So Uncle Curt can justify his RSS reader

Been too busy to update, but at the urgings if Curt, I'm updating from Cooper's bed. Big day for the little man. He got to help unload lumber from Papaw's truck, go to Rural King and the library, and "help" Daddy install Cooper-proof (temporarily, I'm sure) door knobs in the house.
Pictures of Ellie to come.
Netflix update: Highly recommend The Informant! and The Men Who Stared at Goats, avoid Year One at all costs.

British TV Shows

I haven't posted anything in a while because I've been too busy. However, when I created this blog, I accidentally created another using a different address, so I'm using that one to create lists of my favorite things. The first entry is a list of my favorite British TV shows.

http://ericmj045.blogspot.com/2010/02/british-tv-shows.html

Also, while jumping naked on his bed today, Cooper told Deana that he was being a "mischievous turd". Love that vocabulary.

Relief...well, maybe on Sunday

Just finished my first classroom exam in nearly ten years. I was by far more prepared got this test than any other in the past, but I was more nervous than ever before. It's amazing how much this stuff can bother you when you actually care about your grade.

I am currently waiting for class to resume, but my brain is fried. Thankfully, I don't have anything else to do for the week...except for work tomorrow...and coaching a basketball game Saturday morning...then setting up a boxing ring immediately after.

What a difference 10 years makes

I'm now the guy that ruins the curve for the rest of the class. The average grade on the first FIN305 exam was 77.92%. I got 95.46%. Through the first quarter of the class, I have missed 4.54 points of a possible 182.

Busy night

Basketball game.
Dinner.
Wild Cooper.
Pee in the potty.
Read a book.
Read it again.
Cooper in bed at 9:15.
Cooper asleep enough for daddy to leave Cooper's room, 10:00.
Mommy asleep on the couch, 10:00.
Long story short, only watched first 20 minutes of Lost.
Don't tell me what happened, I'll watch it tomorrow.

Potty Training -or- Toilet Bowl I

Every time Catherine would rev up the microwave, I'd piss my pants and forget who I was for about half an hour. - Cousin Eddie, Christmas Vacation

Let me start out by saying that Deana is doing a wonderful job of potty training (potty training Cooper, that is, she has been using a toilet for several years now). This is evident by the fact that she made more progress in the two hours after I left for work this morning than we did all weekend (while I was there). As of noon today, he had peed in the toilet twice, with a couple of instances of slight accidents with recognition, before finishing in the toilet.

The method that has worked (so far, he tends to lose interest in things quickly) is to set the timer on the microwave for twenty minutes, and try to use the potty when the timer goes off. My only fear is that years from now he will have a Pavlovian response in a gas station and pee himself when a trucker's burrito is ready.

A successful trip to the potty also results in a treat, currently a dark chocolate Hershey's Kiss. Hopefully, things continue to go well so the little man will be completely potty trained before he becomes diabetic.

Four times better than Def Leppard?

 
It only took a week, but I had to take a vacation from the blog. Not so much a vacation, but more of a "I don't feel like writing tonight, I'm tired" hiatus. Anyway, I thought I'd take this time to try out the picture functionality with Picasa. I like the Picasa software (free Google product) so far. It will import all pictures from various drives and with a little prompting, it will use facial recognition software sort pictures by person. Unfortunately, it then puts everyone that was identified on a no-fly list. Sorry guys, hope you weren't planning on travelling anytime soon. Enjoy the picture of the plastic drummers and I'll try to get some more pictures up soon.

Netflix update: We watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Monday night. We put it on the list thinking that Cooper would watch the movie with us. While he only watched about 10 minutes, we watched the whole thing and enjoyed it. Of course, the next day, after I had already sent the movie back, Cooper asked, "Watch Meatballs?"

Why won't he sleep?!?

Cooper went to bed at 9:30. He was tired. His eyes were red. He asked to go to sleep. "Daddy read a book." Daddy read several books. 10:00, "Want more milk." Daddy got another bottle of milk. 10:20 - 10:45, "Where's mommy?" "Where's Uncle Curt?" "Does Murphy have a trailer hitch?" "Cooper touch outlets?" "Want more milk." "Wake up Daddy." 11:00, Daddy is downstairs and Cooper is still asking questions, only this time to Mommy.

It's going to be a long semester

Given my tight schedule for taking quizzes and exams for my online class, I decided to try one of two options this week. If I was able to go to bed at a decent hour tonight, I had planned to get up early and take my first quiz attempt in the morning before work. As a contingency plan, I would stay up late and take my first attempt at midnight when the quiz becomes available. I suppose that Cooper wanted to make this decision easier for me as it is currently 11:41 and he is still awake. With any luck, he will fall asleep soon and I can finish my quiz in much less than the allotted hour.

Netflix update: We watched Moon tonight. Kind of strange, but pretty good. Worth watching.

UPDATE: Cooper went to sleep and I took my quiz. Took 31 minutes and I got 100%. Off to bed.

Thinking of Opening a Radio Shack

Cleaning out the basement has led me to consolidate and organize my random electronic crap. I now have a tote filled with every conceivable cord, cable, and adapter. What's shocking is that this is all of the junk that I'm not currently using. Here is the list of junk in the tote:



Anyone need a charger for a Nokia cell phone? How 'bout an S-video cable?

Happy Birthday, Dr. King

-You know, Sweets, I met Dr. Martin Luther King once.
-You lyin'. You ain't never met Dr. Martin Luther King.
-Yeah, I met Dr. Martin Luther King in 1962 in Memphis, Tennessee. I walkin' down the street minding my own business, just walking on. Feelin' good. I walk around the corner, a man walk up, hit me in my chest, right. I fall on the ground, right. And I look up and it's Dr. Martin Luther King. I said 'Dr. King?' and he said 'Ooops, I thought you were some body else.'
-Oh man, you lyin'. You ain't never met Martin Luther the King.
-Knocked the wind out of me, yes he did.
-No, he didn't.
-Yes, he did.
-No, he did not!

I wonder if they have a chapter of Skull and Bones...

This weekend I received my acceptance letter to Ivy Tech. While it's not quite as exclusive as the 300-win club, it does get me a bit closer to fulfilling my MBA prerequisites at a reasonable cost.

Just a short note to end this busy weekend, but I'll leave with this, Cooper's newest addition to his vocabulary - unimpeded. He doesn't know what it means, but he can sure say it.

Train

Is 5:00 on a Friday evening really the best time to embark on a railway journey? It's really nice when said train crosses the only east to west roads available from downtown. Thanks CSX, now my pizza is getting cold.

Just Like Thornton Melon

For the first time in nearly ten years, I attended a University class tonight. Other than making for a long day, everything went fairly well. And going to the wrong classroom because I didn't check the class web page today and it had been changed. So other than making for a long day, and going to the wrong classroom, it went fairly well. And having to sit in the back of the room because I was in the wrong classroom when class started and having a hard time seeing the overhead because I'm ten years older than I was when I used to sit in the back of the room. So other than making for a long day, and going to the wrong classroom, and having to sit in the back of the room, everything went fairly well.

Seriously, class went well and we got done early enough that I got to have some good Deana/Cooper time before they both went to bed (Deana went to bed first).

Stick to the drums, Buddy

Just a quick note tonight while I study Business Finance. Ringo Starr was on the Daily Show tonight with a 7-piece backing band. The only thing that could have been a distraction from his awful voice is if one of the pieces was a jet engine. After a terrible new song from his new album, he managed to actually test the audience with "A Little Help From My Friends". I hope they did walk out on him.

Pretty Good Day

January 12th didn't start out so hot, but turned out to be a pretty good day. I stayed up way too late last night re-arranging the basement again and I spent a pretty good chunk of my lunch break fighting with the $40 online homework site that I just found out is required for my new Finance class, which proved to be more difficult with Cooper rattling a toy against the basement gate like a prisoner in Attica.

Rushing out the door to get back to work without being able to sign in to the website or provide Cooper with some much needed Daddy time, I was dreading the afternoon. Things began to turn around, though, when I got a call from Deana with fantastic news. Not only does she not have gestational diabetes, but her blood sugar levels weren't even close to causing a concern.

After work, I was finally able to log in to the homework site, got the DirecTV hooked up to the new TV, organized the basement from a complete wreck to a living/working area with two large, but isolated, piles of crap, watched a movie (The Goods...relatively entertaining, but not something I would call a must see), and played chase/trucks/books while sharing a bowl of popcorn with Cooper.

Almost forgot, Cooper also had an otherwise exciting day. He got to hang out with Papaw, learned some new words from Logan (Geronimo, which evidently has 7 syllables and Absolutely Ridiculous), and broke free from Aunt Debbie at Sam's Club, running down the aisles saying "Cooper's running, Cooper's running, Cooper's running".

Moment of Brilliance

After days of deliberation, I finally broke down and got a new toy for the basement. I am now the proud owner of a 26" HDTV that will serve as a monitor for the media pc as well as receive live DirecTV HD. So I get home after the easiest transaction anyone has ever had at Wal-Mart and begin the setup process.

Since I recently reconfigured the basement and haven't moved my DirecTV connections around, I only had an off-air antenna and the PC connection to hook up. The antenna setup was a breeze, I turned on the set and the TV scanned and found all of our local channels. Then comes the ridiculous part.

In a couple of days, I will be posting a catalog of the myriad electronic cables that I have recently organized. Needless to say, I am familiar with the setup of consumer home electronics. The PC connection should be the easiest part. One cable. Unplug from old monitor. Plug into new TV. The end.

I follow these TWO steps and change the input on the TV, fully expecting to see my desktop, but what do I see? NO SIGNAL! I unplug the cable, plug it back into the old monitor, desktop. Back to TV, NO SIGNAL! I unplug the monitor from my laptop, plug it into the new TV, NO SIGNAL! I plug back into the laptop, desktop. I switch cables, nothing. This of course happens on my lunch break, so I head back to work with a nice shiny brick on my desk that I know will not be nearly as easy to return as it was to buy.

So I try some troubleshooting options that I found on the Internet, including trying to install an updated monitor driver on my laptop. None of these worked either. I am finally frustrated enough to call Vizio tech support. The obvious questions begin...is the TV on? YES! is the cable connected? OF COURSE! is the TV on the correct input? ABSOLUTELY!...um..I think so...what input should it be on?...OOPS.

There is a nice button on the remote labeled COMP. That means Computer, right? Component?!? Of course it means Component! I need to be on RGB? But Component cables have three outputs, Red Green and Blue, and COMP is also short for computer. I politely apologized to the tech support guy and hung up.

Anyway...this monitor is HUGE!!!

Nothing better to do?

So...I'm returning to school tomorrow after a nearly 10 year layoff, Cooper is about to start potty training, and baby #2 is due in a couple of months. I'm also coaching basketball, about to start playing in a basketball league, and boxing once a week. This is the perfect time to start a blog, right?

Anyone who is reading this (and I hope that there aren't many people that would waste their time with my ramblings) should know that "Downstairs, Lights On" is Cooper's way of asking to go down in the basement. I felt that this would be a pretty good title for a blog, since everyone knows that all bloggers are nerds who never leave their mother's basement. That, and the fact that I will actually be doing the majority of my own blogging from a basement, albeit my own.

My intention is for this to be a place for me to unwind in the evenings and decompress my random daily thoughts, so I'm sure I'll give up after a couple of days. Who knows, I might even last a couple of weeks. For those who have found their way here looking for updates on the children, you'll just have to put up with my random posts about the Cubs, TV shows, books, and other items that only I would find to be interesting.

I'm still not sure how this works, but if you are able to post comments, please do so. I will be pleasantly surprised if anyone reads down this far.