Same Bob, Different Day...

Some stuff(ed animal) that is on my mind…

2011-08-18T14:38:00.002-06:00

Listen,

I often feel that Brady, my oldest, inherited most of my less-than-desirable characteristics. The worst of which is my ability to worry. Many people who know my family know that I come from a long line of worriers. This may best be demonstrated by our obsessive door locking. If you were to go to my parents' house right now, I can guarantee that all of the doors will be locked. Frequently, somebody will go out to grab something from their car only to return to a locked door. I am sure my dad can tell you many stories about being locked out while barbequing in the front yard or after shoveling the snow off the driveway. The best part is, nobody (besides my dad) really gets upset about getting locked out because we have all been guilty of locking somebody out. It is a reflex to lock any and all unlocked doors that we see. I have also been known to excuse myself from the table while eating at a restaurant or run out during a shopping trip just to make sure I locked the car. Shocking isn't it. I love keyless entry because it saves me from having to walk all the way to the car to check. What a great invention.

So Brady is our worrier. Every time we get on the freeway to go anywhere, Brady will ask in a very concerned voice if we are going the right way. Even if we are on our way home from some place he always asks just to make sure. On longer trips, he has to be reassured multiple times that yes, dad knows the way and that we are not lost. His propensity for worrying has led him to have a very unique bedtime preparation procedure. After we read stories and brush teeth, I go through a mental checklist to make sure everything is done or I know he will be marching out of his room to have me fix whatever I forgot to do. Here is the checklist:

1. Close the closet

2. Close the blinds and curtains

3. Place blanket over his castle*

4. Turn on the night light

5. Turn on his music**

6. Make sure the CD player is on repeat***

7. Make sure he has his 2 favorite stuffed animals, Shamu and his polar bear named Blueberry****

8. Turn on the fan*****

9. Turn on Star Wars light saber night light******

10. No cats in the room

11. Door closed all the way as I leave

* I think it casts weird shadows or is possessed or something.

** This started last Christmas when we would turn on a CD of Christmas songs for him to listen to as he fell asleep

*** If he happened to stay awake for the whole CD he would come ask us to turn it on again. Instead of teaching him how to do it himself, we started putting it on repeat and letting it play all night. Now the music has to be on all the time just in case he happens to wake up in the middle of the night. .

****Not sure where the name Blueberry came from. He keeps one on either side of him in his bed to act as both pillow and body guard. Also, if either Shamu or Blueberry cannot be located (which happens more often that you can imagine), he has a cougar who can step in as a backup. He refers to this cougar as "Emergency Puma". Did you know the scientific name for a cougar is Puma concolor?

***** Summer time only in winter we sometimes use a space heater if it is really cold.

****** Yes, this is a second night light, but this one turns itself off after 10 minutes, so it is not acceptable as his only night light, but it is too cool not to use.

I take full blame for all of this and will pay for any and all therapy that is needed down the road

Before I get into my main story, the main reason for me telling you the above information, there are 2 more pieces of information you need to know:

Item #1: Evan (the 2, almost 3 year old) has a creaky door; you know, squeaky hinges. Hana and I decided to leave them this way so we can hear him when he gets out of bed. He usually does this at least twice after he's been put in bed and the squeaky hinges allow us to go downstairs and still hear him when he gets up. If he is not intercepted, he'll just wander around and play with toys.

Item #2: Sokols are also very good at storing things. My mom has kept a lot of stuff from my childhood which I absolutely love and appreciate. Of the many things that she kept and that I now have are a few of my favorite stuffed animals. Two teddy bears, Light Brownie and Dark Brownie, were always my favorites and a while back I let Brady put them with his stuffed animal collection.

Now to the story: Two days ago we had a dilemma. Shamu had gotten dirty; spilled on during some other activity and Emergency Puma was somehow left in Evan's room. Evan was already asleep (allegedly) and I was not about to risk opening his door which would wake him up. Brady has a closet full of other stuffed animals; another characteristic he inherited from me. Since he uses his stuffed animals as pillows at night they have to be the right size and softness to be accepted as a bed partner; Shamu, Blueberry, and Emergency Puma are the best for this. After trying and dismissing several other stuffed animals, I decided to have him try Light Brownie, my old teddy bear. After a few adjustments, Brady was content with Light Brownie as his companion for the night. After a final wish for sweet dreams I closed his door content that everything was right with the world. Then about 5 minutes later, Evan came sneaking out of his room, the rascal. I took this chance to grab Emergency Puma from Evan's room. I then peeked in on Brady, whose door does not squeak, and saw that he was still awake so I gave him Emergency Puma and set Light Brownie on his desk. I felt like such a great dad recovering the cougar and saving the day (night).

Last night however, as we were preparing for bedtime, Brady informed me that he actually preferred my old teddy bear to Emergency Puma and that he had in fact traded back after I returned the cougar the night before. This was turning into such a sweet, touching moment between father and son, special moment in our lives. Here is the conversation that followed:

Me: "Do you remember my old bear's name?"

Brady: "I decided to call him Thunder."

Me: politely "His name is Light Brownie"

Brady: puzzled look

Me: "That is the name I gave him when I was a little boy, Light Brownie, you know like the brownies you eat, but since Dark Brownie was darker I named him Dark Brownie and this bear is Light Brownie."

Brady: with his puzzled look on his face, "That is not a very good name, I like Thunder better."

Me: getting a bit agitated and defensive, "Well, his name is Light Brownie, it has been for over 30 years."

Brady: "I think that I will call him Thunder, we can just call him different names."

Me: choking back tears of fury and/or devastation, "Um… okay I guess."

Brady then proceeded to body slam ~~poor Light Brownie~~ Thunder onto the bed and giggle in delight. At that moment something inside me shattered.

Cursive sucks part 2

2011-08-03T14:43:00.002-06:00

Listen,

I got really worked up yesterday about cursive and the fact that it is useless. I find that I am being consumed by this topic; I am festering like a bed sore. If I keep dwelling on cursive, I might just undo the years of therapy that have made me the calm, pacifist that I am today. I know I need to move on and accept that people want to live in the past, but before doing so here are a couple more gems form the article's comments section:

"I don't know how the students of today will know how to read cursive writing unless they learn how to write it. If anyone ever wants to be a historian moving forward if cursive is not taught in school, then they will have to go and try to find some resource to teach it to them [sic]. While I personally hate writing in cursive other than my signature, learning it has helped me better identify other's poor handwriting and allowed me to be able to read older documents and letters that I wouldn't be able to otherwise.

Hooray for cursive!" What the hell...? We are going to have to break this down a bit more:

"If anyone ever wants to be a historian moving forward if cursive is not taught in school, then they will have to go and try to find some resource to teach it to them." From what I gather, this person thinks that we should continue to teach every child cursive just in case somebody wants to become a historian. Maybe those few individuals that want to be historians could learn cursive in historian school while learning to be a historian and stop wasting everybody else's time. Using this person's logic, we should teach all children how to do brain surgery just in case one of them wants to be a brain surgeon. If we don't teach them brain surgery in 3^rd grade, they'll just have to find another resource to teach it to them.

"While I personally hate writing in cursive other than my signature, learning it has helped me better identify other's poor handwriting…" First, let me get this straight; you hate writing in cursive, but want to force your children to do it. This sounds like child abuse to me. Second, as previously discussed, signatures are not cursive. Third, this moron claims that one of the benefits of learning cursive is that it has given them the ability to "better identify other's poor handwriting." What an amazing skill to have. I would imagine that identifying other's bad handwriting is very gratifying. I can think of nothing I'd like to be able to do more than sit around and point out bad handwriting to untrained individuals. Maybe they would be willing to teach a community education class at the local rec center. My only counterargument is that I don't have to learn to play the violin to know when somebody is playing it badly.

"Hooray for cursive!" Go f#@% yourself.

"It's not about cursive writing. It's about the development of a human being, and yes, cursive writing should remain in the curriculum because it develops the wholeness of a human being in ways other activities do not." Wait, what? Is this person really trying to say that learning cursive makes you a better human being? Do they really think that learning cursive "develops the wholeness of a human being in ways other activities do not?" For real? I will have to keep this in mind when I die and face judgment. Here is how it will go:

Him: I see here that you watched football on Sunday, drank Coke, listened to Tool, and used foul language on occasion. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Me: "Well, I did learn cursive in third grade."

Him: "Well why didn't you say so, come on in."

If what this person is saying is true then I shudder to think of the person I would have been today if I hadn't learned cursive as a child…truly terrifying.

Cursive Sucks...

2011-08-02T14:43:00.001-06:00

Listen,

I just finished reading a ridiculous article on ksl.com. The article asks the question: "Should Kids Still Learn Cursive Writing?" I don't even want to link to it because of the stupidity of it, but for your "enjoyment" here is the link. The article quotes Granite School District literacy coach Tricia Bromka in support of teaching cursive. I do not know Tricia Bromka nor do I know what qualifies her to be a "literacy coach". What I do know, is that she makes some very weak arguments for why cursive should be taught in our schools. The following are some of her arguments (in bold) and my response to that argument:

1. "If you don't allow access to that form of writing, then you are taking away knowledge and knowledge is power" You're kidding right? We don't teach our children how to build bombs or cook methamphetamine in school either, so I guess by withholding that knowledge we are depriving them of additional power.

2. "One report showed writing in cursive helps your brain … handwriting is connected to higher-order thinking skills. If you are struggling over how to write every time, your fluency goes down." I can show you one report to prove just about anything…how about a reference? And if you are concerned about kids "struggling over how to write every time" how about not teaching them a worthless way to write.

3. "Some boys may never master cursive, but fluent writing is important." Why is it important again? And I am not one to play the "sexist card" but this statement really rubs me the wrong way.

4. "People should still be able to read cursive, as there are many documents out there written in cursive." First off, being able to read cursive and being able to write cursive are 2 very different things. Anybody who has had a child knows that they can learn to recognize and read letters and numbers far before they have the ability to write them. Also, there are many documents written in Chinese and Russian, but we are not teaching those to our children.

5. "You need to expose them to different writing, have them be able to practice, but for their own fluency and mastery, they need explicit instruction on where they are in their developmental stage" I'm not really sure what she is trying to say here. It almost seems to me that she is arguing against teaching cursive in schools since not all children will be at the correct "developmental stage" to learn it. I'm not sure though, at this point it seems like children will continue to learn cursive because some lady thinks it's a good idea.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I am against teaching cursive in school. Cursive is an illegible form of writing. In fact, in Washington (state) a law was passed in 2006 which states, "If a prescription isn't hand-printed, typed or electronically generated, it can't be filled." It is essentially illegal for doctors to write prescriptions in cursive.

Here is a sampling of the comments that people shared in support of cursive:

- "I think we need to teach the basics of the fundamentals, this being one of them ! [sic]" When did cursive become fundamental? And what exactly does the writer mean by "the basics of the fundamentals" anyway? What a dolt…

- "Sometimes learning is done simply for the sake of learning and each piece of knowledge enriches our lives … You will NEVER waste your time learning something new!" I feel obliged to bring up making bombs and cooking meth again.

- "Children need to be able to Read cursive, the best way to learn is to be able to read and write it. Therefore it should be taught. I think that sums it all up." Boy, I'd like to see this guys solution to world hunger… "People are hungry, they should be able to eat, the best way to eat is with food. Therefore they should get food. I think that sums it all up."

- "I think it's important to have good handwriting skills. I treasure the pieces of handwriting that I have found since my parents have died. Yes, the keyboard skills are important, but they don't leave a lasting example of someone." And how exactly does printing not fulfill your desire to leave a lasting impression? My printing style is just as unique as my cursive style. I do like to go back and see my grandma's writing in recipe books and old letters, but her writing would still exist without cursive.

- "You need cursive to sign your own name on documents. Yes, it is still needed." No you don't. Most people use something that has elements of cursive, but it is certainly not cursive. Having or using a signature that is plain, outright cursive would be no more unique that the way you print your name. Signatures are as unique as the individual wants it to be. They are certainly not cursive

- And finally this:

"And I guess next question is should we teach basic arithmetic? After all everyone has a calculator in their cell phone." Comparing learning how to write in cursive to learning basic arithmetic is one of the single most asinine things I have ever heard.

Makers of Trouble

2011-07-23T09:42:00.001-06:00

Listen,
Those that know my kids know that Evan likes to create trouble. Here he is with his cast from earlier this summer.

And here he is just before getting the pins removed when the cast came off

So the trouble-making abilities of Evan have never been in doubt, but now I am starting to worry about Bronson...

He likes to try to slither under the gate at the top of the stairs

Unable to quit...

2011-07-14T21:40:00.002-06:00

Listen,

I am willing to admit defeat here. On 6/28/11 I said that I was done with Facebook. After spending several days of not going to Facebook, I have decided that Facebook plays an integral part of my life. What drove me back was the following string of events

First, was sharing the following picture with my sister-in-law Kristin:

Second was a comment on said shared picture from my Aunt Joia telling me that she did not want me to quit facebook. I had no idea she cared. I was touched.

Third, I found this really great quote from Stephen King that I wanted to share:

"Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend."

And to complete the comeback, one of my favorite Brazilian mission companions sent me a friend request.

I know I am leaving myself vulnerable to a lot of “told you so” remarks, but so it goes. So what I have decided to do is to “clean up” my facebook situation and get rid of all the clutter. I realize that facebook is as good or bad as you make it and I make it better.

Back from Vacation

2011-07-11T16:41:00.002-06:00

Listen,

I just got back from vacation. We went up to Washington for a family reunion and to stay a few days with Hana's brother Marcus and his family. Here are a few things I wanted to share about going on this trip.

1. Here is an excerpt of nearly every conversation I had when telling somebody where I was going on vacation:

-Random Person: "Where are you going on vacation?
-Me: "Washington"

-Random Person: "State?"

-Me: "Yes."

Now, if I were going to take a trip to our nation's capital, the conversation would go like this:
-Random person: "Where are you going on vacation?"

-Me: "Washington D.C."

Maybe it's just me, but when somebody says "Washington" I assume state unless they tell me otherwise. I don't know…

2. This is what Brady had to say whilst ~~urinating on~~ watering some wildflowers on the side of I-90 somewhere in Montana: "This is a lot like a water fountain, only grosser."

3. Free hotel breakfast is one of my favorite things. On one occasion I ate 3 Belgian waffles, one breakfast burrito, (eggs, bacon, and sausage), and two biscuits with country gravy. I washed this all down with 5 glasses of POG (passion fruit, orange, and guava) juice. Using IHOP's online menu as a resource, I figure I ate upwards of $30 of food that morning. Not to mention what the boys and Hana ate. I bet we took them for $50 that day. Take that Best Western Plus Kennewick Inn.

4. Red Vines and Swedish Fish are my 2 favorite snacks to eat in the car.

5. I hate people that do not understand how to drive on a 2 lane highway. This seemed to occur more frequently in Utah than in Idaho, Oregon, Washington (state), or Montana.

6/28/11

2011-06-28T11:18:00.001-06:00

Listen,

First, we have had sick kids all week. Evan got his cast off a week ago and he started acting/being sick that night. I thought that we were all better on Sunday, but that is not the case. Nobody threw up on Sunday, but on Monday Brady was back at it. He (Brady) is the funniest kid. He walks around the house with a bowl and just pukes into it as needed and just keeps on going. He would make a great bulimic, since he doesn't seem to mind vomiting all that much. We bought a bunch of Powerade to keep him hydrated. His favorite flavor is fruit punch, so he has been puking a lot of red, which is kinda fun especially if you are a member of the Sokol family and have heard about Jeff puking Shasta fruit punch into the console of our Bronco during a blizzard in Yellowstone National Park. It is a great story if you haven't heard it.

Second, I am done with facebook. I have had a roller coaster relationship with facebook since I first signed up whenever that was. There has been some good times, but like most roller coasters, I fell like I just spent too much time standing in line, and by standing in line I mean reading crap that people post and trying to think of some witty response. I just deleted the facebook app from by ipod, seriously I just did. I stopped typing, picked up my ipod and deleted it. I just don't care what all these "friends" are doing all the time. I am very proud of my wife for never joining facebook. She will most likely never read this, but I am sorry for making fun of her for not joining. She was right all along (as usual). As I type this, I find it interesting that Microsoft Word does not recognize "facebook" or "Facebook" as words. So if anybody has anything they want to share with me, such as song lyrics, pictures of your "cute" kids, or other vital information you will have to find another way.

Third, I have friends and family who work at two different pharmacies that have been held up at gunpoint for Oxycontin in the last few weeks. If you are one of the people doing this please stop, you are making a bad decision. (Note: I am referring to both the people doing the gun pointing as well as the people working in retail pharmacies.)

Best Food Blog

2011-03-28T23:55:00.000-06:00

Listen,
Check out the Sokol Family Favorites Cookbook Blog here
http://sokolfamilyfavorites.blogspot.com/
My sister-in-law Jacquelynn put this together and it is amazing. You honestly can throw all your other cookbooks away now that you have this.
Some favorites include:

My grandma's apple pie
My baby back ribs
Hana's Chocolate Revel Bars
Jacquelynn's Sopa de Lima

and many many more...

Jimmer...

2011-03-23T23:55:00.000-06:00

Listen,
Or should I say look...

This picture on the cover of the most recent Sports Illustrated.

I haven't posted much about Jimmer, but I must say that he has me actually caring about basketball, which has NEVER happened before in my life.

Go COUGS!!!

Just a couple of things...

2011-02-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

Listen,

It happened again, just now.... I walk into the restroom and there is somebody sitting in one of the stalls having a conversation on their cell phone. There is a very short list of things that should ever happen in a bathroom stall and talking on your cell phone is not on that list. Now that I think about it, I hope this guy was talking on their cell phone and not something else. I give each and every one of you my word that I will not carry on a phone conversation with any of you while I am sitting on a toilet.

Now for something that has been bugging me for a while now...

I think all songs by the band Sugar Ray should be banned from the radio. I admit, I bought their CD in the late 90s like so many other people, but when a song by that band comes while I'm driving, I feel the need to drive my car into oncoming traffic while vomiting. I continue to love a lot of 90s music, but their stuff is utter crap.

That's enough for now

Disappointing snacktime

2011-02-24T15:07:00.001-07:00

Listen,

I admit it, I am not a healthy person. I eat food that is bad for me and most of the time I don't even feel bad about it. Sure, there are days that I eat 36 chicken McNuggets for dinner and then regret it at 3 in the morning (perhaps a story for another time), but after taking a couple Tums-Smooth Relief, I go back to bed and feel fine.

I buy a lot of crap out of the vending machines at work. I am pretty sure if I stopped buying from them, the guy could restock it once a month and nobody would be the wiser. There is a reason that Diet Mountain Dew is always the soda to be sold out first and there are never any Hostess apple or cherry pies in there for more than 12 hours. Somtimes though, I don't want a sweet treat. I need something salty, something like a bag of FRITOS Brand Chili Cheese Flavored Corn Chips. Just listen (or read) what it says on the back of the package: "With a rich, hearty chili & cheese flavor and powerful crunch, FRITOS Corn Chips are an unmistakable all-American Original. Nothing Satisfies like FRITOS BRAND." If you have not tried these, you are missing out on one of the better chili & cheese flavored snacks available on the market today...

At least that is how it used to be...

Recently, and by recently I mean the last 4 bags that I have purchased, I have noticed that there seems to be less chili cheese flavored goodness in every bag. It is not that there are fewer Fritos in each bag, I am quite confident that the number has remained constant. What I am refering to is the amount of seasoning, or chili cheese dust, known as CCD, on the Fritos Brand corn chips themselves. I have come to this conclusion because there does not seem to be as much CCD on my finger tips when I finish a bag. Each finger tip used to possess a bounty of CCD to enjoy once the Fritos were all consumed. Lately however, I feel that my finger tips are nearly as clean as before I had feasted on the Fritos Brand corn chips. I was going to write to Frito-Lay Inc and inquire about the amount of CCD being used in their product, but I fear I may not be able to handle the truth. They have a toll-free hotline for questions or comments, open weekdays from 9 to 4:30 central time, but I just can't bring myself to make the call.

I guess I'll try the TGI Friday's Brand Chedder and Bacon Flavored Potato Skins next time...

An update...

2011-01-10T14:40:00.002-07:00

Listen,

I have decided to provide a progress report regarding my six New Year's resolutions that I presented to you earlier.

1. Empty my cats' litter box three times a week.

This one was a terrible disaster this week. On more than one occasion I thought to myself, "Bob, you need to clean out the cats' litter box." Sadly, I was overcome with laziness and only did this once this week. This may not seem like a very big deal to you non-cat-owners, but I have 2 cats and a relatively small litter box for them. I can't imagine flushing my toilets only once a week, but maybe I'll should try that, just so I know how it makes the cats feel.

2. Organize my Star Wars toy collection

I made a little bit of progress with this one. I purchased some small plastic Tupperware-type containers to help store some of the small weapons and other assorted accessories. I previously was using some small plastic bowels from Ikea that I had found in our kitchen cupboard, but apparently the kids needed them for food or some such. I think these new Tupperware-type plastic storage containers will work nicely. They are about the size of a standard shoebox, but only about 2 inches deep. The lids snap on very tightly, which is what drew me to purchase them in the first place.

3. Cook more

Saturday, I made my first recipe out of my new Bobby Flay cookbook. It was a Spanish-rubbed chicken with a parsley and mint sauce. It was pretty tasty. Brady was not a fan at first, but after pouring some salt on it, he said it was pretty good. The best part about cooking was that Hana did the dishes, which is my job when she cooks dinner.

4. Reuse the same cup several times rather than get another cup dirty.

On Saturday, I was watching the Colts-Jets playoff game and went upstairs to get another Coke Zero. I then realized that I left my cup downstairs. So, instead of getting a new cup, I actually walked back downstairs and got my old cup and then went back up for more soda. In retrospect, I should have just taken the 2-liter bottle back downstairs with me…what was I thinking?!? I am making an effort here, but it is not as easy as I thought it would be.

5. Get more sleep.

No real progress here… I did actually try to go to sleep at 11:15 last night, but stayed up playing ipod games until 1:30, which leads me to #6.

[s]6. Obtain three stars on every available level of Angry Birds on my ipod[/s]

After trying to get three starts on a few levels this week, I was unsuccessful and actually went to youtube.com where you can watch videos of people achieving a 3-star score on every level, so you can mimic what they do. After doing this for a couple of tricky levels, I decided that I had hit a new low in my life by doing this. I have since shifted my focus to "Tiny Chef" and "Mega Jump". I am officially crossing #6 off of my list of resolutions.

Resolution revolution

2011-01-04T15:25:00.001-07:00

Listen,

Many of you fine people may have given up on me… well maybe not given up on me, but given up on my blog. Sadly, I just don't possess a lot of the anger/frustration/rage/fury that I had back when this blog started and I was dealing with idiots and morons on a daily basis. Nowadays, I only have to deal with idiots and morons on my commute, at church, and occasionally at my parents' house when certain family members are present. So I apologize for that I guess.

Anyway, at this time of year, people like to talk about New Year's resolutions. I generally hate those people. However, in an attempt to better my life and the lives of those around me, I have made a couple of New Year's resolutions. I thought that sharing them with people may help me stick to these better than if I kept them to myself. Some of these may seem a bit on the trivial side, but they truly are of utmost importance.

1. Empty my cats' litter box three times a week.

2. Organize my Star Wars toy collection

3. Cook more

4. Reuse the same cup several times a day rather than get another cup dirty.

5. Get more sleep.

6. Obtain three stars on every available level of Angry Birds on my ipod

That should just about do it…

Yep, this is going to be one fantastic year.

2011

2011-01-02T22:55:00.001-07:00

Peace 2011 Chocolate New Year's Card

Create personalized holiday cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Off he goes...

2010-08-30T23:47:00.000-06:00

Listen,
So Brady started Kindergarten today...kinda crazy if you ask me. Perhaps more crazy is that he is attending Kindergarten at the very same school where I attended Kindergarten. Like sand through the hourglass...these are the days of our lives.
I am very glad that Hana was emotionally stable enough to take him to school this morning, because I was a wreck. Anyway, the picture below is outside the school with his cousins, Olivia and Oceana, who I believe are in sixth and fourth grade. It is fun for him to go to the same school they do...I never went to school with any cousins until I went to BYU.

It was very strange to hold baby Bronson today and remember so vividly when Brady was so tiny and helpless and here he is starting school. From all accounts he did really well and is even excited about taking the bus. He is truly an amazing kid and I am a very proud dad.

And so it begins.

Brady, Evan, _________!!! Come up for dinner!!!

2010-07-30T09:14:00.001-06:00

Listen,

The baby is due in less than 2 weeks… yes, less than 2 weeks. If I were hand-writing this blog post, you would see how badly my hands are shaking right now. I am nearly in full panic mode… maybe about 85% of capacity.

Let's go through my list of things to get done before the baby is born:

- Trade in the X-terra (and my soul) for a minivan…check*

- Move easy-E into Brady's room…check

- Buy a new carseat…check

- Get baby clothes and stuff out of storage…check (Hana did most of this)

- Figure out the work situation…check

- Decide on a name for the baby… … … …D'oh!

What to name him… that is a tough one. Brady's name was decided on within an hour of the ultrasound when we found out we were having a boy. Evan took a little longer, but I'm pretty sure we knew at least 2 or 3 months before he arrived. This child, this poor nameless child…

Hana and I have been going back and forth and side to side and up and down on names for this baby. We've scoured the interweb, read dozens of baby name books (well, Hana has anyway). We've had it narrowed down to 2 names at least 10 times, but without fail, one of us decides to veto one or both names and we start all over. I am getting desperate…I am open to suggestions, but don't want anything stupid or lame, so go ahead and share your thoughts. Who knows, if we end up using your idea, you could maybe even win a prize**.

* I am actually quite surprised how much I like our minivan. I have been meaning to write more about it, but have not yet. For all you guys (and ladies) out there who hate the idea of a minivan let me tell you, I love it. I am not ashamed to say it, I love my minivan. Never thought you'd hear that come out of me did you!?!

**Prize limited to the change I have in my pocket or the value of the empty soda cans sitting on my desk at work if you were to take them to be recycled, whichever is more. I do drink a lot of soda and I am lazy about crushing the cans, so they tend to pile up. This could be a real money making opportunity for you.

Diet Mountain Dew

2010-07-21T01:26:00.000-06:00

Listen,
So I was just about ready to go to bed tonight when I decided to add up how many ounces of Diet Mountain Dew I drank today. For the rest of this post, I will refer to Diet Mountain Dew as DMD. I do not usually call DMD "DMD," but I am now for the sake of saving precious energy on keystrokes. Though now that I think about it, I probably will spend more keystrokes and energy explaining this than if I had just typed out "Diet Mountain Dew" several more times. So, here is my list:
8:30 am: I had a 44 ounce fountain DMD from the gas station near where I work.
11:30 am: I drank one 12 ounce can of DMD. I had finished off my first DMD and I had a Coke Zero after that, so I was back to the DMD at 11:30.
1:30 pm: I drank 1 can of DMD
6:00 pm: I drank a glass of milk with dinner, but had a can of DMD for dessert

8:30 pm: I played ward softball tonight from 7 pm until 8:23pm. Hana was nice enough to buy me a 52 ounce Diet Coke at the gas station near the softball field which I drank during the game (the Diet Coke, not the softball field). When I got home, I filled up my cup with 2 cans of DMD and drank them as well. It was hot outside. In case you were wondering we won 22 to 10.

It is now officially Wednesday, so I can tally my fluid ounces of DMD:
44+12+12+12+24=104. Not too bad eh?

For those of you keeping track at home, I used 262 keystrokes to right out my explanation of using DMD instead of just writing out Diet Mountain Dew. I am not sure if when you capitalize a letter it counts as one or 5 two keystrokes, but for the sake of this blog, I am only counting it as one. "Diet Mountain Dew" takes 17 key strokes (as I count them) without the quotation marks of course, and DMD takes only 3 (as I count them). This is a savings of 14 keystrokes. I used the abbreviation "DMD" 12 times after my explanation of why I was using "DMD" in place of DMD. This includes the one time used during the explanation and two times since adding up my total. I am not counting the times I placed quotation marks around the letters because in those instances, I was not abbreviating DMD as "DMD." Crap, that makes 14 times now I think. Why am I writing this at 1:00am? So, by my calculations, which are slightly impaired at this hour, I

saved 196 keystrokes by using the abbreviation. If you recall, I spent 262 keystrokes writing my explanation so I wasted 66 keystrokes by using the stupid abbreviation. What a freaking waste.

Hey look its Mario Lemieux, the greatest #66 of all time.

I actually had other stuff I was going to include in this post, but lucky for you I am going to stop now. I am really going to regret this tomorrow.

The following is an image of Mathman as seen on Square One TV. I don't belive that this is the real Mathman, but rather an artist's portrayal of Mathman... I hope that will suffice.

T-minus 2 months...

2010-06-11T14:16:00.001-06:00

Listen,

Today is June 11, 2010. You may be asking yourself, "What is the significance of this day?" or "why would Bob blog today of all days?" Let me remind you that in 2 months, we are scheduled to receive another "bundle of joy" into our little family. Yes, only 2 months until the new baby boy is due for delivery. The other day, Brady asked Hana how the baby gets out of her belly. He thought maybe through her mouth. Hana told him it is kind of like magic. Now, I have been by Hana's side during the birth of both Brady (C-section) and Evan (the old fashioned way) … never mind I am not going to go any further with that train of thought.

So with only two months to go I am kinda freaking out a little… just a general low-grade freaking out with occasional exacerbations.

In other happenings…

The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. I am surprised I didn't blog at all during the playoffs. It was great to watch some games with my dad. I had Brady watch with us when they handed the Stanley Cup to the Blackhawk's captain Jonathan Toews (rhymes with haze and phase). He thought it was a cool trophy and asked if anybody ever ate out of the top bowl. From my understanding that has happened on many occations. One member of the Blackhawks, Duncan Keith, lost 7 teeth in a game against the San Jose Sharks during the playoffs. That is just cool.

The cherry tree in my backyard fell over when it snowed back on May 24^th. It was crazy. Our backyard feels bigger now without the tree taking up all the space it did. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the tree, but part of me really likes that it is gone.

The World Cup starts today. I always get a big nostalgic during the World Cup. I was in Brazil for the 1998 World Cup. That was an amazing time to be there. Them folks really like soccer (futebol).

I am tired

Right now I have 8 empty soda cans and 1 unopened soda can on my desk right now. Here is the breakdown:

4 – Coke Zero (empty)

3 – Diet Mountain Dew (empty)

1 – Diet Mountain Dew: Code Red (empty)

1 – Coke Zero (unopened)

I will stop wasting your time.

Nine Years…

2010-04-30T12:17:00.001-06:00

Listen,

I graduated from High School in 1996. I graduated from Pharmacy School in 2005. That means that it took me nine years to graduate from college. Granted, I took a couple years off and talked around southern Brasil, but still. Looking back at those nine years, they seemed to last an eternity (some more than others). The first years seemed like 7 years and the second year seemed like 5 years. The third year seemed like 7 years again and the fourth year felt like 8 years. The fifth year I got married and that seemed like just a year, but then Pharmacy School started later that year and it started seeming like 2 years, so in September of the fifth year it seemed like 2 years spilling into the next year and that started feeling like 4 years. So at the end of the fifth year and into the sixth year seemed like 5 years. The seventh year felt like a year and a half. The eighth year seemed like 1 regular year and the ninth year seems like 2 years too. So even though it was only 9 years it seemed more like 37.5 years… maybe that is why I feel old. If you tack those extra 28.5 years on, I turned 60 in February. It is all starting to make sense now.

Anyway, back to the task at hand. Nine years. It was nine years ago today that I spent my last night as a single guy. That is right, tomorrow is the ninth anniversary of my wedding day; the day that I tricked Hana into marrying me. She had no idea what she was in for. Those of you that know me and those of you that know Hana know how lucky I am. She is truly an amazing person and I am grateful that she puts up with me and all my "me-ness." Nine years seems like a long time, but we're just getting warmed up. With baby boy #3 on the way we are ready to tackle yet another adventure together.

I would keep going on and on about how amazing she is, but she never reads my blog (except when I make her read it so she can see how funny I really am), so I won't waste your time…that and I'm hungry. Off to the vending machines...oh wait, Hana packed me left overs today...

A "Simple" Milky Way?

2010-04-01T13:51:00.001-06:00

Listen,

I did not bring a lunch to work today. I don't bring a lunch to work a lot of days. Usually I can keep the hunger at bay by downing another Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Mountain Dew Code Red, Coke Zero, or the like, but not today. I decided to peruse the vending machines in the break room. I try not to do this very often, because the food sold in vending machines is generally not healthy food. There are exceptions to this, like down on BYU's campus I used to buy sandwiches or apples out of vending machines. One of the vending machines here has yogurt, string cheese, milk, and Pop Tarts. Maybe Pop Tarts aren't healthy. Last time I experimented at the vending machine, I ended up with a strange and unsatisfying bag of Sun Chips: Spicy Chipotle and you all know how that turned out... Well I saw something there at station F4 that caught my eye, a Milky Way Simply Caramel candy bar. I have a long standing love of the Milky Way candy bar. I don't remember exactly when I was introduced to the Milky Way Dark candy bar, but I enjoy them a great deal as well. Don't get me wrong, I like the Snickers candy bar, but I am not always in the mood for something "packed with peanuts." The 3 Musketeers candy bar is not one that I like very much at all, especially since the reformulated them. Last Halloween I stole a 3 Musketeers Mint candy bar from Brady's stash and regretted it dearly… yuck!!! Back to the Milky Way Simply Caramel candy bar; I thought to myself, "Hmmm… a Milky Way candy bar is simple enough as it is, caramel, nougat, and chocolate." Then I thought about See's Chocolates. (They are my favorite kind of chocolates, by the way.) I thought about how my favorite favorite is the dark chocolate truffle, but my second favorite is their standard caramel. "What the heck," I said out loud, but not loudly enough for people to think that I am crazy and talking to myself. The Milky Way Simply Caramel candy bar is just caramel covered in chocolate. It was a darn fine treat!!! I am grateful to report a pleasant vending machine experience to you all. I think Steve would like this candy bar. (I am speaking specifically about my brother Steve, not just any random Steve, but you never know who might enjoy one of these)

In case you were wondering, here are my top 10 candy bars in no particular order.

Butterfinger Crisp

Take 5 Peanut Butter

Take 5

Milky Way

Whatchamacallit

Almond Joy

Kit-Kat

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups*

Caramello

Snickers

*I am not sure if these count as a candy bar since they are "cups" but I am counting them anyway. I did not count Peanut Butter M&Ms, Reese's Pieces, or Junior Mints cause they are obviously not candy bars.

In other news, we went and saw How to Train Your Dragon. I loved it and so did Brady.

My three sons...

2010-03-18T00:13:00.002-06:00

Listen,
Well we found out that baby boy #3 is on his way... We are open to suggestions for names.
Now I must sleep

Tomorrow is a pretty big day...

2010-03-16T22:00:00.000-06:00

Listen,

For those who do not yet know, my wife is pregnant. Yes, Hana is pregnant. I am not sure how it happened, but my dad promised to explain it to me. I think she ate some food off my plate a few months ago... I don't know. Tomorrow we get to find out what we are having. I have my suspicions that it will likely be a human child, but Hana has been reading a lot of Vampire books lately, so who knows what we are in for. We asked Brady if he wanted a bother or a sister and he decided that he would prefer a sister because "Evan is mean." Evan likes to tackle things. He'll tackle just about anything; the cats, Brady, Hana, me, you name it, he will tackle it. I think he has attempted to tackle his own shadow a few times even. That is one rough kid.

In other news, I went and tried another new hamburger place in Sugarhouse. It is called SmashBurger. Dang tasty burger. Kinda pricey though... it cost me and me alone over $11 to eat there. I'd give a full review, but I am just too tired. I think I still prefer Five Guys' Burger, but I prefer SmashBurger's "Smash Fries" which are tossed with olive oil, rosemary and garlic... very good indeed.

Anyway, guess that is all for now. I'll try to post the big news tomorrow if not then on Thursday for sure.

Oh one last thing... If you have not seen The Fantastic Mr. Fox yet, do yourself a favor and watch it. I really enjoyed it and so did Brady...

Mo' Bettah Steaks

2010-02-25T12:06:00.001-07:00

Listen,

This is not a food blog, but it is a Bob blog and food is very important to me; probably more important that it should be. Well, we decided to go try a new restaurant last night and it has cracked the top 10. I have been hearing advertisements for a new Hawaiian place called Mo' Bettah Steaks on sports radio. I LOVE Hawaiian-style plate lunch so we gave it a try. This place is freaking amazing. Hana shared the teriyaki steak plate with the E-Train and I had shared my Ekolu Special Plate with Brady-wan. The Ekolu Special has teriyaki steak, teriyaki chicken and kalua pig. Their plates are served like any other Hawaiian plate lunch with rice and macaroni salad. The steak and chicken were tender and juicy and the kalua pig was amazing, not too wet and not too dry. Their teriyaki sauce is very tasty and the amount of ginger gives if a nice kick.

Maybe even better than their food is the authentic shave ice that they also have for dessert!!! They will even put a scoop of vanilla ice cream and/or azuki beans in the bottom and top it off with sweetened condensed milk. The only thing better would have been macadamia nut ice cream, but that would be too good to be true. They have 28 flavors and let you pick up to 3! Brady was shaking with excitement as we watched them create his giant shave ice. The crazy kid ate almost the whole thing. I don't think I've ever seen him so excited about something non-Star Wars before in my life. He was possessed.

Simply put, you must go try this place. It is fan-freaking-tastic. And lucky me, I have left-overs for lunch today!

In case you were wondering, here are the top 10:

1. Tucanos Brazillian Grill

1a. Braza Grill

1b. Rodizio Grill

4. Aloha Mixed Plate

5. Mo' Bettah Steaks

6. The Greek Island Café: Seaport Village

7. Five Guys Burgers and Fries

8. La Puente

9. The place that we ate at in Progressso where we at tacos al pastor at night while sitting on the sidewalk/street

10. In N' Out

Sleep Deprivation Quiz

2010-02-16T11:11:00.001-07:00

Listen,

I love the Olympics. I know that I have written about the Summer Olympics before, but now its the Winter Olympics. Here is what bugs me. I despise the fluffy, sweet, emotional stories about the athletes. I get it; they are better people than I could ever hope to be. Last night, Hana and I watched the Olympics on DVR and cut 5 hours of coverage down to about 90 minutes. What crap. We enjoyed making fun of the figure skaters teeth. Lots of them had wonky teeth. I also enjoy watching them fall. It is my opinion that if you fall you should not be allowed to receive a medal. The guy on the gold medal winning pair nearly dropped his partner and still won gold. That is dumb. Every other event requires perfection or very near perfection. In figure skating the medal goes to the pair/individual that screws up the least. I also hate sequins.

Here's another thing that bugged me today. I opened up my Internet Explorer today (work won't let me use Firefox) and there on the MSN.com homepage is this helpful article, "5 Signs You're Sleep Deprived." What an outstanding piece of literature that was. So, inspired by MSN.com and their fountain of useful information, I bring you the Bob Sokol Certified Sleep Deprivation Quiz:

1. Do you feel sleepy all the time? Yes No Maybe

Results/Interpretation

- If you answered yes, chances are you are sleep deprived

- If you answered no, chances are you are not sleep deprived

- If you answered maybe, chances are you are an idiot.

Bob and Hana Sokol
bobandhana.blogspot.com

Sun Chips: Spicy Chipotle...My thoughts

2010-01-27T14:23:00.006-07:00

Listen,

So I just finished eating me first bag of Sun Chips: Spicy Chipotle, which claim on the package to have a "great multigrain taste!" Generally speaking, I like Sun Chips. I do not know the names of all the different varieties of Sun Chips, but I know that I like the ones in the blue bag and the ones in the orange bag. I do not care much for the ones in the green bag. Well, the Sun Chips: Spicy Chipotle come in a red bag. If you know me, then you know that I like spicy stuff. I'm not sadistic or anything, but as the previous "Next Food Network Star," Aaron McCargo Jr. always says, "I like a little heat in there."

So here is how it went down. I was sitting at my desk around 1:30 this afternoon. I brought a chocolate muffin from home for breakfast, but ate my apple instead which left my muffin for lunch. I ate my chocolate muffin at about 1pm and I was feeling like I wanted a snack, you know, something to chase the chocolaty goodness with. I got to the vending machine and put my money in, with the intention of buying the Sun Chips: Orange Bag Flavor when out of the corner of my eye I saw the red bag of the Sun Chips: Spicy Chipotle. My interest was piqued, so I decided to go for it. Besides, I hadn't opened my third Diet Pepsi yet, so if they were indeed spicy I would be covered. The walk back to my desk was excruciating, as I could not wait to open this new snack food item. With trembling fingers and salivary glands in full action I opened the red bag of Sun Chips: Spicy Chipotle. I wafted the scent of the chips toward my nose. They smelled good, but not spicy. I plunged my hand into the red bag and withdrew a single chip. They have the general appearance of all of the Sun Chips that I have previously encountered with the additional of some flecks of red powdery substance, which I assumed to be the "Spicy Chipotle". I placed the entire chip into my mouth, dove in headfirst if you will. What a letdown. While they tasted pretty good, the "Spicy Chipotle" seasoning was not nearly spicy enough. I finished the bad without requiring one swig of my Diet Pepsi!!! What sadness I felt after discarding the empty bag of chips into my garbage receptacle. Now I am left with a Sun Chip: Spicy Chipotle after taste which my Diet Pepsi is not curing.

-On a scale of spiciness with 1 being milk and 10 being the hottest thing I've ever eaten, I would give these a 2.5.

-On a tastiness scale with 1 being unsalted, unbuttered popcorn and 10 being my sister Hayley's Pecan-Cream Cheese Pie, I would give these a 1.5. For reference, I would give Sun Chips: Blue Bag Flavor and Sun Chips: Orange Bag Flavor a 2.5.

-On likelihood a of buying again scale with 1 being a prescription from Smith's Market Place Pharmacy ever again and 10 being an ice-cold Coke Zero on a hot summer day, I would give them a 1.

Oh well.

That is all.

Pie and Donuts

2010-01-26T12:59:00.001-07:00

Listen,

I had to turn in my "End-of-Year Self Review" at work last week. What this means is that several months ago I wrote out some "goals" for work and now I have to assess how I did. In case you care, I performed way above my expectations. Maybe that's due to the fact that I set the bar low for myself.

Anyway, I just finished reading Dave's Blog and it made me laugh on the inside a bit and inspired me to write out something for my blog. Last night, Hana and I rewatched the move Juno. In case you have forgotten, we named our cats Juno and Bleeker after the characters in this movie. It made me laugh too.

Today at work one of my coworkers brought in donuts. I really like donuts, but they sometimes make me feel a little sick when I eat them. That is probably because sometimes when I eat them I eat 5 or 6 of them. When I eat just one donut like I did today I am just fine. No need to worry about me having an upset stomach today unless I pass by the desk where the donuts have been placed and grab another one later on, in which case look out.

On Sunday my mom made pie. Many people enjoyed the pie, but I know that she really made pie for me to enjoy. Some pie is made for a special occasion like Thanksgiving or whatever. These pies were simply made out of love. No special occasion needed. Thanks mom. I really like pie… even more than donuts.

I have really great kids. They make me crazy on occasion, but overall, I think having them was a good choice. Here is a story: The other day, we (Hana and I) were tending our nieces (Steve and Kristin's daughters). The younger daughter is 5 months older than Evan. She was just sitting/laying/cuddling on Hana's lap. Hana said something to the effect of "I wish Evan was more of a cuddler." While she was saying this, Evan was dancing/stomping his feet on the coffee table and then dove off the table onto my lap as I was sitting on the couch. His forehead slammed into my chin as I was ill-prepared for his sudden arrival on my lap. He then proceeded to climb up on the table and jump off onto me, the couch, or the floor about 10 times. He was giggling and laughing and smiling the whole time. I then said something like, "would you really trade cuddling for entertainment like this?" I sure wouldn't.

In other news, the Colts made the Superbowl again this year. If you don't know, the Colts are my NFL team. I chose them as my team after the Raiders had their meltdown during the Superbowl they lost to the Buccaneers. I like the Saints too, but will be cheering for Peyton Manning and the Colts on February 7.

That is all.

Back to work...

2009-12-28T12:24:00.001-07:00

Listen,

What a wonderful Christmas I had. Lots of Star Wars, lots of Imaginext and lots of fun and all that. You want details? I got your details right here.

First off, I had to work Christmas Eve day. It was kind of a waste of a day at work since most doctor's offices are closed and all that. They (some of the the people that work here) orginized a breakfast/brunch, which I'm gonna call a breakfunch because it was more breakfast than brunch would lead to believe. I bought a bottle of maple syrup which I spent $1.99 on and in turn got donuts, waffles, hash browns, sausage, bacon, and juice. Not too shabby. Those same people orginized a secret Santa thing as well. There was a $5 limit which meant most of the stuff given was going to suck. I gave some person I have never met, and probably never will meet a sweet Michael Jackson Thriller poster. It is the one where he is wearing a sweet white leisure suit and he is still black. I got one of those big tins of popcorn, you know the ones, with carmel, cheese, and butter flavored popcorn in it. Brady and Evan have really enjoyed it. And before anyone thinks I am a bad person for letting a 15 month old eat popcorn, just stop.

Christmas Eve, the real part in the "Eve"ning, was spent at my parents and we had a really nice dinner and exchanged gifts with my siblings and nieces (no nephews on that side of the family). I got a $20 In-n-Out gift card, Brady got a sweet air powered nerf-like rocket launcher, and Easy-E (that's gangsta for Evan) got a helicopter toy that makes noise, plays songs and holds plastic balls so he is loving it. Everyone was really generous and we had a great time.

Christmas morning was the best part. I went to bed late and woke up every 15 to 45 minutes to see if it was time to wake up. I never sleep well on Christmas. Brady and Evan woke up at about 7:30 and the fun began. I won't go into too much detail, but lets just say that Brady and Evan must have been really really good when I wasn't home to deserve their hauls. Hana and I gave eachother a laptop (just one for us to share, not 2 seperate laptops). Hana also spoiled me with some Star Wars Toys and other fun stuff. Hana wanted a bunch of books, which doesn't sound too fun, but she was really excited. It took almost 3 hours to get it all unwrapped and opened up. It was a blast. Evan crashed for an hour or so and it was on to my parents for more Christmas fun. The highlight was the Imaginext Dragon Castle that Brady got from my parents. All the kids wanted to play with it. What a cool toy! After several hours there we went to Hana's parents' for our third Christmas extravaganza of the day. By the time we left there we were beat, the boys were spent. I think I was in bed by 10:30 that night which is really early for me.

It was a crazy few days and I didn't even get into Saturday... but now I'm back at work trying to keep my eyes open and there is stuff that needs to be done.

I hope that all of you had a great Christmas as well (unless I hate you and then I don't care if you did or not)

What a weekend...

2009-11-30T10:07:00.001-07:00

Listen,

I am sure that everybody had a crazy weekend with Thanksgiving and all that. Here is how mine went...

Wednesday:

See previous post about New Moon and In-n-out. The movie started at 10:15 so we didn't get home until about 1:00 Friday morning. What a way to start a busy weekend...

Thursday:

Because I go to work early every morning, my shift starts at 7:30, my body thinks that I have to "go number one" at 7:00 whether I am working or not. So, I woke up because I had to go. I tried to be as quiet as possible, but half way through my going Brady stumbles into our bedroom. I tried to convince him to go back to sleep, but he wanted to watch a show together. He usually wakes up right after I leave or just as I'm leaving so he really likes it when he catches me home in the morning. So we go down and put on a show and about an hour later Evan wakes up. By the time my eyes were actually staying open without the aid of my (or Brady's) hands holding them open I was getting everything together to start frying my first turkey of the day. I offered to fry a turkey for Thanksgiving at the Maxfield's feast. Frying a turkey is pretty easy, but it does take some preparation and gathering of various supplies and ensuring that the turkey is adequately dry to enter 4 gallons of 450 degree oil. One turkey down with no incident. On to Thanksgiving feast #1 at the Maxfields. Because Hana's parents and my parents live 2 or 3 blocks away we always get 2 feasts on the "feasting holidays." It is really great, but it does take some skill to pace yourself at the first meal so you are not bursting at the seams (sphincters) by the time the second meal occurs. I suck at doing this by the way. After eating and resting a bit I was back on my way to my parents to fry turkey #2. No major problems with this one either, but for some reason the oil wasn't heating back up to 350 after the turkey went in. When I started to carve it there was a bit of rawness next to the bone, so we put it back in to bathe for another 10 minutes and it was perfect. I ate WAAAAAAAAAY too much on Thanksgiving. Including my breakfast slice of pie I ate while frying the first turkey I count 5 slices: 2 apple, 2 chocolate, and 1 pecan. Delicious. After the festivities we went home and were in bed by 10:00. Unfortunately I could not sleep worth a darn (see above 5 pieces of pie). I think the last time I looked at the stupid alarm clock was 12:37. Stupid pie... (I don't mean that, I love pie, and would never want to offend it.)

Friday:

The good news is that I didn't have to go to work on Friday. Because we weren't expecting a lot of action, I was able to work from home which was really sweet. I forgot to mention that a few weeks ago my parents' computer starting acting up. Well it finally stopped altogether Thursday morning. In between frying turkey and shoving pie into my face I was attempting to fix their computer. I know just enough about computers to be really dangerous and break things. So Friday I went with my parents to buy a new PC. They were considering a Mac, but I told them if they got a Mac they would have to call Jeff or Hay if they had any problems because I do not know anything about them. They decided on a super nice HP with quad core processor, 6 gigs of RAM and a 23 inch monitor... thing of beauty. I will be buying me next computer at Costco as well. If you use your American Express they extend the 2-year Costco warranty to a third year. That is totally awesome. (I can say that because Totally Awesome Computers is no longer with us). We got it set up and everything. and I even made it home in time for dinner. Not to mention we went to La Puente with Hay and Tim who are in from Colorado. Note to self: avoid the Large Combination the day after gorging yourself on Thanksgiving. That was not smart.

I think I better stop here. I'll get to Saturday and the BYU vs Utah game another time... maybe. If nothing else I want to say that I agree with Max Hall (my new idol) 100% in his feelings toward the University of Utah, the U of U Football team, and especially the fans:

You are classless and I hate you all.
Sincerely,

Bob

In-n-Out and New Moon

2009-11-25T08:56:00.002-07:00

Listen,

Hana finally dragged me to the move theatre to see New Moon. It helped that my little sister was in town for the Thanksgiving holiday. I was also enticed by a pre-movie stop at the new In-n-Out. More on that later, maybe.

My thoughts on the movie: It was not a complete waste of time. Some of the action sequences were pretty action-y. I wondered how they would deal with the blank pages in the book and I really liked what they did. The wolf pack was cool and the special effects were good. This was Hana's third time seeing the film. It will be a LONG time before I see it for my third time, but it was pretty good. I liked it much better than Twilight. If they keep getting better at this rate the last movie ought to be really good. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being Form Justin to Kelly and 10 being The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the King, I guess it gets a 6. I enjoyed it more than I expected, but I am not anxiously awaiting my next chance to watch it. I probably would give the first Twilight a 3, maybe a 4 depending on my mood. I am glad I read the books though. Without it I think I would have been a little (a lot) lost. I have been going back and forth on whether I am on "Team Jacob" or "Team Edward" and after watching the movie I have made up my mind. I am on Team Victoria.

In case you were wondering my top 5 movies remain (in no particular order) The Empire Strikes Back, The Return of the King, The Matrix, The Return of the Jedi, and Strange Brew.

Now for my thoughts regarding In-n-Out: It was kinda strange eating at In-n-Out within 15 minutes of leaving my house. I have stood in lines at In-n-Out that have stretched out the door, but I have never froze my a$$ of while doing so. That was kinda weird. The food tasted just like it should. The burger was fresh and very tasty, the fries were amazing, and scriptures on the fry trays were inspiring. The real question is this: Do I see myself driving all the way to Draper for In-n-Out when I have to pass a Five Guys to get there? The answer is probably not. The second question is "Will I stop at In-n-Out every time I go to my brother Jeff's house? He lives in Draper off the same exit as In-n-Out. There is a good chance this will happen, maybe not every time, but often enough. I am glad that they finally made it to Salt Lake.

Until next time...

Have you seen the Barenaked Ladies?

2009-11-18T13:19:00.002-07:00

Listen,

First off, calm down, I am talking about the band you sicko!

If you have not seen the Barenaked Ladies now is your chance. This has been my favorite band since high school. I have seen them in conert 4 times and have loved each show. Recently, the lead singer left the band, so I wasn't sure if they would keep going with the 4 remaining members. Luckily there are. They will be at the Depot on December 14, 2009 for an acoustic Christmas concert. Tickets are only $15 plus service charges bringing then to about $20 per ticket. I think we paid $40 per ticket last time they were here. As I am writting this, tickets are still available.

Don't miss out on this chance to see a great band. See you there.

No more barels?

2009-11-13T11:48:00.005-07:00

Listen,

We'll start with the good news first: Today as I was driving to work along I-80 between 1300 East and State Street it hit me... "Where are all the barrels? They are gone. It was amazing. I have driven that strectch 5 times a week since July 2008 and for the first time I did not see a barrel! The 4 wide lanes are pretty sweet and so is going 74.5 MPH again. This is really great. I know thoese barrels will find a new home somewhere else, but I am glad they are no longer there.

Second: Stupid Country Music Awards on ABC meant my 2 new favorite shows were not on this week. If you are not watching Modern Family and the Middle you are missing out on some really good stuff. Why would they show the stupid country music awards??? I mean, who freaking listens to that crap anyway? I admit, I went through a short country phase when I started dating Hana. She like the stuff and it seemed to be in my best interest to like it to (if you know what I mean). It is a preiod of my life that I am not proud of, but oh well. Stupid county music and stupid fans of country music.

Third: My company is in the process of condensing from 4 buildings down to 3. The build that I am currently in had only about 30 employess in it before this all started. It was nice never having to wait for a microwave, plenty of room in the fridge for stuff and all that. Now there are way more people here. I have no idea how many, but yesterday I had to wait for a microwave for over 5 minutes. It sucks sitting there waiting and smelling all the nasty crap people are heating up. That and the bathroom is crowded now too. I don't try to spend too much time in there, but when 2 of the 3 urinals and all three "sit-down-stations" are taken it can make a guy pretty uncomfortable.

Fourth: I am "on call" this weekend. Calling it "on call" is a joke because there is always more than enough to do. Calling it "on call" makes it seem that I may not have to work, but I know I will spend at least 4 to 5 hours this Saturday working. Last time I was "on call" I worked for 11 hours, yes eleven hours on Saturday. That is not a fun way to spend the weekend. Oh well again.

That is all for now. Go Horned Frogs!!!

Just a test

2009-10-29T13:36:00.002-06:00

Listen,

This is a test of the blogspot email posting system, this is only a test. If this had been an actual blog post you would have been highly amused and entertained. This concludes this test of the blogspot email post system.

And I thought they smelled bad on the outside!

2009-10-14T21:08:00.000-06:00

Listen,
I posted this link on Facebook, but felt compelled to share it here as well. This started out as an April Fools Day prank that was submitted to Lucas Films and it was approved for production!!!
No Christmas morning will be complete without at least 1 Tauntaun sleeping bag under your Christmas Tree. My house will have at least 4 of them.
My favorite feature is that the zipper pull is a light saber so you can reenact Han Solo slicing open the recently deceased tauntaun belly to keep Luke from freezing during their night under the stars on Hoth. I do believe that it will be required to repeat Han's immortal words as you snuggle up in your cozy tauntaun:
"And I thought they smelled bad on the outside!"

3 Wolves T-shirt

2009-10-09T22:43:00.005-06:00

Listen,
A few months ago, a friend of mine introduced me to the following item available at amazon.com.
If you feel like laughing, go to the link and read some customer reviews...

Cool shirt eh? The best part for me was that I worked at a novelty warehouse in high school that sold shirts just like this...

Well, Dwight Schrute introduced the shirt to the world on the Jim & Pam Wedding Episode of The Office.

It was amazing... and then they started howling... amazing.

Please visit the amazon link and read some of the customer reviews...

You are welcome

Smiths Pharmacy Sucks

2009-09-06T21:30:00.005-06:00

Listen,
I figured it was about time to blog again. I know that you all have been anxiously awaiting an update on what is going on in my world, so I decided that I would tell you about my recent experience with a local retail pharmacy.

I recently went to the doctor. I was given a new prescription for some medicine that will hopefully extend my life and the lives of those around me. Of course, because I work reviewing prior authorizations, my new prescription needed a prior authorization. As a pharmacist, I know exactly what information to give my doctor in order for them to call my insurance and get my medication approved. So, I called my doctor's office and the receptionist told me that I needed to have the pharmacy fax them so they get all the necessary information. This pissed me off, so I called back and requested to leave a message for my doctor and gave the receptionist all my insurance information and the number to call for the prior authorization. I probably have a big "black mark" on my profile at the doctor's office. Who cares. Anyway, I had Hana drop the prescriptions off at Smiths Market Place on 3215 Valley Street near my house. I will never ever ever ever go back there for a prescription as long as I live. I knew my pills would need an authorization and Hana told them that when she dropped them off on Wednesday (the 2nd of September). Yesterday (Saturday the 5th), I called the pharmacy to see if they had gone through the insurance. They flat out told me that they had not been approved yet. The person on the phone said "I am showing that they have not been approved yet, maybe try back on the 13th." The 13th?!? A week?!? What was he talking about?!? This made ZERO sense to me, so I called my insurance. The lady at the customer service line was very helpful and informed my that the prior authorization had actually been approved on Thursday. So, my prescription could have been billed by Smiths on Thursday, but they just told me to try back on the 13th!!!! I told her that the pharmacy just told 2 minutes ago that the prescription would not go through. She told me she did not even have a rejected claim since Wednesday the 2nd of September! That means they hadn't even tried to run the prescription through the insurance since Hana dropped it off!!!! They didn't even try billing it when I called them... That means when I called Smiths they lied to me.

The lady was nice enough to put me on hold and call Smiths to tell them they would go through then came back on the line to tell me that the system showed the paid claim. I thanked her for her help, put on my sandals, and headed to Smiths. After waiting in line for 10 minutes (I timed it) I was told that it would be at least 30 minutes before my pills would be ready. I almost blew up after having been lied to, but surprisingly I kept my calm (crazy huh). I left without my pills because I had to get to my parents house for the BYU game (which was awesome by the way). I went back this morning (yes on Sunday) to pick them up. After being rung up and signing for my medication I left. With all of you as my witness I will never go back to that pharmacy and would encourage you all to avoid going there as well. If I didn't know how pharmacy works, I would still be without my medication. They hadn't even tried running them until the lady from my insurance called to tell them to. This probably happens to lots of people who don't know how the process works and just accept the lies that are told to them. Scary stuff. I am tempted to write a letter... maybe I will.
Anyway,

Smiths Pharmacy on 33rd South SUCKS
Please DO NOT go there

Good burger...

2009-08-03T21:11:00.006-06:00

Listen,
So a couple of days ago, we were out and about and got hungry so we went to Carl's Jr. I had the Portabello Six Dollar Burger. It was pretty good, not great, but good.

Today, Brady and I were out and about and he said he wanted to go to McDonalds. He loves that place, though I think it is mostly the play area, but what can you do. I went up to the counter to order his cheeseburger happy meal and my usual, the double quater-pounder with cheese meal, large sized, of course, but they had something on the menu I had not seen before. Its been a while since I've been to the "Golden Arches," but not that long. They had 1/3 pound angus burgers. I thought I'd give one a try. They have a couple variations, but I chose the mushroom swiss.
When I unwrapped it, it actually looked like the picture (the above picture, not the one below like I'm used to), I was shocked... I then took my first bite... wow, this was tasty, I mean, it tasted really good, like really good! I would not put it up there with In-n-Out, Crown Burger, or Five Guys, but it was really good. The most amazing thing was that I actually felt fine after eating it. I know, shocking. Usually, the double QPC leaves me regretting life, but it's been like 4 hours now, and I feel great. I am very impressed and very happy to have an option that is that good at McD's.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Congratulations McDonald's... you didn't make me sick! Great Burger!

So long Joe...

2009-07-08T10:15:00.005-06:00

Listen,

This is a sports post. Most of you will find it boring… sorry.

I have been a big-time hockey fan since 1993. Before then I was a fan, just not as obsessed with it as I became in 1993. That was the year that I started playing ice hockey. I had been playing street hockey for several years and it just so happened that the Skyline’s hockey coach lived on my street. If you have seen the street that I grew up on, you would know that this is quite an astounding coincidence. There are only 16 houses (including the corner lots) on it. We played roller hockey on the street quite a bit, since there was not a lot of traffic on it. Anyway, one day when we were playing he came and talked to us about joining the ice hockey team when school started. It sounded fun so a bunch of us signed up. In fact, during my junior year, my ward had 11 guys on the team. Being hockey players, we naturally got more and more into pro hockey. We’d get together to watch and analyze games every chance we got. Those players became our heroes as we attempted to emulate their on-the-ice skills. It was a common thing to sit and make lists of who was the fastest, who had the best slap shot, show was the best skater and on and on. Since the closest team was in Los Angeles, we were free to choose a favorite team. But in 1995 it was announced that the Quebec Nordiques would be moving to Denver, wow, Denver that’s only like 8 hours away.

My dad and I started to become Avalanche fans. We spent countless evenings watching hockey together. The Avs became our team. Joe Sakic, the captain of the Avalanche soon became one of my favorite players. He wasn’t flashy like Jaromir Jagr, Sergei Fedorov or Pavel Bure whose posters hung on my wall and whose jerseys hung in my closet. Joe was a quite leader. If a goal needed to be scored late in the game, Joe would come through. We always called him “Super Joe” a nickname he had, most likely due to his unassuming style, but amazing abilities.

It was been announced that he is retiring after 20 years in the NHL. Here is a list of some of his accomplishments:
- 2 Stanley Cups in 1996 and 2001
- 1 Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP in 1996
- 13 All Star Games
- Team Captain for 17 years
- 8th in all-time points with 1641
- 14th in all-time goals with 635
- 11th in all-time assists with 1016
- Gold Medal at 2002 Winter Olympics
- Most all-time playoff overtime goals with 8

Joe Sakic was a special player. It is a sad day for the NHL to lose a player like Sakic. Not only is her great, but he makes everyone else on his team better. I have a feeling that we may see Joe in the NHL again, not as a player, but as a coach. I was fortunate enough to see him play live when my dad took my younger brother Jeff and I on a road trip to Denver to see the Avs play the New York Rangers. That was a memorable trip.

Farewell Joe and thanks for the memories.

Cherries anyone...

2009-07-06T18:21:00.002-06:00

Listen,
So we have a cherry tree in our backyard. Due to the lack of frost this spring we have a load of cherries on the tree...

Only problem is we didn't spray them and they all have worms in them... I opened up 10 cherries and all 10 had worms... I rinsed the worm out of one of them and ate it anyway. It was very very tasty.

That sucks

Stupid blog...

2009-07-02T13:12:00.005-06:00

Listen,

So I have sat down like 10 times since my last post on here and have written out some blibber blabber about work, or crazy kids, or being tired or some other worthless dribble that maybe 3 other people will read. Each time it has seemed so ridiculously pointless that I have deleted the whole thing and either gone back to being productive at work or playing video games at home. I apologize in advance for the lack of funny today... really, I have nothing.

So here are the hightlights of my last few weeks:
1. My hard drive crashed on Saturday. I went and bought a new one, loaded Windows and attempted to recover my data. Leave it to me to not back up a single picture of Evan’s 9.5 months on Earth onto the external hard drive I have hooked up. Not to mention other pics, music, games, etc… Miraculously, I was able to access the drive after trying 5 or 6 different data recovery methods I found online. I copied all the pictures, music, and other documents that seemed important onto the new drive and also onto a second external drive. The next morning when I tried to go back to copy over my Firefox favorites, the hard drive was completely lifeless. Truly a small miracle to get what I got off of it. The lesson is either back up important stuff or just don’t have any important stuff to begin with.
2. I bought a new laptop battery because the last one held a charge for less than 3 minutes.
3. I bought a new DVD player for the den because the last one stopped working.
4. The stomach flu went through our family, so we each took turns puking our guts out last week… nothing like watching the people you love puking all the time or going in to check on your 9 month old only to find him sleeping away in a pool of his own vomit. That image will not go away for a long time I am sure.
5. We went to Wing Coop with Hayley and Tim… they get married in less than 3 weeks.
6. My dad managed to outdo himself with an amazing BBQ chicken at Sunday dinner.
7. Brady got a black eye roughhousing with his Cousin Anna and me while at my parents. He looks tough.
8. Evan climbed up our stairs
9. We were sitting outside the other night when there was a steady outflow of people out of our neighbor’s house. Hana had apparently ditched the Relief Society get-together going on there. Anyway, one of Hana’s friends walked over and shared some left-over homemade chocolate and marshmallow ice cream. It was really good.
10. I’ve been looking forward to the holiday weekend all week.

Fathers Day

2009-06-21T09:55:00.002-06:00

Listen,

Another holiday that doesn't get me a day off work, or out of church for that matter, but I'll take it. So to all you fathers out there, have a great Fathers Day.

This really doesn't have anything to do with fathers day, but I thought it was funny. Apparently it is the script for a deleted scene from Empire Strikes Back. Amazing writing... take a read:

Darth Vader: Obi Wan never told you what happened to your father.

Luke: He told me enough! He told me you killed him!

Darth Vader: No, Luke... I am your father!

Luke: No. It can't be. That's not true. That's impossible!

Darth Vader: Search your feelings Luke... you know them to be true.

Luke: NOOoooo!

Darth Vader: Yes, it is true... and you know what else? You know that brass droid of yours?

Luke: Threepio?

Darth Vader: Yes... Threepio... I built him... when I was 7 years old.

Luke: No! ... Wait, huh?

Darth Vader: Seven years old. And what have you done? Look at yourself. No hand. No job. And you couldn't even levitate your own ship out of the swamp...

Luke: But... I destroyed your precious Death Star!

Darth Vader: But that was when you were 20! When I was 10, I single-handedly destroyed an entire Trade Federation Droid Control ship!

Luke: Well, it's not my fault...

Darth Vader: Oh, here we go... "Poor me... my father never gave me what I wanted for my birthday... boo hoo, my daddy's the Dark Lord of the Sith... Nobody loved me... waahhh wahhh!"

Luke: Shut up!

Darth Vader: You're a slacker! By the time I was your age, I had already exterminated the Jedi knights!

Luke: I used to race my T-16 through Beggar's Canyon.

Darth Vader: Oh, for the love of the Emperor... 10 years old, winner of the Boonta Eve Open... the Only human to ever fly a Pod Racer... right here baby!

Luke looks down the shaft. Takes a step towards it.

Darth Vader: I was wrong... You're not my kid... I don't know whose you are, but you sure ain't mine.

Luke takes a step off the platform, hesitates, then plunges down the shaft.

Darth Vader looks down after him.

Darth Vader: And get a haircut!

Tasty ice cream or yogurt or whatever

2009-06-16T07:49:00.006-06:00

Listen,

I don't know if I have talked at all about Hana's favorite dessert... Red Mango. I'm sure there is more than one of them in the greater Salt Lake area, but the one we go to is by the Target in the Fort Union area. It is very very very tasty. They just introduced their 4th flavor; they have original, green tea, pomegranate, and the new tangomonium. Hana likes the pomegranate, but I like the original, straight up with no mix-ins. It is quite refrshing. Last night we went there and ran into my dad's long time best friend Jim. He was there picking up something for his wife... what a great guy. Anyway, after I had to share mine with Evan (I swear he ate half of it) I had to go back for seconds. It is that good. Hana informed me that a large is only 9 points. I'd give them a 10...

In other news, I have been playing a lot of Star Wars Battlefront 2 on my computer recently. It is a sweet game where you get to play as a variety of characters and run around and shoot the bad guys (or good guys, thus appropriate). I really enjoy this game and feel it is a great stress reliever. Hana thinks it is too violent to play with Brady since all you do is run around and shoot people. I informed her that you also shoot droids, wookies, and other aliens... this recieved one of her patented eye rolls. Because of this, Brady and I only play when she isn't home. (Hana, if you are reading this, I am just kidding about only playing this game with Brady when you are not home... we play when you are home too.)

Lastly, Hana and I are rewatching (or in some cases watching for the first time) the old Terminator trilogy. The first one kinda sucked, and I did not need to see Gov. Schwartze...'s (you know who I am talking about) bare backside, nor did I need to see it again in the second one. I swear, if I have to see it again in number 3 I am out. I want to see the new Terminator movie, but I wanted to remember what happened in the previous movies just in case that it is important... it probably isn't, but I'd hate to spend money to see the new one and not get it. I am weird like that. I still think Arnold's best work was in Twins.

That is all.

Penguins Win!!!

2009-06-12T23:01:00.007-06:00

Listen,
What an amazing final that was... game 7 went down to the final seconds.
Congratulations Penguins!!!

Lord Stanley, Playoff Beards, and Softball

2009-06-05T10:09:00.007-06:00

Listen,

I've got a lot to say today... here we go

Topic 1
The Stanley Cup Finals have been amazing thus far. If you are not a hockey fan now would be a great time to start (Hana, I am talking to you). This year is a rematch of last year’s final between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins. If you’ve been following me long enough, you know that I am a Penguins fan. Right now they have 2 of the top 3 players in the league, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The craziest part about how amazingly awesome these 2 player are, is that Crosby (man I love that name) won’t turn 22 until August and Malkin will turn 23 in July! Insane I tell you… Last year Detroit won the best of seven series in six games. Now the series is tied at 2 and game 5 is Saturday night. Anyone interested in watching give me a call. If you haven’t watched a game before let me invite you over to see your first. You will not be disappointed. You may think I am joking, but I am serious. We can get some Wing Coop and enjoy a great game. Speaking of Wing Coop, they deserve a post of their own… maybe another time. Here are some action shots of the superstars:

Topic 2
One of my favorite NHL playoff traditions is the growing of playoff beards. I don’t know when or why this started, but I think it’s great. I think it is so great that I decided to grow one of my own. This decision was further aided when I did not shave the day of Game 3 of the Finals. The Penguins were down 2 to zero in the series. After they won game 3, I decided I better not risk shaving again until they lose. It seemed to work well because they won game 4 too. If they win the next 2 games in a row then I may be stuck with the beard until the season starts again in October. There is another great reason to come over Saturday for game 5; you can see my awesome facial hair. I really have no business trying to grow facial hair. Seriously, it looks pretty (really) lame, but I need to help the Penguins win the cup any way I can and if not shaving will help then by gum, I will not shave. By the way, did I tell you that Hana is the biggest Red Wings fan in Utah as of last night?

Topic 3
Ward softball started up last night. This is the one ward sport that I like to play. I used to be a decent baseball player… when I was 12. Two separated shoulders later and nearly 20 years later and I am pretty lousy. I wouldn’t say I am bad, I am just not great. Anyway, when they announced the games a few weeks ago, I made the comment that I played catcher in little league and liked to trash talk. After the meeting, one of the guys came up and told me that the team needed a catcher and wanted me to play. Going into last night’s game, I was just worried about throwing the ball back to the pitcher without making him chase it around too much. We had an awesome game… against my parents’ ward no less. We won 37 to 9. Yes, 37 to 9. It would have been even more fun if I had known anyone playing my parents’ ward team, but I didn’t. We had just decided to play one more inning (just to run up the score) when the automatic sprinklers came on in left field, thus putting an end to the slaughter. I finished the game 2 for 5 and more importantly managed to avoid making a complete fool of myself throwing the ball back to the pitcher. By the end of the game I actually had gained a bit of confidence… I’d forgotten what that feels like. Ever since messing up my shoulders in high school, throwing a ball has never been the same. The best part is that I don’t even feel sore this morning… Thanks Aleve!

2009-05-15T08:38:00.006-06:00

Listen,

My parents bought Brady the absolute coolest toy for his birthday. It’s a Star Wars Galactic Heroes Millennium Falcon. I will not go on and on and on about all the cool features and sounds and everything. You just have to see it to really appreciate how freaking awesome this toy is. What makes it even better is that he absolutely loves it. I thought his love of Star Wars and Star Wars Toys was about at peak possible level… This has taken it to a whole new level.

This got me to thinking. What was the coolest toy I had growing up? What is the coolest toy you ever remember playing with? I can remember several toys that I had growing up that were really cool. Here is a list (in no particular order) of some of the coolest and most fun toys I remember having as a kid:

1. Transformers – especially Optimus Prime and the set of construction vehicles that joined together to form 1 really bid guy. Jeff and I each had some dinosaur transformers that were pretty sweet too.

2. Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. I could never have too many of them.

3. Robotix - if you don’t know what these are I am sorry

4. M.U.S.C.L.E. men

5. Star Wars Toys in general, but specifically my MircoWorld Hoth and Bespin Sets

6. Atari 2600 – Favorite games: Maze Craze, Missile Command, Joust, and Asteroids

7. My Boglin

8. He-Man and the Castle Greyskull

9. Thundercats action figures.
I know wht you are all thinking, "What a spoiled kid!"

I worked dang hard for all those toys. I deserved each and every one of them.

Thanks mom and dad for being so awesome.

Some holidays...

2009-05-08T17:08:00.007-06:00

Listen,
Every once and a while we have these things called holidays. Maybe you’ve heard of them. Just in case, let me give enlighten you. They (meaning other people) have set aside certain days each year where we are to celebrate, commemorate, or remember a certain event, person or groups of people person. Not to over-generalize, but it seems like holidays fit into one or five basic categories:

1: Major holidays. These are the big ones… Like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day where most people get the day off of work and you have family events or gatherings. People tend to have family traditions associated with these Major Holidays. There are words associated with these major holidays. For example if I say “Turkey” you think of Manny Ramirez… I mean you think of thanksgiving. If I say “Fireworks” you think of Independence Day. And lastly, if I say “Presents,” you automatically think of Hayley. Major holidays are a big deal. These should not be taken lightly.

2. Kind-of-major holidays. These are the kind of holidays that you get out of school for when you are a kid. If you are an adult and have a really good job you get to take the day off for these too. (Note: I do not get these off at my job) One these holidays the banks are closed and so are government offices. They are recognized as federal holidays, but most people still have to work them. These are days like Presidents Day, Human Rights Day, and Veterans Day. I am going to group Easter in with these because it’s a “religious holiday” and kids usually get spring break that coincides with Easter. When I worked at Albertson’s we had to work Easter Sunday (jerks). Maybe it belongs in the next category.

3. Minor holidays. These are days that are “special,” but I have a hard time considering them holidays if you don’t get out of school or work (or church for that matter). These are like Halloween, Valentines Day, Super Bowl Sunday, and Days 1 and 2 of the NCAA basketball tournament. These days probably warrant a day off, or the day after them off.

4. Fake holidays. These are just dumb. Examples include Flag Day, and Arbor Day. Give me a freaking break. These “holidays” can pass without even realizing they happen. I will give a prize for the first person who can tell us when these “holidays” occur. I am serious, I don’t know what the prize is yet, but you will get a prize.

5. Stupid holidays. These include holidays that are too stupid to be considered fake holidays. These include Earth Day, Groundhog Day, April Fools Day, and St. Patrick’s Day. Any holiday that includes pinching someone for not wearing green is really really really really stupid. (And yes spell checker program, I did mean to say “really” 4 times)

By know you are probably thinking something to the effect of, “Bob… what the hell? Why on Earth are you talking about holidays?”

It is because it’s Mothers Day on Sunday, duh. (Should “duh” have question marks after it?) I was trying to figure out where Mothers Day and Fathers Day fit. Mothers Day seems to be a bigger deal than Fathers Day, but let’s face it, there would be no mothers without a father. I’m not saying that moms don’t deserve more credit, but to quote my sister-in-law Kristen, “I’m just sayin’…”

I want to wish all the moms our there a happy Mothers Day on Sunday. Except for crappy moms… you can have a crappy day or all I care… you know who you are…

I especially want to wish the 2 most important moms in my life a particularly great day and say thank you for everything you do.

To Hana: You are amazing and I honestly don’t know where I would be today without you. I cannot express how blessed the boys and I are to have you. Thank you for putting up with us and our manliness.

To my mom: As a parent now myself, I just wonder how on earth you did it. With 3 crazy boys and 1 nasty little girl (yes you Hay) you made it all work. I admire your strength and patience. You truly are incredible.

Go hug your mom. You would suck even more than you do without her.

Busted...

2009-05-07T11:27:00.003-06:00

Listen,

So I know that baseball is not on everyone’s list of things they care about, but it is on mine so here you go.

So, if you know me, you know that I am a Dodgers’ Fan. I’m not sure when it all began, but I can never remember a time in my life that I was not a fan of the Dodgers. Most likely, it’s a result of my dad’s love of the Dodgers. Some people may not even recognize me without my Dodgers hat on. Go figure…

Anyway, last fall I posted about the Dodgers making a trade to get Manny Ramirez. For those who don’t know, many people feel that he may be the greatest hitter of this era. He hits for power and average. He has a reputation of being a little lazy and times, but people put up with it for the most part because he is just so freaking good.

So, the Dodgers got him and he led them to the playoffs where he was amazing. He was hitting homeruns like a machine and really seemed to provide a much needed spark to the team. The fans loved him, the players loved him… life seemed so good.

This summer he signed a new contract to make something in the neighborhood of $22 million a year and many Dodgers fans were happy to have him securely on the team.

The Dodgers have been playing amazingly well so far this season. In fact, they just broke the record for most consecutive home wins to start a season. The record had previously been held by the Detroit Tigers who set the record in 1911… yes, you read that correctly 1911. The record had stood for nearly 100 years and my Dodgers just broke it. As I read this story on ESPN.com this morning I was almost giddy with dreams of World Series Champs and all that. Then, just before 11 o’clock I get a text from my sister-in-law Mandy telling me to check out ESPN.com…

It was like a sucker punch to the gut… a slap in the face… a kick to the groin…

Manny Tests Positive

MLB suspends Manny Ramirez 50 games for drug violation

Give me a freaking break for crying out loud…

Why do I love sports?

Why do I even care?

Why?

...

Why?

Have you hear of Pandora.com

2009-04-30T21:15:00.003-06:00

Listen,
If you have not heard of Pandora.com you defiantly need to check it out. You go and enter your favorite song or band and it sets up play lists with music that is similar to it.

It is really cool and free. Anyone who listens to music should give it a try.

I typed in one of my favorite bands, Death Cab for Cutie, and it proceeded to play 4 songs in a row that I really like, one of which was from a band I had never listened to, but really liked.

Try it, you'll like it...

You are welcome

Weekend Update...

2009-04-27T08:57:00.006-06:00

Listen,

Things have been kinda hectic 'round the household the past few weeks... Lots of projects to keep us occupied.

First off, we purchased a wood swingset/clubhouse/child entertainer from Toys-R-Us a few weeks back. It came in 4 large boxes each full of unlabeled/unmarked wood. Not to mention 4 gallon-sized bags full of screws, bolts, and assorted hardware. It took Hana and me 3 hours to sort and label all the pieces. This inloved measuring each piece and matching it up with measurements and scaled pictures in the instructions. Amazingly enough we only mislabeled 2 pieces which were only different by 1/2 inche in width and 1/4 inch in thickness, so even though they ended up in the wrong spots, they still worked just fine thank you very much... With the help of my dad the 3 of us finished a week ago Satuday (the 18th I believe.) It took the better part of 2 Saturdays and a few hours here and there throughout the week to get it done. Brady loves it and has lots of fun playing on it. I would post pictures, but I am at work and have no access to them. I'll try to get some on here soon... maybe

Second, I found out in early March that my department at RxAmerica was going to be dissolved and incorperated into CVS/Caremark. That meant that my job was no longer going to exist. Forntunatly, most of the other departments are being incorperated into CVS/Caremark. They (the big wigs from CVS/Caremark) told us that we would have the opportunity to apply with other departments and that we would be given "priority" to those posistions that were or would be available. Fortuneatly for me, I found out last week that I would be joinging the Clinical Operations Department doing essentially what I do now. Good news for me... bad news for those of you who enjoyed my blog more when I worked in a retail pharmacy

Third, we had a break in our sprinkler line right after the main sprinker valve. We hired Hana's step-nephew Andrew to dig down and fix it. He had to dig a big freakin' hole about 4 feet deep and 4 feet wide to get down there and replace the valve and pipes. He worked very quickly and was reasonable in his price... if anyone needs any help with sprinkler repairs, I would recommend him to help. Let me know and I can get you his contact information.

Forth, It was my little sisters birthday yesterday... Coming up with a gift idea for the person who literally has EVERYTHING is not an easy task. Hopefully, she has fun painting some sort of ceramic thing at Color me Mine. Happy freakin' Birthday Hay....

I was going to apologize for the length of the post, but why should I? It my damn blog... you should be apologizing to me if you got bored...

A whole box of clones...

2009-04-21T09:19:00.005-06:00

Listen,

I just wanted to share a funny/sad story from yesterday. My apologies in advance to Misty if this is to boring for you...

Many of you know about my wife's obsession with Gymboree. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Gymboree, it is an over-prices kids clothing store at the mall. I remember when Hana was pregnant with Brady, we used to go in and she would stare longingly at the clothes, wishing we could dress our new baby in such cute, 0ver-prices outfits. Well, we found out that if you shop "right" at Gymboree, you can actually get a lot of clothes for a pretty good price using their Gymbucks program. I will not go into detail, but it is a promotion where if you spend so much money during a certain time period you get coupons for $25 off a $50 purchase. Anyway, last week was time to redeem our Gymbucks. This means Hana spends the week prior to the big day going through the kids clothes, assessing needs and so forth. She then creates a cart on the website and at exactly Midnight (eastern time) she quickly enters in the coupon codes and a few days later, we get a big box of clothes delivered right to our doorstep.

Yesterday our box of clothes arrived. Hana brought the box inside and Brady asked what it was. She told him it was a whole box of clothes. She was a little bit suprised by his reaction as he started jumping up and down hugging her saying things like, "I am so excited, hurry hurry open it!" and "this is the best day ever thank you, thank you!" She got the scissors and opened the box. Brady reached into the box and pulled out some clothes, tossed them aside, and pulled out more clothes. After emptying the box, he looked up at her with a worried look and asked, "where are all the clones?" He thought she said it was a whole box of clones to add to his Star Wars Collection. She tried to explain that it was a box of clothes, not clones. He was heart broken. The immense joy and excitement of getting a whole box of clones came crashing down with one fatal swoop.

Luckily, Hana had bought a pair of pyjamas with a glow-in-the-dark stegasaurus on them, which helped heal his wounds, if only a little.

With his birthday coming up, I guess I know what to get him...

My sister is getting what?!?

2009-04-15T12:12:00.003-06:00

Listen,
To me, my little sister will always be 12 years old. I guess its because that is how old she was when I left on my mission. I don't think that makes any sense, but I guess having spent those 2 years away just froze her at that age in my mind. My parents will always be in their early 40s, I guess for the same reason.

I remember that when I was younger my dad used to lie about his age. I was probably 8 to 12 years old when he would tell people he was 27. He would have actually been in his mid to late 30s I believe. I remember being a little excited about turning 27 because if he lied about being 27 there must be something great about it. I turned 27 in 2005. That is the year that I graduated from pharmacy school and Brady was born... pretty good year I guess.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. Last week, my little sister announced that she is officially engaged and will be getting married this summer. This was pretty shocking news to me. Not that I felt she would never get married, I always knew she would, she's really quite an amazing person. She has been dating her now-fiancee Tim for a few months and he seems to be a good guy who will treat her the way she deserves and all that, it is just hard to believe that my little baby sister, who will forever be 12 in my mind, is getting married...

I went through similar feelings when she got her drivers license, graduated high school, and graduated from college. It just seems impossible that,
1. She is old enough to be doing all these "grown-up things"
2. That I am old enough for her to be old enough to be doing all these "grown-up things."

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a very close, special relationship with my sister. An outsider may think that I don't like her, or even despise her cause I give her so much crap all the time. But I do it out of love, this sounds weird I know, but I give her a hard time because I love and care about her so much. If I didn't care, I would just treat her like anyone else and ignore her. You can ask Hana, the more I love a person the more of a jerk I seem to be to them. If I treat you really nice and respectful-like then you can bet that:
1. I don't like you
2. I am uncomfortable around you (see number 1)
3. I am patronizing you (see number 1)
4. I don't know you (see number 2).

I am really excited for Hay and Tim.
I guess that's all I have for now

I need my monster...

2009-04-06T14:18:00.004-06:00

Listen,

Over the weekend Hana and I took the boys to a book store for a story time book reading thing. We normally don't "do" things like this, but the story being read was by Hana's brother's wife Amanda. (I guess saying my sister-in-law would be quicker/appropriate). She was down from Washington (state) and arranged the whole thing. Anyway, shewrote a children's book that was published and released last week. Its titled "I Need My Monster." I just wanted to give a quick congratulations to her on her great story. Brady carries it with him everywhere he goes and begs people to read it to him. Since buying it he has read it (had it read to him) like 10 times. Its a fun story and the illustrations are amazing.

So congratulations Amanda. I don't think you read my blog, but if you do.... thanks for the great story.

Here's the link to it on Amazon

Meat is very good

2009-04-01T07:41:00.004-06:00

Listen,
Some of you are familiar with my enjoyment of sports and sports uniforms. There is a blog that I enjoy reading called Uniwatch. The guy who writes it occasionally writes for ESPN.com as well.

He recently wrote a fun piece about meat. Its a March Madness bracket style meat playoff. I enjoy his writting style and this article was pretty amusing.

To read it click here.

And for your enjoyment I have included picutres below of some of my favorite meats:

What exactly does a Jedi smell like???

2009-03-28T20:58:00.004-06:00

Listen,

I like Star Wars more than a lot of people, but I do not know what a Jedi smells like... yet. Once I get my hands on this stuff you will all find out too.

How Sweet is this?!?

No wonder Padme couldn't keep her hands off of him...

Skate Life Away...

2009-03-27T14:53:00.003-06:00

Listen,
I love ice skating, so when Hay orginized the First Annual Sokol Ice Skating Extravaganza we were first on the list.
Here are a couple pictures.

And here are some pictures of Evan... finally

In case you can't see me in the last picture, you can seen my nose and mouth between my hand and the pillow. I am shielding my face from an atomic head-butt from Brady...

Y oh Y?!?!?

2009-03-19T15:41:00.002-06:00

Listen,

I don't know why I keep buying into all the crap that BYU dishes out. Every stinkin' year I fall victim to believing all the hype, just to be let down time and time again. Well not anymore!!!

From now on I vow to not buy into the hype!!!

I vow to ignore Bronco's dillusions of grandeur!!!

I vow to stop believing that the Cougs could win an NCAA tournament game!!!

I will not allow myself to be let down by BYU ever again!!!

Serentiy Now!!!

Merry Christmas, Holy $#!^, where's the Tyenol!?!

By the way, does anyone know when spring football starts???

I've heard the Cougars are supposed to bust the BCS this year... I can't wait!

College Hoops...

2009-03-15T17:08:00.004-06:00

Listen,

Generally speaking I don't care for college basketball, but I can't help getting a bit excited for the NCAA tournament.

I have created a bracket challenge. Just click this link here.

Any questions can be left as comments here and I will respond when I can.
Good luck...

Early birthday shopping...

2009-03-13T08:47:00.006-06:00

Listen,

My birthday is less than 6 months away, and for all of you that want to get your shopping done early here are a few suggestions:

1. R2-D2 Shampoo Bottle

2. R2-D2 Projection alarm clockR2-D2 Shampoo Bottle

3. Star Wars Lightsaber USB Glow Lamp

4. Sculpted Darth Vader Pencil Holder

I'll keep you posted as it gets closer...

No more Dancing...

2009-03-10T07:16:00.009-06:00

Listen,

I watch too much television. Generally speaking I don't like "reality tv." I have never watched more than 1 episode of Survivor, never got into the Amazing Race. The Apprentice has been recommended several times, but I'm not interested. Not to mention the cancer of television American Idol.

I do watch some game shows, I guess they're kind of fun, but all the new ones like Deal or No Deal, or all the new prime time shows don't do it for me. I'll take the Price is Right, Press Your Luck or Jeopardy any day over all the new crap.

There is one reality show that I enjoy... it's my guilty pleasure I guess. It started out as a show that Hana would watch while I played computer games, but I slowly got dragged in. I actually think I may like it more than she does now. I've talked a little bit about it here before, so those of you who follow me know that I am talking about Dancing with the Stars. I never in a million years would have thought this was a show that I would be into, but it sucked me in.

Maybe its the hot professional female dancers in skimpy costumes... Maybe...

(Note: I was going to post multiple pictures of the said female dancers, but I do not enjoy sleeping on the couch)

Last time I talked about DWTS (as I will call it now) was when one of my favorite Olympians Misty May was competing, but had to drop out due to a torn Achilles tendon. It was a crushing blow to me, but over time I did recover.

This year I was really really looking forward to one of my all time favorite singers to participate... Jewel. Once I found out she was going to be on the show I started counting down the days. So last night was the season premiere. The hours could not go by fast enough. Work was excruciating. The boys finally went to bed and Hana and I sat down to watch. I was then stuck with horrible news...

Jewel was not going to be competing!!!

She had to drop out due to injury!!!

Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

How could this happen to me again?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

She was one of two contestants that had to drop out due to knee injuries. I was devastated. The producers tried to make it up to me by replacing here with some Playboy model, too little too late if you ask me...

Give me a freaking break.

Oh well, life goes on I guess.

Star gazing... or something like it

2009-02-25T13:41:00.014-07:00

Listen,

It’s not everyday that I find myself standing outside on my driveway at 11pm on a chilly winter night with a pair of binoculars in my hands… No, I’m not some sicko spying on my neighbors… I’m looking at the stars... a comet actually. I was checkin out the Comet Lulin.

<----------------------------{

I kind of got into astronomy and space during my scouting days and even took a class in high school. The immensity of space is astounding. I am intrigued by constellations and all that. So, for those of you who didn’t click on the link to the article above I’ll give you a little summary.

The Comet Lulin is a green comet about the size of Jupiter. It can be seen in the Eastern sky near Saturn, which can be found toward the horizon from the constellation Leo (under the head to be more specific). This is a 2-tailed comet unlike the single-tailed comets that are more recognizable ones like Halley’s Comet. }--------->

Solar winds create the tail that is seen on comets like Halley’s and others. Because Lulin is melting so fast it actually leaves a wake on the sun-side as well creating the second, much smaller tail that you can see in the first picture. Experts estimate that Lulin is shedding 800 gallons of water each second, which they state is enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool in less than 15 minutes. This week Lulin has come it’s closest to Earth and is brightest now because that. Lulin will come within 38 million miles Earth. To give you an idea, the Moon is about 239 thousand miles away. The sun is about 92 million miles from Earth. Los Angeles is 700 miles away from Salt Lake City. And finally, I work 13 miles from my house.

My sister Hay, my mom, my 3-year-old Brady, and I went out Tuesday night at 11pm. I was not planning on Brady joining us (his bedtime is 9pm), but he heard Grandma and Aunty Hay come in and came running. It was actually pretty cool. With my sick astronomy skills we found Leo and Saturn and then went for the binoculars. There it was, kind of a duller greenish-gray spot just to the right and up a little from Saturn, just like they said. Once we knew where to look, we could even see it without the binoculars. I wish I had a good telescope, heck, I’d even be happy with a crumby telescope to see this better.

They (the experts) say that this comet has a parabolic path, meaning it never has past through our little solar system before and it will never pass through again. Halley’s Comet comes every 75 years, so you may get another chance to catch it again… Lulin will not be back, so take advantage of it now and go look at the stars (or comet).

Bet you didn’t plan on a science lesson today did you… you are welcome. Oh, and here's a little map to help you find it.

It is HAPPENING!!!!

2009-02-13T07:26:00.003-07:00

Listen,
With great thanks to my dear brother Steve (of Kristin and Steve Inc.) I recieved the following news... Words cannot describe my excitement so I won't even try...
The following is the headline from the Salt Lake Tribune that Steve sent me yesterday:
"IN-N-OUT Burger pursuing Draper site"
Here is the link to KSL's website for more info:
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=172&sid=5579444

That's all for now.

A whole month...

2009-01-27T07:33:00.002-07:00

Listen,
Hard to believe it's been a whole month since I last posted... I guess it is time. I have been wanting to post about Evan's last trip to the doctor. I actually typed out a whole post at work, but wanted to add some pictures of him, and never got around to posting it at all. I will now adapt that into a new post for today... lucky you.
…

Nothing exciting going on at work… no celebrities sighted… no temple open-houses attended… no new babies born or pets adopted… no polar bear plunges on the news... no lime... not a whole lot going on…

As I mentioned, we did take Evan in for his 4 month check-up. He weighed 18 pounds 9 ounces and was 26 and one-half inches tall/long. According to the growth charts he is the size of an average 7 and ½ year old. I forget which number goes with which, but I believe he was like 93rd percentile for height and 98th percentile for weight… either way he is big. Those numbers were taken on Monday, the 19th, so he is even bigger now… His pediatrician said that he appears to be thriving and to keep doing what we’re doing and not to be concerned about him being too heavy at this point. He has been such a great addition to the family, so good in fact, that Hana said the other day that she might even consider having another one. I told her that she is nuts and that we should probably have her examined for some sort of “crazy person” disease.

Question: Is this blog really turning into one of those family update blogs????

Change of subject.

I have been sick this week. I even called in sick and didn’t go to work on Wednesday… probably should have Thursday and or Friday too.

We got a Wii Fit a week or so ago. According to it, I am an obese 60 year-old… ouch. Actually, my Wii age is 37, Hana’s was 38 and since my "real, non-Nintendo age" is 2 years older than her "real, non-Nintendo age" I must be doing pretty well… Unfortunately, I did not make up the “obese” part…

Our cats are getting big… They are nuts too.

Brady has to be the coolest kid ever. He makes me laugh all the time. We bought him a Star Wars T-shirt the other day… it’s all he wants to wear now. Those of you who knew me in Junior High will find this funnier than those of you who didn't. Two words: Hyper-color sweatshirt...
Brady started going to a pre-preschool at Gymboree. They learn letters and numbers and important things like how to safely carry scissors, which he demonstrated for us... The other day when I went to pick him up one of the other boys in his class was telling his mom that he and Brady played Star Wars together during "play time" and that Brady was really good at it. My first thought was, "You bet your a$$ he is... he's the best at playing Star Wars."

Anyway, like I said, this post should have had some pictures, but since it didn't I will try to post some soon and not wait a month between posting again... Maybe I can get an action shot of Brady demonstrating the safe way to carry scissors.

Merry Star Wars Christmas...

2008-12-26T10:59:00.001-07:00

Listen,

This is the time of year that people send out those fun Christmas cards with letters telling you all about their family and their accomplishments and so forth. My parents never sent out letters like this. My guess is that their children are just so amazing and are so wonderful, that they did not want to depress other families when they found out what losers their kids were compared to us…

Anyway...

So, Christmas was a big success at our place this year. Brady nearly doubled his Star Wars Guy Collection, not really, but he got lots of fun new Star Wars toys, including some Star Wars Lego ships that I got to put together. It was really fun to see him “get it” this year. We had a blast playing with all his new guys and flying around his new ships. Hana got me some fun stuff too including a new Wii game “Super Smash Brothers Brawl,” a Star Wars Character Guide book, and some Star Wars Novels that I have wanted to read. It was a very Star Wars Christmas this year. Hana got a new camera that she is thrilled with and Evan got some fun toys too. Speaking of Evan, he pooped three times in like a 10 minute span while my parents were over visiting to see our Christmas haul. There’s nothing like a good bowel movement (or movements) for Christmas. It was very satisfying to spend our first Christmas in our new house. At bedtime we all were sitting in Brady’s room (even the cats) and it was pretty overwhelming to see everyone healthy and happy. We are “seriously so blessed.”

Enough with the sappy stuff… Here are my top 10 events of this past year in no particular order…
1. Evan was born
2. We bought a house
3. Changing jobs and no longer hating my job
4. Wii got a Wii
5. Brady getting into Star Wars
6. Going to Southern California with my family and taking Brady to Disneyland and a Dodger baseball game
7. We got our kitties
8. Watching the Summer Olympics
9. Brady getting potty trained
10. Yesterday… all day

Is it Christmas yet?

2008-12-16T11:25:00.003-07:00

Listen,

Now that the snow is here it really does feel more like Christmas time. I was directed to a great website that helps answer the question: "Is it Christmas?"

I guess we have to wait a little longer.

5 Guys...

2008-12-05T14:49:00.003-07:00

Listen,

I think that I am finally over the loss. I mean really…. I knew going in that BYU had an uphill battle, but I never anticipated that.
Let’s move on and never speak of that game again…. Done and done.

Listen,
I just have a few random things on my mind and I am bored, so here you go.

1. Where is the snow?
2. I filled up my car yesterday for under 16 dollars and the gas light was on… honestly that is something.
3. I am sick of hearing about how much the economy stinks right now. It’s like having a conversation about which BCS bowl game the Utes are going to go to…oh crap…

Listen,
I just have a few random things on my mind and I am bored, so here you go.

1. Where is the snow?
2. I filled up my car yesterday for under 16 dollars and the gas light was on… honestly that is something.
3.

4. We put up our Christmas decorations yesterday. It’s a lot of freaking work to put all that stuff up and I have not even bought or put up Christmas lights yet. …
5. I found out the reason that people have big families… to help rake leaves… Instead of putting them in bags I wish I could just like them on fire.
6. I asked Brady what he wants from Santa Claus last night. Without a moments hesitation or pause to think threw his arms in the air and said (well more like yelled) MORE STAR WARS GUYS!!!! And then he ran around the house for 15 minutes chanting the Star Wars Theme Song. I am so proud.

Now to the important stuff.

We went to the restaurant “Five Guys Burgers and Fries” in Midvale the other night. I honestly have never enjoyed a non-homemade-barbequed hamburger more in my life. It was abso-freaking-lutely amazing. There regular burger is actually a double burger. The small burger is a single burger. The most amazing thing is that their meat actually tastes like meat…. I know what a crazy idea. I never thought there would exist a burger place that I would rather eat at over In-N-Out, but this place is leaps and bounds better. I am not joking. You have to go and try it. They also have fresh-cut skin-on French fries. They serve them plain or with a Cajun-ish seasoning that I thought was pretty good. It made them taste Cajun-y, but it was not overwhelming or too hot… Brady even at them without complaining. The also have a list of condiments you can get on your burger including ketchup, mustard, mayo, sautéed mushrooms, fried onions, A1 sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, relish, jalapeno peppers, and BBQ sauce. They also have Coke Zero as a fountain option which I appreciate. Also, the men’s room has a diaper-changing station, which is more than I can say for Training Table and Crown Burger (at least the ones that I used to frequent). Notice I said used to frequent… I don’t see any reason to go to either of those places again. If I want a burger I will go to 5 Guys; if I want a Gyro I will go to a Greek place. Sorry Crown Burger and Training Table, I just no longer have a use for you. Now if only they would open a location closer I would be set.

Getting ready for the BIG GAME???

2008-11-20T13:27:00.002-07:00

Listen,
A first-grade teacher explains to her class that she is an Utah fan. She asks her students to raise their hands if they are Utah fans too. Wanting to be liked by their teacher, their hands fly into the air.
There is, however, one exception. Kelly has not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she has decided to be different. "Because I'm not a Utah fan" she reports.
"Then," asks the teacher," What are you?"
"I'm a BYU Cougar fan," boasts the little girl.
The teacher asks Susie why she is a BYU fan.
"Well, my Dad and Mom are both BYU fans, so I'm a BYU fan too," she responds.
"That's no reason," the teacher says. "What if your mom was a moron, and your dad was an idiot. What would you be then?"
Kelly smiles and says, "Then I'd be a Utah fan."

Thank you...

2008-11-05T22:39:00.008-07:00

Listen,
I know, I know about freaking time... Not that I ever have anything groundbreaking or earth-shattering to say here, but I do feel like it is once again my time to let you all in on the goings on with me...

First a bit of catching up:
I am still gainfully employed at RxAmerica... I know, it is hard to believe. We've officially been sold to CVS/Caremark. No big changes yet...yet. I actually have been giving, yes giving flu shots to my fellow co-workers. That's right, I have been sticking needles into people's arms... Can you believe it???? It's like these poor people think they are simply getting a flu vaccination, but in actuality they are my own personal voodoo dolls. Cool huh...

Hana continues to be amazing... enough said

Brady continuously hums sections of the Star Wars Score... I swear he will have all 6 movies, the Clone Wars movie, and all the cartoon network shows memorized by the end of the year... Never would I have imagined he would get so into Star Wars... I am so proud.

Evan seems to grow more alert every day. He still cries a lot, and can barely keep his head from flopping back, but he's making progress. Lot's of work, but lots of fun too.

The Cats are getting big. They are shedding. They jump onto everything. Brady will not leave them alone. They are like magnets. For some reason he feels it is entirely ok to practice his Jedi moves on them... it is not ok.

Now, down to business...

Actually there is no business.

At work I see people (and hear people) talking on their cell phones in the rest room. Not just like hanging out in the restroom talking, but like talking while leaving a dump or while urinating. This is wrong for the following reasons:
1. I mean really...
2. If I was talking to someone and I hear any of the following noises I am hanging up intermediately: Toilet flushing, urine stream, plop plop, or toilet paper unraveling.
3. I am in the restroom to take care of business. I don't want to hear your conversation with whoever it is you are talking to while you take a crap.

The best thing about BYU losing to TCU a few weeks ago is that I no longer have to cheer for the Utes because beating an undefeated Utah would have given an undefeated BYU one good win this season. Now the Utes can simply go to Hell. I hope they lose all of their remaining games. (Sorry Ute fans, it's not you I hate...its... well, yes it is you I hate)

My cat Juno always watches me clean their litter box... its like she doesn't trust me or something.

Brady was a Jedi for Halloween. Amazingly, I was never a Jedi for Halloween. That makes me a little sad.

I bought the Lego Star Wars game for my Wii... I have had so much fun playing this game... It is amazing.

I got a laptop and hooked up a wireless home network... I thought I might actually blog more since I'd be able to do it anywhere in the house, or even the yard for that matter... nope.

I got a new cell phone. Its a Treo 700p. I still mostly use it to play solitaire. I broke my old Samsung Juke in half...whether this was on purpose or not is yet to be determined.

Hmm...

I told myself I wouldn't cry...

2008-10-07T07:16:00.007-06:00

Listen,

As Hana and I sat down last night to "watch" Dancing with the Stars on Monday night after the little one went to sleep, an announcement was made that would have a lasting impact on the rest of this season... a season to this point which has been nothing short of magical...

It was announced that Misty May-Treanor... I told myself I wasn't going to cry... sustained an injury and was going to have to drop out of the competition. They showed the footage of her rehearsal when her Achilles tendon ruptured... it was almost to difficult to watch. They had her hobble out on her crutches to talk about the injury. Seeing Misty that way was traumatic... almost too much to bear.

Don't worry though, she is tough and said that she would be back to dance the jive as soon as she is better... that is the attitude of a champion. You can read the press release here.

Good luck in your recovery Misty... you will be missed... one less star to shine on the dance floor of DWTS (that what people "in the know" call Dancing with the Stars).

Worked at Albertson's today...

2008-10-05T01:07:00.007-06:00

Listen,
So, yeah, I worked at ol' Albertson's today. All in all it was not too bad. I played Solitaire on my palm pilot for at least 2 of the 10 hours... not bad at all. Anyway, my Dodgers beat the Cubs to advance to the National League Championship game where they will play either the Phillies or the Brewers to see who will go to the World Series. My serious readers will remember this post about a certain Manny Ramirez... Looks like picking him up paid off. He is 5 for 10 this post season with 2 home runs... Go Dodgers!!!

Also, Evan is getting bigger every day...here are some new pics...

Welcome to the World...

2008-09-17T22:47:00.014-06:00

Listen... and look as well,

UPDATE: Friday 9/19/08 @ 2:30pm -- Evan finally got to come home with us!!! He was discharged from the hospital this afternoon after his bilirubin and his C reactive protein levels levels fell to safe fell into the "normal" ranges... We are so HAPPY!!!!

Here are some pictures of our new baby boy Evan Robert Sokol. He was born Monday, September 15th at 11:26am. He was born 8 pounds even and was 21 inches long. For more details about our "Baby Story" please see the following post titled, "The Long Version." I just wanted to post a few pictures here and let those who are interested read more if they wanted to.

Thanks to all who have given so much love and support over the past couple of days... you mean the world to us.

Now, enjoy the photos...

The Long version

2008-09-17T22:47:00.005-06:00

Listen,
Note: This is the long version... no pics, more details...

So, Sunday night just before midnight I say to Hana, "Well, I'm gonna go to bed... gotta get up early for work you know." to which she responds, "Yeah, do you have a stop watch?" "No, why?" I inquire. "I think I may be going into labor, my contractions seem really evenly spaced every couple of minutes," she says. To which I respond, "What contractions?"

So, she starts having contractions every 2 minutes +/- 10 seconds. We sit and monitor them for about an hour and I say, "Have you packed a bag yet?" "Uh, no, he's not due til Saturday." So I say, "You go pack and I'll go find the car seat." About a 30 minutes later we are dropping Brady of at my Parents (at 2:30 in the freaking morning" and we're on our way to the hospital.

To be honest, I thought there was no way Hana was in labor, from what I learned from the TV labor is supposed to hurt and she just didn't seem like she was in enough pain. She never went into labor with Brady because he was breach and she delivered him C=section... so this labor thing is new to us.

We get to IMC (aka the Death Star) and they check us in. A nurse comes in at about 3 to assess Hana and she says, "Yep, we're having a baby tonight!" W O W... She told us that she was all the way thinned out and dilated to about a 4.

The pain from the contractions kept getting worse and she got an epidural (much to my appreciation) at about 4:30 and we both fell asleep until about 7:30 when my mom calls to see what is going on. Shortly after the phone call a nurse comes in and checks Hana and says that we are getting closer; at this point she's about an 8 (she'll always be a 10 in my book). At about 9:30 the nurse comes in and says that it's time to start pushing and the doctor will come down soon to check out the situation.

(Funny side story: Brady was delivered by Dr. Brown, one of Dr. Gravelle's (Hana's regular doctor) partners who was on call that night since it took place at like 9pm. So Monday was Dr. Gravelle's day off and guess who was on call...Dr. Brown. She is really cool too, so we were happy it was her.)

So after a long 2 hours of hard work by Hana, the baby was born at 11:26. We named him Evan Robert Sokol. He was born 8 pounds even and 21 inches long. In case you were wondering, Brady was 7 pounds 15 ounces and 19.5 inches long. He has lots of really dark brown hair and is a sweet as sweet can be.

Now for the sad part... right after the delivery he was found to have an elevated tempurature (right around 101). This caused a bit of concearn so they drew a CBC and found that his white count was slightly elevated, so they were monitoring him closely watching for any more spikes in temp or other signes of infection. They also drew a C-reactive protein level which is a general indicator of inflammation in the body. This level was slightly elevated too, but not overwhelmingly high, so they just watched and waited. Well, Wednesday morning at 4 am his temp spiked to around 101 again so they measured the C-reactive protien and it had elevated slightly too, so the decision was made to start him on IV antibiotics for at least 48 hours and to put him under the lights because he had an elevated bilirubin level too causing him to be jaundice. So, little Evan gets to stay at the hospital for a couple more days for evaluation while Hana got/had to come home. It really has kind of thrown a wrench into the day and all the anticipation of bringing home the new baby. I know he is where he needs to be to get the treatment that he needs, it's just a rough start...

I just wanted to thank those of you out there who have gone so far out of your way to accomodate our family during this emotional time. From Parents, family members, friends, nurses, and everyone else, I just want to say thank you. What you have done for me and my family will not soon be forgotten. I truly feel undeserving of the love and support that has been shown to me and my family. You are all wonderful people.

No good reason & Things I hate...

2008-09-12T16:27:00.004-06:00

Listen,
I am sorry for the long break... I honestly just have had nothing clever to say. I wanted to give a hearty shout out to my Cougars who absolutely beat the living crap out of the UCLA Bruins on Saturday. That was an amazing game. The U also had an impressive victory over Utah State. Just in case you couldn't hear the sarcasm in my voice there was A LOT of it. The University of Utah can just go suck my big toe... for those of you who have seen either of my big toes that is really saying something. Nobody should ever have to even look at my big toe, let alone suck it. There should be a law in place that would ban me from wearing flip-flops. My big toes are gross... End of story.

I went to the Colors concert over the weekend too. Maybe I should be embarrassed about how much I like this band, but I'm not. They put on a great show and their music is really really good.

Here is a short list of things I currently hate, presented in no particular order:
1. People in general
2. People in particular
3. The Denver Broncos
4. The New York Yankees (I am SOOOOOOOO excited that they are not going to make the playoffs cause I have them)
5. Stupid kids from Skyline who drive to fast on my street
6. Being tired like all the time
7. Most University of Utah football fans
8. Jar Jar Binks
9. UDOT/I-80 need I say more...
10. Onions

In other news... no baby yet.

Ok Kristin...Star Wars and Wii

2008-08-28T15:56:00.018-06:00

Listen,
Nothing beats adoring fans...
So, 2 weekends ago we took Brady to see the new Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon/movie...
As one who
L O V E S
all things Star Wars, I was so excited to see this movie, especially after seeing the Clone Wars cartoons that were released by the Cartoon Network a few years back. If you have not seen them, you absolutely need, make that NEED to see them...
Anyway... This new movie/cartoon was ok... not great, not terrible, just ok... The script was bad (which in not too un-expected) and they introduced a new "Jar Jar Binks-esque" ultra-annoying character (also not un-expected). I mean, it's worth seeing, but definitely not a must see in the theaters like all other Star Wars movies have been.

The best thing to come of going to see this movie was that Brady is now very much into Star Wars, which is a very good thing. We have watched the cartoon networks Clone Wars cartoons and he watches them with the same awe-struck, mouth-ajar glazed-over look that he used to watch the Baby Einstein shows when he was a wee little tot. It's really fun to watch him get into something that I hold so dear. We have purchased him several sets of the Star Wars Galactic Hero action figures and we have a blast battling the bad guys... Hana isn't a big fan of the guns... the lightsabers are fine, but guns are a different story.

Since my last post I turned the big 30 last Sunday. All in all a great birthday... My parents got me a Wii and everyone else got me Wii accessories. Well, Steve and Kristin got me a Lava Lamp, which is way cool especially because like three days before my birthday I told Hana how much I missed my old Lava Lamp which gave out on me about 5 years ago. Anyway, back to the Wii. I have played Wii before and had a good time, but Hana got me Mario Cart and Madden 2009 and I have played just about every spare minute I have... I'd love to share my fun with you so give me a call or just stop by and we'll Wii. If my blog drops off a bit, it's most likely because I am Wii-ing. HA!!

Oh, and finally, did you see who is going to be on Dancing with the Stars?????

I'll give you 2 hints...

Ok make that 3 hints...

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

2008-08-21T23:51:00.013-06:00

Listen,
Just a quick post here to congratulate the Ladies on their Repeat Gold in Beach Volleyball. They both said after their victory that they were going to start families and both really wanted to have babies... I think that's pretty cool. Anyway... this makes 3 consecutive posts with at least one picture of this duo... an unprecedented feat in and of itself.

If any of you want action shots from the gold medal game check out this SI photos section...

And how about this guy...
If there is one thing this guy doesn't lack it is SPEED... I mean holy cow...
If there are 2 things this guy doesn't lack it's speed and EGO... but I guess if you can back it up you can go ahead and show-boat a little bit.

Oh, and here's one more for good measure...
I promise I'm done now...

President Bush has Olymic Fever too...

2008-08-13T16:44:00.006-06:00

Listen,
I know that I may take a little heat from a few of you for posting more pictures of Misty May and Kerri Walsh, my 2 favorite Olympic Athletes, but I came across these pictures and thought you'd all like 'em...Where is The First Lady during all of this?!?!?!?

Can't say that I blame him though...

I can just see the developing headlines: "I did not have beach volleyball relations with those women..."

It's moments like these that make me proud to be:
A. an American
B. a Man (well a guy anyway)
and
C. well, I'll just keep C to myself

Anyway, I thought I'd also throw one out for all the ladies too... For those of you that don't know, that sweet hunk of Olympic Athlete is Rulon Gardner... He beat Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin for Olympic Gold at the Sydney Games in Greco-Roman Wrestling. Until ol' Rulon beat him, Karelin had been undefeated in 13 years of international competition. WoW...

And while we're still on the Olympics I just have to say that there is no way in HELL that any member of the Chinese Womens Gymnastic Team meets the minimum age requirement of 16. I mean give me a freaking break!!! A couple of them looked sub 10 years old...

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. I was going to post a picture of them, but with them all being like "16 years old" I didn't want to be further accused of being a pervert.

I've got a fever...

2008-08-10T14:03:00.015-06:00

Listen,
I have been officially diagnosed with Olympic Fever. I can't get enough of them. Today, I found myself choosing trap shooting and Men's Water Polo over the Red Sox vs White Sox game on TBS. I mean it's easy to have OF as I will now refer to it when Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh are trashing Japan in Women's Beach Volleyball, but I mean really...Men's Water Polo...I'm sick. I guess it all started back when the games were in Barcelona, Spain in 1992. I remember games before this, but I think this was the first one I have clear memories of. This was the year of the first "Dream Team" and the teams from the former Soviet Union competed as the "Unified Team". I remember that Coke was giving away Olympic Soundtracks when you sent in so many proofs of purchase, which we of course did. I remember rocking out to Freddie Mercury's "Barcelona"... well maybe rocking out wasn't the most appropriate term.

I do prefer some sports to others. Of course I like the swimming, gymnastics, baseball (which will not be in the Olympics after this year...that sucks), some of the track and field and of course beach volleyball. But there are some that I just don't care much about, but still find myself watching like shooting, regular volleyball, boxing, judo, and fencing. It won't be long before we have No-limit 'Hold 'em, hop-scotch, croquet, and hot dog eating as Olympic events. I would definitely watch croquet and hop-scotch. It just seems like a crime that they are removing baseball, which is actually a real sport that people pay to see even when its not in the Olympics, but events like rhythmic gymnastics and badminton live strong. Oh well, Such is life.

Well I hope you all enjoy the Olympics as much as I do. Go USA especially Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh!!

Thanks a heap

2008-07-31T23:20:00.003-06:00

Listen,

I just wanted to thank all of you that participated in our poll. I especially want to thank Misty for ruining every name we liked. Thanks a heap. Another big thanks goes out to the anonymous poster (you know who you are). Great incites. Also to Dave for inspiring the name McMoroni Sokol...just rolls off the tongue.

Acutally we are no closer now to picking a name than we were then, but your comments and help are appreciated. It must be the heat that is clouding my creativity in both the blogosphere and naming of children departments.

Anyhoo...today was the MLB trading deadline. My Dodgers picked up Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox. I want to get excited about this, but just don't know... we'll see how that pans out in the weeks to come. Go Dodgers!!!

Good Night Now

_______________ Sokol

2008-07-20T23:22:00.006-06:00

Listen,

So, Hana is due on September 20th, which is like 2 months away. That kind of makes her sound like a library book. Anyway, when Hana was pregnant with Brady we had his name picked out at like the 20 week mark... here we are with baby-boy-number-two, (as I affectionately call him) just 2 months from birth and we haven't yet come up with a name. There are some we like, and lots and lots we don't.

If you do vote, and I hope you do, please leave a comment on why you like the selected name or why you don't like the other ones. We are also open to suggestions so feel free to post those as well.

Hana requests no biblical names please... apparently she hates the Bible...odd.

Help us blog nation...you are our only hope...

disclaimer: we will not necessarily use the winning name...due to past experience and wise advise we have learned that the public at large (meaning all of you) is not to be trusted.

It's been... one week...

2008-07-17T22:33:00.002-06:00

Listen,
It's been one week since starting my new job at Rx America. I'm sure that if we (meaning you and I) were standing face to face many of you might ask:
"So, how is it?"
To which I would respond:
"Well, I haven't wanted to strangle anyone this week... I guess that's a good sign." To which many may respond:
"That's good to hear."
Unless of course you are Kristin, in which case you may respond:
"That's too bad."
I really don't know why Kristin finds such joy in my misery... strange huh. (should I have used a question mark (?) there?)

Moving on...
Yeah, I'd have to say it's going pretty well. Hard to say at this point though. I'm still in the training process and all. I do get a lunch break...cool.

I guess this is how I can best sum it up:
Best case scenario: I end up loving this job and stay there forever and ever.
Worst case scenario: I end up hating it and look for a new job come spring.
Either way, I am not working full-time at Albertson's...hallelujah...wow I spelled that right on my first try...amazing.

Good night now

Easy Like Sunday Morning???

2008-07-13T08:20:00.006-06:00

Listen,

Where did that saying come from...whoever it was (damn Lionel Richie) that came up with it obviously didn't have 9am church and/or kids to get ready for said church (and I only have one child...can't even begin to imagine multiple children, though that will be reality soon)...

Anyway, I find myself awake early enough before 9am church to write a bit... strange I know.

...

As you may have seen I have decided to change the blog's name. Not all that exciting, but a change none-the-less. I took Kristin's advice and made it more "Bob-centric". I also took Dave's advise and took it out of your hands...you (the general public) really cannot be trusted....sorry. Dave is wise beyond his years...though I have no idea how old he is....sorry Dave.

Also, I started my new job on Friday...I will have a desk and a computer and a fully customizable, personalizable(apparently not a word)......cubicle.......never thought I'd be working in one of those, but I actually kinda like the idea. Not a whole lot to say about it yet (the job that is not the cubicle), but it seems pretty cool. More details to follow...that is if I get around to it... And not to worry Kristin, I will be ranting and raving if such actions are required/make me feel better...chances are pretty good knowing me and my personality.

Well, I hope your Sunday morning was as easy as mine (and Lionel's.)

Good morning now. (just doesn't have the same ring to it as "Good night now", but oh well)

A Rose by any other name...

2008-07-09T23:53:00.008-06:00

Listen,

When I started this blog, it was late one night and I didn't really know much about the Blogosphere. I have really enjoyed "getting to know" some new seemingly cool people through reading your blogs and your comments on this and other blogs.

Anyway, one of you seemingly cool people suggested that I change the name of this blog to "What About Bob's Blog." This was most likely due to a comment left on the "Kristin and Steve Sokol" blog titled "Ah-hoy" where I narrowly beat Dave to quoting, (or at least paraphrasing) the movie "What About Bob" which I have seen several times. At first I was like "No way am I changing my blog's name..." but then I thought "Huh, maybe I should change my blog's name."

Now to the point. The name of the Blog is now up in the air. In my last poll you (as a voting public) failed me when you overwhelming voted for us to not get any pet followed closely by a pig. As you know, or should anyway, we got 2 kittens, which was the obvious right choice. Despite this recent let-down, I am going to leave it up to you to help me. Please feel free to vote or leave a comment with an idea.

Thank you in advance for your votes and/or ideas. I put the fate of this blog, and thus my hopes and dreams, in your hands.

Good night now

No Excuse

2008-07-03T00:56:00.009-06:00

Listen,

I know that I have no excuse for going so long without a post. However, I just wanted to keep you all up-to-date on the goings on in my life...

It is currently 1 am and I do have to work tomorrow, which brings me to my first big reason that I have been busy... I officially have only 3 more days of work at my Sav-On Pharmacy located in your Albertson's. This may be sad news to a few of you, as my hatred of my job at Albertson's is really what sparked this blog (see some of my earlier entries.) As of Friday, the 11th of July I will begin what I hope to be an upgrade of a job/career at RxAmerica. My job title will be Specialty Pharmacist. I will be over the "specialty" products which include most of the really expensive injections and other medications that you hope you never have to be on. It is more of a desk job with more regular business hours. There are definitely pros and cons to leaving my current job and taking a new one, but I am excited (well mostly excited, somewhat scared) to take on a new job that will be more "clinical" and less "would you like fries with your Lortab."

We also got two kittens last week!!!! Despite the overwhelming poll results we decided to bring two Siamese mix kittens into our family. They were born on May 8th of this year. So they share a birthday with my brother Steve...lucky you. We have had them a week now and they are awesome. We got a brother and sister from the same litter, so they get along well together and they love to wrestle and play. Brady gets so excited around them that he literally quivers. We named them Juno and Bleeker after the Juno movie characters. Juno is in the pink collar and Bleeker is in the black one. It has been so fun getting to know them and having them get to know us. I know not everyone loves or even likes cats, but these are some awesome animals. Sorry to go all cat crazy there. I have always had a cat growing up and I guess I am a "cat person." I turn into a big softie around kittens.

Anyway, if you are a cat person too, come on over and see them...

Well, I better go get some sleep, only 3 more days dealing with the crazies...

Good night now

Rock the Vote

2008-06-20T01:07:00.002-06:00

Listen,

Please take time to help us decide on what kind of animal(s) we should accept into our home and into our hearts by voting in our poll question... it takes mere seconds, but the answer could have a lasting effect...

Sleeping in?

2008-06-19T08:44:00.001-06:00

Listen,

So, today was my day to sleep in... Hana and I kind of take turns waking up early with Brady... I guess I shouldn't complain, because even when you have to "wake up early" with Brady, you usually get to sleep until 8 or 8:30, and just watch cartoons on the couch. The one who gets to "sleep in" really doesn't have a limit to their wake-up time, but usually that ends up around 9:30 or 10, but in extreme circumstances I have pushed the envelope to 11:30... this occurs after I've picked up an extra shift and have worked three consecutive 12-hour shifts.

Well today was my day...Hana told me last night that she had to get up early to get ready for a hair appointment so the morning was mine. Well guess what..... I wake up feeling wide-awake and fresh as a summer morn' at 6:30 in the freaking morning!!!!! Why does this happen? I would pay great sums of money to be able to wake up feeling like wide awake and refreshed just once on a day that I had to work. I swear(literally and figuratively), on the days I go to work I stumble out of bed with just minutes to do "the 3 S's" and drive to work half-asleep. It drives me up the wall. This morning I actually had almost 2 hours (before I heard Brady stirring) with the house all to myself... so what did I do??? I played freaking computer games...what a loser. To make matters even worse I took double my usual dose of sleeping pills to ensure a late sleep. Argh!

Anyway, soon enough "Baby Boy #2" (as he is now known) will be here and those sleeping in days will be soon forgotten.

It is going to be tough to beat my activities of my last day off, but I shall try. It is kind of sick how much I actually enjoy mowing my lawn... I guess I feel a bit of pride in keeping my yard looking nice like of one of my favorite cartoon heroes Hank Hill whose lawn is always a work of art. I agree with Hank in most circumstances, but I prefer to grill with charcoal... I'll leave the propane and propane accessories to ol' Hank

Good Morning Now.

Landfill fun

2008-06-18T00:40:00.000-06:00

Listen,

So today was an adventurous day... I took a trip to the Salt Lake County Landfill. I needed to get rid of the old carpet and pad that we had replaced since moving into our new place. So this morning, I woke up at the crack or 10 am and started loading the haul into the back of the old X-terra (meaning "former earth") and then set out. Quickly after beginning my trek I realized that I could not see out the back, nor could I see out of the passenger side mirror due to the fact that I had carpet and pad stacked floor to ceiling in all but the driver seat. This made for a fun drive out to 60th West and California Avenue.

When I arrived I got yelled at by the lady at the pay-booth for not stopping at the stop sign so for a second she thought the truck ahead of me weighed over 1 ton. I apologized and said that it was my first trip to the landfill in a long time and she said that it happens all the time and then it struck me... I realized that she probably hates her job more than I hate mine...I mean she works at the freakin' dump...sad.

Not being able to see out of the car expect for my driver side mirror also made backing-up to the drop-off area interesting... damn-near ran some poor guy over...oh well, he looked tired. After his near death experience he actually directed me back into a spot...lucky for me there was a curb that my tires hit, or he may have backed me all the way into the pit...the bastard.

So anyway, that was my un-exciting trip to the city landfill... Now the garage looks nice and clean, well, at least there is no more pile of carpet and pad. Hana worked on straightening-up while I was on my excursion, so it really does look nice.

I also ate lunch at Chipotle today. It is good, but it is not as good as Barbacoa.
Barbacoa's burritos are bigger and tastier. They (Barbacoa) also have the honey-sweet pork which is so amazing... if you haven't tried it I do recommend it. Oh and by the way, those of you who prefer Cafe Rio are just stupid and have very poor taste.

Good Night Now

Soda...

2008-06-08T23:15:00.000-06:00

Listen,

It really really angers me when stores put 12-packs of soda on sale for $4.50 or 3 packs for $13 dollars... That, my dear supermarket manager person, is not on sale. It also is lame when they actually do have 12-packs for $3 or less per pack, but then tell you that you are saving almost $2 a pack and show the regular price as $5.99 a 12-pack.

I was at Smith's Market Place (which was a far better place as Fred Meyer) and they had the nerve to have Pepsi 12-packs on sale for $4.69, let me repeat that $4.69!!! That is total BS (and not the good kind...my initials...BS...get it?)!!!!!! They also have 2-liter (or litre for those Canadian and British readers) bottles for $1.49. Argh!

No soda should ever be more than 99 cents for a 2-liter/litre and a 12 pack should never ever ever be over $3. In a perfect world a 2-liter/litre bottle should cost 79 cents and 12 packs would be 5 packs for $10... [that's $2 per 12-pack for those of you who are a bit slow at math (Hay)].

I need several servings or Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi or even Diet Mountain Dew (or at least the caffeine found therein) to survive a 12 hour day at ol' Alby's (that's slang for Albertson's). Addiction may not be the appropriate word for my need... Dictionary.com defines addiction as: the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, [...] to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma. ...Well, maybe it is, either way.

As my sweet mom might say: "I don't have a problem with caffeine... I have a problem without it."

Good Night Now

My Wife...

2008-06-05T00:13:00.000-06:00

Listen,
Apparently, if I don't blog daily I am open to criticism from certain groupies of mine. For those of you who don't know (and Kristin, you are not one of them,) I am a busy guy... I have a full time job, a house with a yard, and lots of tv to watch. If I don't have time to blog daily, just read my archives... there is endless hoursto be spent reading and re-reading my old posts and analyzing them... I could read my old posts or not read my old posts all day and never run out of things to read or not read.

Now it is time to publicly, though not that publicly, (because not enough people know about the endless hours of entertainment available here,) but at any rate...
I just needed to say a big thanks to my sweet wife Hana. As of today we have lived in our house 1 week and I think that there is only 1 box that is not unpacked and put into place. This box is labeled: "Bob's toys and collectibles..." a box that she wouldn't want to get into, a box that she shouldn't get into, and box that she couldn't get into... I may be turning 30 this summer, but I'll be damned if I will give up my toys.

Anyway, back to the point... Hana has been absolutely a work-horse. I know one should not refer to one's wife as a horse, but in this case it is totally positive. She has put away everything, organized every room, decorated almost every room, and still had time to be like 25 weeks pregnant and keep Brady happy, healthy, and overall clean and fed. If it were my responsibility to unpack, organize, and decorate we would be in a similar condition as we were one week ago and you wouldn't have this blog to read cause the computer would still be in a box. So, next time you see Hana, tell her what an amazing, wonderful person she is... she hates my blogging so she will probably never read this, so its up to all of you to let her know how great she is... she is very humble and sweet and deserves more happiness than I alone would ever be able to provide her... thanks for your help with this. By the way, the picture is from our recent trip to California at the Dodgers game... she is such a good sport and even wore a Dodgers hat for me even though I know she didn't really want to. She is so cool. She puts up with a lot, only those who know the real me can truly appreciate that.

Also, the penguins lost to the red wings tonight. It was a great series and I give the pens a lot of credit for playing as well as they did. Hana is happy cause if the penguins would have won the cup I was going to insist on Crosby Stanley Sokol for the baby's name in honor of Sidney Crosby's achievement, but so it goes...
...
Good night now

In need of a day off...

2008-05-30T00:29:00.000-06:00

Listen,
I haven't had to work since... well, its been a week now. I know, I know, it seems like I never work, but I do indeed. I had planned to take Tuesday, and today (Friday), and Saturday to have a matrixectomy on my right big toe. Matrixectomy is just a big medical term for a surgical procedure to remove the toenail and it nail bed. I had this done on my left big toe 3 or 4 years ago. It really sucked.

To make it even worse the bulb on my tv went out a week before the procedure. After calling Best Buy and JVC it was determined that a new bulb would take 2 weeks to get from the manufacturer to me, so I was forced to "rent" a tv from Best Buy since I knew I was going to be laid up for about a week with nothing else to do, but watch tv or movies and since I felt Best Buy was screwing me, I decided to screw them.

Anyway, the surgery was really painful. At first I was prescribed Lortab, which did nothing for the pain, I then was given Percocet, again nothing. In a last ditch effort my doctor gave me Mepergan Fortis, which is a combination of Demerol and Phenergan. Many of you may be familiar with Demerol as a pain killer and causes pretty bad nausea and Phenergan or promethazine as an anti-emetic to treat the nausea caused by the Demerol part. It was crazy. I don't know if it killed the pain or just made me to dumb to care. Hana had to remind me several times to close my mouth, as my lower jaw wanted to stay agape. By the way, the red capsule is a generic Mepergan Fortis.

So, since I knew this surgery was going to suck I took a week off work, then it turned out that we found, purchased and moved into our new home, (the DSL was set up today) so I put off the surgery, but kept the days off to move and settle in. I know that all who read this are excited for a full photo tour so I will hopefully get around to that in a couple of days. You can also feel free to stop by and help us put away all our crap...

Well...if you haven't clicked on my minicity link on the left please feel free to do so ...
Good Night Now

Stanley Cup Finals...

2008-05-24T15:47:00.000-06:00

Listen,
The Stanley Cup Finals start TONIGHT. This is very very exciting. If you can not feel the excitement you are either dead or should be. The Stanley Cup is such an amazing trophy. I actually got to see it during the 2002 Olympics with my own eyes and touch it with my bare hands. It was a moment that I will never forget. Some of you reading this were there with me and know what I am talking about. Walking into the room where it was on display brought on a feeling of reverence and respect only felt in holy places... I almost felt like I should take off my shoes. For those who don't know the names of the winners are carved into the silver bands on the trophy. To see the names of current and former hockey legends was amazing. Words really can't explain how cool this trophy is. More info on the cup can be found here

Tonight the Pittsburgh Penguins will take on the Detroit Red Wings in game one in a best of seven series, for the right to hoist the cup and be champions just as my favorite player Joe Sakic has done in the past. It is amazing to see grown men shed tears of joy as the raise the cup and skate around the ice with it. It gives me chills...

So... who's gonna win? My money (well not real money, not that I find gambling wrong, in fact I won $10 playing slots on our last trip to California) is on the Pens. I believe they will win it in 6 games on their home ice. Which is really the best way to do it. So if you need me Tonight, Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and if necessary next Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday between 6pm and 10pm forget about it cause I'm watching hockey...
Go Pens!!!

Couldn't Help It...

2008-05-21T23:35:00.000-06:00

Listen,
From the start of this blog I didn't want to make it a big deal with family updates and so forth... However, on our recent vacation Hana took a picture of Brady that I just had to share. This was taken at about five o'clock or so. At this point we had been at Disneyland for 8 hours and the little boy had not had his usual nap at 3.
I just love the look on his face and the way his arms just dangle. It was a long day, but it was an amazingly fun day too...
Good Night Now

Jungle Man

2008-05-19T15:07:00.000-06:00

Listen,

While on our trip we caught an inter-league baseball game between the Angles and the Dodgers. The Dodgers won the game 6 to 3. It was all-in-all a great time... Sadly, Brady's favorite part of the game was the older gentleman sitting a few rows behind us... Brady called him Jungle Man... he made Brady laugh for a good portion of the game...

What in the Hell would posses anyone wear this outfit anywhere? WOW!!!!!

Some Time...

2008-05-16T22:27:00.001-06:00

Listen,
Having been on vacation for the last few days had made me realize that I feel even more strongly about one aspect of my life even more than I ever had...
wait for it...
wait for it...
I hate my job. Plain and simple.
Just the thought of going back makes me cry...no really I mean it, I cried today as I thought about it...sad indeed.
I do not have a lot of time now to tell of the wonderful stories and wonderful experiences of SoCal, but boy are all of you (both of you anyway that have commented on my blog) in for some fun as we dive into some of the following thoughts:
1. How many diet cokes i can drink in a day at the wild animal park, when you get free refills in your souvineer cup...the answer will astound you...and yes, its over 10
2. How fun Disney Land is...even when you have to carry a 35 pound child around for 98% of the day
3. How not to dress your kids at Sea World... 5 year olds just should not wear bikinis anywhere, but at the beach, or swimming pool....check that they should never wear them... dress your children like respectible human beings...they deserve it
4. Internet withdrawl...
5. Carrying said 35 pound child freaking everywhere.
and 6. Holy crap, it smells like a skunk in here all of the sudden...really, it does it is really strong.

In closing I would like to quote a magnet that I saw at a little shop near the beach in Oceanside...I almost bought it, but it was $5, but with all the other crap we have bought, I just couldn't spend it... I will edit it for those of you with sensitive ears and eyes:

"Many people say that I have a bad attitude... well, I say f--- them."

Good Night Now

Oh, BOY!!!!!

2008-05-08T22:12:00.002-06:00

Listen,
Not much to complain about here tonight. We found out that Brady is going to have a little brother in Mid-September!!!!!
How cool is that?
I would like to point out that for the time being, I am the only Sokol son able to produce a man-child...
Good Night Now

D'ohn't Bother Me

2008-05-07T23:29:00.001-06:00

Listen,
And listen good:
If you are going to go up to the pharmacy, bypass the line of people who are patiently waiting their turn, talk over the center of the counter, interrupting the pharmacist from doing whatever he/she was doing and ask for some advice please DO NOT do the following...
Here was my conversation (italics indicate my responses)
Excuse me!
One moment please
Excuse me!
What can I do for you?
What is the best cold medicine?
Who is it for?
Me
What symptoms do you want to treat?
I want the best one!
That is determined by what you want to treat...
Everything
If you wait a moment I can come show you some options
(she them made that "tuh" sound that all women can make and do make whenever a man doesn't or isn't doing what they want or they aren't doing it fast enough...you know the noise...)

After finishing counting the prescription I was counting, for the second time since she had interupted me the first time, I went out to help.
Ok, so you have a cold?
I don't know, I have what's going around.
What symptoms do you want to treat?
All of them.
Ok, do you have a stuffed up nose?
Obviously
Are you coughing?
No (which by the way means she doesn't have "everything)
Do you have a runny nose?
No
So basically you just want to treat a stuffy nose
Yes
Ok, I'd recommend sudafed, do you have any blood pressure problems, or other medical conditions?
No, why?
Sudafed can increase blood pressure
Will it make me drowsy, it can't make me drowsy?
Actually it makes most people a bit more awake
Well, what about this one (as she picks up a generic Ny-quil)?
It has medications to treat a cough, runny nose and chest congestion, and it will make you drowsy.
Well, I think I'm going to get this one
I'm just letting you know that it will most likely make you drowsy.
Whatever

Then she walks away... I could've just slapped the stupid b#@$&

So, here is the lesson:
If you are going to ask the pharmacist for some advice you might want to listen to the advice that is given. I'm not saying that I am all-knowing, but for the love of man, don't waste my time if you are going to buy whatever the hell you were going to buy before I took the time to come out and help.
"I'm just sayin'"
Good night now

New House

2008-05-06T23:13:00.000-06:00

Listen,
We bought a house today... crazy.
Then MLS# if you want to check it out (thought they may take it down soon) is 776676.

...if they take it down before you get to see all the specs and stuff let me know and I can post everything about it.
Here is the gist: 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 1 office/workspace ( I needed both an office and a work space, but oh well...you can't have everything...), updated kitchen, hot tub (which is in a solarium off the master bedroom), master bath, and great yard. The location is just north of Skyline High School, so yes, our children will be Eagles, as well as Wasatch Warriors. They will however go to Eastwood Elementary, not Upland Terrace.
I have not been to work for the last couple of days, so no great stories tonight.
I do return tomorrow, so let's keep our fingers crossed for a real jackass to come in so you can hear all about it.
Good night now

Another late post

2008-05-06T00:39:00.000-06:00

Listen,
It is again late, 12:38 am by my computer's clock... I think my last post was a bit over the top (or is that over-the-top)... don't know.

I am tired so...
...
...
...
We placed an offer on a house today... crazy.
It will be exciting to see what happens...
Good night now

4 overtimes and a Lesson

2008-05-05T00:13:00.000-06:00

Listen,
I just got finished watching the Stars beat the Sharks in quadruple overtime. That means 3 periods of regulation (20 minutes each) 3 full periods of OT (also 20 minutes each) and part of another period. (for those of you who kind of suck, I am talking about the Dallas Stars and the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League (NHL)... and yes they do still play hockey in America.) It was freaking amazing.

Now its time for my rant of the day.
While at work today, well yesterday as I see it is almost 12:30 am Monday... Anyway, a girl, or should I say lady, comes up to the pharmacy and asks me to fill her birth control. I look on her profile and inform her that she is out of refills and I (meaning the pharmacy, not me personally) need to contact her doctor for refill authorization. She replies, "but I am supposed to start taking it tonight!" I just stare at her blankly for a moment and say, I'm sorry, but I (again meaning the pharmacy) need to contact your doctor for refills, to which she responds, "but I am supposed to start taking it tonight!" At this point I say, "I am sorry, we'll call first thing tomorrow morning." She looks at me as if I have just made a nasty comment about her mother, and asks me, "so what am I supposed to do?" So I say, "give us a call tomorrow afternoon to see if your doctor has responded to our call." She says, "won't you call me?" "No, you may want to call your doctor too tomorrow morning if it is that urgent, otherwise give us a call tomorrow afternoon." She huffs and storms out of the store.
Unfortunately for me, she has hurt my feelings deeply with her sour faces and angry departure from the store. I just don't know how I will go on with my life knowing that this poor woman will not be able to start her birth control tonight... I just can't put into words the depth of my misery. (italics added for emphasis)

So here is the lesson:
If it is vital that you take a particular medication on a particular day please, for the love of man, make sure that one of the following occurs:
1. Make sure that you have a prescription with sufficient refills before coming to the pharmacy after having taken the last of your pills.
2. Look in your bottle, or in your packet (in the case of most birth control pills) and you see that you have enough pills for the next few times you need to take it, especially to get through a weekend or holiday, (when most doctors are out of the office.) If it is getting low, go ahead and call your pharmacy... Most insurance companies will pay for medication when you have used 80% of it ((that means if you have a prescription for 30 tablets that you take 1 tablet per day, you can refill it when you have taken 24 of the tablets... that means you can call in your script (pharmacy slang for prescription) 6 days early.)) This gives the pharmacy a couple days to contact your doctor in case you are out of refills. Amazing.
3. If you are out of refills make sure to come to the pharmacy and attempt to give the pharmacist a guilt trip. This will not work. He or she (the pharmacist) couldn't give a rat's ass that you are out of refills and "need" to start your birth control that night (I don't anyway.) Just use a freaking condom for prophylaxis and shut up... Or you could just practice abstinence... this is what I wish your parents had done in the first place.

Sorry for the long post... I just had to get that out.

Also, thank you to all who made Brady's birthday celebration a success. We all had a lot of fun. You are all great, wonderful people.

Pieces have been set into motion...

2008-05-03T22:34:00.000-06:00

Listen, after talking with many people, one in particular, I have decided to blog. I guess I should set up some ground rules for my blog, which is in fact my family's blog, but I will be doing most of the thought sharing. I actually have no "rules" per se, just a few warnings and guidelines:

Warning 1: I have a very dull profession, which I really hate most of the time. Many of the things I write about my "job" will include boring stories and "R-rated" language. If you don't like reading about the exciting goings on in a retail pharmacy, don't waste your time here There will be more that boring, crass stories, but they may be few and far between.

Warning 2: I really like to use ellipes (plural for ellipsis) which the dictionary defines as marks or a mark (as …) indicating an omission (as of words) or a pause.
So get used to these... (...)

Guideline 1: Spelling really doesn't matter to me. I know this has spell check built right in, but I personaly doo knot kare if wat eye right iz speld gud. If that really bothers you, I guess you can take a flying leap...

Well I guess that is all for warnings and guidelines. My plan for this blog is to share stuff I find amusing and fun. I really don't care if you like what I write, but since there is an open forum now for my thoughts you can read them...Scary huh