Tag / Jen

by Greg

Can’t Sleep

Not sure what it was about last night, but it was not our night to sleep 🙂

First, we got our Mac Mini back from the Apple store (replacing a defective hard drive) and hooked it up right away, even used it. But then, not-so-smart, plays-with-too-many-settings Dad tinkered with the display resolution one too many times and the TV just started flickering. A LOT. Could barely see anything… couldn’t find the cursor well enough to get it back to the right resolution. I tried everything, but to no avail.

So, since it was essentially a brand new drive with brand new settings – I reinstalled the OS. 🙂 (That takes a long time…)

As I was installing it, I watched a TV show I had downloaded from iTunes, and then put in Star Trek Insurrection which I had been wanting to watch for a long time.

The update was going along just fine, even downloaded all of the software updates from the internet once the original OS was on the disk. And all the while, Jen must have woken up a good three or four times. I had to go upstairs one time to find out why Alex was kicking the bar that keeps him from falling out of bed. Jen told me then that both boys had been talking and/or moaning in their sleep. Pretty funny.

I finally went to bed at 4am. (Later than usual…) and Jen was up again. Not long after that, the girls were needing help. I’m not sure if Julia did, but Kirstie wasn’t feeling that great, so she came in a few times. Jen got her a drink around 7:15? and then I did around 7:30. At that point, Julia was awake as well.

I finally just got up and took a shower at 8:30, and Alex wandered in the bathroom somewhere around 8:50 or so. Everyone is sorta/kinda awake right now (which is early for everyone else) and I can’t wait to see what kind of day we have… 🙂

So… perhaps naps are in order, and an early bed time!

OH! Funniest part? Around 8am I did go back to sleep, only to dream that all six of us were in a tiny two room place … NOT SLEEPING! It was 6am or so in my dream, and everyone was awake!! I was thinking – we all need to be sleeping!!! And Jen (in the dream) was just fine with everyone being awake.

I was awoken by Kirstie needing more help (around 8:30) and just had to chuckle. Dream was imitating reality, or vice versa.

I think we just need some sleep. 🙂

by Greg

Super Full (Super Fun!) Weekend

Whew! That’s how we felt late last night when we went to bed. Well, Jen may have felt a little “Ughhh” as well, bring very pregnant and all. But MAN did we pack a lot in!

It all started on Saturday morning. I woke up a tad early for a Saturday (8ish) and got ready to head over to our friends’ house for a big prepare-the-house-for-sale clean up day. Jen stayed home with the kids to get ready to send them off with her parents for the weekend. Originally was just going to be overnight, but they asked if they could keep them till Monday. We thought it was a good idea, too. 😉

From 9:30 till around 12:30pm I cleaned, fixed, moved, and more at our friends’ house until Jen was dropped off there by her parents, who were on their way back home to Buffalo with our kids. I came out and said good bye to the kids, and then with a “second shift” of help arriving right about that same time, decided to pack up and get on to some other stuff for the day with Jen.

We got home and had a nice quiet lunch. No kids!! Then got to working on doing our taxes. Did that for a couple hours, while I baked bread for a party we were going to later that night. Once the bread was ready, we packed up and headed out.

It was a surprise 40th birthday party – for a friend who would not be described as a “people person” really – and it was about a 40-minute drive to somewhere we’d never been. But again… we had no kids, so all was well. 🙂 We stopped by the house where the cleaning party had been to deliver something they needed, and to see the progress. Very nice! Got to see another friend there whom we had not seen in quite a while, too. So, a nice – yet very short – visit there, and we were on to the party.

We were on time… until we got to where we were going. Unbeknownst to us, shortly before this weekend, the road sign (along with a light pole and a power line pole) had been taken out by a rogue milk truck! So, we drove at least 5 miles past where we were supposed to turn, going past the next little village. From what we saw on Google Maps, that could not possibly be right. We didn’t have their phone number, but knew that it just couldn’t be right. Already a bit late – and needing to not be since it was a surprise party!! – we turned around and hoped we could see their road a second time.

With eagle eyes we scanned the side of the road where our turn was supposed to be. Nothing. We had seen all of these roads before, and for the second time, none were the road we needed. We did find one road that was definitely NOT labeled, but being in a time crunch, I was not going to drive down an unmarked road! We found a gas station not far from there and found out that our unmarked road was indeed the one we wanted, so finally – just about 15 minutes later than we were supposed to be there – we arrived at our destination.

Oh, and I forgot. On the way there, we were traveling down a very rural, country road… just having a nice conversation, enjoying the music on the iPod, when I caught a glimpse of some shadows directly ahead of us. FOUR DEER crossing the road… and more coming. No way we were NOT going to hit them. I just asked God to make it not too bad!

I guess he did. 🙂

I hit the brakes (not too hard as it was snowing, and skidding would be equally as bad) and three deer managed to cross to our left and “magically” one deer just stopped and created a gap for us to drive through. Don’t know if there were more behind that one deer, but glad for him stopping – or perhaps an angel standing in his way? However it happened, we were thankful for safe passage.

The rest of the evening was fun. Besides two couples, we didn’t really know many of the people there very well. But we were welcomed in their circle (they kind of knew us from our days leading worship at Crosswinds) and had a great evening. We introduced them to Dutch Blitz. Super fun card game! And ate lots of good food, and had lots of fun. Our “not a people person” friend also was quite surprised and seem to really enjoy it. We got to have a few good conversations throughout the night about life with the church as well. Several are in a similar place with all that as we are. Good to think it out together.

We didn’t leave till 11:30 that night – which was so nice! Didn’t have to worry about getting home for the baby sitter! We did go to bed rather exhausted though! Super fun day.

But the weekend wasn’t over!!

Sunday we woke up on our own – NO KIDS WAKING US UP! – and I said to Jen at around 10am or so, “I’m taking you out for breakfast!” So we got up and ready to go in like 10 minutes! Ha! So funny to parents of four young kids. 🙂

The funny part of the breakfast plan was that we were headed to Victor (a nearby town) and we also had an appointment there at 5:30pm. (We also had plans to have lunch with some friends there around 1:30 or so.) So, really, we were heading out for most of the day! But again, we had no kids!!! So we were very much looking forward to it! 🙂

As we left the house, I said, “Oh cool, it’s snowing!” A nice light dusting was on the ground, and some nice fluffy lake effect snow was softly falling. It was pretty cold, and supposed to get colder – and very windy – but for now, wasn’t too bad. We headed down the road toward our destination, and decided to take the Thruway (the main interstate highway) to get there a bit more directly, and quickly.

The snow kept getting a little worse, but still not too bad on the roads. I was glad we left when we did. For about two more minutes. 🙂

Not long after getting on the Thruway, we found it more and more difficult to see, with much more accumulation on the roads. I ended up needing to follow the tracks from the car(s) who went before me. As a small truck tried to pass us on the left, I began to feel the vehicle losing traction, and shimmy a bit. So I slowed down for the truck to pass and realized that I couldn’t really see very far in front of us. Not far at all. Within another minute or two, I really couldn’t!. It was a HUGE white out! Seriously couldn’t see five seconds in front of us, so we slowed way down, hoping to not be hit from behind.

Thankfully I happened to catch a glimpse of the green highway exit sign as we passed (surprised I could see it that far away!) and decided to exit. With a large semi behind us, I just signaled and HOPED I was getting off on the exit! Could NOT see it!!! Slowed to almost a stop and found the road. (Quite glad for those reflectors for the snow plows!) We slowly approached the toll booth and literally could see nothing. NOTHING. Finally, once we were about 50 feet from the toll plaza, we saw the flashing yellow light. I tried to center the van under the light (so we could go through the toll booth) and we made it through… but then couldn’t see the road on the other side!! 🙂

We practically inched ahead for a while till I saw a McDonald’s sign on the right. I said to Jen, “How about McDonald’s instead??” 🙂 She agreed, and I pulled in where I THOUGHT the road was!! Still couldn’t see it! Finally got into a parking spot and went in and enjoyed some breakfast. CRAZY snow!!!

The snow died down rather quickly. Was a super fast white out. I was thankful later that we were again granted safe passage. It did not turn out as well for many to the west of us in Rochester. A multi-car pile up resulted from the same white outs, and killed one girl, and injured a bunch more. So we were grateful to be safely eating breakfast at McDonald’s.

From there, here’s the rest of the day…

We went to the 11:15am service at Willowbrook to see friends and family, then joined some of them for lunch at Wendy’s shortly after that. Not having kids, we just enjoyed a nice leisurely lunch and chat with the two families there. Good times! Then, with three hours to “kill” we headed up to the mall to do a few things we needed to before my 5:30pm appointment at the Apple store.

First, we just SAT and talked. 🙂 There’s a nice sitting area at the front/center of the mall. So, we just sat and talked 🙂 (MAN! Pretending you don’t have kids is FUN!) 🙂 After a bit of that we went to a store to look for jeans for me, but were unsuccessful. But, while we were there we checked out the couches. Ours are about 22 years old, and probably nearing the end of their life… 🙂

After that we headed over to Sears to pick up Ian’s 9th birthday photos. Since Friendly’s is right there – and Jen seemed to need a break – we stopped to get some ice cream. 🙂 Again. Even more fun without kids. 🙂

When we were done with our ice cream it was almost time for my Apple store appointment, so we headed that way and thanks to me knowing most of the people there, I got in about 20 minutes earlier than my appointment. That went very quickly which was good. (And, I did get to play with the new MacBook Air a bit… so it was a fun visit, too!) Having finished a very full day out, we decided to head home.

On our way home however, I remembered that Jen’s brother had said we could maybe get together with them after 8pm… so we called and confirmed and made plans to head BACK to Victor around eight that night. 🙂

We got home at 6:30… Jen crashed. I ate dinner.. then crashed while watching the TiVo delayed Pro Bowl. We both woke up after a nap – somewhat refreshed – and ready for more! (OK, I needed aspirin to be ready… but, after that, I was ready!) We headed out at about 8:30, and ended up chatting with Jen’s bro and his wife till midnight! We swapped photos and stories from our trips the past fall (hadn’t gotten to do that yet!) and just had a nice, kid-less time.

I finished the Pro Bowl after we got home – AFC lost 🙁 – and even watched another show, and finally got to bed around 3am!

CRAZY SUPER FUN WEEKEND!

Tonight, Grandma & Grandpa are bringing the kids back, and I can’t wait to see them. But getting a couple days without them is definitely a very good, enjoyable thing. 🙂

by Greg

Luck

Sabres vs Thrashers
Last night Jen and I played a new card game called Tunge. (Not sure how you pronounce it.) She discovered it on a blog she reads and wanted to play it with me. I’m always game for a new … game. 🙂

So, we figured it out pretty easily and had a good time playing. Mostly. That is until I noticed that this game – as with many card games – is almost entirely won by luck. You just have to get the right card. “By the luck of the draw.” Those aren’t my favorite kind of games. I like knowing that I won (and you lost) because of my skill and cunning and craftiness.

🙂

But what all that reminded me of was my Buffalo Sabres.

See, this year, the Sabres – who last year finished the season with the best overall record – are not doing as well. At a quick glance, you might even think they were bad. I don’t remember if they were ever officially last in their conference… but they were at least second to last. (That in itself is deceiving as they were still only 6 or 8 points or so out of a playoff spot.) Most people do assume that the Sabres are just a shell of their former selves, losing their two captains from last seaons, Chris Drury and Daniel Briere.

It’s true that they miss the leadership and production of those two guys, but it’s not true that they are as bad as their record would indicate. Hockey is certainly a game of skill, on many levels. But it also involves a good bit of luck.

The bounces have not gone the Sabres’ way this year. They have outshot teams many a night, and come up losing by a goal. The goalie has made incredible save after incredible save, only to have a puck bounce off the boards behind him and either into the net, or right to the lucky opponent standing near the crease to cash in. Goal posts have rung, goals have been disallowed, injury after injury after injury have plagued this once-feared team.

We do not have cable this year, and so have only kept up with the team via radio (over the internet) and reading at sabres.com and NHL.com. We have also caught the occasional Sabres game on Versus.com. But from everything I have seen, this team is still very good. Very young, but very good.

I try and catch the post game interview with Lindy Ruff after every game. (Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes.) I like to hear what he’s got to say. He’s seen this team be the best, and now struggle through a year of seeming mediocrity. When things are bad, he says it. This year he has not said it. Almost every night he has nothing but positive things to say about the players and their effort and the chances they have created. He usually says something like, “It just didn’t bounce our way.” That has been my observation as well. The Sabres have just as much fight in them, just as much skill (though, more injuries to be sure) but they do not have as much “success”.

It will come. Luck works both ways. At least over the course of a whole season. The Sabres are coming out of a horrendous stretch of two wins in fourteen games. They have won three games in a row, looking for four tonight in Atlanta, where they play a Thrasher team that is tied with them in the conference standings.

Perhaps this small streak is the beginning of things starting to go our way. Maybe the Sabres will be on the more fortunate end of bounces, calls, injuries, etc.

If we’re lucky… 😉

by Greg

This Day in (GregHead.net) History

An idea popped into my head today. (Yes, that would be GregsHead…) I thought, I wonder what things I have blogged about on this day in my four-plus years of blogging? So, I set out to discover what was in the archives for January 25th.

To my suprise, excluding entries from this January 25th (today) there was only one other entry. And it was about my Jen. 🙂

I did also discover that there were a few cool things from January 24th here at GregsHead.net. At the top of the list would have to be 1/24/04… that’s the birthday of the new blog with the oft-mentioned URL — GregsHead.net! January 24th is not the beginning of my blogging, but the birthday of GregsHead.net. Neat.

Besides that I found a couple interesting posts worth re-reading from that same year. Well, at least one is. One is just interesting in light of the Super Bowl match up coming up in a week and a couple days. (I wasn’t happy about it then, either…)

The one I’d love for you to re-read though is the one titled, “I Call You Friends.” Very neat reminder of our relationship with God.

So, take a trip with me… back in time…

I Call You Friends
A Winning Attitude?

by Greg

Caught In A Snow Storm!

Last night I took our four kids up to the library to return some books, and to pick up a few new ones. The library is only half-way around the block, so we bundled up for a nice winter walk. It was even lightly snowing, so it was more fun than usual!

We even sang a song on the way there:

“Going for a walk in the snow to the library,
Going for a walk in the snow
Going for a walk in the snow to the library,
Going for a walk in the snow!”

It was perfect, and the kids did pretty well in the library. We got the books we wanted, and some stamps from the nice librarian. We bundled back up and headed out the door.

What we discovered was astonishing.

Swirling, blowing, blinding SNOW! Where did this come from?!? I just laughed! It was like a joke! What happened to our light flurries??? Well, we had no other way home, so I made sure faces were as covered as they could be and we set out into the storm.

And this was a storm! The wind was a constant 10-15 mph I’d guess, with stronger gusts. And the snow was collecting on the ground – and on us! – at an alarming rate. The worst part was, a third of our trip was heading west, directly into the wind! At one point during that stretch I turned around and pulled Julia in the stroller backwards (which helped a lot I think) and saw poor little Kirstie just closing her eyes and leaning into the wind as she pressed ahead into the blizzard!

It was crazy!!

Once we were able to turn south, and find a bit of shelter behind a giant brick church building, it got a little better. We laughed all the way home through the still rapidly falling snow.

Red cheeks, faces, and other exposed skin greeted Mom when we got home. Mom actually met us in the driveway, as she had seen the fierce winter storm and was coming to get us. But we managed to brave the elements and make it back home safely.

I told the kids as we were fighting the storm that we’d have hot cocoa and hot baths when we got home! And we’d also read a couple of the library books we just worked so hard to get.

And we did. 🙂

by Greg

My Day (or two) As A Mom

I think I have written here before that when Jen has babies, I take a week or, last time, two off to take care of the other kids while she can focus completely on the baby. And of course, I take care of her too. 🙂 So, I am no stranger to being the “Mom” of the family. (Plus, I am the main chef of the household – by my own choice and desire – and often am accused of being the “girl” in our marriage … so… I am kind of used to it. Kind of.)

Well today, due to extenuating circumstances, I offered to help out our good friends, the Velasquezes, by watching their three girls at their house while they went to a wedding. Their oldest had been really pretty sick yesterday… lots of throwing up… but mostly that kind of sickness has not affected me in life, so I figured I would be pretty OK, and it would help them out.

The day was to start at 9:45, but I did get there a little late. Just before ten I got there and got the scoop. They hadn’t had breakfast so we did a little of that. Then once Mom & Dad left, we got into the fun. We watched an episode of the Knight Rider! (Yes, that instantly makes me the best babysitter ever. I carry episodes of the Knight Rider in my POCKET!)

No one was sick, thankfully, but it was a day full of being a Mom. 🙂 We had hurt feelings, we had sibling spats, we had ouchies – even needed ice for one! – and all of that fun. Of course I needed to make lunch, which was awesome! 🙂 We had diaper changes, bathroom reminders, and kitchen clean up. We also played games, and even had a nap time routine. I was quite the mom.

The real Mom & Dad returned around 4pm, and after a brief report, I headed out to do some returns and other shopping near the mall (more Mom stuff?) and then stopped by Wal-Mart for another quick surprise for the family. Finally got home – fairly exhausted – just after 6pm. Of course, Jen had our FOUR kids all this time, so she certainly had no picnic of a day! But after a few brief moments catching up with Jen… I realized that I had to make dinner for my family! Sheesh!

So, I did. I just reheated the big turkey dinner we had the night before, and it was great. But I was still tired. And I really just wanted to sit and watch football. But the kids were not really cooperating. And Jen was really worn out too. After giving it a go for most of the first half of the game mentioned just below… I finally gave up and just got the girls and got them ready for bed, and in bed.

The boys followed not long after, but Jen was able to help with them. I spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the kitchen from the last day or two and baking corn bread and cupcakes for tomorrow’s gathering. Then I called some good friends who live in California around midnight (9pm their time…) 🙂 just to catch up. Had a nice chat there.

Why am I telling you all of this?

Well… I’d like to salute Moms out there. My wife first. Maybe my own Mom second. (Sorry, Mom.. Jen has four… and another coming!) I really am able to do the “mom thing” … but my experience today (and some of yesterday) left me exhausted and feeling unappreciated. 🙂 (Not really… just bear with me…)

I really noticed that all of the “mom” stuff I did or was doing was sort of just expected. There’s never an end to the needs of your kids. They don’t take vacations, or weekends off. And, even when I was off taking care of other kids for a day… I came home to more. (Ours are way cuter, of course…) 😉 And they just assumed I would be making dinner as I usually do. (Plus, Mom is super tired from making a baby!)

A Mom’s job is never done, and almost always taken for granted. So to Jen, Mom, and all other Moms reading this… you rock. Keep up the hard work. You can’t see it paying off now, but those kids you are loving – thanklessly – will remember it later.

And to my Mom … thanks for all the hard work. 🙂

See? 🙂

So… I’ll continue to keep up my end of the parenting duties, and maybe remember to remind Jen how awesome she is even just a bit more often. 🙂

And, since it’s Steven Curtis Chapman week here at GregsHead.net … when you get a chance (no time to find a link tonight…) check out the song from his latest album, This Moment – “One Heartbeat at a Time”. Perfect song for Moms.

And now… at 1:29… I can finally go to bed.

Good night!

by Greg

Christmas Report

Do you remember Christmas days gone by when, as a youngster, you couldn’t wait to see your friends or maybe your cousins – whoever would listen! – so you could tell them what you got for Christmas? Well, I do. But I don’t think that I really got to tell anyone that yesterday, so I’m going to write it down here!

I am drinking some tea this morning from a nice new mug I got from Santa. My wife got me a Buffalo Bills book that so far is quite good, and we also have mountains of great Christmas candy! (Mostly chocolate!) I also got some nice winter gloves (mine have holes … no… they ARE holes!) and a few cans of tomato soup! 🙂 (Yes… I’ve been wanting some of that…) 🙂

It was a fun day. Lots of smiles, and even a bunch of useful stuff. Fun to give, and to receive. And the best part is that Jen actually bought almost everything using money from sales of other stuff on CraigsList, ebay, and Amazon.com. 🙂 Nice!

Oh! Maybe the best present of all was one that was hand-crafted by Ian! He worked long and hard to build an iMac for me! it’s awesome! I’ll have to post a photo 🙂 Even came with a wireless keyboard AND an iPod! 🙂 He spent many days building it for me at my workbench in the basement. (I think that Ian has now worked there more than I have….) 😉

Hope you had a fun day as well. Feel free to share your favorite gifts in the comments below. 🙂

by Greg

Tape Delay

So, you just gotta love TiVo. It’s so easy. You watch what you want, when you want to (or can) and you can even fast-forward the commercials!

I love hockey! Versus carries at least one NHL game on Monday and Tuesday nights. I’m busy every Monday night, and somehow we are usually busy on Tuesday nights, so I have gotten in the habit of TiVo-ing them.

Well, tonight after recording the show, I picked up where I had left off when I went up to the office to record. Thing is, Jen was there, too. And, while I like hockey… I like talking with my wife more. So, we did.

At one point I finally noticed that the hockey game I had recorded was playing in the background while we chatted and snacked.

Do you find that odd too? Who records something in order to not pay attention to it? 🙂

by Greg

10th Anniversary Vacation Photos

Greg & Jen celebrating 10 years of marriage!
Yes folks, we had a blast. And now we are back home taking care of our four kids, and last weekend, we kept our friends’ three girls for three days to boot! So, I haven’t gotten to sit down and share some of the highlights of our trip with you. We haven’t even gotten to post the photos we wish we could just yet. So, for now, here are the links to the albums I have posted on Facebook. So far.

PHOTOS
Self-Portraits
Sunset on the Coast
Marine Wildlife
Apple-Related Photos

More to come! 🙂

by Greg

Fisherman’s Wharf – Monterey Style

Tonight we decided to go for a walk down Fisherman’s Wharf in downtown Monterey. It’s only about a 10 minute drive from our place. Lots of little shops, and lots of FOOD (which we needed NONE of!) and, lots of SEALS.

Seriously. Lots of seals. Making lots of noise. There were also otters, sea gulls, pelicans, and a few other random animals. I guess they like it there. 🙂 We just stayed and watched them for a while… I couldn’t believe how much noise they were making!!

We strolled the wharf for a while after watching the live National Geographic episode. There were lots of little souvenir shops, so we went through their aisles, finding all sorts of treasures our kids would like. We picked up a few, but decided to be a bit more selective. We’ll probably come back for a few more, but we’ll shop around a bit first.

There were also free samples from several of the little restaurants. That was interesting. We tried a nice little clam chowder one, and then we got a dessert sample from a little candy shop. Pretty neat place. 🙂

It really was a nice birthday for Jen. I’m glad I got so spend all of it with her.

We came back home around 8pm or so and caught the end of the World Series. Jen fell asleep though, not too long after we started watching, and missed the last few innings. 🙂 She woke up for the bottom of the ninth.

Can’t believe we still have most of a week left! More fun to come tomorrow!