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Friday, 20 November 2009

Currently
Weird Al Yankovic - The Ultimate Video Collection
By 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Jon Schwartz, Tom Snyder, Jim West, Max Baer Jr.
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New Vacuum

I finally got so annoyed with our current vacuum and tonight I went out and bought a new one. I don't plan to get rid of the old one, as we paid a pretty penny for it when we first moved to Florida. We bought it at a vacuum store. It's made by a company called Riccar and it is a cannister vacuum. The guy sold us on it's suction, which I admit is very good. But various parts have broken on it over the years, but were fixed under warranty. It's out of warranty now and Julie just paid $70 to get a new tube put on it, not realizing that I already had that done once in Florida. The retractable cord has also been broken for some time and was going to cost too much to fix it. And today a prong from the plug came off in the outlet, so it's broke again.

While the vacuum is great on bare floors and cleaning out something like the car due to its portability, it leaves a lot to be desired in picking up pet hair off the carpet. So I consulted Consumerreports.org (which I subscribed to and I am not getting my money's worth), and the Hoover canisters were rating very well for uprights, which is what I want to complement the other vacuum ("Hello, Riccar! Don't you look nice today!"). Sorry, Dyson, but you just don't appear to be a good value. I found one that matches our washer and dryer in color (they are light green) and was only $99, on sale from $129. That's a lot cheaper than the other one.

The kids and I went out to Best Buy tonight to get it and though they had it on the floor, it was incorrectly labeled as $299! But the customer service person was excellent and she looked it up online and found some in the warehouse. And the best part? I found out that if I use my Best Buy card on the weekend it's 10% off! What a surprise as I almost ordered online.

I haven't used it yet as Grace and Roman were in bed already, but tomorrow morning I will be the first one to try it. Biscuit is going to hate it!
Currently
The Liberty of Norton Folgate
By Madness
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State of My Football Games

So I have played 10 weeks of fantasy football and I am 6-4. Nevermind that I am the only person who has scored over 1,000 points and regularly score over 100 points each week. I should be 8-2, but that's fantasy football for you. Meanwhile, the #1 and #2 teams I don't feel are as good as mine and neither has a score over 900 points total. Last week I had the 3rd highest points (and was 1 point off the 2nd highest), but I loss to Nathan by a score of 140-111. I will say that I get a very good chunk of points from the #1 point scorer in the league right now....Chris Johnson. Since Vince Young took over, he has been an ANIMAL! He has scored around 35 points the last 2 weeks and I really could use him to do that again. This week it is Bruce, and his team is down in the dumps. It's a critical week this week as I am ranked #4 and there are some strong teams in the other division. I can't lose ground now if I want to make the playoffs.

The biggest surprise of all is the College Football Pick 'Em. I have been #1 in the league for the last 3-4 weeks. One week I was perfect, picking all the games correctly. I have the Boise State game on as I write this, but I am not watching. All I know is they are winning and way ahead, which is good, as I put 17 points on this game.

In the Pro Football Pick 'Em, I WAS in 1st but now it has me listed in 2nd after last weekend, though I am tied with Jonas in score. I already started this week out poorly putting 7 points on Carolina, which I believe is more than anyone else. They lost.

As for Survival, amazingly I have been out since Week 3. However, Mitchell is one of 4 people still in it! Go Mitchell!
Currently
Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Men of the White House
By Cormac O'Brien
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Power 90!

One of Julie's birthday gifts this year was a workout program called Power 90, which is a cheaper version of a program she had heard other people doing called Power 90-X. Hey, she asked for it. And though I say it's cheaper, it still cost $60 and from all I can tell it is just two DVDs that each contain two workouts that you alternate. Sure, there were other things like a tape measure and a small recipe book, but nothing really making it balloon to $60.

I have done 4 days of the workouts and I can't say I ever look forward to them. I am looking at the guy on the cover right now, Tony Horton, and he looks like combination of Dennis Quaid and Will Arnett. But in the actual video, he really looks like neither guy. Anyway, these are pretty tough workouts, ESPECIALLY the "ab ripper", which is appropriately named as it really does feel like my abs are being ripped apart. I have been looking around tonight for the materials that came with the DVD because Julie said it's supposed to be 6 straight days of working out and then a day off. And I am supposed to do this for 90 days? Yikes. I might die of exhaustion first.
Currently
The Escapist
By Steven Mackintosh, Brian Cox, Liam Cunningham, Joseph Fiennes, Damian Lewis
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The Return of the CPAP

It's been quite awhile since I wore my CPAP mask at night. About 3-4 months ago, when I wasn't as fat, my snoring wasn't a big deal. But after putting weight on again, I believe it's gotten a bit problematic, especially for Julie. On occasion, she has left the bedroom to sleep somewhere else because I was snoring so loudly. So earlier in the week I broke out the CPAP machine, cleaned it up, and I am using it once again. The first night I used it I work up around 4:45am and had to take it off. It's just hard for me to get back to sleep the 2nd time. But when I finally got up, I felt a bit more refreshed. The 2nd morning I didn't make it as long before I pulled it off, and I didn't feel as refreshed. I believe I have worn it 4 nights so far in all, with varying degrees of success.

Tonight, since Julie is away on her retreat with her sisters at a scrapbooking event, I doubt I will wear it. I never get to sleep very easily when Julie is out. And considering someone already rang our doorbell tonight around 9pm and then took off, I may not sleep at all! But definitely not with a CPAP mask on my face.
Currently
The American Astronaut
By Tom Aldredge, Bill Buell, Greg Russell Cook, Annie Golden, Mark Manley
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Spur of the Moment Jaunt

Last weekend we took a trip to Kansas City which we effectively decide to do the day before we left. Well, OK, we had been thinking about it since the previous weekend when we found out my parents would be up from Florida for the weekend but we're not going to be able to come to our house. We also knew the weather was going to be great and that perhaps we could stay at my sister's new place, which I had yet to see. My sister's family bought a second home in the country earlier in the year since home prices (and mortgage rates) were down. I wish it was something I could do, but it will probably never happen. But if you can do it, why not? It provides them an escape form the hustle & bustle of their Overland Park lives.

We had a rough, stressful week, but we found out on Tuesday that if the volleyball team for Max's school, Bishop Heelan High School, won their first playoff game, the students would all have off on Friday. That provided the extra incentive as waiting for him to get out of school would probably mean we would go down on Saturday morning. I went to work that morning and it was nearly 2pm by the time we left Sioux City. Max gets out of school at 3:15, so we didn't save a ton of time. Oh well.

After meeting my sister at their house in the "city", we followed them out to the country home, which was much more secluded than I ever imagined. There is a private driveway that stetches for probably almost a mile. They call the place their "farmhouse", but there is nothing farmy about it. It's wooded almost completely around the place, plus their is a small lake with an island in the middle of it. AND, a nifty bridge that goes to the island! The house was immaculate and had a bunch of nice features. Dare I say I liked it better than our current home, though it didn't have as much space.

We stayed overnight on Friday and my parents and my sister's family joined us the next day. I got to ride on an ATV for the first time. It was a total blast, especially driving it through the wooded parts. Our kids and my sister's kids played for a long time together and we all had a blast. The next day it rained pretty hard and was downright miserable. But, we were leaving anyway. Before we headed out, we all had lunch at a mongolian BBQ place like HuHot (which we have here) called....BP's?? I think that's the name. Afterwards, we made our 4.5 hour trip back. I arrived home in time to watch the Patriots totally blow a healthy lead against the Colts and lose 35-34. Most aggravating game I watched, next to their AFC Championship meltdown against the Colts 3 seasons ago.

Oh yeah...Bishop Heelan, which was ranked #1 in volleyball, lost the final playoff game. The front cover AND the Sports section had pictures of distraught girls....crying. It's a big deal here.