Since September?

I was going to make an announcement in these pages, but now it doesn't seem like such a big thing.
Morgan is officially potty trained. There I said it and you can mark me on that. If she's awake, she's in control.
I went through the archives here thinking we started this much later than I thought. September 16th was the day, this was the post. I just can't believe it took this long. A few weeks I figured, but the accidents just kept happening, one here, 2 the next day, a day with none, then 1, it was getting frustrating.

But today she was golden, not having to be reminded of the importance of the action, just doing it, naturally.

So there.
Oh and Eliza is talking.

Of all the houses to go to for help

Years ago, when my parents were visiting, you all may recall the girl who came screaming that her house was on fire. Of all the houses to go to for help, she got me and dad searching the house and putting the fire out while mom kept her calm and phoned it in. The house was saved and we have a great picture on the fire extinguisher we used of me and dad in front of the house.

Kim was at work that day and missed all the excitement.

Today, however, the excitement caught up with her.

Eliza and I were out shopping and returned home to see Kim on the from walk with a woman with a baby. I assumed since she had recently returned from playgroup this was a new mom visiting.
When I exited the car and she said, in her stern voice, "Justin, I need you here please," my mood changed.

Kim had heard a shout, then a ring of the doorbell and calls for help. The mother of the 3 month old was asking Kim to call 911 becasue the baby was "unresponsive."
With Morgan in the house and not knowing what to do, she said, "OK I'll call" and went inside to do so.
Back outside with mom and child Kim notes the baby is breathing and seems fine, but is wishing I would hurry up and get there already.

When I did my Paramedic thing the baby was tired and might have been sick, hard to tell without my tools of the trade.

Sirens were getting closer and it was a police officer that arrived on the scene first. Then another policeman, then the local Engine company, who took over care and gave the little one some oxygen.

Morgan was quite excited to see the fire engine pull up in front of her house.

The ambulance arrived and baby was taken to the back for a better look and our work was done. Morgan waved goodbye and told me all about how the baby was in the back of the ambulance now.

I'm just glad I got home when I did. Had I been 5 minutes later in returning I would have seen this infront of the house and thought the worst:

The girls, they are a growin'

A few nights ago Kim made Eliza bowl of cereal, then went to get something when she heard from behind her a little voice say, "Here you go sweetie." This is what she saw:

He's a silly man daddy

Kim hates when I get political on this blog, but I can't resist after watching Louisiana Governor Jindal give the Republican "response" to last night's Presidential Address.

He had a used car salesman slime as he talked about the dangers of Federal spending while accepting billions for Katrina relief (Which was needed). Now he claims he will refuse the funding to extend jobless claims to ensure those without work have basic medical coverage. On "principal." He didn't flinch when they gave away 100s of billions to investment banks without strings in the dead of night. And now we find out the money is just plain gone. Wasted and we have nothing to show for it. Not 1 job, not 1 repaired pot hole.

We watched the President's address last night and were impressed to see a man in control who can speak clear English. That aside, I always enjoy seeing one political party stand and cheer while the other remains seated, hands clasped. When the old President used to talk about military spending of 2.8 Trillion for Iraq (which is now included in the Federal budget for the first time EVER) everyone cheered and no one questioned the debt it would create.

Suddenly we have to put Americans back to work and they freak it costs too much.

I saw a statistic recently that if you spent a million dollars a day, since the beginning of the Christian Calendar (Birth of Jesus of Nazareth) everyday you would still not have the money in the stimulus bill.

But imagine if we had invested that million dollars a day to build and repair roads, fight cancer and build a reliable power network.
Our nation wouldn't be falling apart from within but would be strong, not just on paper.

And if you spent 4 million dollars per day since the beginning of the Christian Calendar and watched 2 brave soldiers die, each year, you would have the cost of the Iraq war alone.

Who is irresponsible with creating debt for our children?

Not to mention the $3.5 billion and counting profit for contractor Halliburton.
Halliburton makes more money per quarter than Exxon, the most profitable corporation in America. Halliburton is based in Dubai, UAE (United Arab Emirates) the home country of at least 3 of the identified 9/11 hijackers. They accept American Tax dollars, but moved away to avoid paying taxes on their profits.

I'll climb off my soapbox now.
This morning, while watching the Today show which featured an interview with Gov Jindal, Morgan walked by, stopped and looked at him and said, "He's a silly man daddy."

Yes he is sweetie. Yes he is.

The Kitchen is finished!

Thanks for waiting for updates on the kitchen, it's been a mad house here with the construction.

So here it is as it was:
Dirty tile, tiny island. It was driving us absolutely nuts.
Then, as you know, we tore it out.

Then they came and put the new stuff in and WOW. Here's another time lapse video, taking a .5 second section every minute.



The product is Corian and looks fantastic in the kitchen, pulling out the gray of the hardware and the red of the cabinets.
And the installation went so well, they went beyond my lofty expectations. He spent hours grinding and polishing, sanding and cutting to get everything to not only fit right, but to cover any blemishes from the tear out. He truly is a craftsman and it shows, the pieces fit perfectly to our unperfect kitchen.

In the end I'm bummed I can't have them back to fix anything else around the house.

So here it is now:

How to tear out a kitchen in 2:39

A special thanks to Dylan for helping to make today's installation possible. I'm still waiting for the new counters to arrive, so until they do, here's a look at yesterday's fun.



The camera took .5 seconds of video every 30 seconds.

An experiment in gaslessness

I got an add fuel warning in the prius on the way to work yesterday. It happens when there is 1 gallon remaining in the tank, which will usually get us 40-50 miles before needing a fill up.
On the way home, the only real accessible gas station was crowded and there was no way I was getting in anytime soon, so I decided to conduct an experiment.
When will I A) Run out of gas completely and B) When will the batteries give out?

So onto the freeway and away I go. Everything was just fine until the last hill before our town. On the way up the gas motor gave out, the check engine light came on and I slowed to 54 MPH. I was able to safely get over to the slow lane just before we crested the hill and came back down, so I was able to pick up speed. I got off at the first exit before noticing there is no gas station there. At the light at the bottom of the ramp I realized I could safely do 54 MPH to the next exit where I knew there was a gas station. Green light, I got back on.

As I exited at the next ramp, the battery indicator went from 3/4 charge to 1/4 charge and as I made the turn towards the Shell station I felt the electric motor not responding to my pushes on the gas.

I coasted into the parking area and awaited someone to move. Then got worried I would have to push my car into a gas station. How embarrassing in a hybrid no less. I turned the car off just as someone began to move. When I started the car, I was able to get it into drive just enough to pull me into the pumps, where I filled it up.

In total, in my 10.2 gallon tank, I did 511 miles with a car generated MPG of 44.6. Not sure which one is mis-calibrated, the gauge or the car. I guess it didn't worry about calculating mileage when the gas motor turned off.

But now I know if I run out of gas I can go 54 MPH.

Night Shots

A steady day here at Engine 26. It's a quiet little Engine Company up on a hill. I was stationed here last watch and wished I had brought my camera. When I found out I was coming back I made sure to pack the camera and was glad I did. More on the flickr slide show on the left.

Random girl stuff

A lot sitting on the camera lately, but with no real time to upload it so here goes:

He's comitting fraud, Honey

At the grocery store today I met one of the many folks on this planet that simply do not get it.
They don't understand how things work and how the universe flows gently if you let it. Like if you let the guy with one item ahead of you in the store, he gets along sooner and your time is barely affected.
If you let the person flying down the onramp take their rightful place in line, the traffic keeps moving, as opposed to him flying all the way to the front, making everyone else slow down.
Those are general examples, but back to the jerk I met today.

The girls and I went to the store and on the way out, cart full, we saw a giant black 4x4 truck parked in the handicapped spot. This was the closest picture I could find online:

The one we saw was a giant GMC and had running rails you could use to climb in with. This truck was so big even I at 6'3" would have trouble climbing in.
As we approached it, making our way to the middle of the lot, Morgan commented on how big the truck was.
"It must be hard climbing up there all handicapped," I commented to her.
"It sure is" said the man who was walking just infront of us as he turned away from his tiny wife and went to put the groceries in the backseat of the truck.
I can't pass this and not say something.
"Hang on sweetie," I tell Morgan, "we're going to help this handicapped man into his big truck."
"Can we help you?"
"I don't need help getting in my own truck." He quipped.
"I just figured since you're handicapped you must certainly need help getting in there, we're happy to help."
"My sister is handicapped." He fires back.
"Then we can help her?" I looked briefly at the wife.
"This is her truck and she's handicapped."
Riiiiiiiiight I think to myself as we turn away.
"What is that man doing Daddy?" Morgan asks setting me up like no preparation could have done. "He's committing fraud Honey, let's go home."

As he backed out and began to pull past us, he slowed down just enough to see me smiling and waving, then he literally sped away through the grocery store parking lot.

I hate those people. Somewhere there's an actually handicapped person circling looking for a spot these yahoos take up.

Morgan the 'Fiter Fighter'

I wish I had thought to get the video camera for this, but it was more fun to be a part of what was happening.

Morgan found an empty wrapping paper roll and decided it was a "slide pole" at the fire station.

She called me over and said, "Daddy, do you want to learn how to be a fiter fighter?"
"OK," I said with Kim smiling in the background.

"First you have to put on your fire fighter helmet." She went and got one of the little plastic helmets Jerry got for her birth and put it on.

She came back to where I was and asked me to hold up the cardboard roll. "Now you slide down the slide pole to the fire engines and go put out the fire."
"How do we put the fire out?" I asked her
"We use the water hose."
"Well go get one! Hurry, the fire is burning!"
She came running back over with an Eliza toy that closely resembled a nozzle and she got in front of me.
"Let's crawl down under the smoke and heat" I told her and she crawled low, nozzle out in front, helmet on and got to where Kim was and crouched back on her heels and began to 'put the fire out'.

"Isn't there some paperwork, training and certifications we have to take, not to mention training drills?" I ask her.
"No daddy. Just slide down the slide pole and put the fires out."

That's what I thought too, kid. That's what I thought too.

How to quiet her down

We devised a way to keep Eliza from screaming for attention during dinner:




Worked for 5 minutes.

Something she can watch

Morgan needed to be distracted for a few minutes today so I threw in a secret weapon I've been saving for just such an occasion. The Electric Company.



The pace is much slower and less in your face than what she had been watching before, but I heard her say, "Daddy, look, they're reading letters!"
She's not, but hey, she's enjoying it.

In other news we decided on our countertops today and they'll be installed on the 17th. We are beyond excited to get rid of this crappy tile and grout.

Kitchen Day 2 - Final

While the girls went to a superbowl party with friends, I was able to finish up the build on the bar. Take a look...










And what better way to enjoy the build than a beer with my girls?