaskans watched the Inauguration festivities on TV Tuesday morning.
Emily likes to stay warm while she watches President Barack.
Nothing says America like eating at McDonald's on MLK day
The dood stylin' his booties at the dog park.
This is what a week of 40 degree weather will do to the snow.


Emily and I woke up at a the crack of 7am so we could watch the inauguration hoopla. What a great site it was to watch President Barack take the oath of office and then to hear his spectacular speech. And even greater to watch W hop on the helicopter and get the f@$% out of town (only about 8 years too late if you ask me). It was nice knowing that Emily and I did our part to put the current president in office.

Today is an anniversary for me as well. January 20th, 2008 was when Banjo and I arrived in Alaska for good to be with Emily. We got in around 2:30am, and right when we got home we took a litle walk around the neighborhood in the snow and darkness.

Skating on thin ice

After the cold chilling weather, Anchorage has had a heat wave of sorts.  Last week we gained about 60 degrees in termperature.  The 40 degree weather didn't help the snow though.  Schools were canceled for the last three days, because of the icy roads.  People were warned not to go out if you had to, and Palin decreed that on Wednesday we could take leave if we had to, because of the hazardous conditions (although this was 2 hours into the work day).  

So, now with such warm weather it's a little more inviting to go outside and play.  Today Neil and I took our spiffy new skates out for a spin.  At first we tried to go to Weschester Lagoon by our house, but when we got there there were signs up that the ice was thin, and there were a few puddles on the ice.  Since we weren't really in the mood for falling through the ice, we went over to Cuddy park, which is across the street from my work.  Cuddy park has a pond to skate on, but also has a speed skating rink.  So, did a few laps on the rink.  It was pretty fun.  At first we were a little nervous, because the other people out looked a little more skilled--doing loops and skating backwards.  But once we got out we had fun.  I think I'm going to try to take my skates to work and go during lunch sometime.

Puzzle time

We got some nice puzzles for Christmas. We already finished the 550 piece one last weekend. It was a little unsatisfying b/c we couldn't complete the entire puzzle, due to the fact that The 'Dood ate one of the pieces. Oh well, that's life.

Now we're working on a 1000 piece puzzle of Seattle that we got from Emily's Grandma. It's been fun so far and a little challengeing. We're hoping we'll be able to finish it by Monday. Emily is by far the more skilled 'puzzler' than I. Good thing I'm better than her at everything else (said sarcastically)!