More Cowbell!

I used my birthday cash (Thanks everyone!) to get a cowbell (and cymbal and tambourine) for the drum set. Gotta have a cowbell! The boys were very excited - the first song we played on Rockband 3 was Don't Fear the Reaper. It's amazing how much louder real percussion instruments are compared to rubber ones.

New Rug

For my b-day, we went on an adventure to Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha. Our mission: find a rug for the living room. Not only did we find one, but we were able to stuff it in JP's car and take it home with us.

The animals all lent a paw to help us unroll and position it.

Vitamin D Production in January

We have been blessed with some excellent weather this winter. Most of the storms have passed by us to the East and left us with sunshine and blue skies. There's nothing like soaking in some warmth and taking a nap in the blazing sun.

The animals are no different. L follows spots of sun throughout the day.

60 degrees in January!! Love it!

January Birthdays

January is Birthday Month for us. Three out of four of us celebrate growing older in the first month of the new year. This year for BG's special day, we hit a new Italian place by Menard's where Bennigan's used to be. Very tasty!

For JP's day, we hit the Cracker Barrel. The boys love the portion sizes there. GP is into biscuits and gravy now. It's amazing how good some foods taste once you try them.

For my special day, we stopped off at Granite City in Omaha. The boys don't eat from the kids' menu anymore.

Respect the Keytar

One of our musical X-Mas gifts was Rockband 3 with a Keytar. The boys have seen keytars in old 80s videos, but were clueless about how they work. Now they know. It's a bit more tricky to play than the plastic guitars with four buttons. I'm looking forward to jamming along with some fun tunes.

Lazy Dogs

We babysat the boys next door for a few days. JP taught them that the most comfortable place in the house when a lap is unavailable is our bed.

Lap Animals of Christmas

L's favorite pastime is to shed fun in my office. Doesn't matter who is petting her, as long as she can fill my office with fur.

The boys next door just want to sit in a lap. Any lap will do, especially Nana's.

Christmas 2013

We had the usual gang here for X-Mas again. We were blessed with perfect weather and no snow. It's nice having a white Christmas, but given the choice, I'd rather have a sunny warm holiday.

CP makes everyone look short in family photos now. GP isn't far behind.

Festivus Party

Our friends from across the street moved out and some new friends moved in. The G's are headed out to the country to live in a big house with a cement pond. They came over last Friday for our Festivus/Christmas gathering. We had both sets of new neighbors plus the D's from next door. It was a fun time for all. This year we managed to get the Festivus pole up on the deck.

XMas Tree Helpers

JP had more help than she asked for setting up the Christmas Tree. The tree skirt is much more fun to play with now that the carpet is gone. It doesn't take much effort to move it around and make it look bad.

 

Christmas Play

CP had to write a review of a play, so we went to see A Christmas Carol at Wesleyan University. It was awesome! All of us enjoyed it and had fun. Tickets for all of us were only $30. That and the lack of popcorn and cokes made the for an affordable evening compared to going to the movies that usually rob us of $60. I would much rather see another play here than a movie. We have our own movie theatre at home with snacks.

Helpful Cat

Both cats like to help JP with her iPad. In this case, they are playing JP's favorite game: Plants vs. Zombies.

1st Snow

December gave us our first snowstorm. It was 6 inches of nice non-windblown powder.

It's so nice that the boys are able and willing to shovel this year.

 

 

Clubbing in Lanark

We made our annual trek to IL for Thanksgiving. On day one, JP's cousin invited us to the local dive bar for some nightlife. "See you there at 9:30" she said. That's getting close to our bed time. The band was awesome, and we (JP's cousin and I) danced the night away until 1:00.

Day two was Thanksgiving @ S&B's house. As usual, dinner was fantastic. The kids all played video games until BD hooked up Rock Band in the living room. Everyone took turns singing and playing. We didn't leave until 1:00. Two late nights in a row.

Nana took over S&B's cat Walter. His favorite spot is in someone's lap or sometimes in the linen closet where he can disperse grey fur much more efficiently.

Homework Helper

L's favorite spot is sitting in my lap as I try to do homework. This semester, she has had more than a few opportunities.

Her other favorite spots are a warm laundry basket, the space in bed between our pillows, and the kitchen counter above the dishwasher while it's running. She's one of those cats that would seek out a warm engine compartment in a car.

Icy Start

Our winter started with a day of freezing rain. It took ten minutes of chopping to free the windows of ice.

Totally Tubular

JP's cousin gave me a tube hi-fi amp last year at Thanksgiving. It was missing two tubes and sat around for way too long. I told him I'd get it working for him if I could try it out. After much searching, I found the tubes it needed and bought them on Amazon. They are made in Russia, where tubes are alive and well.

Tube amps have a hard-core cult following of audiophiles. Supposedly tubes produce better sound than solid-state transistors. 20 Watts of tube power is reportedly the same as 40 W of transistor power. As an engineer, I just don't buy it; watts are watts. That's like saying 60 mph on a motorcycle is faster than 60 mph in a car. It might seem like you're going faster on a bike, but 60 mph is 60 mph.

There's a certain wow factor about the intricate structure inside the sealed tubes glowing red-hot and making sound. It's almost like having a caged wild animal. I found that the problem with tube amps is that they generate heat. Lots of heat. This one put out at least 1000 Watts of heat. It didn't take long for it to warm my small space to sweat level. I was afraid to leave the room with it on, for fear that one of our heat-seeking fur generators would try to take a nap on top of it. I'd still like to try a 100 W Marshall guitar tube amp with a big stack of speakers, but the way they are priced, I don't see that happeneing any time soon.

Spartan Invitational

The Michigan State Spartans may have buried us in Memorial Stadium, but CP triumphed at the Spartan Invitational at Lincoln East.

Tailgating vs. MSU

Our neighbor to the north gave us her tickets to the Michigan State game. GP didn't want to go again, and CP had a speech tournament, so I took CG. It was a picture perfect day for a football game: sunny and 50-something with no wind. Too bad the Huskers were not interested in playing football that day.

The Spartans took the wind out of our sails after forcing four turnovers in our first four possessions. We left at halftime to quench our thirst and ended up staying at the tailgate party in the parking lot. There was food, beer, wide-screen TVs, and a fun crowd.

Circle of Excellence

2013 has been a busy year both at work and at home. My friend at work and I have been working on a cool R&D project that will let us look at how mowers cut grass in a new light. He nominated me for a Circle of Excellence award and I received it. It's a pretty sweet bronze eagle. Now that I have one on my desk, I finally feel like one of the gang at work.