The Official Site for the Lackluster Goings-On of Michael Kaiser
Posts tagged birthdays
Up To Date
Dec 21st
Once again, logged into Wordpress and there is another update. Just like last month. Six plugin updates too. Guess I should log into Wordpress more often, eh? Damn that Facebook. Seriously, it’s so much easier to write, “Man this month went by fast!” as a Facebook status update over writing five paragraphs about it on this journal. But then it’s a lot easier to look up my past adventures here than on Facebook, which doesn’t have an archive feature other than “Click Here for Older Posts.” But do I look at my past adventures? Not really. So maybe I’ll turn this journal into something else, but until I figure out what “else” is…
Here is the 2009 Year End Catchup, brought to you by iGoogle – helping me remember what I’ve done lately since 2006:
We celebrated Halloween much like we did last year, only with a few more kids and adults. I still find it funny that the adults outnumber the kids on this holiday. I don’t remember it being like that when I was a kid. Maybe my family needs to produce more children. (Working on it!) Anyway, here are the kids:
And here are the bored adults:
Good times. Next up, we had a faux-Thanksgiving at my parents house because my long-lost aunts were in town. That was the original plan anyway, but instead we just got some deli trays because visiting is more interesting than cooking. Here’s a picture of the original Kaiser clan where almost everyone is looking in the same direction:
Then my mother-in-law celebrated her 20th anniversary of her 21st birthday. I have pictures but I will not post them because she doesn’t like when I do that without her signing off on the picture first, and she’s not here right now.
Then at some point last month The Girl got The Dude’s side of the room complete. Isn’t she talented?
Wait, didn’t I already post that? Maybe it was on Facebook. Oh well, next! Still in November. My brother and his long time gal decided to get married. Shocker, I know. I thought they were going to do the whole “engaged forever” thing too. Most of us didn’t see the ceremony because they don’t like public displays of affection, I guess? But the dinner afterward was nice and everyone had a good time. Here’s a picture where they both look about as happy as they get.
Congrats little brother! Now we’re in December and The Girl gets the tree up ASAP because that’s how she rolls.
That’s right fellas, I did that too her! (High Five!) The Kid helped with the tree too, and I took pictures per usual. Then my Best Good Friend and I went to Star Trek: The Exhibit. It was fun, if not a bit small, and renewed my love of Trek for about three days. And of course, I bought a bunch of overly priced photos. Here’s one of them:
Season 3 Captain Kirk gut totally on purpose. (cough) Then The Kid had part one of her December spoilifercation process by celebrating turning six with a blow out at Chuck’s:
And that about covers October through December, not counting Christmas of course, which hasn’t happened yet. We’re having Christmas at our house this year, assuming The Girl doesn’t go into labor first. Should be fun. It feels like the last arc of this year has really flown by, and I guess I can see why now that I’ve lay it all out for myself. I’m a lot busier than I used to be, but it’s fun. The Girl and I have been ready for Christmas, gift-wise and decoration-wise, since November 30th. Not sure I’m feeling it yet though. Maybe because I’m more interested in this:
He’s not due until next year, and let’s hope that’s how it plays out but…stand by!
It’s Uh It’s Uh It’s Uh
Sep 9th
Well, we figured out the sex of the baby. But more on that later!
Had another nice visit with the in-laws. They came down to witness the conjoined birthday party event for The Girl’s nieces. Big pool party at the sister-in-law’s mother-in-law’s house (say that five times fast). Good food, good company, lots of swimming and a weird clown (but then maybe all clowns are weird). Everyone had a good time. This family sure goes all out for their birthday parties, man. When I was a kid, we had some friends over, we had cake, we had presents, and then we were done. I also walked both ways up hill in the snow to school with no shoes, so I guess times are better now.
The Kid started kindergarten. She was initially excited but now I think she realizes it’s a daily learning thing and seems to be dragging her butt a bit more when it comes to getting ready in the morning. At least she’s a fast learner! She’s also kind of evil now, but it’s probably a stage. Not sure what a stage it exactly, but that’s what everybody says when their kids turn evil, so I’ll say it too. I think it means “my kid has realized how dumb I really am and has decided to no longer respect or listen to me and rightly so,” but maybe I should look it up. At any rate, my jokes are rarely funny anymore, my questions must always be answered with an “UGH!” followed by an eye roll, and I catch her plotting on me at fairly regular intervals. Luckily I’m about three times her size, so I’m still sleeping okay at night.
But speaking of kids, the brand new one, that won’t know how dumb I am for years yet, is going to be a boy! At least that’s what the machine operator lady said after pointing to a white speck on the monitor that only she could interpret as testicles. It’s kind of a trip, as I think I was expecting the opposite. I feel like we got away with something, like this was too easy. Everyone wanted a boy and that’s what we got. Is it supposed to work that well? I guess the odds were 50/50, so I suppose it’s not that difficult to accomplish. But still, considering none of my siblings and siblings-in-law have had a boy yet, it’s kind of cool that it’s finally going to happen. At least I don’t have to hear from grandpa anymore about how my brother or I need to produce an heir to his empire!
I just realized there’s no designation for the guy yet. Not sure what to do about that. Can’t call him The Baby forever, because eventually that won’t apply. I should have called The Kid The Girl so that I could call him The Boy, but I used it on my wife instead and there’s no going back now. Or is there? Hmmm…
Event of the Year
Mar 18th
Went to my father-in-law’s 50th birthday last weekend. It was in Lake Havasu, and normally we drive there (and by “normally” I mean the one time I’ve gone before) but this time we decided to fly cheap on Allegiant Air. Cheaper than driving? I think ultimately not. Faster than driving? Two hour delay spells not. Easier than driving? I’ll go with yes, though it’s a toss up whether being bottled up in a car or bottled up in a terminal is better, but at least you can stretch your legs in a terminal.
The party was fun. It was a James Bond theme, so everyone dressed up, and there were little gambling tables outside and I had printed a bunch of Connery movie posters that were taped up everywhere. I think Bond posters might be the coolest movie posters every made. Bond or anything painted by Drew Struzan, can’t decide which. Learned how to play craps, and won second place, which meant I came out with $20 more than I put in. I don’t know why I’m wasting so much time with the 9 to 5 when I could be out on the road making a fortune.
The next day we toured a bit of Lake Havasu and had brunch at a place called The Turtle Beach Bar. Great view of the lake and decent food. Spring Break was just getting started, so lots of kids running around in their bathing suits, but I won’t talk about that because my wife reads this journal.
On the way home we took a wrong turn and missed our flight, so ending up driving the rental all the way home. So now flying was definitely more expensive than driving, as of course our tickets were not refundable or transferable. Oh well.
The Kid was sick the last couple days. I think The Girl is going to get in trouble for missing Monday. I missed Tuesday, but the company survived, even though I hear it was touch and go for a while.
My Wittle Blogs All Growed Up!
Feb 20th
Eh, not really, as I’m still the writer, but I did change the theme to something less geek-tastic. I guess I’d rather brand myself these days, rather than Paramount properties, especially when I’m not feeling said properties lately, anyway. Why plug something that hasn’t excited me for some time, eh? Besides, this way I don’t have to pay LiveJournal for the pleasure of customizing my theme and allowing me mucho userpics. Wastes of money in these trying economic times must go. Just ask the news, they’ll tell you!
Well it’s February already, and I almost didn’t post. Whoops! The in-laws were staying at our place for a while. They worked on our place while we were at work. Part of me feels guilty that they didn’t just relax, part of me is happy that there was less laundry and the crown molding got painted. Hey, I didn’t ask them to work, so I guess I’m guilt free!
My birthday came and went. I don’t feel different, except maybe more lethargic, but that’s lack of exercise more than lack of youth. My parents and uncle came over and The Girl cooked everyone a great dinner, then we showed off wedding pictures for the umpteen time. (We should have had a wedding pictures viewing party or something.) On Valentine’s Day, both sets of parents, myself, The Girl and my sister’s family went to a fancy grill across the street from my house. Good food, good booze, a nice time was had by all. Maybe next year The Girl and I will do the more romantic route with just the two of us, but the goal this year was to be thrifty and sociable.
Got money back on taxes this year, so w00t! But daddy needs a new car, so boo. Seems like this is going to be the year of money issues, but then we’re not alone on that front. Just ask the news, they’ll tell you! My goal this year is to be smarter and tighter with the wallet, but then I say that every year, so what do I know?
The Girl is thinking about going to wedding planning school, or whatever it’s called. Apparently planning one wedding created a junky and now she wants to do it all the time, only with other people’s money, so that’s good. I’m thinking about going back to school too, but per usual, am torn as to what I would like to accomplish.
I think I might be abusing the comma.
At Long Last
Dec 19th
In which the author updates his blog with personal stuff for the last time as a single person.
The Kid had a birthday party at my parents house on the 6th. It had a bounce house, face painting and a pony to ride. Boy things are sure different then when I was a kid. Whoops, that sentence made me officially old. Oh well. It’s like the standard now to have all that stuff at a birthday party. Back in my day, we had cake and presents and um…yep that’s it. We also walked to school uphill both ways, so I guess it’s better to live in the now rather than the then. The party went off pretty well, though it was a bit chaotic and I had to run a few errands. (My new job position, I guess.) The Girl got stressed out for a little bit, but in the end, I think everyone had fun. The kids did especially, and that’s the important part. I took advantage of the bounce house a few times, and I have to say, kids must be in amazing shape! I bounced about three times and was ready to die. Maybe rebound training isn’t a horrible idea!
The next weekend, we went to see The Nutcracker at the San Francisco Ballet. The Girl and I did this last year, when we first started dating and it was great, so we decided to try it again this year, but up the ante and bring The Kid too. (She could use some culture.) It kinda worked, kinda didn’t. We went on a work day, so the rushing to get read sucked. The drive bored The Kid to tears, so there were lots of “are-we-there-yets. We went to a kid specific show because it was supposed to be less formal and because the dancers were supposed to be in the lobby at the beginning of the show and we thought The Kid would enjoy seeing ballet dancers. But they weren’t there, and “less formal” actually meant “super obnoxious kids everywhere,” so it was hard to concentrate on the performance. The Kid liked the show at first, but after intermission was pretty much done, so we ended up leaving early. So, it ended up being okay, but I think next year we’ll go back to an adults only trip. Also driving up and back in the same day was dumb, so if we can’t afford a hotel next year, we just won’t go!
The Girl and I have been tight on cash because of the wedding, so we waited until the last minute to Christmas shop, and then busted it out in one day. That’s how I prefer to roll come Christmas time anyway, so that was fine with me. Despite being a bit frugal, I think everyone is still going to make out. I sold more geek stuff on eBay to help pay us back a bit, which has worked out pretty well. Course I’m running out of stuff to sell, so that trick won’t work much longer. Next year we’ll have to be tighter about finances if we want to recover from this year’s fun.
Grandma was checked into the hospital for lack of insulin. She’s since been checked out and moved in temporarily with my parents. They watched her take her medicine last night and she tried injecting herself with air because she couldn’t see that her syringe didn’t have medication in it, so that explains the lack of insulin! She really can’t live alone anymore, but is fighting the idea of moving, which I find odd since she’s been telling me her whole life how, when she gets old enough, she’s going to check herself into a home so her kids don’t have to worry. I guess it’s different when it’s theoretical.
The wedding is one week and one day away. I’ll steal a label from stage people and dub the next seven days “hell week,” not because it will be horrible, but definitely quick and busy. All the last minute details have to be remembered and ironed out, and we have to fit in family visiting, Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas day somehow. Should be fun! Everyone keep asking me if I’m ready and if I have cold feet, (one person even asked me if I had wet feet, but I don’t think that’s right), like they’re dying to catch me scared out of my mind. I’m a bit nervous, but not about the commitment. Just about the ceremony itself going off without a hitch, (well except the one hitch but…never mind).
Stuffed and Other Stuff
Dec 1st
So what have I been up to?
Had to attend the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation convention to hock wares for work. Sounds pretty cool, huh? But no, not really. Fairly boring, especially when the show was slow, which it was often. Didn’t see much of San Diego either, but it seemed like an interesting town. My hotel room had an ocean side view, but also came with a train that had to blow it’s horn every time it came by my window, which was every hour or so all night long, so it was a sleepless weekend. But at least food and drink were comped, and my co-worker and I went to town the day before we had to leave, so that was fun.
Turkey Day came and went, and was great. The Girl and I hosted it this year, which is to say that she cooked and I answered the door. I think I got the better end of the deal. I did clean the place the night before, so I didn’t get out of everything, but oh well. I was worried that our place would be too small to support everyone, but it worked out. Helps when half the cast is kids, I guess. It was crowded, but in a good way. I’m glad it’s over, but it was fun. Probably a good idea that it’s only celebrated once a year. Now on to Christmas and then a wedding. Gah. I hope 2009 is super boring. I need some boring.
As if Thanksgiving wasn’t enough, my car decided to go crazy the same week. First the ignition switch got stuck in the on position, so I had to kill the engine by pulling out fuses. Took it to a shop and of course the estimate to replace the ignition switch key escalated once they found all these other very serious problems that I should definitely fix. I drive an old car, of course there are serious problems. I should have just fixed the switch, but I let them sucker me and fix everything and…it drives worse now! Dumb. And of course it’s not their fault because the problem it has now has nothing to do with what they worked on but geez the coincidence of it all. I think they wired something wrong, or jacked with it on purpose to eek more money out of me. But forget it, I’ve put in more money on the Princess Beast than she’s worth, so I think it’s time to find a steep cliff and get to pushing. I would like a Lexus LS Hybrid. Help a brother out? I should find a donate button to put on this site.
Speaking of buttons, I took the W3C compliant buttons off this site. YouTube embeds are apparently not compliant, which means this site isn’t compliant because I like embedding YouTube videos. Oh well! (Actually there’s a way to make YouTube embeds compliant, but I’m not going to deal with that hassle every time I want to post a video. No one cares if I’m compliant, do they?)
On the geek front, despite being excited about the Trek trailer, the followup commentaries and articles I’ve been reading about the context of said trailer are still leaving me ho hum. The excitement has passed and I’m back to thinking the movie will blow. Maybe I should stop reading about it and go in cold turkey, but too late for that anyway. Plus, what else am I going to browse?
Saw the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace last week, as well. I brushed off Good Buddy so I could see it with my dad, and then my dad saw it with my mom while I was in San Diego, so then I was going to see it with The Girl but she felt the need to prep for Thanksgiving and brushed me off, so I ended up seeing it by myself. I wanted to see it, and I’ve never really cared about going to to movies by myself. It’s not like you talk to whomever you’re with when you go see a flick anyway. (Or if you are talking with the person you’re with…I hate you.) The movie was okay, but somewhat disappointing. It didn’t really follow up on the last installment, and the pacing was weird and a lot of the plot made no sense, or didn’t seem to matter. Not a great follow up for the perfection that was Casino Royale, but then I still left the theater wanting to be a secret agent for a living, so I suppose the movie did have a Bond-ness to it. I Except You To Die! wrote a great review that pretty much sums up why the film didn’t work for me without me having to write it all out myself, which I appreciate because I am lazy. So just read that if you’re interested in what I think, but beware of spoilers.
The Kid has a 5th birthday party this weekend. Her mum and dad are worried few will show up, but here’s hoping IMO because the less kids who show, the more likely I’ll get some bounce house action!
Jaws Was Never My Scene
Oct 20th
I’m having a hard time massaging my brain into remember what I did this weekend. Seemed like it went fast, though it was fairly uneventful. I’m tired this morning all the same.
We had The Kid this weekend. Friday we stayed home and talked about how we were going to start saving money. Saturday we went out and spent a lot of money at Mervyn’s, Target, Trader Joe’s and on a gym membership. Then we went to a birthday party in Salinas for about 40 minutes (a kid birthday party, with face painting, a jump house, trampoline, etc. – so 40 minutes was fine by me) and then met The Girl’s BFF for dinner out Outback.
Sunday we spent more money at Black Bear for breakfast and then went to Santa Cruz to pick up The Girl’s wedding shoes, which were finally delivered. They fit tight so they told her to walk around with them at home with heavy socks on, so that should be entertaining.
Then we returned home and decided to test out The Kid’s new bike (which we got for free via The Girl’s work – woot!) and so I busted out all our bikes and inflated the tires and installed training wheels for the first time, which went fairly well, despite my limited ability to use tools and install things.
It went fairly well, though The Kid of course rides very slow and crashed a lot. Her bikes keep getting taller but the training wheels stay the same width, so are less and less affective, especially when she leans too far to the left or right, which she does often.
I saw some dad riding around with his kid in tow on one of these trailer bikes earlier in the weekend, so maybe I’ll get one of those, and then we can all ride faster and further. Or maybe she should lose the training wheels altogether, though I’m not sure at what age that is supposed to happen, and besides which, I think I’ll let her dad be the one who runs back and forth down the street with her issuing false promises of “I won’t let go, trust me!”
So today we work out. EEP!
Party Like a Princess
Oct 7th
The engagment photo shoot went off without a hitch. (That comes in December – get it? Nevermind!) The photographer gave us some pointers up front, and told us if it feels unnatural it probably looks good, so I’m thinking the majority of the pictures will look good, because man did those poses feel unnatural! I’ll post ‘em when I get ‘em.
The Girl’s mom and nieces have been in town. I see why some people like going to work. Oh not that they are horrible or that I didn’t have a great time with them this weekend, but just as a place to decompress and hear myself think, work has a reason to be appreciated now beside the paycheck.
Saturday we went to the Roaring Camp Railroads in Santa Cruz. Never heard of it and it was pretty fun. The Kid has been bugging us about going on a train for months now, for some reason, so it was cool to watch her get it out of her system. Her new goal professionally is to be a cook, train driver and princess. Sounds like she’s going to be busy!
Sunday we spent 4 hours shopping and it felt like 18 years and I got tired.
Monday I went to work, while The Girl took a half day and went on a much longer shopping spree with the family. The Kid got her ears pierced (another thing she’s been bugging us about for months). Then my family and her family and few of her friends met at Johnny Corino’s to celebrate her birthday. Good food, good wine and good times. We met back at our house for some cake and birthday presents and to pass around the tiara, y’know…the usual! It was a fun long day and we all crashed accordingly.
Today is The Girl’s actual birthday. I think the plan is to go to the pumpkin patch.
Mash Your Cymbals, Chimpy!
Oct 2nd
The Girl and I are taking our engagement pictures today. It’s overcast outside, so I’m glad I’m not the photographer. We were shooting for Autumn though, so I guess the weather is what we wanted. I’m kind of nervous about mucking it up somehow. Again, I guess that’s the photographer’s problem, but I can’t say I’m a fan of pictures with me in it as a general rule, much less pictures that are all professional and important, that are designed to “preserve our love forever” and all. No pressure. I suppose out of the 8,000 pictures he’s bound to take, 5-10 should come out good, even if just by accident. The odds are with me and my face. That and BlogNoir posted a bit of thoughtfulness recently that I shall try to take to heart. I will say I am looking forward to seeing a return on this expensive investment we call our wedding. Not just a name on a list or date in a calendar, we actually get product! Very cool.
The Girl’s mother is coming to town tonight and she’s bringing nieces. Should be interesting. We’re also going to celebrate The Girl’s upcoming birthday on Monday, so I’ve been working on getting the Usual Suspects to show at a certain place and time. I think that’s all set, so hopefully it all goes off without a hitch.
I’ve been taking care of The Kid in the mornings, getting her scrubbed, dressed and off to school. It started out somewhat harrowing but it’s been getting easier. She’s been pretty good now that we’ve got into a routine. (Lesson Learned #1 – Give her a shower every morning. Puts her in a good mood and the conditioner kills any tangles in her locks she would otherwise cry about later.)
It’s funny, the last couple weeks, when people learn I’ve been getting her ready in the mornings, they laugh and look at me and start some sentence with, “Wait ’till you have your own kids!” Two things with that:
A) I can’t see how a kid possessing my DNA is going to make my life harder. I guess maybe they’re talking about babies, but you know what? Babies don’t talk back and think they know everything, four-year-old’s do. So if anything, starting out Parenting 101 on a full blown Attitude is much harder, one could argue. (A GIRL attitude to boot – yes I said it!)
B) I get her ready every morning, I taught her how to spell her name, I throw her in corners or on monkey bars, depending on her disposition, my schedule, my food, my sex life, even what freakin’ show we’re watching on TV, revolves around her schedule. HOW is she NOT my kid? I’m not saying I’m her dad, but if I’ve wiped a kid’s butt more than three times, I stake claim. I’m just saying.
Speaking of parents, my grandma is all sad and lonely now that my grandpa is gone. Understandable, and I keep telling myself I need to make a point of visiting her more often, like maybe setup a once-a-week visit or something. My mom meanwhile, has not been responding well to chemo treatments as of late, and sounds all tired and depressed again. Also understandable, though I wonder how much of it is mental and how much physical. She sounds like she’s giving up, which isn’t good. I see her today as we’re taking the engagement photos at her house.
I feel busy.
