August 11, 2008: Last Chance

This is it, the last week to get anything accomplished. Today was surprisingly busy,considering t was filled with nothing. Got up, took Evan to school, went to the gym, did some grocery shopping, came home around 1:30, left for the YMCA to enroll Evan in before school care, picked Evan up, went to an appointment, went to dinner, came home... and a couple of hours later, here I am. At the gym recently I have felt like I have not been doing enough. I have been doing the workout proscribed by the trainer but I feel I need more. So today, I added exercises that target specific muscle groups, today was arms. Tomorrow will be chest/back. The only problem is, I am kind of winging it. I am using the machines that are targeted for the designated muscle groups, but am I really doing what I should be? If anyone has any ideas of some useful information/websites, please post here and let me know. Thanks in advance.

While doing my grocery shopping, I bought Evan a new book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. This is the second book in the series, so far. Evan enjoyed the first book so much, I had promised him that if he finished it, I would buy him the second. Well, he finished Diary of a Wimpy Kid last night, so as promised, I delivered. He has already been intently reading this volume. I am glad he is reading fiction for a change. He always wants to read books about a topic: dinosaurs, bugs, marine biology. I even tried to have him read fiction about the topics he enjoys, but he wasn't into it. For some reason, these books are clicking with him. Maybe because it is something that takes place in school? I don't know, but I am glad he is reading fiction.

Evan and I began watching National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets after we got home from Chik-fil-a tonight. We had to stop until tomorrow after school because it was getting late. He enjoys the National Treasure movies, but he has so many questions because he doesn't know enough about history yet. That is OK, I am a history teacher, so I should be able to explain these things for him.

August 10, 2008: Last Tune Up

Today was our last practice before the softball season officially starts. Our first game is Tuesday evening. My shoulder felt much better today. I was able to warm up with the heavy tennis ball, it really loosened up my shoulder. The heavy tennis ball is simply a normal tennis ball with a slit cut into it in order to fill it with pennies. It makes the ball much heavier than a softball so when you actually throw the softball it feels as light as a balloon. I also found out that I am the youngest male on the team. At 37 was surprised. What is worse, I feel the least in shape compared to the other men. I guess that is why I am going to the gym nearly everyday.

Michelle donated the day bed today. She gave it to a coworker. It isn't really sad, but it was Evan's first bed, and had been for such a long time. I remember tying the day bed and trundle together to make a gigantic sized bed for Evan early on. We thought that since he was so restless at night the huge bed would make it easier for him. I think we were mistaken. Eventually we shrunk the bed back down to size. I am really glad Evan likes his new bed. He loves the loft and plays up there whenever he can. He loves to show it off whenever someone new comes over. If he didn't like his new bed, I am sure we would hear about how he misses his old bed.

This is my last week of the summer coming up, and no, I am not looking for sympathy. I doubt I would get it from anyone who hasn't been off for the last eight weeks! I am not as disappointed as I have been with my summers in the past. In years past I have felt like I have not done enough with Evan, but this year it is different, I feel we did plenty. So I do not go back with any regrets. I hope that will make me better prepared, mentally to start the semester.

August 9, 2008: Just Another Saturday

Nothing all that spectacular today. Michelle had an appointment this morning with her trainer at the gym, Evan and I caught up with her about 11:30 at the pool. I proceeded to work out while they hung out poolside. For some reason, I feel as though it is taking me way too long to get through my routine. I probably shouldn't feel that way when you consider I spend about 20 minutes stretching to start, 25 minutes on the elliptical to wrap up, and about 20 minutes showering and getting dressed after. That is over an hour right there. Add in about an hour on the weights and such, and that adds up to 2 hours or more. If I am even contemplating going to the gym in the mornings before school (which means I'd have to be at the gym between 5 and 5:15 in the morning) I better make sure I speed things up and find a more efficient use of my time.

Next Evan had soccer practice from 3 until 4. The humidity wasn't too bad today so sitting in the sun was bearable. Evan is getting a little better I think. He is definitely showing signs of more strength in his kicks, but he is still a bit timid. That is OK, when the time comes he will step it up. Until then, as long as he is having fun. His first game is a week from today, he plays the Lizards, Chris' team.

This evening, we watch Chris and Brendan while Peter and Katie went out to dinner for their anniversary. Evan was very excited, and has been all week. Everyday he was counting down the days until Saturday. While they were here they spent a good amount of time playing in Evan's room. Now that he has his new bed, his room has become infinitely cooler!

August 8, 2008: No Chance Now

Just in case John Edwards ever had a chance of working in the White House, I am pretty sure he blew it. Edwards admitted today to having an extramarital affair while his wife is battling breast cancer. Not good for the image there John, not good.

Edwards Admits to Affair, Denies Fathering Child (Yahoo! News)

In case you haven't noticed, I have been watching a lot of movies this summer. Today, on HBO, I watched The Reaping with Hilary Swank. That is, Hilary Swank is in the movie, she wasn't at my house watching the movie with me (but that sure would have been nice!). It is confirmed, Hilary Swank is hot! She has played a lot of roles which required her to be very different people, she played girl who wanted to be a boy in Boys Don't Cry, a boxer in Million Dollar Baby, an inner-city high school teacher in Freedom Writers, and an ordained minister who lost her faith and becomes a college professor who sets out to debunk would-be miracle in The Reaping. The movie, 3.5 out of 5 stars for me, but 5 out of 5 for looking at Swank!


I have found that each weekday flies right by me. I get up and get Evan to school, take my time at the gym, to get home sometime between 11:30 and noon. About 1 or 1:30 I eat lunch and watch a movie, then it is time to pick Evan up at 3. I have been leaving myself about an hour to an hour-and-a-half to get anything done around the house (between the gym and lunch). With just 4 weekdays left until I go back, I may want to lay off the movies and get some more done around the house.

August 7, 2008: Java Stinks!

Last night, before I went to bed, I ran some updates on my computer from Microsoft. One of the reasons was that web browsers keep crashing (yes, I did say browserS - both Internet Explorer and Firefox). All seemed to go well, that is to say, they all installed fine, and of course, I would need to restart Windows in order for them all to go in to effect. But, since it was already late, I figured I could just shut down and they would complete the process in the morning when I start up the computer. Well, once that video driver kicked into effect, my display went hay wire. OK, maybe not hay wire, but it altered my resolution (all the way down to 640x480 with low colors), and every time I tried to fix it, it would not take. I tried to restore my PC to the last restore point, Windows said it could not do that. I ran the PC in Safe Mode to try and alter the settings there, I tried to log in to Evan's profile and change the settings from there, nothing would work. So Mercer got a phone call at work, where I told him, "You are coming over tonight to fix my computer." And he did, by installing my video drivers, and reinstalling. So here I am, after all day, finally back on my computer. So what does this have to do with Java? I set out to correct a problem in my browsers with Java.

Other than that, not much. I watched a movie today, Trade. A VERY good movie, but I will mention more of that on "Matt's Meandering Meditations."

August 5, 2008: Did I Need that Wall?

Yay! Evan's bed came today. The same delivery men brought the bed and again, they did not want to bring the big section (the stairs) up the stairs. The odd turn on the stairs makes it difficult to bring large objects/furniture upstairs. So I told them to leave that piece downstairs and I will get it up there. Dan, myself, and my neighbor Josh gave it a good effort but with the same result. It would not fit. And now we were stuck with the bed since it was out of the box. Basically, come hell or high water, that stair section was making it upstairs. So logically, we did what any clear thinking individual would do and knocked down a wall. Now we would have a straight shot up the stairs. It was no problem whatsoever. Just add another project to the long list - who ever said it is better to own a house?

As a result of this new project, I did not have time to get to the gym today. In reality, I could go now, but after all that today, I think it will wait until tomorrow morning after I drop Evan off at school. Believe it or not, after those seven straight day, I am already seeing a difference. I am very excited, by the time we go to Disney in October I will need all new shorts! Other than that, well, wasn't that enough for one day?

Wasn't there a wall here?

Who is crooked, Evan or the house?

Evan likes his new bed!

I would swear that just this morning there was a wall there.

Did I need that wall?

August 4, 2008: Time Out!

I took a time out today from the gym. My shoulder was really hurting me this morning when I woke up, and my quads are feeling tired. So I decided to skip a day. So if I hit the gym 7 out of 8 days, it is pretty good track record. In fact, I even took a time out from softball today. I decided that I just needed a day of rest and hopefully tomorrow I will be back up and ready to go.

I watched The Good Shepherd on HBO this afternoon. It is a long movie, and sad too. I won't get into it in case you want to see it, but I got fixated on the whole family aspect of the film. I felt that it earned 3.5 out of 5 stars.



Tomorrow Evan's bed will be delivered, again. This time we will keep it. In fact, I think I will sign for it to be out of the box and then still have the delivery men take it upstairs and assemble it.