So, mission effin accomplished on the workout. I jogged for about 25 minutes and then Tonya convinced me to go and do legs afterward. I am pretty sure that I am going to roll out of bed, scream, and fall over first thing in the morning. It felt good to get a workout in though. I am going to try my absolute best to get back into it. I am going to be in the field next fall, like, for real! I have to get my ass to Geologist fighting trim.

You know there is something terribly wrong with your lifestyle when you go to walmart and realize that the most exercise you have gotten all day is walking to the back of the store to buy some food. I am going to the gym tonight. Seriously.....

I am also sending off the first application for graduate school today. W00t, I am ready to get this show on the road. I still never got an email back from anyone at Stanford. I suppose all they can do is say no, but it would be a damn fine place to study Geology.

TnT

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Originally uploaded by Queazel

I don't really think I need to comment on this one.

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Originally uploaded by Queazel

I think this was about 2:30am on Sunday morning. I wasn't really thinking ahead when I decided to start baking bread at around11:00pm, but whatever. I think it turned out pretty damn good. The piece in this photograph was exceptionally good being hot and fresh out of the oven with a healthy slathering of butter (yeah real butter, not that margerine bullshit!)

Between brewing and baking bread.... i am thinking I might have an unhealthy obsession with yeast. Problem? Maybe......

Fantastic picture

This is awesome for several reasons

Took Torin for his first shot today. He wasn't really happy about it, but he only cried for a few seconds afterward. He did sort of glare at Tonya and I for awhile with a pout. It was hard to look at him. It was like he knew we were in on it together. We took him there knowing what was going to happen and we didn't even warn him. Poor little guy.

It has been nice for the last few days. I haven't had the GRE hanging over me. Of course, I worked saturday and last night. I sort of had a day off on Sunday, but I just slept and then went to Walmart and what not.

I have been doing some serious thinking about graduate school. I am wrestling with the idea of going for a master's degree initially instead of going straight for my PhD. If I got into a really good school I would be tempted to go ahead and go straight for the PhD. I finally started getting some emails back from professors which is a good sign. I am also starting to get letters or recommendation out and get requests for transcripts sent out. I am a little concerned about how things are going to work out with the family. No matter what sort of stipend I might end up getting, there are going to be some pretty serious changes in everyone's lifestyle. It is one thing to talk about it but another to actually make those changes.

It is going to be really weird to not work.....

There is really no reason that my office has to sound like a tuberculosis ward every morning. These people need to start getting some more rest or something.

I had a pretty good weekend overall. I worked all day Saturday with Nathaniel. We are almost done with our little remodeling project. All we have left to do on the inside of the house is the trim. It will be nice to have that finished up. Sunday I watched the little one for a few hours while the wife got some much needed rest. Made the big run to Wally World last night. Those hurt, and it is only going to get worse as the boy gets older.

I need to get to it here at the office.

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

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Originally uploaded by Queazel

I like to think that one day.... I might get to sleep this well again. Maybe you have to get to the point that other people feed you and wipe your ass again before you can get this sort of rest. :)

Yep, totally over going through the GRE practice handbook. I now remember why I never enjoyed algebra. Thank god there is some geometry on that thing. I don't even want to talk about the vocabulary words....

eirug/!9v485!!!!!!!1

Tommy and Andrew and I agree..... we are simply over it.....

Election day, I guess I know what is going to be on tv tonight. :D Not the regularly scheduled programming, that is for sure. I am going to finish hanging drywall and lay tile tonight. Should be fun stuff. The boy is growing like a weed. It seems like he is a little different every time I come home. I don’t think I will get to see him a whole lot today. I did sneak in a couple of extra hours of sleep last night. I got to see him right before I left for work this morning, but I probably won’t get home until 9:00 or so tonight. Meh, I can always make some time around midnight when he is up eating. I can already tell how easy it would be to really miss out on your kids growing up with work and everything else going on. I am going to try my best to keep that from happening.

I am totally jealous of Dave. He is working Germany this week. No matter what I end up doing, I think that I would like to have a job that involves a fair amount of travelling. I need to work on getting another language under my belt at some point. I can remember all of those people saying Latin was a good choice in high school. What a bunch of crap. I wish I had taken Spanish or German. I know that there is always time for that sort of thing later on. I do much better with some instruction though. Maybe I will look into taking something this spring at the community college. It would be totally worth it.

Back to the grindstone.

So, the wee man only woke up at 10:30 and 1:30. I don't think I have ever appreciated 5 hours of continuous sleep so much. It is a good thing he is cute. I don't think I would put up with something being so high maintenance otherwise. :D

It's friday, and (ssshhhhh) don't tell anyone, but I don't think I have anything planned for this weekend. I am broke, so maybe it is a good thing that I don't have any plans. I was trying to figure out if November or December was one of the two months in a year that all of us who get paychecks bi-weekely get three checks within the same calendar month.

I have been looking around online a little more seriosuly at graduate schools over the last couple of weeks. I think I might just say eff it and email some professors out of the blue this weekend. I figure it can't hurt to go ahead and let some people know that I am interested in studying with them. I need to read up on their research some more though.

Oh, and Fallout 3 is awesome.

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Originally uploaded by Queazel

Nothing exceptionally interesting going in the cubicle today. But I figured what the hell, I would share. :D

Incidentally, the background on my computer is one of my favorite pictures. Tommy, Jonny and me on a Geology field trip in Death Valley. The photo was taken looking west across Death Valley. I believe that Ubehebe Crater is somewhere in the distance on the right hand side of the photo.

Not the best night

I am not really sure what his deal was but Torin sort of fussed all night. I think he ate 10 ounces of formula in two hours last night. I think I am going to see if I can't trade my car in on a cow. In the long run I believe it might be cheaper.

Poor little guy though.... I wish he could tell us what he needs instead of him whining and us guessing.

Fatherhood and other recent happenings

So, the last 4 days have been a total blur. I haven't really had a chance to sit down and reflect on all of it until now, so I figured that I should commit it to digital memory before everything fades away. Last Wednesday night (10/15/2008) my wife and I made a trip down to Chattanooga shortly before midnight. Lots of things were going through my head at the time. Our lives were about to change forever. At around 2:30 am all of the preparations had been made to begin administering pitosin to my wife. I don't think that either of us slept very well in the hospital (does anyone ever sleep well in the hospital?) but we did try and catch a few hours of sleep. Around 6:00 am our doctor made a visit to check on my wife and try to break her water since she had been having contractions for about 3 hours at that point.

I think it was around 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning when my inlaws showed up to keep us company. My parents came down from Cleveland a little bit later in the day. That morning, my wife began to complain about being uncomfortable and opted to have an epideral. It took about an hour to get everythnig set up and get the epideral going. The day really crawled by because everyone was just sitting around trying to pass some time while we waited for my wife's body to get ready to have a baby. After approximately 18 hours of labor, the doctor said that my wife was getting close to delivery. All of the family got up and wished us luck, gave my wife some hugs, and proceeded out into the hallway where they would be until everything was over.

It took two hours of pushing to bring my son into the world. I cannot imagine how it must have felt for my wife to go through that even with the epideral. She was completely exhausted by the time it was over. Even though she wasn't in too much pain, her body had already done a huge amount of work throughout the day before she even began pushing. After talking to the family members who were outside the door, they all thought that she was going to need a ceasarean section. I have never been more proud of anyone in my life. I watched how hard she had to work, and how much of the exhaustion she had to push through. The feeling of relief that swept over us both when my son was finally born is unlike anything else I have ever experienced.

So at 8:55 PM on October 16th, 2008 Torin Drake Howard came into the world. We all stayed at the hospital for a couple of nights after the birth. Those two days were a complete blur. Getting the entire family home. I have no way of knowing what the rest of my life holds for me. But I know that I am going to have another person in it now. Perhaps we will have more children, and perhaps not. Either way, Torin is my first child, and my son. He will forever hold a particularly special place in my heart.

Right now I am on the night shift. I don't think that my wife has gotten an especially good nights sleep in several days, so Torin and I are chilling out in the spare bedroom. I have been messing around on the computer and playing some games while he sleeps on the bed behind me. About once every 2 or 3 minutes I will turn around and just make sure that he is still breathing. I am sure this initial anxiety will pass. There is no doubt that almost all new parents go through this stage. He is going to grow up so fast. I hope that I can remember what things are like right now, sitting here with him just sleeping peacefully behind me, forever.

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Originally uploaded by Queazel

The newest member of the family. Born on October 16th at 8:55 pm. What have I gotten myself into? :)

A lovely way to start out a Monday morning. I got up fairly early and got to the office around 7:00 this morning. I was supposed to be here early to help Dewayne get ready for his trip out of town but, he isn't here yet (8:15). I would imagine it is going to be at least 8:30 before he gets here since he isn't here already. It's not that I mind, but dude.

I have to go back to the soils lab today to take more pictures of dirt. I think we only have around 25 tubes left, but that will still take more than a day (especially since I am not going to get there until late now). It is a nice chill day when I am there, but it is bordering on boring as well. I have to send out some emails to our client this week and try to get them to make some decisions so that we can actually do something with all of this dirt I have been taking pictures of.

This could be the week he arrives. I hope it is. I think it will be a relief to everyone.

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Originally uploaded by Queazel

So here we have a prime example of why my wife and inlaws kick ass. I got four, yep, count em...four beer steins for my birthday. My inlaws don't exactly approve of drinking, but I think they assume that these will be mostly decorative. Heh.....right.

30

So, the big Three Oh tomorrow. Time definitely flies and all that jazz. I am turning thirty, and I am going to have a son sometime within the next few weeks. I am really a bit overwhelmed. I can't really describe how I feel about it. My life is never going to be the same. I have been gone for most of the summer, and I would have just been a bystander really even if I had been around. Really going to change things...... a lot.....

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So, I would say this means that the baby shower was a success. It is a little hard to tell, but that is a queen size bed completely covered with baby accessories.

The wife loved it though, and it is always fun to watch her have such a good time.

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Originally uploaded by Decado

I got my big birthday present a few days early. I am sure that I am going to be posting about activities using this guy in the near future. I already spent about 15 minutes loading up some geocaching spots near the office and the house.

I have wanted one of these for years!

Vroom Vroom!

So, I sat down with the wife last night and started discussing motorcycles. I have been wanting one for years, but I have just never gotten around to it. In light of the recent gas shortage I believe that the time has come. We still have some credit cards we need to get paid off but sometime after the beginning of 2009 I think I might be getting something. Conservatively speaking, if I had a payment of $120/month I would break even since I would be saving so much gas. Now of course I have in mind the bike that I should probably try and get and I also have in mind the bike I would really like to have. Only time will tell which one actually ends up in the garage. I am really hoping it is the Ducati though.

I think Dewayne and I might take a riding course together. He hasn't been on a motorcycle in about 25 years and I have only been on the back of one. I am really looking forward to learning though!

Ahhh, payday..... gotta love it. The bank account will look good for a couple of days at least.

No dam way

It is shaping up to be a decent day. I told the lead geologist at Chickamauga Dam that I wasn't interested in working for them right now. It was an internship position and I really want to pursue graduate school. It would be a really sweet opportunity to learn all about engineering geology and whoever gets the job will certainly get some experience that isn't easy to come by. I really did think about the opportunity a lot and I finally decided that it just was not the direction that I want to take right now. Maybe someday a job like that will seem like a good fit.

It was almost like there was a weight lifted off of my shoulders when I sent the email asking to be taken out of the pool of applicants. On one hand I felt a little like I was letting go of something I shouldn't have, but I also felt a bit of relief. Now I feel like I can really focus on graduate school, the GRE, etc.

One of the cutest pictures ever

So, I was at my parents house a few weeks ago and I came across this one. Me at 8 years old with the Jolly Green on my lap. Too damn cute.....

Back to the grind

As I said in my post yesterday I am not too thrilled about being back from vacation. However, this week is really the first full one since May that I have been around in the office. I am trying my best to get up at a decent hour and get into the office. I hate working until 5:00 PM. Also, I talked to the boss yesterday and he was cool with me taking a late lunch around 2:00 and going to the gym to work out. I haven't been able to have a decent workout schedule for the last three or four months, so I am looking forward to getting back to that as well.

The weekend was exactly what I needed though. It was like I got to turn my brain off for three days. I have to say, that was a pretty nice feeling.

On the to-do list today, getting that voter registration card sent off. I am not sitting it out this election.

Well, time to get things packed up, grab a coffee, and take the scenic route to work.

Ahhh the Monday after a vacation.....is there any worse way to start a week. I have a decent sized report to get started on. I am sort of looking forward to getting started on it since it will essentially wrap up the project I have been working on all summer. Speaking of which, I think I will add some pictures from that project from a later post.

I really need to get my ass in gear and start studying for the GRE as well. I told myself that I would start studying in earnest after my little vacation.

Oh, totally purchased a SWEET Boba Fett keychain last night. I have to act like an 8 year old on occasion. I think it keeps me young. :)

The last vacation

So, apparently this weekend is it. This will be the very last time that I get to go on vacation by myself without feeling guilty. I had better make it count. I should not miss this opportunity. I had better enjoy it.

Personally, I think that is a bunch of bullshit. :)

Those are the sorts of things that I have been hearing about this upcoming weekend. All of my friends and coworkers have been telling me that taking a trip by myself to hang out with my best friend this weekend is about to be a novelty. Apparently, once you have a child these things are nigh impossible. Even if I did get to go I would have to deal with an extremely pissed off wife who thinks that I have abandoned her, and that I would not be pulling my weight if I leave.

I am not officially a father yet. In a few weeks I will be though. I really do believe that my marriage is different. These predictions about how my life is about to change are not all that different than those I heard when I got married. I was not going to be able to go and do the things I enjoyed anymore. After hearing all of these comments I have come to the conclusion that there must be a whole hell of a lot of angry people out there. I am not sure if I simply lucked out and ended up with a wife that is especially cool or if the fact that she and I have great communication is responsible. I do know that things have definitely not turned out like all of my friends predicted. I am very happily married. My wife and I do things together all the time (which is sort of why we got married....we like each other), but I also do plenty of things on my own with my buddies.

I am not complain about the advice. I appreciate everyone trying to give me a heads up. Unfortunately, all of that advice just makes me feel sorry for all of those people out there. I don't think things have to be that way. That is just no way to live.

1st

So, this is the first post where I suppose I am supposed to go on and on about why I started this blog, who I am, what I am doing, and where I am going. Well I figure that I can get to that soon enough. Plus, I should probably get back to work. More later.....