Improv Everywhere

If you enjoy comedy then check out this website when you get a chance.

http://improveverywhere.com/

You can also access their youtube videos here.

An improv group combined with their fans play elaborate pranks in public places like parks, malls, subway trains, etc. It reminds me of social experiments that Jen had to do in college but on a much larger scale. Watching the reactions of the unknowing public is great.

Check it out when you have a few.

Down with Diapers

So after being jobless now for a few weeks I am looking for whatever ways possible to cut costs around here. Since his 3rd birthday in Mach we have been trying to potty train Aaron. As of late he has been doing increasingly well with it. Thursday while Jen was at work I decided to be brave and put our furniture and carpet on the front lines of potty training. I went upstairs and got a pair of underpants for Aaron and put them on him. He was so excited to be wearing big boy undies like his older brother Brendan. So far so good. At nighttime he has been dry but I will be giving that some more time. Hopefully by the end of the summer he can be completely out of diapers altogether. This should save a pack of diapers every week. Hopefully I did not just jinx myself.

Thank You EPA

Surfing the net I came across a photo blog outlining some pollution problems that plague other countries around the world. How people can live like this is boggles my mind.

http://gigapica.geenstijl.nl/2009/05/mooi_milieu.html

Another mass update

So here is what has been going on with our family over the past couple months

• Brendan started and finished playing soccer. It was a six game season for his age group. Brendan ended up scoring the first goal on his team, albeit in the 5th game of the season. Jen and I are very proud parents. It is a great feeling to see your kid smile and be so excited after doing something great like that.
• Jen and I are in the process of trying to potty train Aaron. He is starting to get the hang of it but there is still a long way to go. He likes to be stubborn. He is now telling us when he has to go about 50% of the time.
• Brendan is finishing up his 2nd year of preschool and moving on to Kindergarten next year.
• Not only does Justin look like his older brothers but he is now no longer an innocent baby. He is getting into everything just like his older mentors.
• Jen is still baffling the medical community with her numerous body malfunctions. She had her shoulder surgery the first week of May and is recovering slowly. Now her hips are in excruciating pain. She may be 27 but her pill age is 72. If I didn't know any better I would believe CVS moved into one of our kitchen cabinets.
• My allergies have appeared to clear up for the most part. Thank god.
• I got to go to my first concert last Saturday. A friend got Jen and I some free tickets to Rock on the Range in Columbus. Unfortunately we were only able to catch one band, Alice in Chains, but it was a good one. We didn't stick around for the final act, Slipknot. Alice in Chains was great to see though, very good music.
• Mostly everyone knows I got my widescreen computer monitor. Still loving it.
• Took the boys to Touch a Truck. Got some attitude from the oldest about it. We told the boys we had a surprise for them and didn't tell them until we got there. When Brendan found out he put on his frowny face and said "this is boring". He was hoping to go to a park. He and his brothers ended up having a good time though.
  

There's the door...

After 5 1/2 years at WD Partners as a Civil Engineer, I was let go on Friday afternoon. As the cliche goes, "The writing was on the wall." The workload for our department has slowly declined over the past several months. I just finished a couple projects with no replacements in the foreseeable future. If there is a bright side to all this, maybe it is that I might be able to find something different to renew the excitement I had initially for this career path and possibly relocate to a different part of the country. Jen and I have always talked about moving to the Carolinas. Who knows though.

Since Friday I have updated my cover letters and resumes (dependant on the job), created new and updated old profiles on the Internet job boards, sought out my references, and filed for unemployment which will take about 4 weeks to go through. Tonight I even applied for a position in Washington D.C.

Let the job search begin. I am NOT looking forward to the interview process again.

Love/Hate with Craigslist

Jen and I are avid Craigslist followers always looking for good deals. Jen and I have also posted several items for sale. Overall we have had good experiences utilizing the internet garage sale. However we have also had our fair share of bad experiences.

Some of my pet peeves are

• When I post and the response I get is along the lines of "I would like to buy this, call me at ..."
  
• Selling an item out from under me. I was in the persons parking lot trying to find their apartment. I call him up and ask where it is and he says oh I already sold that. This was of course after he told me I could buy it.
  
• Selling an item for $30 and the buyer shows up with two twenties.
• Another instance was when someone told me they wanted to buy something several days in a row and continued to never to show up.
  
• The size limit of pictures restricted to 150 kb a picture. Whos camera takes a picture that small these days. I have to go to through the trouble of shrinking the image down. Now I just post to an online album and provide the link.

Anyone else have any good rants about Craigslist?

Spring is here...temporarily

I know it will inevitably get cold out again but it is still a nice break from all the cold. It is nice to be able to get outside finally. We grilled out for the first time last night and cooked up the traditional cheeseburgers and hot dogs. Everyone enjoyed it. We also have all the windows open to let some fresh air in finally. I am also starting to think about what projects I want to work on outside this year. The boys have been getting to go outside and play. We were all out in the front yard playing catch and soccer and riding the bikes. Zeke loves it outside and never wants to be inside. This is his first spring so it's a new experience for him.