Gratuitous Geek

My First Build!

2012-01-03T12:37:00.002-07:00

Remember how I said that I wanted to make time to garden, write, and build furniture for Amelia? Well, I haven't found (made) time to write, but I did... eventually... complete my first furniture project. Two projects actually, from Ana White's website (formally known as Knock-Off Wood).

The $4 Stackable Chairs were more difficult than I expected, mostly due to the poor quality of the furring strips I was using. But I think I put enough screws in them. :)

P.S. I apologize for using a camera phone to take these pictures, but when your only option is to work during nap-times, you use the fastest option.

Happy Wintereenmas!

2011-11-02T21:11:00.001-06:00

Halloween has come and gone, and I ate more than my share of candy corn yet again. I don't care what day it is, 600 calories of candy corn for lunch is never a good idea. Although the sugar rush allowed me to carve 3 pumpkins in record time before the little heathens came a knockin'.

Here's a better shot of them in the dark.

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Highway to Hale

2011-10-29T21:11:00.002-06:00

Today has been a looooooong day.

As I type this, Amelia is currently falling asleep on the cold hard floor of her room while trying to peek under her own door. No one told me that the terrible twos would make me stop questioning why some animals eat their young. But, what I really don't get is the random insanity that grips her for no reason whatsoever. She asks for water. I pour some water in a cup and hand it to her. Cue gran mal -the sky is falling- tantrum.

My daughter has turned from Baby Hulk into Tyler Durden.

/Sigh. But that wasn't why I was out of bed before the crack of dawn this morning. :)

Training has Commenced

2011-10-20T20:23:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday, my friend Kim and I met with our personal trainer for the 1st time. We wanted to up the ante on our journey to Bendy & Supple, so we decided to hire Nicole.

Nicole is a distance runner, young, thin, a total bad-ass, and has probably never struggled with losing weight in her life. I think I can speak for fat girls everywhere when I say that is frustrating. But we hired her to push us. To work us hard, drive us to tears, and if possible, help us succeed.

I personally want her to push me so hard that I dream about kicking her in the teeth.

And I mean that in the nicest way possible.

Warrior's Dash is only 190 days away.

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No Nap Today

2011-10-11T15:33:00.000-06:00

I don't have as much time to write this blog as I used to, hence the 6-week hiatus. G-Geek's life has been full of toddler birthday planning, canning peaches, gym visits, potty training, surgery recovery, binky removal, and let's be honest, Fallout New Vegas DLC's. But, I also have to re-prioritize my goals in life. And if I really think about it, this blog is pretty low on the list. I have some tangible goals to meet in the next 6 months, so I will try to post at least once a week from here on out, with some photos and snarky comments.

Here's one for you...

If only every nap could be as sweet as this one...

Speaking of those tangible goals, I have been an Ana-White follower for quite some time, but I have not built anything yet. Hopefully, that will change, because I have my eyes on a shiny new Kreg Jig and the plans for a Twin-Size Captains Bed and a Play Table with Chairs. And now that Tobin has the Jeep out of the garage, I can get started...

Someday...

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Better Late Than Never

2011-08-21T12:04:00.001-06:00

I know Amelia and I have been home from our Alaskan Adventure for over a week now. And I know that you've been suffering from picture withdrawals. You're right, it doesn't take much effort to upload some pictures and write something snarky in between them. Shut up already. I have been busy.

Very busy.

With things.

Like The Great GTSO. (Get The Stuff Out!) After living out of 4 suitcases for the last 7-8 months, I've discovered that we have TOO MUCH! So I've been donating practically everything not tied down to Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Eleven bags of clothing, shoes, towels and sheets, 4 boxes of kitchenware and toys; a truckload later, I can say that I am finally done. For this year.

But you didn't come here to listen to that drivel.

Did you?

Farewell Fireweed

2011-08-08T00:17:00.001-06:00

If there's one thing that I've forgotten about loving in Alaska, it's fireweed. It's a hot-pink weed that blooms in mid June. It's said that once the blooms reach the top of the stalk that summer is over. To some people, fireweed is a pest to be removed, to others it's a calendar, and to yet others it's a source for jam making and salad topping. However, to me fireweed is a reminder of all the years I spent growing up here. All the late summer nights, camping, hiking, and sneaking out after hours.

This trip I got to meet up with my longtime friends from high school, for our 2nd Annual Girls Night. In the last few years that we've gotten back into touch, we try to meet up at least once when I come up to visit. As we reminisce over a few glasses of vino or brew, it feels like nothing has changed, and the last twelve years may have all been a dream. And I realize just how much I miss them all. Even with all the social networking websites that we can handle, I still cry when we say our goodbyes, and start wondering when I can visit again.

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And Yet Another Adventure

2011-08-02T20:03:00.000-06:00

I've been absent from the blog as Amelia and I have been visiting family in Alaska. We've played in the woods, ran through the orchards, danced in the puddles, drove Papa's tractor, and ate most of Nana's strawberries. Then we drove to Fairbanks where we ran away from cousins, slid down the slides, explored a tree fort, patted some goats, and visited a gigantic igloo... And we still have one week left!

Unfortunately that's all the photos you get. The internet connection is pretty lame, and they charge by the MB, so I don't want to 'upload' my in-laws out of house and home.

β

"Hey Amelia Bedelia!" — Cousin Sammy (2011)

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Back to the Grind

2011-07-23T22:40:00.001-06:00

What's the first thing you do when we get back home from a long trip? Is it mow, weed, and tackle the long overdue front door replacement project? Of course it is!

As Amelia and I are packing for our next trip, to go visit the in-laws in Alaska, Tobin and I decided to take advantage of the these last couple days and install a new front door. Why, you ask? Because we like to play with power tools and smash things with hammers! Well that and we decided to take a break from spraying the eighteen wasps nest inside of Tobin's Jeep.

Oh the dilemmas of traveling abroad.

Of course after hours and hours of keeping Amelia out of the one room she wanted to play in... You know, the room with power tools, box cutters, screws, and fiberglass laying around? That room. We let her out to play in the pool again, when she discovered... The CAR.

You would have thought we just handed her the keys to a mint, cherry red, 71' Hemi Beracuda. She was enthralled with this fine piece of machinery. She walked around it, touching the shiny paint job, kicking the tires, sticking her fingers into the gas tank. This little girl knows her way around a vehicle. (Maybe it's not too soon to let her play with power tools?)

Finally, she got around to checking out the interior, the steering wheel, and -of course- the horn. She played that horn like the penny slots in Vegas. She went over every inch of that car, and its horn. When suddenly, she turned to us and said.

"Bye-bye, Da."

And all at once I was transported to 2025, where Amelia had just received her license, and was borrowing the family car for the very first time. My stomach flip-flopped and I bit back tears. I even wanted to tell her to go back into the house and put on something less revealing, when I realized that she is still only a 22 month old in an ill-fitting swimsuit.

Now I just have to teach her the age old driving maneuver called: Flipping The Bird.

β

"We're either in a café in Paris or a coffee shop in New Jersey. I'm pretty sure I just came back from the doctor with life-changing news." — Toy Story 3 (2010)

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State Sided

2011-07-21T21:11:00.000-06:00

Thankfully our flights between Amsterdam and Salt Lake were uneventful. Well, except for that time when the pilot was taking off from Minneapolis and he decided that a NASA regulated vertical liftoff was in order. It was like an aviation drag race. From 0 to 10,000 in 60 seconds. We gained elevation like it was going out of style.

And then, the turbulence.

I. Hate. Turbulence.

The last time I really experienced turbulence was when we flew North to Alaska last March. And while this flight was much tamer, I still found myself praying for divine intervention. And twenty minutes is a long time to pray. Anyhoo, we arrived safely (obviously) and after much jet lag we were finally able to start acting like humans again.

It's amazing how much work a house takes to maintain. All kinds of things go haywire when you're gone for half the year. One of the toilets broke, a mouse ate some of Tobin's beer gear, the lawnmower welded itself into a paperweight, and the weeds staged a rebellion killing off most of my decorative shrubs. So after several hours of attempted mowing, and finally successful mowing, weeding and weeding and weeding, we finally feel like we've gotten the yard under control again.

So we celebrated.

With a pool party.

For one.

In truth this pool isn't even ours. We borrowed it from a friend some time last year and have yet to give it back. However, I think I will have to get them a new one, because I don't think Amelia will let this one go.

I swim vicariously through her.

β

"You're not my slave, Chas, you're my very appreciated apprentice, like Tonto, or Robin, or that skinny fellow with the fat friend." — Constantine (2005)

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Valkenburg Velvet Caves - Fluweelengrot

2011-07-16T02:06:00.004-06:00

With only two days left in the EU, I finally made time to share our pictures from the Velvet Cave tour. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but the caves were a lot cooler than I had hoped. Cool as in there was a lot of history behind when the caves were built back in the 11th or 12th centuries and how they were used as escape tunnels by the knights and villagers living around the castle. Then during WW2 the secret passageways were rediscovered and used as a shelter by the locals. Afterward many US soldiers visited the area, some even got their profiles painted on the wall of the caves. But the caves were definitely cold and advertised as a permanent 12* C (53* F) year round, sometimes you could even see your breath. The tour was in Dutch, but we were given a pamphlet in English so we could follow along. I'll try to remember the interesting facts.

And yes, some of these pictures are blurry. There were some shots where I chose not to use the flash, so I wouldn't blind anyone who's eyes had adjusted to the pitch-blackness. I wanted to include this first picture, because it shows how long the ceiling was in some areas.

Stumble Upon Dump

2011-07-12T07:31:00.000-06:00

I'm still being quite unproductive, both blog-wise and photo-wise, since I'm in the midst of packing us up to head back home to Utah. And I'm even more unproductive now that I'm able to play with the new Google+. Overall it seems to be Google's version of Facebook. And while almost everything of Google's seems to be pretty awesome, Google+ is rather lame since not many people are on it yet.

Ho hum.

Eventually I will post pictures and commentary about our weekend in Dublin, and the trip to the Velvet Caves before that. But in the meantime, I thought I would share some StumbleUpon gems with you. Stumbling through random, and hilarious, websites is very cool. But it's also the single biggest time waster you will have ever found, and very much like gambling. . Easily addicted personalities beware.

Stumble, stumble, stumble, WIN!
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Steam Summer Sale

2011-07-04T05:23:00.000-06:00

My apologies for this small hiatus in blogging. I promise, I will post pictures of the Valkenburg Velvet Caves soon, but I've been a bit sidetracked... :) Steam is having a Summer Sale and I've been able to snag a few new games that I wouldn't have purchased otherwise. Like Bioshock 2 for $5.00!! Or maybe I should grab Assassins Creed Brotherhood, or Fable III? There are just too many games for a girl to choose from! They even have Dragon Age II (drool) on sale for $35.99, but for that price I'll still wait until we get home to grab it for the X-Box.

So instead of blogging, I've been attempting to get Darksiders to work on my ancient Dell XPS, and failing. Damn the ever changing system requirements. And in between attempts to 'update' my video card drivers, a new daily sale popped up! And the drooling and downloading starts all over again. :)

My current fascination is with a game called Torchlight. I snagged it off of Steam for $2.99. Woot! It's a simple RPG that reminds me of both World of Warcraft and Dungeon Siege as a flash game.

OmgItIsSoFun!

I can't wait for Amelia to take a nap! This is so bad for my workout routine...

Who am I kidding?

Oooh and the next sale starts in a couple of hours! I wonder what I'll find next?

β

"You are my shiny lunch box." — Crank: High Voltage (2009)

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Amelia's Play Date at the Fountain

2011-07-01T08:00:00.002-06:00

You ever have that problem, where you make a (insert frivolous task here)... and then FORGET to (insert frivolous task VERB here) it? No?

Well aren't you just the Queen of Completion then. Where's your crown? That's right, there is no medal for Remembering To Do Everything, is there?

Amateur pilot Amelia, cracked out on applesaap, laughs at me constantly.

In a way this actually works out well. I was already scrounging around for content to post as we haven't done much traveling in the last few days. I even thought about regaling you with the story of how Amelia likes to stick objects down her onesie, where they fall to an embarrassing spot just outside her diaper. but that's not very funny, or appropriate.

Anyhoo, ahem, here is a video I made over a month ago...

Enjoy!

P.S. Happy 75th Birthday Nana!! If anybody asks, I made this video especially for you. ;)

β

"Hold it, hold it. What is this? Are you trying to trick me? Where's the sports? Is this a kissing book?" — The Princess Bride (1987)

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Long Live Aperture Science!

2011-06-29T09:47:00.010-06:00

There's a funny thing that happens when one geek falls in love and marry's another geek. Eventually they both fall in love with the same video game. And while there may be a little bickering over who gets to play, in the end one geek finds a TomTom mod and the other geek turns a geeky roadtrip into uber-geeky video montage. :)

Hehehe, I <3 GLaDOS.

Splee!

β

"There was even going to be a party for you. A big party that all your friends were invited to. I invited your best friend, the Companion Cube. Of course, he couldn't come because you murdered him. All your other friends couldn't come, either, because you don't have any other friends because of how unlikable you are. It says so right here in your personnel file: "Unlikable. Liked by no one. A bitter, unlikable loner, whose passing shall not be mourned. Shall NOT be mourned." That's exactly what it says. Very formal. Very official. It also says you were adopted, so that's funny, too." — Portal (2007) (VG)

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Marksburg Castle and Nurburgring

2011-06-25T10:05:00.000-06:00

Are you prepared for the longest blog post known to man-kind? It has so many pictures, it just might break your Internets. It was a long day with lots to see, and I want to share it all with you!

Feel special.

And grab a snack...

OK. Here it goes... Our original plan, when we checked out of our hotel in Koblenz, was to take the cable car over to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. But with the BUGA festival currently in progress, it was not an option. So we hopped into the car and went in search of adventure!

Ausfahrt, Stage Left!

As Tobin said: "You have to get really lost first, before you can figure out where you want to go."

Caution: R.O.U.S.'s ... wielding implements of nutty destruction.

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It's All About the Castles

2011-06-21T09:04:00.001-06:00

When we hopped on the KD-Rhine boat in Rudesheim headed towards Koblenz it was quite full. And at each of the ~~300~~... 16 stops on the way to Koblenz, it got even more full. With limited space, we juggled Amelia, drank refreshing brews and settled in to watch the castles float by... for hours.

It was actually quite pleasant and so very exhausting. Although, I'm not sure how 'sitting' on a ferry for four hours can wear you out.

Maybe it had something to do with the sun

... and the wind.

Teddy was just happy that he didn't end up taking a swim.

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KD Rhein Cruise and our stop in Rüdesheim am Rhein

2011-06-19T03:38:00.000-06:00

I wasn't sure what I expected a Rhine cruise to be like, but I was more than pleased to see that Amelia's dreams were answered by way of a large red slide on the back upper deck.

As always, click the photos to enlarge.

The Train to Mainz

2011-06-17T07:03:00.000-06:00

On the first leg of our Rhine River Cruise, we had to get down to Mainz, Germany by train. For flexibility we drove to Koblenz and then took the train to Mainz. I figured that after the boat dropped us off in Koblenz we could do whatever we felt like.

I do what I want!

I wish we could take trains everywhere. I wish even more that we had a train system like this back in the States. It's so easy to use, and Amelia would tolerate several hours of this over her car-seat.

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Doorways to Budapest

2011-06-15T04:00:00.010-06:00

(Since Tobin and I are enjoying the Rhine River in Germany, here are some pre-scheduled posts to brighten your day.)

I was fascinated with the beautiful doorways and gilded windows in Budapest. They could almost make you forget about the smog, or the smell of the homeless man at the bus stop, or the taste of goulash. These doorways can sometimes make you forget where you are. You could almost believe that opening one may give you a glimpse into...

A Dwarven Stronghold!

Or a Victorian Mansion.

Valkenburg Kasteel-Ruine

2011-06-13T04:00:00.004-06:00

(Since Tobin and I are enjoying the Rhine River in Germany, here are some pre-scheduled posts to brighten your day.)

We're trying to make the best of our weekends while we're here in Europe. It would be a sin not to. And as I told you before, we're taking random day trips to new places whenever we can. So this last weekend, as Saturday was full of IKEA and the Saturday Market, and a small outdoor concert around the corner, we went to Maastricht on Sunday.

And in Valkenburg, Tobin took us to a real - honest to goodness - castle!

Well, what's left of one anyway. :)

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Amelia's First Merry-Go-Round

2011-06-11T04:00:00.015-06:00

(Since Tobin and I are enjoying the Rhine River in Germany, here are some pre-scheduled posts to brighten your day.)

Ah, the sounds of childhood (and carnivals, and amusement parks), not quite complete without a mess of cotton candy. Thankfully, Amelia's too young for cotton candy.

There is a Merry-Go-Round set up in the Markt of Eindhoven, on a rather random schedule. I never know when it will be there, but on the last day Mom and Kemp were visiting we were in luck.

So we bought a token.

And got Amelia seated.

Rare Moments of Free Time

2011-06-09T01:20:00.002-06:00

Free time is rare when you're a full-time Mom. I'm sure most people think that it's all about sitting around watching TV while Amelia plays. But in reality it's much more like: wrestling a banshee to change it's diaper 8 times a day and later disciplining a spider monkey every five minutes for climbing onto the back of the couch, or the table, or the TV. Or standing on one foot in the kitchen, while trying to chop veggies for dinner, holding the door hiding the garbage can closed with the other foot. And then there's the numerous walks to the grocery store each week, that require packing Amelia up for a hike through streets infested with urine, spilled beer and broken glass. Which wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't so intent on throwing her sippy cup or binky every 100 meters. Such a sweet girl.

Don't get me wrong, there are lots of happy-fun-times as well. But we were talking about why I seem to never have any time to myself. Of course, when I do get a moment, I edit photos (so many photos) and update this blog. But even then, it takes a couple days for me to post them, as I have to stop every few sentences/words to retrieve her from toilet, or from inside the coffee table. Which reminds me, I've never posted a picture of this non-baby friendly apartment. Hold on, someone's upset that they can't get their legs out of their jacket sleeves...

Crazy kid.

(Click to enlarge)

Kinderdijk, Ja?

2011-06-05T01:29:00.001-06:00

Last Sunday we went on another random day trip, this time to Kinderdijk, which is world famous for it's many, many, many windmills. Picturesque windmills, scattered along a flowing canal. A regular tourist attraction. However, the $5 to park was a new feature.

Some of these pictures aren't as great as I hoped.

It was windy.

Imagine that.

Too Late for Tulips

2011-06-02T04:51:00.002-06:00

Arriving in May, we've missed the tulips that The Netherlands are so famous for. We're trying to make do, by randomly visiting places without a schedule, hoping to discover something awesome off the beaten path.

This last weekend, while Tobin was off of work, we went on a couple day trips with my parents. On Saturday we drove to Belgium in search of the Trappist Abbey of Westmalle. Where monks in robes still brew their own beer, bake their own bread, milk their own cows and produce their own cheese. There's one catch though.

You can't go inside.

Something about a 'life in seclusion'... and other planes of existence that I can only reach in my dreams.

I wonder if they'd let me spend a weekend there.

But you can visit the Cafe Trappisten, right down the road, for a taste of Trappist beer and Trappist cheese. The monks only make enough beer and cheese for themselves and to sell to cover their expenses each year. When they've brewed enough beer year, they'll stop. Can there really ever be enough beer? Speaking of which, on the way we stopped at a beer distributor that Tobin likes. Where we picked up a couple lambic's and other beers.