Welcome Aliya

The family went over and saw Diana's cousin Tanya and her new baby tonight. We saw Kevin too, it was his day off. Aliya Faye Bohman is 18 days old today! She looks just like Kevin - only female! Here are some pictures:

Ping Pong

Chloe, Diana and I were talking about Ping Pong tonight. I told them about how when I was a teenager I would skip school and me and my friend Cory would go to my house and play. We would turn the radio up to 11 and play Pearl Jam. Diana would even come watch us (she, or course, would not skip school - she came at night - believe me, we were still playing). Chloe asked if I really skipped school and I said, "Hey, I had straight A's, if I wanted to take a day off I could!" I always had a class I could skip at the end of the day - either work release or seminary or English.

Chloe seemed interested so I made the following deal with her: If Chloe has straight A's and she wants to stay home and play Ping Pong I will tell her, "We don't have a Ping Pong table, go get ready for school!"

Chloe laughed and laughed at this. I am pretty lucky that I have such an easy laugh for a daughter.

RIP Dorothy

Bea Arthur, Dorothy from The Golden Girls, died today. Sad times. I am sure that Lifetime will have a Dorothy marathon tomorrow so I should plan on Diana watching TV all day. This is sad, both Estelle Getty and Bea are now gone forever. Read more here: http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=405882&gt1=28103

Thank you for being a friend.

Soccer and Chloe

Chloe is playing soccer. This is her first year playing real organized soccer. She is improving quickly. She plays midfield and does a good job. Today, during the game she was in the midfield and the coach told her to move up and play forward as well to help out with the offense. The team was down 2 to1. When I saw Chloe line up as a forward I told her that if she scored a goal she would get $100. I was joking of course, as Chloe never scores and usually never gets close to scoring. Today would be different.

Chloe was right in the middle of things as a forward. She was right in the middle getting the passes and shooting, she was getting tripped by defenders and she was passing to open team mates. The crowd was cheering her on (they all heard my $100 pledge). Suddenly a pass goes into Chloe from Michelle (another girl on the team) right in front of the goal and Chloe kind of pokes the ball into the air. The goalie for the other team tries to get it and it knocks off his hands and into the goal. The crowd goes wild, Chloe is happy and I cannot believe I now owe my daughter $100.

All the other parents were asking me if I was actually going to pay. I told them that I would have to ask my wife. After the game I called Diana and she quickly says that I have to pay. We go to the ATM and now Chloe has her$100. See the pictures below:

Chloe Scored!

Today at Chloe's socceer game she scored a goal! More details to follow.

Tangelos

We bought Tangelos on Saturday. I have no idea what they are. They are like oranges, you peel them and all. They even taste like oranges. Diana does some weird thing though. I peel off the outer peel, and I do a good job, not a great job, but very acceptable. Diana then takes the slices on Tangelo and peels all the skin off. Do not ask me why. The above shots are of her pulling the outer skin off the slices. Weird.

Golf Update

On the St. George trip from last week my Dad and I went to Dixie Red Hills. We have never played this course before. I really liked it. I shot a 47 on nine holes. Not very good, but it is the first time I played the course. I think I could play it a lot better next time. I think 3 or 4 strokes could come off easy. This golf course has tons of squirrels. They were everywhere. They did not even get fazed as we drove our cart by them or got out and played golf right by them. Here is a squirrel as my Dad plays (circled in red).The best shot of the day was by my Dad. He tried to hit around a dog-leg to the left and hit a pretty good shot, except for the 60 foot tall boulder that was in the way. He did get a lucky bounce though and his shot landed in a pretty good spot for him. Here is a Google Maps image of the "boulder" he bounced his ball off of:He wasn't the only one that had hit the rock before, there was a crevice in the rock where a ball was sitting. Ohhh, and by the way, my Dad shot a 58 or something like that, I lost count.

Yogurt

I was having a cup of yogurt for dinner (Peach flavored if you must know, also, it was Yoplait Light - only 100 calories!, last item, if you are going to buy yogurt you really should just get Yoplait, I don't understand the whole "fruit on the bottom" thing, why do I have to do all the work here?). That was a lot of text inside a parenthesis (spelling? I am typing this on my BlackBerry so I do not have a spell check). Back to the story: I was having a cup of yogurt for dinner and Chloe came in. She asked me if I knew that yogurt was a fungi. I said I sure did and that it is bacteria. I told her that fungi's eat yogurt too. She became confused and I said, "Am I not a fun guy?" Then came the groan and Diana just shook her head. At least I am trying to entertain!

I Am Weird

The hand dryer in the Men's bathroom at the theatre looks like this. There are no instructions by the pictures so here is what I imagine the instructions are:
For the picture on the left:
Rub hands together and you will be presented with bacon.

For the picture in the right:
For easy bacon access, put face up to opening and pull down on handle.

I was showing this to Chloe at Leatherby's and telling her about this post and she said I was weird. I guess this is me agreeing with her.

The Hannah Montana Movie

Yes, I have seen it.

No, I don't want to talk about it.

Chloe and I are having a fun night out for her good grades award. On to Leatherby's.

Talk to you later.

At the Costco

Here is the cart after a day of shopping at the Costco. Don't tell Diana about the toothbrush, she asked for it for Mother's Day. You don't want to know the total, just know that I got $68 in coupons. Big, big savings at the Costco. And, yes, I know it is not really the Costco and it is just Costco, I like to say the Costco so I will.

I saw my Mom, Addison and Izzie at the Costco too. My cart was a lot fuller.

Sping Has Sprung

It is that time of year again. The weather has turned good and the sun is shining. Hopefully Spring will stick around for a while, I like it. The trees are blooming and my allergies will be acting up any day now. I even bought fertilizer today. That means yard work is coming - sooner rather than later.

09 NBA Playoffs

This is the post where I pick all the winners of the NBA playoffs and then you guys post comments about how stupid I am, but I don't see any of you putting yourself out there with any predictions. You can see last year's post here, but I only did an OK job with my picks. This year I hope to get everything right, including how many games. Let's start in the East:

Cleveland (1) vs. Detroit (8)

Everyone thinks that the Cavs will cruise in this series, and it is true that the Pistons are broken and need to be rebuilt for next year. The one good thing for the Pistons is that they know how to flip the switch and I think they can do that for a couple games. I am not going to pick the Pistons, but this will be more hard fought than anyone else is predicting now. The one thing the Cavs have that no one else does is LeBron and he will be the difference, like he is every game.

Cavs in 6

Atlanta (4) vs. Miami (5)

DeWayne Wade is the second best player in the NBA right now. He is a monster. The rest of his team sucks so hard they blow. If Beasley can get 20 and 10 for a couple games the Heat will win a couple games, if he does not show up in the playoffs the Heat will be dead quick. I know that Wade can get 1 or 2 wins all by himself, but the Hawks have a team that is long and athletic and they can switch defenders on Wade and have quick double-teams. The Heat's best chance is that the refs think this is the Finals against the Mavs and Wade gets a whistle every time he drives the lane.

Hawks in 6

Boston (2) vs. Chicago (7)

If KG is really out for the Celtics they are in trouble. Chicago is a new team with Brad Miller and John Salmons on the floor and the Bulls are not afraid of anyone in the East. Boston will be a tough out but they should be able to slide past the Bulls with Allen and Pierce. Pierce can still take a team on his back for a series, plus if things get real bad the Celtics would probably bring out KG for the emotional lift for one game. If KG is actually healthy and plays don't count this prediction against me.

Celtics in 7

Orlando (3) vs. Philly (6)

Philly is the team that everyone wants in the playoffs, they are just not that good. I don't know how they make it to the playoffs every year. Philly is a team that if they played in the West they would get between 10 and 20 wins a year (mostly against Eastern teams). Philly has a style of play (running and gunning) that works well in the regular season, but in the playoffs Orlando will take their time, slow down the game and should have an easy time with this series.

Magic in 5

Now for the West:

Los Angeles Lakers (1) vs. Utah (8)

The Jazz have no defense and give up over 120 points a game the past few games. The Jazz do not have a good enough offense to score over 120 points a game. This is bad. The Lakers have a great offense and have four players that are better than anyone on the Jazz right now (Bryant, Gasol, Odom, and Bynum). The Jazz have no answer for the Lakers, but they have a great home court and will be able to pull one out when the refs get behind the Jazz for a game in SLC.

Lakers in 5

Portland (4) vs. Houston (5)

The Blazers have a good young team but they have not been to the playoffs. Does that matter? I don't think it does in the first round. The Rockets are good, but not great. The best thing that happened to them all year was McGrady going out and hence losing someone that dominates the ball for 15 of the 24 seconds. Yao cannot lead a team by himself out of the first round of the playoffs. The Blazers have enough weapons that they can frustrate the Rockets defense. This will be a good series and very competitive. I just don't think the Rockets have what it takes to win this.

Blazers in 7

Denver (2) vs. New Orleans (7)

This is a great match up for New Orleans. Every team in the West wanted to get Denver in the first round. Denver winning is a mirage. The Nuggets beat the teams they should and lose to all the better teams in the league. New Orleans knows what it takes to win in the playoffs and their team is rounding into shape right in time. I am going out on a limb with this pick.

Hornets in 6

San Antonio (3) vs. Dallas (6)

This series comes down to the fact that Dallas has no one that can check Tony Parker and he will go off in every game this series goes. Dirk and Duncan will match each other with some good games and other not good games, but either way they fight to a draw and Parker makes the difference. The Spurs will not win the title this year (they have won the last 3 odd numbered years) but they will put up a fight in this series and the next.

Spurs in 6

One Year

I didn't make a big deal about it but the one year anniversary of the blog was on April 3! Happy anniversary to me! I bought myself a nice diamond ring for the occasion and Diana is very jealous, but it looks great on me!

I hope this is just the beginning of the blog. Over 500 posts this year and hopefully I can get another 500 this year.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a good time!

Turning Your iPod Touch Into An iPhone

I got a couple comments from people on how do they turn their iPod Touch into an iPhone so I wanted to give you some easy instructions to follow. Get out your saudering kit, a rubber band and prepare to void your warranty! Just kidding, you will be able to do this easily and quickly, but it will cost you some money, you will have to buy Skype credit for phone calls (or get some friends on Skype to call for FREE). You will also need a wi-fi connection for your iPod Touch.

Here we go:

You should install Skype on your main computer or laptop. Go to http://www.skype.com/ and download, install and get a user name/password and log in. Lastly, buy some Skype credit ($10 minimum) for your account. I already had Skype on my computer (with Skype credit) so I didn't have to do this.

Next, get on your iPod Touch and download and install the Skype application onto your iPod Touch (just do a search for Skype). Enter your user name and password to log in to Skype on your iPod Touch. The app is free, as in no-charge.

Lastly, get the Apple headphones with microphone (http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA814LL/A?fnode=MTY1NDA1MA&mco=MTY1ODg2OA) or the $79 Apple InEar headphones to talk through. Or, you can have a cool friend like I have (Dave, this is you) that will give you their old iPhone headphones with microphone and you totally get to skip the buying part of this step.

Now, if you want to call a Skype contact that you have (and they have a headset) you can just call them and everything is FREE. If you want to call a phone number and make your iPod Touch call phones (even iPhones!) you go to the dial screen and enter your phone numbers. Skype costs like 2 cents per minutes when you call so you could run through your $10 pretty quickly (not really, I buy like $10 a year).

P.S.: Since I have done this I have heard that you can use almost any phone headphones and microphone cable that will plug into your iPod. I tried this with my Blackberry headset and it did work, but the Blackberry headset is not as cool as the all-white headphones from Apple.

Have fun!

Harper's Island

Harper's Island is a TV show on CBS Thursday nights after CSI. This show is partly scary and really funny. It is pure cheese. Everything they do is to try and scare you. They do things like have a girl scream in terror but it is really her "enjoying herself" with her boyfriend. You should watch the show, it is good fun.

The plot is about an island off of Seattle that had never had a murder until some psycho killed 9 people - including the main girls mother. This girl left the island and never came back until her best friend (a guy - who wants to bet these two get together by the end of the show) is getting married to another girl. The bride is rich and has a rich father that does not approve of the groom and is trying to have the brides ex-boyfriend get back with her. There are other bit players that we haven't really got to know yet. There is a crazy brother (could be the killer). There is an uncle that was killed in the first episode for standing up to the bride's father for the groom. There is the main girls ex-boyfriend from the island who is trying to get back with her. There is another dysfunctional couple as well where the guy can't barely talk to the girl because he is so in love and the girl doesn't even care for him (good relationship).

The best part of the show is that it goes for 13 weeks and they have promised deaths every episode and the deaths are supposed to be gruesome and cool. Also, the writers have guaranteed that every week you will think someone else is the bad guy.

Here is a preview:

The Tax Man Cometh

If you don't have your taxes done you better get to work. Three hours and 16 minutes left. I try to get mine done early. For me, it is the only way to go.

Dave Is The Man

Dave sent me his old iPhone ear buds so I could use them with my iPod Touch. Thanks Dave! I made some calls and talked to the kids on the phone. There was some background noise/fuzz and the sounds were a little tinny and robotic, but I could deal. On the phone side it sounded perfect. I can't wait for the next time I am away from home to use my iPod Touch as a phone!

Also, I posted this via email from my phone! Didn't even have to go to blogger.

Jordan's Church Outfit

Jordan packed his own bag for St. George. He needed to pack church clothes. He did an OK job, but forgot dress socks, a tie and dress shoes. His pants really are not that much of a flood, it is the way he is sitting. We decided to have Jordan wear the tie that I got from my Mom this morning and his regular shoes to church with white socks. Looking good, dude!

Afternoon Easter Egg Hunt

Grandma always does an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Even though we are in St. George we are still doing the egg hunt. We did this hunt on the grassy area behind the condo. Not a lot of good hiding spots out there, but we did our best. The kids get a lot of treats and toys from this hunt. Here are the pictures (notice the great weather down here in St. George, jealous much?):

Easter Bunny In St. George

Chloe and her basket, she got The Tale of Despereax in her basket. Her basket was hidden in a tote in the front room. It took her about 10 minutes to find it.

This is Diana and Matt's basket, for some reason the Easter Bunny left this basket out as an "example basket of what to look for. Lucky us.

Grandma and Grandpa's Easter basket, not as nice as the others, but at least the Easter Bunny brought something for them.

Jordan with his basket. Jordan's basket was hidden in the dryer under some towels. It took about 15 minutes for him to find and he needed help. He checked the dryer, saw the towels and thought it wasn't in there. Chloe told him to re-check and look under the clothes this time.

A Reese-ter Bunny. These are yummy treats.

Jordan digging into his basket, nothing like treats at 7:30 in the morning!

Jordan showing off his basket.

Chloe showing off her basket.

Chloe before the search. Chloe found 19 eggs (out of 39), but she got the $2 bill egg.

Jordan before the big search. Jordan ended up with 20 eggs and had many of the green "money eggs.

Chloe Swallowed a Pill!

Chloe is not one to swallow pills, she just will not do it. She has been a little sick (fighting a cold and allergies). We decided she should take some allergy medicine. Usually she takes a pill that just dissolves on her mouth so she does not have to swallow. Here is the picture of her after her pill swallowing:
Yummy.

Chloe's Peep Show

You probably thought this post was going to be dirty didn't you? It is not. I am talking marshmallow Peeps, not peeping Tom peep.

I was telling the family about the cartoon where the chocolate bunny has a hurt butt and no ears (see it here) when Chloe decided to act it out with Peeps to show her grandparents. Here is what it looked like:
"My butt hurts."

"What!?"

Thank you very much! Bow for the crowd.

I Am Crushing

Festering Sores (my fantasy baseball team) is now up 9 points for the season. I know it is early, but if you know anything about fantasy baseball getting out to a quick lead is the beset thing you can do. You have to quickly demoralize the other teams so they stop playing. It is early, but I am encouraged.

Coloring Eggs in St. George

Hello!

We are in St. George for Easter vacation! The kids colored eggs today and had a good time (thanks Grandma for getting the stuff together). They had a good time, made a bunch of different colored eggs and were done in no time at all. I hope the Easter bunny can find us here.

Dog Catchers

I got home from work yesterday and there was an animal control truck at the corner. Further down the street there was 2 more trucks with their lights on. I was wondering what was going on. When I got in the house Jordan tells me there is a wild dog running around the neighborhood. I did not see a dog anywhere, or any dog catchers.

I am in the house for 2 minutes and Jordan tells me there is the dog catchers. I looked and there was a whole army of them, a total of 6 to catch one mangy mutt. You can not see the dog very well in my picture and I only caught 4 of the 6 dog people, sorry.

Watching these 6 people try to catch a dog I was wondering what kind of training they go through (if any at all). Do they have a half day course on how to use the stick and lasso thing? The funniest part is when the catchers tried to split up to get the dog and then it runs right by them. They end up catching the dog and order is restored in the neighborhood.

Fantasy Baseball

Good times this summer. My fantasy team should rock, I had a great day yesterday - and I have CC Sabathia who had a horrible day. Things are good right now. I expect a big year - and I have Ichiro on the DL, Joe Mauer injured and Scott Baker (Minnesota pitcher, he is good, I swear) on the DL. Once my lineup gets to full speed I will/should dominate. I have a couple small holes at 2B. I only have one second baseman, I need another, but my bench is full of injured guys right now. I will just have to wait. Hopefully not too long though. I currently sit in second place, and I do not know how the first place guy is in first, but it is only the second day of the season. Here is my team from top to bottom:
C: Joe Mauer (injured, currently using Bengie Molina)
1B: Mark Texiera
2B: Freddi Sanchez
3B: Kevin Youkilis
SS: Jose Reyes
CI: Justin Morneau
MI: Johnny Peralta
LF: Conor Jackson
CF: Matt Kemp
RF: Ichiro (injured, currently using Jayson Werth)
OF: Justin Upton
OF: Adam Lind
DH: Travis Hafner
SP: CC Sabathia
SP: Kevin Slowey
SP: Carlos Zambrano
SP: Gil Meche
SP: Erik Bedard
SP: Johan Santana
SP: Scott Baker (injured)
RP: Matt Capps
RP: Heath Bell
RP: Brian Wilson
RP: Tony Pena
RP: Jason Motte (blew a Save big-time yesterday, it will get better)

Feel free to congratulate me on my great team!

Fantasy Sports Update

I had a lot of problems with fantasy basketball this year. In all reality, my team just sucked. I took 7th out of 10th place in the regular season. We are now in the playoffs and last week I beat the team ahead of me (6th place). I am now going against the 5th place team to become the champion of the losers bracket. It is a very close week so far (we go until the end of the season). I plan on winning to make the season worth it. I say if you can't win the real thing, win the losers bracket I say.

I start baseball at the end of this week and I hope I can do a better job in the draft. I am not much of a fantasy baseball player (I have never won baseball). One day I will, hopefully it starts now.

Skype for iPod

A lot of iPod news on the blog this week.

Skype was just released for iPod Touch/iPhone. The phone part of Skype will only work on a wifi access point (not over 3G/cell network). The IM part of Skype will work over any network. For more info on Skype for iPod Touch/iPhone click the link: http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/technology/skype-available-apple-app-store/

Now you are asking, "How will this work for an iPod Touch user? You have no way to talk into it." Now, I know what you mean (I do own a Touch), but check this out: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA814LL/A?fnode=MTY1NDA1MA&mco=MTY1ODg2OA. There is also a $79 super-new version of the headphones as well! You just have to buy Apple's in-ear headphones with microphone for iPhone. Now, you are making Skype calls on an iPod Touch! And you are also the awesomest person in the world!

April Fools Day

Today is April Fools Day and the kids are running wild. Jordan thinks he is a mini Ashton Kutcher. He has had tricks planned for weeks. We started the morning with a trick on Chloe. Jordan hid in the shower and I went and woke her up. I told her we were running late and she needed to get in the shower right away. She went into the bathroom to take her shower and Jordan jumped out and scared her. I thought she would scream louder.

Trick number 2 was by Chloe on me, she made my lunch, just a normal lunch, but put a slice of cheese on my peanut butter and jelly. I was not very pleased after my first bite. I took the cheese off and finished my sandwich. Chloe tried to trick Jordan with his sandwich by getting the food coloring out and dotting his sandwich, but she did not wrap it good enough and he could see it so he threw it away.

Trick number three was when I got home from work and asked for a drink of water. Jordan brought in my glass - spiked with Tabasco. It was not very nice. I sent him back into the kitchen for a real drink. My lips are still a little spicy.

Another trick was when I picked the kids up from school and little Josh said, "Matt, you have a spider on your head." Yeah, I didn't think it was funny either.

Happy April Fools Day!

Car and Pet Wash?

I don't know if you get your car and your pet washed at the same time or at different times. This is very intriguing. You don't usually see cars and pets getting washed at the same place. Do they use the same tools. I did not see an area for pets, just the usual car wash stalls.

All I know for sure is that this sign is hilarious!