We all remember those times when we've drank something that made us go absolutely nuts. Not drunk necessarily, but pumped up and ready to go. It's a burst of energy, whether negative or positive, that you really can't control.
For me, the drink that does this is "Fat Tire Beer." I have no clue as to why only this beer makes me go a little batty, but it does. I try to stay away from this beer.
For my kids, especially Ryan, it's sugar. Sugar in any form, for the most part, will put him bouncing off the walls. I forsee some problems down the road with diabetes, but the doctor doesn't...yet.
Anyway, tonight after dinner, we went out for ice cream. Nick had a double-scoop of Orange Sherbet, in preperation of our Kauai trip. Tucker had a scoop of Island Escape and Ryan had a scoop of Bubble Gum. After the second spoonful of ice cream, you could see Ryan eyes start to change. After the third spoonful, he started moving around in his seat. The fourth did him in. He was officially drunk off of sugar. He danced around the table for a few moments, would come back and take a bite and dance around again. He would go over and try to get a bite of Nick's, with no luck. So, he would come back and have another bite. By the time we left, he hadn't even finished his ice cream but the sugar high was in full force. We let the boys run it off, so we thought, outside.
When we got home, Ryan was still wired and got out of the truck faster than I've ever seen him. By this time, he managed to get Tucker riled up and they went nuts in the front room. Tucker tried to teach Ryan how to do a cartwheel, but some things will never happen. They continued for 30 minutes of full blast going nuts. Remarkably there was no crying...at all. Like all good things, this too had to end and it was time for bed.
I think that letting them run it off and going nuts in the front room helped with getting them to bed. They weren't whining and just went upstairs. This doesn't happen very much these days.
Although I've never noticed, I wonder if the boys are going to wake up with hangovers tomorrow.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
121 IQ WTF????
I was a little bored tonight, so I took an IQ Test at Psychologytoday.com. I figured that I've taken enough of these goofy things online before to boost my ego, so why not another one. Well, the surprise was on me tonight when the test actually had questions that I had to think about. I was quite entertained, intrigued and actually felt challenged as I went through the many pages of questions. I thought for sure that I was doing well, because I actually didn't guess all the way through like the other dorky online tests. Anyway, I finally get to the last page of the test and see pattern matching questions. This page was quite different than the others and by the time I finished the test, my brain felt like it was melting. Viewing that many different patterns and colors tends to cause havoc on my thought patterns. The good news is that I finished and felt good when I did...until I saw my score. 121? Is that good? Does that suck? It said I was above average, but what does that mean? It clearly doesn't mean that I was the best or I got 100%. I could purchase the complete test results for a fee, but did I really need validation? Probably not, but what the hell it's only a few bucks. So for 3 bucks, I got absolutely nothing of value. Nothing to help boost my ego. Oh, it did tell me that I was in the 85th percentile and that the highest score for a male who was 41 is 146, but it gave me crap. It actually said the following:
"Good job! Your performance on the test was slightly above the population average - well within the normal range. This means that while you don't excel in terms of the skills assessed on this test, you are still doing very well.
Keep in mind that your results on this test (and any other IQ test, for that matter) can be affected by factors other than your knowledge and abilities. For example, fatigue, medication side-effects, formal education level and area of study, training, practice, the number of similar tests that you have taken, etc. all can influence your score without necessarily reflecting on your real potential.
You should also realize that this test does not assess all of your potential. It only evaluates your ability with analogies, pattern recognition, classification, arithmetic, and logic. Your score would certainly be different if it included your verbal skills, emotional intelligence and social insight. "
Well thank you very much... for nothing.
"Good job! Your performance on the test was slightly above the population average - well within the normal range. This means that while you don't excel in terms of the skills assessed on this test, you are still doing very well.
Keep in mind that your results on this test (and any other IQ test, for that matter) can be affected by factors other than your knowledge and abilities. For example, fatigue, medication side-effects, formal education level and area of study, training, practice, the number of similar tests that you have taken, etc. all can influence your score without necessarily reflecting on your real potential.
You should also realize that this test does not assess all of your potential. It only evaluates your ability with analogies, pattern recognition, classification, arithmetic, and logic. Your score would certainly be different if it included your verbal skills, emotional intelligence and social insight. "
Well thank you very much... for nothing.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
The Future is so Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades...
Well new glasses at least.
Today I went to pick up my new glasses. I'm so excited because these glasses actually have a customized clip-on sunglass module to replace the sunglasses that I lost last year during a rafting trip. (Yes, the one in the picture below)
I'm told that these glasses are kind of stylish and really not like me at all.
Here is a picture of them:
Anyway, it's always amazing to me that eventhough my eye perscription hasn't changed since high school, when I get new glasses it takes a few days for my eyes to adjust to them. Shouldn't they just be perfect for my eyes based upon the perscription? Call me crazy, but that's the way it should be...IMHO.
So now I'm all set with sunglasses and ready to go on our trip to Kauai in August.
Today I went to pick up my new glasses. I'm so excited because these glasses actually have a customized clip-on sunglass module to replace the sunglasses that I lost last year during a rafting trip. (Yes, the one in the picture below)
I'm told that these glasses are kind of stylish and really not like me at all.Here is a picture of them:
Anyway, it's always amazing to me that eventhough my eye perscription hasn't changed since high school, when I get new glasses it takes a few days for my eyes to adjust to them. Shouldn't they just be perfect for my eyes based upon the perscription? Call me crazy, but that's the way it should be...IMHO.
So now I'm all set with sunglasses and ready to go on our trip to Kauai in August.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Vomit and Nudists and Bears...Oh My!
It's been a few days since I've updated because of a family trip up to Lake Tahoe. We were gone from Thursday until Sunday and what a time we had... not necessarily all good.
The trip started of well enough. Both Gina and I got of work a little early, finished packing up the car, putting in the video players and off to pick up the kids. Gina went into daycare to get the boys while Nick and I waited in the car. She came out with 2 very happy boys with one of them who had a bit of a tummy ache. Every time Tucker has had a tummy ache in the past, all he needed was a little poop time and he was good to go. Gina had him try before we got in the car, but no luck. So we go on our way...
We make a quick stop at 7-11 for some snacks and plan on eating dinner in Vacaville. We were quite amazed at the lack of traffic. We were sailing around 75-80mph on the freeway. We were easily going to make it there by 9pm. I heard Tucker cough and my knee jerk reaction was to panic and look back. Normally it's nothing, but this time I see Tucker with his hand over his mouth trying to hold back vomit. Yuck!! It kept spewing out. We immediately pulled over, cleaned him up and the car around his seat. We gave him a few swigs of water to swish around in his mouth and spit out, and we were good to go. He said he felt better after that, so why not, right?
We stop in Vacaville at TGI Fridays for dinner. I was a little worried about Tucker eating, but he wanted dinner because he was a little hungry. He ordered shrimp, which he didn't like. He did, however, love Nick's flat iron steak. So, he threw a munch on it and we had to buy another one so Nick could eat more. This was quickly turning out to be the most expensive meal in Friday's history. As Nick and Tucker start chowing away at the 2nd steak order, I look over at Tucker and I see Gina's hand start moving towards his mouth. Yes, he is vomiting again. Both Ryan and Nick say, "Ewww Gross!" and turn their heads. That doesn't, however, keep them from eating. We get some help from the wonderfully understanding staff at Fridays and begin cleaning up. We ask for the bill so we can get the hell out of dodge as quickly as possible. I ask Nick to take Ryan outside while we finish up and Nick turns back to me and says, "Can you put the rest of that steak in a to go box?" I couldn't believe he could even think about eating at this point. Grosss!!! Needless to say, I don't ask for the steak in the box. No telling what spewed onto it. We eventually get cleaned up our ducks in a row and get out...with extra plastic bags.
We were going back and forth on whether to go up to Tahoe at this point, but decided to go ahead. Hey, we figured that he only threw up when he ate. We just wouldn't feed him until he was better. He passed out around 10pm in the car and we got into Tahoe around 11pm. FYI, no matter what time we leave, we always get there around 11pm. Odd, but true!
We wake up fairly early the next morning. Gina and Tucker woke up at 5am because Tucker was feeling much, much better now. He ate well for breakfast and it didn't come back up, which was a good sign. Nick and I went on the boat with my brother-in-law. I think it was around 9:30, so the lake was still pretty much empty. I drove while Dominic rode the wake board. Nick tried many times to get up on the wake board, but was still having a hard time. He road the inner tube though and had a lot of fun. After we got back, we all packed a lunch and walked to the main beach.
The water was cold, as usual, and the beach was fairly crowded for a Friday. Dom, Nick and I played volleyball out in the lake for quite a bit. It was fun, but I wasn't feeling well. I don't know if it was too much sun or I was getting what Tucker had. I was hoping it was too much sun. I decided it was time for me to go back to the house and rest. For some reason, the rest of the gang followed me. I slept the rest of the day and night. No vomiting, but then again, no eating either. I'm pretty sure I had what Tucker had the night before, but I wasn't going to eat and experience the worst of it. The good news is that I knew it would be over tomorrow. I kind of got the feeling that Gina wasn't happy about me sleeping the rest of the day, but it really didn't matter. I don't know that I would have woke up for the second coming...
On Saturday, we planned on going to a beach that only reachable via boat. The ride there was great. It could be that I was feeling better too. I still wasn't really eating, but I didn't want to chance it. The day was warm, but not too hot. As we pull up to the crystal blue shore, I notice some guys on the shore who had some odd looking shapes. Then I took a closer look and realized that they weren't guys at all, but topless women. I asked Dom and Nan, "Is this a nudist beach?" Nan replied, "Sometimes!" I said, "Wohoo!!! Let's go!" As we got closer to where we anchored, Nicholas says he wants to swim in. He jumps off and starts swimming to shore...in the general direction of the boobies. He is a normal 11 year old boy in my book and didn't even notice or acted like he did. My brother in law and I, on the other hand, made sure we were wearing dark sunglasses. Anyway, we stayed at the beach most of the day and really had a great time. The water there surpasses the water at many of the public beaches. I still can't get over how crystal clear it was.
Later that night, Gina and I went gambling. I had received some sort of settlement check from Cingular the month before, so we each took 100 bucks and blew it gambling. We ended up losing only 60 bucks. Not too bad, considering Gina had to win a 100 dollar jackpot around midnight. I think if she would have put the full amount in she might have won 10k, but oh well. Shoulda, Coulda Woulda!
Every evening after we got back, my brother in law would go mountain biking from Brockway Summit down to Tahoe City and then back. The first night he scraped his arm. Although it looked bad, it was more of a badge of honor to him. On Saturday's ride, he fell down hard on his knee early on in the ride, but kept riding the 10 more miles to get back. When he got back, his knee obviously looked swollen. As the evening came, it started looking like a balloon. But he wasn't dead yet, so he said it was okay. It was in no way okay, but it was his knee, not mine.
Because of his knee, on Sunday morning we didn't go on the boat. It wasn't my bro-in-laws choice, it was ours. He would have gladly taken the boat out, but there was no way I was going to ask him to move. His knee by this time looked more awkward than the Pope in a Muslim Mosque. Due to some other issues, our family just went to the beach and had a good time. I entertained the young ones by catching minnows in the two buckets that we had, while Gina and Nick laid out F-bombs while riding the Jet Ski's. I felt bad for the dad next to us. He had been trying to catch minnows all morning for his kids with no success. Here I had 8 in one bucket and he had just a sunburned back. We left the Beach around 2:30 to go back and pack and head home. We ended up home around 10pm. Everyone was tired and satisfied by the trip.
Oh, I almost forgot about the Bears part of my title. On Saturday, when we came back from the beach, I was greeted by someone in the complex who let me know that a little while ago there was a black bear sniffing around the parking lot and that he did some sleeping in the bushes between the building before getting up and taking off. I never saw the bear, but have no reason to not believe the person. That afternoon, the boys and my niece were out on the balcony looking and yelling for the bear. Fortunately, they never got the bear back our way.
The trip started of well enough. Both Gina and I got of work a little early, finished packing up the car, putting in the video players and off to pick up the kids. Gina went into daycare to get the boys while Nick and I waited in the car. She came out with 2 very happy boys with one of them who had a bit of a tummy ache. Every time Tucker has had a tummy ache in the past, all he needed was a little poop time and he was good to go. Gina had him try before we got in the car, but no luck. So we go on our way...
We make a quick stop at 7-11 for some snacks and plan on eating dinner in Vacaville. We were quite amazed at the lack of traffic. We were sailing around 75-80mph on the freeway. We were easily going to make it there by 9pm. I heard Tucker cough and my knee jerk reaction was to panic and look back. Normally it's nothing, but this time I see Tucker with his hand over his mouth trying to hold back vomit. Yuck!! It kept spewing out. We immediately pulled over, cleaned him up and the car around his seat. We gave him a few swigs of water to swish around in his mouth and spit out, and we were good to go. He said he felt better after that, so why not, right?
We stop in Vacaville at TGI Fridays for dinner. I was a little worried about Tucker eating, but he wanted dinner because he was a little hungry. He ordered shrimp, which he didn't like. He did, however, love Nick's flat iron steak. So, he threw a munch on it and we had to buy another one so Nick could eat more. This was quickly turning out to be the most expensive meal in Friday's history. As Nick and Tucker start chowing away at the 2nd steak order, I look over at Tucker and I see Gina's hand start moving towards his mouth. Yes, he is vomiting again. Both Ryan and Nick say, "Ewww Gross!" and turn their heads. That doesn't, however, keep them from eating. We get some help from the wonderfully understanding staff at Fridays and begin cleaning up. We ask for the bill so we can get the hell out of dodge as quickly as possible. I ask Nick to take Ryan outside while we finish up and Nick turns back to me and says, "Can you put the rest of that steak in a to go box?" I couldn't believe he could even think about eating at this point. Grosss!!! Needless to say, I don't ask for the steak in the box. No telling what spewed onto it. We eventually get cleaned up our ducks in a row and get out...with extra plastic bags.
We were going back and forth on whether to go up to Tahoe at this point, but decided to go ahead. Hey, we figured that he only threw up when he ate. We just wouldn't feed him until he was better. He passed out around 10pm in the car and we got into Tahoe around 11pm. FYI, no matter what time we leave, we always get there around 11pm. Odd, but true!
We wake up fairly early the next morning. Gina and Tucker woke up at 5am because Tucker was feeling much, much better now. He ate well for breakfast and it didn't come back up, which was a good sign. Nick and I went on the boat with my brother-in-law. I think it was around 9:30, so the lake was still pretty much empty. I drove while Dominic rode the wake board. Nick tried many times to get up on the wake board, but was still having a hard time. He road the inner tube though and had a lot of fun. After we got back, we all packed a lunch and walked to the main beach.
The water was cold, as usual, and the beach was fairly crowded for a Friday. Dom, Nick and I played volleyball out in the lake for quite a bit. It was fun, but I wasn't feeling well. I don't know if it was too much sun or I was getting what Tucker had. I was hoping it was too much sun. I decided it was time for me to go back to the house and rest. For some reason, the rest of the gang followed me. I slept the rest of the day and night. No vomiting, but then again, no eating either. I'm pretty sure I had what Tucker had the night before, but I wasn't going to eat and experience the worst of it. The good news is that I knew it would be over tomorrow. I kind of got the feeling that Gina wasn't happy about me sleeping the rest of the day, but it really didn't matter. I don't know that I would have woke up for the second coming...
On Saturday, we planned on going to a beach that only reachable via boat. The ride there was great. It could be that I was feeling better too. I still wasn't really eating, but I didn't want to chance it. The day was warm, but not too hot. As we pull up to the crystal blue shore, I notice some guys on the shore who had some odd looking shapes. Then I took a closer look and realized that they weren't guys at all, but topless women. I asked Dom and Nan, "Is this a nudist beach?" Nan replied, "Sometimes!" I said, "Wohoo!!! Let's go!" As we got closer to where we anchored, Nicholas says he wants to swim in. He jumps off and starts swimming to shore...in the general direction of the boobies. He is a normal 11 year old boy in my book and didn't even notice or acted like he did. My brother in law and I, on the other hand, made sure we were wearing dark sunglasses. Anyway, we stayed at the beach most of the day and really had a great time. The water there surpasses the water at many of the public beaches. I still can't get over how crystal clear it was.
Later that night, Gina and I went gambling. I had received some sort of settlement check from Cingular the month before, so we each took 100 bucks and blew it gambling. We ended up losing only 60 bucks. Not too bad, considering Gina had to win a 100 dollar jackpot around midnight. I think if she would have put the full amount in she might have won 10k, but oh well. Shoulda, Coulda Woulda!
Every evening after we got back, my brother in law would go mountain biking from Brockway Summit down to Tahoe City and then back. The first night he scraped his arm. Although it looked bad, it was more of a badge of honor to him. On Saturday's ride, he fell down hard on his knee early on in the ride, but kept riding the 10 more miles to get back. When he got back, his knee obviously looked swollen. As the evening came, it started looking like a balloon. But he wasn't dead yet, so he said it was okay. It was in no way okay, but it was his knee, not mine.
Because of his knee, on Sunday morning we didn't go on the boat. It wasn't my bro-in-laws choice, it was ours. He would have gladly taken the boat out, but there was no way I was going to ask him to move. His knee by this time looked more awkward than the Pope in a Muslim Mosque. Due to some other issues, our family just went to the beach and had a good time. I entertained the young ones by catching minnows in the two buckets that we had, while Gina and Nick laid out F-bombs while riding the Jet Ski's. I felt bad for the dad next to us. He had been trying to catch minnows all morning for his kids with no success. Here I had 8 in one bucket and he had just a sunburned back. We left the Beach around 2:30 to go back and pack and head home. We ended up home around 10pm. Everyone was tired and satisfied by the trip.
Oh, I almost forgot about the Bears part of my title. On Saturday, when we came back from the beach, I was greeted by someone in the complex who let me know that a little while ago there was a black bear sniffing around the parking lot and that he did some sleeping in the bushes between the building before getting up and taking off. I never saw the bear, but have no reason to not believe the person. That afternoon, the boys and my niece were out on the balcony looking and yelling for the bear. Fortunately, they never got the bear back our way.
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