February 2007 Archives

Born was a little man by the name of Austin Michael Dauernheim. My have the times changed since that day. Austin is now THREE!! Taylor is FIVE, and heading to Kindergarten next year!! AND We all now live in Kansas!! Who'd a thunk??

So quick-ish recap of the birthday boy's weekend:

Friday:

• Party at school with all the other chillens. (Cupcakes outside were a nightmare with the 50 mph winds blowing the bowls all over the playground and with the black icing leaving its mark)


• Dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise - Austin had the mini Cheeseburgers


• Fun begins at the Great Wolf Lodge


• Ice Cream/Frozen Custard from Sheridan's


• Movie Night in the hotel (Lodge) room. The movie was How to Eat Fried Worms(Dumb)


• Bed Time


• Breakfast at McD's


• Gymnastics/Tumbling class(Taylor tried to crack open her head during Austin's class so she skipped out on her class)


• Trip to Toys R Us for toys and clothes


• Lunch at home


• Nap time


• Dinner at home


• More fun at Great Wolf Lodge


• Fun at the Great Wolf Lodge Arcade


• More Ice Cream/Frozen Custard


• Bed Time


• Birthday Breakfast - Eggs, Bacon and Toast YUM!


• Went to the 'Playplace' (So mom and dad could workout!!)


• Lunch at home


• Movie DAY - no nap! Movie was Ant Bully (ehhh)


• Birthday Dinner - Philly Cheesesteaks and Tator Tots


• Cake(Spiderman) and presents(yay!)

I finally launched my redesign at www.evptour.com. I have received great feedback from EVP President/Owner Ross Balling and the people at Corona Light(the tour's primary sponsor). I will post screenshots of the old site and the new site so you can really appreciate the difference. I learned a lot through this process and know that I have a lot more to learn but I definitely appreciate the experience!

Thanks to everyone that helped out along the way...Especially Jenn, the ever-supportive wife and love of my life.

Here is how things wrapped up on the last morning:

I know everyone has been anxiously awaiting the recap of my last full day in the lab as a rat.

After a lot of laying around and boredom on day one I wasn't prepared for the blood draw onslaught on the morning of day two.

Rules of Engagement is a damn funny show people.

Lab rat, huh? That's right, I volunteered(paid volunteering) for some poking and prodding fun courtesy of Quintiles. The drug they are researching is a drug to help symptoms for gastro-intestinal disorders (IBS!). Apparently what they are currently attempting to track is how the drug enters and exits your blood stream and what side effects the drug has.

I am hoping Peyton wins, all the signs point towards an Indy win(in my opinion)....So that obviously means that the Bears win by a field goal.

Update...As I type, Devin Hester - TD return.

Another update...no super bowl shuffle this year. It was a refreshing super bowl - lots of action and the result that we were hoping for. The Bears can take it down next year, get Lovie locked up for a long time!

I am sure everyone has seen and heard the DirecTV advertising recently talking about how they will be offering a gazillion HD channels very soon. I have, so I started doing a little research. On the DirecTV site they have a function to look up whether your zip code offers local HD programming. A year ago when we moved into our new house here in Gardner, that was not an option. What we had to do was sign some waiver form and hope that our local affiliates would allow us to receive East Coast HD Local Channels. The only one that did was FOX. The only current local channel we have is FOX(that is New York Local). Jenn and I had researched the Off-Air antennas and we were in the Medium-Multi-Directional area which was going to be over $100 for the antenna and additional $ for cables and a dish rotator. Not to mention that I would have to install it and risk electrocution...Done that before, totally overrated. Anyway, when searching our zip code it came back that we indeed could receive local KC channels in HD...BEEEEAUTIFUL!!! Thanks for the heads up DirecTV, thanks for nothing. I was just happy that we didn't fork out the money for the off-air deal, so excitement level = high. Call up DirecTV to find out what I need to do. The guy says it is no problem, I just need a new 5 LNB dish instead of the 3 LNB dish that I currently have. Uh oh...How much is that going to cost?? He says it is free with subscription to local channels and the HD package. Nice. Much Praise.

Last week Austin was named the Computer Tots' "Student of the week". He is the youngest student enrolled in Computer Tots at the La Petite in Shawnee. He got his picture posted on the wall with a flattering description of why he was chosen as the student of the week. For a kid yet to turn 3, he navigates through games using the mouse pretty well.

So for Austin "Way to go bud!".

Also, Austin and Taylor have been making great strides(or strokes) in their swim classes. Taylor was able to retrieve a diving ring for the first time yesterday during her class. If you had been there for her first class a year and a half ago you would realize what a milestone that is. She has a pretty strong backstroke and always improving front stroke(working on the breathing).
Austin is still a psycho in the water and loves splashing around all class long. He is fearless, which can be scary for us at times, but he is becoming a pretty good little swimmer.