The Monkey's Neck

Hey Daddy...

2008-03-08T18:44:00.003-05:00

Lorelai has a new trick to get me to stay with her when I put her to bed every night. When I cover her up and give her her bunny and froggy (her two favorite stuffed toys), she says, "Hey Daddy"...and then mostly jibberish. Sometimes she'll mention something about Audrey or Sophie amongst the jibberish, but it's so stinkin' cute.

Arrive Derci

2008-02-27T23:22:00.003-05:00

The other night when I was about to put Lorelai down to sleep, Emily was saying "Bye Bye! Arrive Derci! Can you say arrive derci?

Lorelai replied "...like a chicken?"

Definitely not a disciplined blogger

2008-01-19T12:45:00.000-05:00

Lazy, maybe? Probably so. The last 2 years have been the greatest and fastest 2 years of my life. Lorelai has been such a joy, such a good child. If I can figure out how to put pictures here now (hopefully they've made it easier since last time I tried), I'll put a picture up. And I'll try to post regularly here. I should because there are alot of funny things that Lorelai says and does that should be recorded for posterity.

For example, she just turned 2 and it is starting to show. She is still a very sweet little girl, but sometimes she'll get a little moody. Practicing for womanhood, I guess ;). About a week ago, she kept saying "I don't want to do (whatever)". So I told her she was being contrary. Emily asked, "Can you say 'contrary'?". Lorelai replied "I don't want to say 'contrary'". My funny little girl.

Hey! I got a picture in here! It's a miracle! This is one of my favorites of the 2 beautiful women in my life.

Baby Pictures!!!

2005-12-10T19:41:00.000-05:00

Here's a couple of pics. One with her cousin Alex greeting her for the first time with a little kiss. Sheesh...this site is bad with posting pics...I'll try it again later...

Been away for a while...

2005-09-29T21:52:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted. Emily's belly is getting pretty big and we can see the baby kicking. Pretty wild.

I've been wanting to post a couple of pictures of my summer and I'll probably get the rest of them on in the next week or so.

About a month or so ago, Dad and Grandpa Morr and I went on a day trip to Columbus to the Motts Military Museum, which turned us away because they were holding some sort of volunteer appreciation luncheon there or something. Feeling a bit miffed, we went to the Air Force Museum and looked at their new missle exhibit. Grandpa worked on the Minuteman missle during his employment with the US government. They didn't have any Minuteman missles yet at the exhibit. We were striking out that day. So we ended up at the Veterans Memorial on North Fairfield Road in Beavercreek. I had passed it many times before, wanting to stop and take a look at it, but this day we finally got to take a close look at it. Really a nice memorial. It had bricks paving the way with names of area veterans from WWII to the Iraq war on them, honored by their families. Along the way were monuments for each of the major wars our country has been involved in, including this one for WWII. (Looks like Blogger is having trouble downloading pictures again...I'll add it later)...

It's a...

2005-07-20T17:16:00.000-04:00

GIRL!

Emily and I went to get the ultrasound today and it's a girl. Isn't she beautiful?! OK, so she looks a little bit like Skeletor right now, but I'm sure she's beautiful. Hopefully she takes after her mother.

We're Not Afraid

2005-07-15T14:32:00.000-04:00

I learned about this site on the news last night. Pretty neat idea that evidently is gaining popularity. Some are very artfully done and others tug at the heartstrings. And apparently The Spice Girls aren't afraid, either :). And some are pretty silly, but nevertheless, a collective finger to the terrorists.

Day Trip

2005-07-14T23:29:00.000-04:00

Today, Em and I went to Columbus to celebrate our 5th anniversary (that happened last week). We went to a bookstore called "The Book Loft". She figured I'd like it since I seem to love a good book. Even though every book I get just sits on the overcrowded book shelf. I have just resigned myself to the fact that I'm building up a collection to read to keep me busy when I retire. Oh how I wish I had the time to read more. Anyway, this place was a book store the size of a Barnes & Noble, but packed into a space the size of an attic. It was a maze (and horrible to think, a firetrap) of rooms upon rooms of books. Pretty charming little place, but I'd hate to be there if it was really busy. There's hardly any room to walk past anybody.

We met up with her brother and his wife at Fujiyama Steak House. It was a nice little Japanese restaurant with the Hibachi right in front of you. This was the first time in the last 3 times I've been to one of these type restaurants that we actually had a Japanese cook. The last 2 times, we went to Benihana in different cities and we had a Middle Eastern fellow and a black guy before that. Nothing wrong with that, mind you, just not expected. The Japanese cook tonight was much more entertaining. Is it weird that I thought my Grandfather and the cook's father may have been trading shots 60 years ago? I don't know why, but thoughts like that go through my head sometimes.

Woo hoo!

2005-07-10T15:04:00.000-04:00

There was speculation over the last few days that Emily's sister was pregnant again. She called me today and said, "Yeah, I'm pregnant. Bye.", and hung up. I laughed and called her back. Evidently, I was the first person she told. Then I gave the phone to Emily so she could tell her, too.

I was hoping for this because their son is almost 1 1/2 years old, and I always thought it would be fun to have kids that were the same age and it looks as if that will happen! Sweet! Man, there's gonna be kids all over the place.

COWARDS

2005-07-07T11:20:00.000-04:00

Another senseless loss of life at the hands of terrorists. My mother and her new husband were visiting London just a few weeks ago. I'm glad this didn't happen while they were there.

What do these idiots hope to accomplish? The "masterminds" send their underlings with weak minds to blow themselves up while they are sitting comfortably at home. I hate to see Tony Blair going through this now. God bless him and England, too.

My Latest Passion

2005-07-06T09:16:00.000-04:00

I'm not as car-crazy as most people, but I just can't seem to get enough of these cars: http://www.zcar.com. The Z-car of the month pictures are fun to look at.

My dad had a 1976(ish) 260Z when I was a kid (it looked alot like this one) and then got a 1992 300Z, but he recently sold it. One of these days, I'm going to get one of the old ones. I've been checking out eBay auctions for Z-car items like books, emblems, etc. It seems there are quite a few out there like me that still have a love for these cars.

By the way, haha, Paris.

Black Cloud, Part Two. The Happy Ending.

2005-07-05T09:43:00.000-04:00

We went back to the restaurant where I suspected that I lost my jacket and ate lunch after church. Just for the heck of it, I looked at the coat rack, and lo and behold, I noticed the familiar zipper of the jacket poking out from under a shirt that was hung over it. Sure enough, it was my jacket. The checkbook was still in the inside pocket with all the checks intact. I wish I could thank the good samaritan that hung it up for me without rifling through the pockets first. It's good to know there's still some good people out there. And for it to stay hung on that coat rack for over a month with nothing happening to it is pretty unbelievable.

2005-07-02T23:41:00.000-04:00

Look at me, trying to take interesting photographs. I wish I had an eye and a sharper picture. This picture is quite sharp on my computer, but it doesn't download very well, evidently. I envy this Chris Glass guy. He knows how to take great pictures and how to make them look great online. Any suggestions to me would be most welcome. I am a techno-idiot. I'll try another picture...

...Are you too good to tango with the poor poor boy

2005-07-01T09:52:00.000-04:00

Every once in a great while, an album comes out that is great from start to finish. Aha Shake Heartbreak is the latest winner of that designation, joining the likes (in my book, anyway) of the Afghan Whigs' Black Love, The Tragically Hip's Phantom Power and Tori Amos' Scarlet's Walk among a few others. I rarely hear an album that pleases the ear from start to finish. There's usually some filler that you always have to skip past.

As usual, I'm late on scene as this record was released in February. I was recently turned on to Aha Shake Heartbreak by a random mix that I got from the Poker King, AKA Butter of 69, AKA Clemsonfan's husband (Thanks, Butter, if you ever read this). He included the song "Taper Jean Girl" and I was hooked.

I'm no music critic and I can't put together a rousing commentary (actually, this is my first written critique), but this is a great collection of songs that will make you smile and tap your foot uncontrollably. Some even gave me a good belly laugh. Like in the song "Velvet Snow" and toward the end of "Soft" where the singer, Caleb, just seems to go crazy. I would love to have seen how animated he was in the studio as he was recording this song. It's great stuff. I'd like to point out a high point to the CD, but it's all high. I guess if I had to, though, it would be the drum intro in the song "Razz". I love a good crazy drum beat.

I was kind of leary of putting this CD in the same category as the 3 others mentioned above because this is a new one to me and sometimes the attraction to a new CD wanes after a while, but I think this is one that will also stand the test of time.

2nd doctor's appointment

2005-06-30T13:20:00.000-04:00

Em and I went to her doctor's appointment yesterday. We heard the baby's heartbeat again. This time it was about 150 beats per minute. So far, so good! I was more than a little concerned, however, when the doctor was trying to find the baby's heartbeat because it seemed like she couldn't find it for a minute. Then, after what seemed like an eternity (even though it was only about 15 seconds or so) the heartbeat came through. The ultrasound is scheduled for July 20th. I can't wait.

One more favorite memory to share

2005-06-29T22:02:00.000-04:00

I waited to tell my brother that Emily was pregnant. I wanted to wait until I could tell him in person. Dad and I went to Illinois to visit them at the end of April. The way that I told them was pretty fun. I took my 4-year-old nephew, Colin, into another room and whispered into his ear, "Go tell mommy and daddy that Uncle Aaron and Aunt Emily are going to have a baby!". His eyes lit up with a gasp and he ran out to Heather and whispered it into her ear. He whispered loud enough for my brother to hear it across the room. Heather, as I expected, said "It's about time you got that thing workin'!".

Oh yeah, THAT

2005-06-15T12:00:00.000-04:00

The real reason I wanted to start a blog was to chronicle our pregnancy and the events leading up to what I'm sure will be our happiest day. From time to time I would like to post some highlights.

My favorite memory thus far, was telling Grandma and Grandpa Morr. Emily and I went over to their house and we were sitting on their back patio, just chatting. Grandma said, "Well, what's new?" almost like she knew all about it. So I just smiled and said, "Well...", and I started tripping over my words because I never really thought about how I'd actually tell them. And she asked, "Is it what I think it is?". So I confirmed it. It took Grandpa a minute to figure out what we were talking about. Then I looked over and his mouth fell wide open when it occurred to him. Then he jumped to his feet quicker than I have ever seen him move and gave Emily a big hug. There were hugs all around. It was a great memory that I'll cherish forever.

I told my Dad first, though. We went out to eat at the Red Robin and had a burger. He and Mom had just signed their divorce papers earlier that day and he was not in the best of spirits. We chatted a bit and I waited to tell him until we were on our way out of the restaurant. I was eager to give him some good news that day to lift his spirits a bit. I told him, "I want to give you a little good news since you've had a hard day...Grandpa." I knew it wouldn't have quite the same effect since my brother has already had 2 kids and he's already a grandfather, but I figured he'd get it. And he did. He put his arm around me as we walked to the car saying, "fantastic!". I was happy to give him some good news that day.

When we got back to his house, Mom was sitting in her car in the driveway waiting for him to get home so they could talk. We all went inside and that was a great time to tell her, too. She needed some good news that day, too. She gave me a big hug and got kind of teary. It was quite the bittersweet day.

Black Cloud, Go Away

2005-06-08T10:09:00.000-04:00

Holy cow, what's next? After a week of bad luck, it continues.

I blame all of the following on cold weather: I lost my jacket last week. I think I left it at a restaurant. What's worse is my checkbook was in it. I NEVER carry my checkbook with me, but it was a Sunday and I was running late for church, so I threw my checkbook in my jacket so I could write a tithe check at church. It was the last cool day of the season. If it was warm, I would have just put the checkbook in my pants pocket.

Stupid black cloud event number one: Cold weather in late MAY
Stupid black cloud event number two: I never carry my checkbook with me, but I did this day

So about 6 days after it's gone, I need to write some checks to pay the bills and notice it's gone. I backtrack to the last time I remember having my checkbook and remember the restaurant. So I go to the restaurant and the manager offers to check his security camera tapes to see if I had my jacket with me at that time.

Stupid black cloud event number three: We were sitting behind a partition and out of the camera's sight.

So I go home and fret about who has my checkbook and how many plasma TVs they are buying with it. Then I do a bunch of laundry and during the 2nd or 3rd load of laundry,

Stupid black cloud event number four: The washing machine's drain hose decides that it would like to come out of it's hole in the wall, spilling water all over...
Stupid black cloud event number five: ...the new wood laminant flooring that my brother-in-law just laid about a week before. Now the boards are a little warped where they come together.

Now I'm in the middle of the week and at work, I'm having a pretty bad week. I'm getting bad calls that I couldn't sell if my life depended on it. I sold a renters policy yesterday after spending alot of time with this lady and...

Stupid black cloud event number six: ...she calls back no more than 30 minutes later and tells one of my co-workers to cancel the application. This was my only sale of the day. Our goal is 4 per day.

I called her back to see if she had any questions and her kid picks up the phone and I hear her in the background saying she's not home. We were $100 less per year than her current policy. I don't understand.

Anyhow, there are some good things (I'm not a completely gloomy person).

Our baby is healthy as far as we know. It's heart was beating at about 160 bpm, which the doctor said was great. I can't wait for December 6th.
Tivo stock is rising.
It's a new day.

The Grand Entrance

2005-06-07T13:40:00.000-04:00

I haven't kept a log since I had a diary (but we'll call it a journal) in my youth around 1984 or so. We'll see what happens.