BFFs

My dentist and I are best friends. I had a checkup today and the result was: no cavities. Six months ago I went to the dentist for the first time in 12 years or so and I had four cavities. It wasn't that I don't take care of my teeth, I just never went to the dentist so I had a lot of time for something to go bad. Diana believes that good oral hygiene is good for your heart (I don't believe it, I told her I need to see some research but she has never given me anything, so it must not be true) and I have promised her I will go every six months to get a checkup. As long as this keeps up, me and the dentist can be BFFs!

By the way, my dentist asked about my Dad. You see, my Dad and I have the same dentist and occasionally meet up there for dual checkups and stuff. The dentist finds this funny so he always says how weird it is that we were there at the same time.

I Can Only Hope

Chloe is sick. She is complaining of a fever, headache, and a sore throat. Could be a cold, could be the flu. Could be something else. Whatever it is, I hope she throws up.

That might sound mean, but she is the only person in the family with a longer streak than me right now and that is just not right. I should have the best no-throw up streak in the house. That is just the natural order of things.

By the way, you can always check out my streak counter in the right-hand navigation. Almost up to two years without throwing up. Just like a pro athlete, I am taking this streak one day at a time.

I Knew It!

This elevator has felt like riding the Tower of Terror ride. I knew there had to be some problem, and today, it is closed and being worked on.

The Luxor

Here is a picture of the hotel I am staying at (the Luxor). It is right across the street from the Mandalay Bay (where the conference is happening). Funny thing is - my room looks directly back this way. I will post a picture of that later today. I got this picture from out in the common area of the conference space.

So far today I have had an OK breakfast (don't like biscuits), a great keynote (lots of good things happening with SharePoint and an OK lunch. Had a good conversation with an analyst at CMS Watch over lunch. He was very interested in the vendor briefing system I help build in SharePoint (he knows about it because he knows Dan Blum, another BG analyst, who was bragging about it.

Africa

I was looking at the map of all my blog visitors today and I noticed I had none from Africa. I guess I need more Africa-centered content. I will keep an eye out for things about drought, apartheid, civil wars, and religious killings. Wow, reading that list makes me think that I might not want any readers from Africa.

Just kidding, I love Africa and I even have a friend and his wife that are heading there (South Africa and then a trip up the coastline) for a vacation. Maybe I can get him to check my blog while there so I can get a red-dot on the map! Good idea.

Sew What?

One of my many talents that I don't make a big deal about is my sewing skills. Well, that is not exactly true. I do not have much skills in the area of sewing, but I will try anything. Chloe got a small tear right on the seam of her swimming suit and we are going to Seven Peaks this weekend. Someone had to try to fix it (there is no way I am buying a suit for a couple more weeks of summer). I pulled out the needle and thread and a couple minutes later I had a fixed swimming suit. I hope it stays closed for the weekend. You all probably think I am a little cooler now, don't you?

What Has Matt and Diana Been Up To?

Diana and I have been living the no kid life through-out July. Not that we don't love our kids, we just don't mind (too much) that they are gone. We have a good time hanging out, watching movies and doing other fun things without the kids. We were pretty proud of ourselves that we did not go out to eat that much without the kids (which is usually our first option when we have no kids home). Diana and I watched the entire 2nd season of Buffy together, as well as most of the 2nd season of Big Love. We also love to watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives together and chat about places we may go. Of course, Diana's big summer obsession is So You Think You Can Dance. I don't mind that she watches because it gives me all kinds of stuff to mock, as well as some extra working time at night.

I also cleaned out the shed (huge project, with no kid help). Diana got through a huge load of ironing (took her two days at 8 hours a day). It has been a busy time and now we have to start getting kids ready to go back to school in a month.

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!

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.

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.

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!

5 for 5

If you can't tell I am trying to bring the blogging back. I have been pretty bad the past few months. For February I have now posted 5 times and it is only the 5th. I feel like my loyal readers deserve a little bit of me each day!

I have not posted on LOST yet this year, but let me tell you, I have seen all the episodes and they have been very, very good. I don't want to go all the way to great, but an hour of LOST is better than just about anything else on TV. I look forward to Wednesday nights (even though I am usually pretty busy and I go and play hoop) and I stay up as late as I need to watch the new episode.

The reason I like LOST is because I have really come to trust the writers and I will go with whatever they put out there because they have a long history of always coming through. Most times the writers come up with something 10 times better than I could have. LOST is just a great show.

I will be posting more as the year goes on!

Driving Home From St. George

The family spent the weekend in St. George. It was fun. The weather turned bad Monday morning. We were driving home Monday. The day was cloudy, gray, and cold. The snow started as soon as we left St. George and before we hit Hurricane. The roads became wet and slippery. I slowed down enough so I could change the Pathfinder in to four-wheel drive (you have to be under 60MPH to make the switch), and then I took off. The snow got worse and worse and worse and worse. It was crazy. We saw three cars that were on their sides or tops. There were many other crashed vehicles and even many more cars that had slid off the road.

We drove and drove and drove and only stopped for gas once in Scipio.

The best part of the drive was when I was in a place where the snow was so bad you couldn't even see the lane markers, it was just snow everywhere. In this driving there was a car that decided it was best to just drive in the middle and not make room for any one else. I come upon this vehicle and did not know what to do. I did not want to slow down. I just veered off to the side (mostly staying on the road) and passed this joker in no time. Diana was not real pleased by it. I loved it.

The drive took a little more than five and a half hours (I can usually make this drive in four hours). It was OK. Even after all my great driving I still did not win the MVP on this drive. That award goes to Diana for making it the whole drive home without taking a potty break. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Reading Level Update

Hello and welcome to Junior High.

Ever since I received a link from Lesley that led me to find out that my blog had the reading level of "Elementary School" I have been trying to improve my blog so I could move up a level. I have not been very happy about my low reading level. I have been trying to improve my writing and the quality of the blog. I hope you have all noticed, I now write in complete sentences (sometimes).

Tonight, I checked the link (http://www.criticsrant.com/bb/reading_level.aspx) to find out my new reading level. My blog is now certified as Junior High.

Way to go me! Just so you all know, Diana believes that one sentence paragraphs (like the one that leads this story) is the reason my blog was so lowly related before. I guess we will see if this posts reduces my reading level.

Golfing at Southgate

My Dad, Ryan, and I went golfing this morning. First we went to McDonalds and got our order all messed up. My Dad and I always get Sausage McMuffin with Eggs. We made our regular order. We got Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuits. BISCUITS! I hate biscuits. Ryry got his Sausage McGriddle though. I never trusted those McGriddles. They are not very good. Ryry says he likes them now because he got a coupon to get a free McGriddle everyday for a week. McDonalds must put some addictive element in their McGriddles - just like KFC does with their chicken.

On to the actual golfing. To put it simple, I am awesome and the other two suck. I shot a 42 (8 over). Ryan and my Dad got a 59. Not that I am a great golfer, it was just that today I could hit out pretty successfully from any rough spot that I got into. I hit some good putts and basically kept myself from 3-putting too many holes. It was a good time. The weather was great - not too hot. Wish I had time to play some more, but have to get on with our weekend.

The Force Is Strong With Me

I have won The Force Unleashed. Not to give too much away, but at the end I choose to be a Jedi and destroy the emperor. There is another ending and am I going to replay the game to see it. For now I can just sit here and say that I am the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy.

Jordan has started to play, he is getting better. Soon, him and I will duel to see who is better.

Diana Says I Have To Keep Posting

I am ready to be done posting, but my loving wife says I need to get all the way to 24 (I am only at 21 - 22 with this one). I like blogging, but I am almost out of stuff to talk about. I created a Word file that has things to talk about. I still have 4 left, so I do have enough content. I am just tired.

I am a trooper, though, and I will finish this up, just for you, my loyal readers.

Going Down...Finally

Gas prices near my house have fallen to $4.05. The Costco price was $3.95. I attribute this fall in prices to my continued monitoring of prices. Feel free to send me thank you notes. We only have another 20 cents to go until regular stations get to the national average of $3.83 (Costco only has about 10 cents to go).

300th Post

I am now at 300 posts. Many more good ones to come. I am about to enter a hot streak of posting.

Way to go me.

Pathfinder v2

I did something cool. I took off/removed the running boards from the new Pathfinder to help Diana get in and out of it. All by myself by the way. I did not even have to call anyone for help. The whole job took about an hour and was fairly easy. The running boards were lighter than I expected, but the brackets that held the boards onto the car were huge. The whole thing was only 24 bolts. Sorry no picture of the car without the running boards - maybe tomorrow.