Thursday, May 29th 2008

Wednesday, May 28th 2008

Joshua growing up faster than I can believe. Teenagers.

This week is flying by. Tomorrow is Thursday. Yes, I know. Astounding realization. I worked from home today as my wife had doctor appointment and things.

It cost me $61.10 to fill up my gas tank this morning with regular unleaded gasoline. Can you believe that?

I spoke to our gas company about installing a new gas line in our kitchen to accommodate our new and future gas range. They have a form for me to fill out so that they can do an analysis (takes 2-3 weeks) where they will assess whether or not there's enough gas coming in to service all the appliances in the home. 2-3 weeks. If there isn't enough BTUs coming in, they'll need to come in and do work, which will cost us even more. Grrr. 2-3 weeks? But I want to cook stuff now...... Homeownership is a pain in the butt.

More May family photos added. Next task? Memorial Day weekend photos. Oooh, aaah, but not right now.

Sunday, May 25th 2008

Juno starring Ellen Page

The weather was so nice, we drove out to Princeton for a little picnic at Princeton University. After we ate, Josh and I ran around in the fountain. Afterwards, we got some professional photos of Lily taken, and then we made pork chops for dinner.

It's the little things in life.

Last night, we finally finished watching Juno. Interesting movie, and I liked the music. It was quirky.

Saturday, May 24th 2008

For a little fun, we took the kids to the Philadelphia Zoo. Lily didn't care for it too much as she slept through most of the trip. Josh loved the giraffe and the white-handed gibbon urinating. To each his own.

I've been retroactively adding photos and songs. See the April 2008 family gallery for additional photos, see April 24 2008 for a Bob Seger sing-along, and see May 22 2008 for a Paul Simon sing-along. Cool, eh?

Friday, May 23rd 2008

The home improvements continue. Taking advantage of some of those Lowe's appliance sales during Memorial Day weekend, we purchased a new Frigidaire gas range with 2 ovens, a new Broan under-cabinet hood, and a new Frigidaire dishwasher. All hopefully arrives next early month, but knowing Lowes, I'd settle for 2008.

New gas range with dual ovens	New dishwasher	New hood

Thursday, May 22nd 2008

Paul Simon - "The Obvious Child"

Play The Obvious Child (2.94 Mb)

I'm accustomed to a smooth ride
Or maybe I'm a dog who's lost its bite
I don't expect to be treated like a fool no more
I don't expect to sleep through the night
Some people say a lie's a lie's a lie
But I say why
Why deny the obvious child?
Why deny the obvious child?

And in remembering a road sign
I am remembering a girl when I was young
And we said These songs are true
These days are ours
These tears are free
And hey
The cross is in the ballpark
The cross is in the ballpark

We had a lot of fun
We had a lot of money
We had a little son and we thought we'd call him Sonny
Sonny gets married and moves away
Sonny has a baby and bills to pay
Sonny gets sunnier
Day by day by day by day

I've been waking up at sunrise
I've been following the light across my room
I watch the night receive the room of my day
Some people say the sky is just the sky
But I say
Why deny the obvious child?
Why deny the obvious child?

Sonny sits by his window and thinks to himself
How it's strange that some rooms are like cages
Sonny's yearbook from high school
Is down from the shelf
And he idly thumbs through the pages
Some have died
Some have fled from themselves
Or struggled from here to get there
Sonny wanders beyond his interior walls
Runs his hand through his thinning brown hair

Well I'm accustomed to a smoother ride
Maybe I'm a dog that's lost his bite
I don't expect to be treated like a fool no more
I don't expect to sleep the night
Some people say a lie is just a lie
But I say the cross is in the ballpark
Why deny the obvious child?

Tuesday, May 20th 2008

Call off the search party. Tear down the "Missing" posters. Stop auctioning off my stuff. The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I'm back. When you're travelling AND leading an audit, personal life falls to the bottom of the priority list. My travel is done for the year, me thinks, and stress levels should decrease as I ride out the end of the bell curve (hmmm, starting next week, probably.)

New photos of Lily

I've got lots to catch up on. The past few weeks in Toronto have been busy busy busy. It was supposed to be just one week onsite (ending May 2nd), but a last minute decision was made to extend it to another week (through May 9th.) I tell you, it was the right decision, but oy ve, it royally screwed up life at home. Flights have been delayed, weather has been crappy, and I've barely seen my daughter. Since returning home, I've been putting in late hours and... actually, I'm sick of the whole story. Topic change.

Welcome to Canada	And yet, you won't find this in NJ	Johnnie Walker Black Label in its own cool carry case at the duty free shop

I've got a number of pictures to share, but mostly from my cameraphone. I can't find the camera battery charger, so I'm living a little retro at 2 megapixels. Better than nothing, I say. Poor Lily, she's already getting the short end of the stick. When Josh was born, we took hundreds of photos at 3 megapixel quality, then upgraded in 2006 to a [gasp] 8 megapixel camera. Lily comes around, and I take maybe 5 pictures a month, and I'm resorting to a 2 megapixel cameraphone. She's going to resent me when she's putting together her holographic wedding slide show, I know it. First set of pics, April and May now published. Please view my threadbare neglectful father collection.

I added a few new pics to previous blog postings: April 22 2008 and April 27 2008.

Happy birthday to me! Err, and that Sunil guy.

Highlights of the few weeks:

• Well, we did have a little party to celebrate some belated birthdays, namely for myself and Sunil.
• I'm enjoying my/our GPS, but with the risk of theft, I'm constantly taking it up and taking it down when I get in the car or park the car. After waiting this long for a GPS unit, I'm not taking a chance that it gets stolen. I hide the unit AND the windshield mount every time we park the car.
• My sister and her husband recently bought a new house in the south Jersey area. I helped them move in last Saturday.
• One of my friends/coworkers had a housewarming last weekend, so the entire Ipe family packed it up and went to it. Lily brought out her best behavior while we were out. It's getting eerie how when we're with company, she acts all nice and sweet. Then again, everyone wants to carry her, so I suppose she wouldn't complain. Afterwards in the privacy of the family, she's back to being her petulant self. :)

• Ben & Jerry Cinnamon Buns ice cream

  My wife's aunt Meena aunty has been visiting the States the past two months as her old son Milind and wife Preethi had a baby girl Rahael. She's visiting New Jersey this week, and she came over last Sunday. I went to pick up ice cream for dessert, and discovered that those Ben & Jerry guys are always inventing new and interesting flavors. I gotta tell you -- it tastes exactly like a Cinnamon Bun. Oh, how decadent.
• If the weather is decent this weekend, we're heading with the kids to the zoo. Josh should get a real kick out of it.
• We rented Juno, but haven't finished watching it yet. :(

I still haven't seen Iron Man, and I'm dying to see it already. Everyone has told me how great the movie is. When will the hurting stop? Maybe later this month. At the end of this month, a few of my buddies and I are meeting up for the weekend -- night out in NYC (staying over in NYC), and hanging out somewhere in NY/NJ the rest of the weekend. I also have my sister's housewarming that weekend, so this should be interesting how I accomplish both in the same weekend.