I got up to turn on the coffeemaker and then headed for the shower. part of the usual morning routine. heard one of my kids say that the coffee maker was steaming and making noise. I didn’t think much of it til I got back to the kitchen. I guess I should have check to see if the carafe had the lid in place. without the lid of the carafe placed directly under the filter basket, the hot coffee has nowhere to go but up and over the filter basket and all over the kitchen counter. yup, coffee and coffee grinds everywhere. simply a lovely way to start the work week! how’s your monday going?
The nice thing about having an 8AM soccer game is that there’s no problem finding a parking spot near the field. Plus after the game, you still have the rest of the morning to do other errands.
Unfortunately, my child ran out of gas pretty early on during the game due to lack of a proper breakfast. Getting the kid to the field by 7:45AM is tough as it is without having to worry about preparing eggs, pancakes and bacon. For the early games, it’s cold cereal, period. no questions asked. sorry kid.
Thankfully, the team still won this one, 3 to 1. I guess some of the other kids have parents that can get up early enough to make a decent meal before the game.
anyway, good job team!
the wife and I made the two and a half hour trek to IKEA yesterday. It’s just far enough to prevent my wife from visiting too frequently b/c if she had her way, she’d be there all the time. it’s her “promised land” if you will.
she’s got a ton of decorating and furnishing ideas for the house but she’s severely limited by our budget. We only purchased what we set out to get yesterday so it was good in that sense. I wish I could allow her to get all that she wants but we’d be more in the hole than we already are. and that would do no one any good, now would it?
oh and after wandering around the crowded store all day, I wanted to test out one of those little “5-hour energy drinks” for the drive home. I can tell you now that the lil’ energy shot is bogus and didn’t do squat for me. I was sleepy and worn out all the way home! *harumph*
Soccer season is back. we got a brand new coach and a bunch of new kids.
… and we STILL lost the opening game.
but it was close. hopefully this new team of 3rd graders will do a whole lot better than last season…
My wife calls my cell phone the “butt-ugliest phone she has ever seen”. thanks, dear. Yes, I own a Motorola i880 and I know it’s not the latest and greatest in phones but I like it. I have to admit that I get a bit embarrassed whipping it out when others are sporting the newer touch-screen styled smart phones but for what I use it for, the i880 does the job.
First of all, I use the i880 on the Boost mobile network. At the time I got the i880 there wasn’t an alternative clamshell phone offered by Boost that had the same features at this price range. Boost offers the newer (and more stylish) Motorola i9 but at $300, it’s just way too expensive. The other option was the i776 but it’s a bit barebones for my tastes and didn’t offer microSD storage. Anyway, the i880 is a Sprint Nextel phone that can also work as a Boost phone simply by inserting a Boost SIM. This is basically true for any Nextel phone using the iDEN 800 band. Just be sure that the phone isn’t currently registered under a Sprint/Nextel plan.
Anyway, two main reasons I’m on Boost right now is that I don’t make a whole lot of calls on my phone that would require me a regular monthly plan and the iDEN coverage is great inside the office building where I work as well as at my house. iDEN is an older technology but it definitely does a good job in getting signal through thick office walls where other cell providers can’t reach.
Things I like about the phone: it’s built like a rock, it’s got a large color screen, it features a good camera/video recorder, you can play mp3s on it and it’s got a push button on the side that quickly flips open the phone for you.
The few drawbacks that I’ve encountered include: no built in calculator or alarm clock (but I believe I can download/purchase a java app for those features, I think), it’s a bit particular in converting photos as full screen wallpaper (needs to be a specific dimension) and it’s also a bit difficult to convert mp3s into ringtones for the phone (but there is a way to do it and I’ll probably post a how-to in the near future).
All in all, it’s a good phone that gets great signal and is built like a tank. Yes, it’s a f-ugly phone but hey, it gets the job done and that’s all that matters. … at least until I can find a better looking phone that works on Boost Mobile, that is. 
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well, I guess it was inevitable. On one of the hottest days of the summer season, our second floor A/C goes out. Just like clockwork. We replaced our downstairs HVAC unit over the winter but couldn’t afford replacing the upstairs unit even though it’s just as old and leaking freon. Looking at our checkbook at this time, I don’t think I can afford replacing the unit right now so I guess I’ll get the A/C service folks to just fill it back up with freon. Unfortunately, the HVAC service company is currently inundated with similar calls for A/C repairs now that it’s uncomfortably hot out. Hopefully they’ll get to us by tomorrow afternoon. Until then, I guess we’ll all just stay downstairs…
We recently took the kids to Wet ‘N Wild at Emerald Pointe in Greensboro. It had been quite some time since my last visit to a water park. I guess now that our youngest child is old enough to handle himself in a pool setting, we figured it was finally time for a visit. Wet ‘N Wild has expanded quite a bit over the years and is now the largest water park in the Carolinas and the 12th largest overall in the United States.
Like most amusement parks it has the usual downsides – inflated food prices, questionable restroom cleanliness and some obnoxious teens here and there but for the most part, Wet ‘N Wild is still a fun visit for the whole family. There are a variety of rides and a new section specifically for the younger set which was great for our younger ones. Even though we went on a weekday we still ended up enduring some relatively long wait times for the newer rides like “Dr. Von Dark’s Tunnel of Terror” and “Dragon’s Den”. But if waiting in line on hard concrete in a wet swim suit isn’t your thing, there’s always easy access to the huge wave pool (Thunder Bay Wave Pool), Leisure Lagoon (for the younger kids) and Shipwreck Cove (a pool for older kids).
Oh there is one ride that didn’t have long lines at least from what I saw. It’s the “Daredevil Drop” which is the slide with a straight 76-foot drop. I guess the height and the near vertical drop scares off most riders but you have to try it at least once. Once was good enough for me, thank you. whew!
The only snafu that occurred during our visit was losing my locker key. I had my wallet and car keys in the locker and was sort of freaked out when I couldn’t find the locker key. Like a dork, kept the key in a velcro’ed side pocket of my swimming shorts thinking it’d be secure but after a couple rides, it was gone. Thankfully the park staff was quick to help retrieve my items out of the locker before anything *happened* to them. what a relief! I’m definitely going to be more mindful of the key the next time I rent a locker that’s for sure. Again kudos to the helpful staff and also to the lifeguards who all seemed very attentive to the folks in the pool.
This Old Man gives Wet ‘N Wild a big thumbs up!
We’ll be heading back there real soon! 
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