I will get grounded when she sees this.

Tonight is one of those nights when I wish that my day off had a snooze button. I am not ready for it to be over. I would like to just eke a couple more hours out of it. It has been a nice day.
I have been kind of just killing time lately... not really doing anything productive. I started playing a campaign on my stupid video game, and much like when I pick up a book, I just want to get it over with. Not because I don't enjoy it, but because I do not like to leave a job undone. That is what I have spent my free time doing over the last week...s. It has dawned on me that although it has been quite easy lately, it is not my goal to ignore the idiotbook. So...
Tonight I went on a date with my wife. It kind of fit the MO of our dates when we first started dating.
-“Mo?” (pronounced like moe, with a long “o”
-“M O”
-“Mo? What? What is your Mo?”
The next paragraph was spoken like a hick... I have realized that I have changed from talking with a lisp to talking like a cowboy when I am making a funny.
-“Not “mo” dummy. MO is an acronym. It is like how SCUBA isn't really a word, the letters in the word stand for their own words. SCUBA is an abbreviation of Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus that should make sense to most people. MO is short for modus operandi, it's latin. It means method of operation... as in how we do things around here, but with fewer syllables. Get it straight.”
Actual conversation from work the other day. I kind of wish I could figure out a way to put in my stand up routine. Man... jokes are hard sometimes. I guess that if everything that was kind of funny in real life was easy to put into a joke, everybody would be a stand up comic.
Back to the date.
We got a babysitter for Clover, and dropped Mason off with his mother so that we didn't have to worry about children at all. We dropped Clover off first, then went down town to drop Mason off. For our date, we went to walk around Ikea for a little bit. We sat down to eat some cake and fries. After that we started to kind of peruse a few things... then realized that we only had about five minutes until we said we would pick Clover up. Due to horrible driving conditions, we had been at Ikea only about 20 minutes total. We literally ran through the store, laughing... and kind of making fart noises... the whole way because it was all fun and games on our totally hot but only about a half an hour kid free date. When we got to our babysitters house, her older sister had just arrived home, and was still in the driveway. She asked why we were here so early, and we explained that it was a school night so we didn't feel comfortable making her little sister work past eight o'clock. Older sister got mad and explained that she raced home from class so that she could have an hour or so to play with Clover and promptly kicked us out of her driveway. We drove around for a bit, got a couple snacks and some gas at a random gas station, then walked around a grocery store for a little bit. While walking up to the porch to pick Clover up for the second time, we started laughing at how totally lame our date would look from the outside. We had fun. That was our MO. When we started dating, we were both broke. We would go random places and do random things, and eat at the gas stations along the way when we had to put gas in the car, which was every date because we were never limited on time. We would quite literally drive all night if we were in the mood. We would always laugh... a lot. I like spending time with my wife. I think that we have fun together. It was very nice to be able to ignore everything except the wild fun time I have driving around in the car with my wife.
The kind of funny thing about it all was that it wasn't really meant to be a date at first. It was meant to be a break from the four children that were more like pills than children today. It just kind of turned into a date because it was way shorter than a vacation, even thought it was totally as much fun as any vacation I have ever been on. It was nice. It was another time to put in the bucket of things that remind me that it is not really where I go or what I do that brings me joy, but the person I have decided to spend my life with.
Don't get me wrong, I love my family... I value the friends that I have... there is just only one person on this planet that is my wife. Just sayin'.
A snooze button would be nice... not quite ready for bed yet.

Wet, Cold, and up by 40.

"I think that football should only last for one half, not two." -kb
about 2 minutes into the fourth quarter of the Utah vs CSU game.

it made ashtyn laugh pretty hard.

"I wasn't yawning, I was just smiling... like a shark." -pjb

Good-bye Quiet Mornings, Hello McQueen.

I am one of those people that likes to just sit in the morning. I am kind of a slow waker upper. Most who have slept in the same house as I can attest to my bear like sleeping habits. It has not changed with age. I mean, When I need to get up and go, I will, but I won't quite be awake. At work, when I am the first one there because it is so early, I will leave the lights off, just to kind of give myself time to adjust to the coming day. Yep. I like to sit on my seat for a while... I like my coffee a little on the cold side. I don't mind it if my breakfast isn't piping hot. I just take a little time to kind of soak it all in before I worry about that stuff.
So, one of the changes along with bringing Mason into our family is mornings. For the time being Clover has been pretty cooperative with the idea of just kind of sitting in the morning. Mason... not on board. For the last two days I have been a race track, starting line, finish line, cliff to fall off and pit stop while sitting on my chair in the morning. I have been quizzed on the identities of Mack, King, Queen, and Doc Huds'. I have been urged to participate with the engine revving and fantastic cliff dives or wrecks... I am not sure which is happening, I just know that you have to scream at what seems the top of your lungs on the way down... off my knee and on to the floor. I am a little bummed out because I know that something has got to change as far as my mornings are concerned. Lets walk through it. Morning time? Nope, still going to happen at the same time every day whether I want it to or not. Definitely not changing. Coffee or breakfast time? Nope. Cannot have either of these until AFTER I wake up. My sitting chair's location? Maybe... no. I like to be a part of the family in spite of my attitude early in the mornings. One of the things I like doing while sitting is kind of watching my family do their morning things. Maybe I am gathering inspiration for my own morning while watching them go about theirs. Nope, not moving the chair. Mason? Lol. No. How am I going to be able to tell this precious happy boy not to play or enjoy life when that is a message that is going to be forced down his throat for the rest of his life from way to many other sources. No, that is not the message I want to send any of my children. I hope I never do send that message whether I am trying to or not. Me? Sounds like the best idea. I think of all the factors going into my morning, I am the one I have the most control over as well as the one that can effect the most positive results. Yep. I guess that's it. The time has come in my life when I need to wake up ready to race the Piston Cup.
Maybe I will start waking up earlier as my first change... mmmm... maybe not... not yet. I think I will try racing first.

Yeah, this happy.

Wow, what a week. Lets start with the light and get more serious howabout.
-I got sick. I have been blowing snot out of my nose since Saturday. I am finally recovering. I think that by the time I get up for work next Monday, I should be able to say that I am all better.
-My best shift lead on the planet ever was promoted. Saturday was her last day. Her replacement showed up to work just in time to quit on Monday.
-Kristin's mom and grandparents are coming up on Friday. They will be staying until next Monday. I took Saturday off. It should be a pretty fun weekend. Drives up the canyon and barbecues. Heck yes.
-The headlights don't work on m car sometimes, so I drive home from work with my brights on occasionally. I am not sure what I will say if I get pulled over for it. I don't know why sometimes the headlights work and sometimes they don't. It is pretty weird. Never had a problem like this one before.
-My family grew by one over the weekend. Kristin and I are filing for guardianship of one of the children my wife watches occasionally. He moved in with us last Saturday. I am still not quite sure how to explain how I feel about it. It all happened so suddenly. Typically there is a nine month long period before a child is born that you can use to wrap your mind around the idea of becoming a parent. Not in this case. It is like Kristin got pregnant, had the kid, and he grew up to almost 3 years (I think) all over the weekend. I am pretty pumped for sure. I guess I really took for granted all of the times I spent pondering about how I would be a good father to Clover before I had actually had the pleasure of seeing her sweet face. Maybe I will apply most of the same principles, but in a slightly different way, because Mason is not a daughter, but a son. Hmm. Anyway. It has been real nice to have him around. I know that Kristin and I had planned on adopting and fostering when we were a bit more established and what not, but this feels like the right place and the right time for everything. It has been interesting, the mix of flack and support we have been getting from every direction whether it be unsolicited or not. I guess that I am just excited that both Masons mother and the big guy upstairs feel like I am the man to be this child's father for now.
-Maybe back to the lighter stuff I guess.
-Clover is still one of cutest things ever. She likes to walk around while holding on to my fingers. It cracks me up when she does because she is like running and grinning and running, but with her arms up above her head and her little baby potbelly leading the way. Just try it. It looks funny when adults do it too... at least that is what I think judging by the reaction of some of my line servers when I was showing them how funny I thought it as the other night. Here... I will give instructions... just print these out or explain them to someone else, and have them follow the instructions while you watch. It will be wild. Then imagine a little baby doing it. That is what I watch for my cartoons every day before work.
-instructions:
Where to start... get into character. Imagine the most absolutely goofy, over the top “I am so happy I might drool because my smile is so big,” happy face you can imagine. Got it? Okay. Put it on. Wear that face. Okay, now put your arms up above your head... not straight, but kind bent at the elbows... kind of like you are imagining riding a motorcycle with ape hanger handlebars. Now start running... not very fast, but kind of like you are just learning how to and you might trip over your own feet on every step. Maybe even kind of limp run if it is easier to do. If you are doing this from the end of a long hall with a mirror at the other end then you know what I am talking about. If you are doing this because somebody gave these instructions to follow, look at the look on their face, and think about giving the instructions back to them and telling them its their turn to show you how funny it is... then do it.
-p

One of those times when I should have been dead.

My brother found this movie link *movie link*
and posted it onto facebook with the question: “Pete, what does this feel like?”
I started to post a reply and it got a little wordy and I knew where it was going to go... here.
The story starts back when I was a wee eighteen years old. I had purchased a couple of old arm chairs for my room, which was at the time really big. Now let me explain what I mean by old arm chairs. Something kind of like *this* but different. They were left over form the 70's. They were striped and burnt orange and velvet and as tacky as you can get and twelve dollars for the pair. As my father and I were driving home, we were at a stop light and somebody pulled up next to us to let us know that something flew out of the back of our truck and landed in the road a little ways back. We turned around and sure enough, there it was. The arm cover for one of the chairs. My dad pulled over and I jumped out... can you see where this is going? Anyway, I looked both ways, and didn't see a car. I guess this is where I describe the road. It was on 9000 South, just East of 1300 West... right where it comes out of the river bottom. The speed limit here was 45 MPH at the time. The road had two lanes going either way, and a suicide? lane in the middle. (I don't know the technical term for this lane) The arm chair cover was in in the very middle of the very middle lane. So... there were no cars coming. I ran out into the road, picked up the arm cover, and turned around without looking, and started walking or jogging... not really hurrying in any way, I am not sure why, back to the truck. I can't remember what I was looking at while I was coming back... I think I was inspecting the cover for damage. I was abruptly brought out my train of thought when I heard my dad yell “PETE!” I looked to my right and jumped at the same time. POW! It hit me. A turquoise Saturn. I remember looking at the face of the lady driving the car and seeing the look of absolute terror in her eyes as I held out both of my arms to brace the impact I was about to have with the windshield. I watched the glass crack in spiderwebs out from my hands and then remember rolling over the car, but only getting half way, and then rolling back over the hood, then onto the ground and thinking about how I felt like I could see angels manipulating my body while I was in the air (between the hood of the car and the ground) so that I would land in such a way that I would just roll for a little bit and be okay as opposed to landing flat on my face and being not okay. This is where I answer the question posed by Jake: I got up and it felt like... you know when you get pinched... *sidenote* I think it is funny that you asked this Jake, because when describing what it feels like, I always picture the closet door in your old room for some reason... *end note* in a closet door and it feels like it is bleeding, but it hasn't broken the skin and it almost kind of burns a little? That is what it felt like. I am sure I was in shock, but I seriously thought that all I did was pinch my side somehow. I got up and tried to walk it off. After a couple circles, and the pain was still there I decided to check it out. I lifted up my shirt and I could see a huge flap of something hanging down to my side and my hip bone at the bottom of the hole created by the something hanging. I thought I was going to die. In my state of shock, I thought I had punctured my chest cavity and I though that my lungs were going to collapse. I saw stars, and that is the closest I have ever been to fainting at the sight of one of my own injuries. It turned out that I had caught my hip on the edge created from pushing in the wind shield and the roof of the car. That is why did not go over the car, because my hip caught and flung me back the other way. It was a deep cut, all the way to the bone, and it felt like a pinch from a closet door. I had hit the car so hard that when my arms hit the roof at some point during the experience, they hit hard enough to pull the paint off roof. I had turquoise tear drops on both of my fore arms. It was pretty interesting.. in retrospect. When my mom showed up to the scene, she asked if I was okay. I told here I was, and asked about the arm cover. She said forget the cover, it is just a cheap thing. I said “I just got hit by car for that cover, if I don't have that, then this was all for nothing.” She got so mad that she left and told my dad to call her with any updates.
I think that is about it. About 200 stitches and 3 hours later I was walking on my own.