He Said, She Said

Brian and I are on a different schedule. He needs to be out the door at 6 am, while I am not due at the school until 7:32. In the first few months of our marriage, we were both dedicated to getting up at 5am, having breakfast together, etc. Did anyone else see the "slip" away from that schedule? Yeah, so did we. Currently, Brian bounds out of bed at 5:30, while I enjoy an additional half hour until 6am.

I love to sleep. I could sleep for probably 9+ hours a night, if my schedule allows it. Most days, I am perfectly happy to get out of bed to go to school, but I will take extra minutes if I can. Brian can't seem to understand why I don't bound out of bed with him at 5:30. In all actuality, I am being very magnanimous to wake up enough to kiss him goodbye and wish him a good day at 6am. In a dream world, I would sleep perfectly until 6:40, when I should arise to get ready. However, he spends the 30 minutes of sleep time (for me) between 5:30 and 6am getting ready. To be fair, he is much more quieter than I am, but he acts as my snooze alarm. I don't even set my alarm anymore, except on Friday when I need to get up at 5:15 to go walking with some friends. He used to comment/complain about my actual snooze alarm, but who needs a one when you have a husband who kisses you awake after 30 minutes?

On a related side note, I have a long to-do list, much of which consists of outside chores. On Saturday, I tend to stick to the same schedule as the rest of the week and get up at 6am. This lets me work on projects in the cooler portion of the day; I get so much more done! Plus, I love the feeling of accomplishment when I see all that I've finished.

Studies have shown that your body functions better when your weekend sleep schedule is consistent with your weekday schedule. Really, I am choosing the healthier option. I just don't understand why Brian can't see that my way makes so much more sense!


Paige and I are on schedules that are relatively similar except for one little thing. It has been my privilege in life to be roommates to SEVERAL different young men, and as a consequence I noted a large variety of sleep habits are out there in the world.

I am one of those who cannot stand noises that repeat. As such, once the alarm is in action every morning, I must shut it off as soon as possible. Then I must get out of bed to prevent any misfortune from occurring. I also dislike the thought of oversleeping.

I LOVE to sleep though. For this reason Paige and I head to bed at 9:00 each night and I set my alarm as late as is reasonable to still allow me to get ready. As a consequence, on a good night, I get 8.5 hours of glorious sleep.

What I don't get is my wifes insistence on wearing out the snooze button. Oh, sure, I've had roommates who did the same thing but I didn't understand it in them either. All it does is give you little 2 to 4 minute chunks of sleep that totally throw off your regular schedule and make you more tired in the end than you were before you went to bed!

Now, I;m a guy with a fairly regular sleep pattern. My body often wakes me up 5 to 10 minutes before the alarm goes off. As a matter of fact, in my last job, I never even set an alarm, my body was so well trained. But we all know that our bodies need to reclaim the sleep that we miss from our bouts of insomnia through the week. That's what Saturdays are for, right? My body wakes me up at 5:30, I get up, stretch grab some water and go back to bed to do some catching up. But at 6:00, my wife bounds out of bed without even needing an alarm and starts puttering around the house acting as my un-intentional personal snooze button, waking me up every 2 to 4 minutes. When I finally crawl out of bed at 8, or 10 as the individual case may vary, I'm exhausted. If she would just sleep in till 8, neither of us would end up needing to nap all afternoon on Sundays. We would have a healthier nights sleep and would awake on Mondays ready to face the grueling work week ahead of us.

And then, with a good Monday under our belts, we would sleep better all week. Honestly, It's just healthier.

Music Monday

Today we bring you more from our old favorites, BNL. First up is Brian Wilson, followed thereafter by Another Postcard.




Album: Gordon
Recommend: You are getting sleepy. . . very sleepy. . . you will buy this album. . .

Album: Everything to Everyone
Recommend: Yeah, you already know what I'm gonna say to this. Just get it.

Brian and Paige go to Washington

Since purchasing this house 7 years ago, a threat and a shadow has been steadily growing in my mind. Something has begun to threaten my peace, thereof. Children, in nature if not age, have been plugging every little available (and sometimes un-available) piece of sidewalk bordered asphalt with automobiles. You see, I live across the street from a High School.

There has been litter, blocked driveways, blocked mailboxes, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

We have grieved with our fellow cul-de-sac-ians over these pervasive licensed pests, these wreckers of vision of on-coming traffic, these . . . teenagers. We signed a petition. We sent it to city hall. We waited. We heard nothing.

We found out that they had lost our petition.

After re-submitting our petition to the city to have our curbs painted red (no parking) and changing the signs to "Resident Parking Only," we were granted a meeting with the Mayor, the police chief, and the head of public works on Wednesday. It was too short of notice to involve the neighbors directly, so we got the honor of attending.

They were very attentive and supportive. We did a fabulous job, even if we have to brag for ourselves...yeah for us! While they advised us to be patient, they gave every indication that both of our suggestions would be implemented.

(Now, if only they would occur before the end of the school year in May, we will have cause to celebrate!)

As a side note: Paige would like to formally announce her candidacy for President now that she is an expert on politics...or maybe not. :)

Construction "Humor"

The buildings I have been lately working on can best be summed up under the word Monster. Though not always for size and scope.

The largest of these unfortunate buildings has six floors, and one parking garage level. The ground floor is nearly though not quite double the height of the five floors above it. This makes roughly 8 stories. And no elevator. We have been carrying items up these 7.65 stories of stairs since last December, and oddly, I STILL feel massively out of shape. But I'm not the only one who feels this way.

There is a large vertical run of square ductwork that graces the inside of one of the stairwells, starting at the numeric second floor. As you top the flight at each floor, you find yourself face to tin with this large duct, the door to your floor just to the left. 4 months ago, words started appearing on the duct.

The following pictures have been massively photoshopped. Mostly for language. I also did it quickly, as, I really wasn't looking to create grade a display material with this post.

It all starts In the parking area. I climb what basically amounts to 3 floors worth of stairs. I came to the second floor landing, to find myself staring at a floor designation along with a strangely accurate medical diagnosis.

Even though at this point, the landings are at regular intervals the rest of the way up, I reached the next landing with a feeling that someone was reading my mind. (Or just watching my progress)


By the time I reached the fourth floor I knew that I was so exhausted I was hallucinating strange messages.


By the fifth floor landing, It was plain to see that someone, clearly, was killing me softly (or not) with their song. Yes, They were singing my life with their words.


Then, finally, the pinnacle of my climb, the epic point of my struggle, a large flat place where I knew I could pass out and catch my breath, I was presented with this painful and clear message:


And that, my friends is a rare bit of construction humor that can be shared at the dinner table.

Fall

You may or may not be aware that fall is coming. And I'm not speaking economically here. The tides of human interest wax and wane but time creeps silently through the backdrop of human worry.

You would not know fall was yet close just looking around the nieghborhood. No fall has not quite unpacked it's medicine show down here in the valley, but it has begun it's sales pitch in the higher elevations. In fact, I have been seing something other than green daily for nearly a month now.

And it has been a good wet year, too. That adds lots of color.

So, in case you were previously unaware of the impending fireworks display, I bring you a sampler. Mind you this image was taken on my cell phone. And with my hand pointed out the window. And I wasn't really looking. And I took 30 the hopes that I would get 1 good one. And I did. Just the one.



I'm not into the habit of taking my good camera to work, so this really doesn't measure up to my usual standard, but it's a sight to behold none the less.

Music Monday

So here, this morning, I bring you the epitome of pop. Today, I give you pApAs fritAs. That's neither a mis-spelling nor a culinary reference. My good buddy Mike introduced me to this band several many years ago with the first of their videos, with the exclamation that this video, this very video right here, would revolutionize how music videos are done.

So here I sit, ten some odd years later. I think back on the extraordinary pronouncement and say:
"eh."

One of my favorite things about this obscure band is that one of their better songs was covered by another obscure band, "Ivy". Neither of them made a video of it, so no additional references here.

But to this day they are still pretty cool. When asked how they got their name, the band mentioned that it sounded remarkably like "pop has freed us". Well, there you go. we bring you there first "big" (term used loosley) hit, Hey Hey you say, then there last and only other "big" hit, Way You Walk.




Album: Helioself
Recommend: If you like pop, you'll want fries with that.

Album: Buildings and Grounds
Recommend: If you like pop, you'll want fries with that.

Culinary Masterpiece

Bright lights, photographer, stylist, agent, product....and food. Yes, today, in our very own home, we hosted a culinary photo shoot.

I REALLY enjoy photography, but every now and then I get to take pictures of something just challenging enough to keep me very excited.

A friend and former roommate (victim?) of mine is part of a business that cans and produces food storage products. I'll get you a link to their stuff soon; they have some really amazing stuff coming down the line. He came to me for promotional photography.

Anyway, we planned it all out in advance. We had the layouts, the positions, almost everything was thought out. We figured it would take nearly 3 full hours.

5 Additional hours later, we were finally finished. But the results were well worth it...and the food was pretty good too.

The images we took were for both their can labels and their website promotions. Here we present to you (with encouragement) a selection of my favorites of both.

Update: Our very first comment on this post has reminded me to let you know that not only are the products in the bowls real food, so is all the other food, none of that photo trickery for us. (Glue instead of milk? Surely milk is still a LITTLE cheaper?)

Forced Bed Rest

Update on the eye:
I went back to the doctor this morning. Apparently I am healing really well, but I need to stay in bed and rest for the next 3 to 5 days.... WITHOUT READING!

If one is forced to stay in bed, one should be able to be entertained with books and/or movies. But, not me - stupid eye!
Thank goodness for friends and audio books!

Saftey Dance

Wednesday, I proudly brought home a gas powered edger to make nice crisp lines between our grass and the sidewalk rather than the untidy sprawl of weeds it has been all summer. It wasn't until last night that we had a chance to pull it out and use it. I conscientiously read aloud the manual while Brian assembled it, filled it with gas, and started it.

And here is where all the fun started.

I decided to stand a good 20 ft back, to be "safe." Brian lowered the already running edger to the first part of our lawn, an expectant hush settled over the whole neighborhood at the new toy, all was well. Until it kicked a small rock straight at me, hitting my eye with amazing force. I might have screamed (dunno), but promptly twisted into a crouching position on the sidewalk. I don't remember much about the next few minutes except these tidbits: liquid pouring out of my eye, my desperate thought that the liquid was blood (so afraid to look), terrified to open either eye in case I couldn't see, Brian trying to help me into the house (me basically non-functional). There is hope for the future since neither of us were running around in panic.

I finally got some gumption to open my eye. No blood, could see, but blurry. I sat in the house for a few minutes and called my mom to make sure I should get my eye checked out. (clips from Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken flashing through my mind.)

Down we went to the Quick-Care. After a lot of bright lights and "torture," the doctor declared she saw some cloudiness (blood?) and a large divot in my eye. She called to consult my eye doctor's office (Lasik, 2 years ago). As fate would have it, he was the on call doctor last night. We drove down to Provo to meet him. He determined that the flap looked fine. Time and some drugs are what would fix my eye. I will be meeting him at his office this morning for a follow-up.

So, now I have a GREAT story about why safety glasses are important for my junior high students.

Music Monday

Today I bring you first, a small update. Let it be known that the rabbit, has moved, if not to greener pastures, the certainly to riper tomatoes.

Second I bring you 3 videos, three bands: The triumvirate of lilting tenor voices.

We start with more of Travis. This selection is the song that brought them into mainstream notoriety. here is a quote from the band's Wiki page:

"...when Travis took the stage to perform this song at the 1999 Glastonbury Festival, after being dry for several hours, it began to rain as soon as the first line was sung. The following day the story was all over the papers and television, the song became an anthem ... By 2001, one in eight U.K households contained a copy of The Man Who."

Now the video of the song that made them first famous, Why does it always rain on me, and don't worry, he is wearing something under the kilt.




Album: The Man Who
Recommend: A very good album, pick it up if you can find it.

Next we bring you ColdPlay. Ironically, as my sister points out to me, the band was quoted early in their career as wanting to be as big as Travis, and then, with the success of this song, blew past Travis's popularity in a meteoric fashion.

Here is Yellow.



Album: Parachutes
Recommend: Get the album.

Lastly in our trio, we bring you Keane. My sister would probably be the one to tell you that this is by far the best of the three, though they are all very good bands. Here is the song that first made them popular in the US, Somewhere Only We Know. This is the UK version of the video. The US version is, oddly enough, exactly the same video, but without the odd creatures in it. Go Figure.



Album: Hopes and Fears
Recommend: A very good album, get it all.

Squatter

I came home today from my class and found this little fella waiting for me on our path. (BTW, I couldn't catch him to "check his feet", so we are giving him a male gender, just because.)


I ran into the house, dragged Brian outside to show him my new pet. (and, can I keep him?) No such luck, but he is welcome in our yard anytime as he seems to prefer to eat weeds (and strawberry plants; he eats the runners on them like spaghetti).



Update:

Don't let Paige kid you, this is no little fella. He stands nearly a foot high even with his "ear" somewhat laid back.

The poor guy seems to have one badly shredded ear, I think he avoided a dog within the last couple of weeks. Quite the trooper. Anyway, we have no gate on one side, and we never close the gate on the other, so no surprise as to how he got in. The wonder of it all is that it's been 3 days now and he still hangs out in our back yard. I knew we didn't go through all that landscaping work for nothing. He hangs out under the deck most of the time, where the stray cats used to. The thing is, Paige has wanted a bunny for ages, but I've disagreed due to our unfinished fence. We just can't keep one safe. I can't help but think that she and the rabbit are in cahoots on this one.

Music Monday

Contrary to the name of todays band, there sound does not, in my opinion humble or not, suck. From Belgium, we introduce you to Hooverphonic. Have no fears of their music being unintelligible to you. All their songs are in fairly good English.

Todays songs are titled Eden and Circles.




Album: Blue Wonder Power Milk
Recommend: Hoverphonic is kinda hit and miss if your not really into them. Get the song.

Album: President of the LSD Golf Club
Recommend: Hoverphonic is kinda hit and miss if your not really into them. Get the song.

Fighting Over the Remote

This is a home improvement post, but without pictures. This, my friends, is the story of home improvement gone wrong. This is not a happy story. Those of you who came here looking for something happy had best go read one of our other posts.

2 weeks ago, my trusted sleeping aid of the last seven years began to die. Somewhere around 10:00 PM, the ceiling fan in the bedroom began that tell-tale march to ignominy that all ceiling fans suffer. The click. Once every rotation. No change in pitch with the changes in speed. Incessant. Like dripping water, like a woodpecker, like something that incessantly repeats the same noise over, and over, and over. You know the type.

Seeing as how the fan had already long ago acquired the also traditional sound of 'light bulb rattling against the glass' that fans so often acquire when the light bulb sockets break from their mounts, we decided that enough was to much. The fan had to go.

So yesterday we went out and bought a new fan at "The Despot". we spent minute upon minute mulling over the 6 appropriate styles. Finally, after what felt like nearly a quarter of an hour, we decided on this one rather attractive fan that also had the benefit of having a series of LED lights in it. Like stoplights, but white, and without the frequent color change.

WE bought it, we took it home. I spent an hour assembling it, trying to tie together wires while holding 20 pounds on one arm, and then on the other. that part was dumb of me. I was already aware of how I have a tendency to screw wire nuts counter clockwise every time I try to use my left hand.

Finally, after many bad feelings toward an inanimate object, I finished.

Here comes the sad part.

We turned on the light and closed the door.

Even with the light "on", there was not enough light in the room to read. I could not make out the details of my beautiful wifes face from across the room. Our Pinhole projection was still plainly visible even though the light from my cell phone makes it completely invisible. I quickly became rather annoyed that anyone would market or sell something that couldn't light up a piece of clear white type paper from 6 inches away. We had just payed good money, I had just spent an HOUR hanging this, this... This feeble half hearted attempt at Anti-Dark. The fan on the other hand, seemed to be thriving on all the excess energy the 5 volt LEDs weren't using.

After another hour, I had the thing down and repacked. half an hour after that I was reflecting on how amusing the look of incredulity can be on the face of a clerk that can't believe that your returning something because it works exactly as it was designed.

It was a few more hours before we got the final choice of fan home. I am still unhappy with the amount of light it puts out, but I believe it's because they are insisting on candelabra bulbs in ALL the ceiling fans they sell these days. But that at least is correctable.

The good news is that the new ceiling fan has a remote for both the fan and light. This means that we no longer have to tease about who was closer to the light switch when it comes time to turn out the lights for the night. The bad part is that we keep moving the remote around, and can never find it where we thought it was. We'll figure it out, I'm sure.

At least I have the fan back.

Music Monday

More from BNL for you today. Here are the videos for Call and Answer and for Testing 1, 2, 3.

Enjoy!



Album: Stunt
Recommend: Excellent album, get the whole thing.

Testing 1, 2, 3
Video Removed by Youtube

Album: Everything to Everyone
Recommend: As with most BNL, I loved the whole album.