Christmas Loot

Bode received a lot of goodies this year for Christmas. Santa probably had to rent a U-Haul to carry the extra load. Here's a shot of the Christmas tree with all the presents pre-carnage. We were fortunate to have Ashley's parents (Frank and JoAnne) join us for the holidays. They even brought their little dog, Alley, which gave Auburn a playmate. Well, playmate probably isn't the right word. I didn't think there could be a dog as lazy as Auburn until I met Alley. Here's a shot of them during one of their more active states, and I say active because they aren't sleeping which is how they spend ~20 hours a day.Bode did great opening the presents. We would have to tear the paper to get him going, but once he started, there was no stopping him. Plus, unlike last year, he was actually more interested in the toys than the boxes/paper.
Bode got all sorts of great toys. His favorite thus far is Mega Playland, which is a bunch of structures that can be velcroed together to create a little mini-empire, over which Bode rules with an iron fist. Here are some shots of all of us playing. Yes, I actually crawled into the structure with the little man. Obviously we were having a good time. Auburn tried to sneak in, but we were able to keep her out.
Bode also got a cool aisle. I was trying to instruct him on his A-B-C's, but all he wanted to do was scribble. For that, I gave him detention :-)He actually uses the chalk and knows how to use the eraser...not sure where he learned that (daycare?). We'll have to get him some colored chalk and see what sort of pictures he can create.

Thanks much for all the cool toys and gifts. We had a great Christmas and wish everyone a pleasant holiday.

A Christmas Miracle

Piggy has been found! The weather was (relatively) warm today...high was close to 40, so we weren't exactly breaking out the swimsuits. However, it wasn't raining or snowing (but the old-man was snoring), so Ashley decided to try to find Piggy (and also a stuffed Tiger that disappeared last week thanks to that bitch that lives with us). She wasn't outside more than a couple minutes when she comes running in doing her impression of Archimedes ("Eureka! I have found it!"). Of course, before giving him back to Bode, Piggy needs a bath.Ashley found him buried right next to the house. We agree that Auburn must have moved him, because we dug there numerous times. Auburn is crafty, so I'm sure she'll hide the Tiger up near the fence line...I doubt we'll see him until spring.

Last night, we went to see Santa Claus. He was putting in an appearance at the Town and Country, a little mall just up the street. The nice thing about this Santa is that it's free. You are encouraged to take personal pictures--no one selling a digital photograph on a DVD for $19.95 nor trying to prevent you from snapping your own personal shots. Bode wasn't a big fan of St. Nick.I think he was able to get in a quick wish before fleeing: "Santa, I really want that 40" flat screen," is what I heard him say, although his mother doesn't agree...We'll see what shows up on Christmas Day.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a pleasant day.

Sleepy Bodeman

To those of you sitting on the edge of your sits, I apologize in advance since I have no good news. Piggy is still missing. Ashley and I have searched and searched and searched again. The result? No Piggy, but we did find seven (yes, seven) socks buried in various places. I tried giving Auburn a bone, knowing she would take it outside to bury. I think she knew I was watching her, even though I tried to be sneaky about it. Either bones are buried in a different place than the stuffed animals or she knew she was being followed and didn't want to lead me to the evidence. I might go outside today and check again. I can't believe we haven't been able to find this pig. It's not like he's small--he stretches from my fingertips to the mid-wrist region. Bode doesn't seem to really miss the pig--he has plenty of other fury friends. I think Ashley and I are more heart-broken. This was his first toy to which he showed emotional attachment. Hopefully Piggy's just hibernating and he'll make an appearance in the spring...

The other evening Ashley was sitting in the dining room while Bode finished up eating. I walked into the kitchen, and it was very quiet. Bode was sleeping in his chair.The little guy was out cold. We snapped quite a few shots of him. He never stirred.
We cleared his tray, cleaned him up with a wet rag, and the little dude was still sleeping. Of course, later that night, he had no interest in going to bed :-)Today has been a good day. Ashley is out shopping and Bode is just out (sleeping). I ran a race today--the Jingle Bell 5K. There were 627 runner/walkers, albeit none of the really fast local runners were there. That being the case, I was able to finish third overall--but was the second-place male finisher i.e. a girl beat me. And I'm ok with that--at least she wasn't a 67-year old nun :-) For my effort, I won a nice Asic gym bag, a $20 gift certificate to Dick's Sporting Good's, and a $20 gift card to a local running shop. I now consider myself a professional athlete, although I won't be on the Forbes Highest Paid Athlete list anytime soon. But unlike some professional athletes, Ashley has not chased me down the driveway with a golf club.

Pleasant day.

F---ing Dog!

Yes, I'm writing angry. And if there's one thing I was taught it's that when you write a nasty, belligerent letter, you should wait a few days to think things over before sending it. Well to that I simply say Bah! and give it the mitten (which is what we call flipping someone the bird while wearing mittens).

Last weekend, we took the front face off Bode's crib and replaced it with a smaller rail that has a gap. Bode can get into and out of bed using this gap. Tonight, we were in Bode's room playing trains when Auburn saunters in, heads straight for the bed, and proceeds to climb up. Ashley yelled at her, while suppressing a smile while I tried not to laugh. How cute. This cuteness turned to dismay and despair a little while later. We were putting Bode to sleep, and his favorite stuffed animal he's had since he was born is this little stuffed piggy (reference the Winter Trip Part I post from December 2008 for a picture). Bode's pushing his pillow aside, searching, all the while saying, "Piggy. Piggy. Piggy." Ashley and I move the sheets aside, gently at first, and then just fling them onto the floor. We check behind the crib, under the crib, everywhere. "Piggy," Bode keeps saying. I happen to see Auburn sitting in the hallway, and I immediately know what happened. That little bitch (not a bad word, remember?) took Piggy and buried him outside. How do I know this? Auburn routinely buries my socks, Ashley's socks, Bode's socks, and has buried other stuffed toys in the yard. Some we've found, some we have not. Guess what Ashley and I were doing at 8:15 pm this evening? We were in out in the dark going through our yard hoping to find Piggy. Good thing that cold front rolled in, huh? We were not successful (although we did find lots of dog-droppings), and we can only assume Piggy is buried underneath a pile of dirt. Fortunately, Bode went to sleep without his Piggy, but I promised Ashley I would find it tomorrow after the sun comes up, job be damned--who cares if there's a war going on--this is a lost pig we're talking about!!! Anyone want a dog? :-)

We were in Chicago visiting my father for Thanksgiving. We had a nice time, and we had hoped for an early Christmas present in the form of an Auburn victory in the Iron Bowl. Our team played great--jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but couldn't eek out a win. Here's a shot of Bode wearing his Auburn orange and blue. "Go Tigers!"The little fella turned two years old on Saturday. Only two? It seems like we've had him forever (yet time has also flown by...some sort of kid-induced paradox...) Here's a shot of Bode, not quite understanding the concept of blowing out the candles. He liked it when they were lit, but as soon as they were extinguished (usually with Ashley's help), he would say, "On. On. On." We went through a couple iterations before the cake started to melt...Only 25 shopping days until Christmas. Bode's been a good boy, so maybe Santa will bring him that 40-inch flat-screen he's been asking for... :-) Pleasant week to all.

Nocturnal Activities

With the end of daylight savings time, we've found that we are getting home just as it's getting dark. Thus, our evening walks around the block sometimes don't happen, as the season change makes it a chit billy (I'm speaking runny babbit), and also the lack of light makes it somewhat precarious to walk. So we've had to find ways to fill our evenings. A lot of nights are spent in front of the computer. Bode loves listening/watching music videos on youtube. We're also a big fan of Skype, a wonderful (and free--maybe the government will tax it to pay for health-care) technology that lets us video-phone with our relatives. I'm amazed how quickly Bode has learned everyone's names. Here he is speaking with his 'Nana.
It's rather amusing whenever Bode sees Nana on the screen. He has a (bad) habit of saying hello to everyone NOT pictured. For example, if Nana is the only one on the screen, Bode repeatedly says, "Papa. Papa. Papa," until his Granddad shows up. If both are present, he'll say, "Ally" which is the name of their little French bulldog (you can kinda of see her on Nana's lap in the picture). Bode can't quite work the computer on his own, but I imagine it's only a matter of time before he has it mastered. After that, he'll be wanting an iPhone...

Bode loves books. Sometimes he wakes up and his first words are, "Book. Book. Book." He is not sticking to one particular genre, as his favorites (today) are a Star Wars pop-up book (go figure), a book called Pete the Cat, which Ashley and I read to him (I narrate, Ashley sings...Auburn howls the whole time). He also likes the Dr. Seuss collection, Carl the Rottweiler, Moo Baa La La La, and, of course Good Night Moon. Here's a shot of Bode and me sitting on the couch reading.We had a nice weekend (for November). We were able to get to the park and relax for a few minutes. Bode wanted to swing the entire time. You see that big slide/jungle-gym piece of equipment in the picture below? Bode spent all of 30 seconds on that.
The rest of the time, he swung, and if we took him out, he cried and wailed. I wouldn't have minded so much but the point of the park is to tire him out. Unfortunately, swinging doesn't involve much energy expenditure from the little dude...Ashley and I had to do all the work.

I've been back at work for eight days now. Thank heavens yesterday was Veteran's Day because after seven whole work-days, I needed some rest :-) Pleasant day to all.

Happy Halloween

The day has sadly arrived. Today, 2 November 2009, I had to return to a real job for the first time in over six years. This is not to say I've been unemployed since 2003. I was teaching from 2003-2006, and then for the past three years I was in school at AFIT. Each of these jobs was hard work, but for the most part, I could control my own schedule. I didn't have to contend with staff meetings or briefings or other like activities (although I did have to put up with students that couldn't grasp the complexities of Ohm's Law--V = IR damn it!). Thus, I had a lot of autonomy. Plus, since I thoroughly enjoyed each of these jobs, I didn't really consider them work (and the fact I could take 2-3 hours off to go to the gym probably had something to do with it).

I'm back in the work force, working for Air Force Research Laboratory. Hopefully, the job will be fun and exciting, and ideally, three years from now I won't consider my time in AFRL "work"; however, these first few days back are a shock to my system. I have a boss (Wayne, nice guy, smart, pleasant, been doing this for 40+ years) and will have to put together briefings and attend meetings and telecons. How will I ever survive? :-) But the people seem nice, and in my (and Ashley's) experience, it is the people that make a job fun. So here's hoping...

This past weekend, we bought Bode a little table. He loves it. His Grammy also got him a new toy--a little device that sings the alphabet song (which is maddening after the 30th time), and also tries to get Bode to identify letters. Here's Bode sitting at his table playing. Saturday was Halloween. Fortunately, Auburn (the football team) beat Mississippi breaking a three game losing streak. It was fortunate because Bode's costume was a (miniature) Auburn football player. Here he is getting ready to go trick-or-treating when suddenly, he was attacked by a giant spider. Ashley also dressed up, also going as an Auburn player. Bode's costume also entailed mini-shoulder pads and a cool old-school helmet. He refused to wear both. In Ashley's hand, you can see Bode's little helmet. That's about as close as it would get to his head.Ashley took Bode up and down the street. The little fellow didn't quite understand the purpose of his basket--he thought he had to eat every piece of candy he was given then and there. Needless to say, he was a little wound up, but since he walked a considerable distance, he went to sleep at a reasonable hour.Note the cool pumpkins. Ashley did a great job carving them. What did I dress up as? I went as a thirty-something year old man that doesn't dress well who enjoys watching college football. I think I nailed it :-) Pleasant day to all.

Bryson City and Santa Land

As you may or may not know, I'm currently in the midst of 22 days off from work (yes, that's 22; for you Romans or Super Bowl numerologists, it's XXII). Why so many days? I started a new job with Air Force Research Laboratory (I'm still in the Air Force--I finished at AFIT in early October). The best time to take a large chunk of leave is between jobs because you have no responsibilities whatsoever. I don't even have an email account at my new job, so I won't be returning to a full inbox (rather, no inbox...at least for a little while). Plus, I have over 60 (LX) days leave saved up (which, as Ashley has pointed out, means I haven't taken off near enough time). The end result is that I'm not working until November.

Unfortunately, Ashley still has to work (and hard at that; God bless her). However, she was able to sneak away from the chains of the office for a few days allowing us to make a speedy trip down to Bryson City, North Carolina, and visit her parents (she did bring her work computer--damn you ITT). We had a nice little visit. We went to a craft fair in Asheville, enjoyed the beauty of the fall colors, and played with the Little Man. One day, we went down to the metropolis that is Bryson City. There were some neat little shops and a train that goes around town--"Choo" as Bode says. One of the shop-vendors gave Bode his first lollipop which he loved.We also went to Santa Land in nearby Cherokee. There were rides, a little zoo, Santa, and of course, lunch.As you can see, Bode loves his fries. Well, maybe not the fries. It's more the ketschup that he likes. In fact, when the fries are gone, he'll just eat ketschup as is. Yum yum. After lunch, we went on some rides. Fortunately, they were rather tame, so no one got sick.Bode loved driving the pink bus--he was steering the wheel and saying "Vroom vroom." The boat wasn't near as fun. The best ride was probably the ferris wheel. When they came over the top, Bode said, "Wheeeeeeee!"
There were animals to pet
and goldfish to feed from a paddle boat (tons of them!)And when it was all said and done, we needed to call our peeps and tell them about how much fun we had!Pleasant day.

Bode in the Hood

Happy 22nd-month birthday, Little Bodeman. Pretty soon we'll stop tracking the months and just concentrate on the years (although it is amusing to think that Ashley is 466 months old...)

We had a rather fun weekend. We went to Benson's Animal Farm, but that's really not the name of the place. If you've watched Dane Cook's special on Comedy Central, Benson's Animal Farm is the name for a place in one of Dane's bits that has rides and animals and just a good time for little kids. The place we went to is actually called Young's Dairy Farm and it fits the description for Benson's. Thus, that's what I call it, much like I call Water World in Denver Wally World for the fun park in the movie, Vacation. Anyways, lots to do at the farm. First up was to pet some animals. Here's Bode and a goat.
Next we went into the barn, and I must say the smell was a bit gamey. They could of used a few gross of candles from Bed Bath and Beyond, but I guess that's one of the draws (horrors) of the farm. What made the smell even more appealing was Ashley stepped in nice pile of dung (guard your forks, people), so the smell actually followed us wherever we went. As it turns out, literally five minutes before we went into the barn, a cow gave birth. And this farm is old-school in that NO ONE helped. No vet, no farm-hand, nothing. Just a mama cow in labor. Here's a picture of the cow and her calf--note how the little fella is still quite wet (eeeyouuu!)Next, we went inside for some ice cream. Young's Dairy Farm (Benson's) is famous for its home made ice cream. It was quite yummy. Bode and I split a shake, while Mommy had a cone. A large group of folks from Bode's daycare made the trip, so here are some pictures. First, here's Bode with Mommy, Alyssa, and Alyssa's Mom, Brandy.
Next, we have about the same people, except Miss Michelle, one of the room care providers, is in this one. Bode really recognizes people and even knows their names. He'll usually say good-bye to Miss Michelle ("Bye-bye 'Chelle"), and when we were looking at this picture, Bode pointed and said, "Chelle."
We then headed back outdoors. There's an area with some tricycyles and big-wheels. Bode doesn't yet have the ability to pedal, but he did enjoy getting pushed. Here are some action photos.To finish things off, we went on a tractor ride around the farm. It was a beautiful fall day, so the ride was quite pleasant.
Today, the weather has turned cold. Lows are forecast to be in the 40's. Yikes. Fortunately, Bode is prepared. He's learned the word, "jacket" and always wants to put one on.
The mighty Auburn Tigers are now 4-0, undefeated in the month of September. Of course, they were 4-1 last year and finished the season 5-7, so let's not start planning a bowl-game vacation just yet. Pleasant week to all.

Bode Dancing

Greetings on this lovely fall day--if you define lovely as raining, which I do on a football Sunday. It's sort of an excuse to stay indoors and watch TV (the Steelers play the Bears today at 4:15 in the p.m.) The other reason it's a glorious day is the Mighty Auburn Tigers improved to 3-0 with a thrilling 41-30 victory over the Mountaineers of West Virginia. The game was supposed to start at 7:45 p.m., but lightening caused kick-off to be delayed for over an hour. Thus, the game did not end until after midnight. Amazingly Ashley and I watched the whole game (although we did have TiVo setup to record in case we dozed off). Thankfully, Bode slept in until...6:30? Yes, we'll all be napping today.

Earlier this week, I had an interesting conversation with Ashley. She had gone shopping on Sunday and bought some new clothes. As we were leaving for work on Monday morning, Ashley asks, "So do you like my shirt?" It was plaid. And while her ensemble was probably fine from a fashion sense, I didn't like it. So I replied, "No, not really." My honesty should not have surprised Ashley, as I've told her many times, "If you don't want my honest opinion, don't ask for it," with the only exception to this rule being when she gets her hair done ("It looks great, honey. It really does.") Nor do I see anything wrong with what I said. But somehow, me not liking her shirt translated in her head to, "Gosh you look ugly today." She was very quiet on the drive to work. I thought she was tired, but evidently she was stewing over my comment. After awhile, her lip pouts out (much like Bode's does) and she mutters something about me not liking the shirt. A man without almost 10 years marriage experience might have tried to respond, to somehow win this unwinnable pot like a Texas Hold'em player drawing dead on the river. Not me. I kept quiet. I've learned. :-)

I don't regret saying I didn't like the shirt, as somehow this would have led to a series of plaid clothes in my wardrobe. It's like a guy who's been dating a girl for a few months. Perhaps she offers to give him a back-rub. To his horror, he quickly realizes this girl has no skills in this area. But does he say it feels bad? Of course not, thus resigning himself to bad massages the rest of his life**.

Bode really likes to dance. A woman at daycare even commented that, "Bode's got some moves." This morning, I brought a radio out to the family room. We're not convinced he's a future contestant on So You Think You Can Dance?, but here are some action shots.
Finally, here's a movie of Bode cutting that rug to Little Richard's Long Tall Sally.

Overall the weekend was pretty good. I ran in the USAF Marathon on Saturday, but sadly, I did not do as well as I had hoped. I went in trying to run a Boston Marathon qualifying time of 3:15:59, and I was confident I could do this. I cruised through the halfway point in 1:33:10. However, around mile 16 I started having muscle cramps (both calfs, both quads, both hamstrings...basically the trifecta of leg pain). I ended up walking a good portion near the end, as my quads simply refused to work (for those that don't know, a cramp is not something you can just power through). I'm proud that I finished with a personal best time of 3:40:58, but disappointed. That being sad, I don't envision trying to qualify for Boston again in the near future. Ten kilometers is about as far as I ever want to run, and the only running I'll be doing this week is to the refridgerator. I've got a summer's worth of ice cream to eat! Pleasant day to all.

** This is just a fictious anecdote. No way is this related to me or anyone I know (I love my leg massages).

The Fair

Happy Labor Day weekend to everyone. Hopefully you've done anything but. We've been laboring our a*ses off. Saturday morning, Ashley and I ran in the Alterfest 5K run (3.1 miles for you non-runners). It was a beautiful morning--cool and low humidity. We both did very well--Ashley finished 4th out of 16 in her age group (47th overall out of 127 runners). I finished 3rd overall and ran a personal best time. Before you think this is more impressive than it is, I must say there is another local 5K race tomorrow morning. This race typically draws 500+ people, and most of the fast ones at that. So my third place is kind of like the bronze medal at the Goodwill Games :-)

The mighty Auburn Tigers started the season off with a bang last night, beating up on a resilent Louisiana Tech team. Auburn played well the first half, but a critical fumble and a lack of pass rush made half-time at the McGuirk home an unhappy time. Fortunately, Auburn turned it on in the second half, and even had an 85-yard TD pass. Final score 37-13. Yea!!! Thus, Ashley has been in a good mood for the first time since the Bush administration on a Sunday during football season.

Today we went to the Montgomery County Fair. We went early before the crowds (freaky hicks) showed up. We walked through all the animal pens, which Bode loved. He was able to pet a bunch of them, although we encouraged him not to try to pet the chickens and roosters. Here are some photos. First, here's Bode with a sheered lamb.Next here is Bode and one large pig.This little goat was happy to let Bode give him (or her) or nice rub.Bode, one hot chick (aka Ashley), and some chickens.
Finally, here's Bode trying to pet a horse.After the fair, we went up to Alterfest, which is a carnival/fund-raiser for Alter High School, a local Catholic School. It's an impressive event, complete with rides, bands (good ones), beer (yes, beer--Catholic, remember?) and...gambling? Yes, gambling. I don't know how this is legal, but there are a bunch of black-jack tables, poker, and a Texas hold'em tournament (winner gets $3,000). And no, it wasn't play-money, or money for tickets. Real money (and lots of it--it certainly wasn't one-dollar bills being played). They also had a roullette type game. What surprised me most (other than the booze and gambling) was that kids were allowed to bet on roullete. Bets were typically a buck, but sometimes there were two or even three dollar bets down on a number. Now, I'm not against gambling, booze (those under 21 weren't allowed to drink), or even strippers (those college girls gotta earn a living ya know). What I don't understand is how this is all legal. What sort of permit do I need to fill out in order to get gambling legalized and have my own little Bellagio here at Casa McGuirk?

Ashley took Bode on one of the rides at Alterfest. It was a big slide. Ashley carried him up a bunch of stairs, and the two of them sat of a large rug and slid down. It was probably twenty feet up and sort of steep but not dangerous. Bode loved it. After the ride, he goes running for the stairs, wanting to do it again, much like he does for the slide at the park. We tried to explain it to him that each ride is $5.00 ($2.50 for him, $2.50 for Ashley). This didn't sit well with him, so we had to drag him away from the slide. If I were a better gambler, I would've won some money and paid for a day of sliding. As it is, we left Alterfest and stopped off at a park on the way home. The slide wasn't as good, but Bode still had a great time.

I'm sure we'll all sleep well tonight. Pleasant Sunday.