Ty's Weblog

Tropical Storm Hanna

tycage — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:23:22 +0000

It wasn’t all that bad here. We got 5 to 6 inches of rain. The wind got pretty strong, but nothing all that bad. We didn’t end up finding a leak in the roof that we though was fixed years ago. Guess we’ll have to try and get it fixed again. The power flickered once or twice, but we never lost it completely. It did rain a lot though.

Verizon FIOS Installed

tycage — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:50:58 +0000

I’m very happy with Verizon so far. They were scheduled for between 8 and noon today. They called around 8:40ish, I think it was, and were here not long after 9am. They were done by 10:30am and eveyrthing was working. They were very professional and did a great job with the install. Didn’t even complain about having to run cable all the way across the house to get power for the battery backup.

The speed looks great so far! I’m provisioned for 20/5 and the speed tests I did with speakeasy gave me 16/4, so that’s pretty good. I’ll be interested to see how it goes tonight during a more high usage time.

So far they are making me very happy. Hopefully they’ll be able to keep the trend.

Allergy Testing

tycage — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:01:49 +0000

Xander went in for alergy testing today. The restults were impressive. He’s pretty much allergic to all types pollen and also mold spores. His Alegra keeps it under control, so the doctor recommended we stay with that for now. She said allergy shots are an option, but that there is a new treatment being used in Europe that only involves drops under the tounge instead. The only issue with it is that it might not work on the mold spores, but more research will answer that. She said it is hoped to be approved here in the next year or so, so if we wait, we might be able to avoid having to have all those shots, which would be awesome.

Xander did an awesome job with the whole uncomfortable process, and Kate and I are both very proud of him. Kate said the doctor even commented on how well he did while they did the scratch test and while he was waiting for it to take effect.

New Bed for Mira

tycage — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:17:33 +0000

We went and bought a new bed for Mira today. She’s outgrown her crib mattress in a bed frame that she’s been using for a while now. So we went off and got her a big girl bed. She’s very happy and proud about the whole thing. Kate and I got it home in the van and got her room rearranged and the bed set up for her. She’s upstairs sleeping in it right now with her princess sheets she got for her birthday. She’s a very happy girl tonight.

The Clone Wars

tycage — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:13:19 +0000

I took Xander to see Clone Wars today. We both had a great time. I’d heard a lot of bad things about the movie, but we both enjoyed it. It’s possible that the fact that I’d heard bad reviews lowered my expectations enough that I was happy with what I saw, I don’t know. More importantly though, Xander had a great time, and I had a great time seeing him have a great time. I’m really enjoying how much he is enjoying Star Wars these days.

Home Again

tycage — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:52:34 +0000

We’re back safe at home after a wonderful trip to Kate’s parents over the last few days. It’s about 500 miles each way, but it was worth the effort to get the kids down there. We had a great time, but it is still nice to be back in our own house again.

Biltmore House

tycage — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:36:11 +0000

We had a wonderful day at Biltmore house today. The kids both enjoyed the tour, expecially with the teasure hunt that they give for the kids to do. We were able to make it though the whole house. Then we had lunch in the Stable Cafe before heading out. Kate and I went ahead and got the one year pass. We might come back around Christmas and let the kids see what Biltmore looks like all decorated.

Long Trip

tycage — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:50:32 +0000

We spent most of the day yesterday in the car making down here to visit Kate’s parents. It’s a lot longer trip than going to my parents, but the kids still did a great job with it. We’re having a good time, despite the cold and sore throat I’ve had since Wednesday. We’ll be staying here till Sunday and leaving Monday morning for the long ride back. We’re looking forward to having Grandma’s Onion Rings for dinner tonight, which is always a hit with the kids (and with Kate and me).

Gaming Update

tycage — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:58:08 +0000

So Puzzle Quest hasn’t been played much yet, due to time constraints with work and the fact that I try to play that when Xander and enjoy it with me. I play so many games that aren’t child friendly, that I tend to hoard the ones that are for playing with/in front of them.

Picked up Rainbow Six Vegas 2 today for multiplayer fun this weekend with the group I play with. Played through a little bit this evening and they’ve done a really great job improving on the game. The first one was great, but from what I’ve played so far, this one looks to be even better.

I also picked up the new Gears of War set, which includes all the downloadable content available so far. I’m going to try to get around to playing it before Gears of War 2 comes out.

In order to do that, I need to finish my way through GTA IV. There is just so much to do in that game though, I keep getting distracted from the main plot.

Revenge of the Plague Lord

tycage — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:00:55 +0000

The Puzzle Quest expansion comes out today, so the fact that I’m writing this from work is pretty impressive, I’d say. Xander and I are both looking forward to the new content. More info after I’ve had a change to play it some tonight.

Kids to the Dentist

tycage — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:18:18 +0000

We’ve been slack. I admit it up front. The kids had their first trip to the dentist today. Focusing on the positive though, they both did a great job, even though they were nervous about it. They waiting nicely for their turn, and then they did an amazing job sitting in the chair. They didn’t have any problems at all, and Mira was super patient while they did her x-rays, since they were having trouble getting the film to stay in her mouth properly. Best of all, no cavaties for either of them!

Fireworks!

tycage — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:11:42 +0000

Happy 4th of July! We’ve had a great day just hanging out at home together. We went outside to watch the fireworks, but it was looking pretty unlikely. It was very foggy and humid out. So at the last minute we pilled into the car and drove downtown to see what we could see. We ended up watching from a parking lot through the trees, but enough of the fireworks were high enough that they kids had a great time anyway. They are upstairs trying to calm down for bed now. It was a lot of fun. Hopefully next year we’ll just plan to go to the park to start with.

Home Again!

tycage — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:12:12 +0000

We started the morning having the fish the kids caught yesterday for breakfast. Then it was time to pack up and head home. It was a long day in the car, but the kids did a great job with it. We’ve all had a great time, but it’s wonderful to be back home again.

5 years old!

tycage — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:05:05 +0000

Mira turned 5 today. We had an awesome day at the beach for her party. In the morning, her uncle took her and her brother and cousins out fishing. Mira caught a baby shark! Xander caught a bluefish! We spent the rest of the morning playing out in the sound. Then we came in and had lunch and had some time indoors to rest up and get out of the sun for a while. In the afternoon we had one last marathon session out in the sound. Then for we had a birthday dinner made up of boiled shrimp, corn on the cob, baked beans, and bean dip. Then we had birthday cake and Mira opened the presents from this half of the family.

Mira had a wonderful birthday, and so Kate and I had a wonderful day too! Mira got to have her “birthday at the beach, with my cousins, and shrimp” that she’d been asking for since February. It was a wonderful day that will be long remembered!

Heading to the Beach

tycage — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:12:03 +0000

We had a wonderful time with Kate’s parents. We all met up (that’s Kate and me, her parents, and my parents with the kids) around noon and all went out for lunch together, which was a lot of fun. My parents headed back to Clinton after that. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon with Kate’s parents. We took the kids out to a park till the weather starting threatning rain. Then we spent some time in a Barnes & Noble and got some nice haul of new books for all of us to read. We then had dinner at Rockfish Grill, which was excellent. We got the kids in bed and I stayed with them while Kate had some extra time with her parents.

We met up again Sunday morning and had a light breakfast. Then we hung out in the rooms and visited till around 11am. We went out for lunch at Red Robin and then went out seperate ways.

It was great to get both sides of the family in one place. The kids thought it was amazing! We all had a great time.

We headed back to Clinton yesterday afternoon and the four of us will be heading to the beach this afternoon to spend the week there. Various family will drop by, but it’ll be fun to have some time there by ourselves as well. We’ve not done that very often, since we usually are trying so hard to spend a lot of time visiting. We’re looking forward to a fun week.