Mobile blogging?

I have installed the Blogger App to my beloved Droid. Will I start blogging regularly? Who knows!

Zoom, Emma, Zoom!

After about a yer of Emma wanting nothing more from her Tricycle than to be pushed, she has decided it is more fun to peddle.

She was off like a shot. "I wanna go fast, Daddy!" As she barrelled down the sidewalk.

We made two circuits of Lexington/Castine walk, once in the morning to wear her down for her nap, and again after dinner.

She loved it!

Emma's Ears are A-OK!

Today we went to see the ENT specialist for her most recent follow-up for her tubes. Well, it was the LAST! They has migrated far enough down teh ear canal that he could just reach in an grab them (with some very interesting forceps). Bonus, he used a scope that had a video camera in it and we got to watch him do everything on a big screen mounted to the wall of the room.

On top of that, the pressure test showed that, even without the tubes in place, fluid was not building up and she was draining normally. It helps taht she has a bit of an earn infection and a mild case of tonsillitis right down, because he could really see the draining occurring. All in all, that news was well worth the over 2 hours we spent at the office.

So, we're keeping her tubes. I'll clean them off at work and either put them on a string or in a bottle for posterity. They may look a little gross now, but they are Teflon and should clean up nicely...and I do have access to a sonicator and plenty of solvents at work...

We capped off the evening with the first Dollar Night of the season at Covaleski Field. We got to see Mayor Joe as we were waiting in line. He's fantastic there, actually helping people carry their food and wrangle kids. You won't see George Steinbrenner doing that when the Yankees play. I'm glad he's involved with the organization and is committed to keeping the Silver Hawks in South bend. Anyway...Emma enjoyed the 3 innings of the ball game that we could stay for. She got to hug Swoop, eat ballpark food, win a frisbee, and dance and clap to the music.

Being a home owner can be fun!

Quick note tonight. Christy found a leak in the laundry room this evening, so after I was finished doing the whole weekend's worth of dishes, I get to run downstairs and see what she's found.

Lucky! That's what we are! It was just a clog in the drain. Some liquid snake and a medium cycle worth of hot water and it as fine. But that little bit of scare in having to deal with some plumbing repair really gets to you. The "what if is this is a bigger problem" really sucks when I was trying to reassure Christy that it would be work just fine.

Good new is that Emma didn't seem to care at all. She was more than content to just play in the living room while Christy and I hovered over the Washing machine. But believe me, I wouldn't trade all the little problems with plumbing getting clogged, lawns being attacked my critters, fencing falling down in the wind and outside lights shorting out in a rain storm for an apartment again to save my life!

Do you own a watch?

Well first of all, I don't own a watch. I dislike watches in fact. But I am keenly aware of time.

I sit here in my cubicle, in my lab waiting, wondering where the Grad Student that was supposed to be here a half hour ago is. I wonder if she still expects that I will be able to provide the training needed for her to complete her work. Does she even realize there are other duties I have to fulfill while here?

I doubt it. At least I have had time to defrag my computer and clean off my desk a bit.

But I sit here and wait. I type and I wait. I mutter and I wait. I straighten up all my certificates of attendance to this seminar or that class, and I wait. My cubicle will be tidy by the end of this...

Waiting is easy, sitting is hard.

Walk or run?

Well, I stepped on a scale for the first time in about a year yesterday. WOW! 291.2 pounds! AN all time high! I knew I was slipping, but I've gained about 16 pounds during Emma's lifetime...by this rate I'll be over 350 when she graduated high school!

So, last week I had been mulling around the idea of participating in the Sunburst 5K "fun run" (two words I have never been able to associate with each other). I am now doubting I could do that in the time between then and now. So what I think I will do is the Family Walk on Friday May 30th and then the 5K "Fitness Walk" on Saturday morning!

Christy can be talked into the Fitness Walk, and it will be fun. early in the morning so we can still have a whole lot of the Holiday Saturday to play with!

Only when you're in a hurry...

So how come slow trains, octogenarian drivers and broken stoplights all wait for you to be in a hurry before all aligning into some commuting hell trifecta?

Seriously, 25 minutes at a train crossing in morning traffic, which the car behind be so close I couldn't try to run around and find another route, even if there was one! Oh well, at least the technician that was supposed to be here by 9 am is late as well.

My Saturday night dinner

So Saturday Christy and I went to J. Willy's Bar and Grille with Casey and Kelly. Christy had been jonesin' to go there since Gordon Ramsey was there a few weeks ago. Christy was sick when he was there, so she didn't get to go "see" the transformation.

See Christy is really impressed with Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares show on BBC. She was excited to here that he might be in the area for the American version (Airing on Fox this fall). Craptastic thing was that she decided to get sick as a dog only to wake up from cold/flu medicine induced nap to the noon news that Ramsey was in own tight then. Oh well, that's Murphy messin' with ya.

So we finally got a nice night away from kid and decided that since Casey and Kelly were in the same boat we should at least go see what he place looks like. I was impressed.

It's a laid back, but very nice looking place. quite a few 4 top tables and "horse shoe" shaped booths that look like they could sit between 4-6 folks, with a bunch of 6 tops set into another section. A separate, but opened bar (so no smoking at all, I am still grateful for that St/ Joseph county!). TVs out of the way but visible and two GIGANTIC projection screen TVs right smack dab in the middle of the dining area (very nice for tourney time, even if the hockey game was on some small one in the corner).

Any way, the food was very good and not too expensive. Hell, the four of us couldn't break $100 even with 2 appetizers, 4 entrees drinks, some more drinks (c'mon it was me and Casey), and deserts.

All in all, it was a very good dinner. Much better than some cookie-cutter T.G Appleganili's, that for sure. We talked to our waitress and found out that the whole menu is Gordon Ramsey's input and everything is made there, even the fantastic chocolate pie I had.

We'll defiantly go back there. I wonder if Emma would like the grilled cheese?

I haven't kept up with this in forever!

I know that one of the best ways to keep creative , professionally, at home an in general, is to BE creative everyday. So I'm going to try to put more words on paper, well pixels on screen at least, starting today. I may rant ramble or even just muse, but I will write.

I do know that, technically speaking, my writing is not the best. I love the run on sentence so much I never see it coming. Hopefully, I can work on proper writing while I throw word out to make sense.

So a quick catch up since June 2006 when I last bothered to commit any time to this space..

• My daughter is growing up VERY fast! She's fantastic and I can't honestly imagine my life without her anymore.
• My career is doing well. I've settled into the fact that I am a technician and i like it! I'm not going to get rich, but we'll get by. I just enjoy my work and the thing I get to do with it to contemplate leaving right now.
• I'm still a dork...I've cut back considerably on my comic book reading/buying, but at heart, i love them and if I could I'd bring hone almost all of them every week!
• I still a bigger dork...on top of playing HeroClix for almost 6 years now, 6 months ago I volunteered to be a"regional" envoy. Envoy is the term that Wizkids uses for the poor saps that agreed to give away a big chunk of their free time to facilitate game play. Well as a Regional Envoy, I have the responsibility to keep in contact with area venues (places that host games) and other envoys, make sure that all the rules are being followed and to help monitor the game's health in the local market.
• Christy is working for a wood distribution company, if she wants to tell people about that I'll let her do it.

Well, let's see if I can keep this up for more than a few days before getting bored and forgetting all about it again!

Our family's great loss

On Sunday June 12th, I lost perhaps the toughest human being I have ever known, my Grandmother. The funeral home prepared a beautiful story of life and a memorial film that can be found at Life Story Funeral Homes.

It is so wonderful though, that I wanted to include it here so the folks that know me, but never had a chance to meet my Grandmother can know her through this.

Bernice Loftus was a caring and compassionate woman who had gained much wisdom and strength throughout her lifetime. She faced challenges that came her way with perseverance and found ways to turn tragedy into beauty. She adored her loved ones and taught her children to value honesty, hard work, and education.

The decade of the 1920s was a time of optimism and change in the United States. William and Caroline (Berning) Bradtmueller of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, welcomed several of their children into the world during this time, and on December 27, 1927, they were thrilled to receive their eleventh bundle of joy, little Bernice. Bernice grew up chasing after her big brothers and sisters and was later joined by two younger siblings. The Bradtmueller's were of German descent and raised their children with a strong sense of right and wrong as well as a sense of accountability to others, character traits that remained with Bernice all of her life.

In the midst of such a large family, Bernice quickly learned to share and to pitch in around the house. The stock market crash of 1929 meant that financial resources became even more strained than usual, and Bernice learned to appreciate simple pleasures in life, a quality that would be most helpful when life sent hardship her way. Just a few short days before Bernice's fourteenth birthday, hardship showed up in a big way. The United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked by the Japanese, drawing the U.S. into World War II. Bernice prayed and sacrificed along with the rest of the country and after four long years she rejoiced when the conflict finally ended.

In early June of 1942, the United States Navy had won a decisive victory against the Japanese at the Battle of Midway in the Pacific Theatre. On the seventh anniversary of that event, Bernice attended a Navy ball. It was there that she met a young man named Donmicheal 'Mike' Loftus. The two quickly hit it off and eventually fell in love. On February 18, 1950, they exchanged vows and began their journey through life together that would last for over fifty years. Bernice and Mike had four wonderful children. Bernice took great joy in being a mother and always wanted the best for her kids. She taught every one of them the basics of reading and writing before they attended school at St. Monica's.

In 1957, Bernice endured a horrific injury, sustaining burns in a house fire that damaged seventy percent of her body. She was confined to the hospital for four long months of healing and grueling rehabilitation. Over the next several years, she chose not to go out in public and had to undergo at least twenty-five plastic surgeries. She found comfort in tending to roses and eventually became a member of the Rose Society, an organization that became an outlet for her creativity and a source of relaxation and peace. Her entrance into 'rose shows' was innocent enough as she and Mike were on their way out of town so they dropped off a cut a rose at Wedel's. Despite her innocence of the 'how you do it', they later heard on the radio that her cutting received the top prize-she was hooked. Bernice was a member of the Rose Society for over forty years and specialized in delicate, remarkable miniature roses. She received many awards as a result of her skillful cultivation and was admired for her patience and dedication to her craft. In fact Mike shared the enthusiasm with her and showed some roses himself.

Bernice managed the home and also worked at a couple of outside jobs. As a young woman, she seamed nylon hose and later worked at Jolly Kids' Clothes as a seamstress. In fact, her son Greg said that mom was constantly crocheting or knitting. Weddings and births were the times that she presented her handy work that included, baby blankets, highly detailed table cloths other finely made apparel. Many family members have Bernice made items that they treasure and she even donated some of her work to benefit worthy causes.

She also became a licensed beautician. The job she got the most satisfaction from outside of motherhood was babysitting. She cared for her charges with the same fairness that she had with her own children and also taught educational fundamentals to the children she watched. Several children owe their ability to read and write to Bernice as she saw to teaching them before they attended school. She was highly respected for her emphasis on ethics and personal responsibility.

Bernice's family appreciated the fact that her many talents included cooking. Everyone looked forward to lunch on Saturday because that was leftover day and they could enjoy all her creations from the previous week. Despite her skill, she did have a mishap or two, like the time she mistook pancake batter for gravy and made stew out of it. Bernice and Mike cared for five toy poodles over the years. Their most recent resident was named Penny and she was the friendliest of the bunch. Bernice loved being with Penny and the feeling was mutual.

Bernice's son Will honored his parents by having a Tropicana rose bush at some of his homes through out the years. The roses were a testament to Bernice's ability to see hope in the midst of suffering, the blossoms revealing the beauty that comes from patient, loving care. Bernice leaves her family with the example of a woman who worked hard to fulfill her responsibilities, found joy in the intricacies of a flower, and loved her family beyond measure. Her influence to appreciate the beauty in ordinary things will continue to be felt for years to come.

Bernice Loftus died June 12, 2006, at Bronson Methodist Hospital. She was preceded in death by her parents; two sisters and five brothers, Loretta Bandt, Della Knoblaugh, Carl, Norbert, Clarence, Gerhert and Otto Brandtmueller. She is survived by her husband, Mike; four children, William (Linda) Loftus of Elkhart, Indiana, Timothy (Cindy) Loftus of Sanford, North Carolina, Gregory (Conny) Loftus of Castle Rock, Colorado, and Diane Loftus of Kalamazoo; two grandchildren, Jon (Christy) Loftus of Mishawaka, Indiana, and Matthew Loftus of Cassopolis, Michigan; one great-granddaughter, Emma; three sisters and two brothers, Louise Tinsley of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Marcella Berkey of Lake Placid, Florida, Bernadine Leiter of Warsaw, Indiana, Herman (Dorothy) Bradtmueller of Johnson City, Tennessee, and William Bradtmueller of Newton, North Carolina; one sister-and-law, Joann Bradtmueller of Ft. Wayne, Indiana; and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.

Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Thursday, June 15, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Augustine Cathedral. Food and fellowship will follow at the Fr. Crowley Cathedral Center. Private interment will take place at Ft. Custer National Cemetery. Please visit Bernice's personal memory page at www.lifestorynet.com where you may share a favorite memory, sign the online guest book, or make a memorial contribution to the American Rose Society.