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| 300 and counting... down to 0.00001%
Since it has been quite some time since my last post, I'll just give a brief overview of what has been going on. I've been reading xanga entries from the past year this afternoon. Many of us from work left early since the weather outside is horrible. I have finally reached the point that I am only 300 xanga's behind :) In the past month, I have actually been keeping up with people's lives and reading past xangas (at best about one a day, until this evening).
Isaac is a little over 1.5 years now and is learning at least a word a day (so it seems at least). One of his latest things is to point out where his nose, ears, eyes (sometimes at least), mouth, and hands are. He seems to enjoy the fact he can communicate so simply. He is obsessed with Sponge Bob and watches the movie a good 5 times a week (since the first of the year that is--thanks to the Millers for letting us borrow it until we got it from Wal Mart).
Tiff and I are expecting our second in mid-March (if we don't schedule a C-section sooner)... more will be known on that front Friday after the ultrasound. We have been told it will be a girl and are happy to have one of each so far! We have a short list of names, but I will not post them yet as we have not decided on who she'll be.
Work is going well. My boss is quite happy with my success at making mutant bacteria. We change a bit of it (remove a part of DNA) and see how it responds. We've done some interesting things--well, interesting for about 0.00001% of the US population (that should be about 40 people, right?).
Lately I received Guitar Hero III for my birthday. That has been lots of fun to play (certainly more interesting than to 40 people). Well, time to post this... before Isaac gets up from his nap. I hope everyone is doing well!
-gmz
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| Zanga 101
101:
Well, it has been quite some time since I last updated. It's been at least 101 days. I know this because I have 101 unread xanga subscriptions that have been sent to my mail box that are unread (the read ones have long been deleted). It's not that I do not care what is going on in other's lives, it's just that there is not enough time to read them like I would like--my apologies to those I usually read.
6:
As for what is going on in my life... Isaac is growing up. He now has 6 teeth with another one looking like it will be coming in soon. He is walking around pretty well in his tot-rider in the kitchen--no walking besides that. Is trying to pull himself up while in front of the living room table, but can't quite do it. He turned 9mo. old last friday, the same day as his last pediatrician's appointment. He's growing up quite well. He is still a happy baby :)
20:
As for work, I have been asked to present my findings at an upcoming conference. That is a nice honor to be requested to do, but it is some work. This year, the conference will be in Toronto, ON. Since it will be the first time I've been out of the country in many years and the new laws with such are in effect, I have needed to get a passport. That was an ordeal and I'll spare anyone who has read this far the details. Needless to say, I do not yet have the passport and the conference is in 20 days. It should be hear the week before I fly. Let's hope it arrives!
24:
As for entertainment, Tiff and I have recently started watching the TV show 24 (we have netflix). It has been very fun to watch, having some good suspense and an action-filled plot. I highly recommend it if you have not yet seen it and want to watch something that is made-for-tv (which is typically cleaner in the way of language, violence, and sexual content). Recently we have become the proud owners of a Nintendo Wii. We had been borrowing Tiffany's brothers Wii, but now have our own (thanks to our tax refund). It's a lot of fun. Different in the way most video games are played, but very fun.
30:
As for church, things are going very nicely. Since my last post, the Columbia congregation has had the opportunity to start a work in Jefferson city (capital of Missouri, located 30 min. south of Columbia). Tiff and I have had the opportunity to attend most of the Sunday afternoon services (since they start 3 hours after ours here in Columbia). It's been nice to see how the congregation has been getting so many visitors. Please keep the congregation in your prayers.
37.15:
We recently had a garbage garage sale. It was semi-sucessful. We got rid of some junk and got some money, $37.15. Enough to pay for the listing in the paper and the lunch we ordered. Tiffany received a very nice red mark between her neck and her shirt-line. It has taken about a week to heal some. She was very discomforted for the first few days.
1 (visits):
My mom recently visited (the first time since Isaac has been here). It was nice to see her again and she really enjoyed visiting with Isaac, Tiffany, myself, and the Wii. She enjoyed golfing on the Wii--she beat me a time or two too!.
1 (sick days):
Yesterday evening I started feeling sick. By the time the night was over, I had chills and was very ready to go to bed. Throughout the night and most of today my stomach was very upset (I'll spare any details). So, I stayed home from work today while the sickness took it's toll. The best we can tell, it was the tortilla chips. Yes, the chips. They smelled awful (like old peanuts) and didn't taste very good either (they tasted bitter). But, I had eatten them anyways--bad choice. If something doesn't taste right, it's probably best to not eat it.
9 (9th paragraph):
I have just been informed by my wife, that Tiffany (Degoof) says I am
supposed to update my zanga. Well, here you go. Are you happy? :P
(I'd guess no, since this is getting to be kinda long!)
Okay, this is long enough. Maybe it'll be 202 emails before I get back to this... I hope not though.
-gmz
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| Celebrity look-alikes...
Recently I read several xangas that dealt with people submitting their picture into some program and then it displaying which celebrities they most closely resembled. I thought I would give a go at this while including Shaun's idea of using PhotoShop to alter the photos.
Sample 1: I first started with my own photo, so as to give a place of start...
 
Oh yeah, I look just like that Viktor guy! I thought I was looking in a mirror!!!
For fun, I decided to try some variations to see what this state-of-the-art program could accomplish.
Sample 2: a picture of a real celebrity, Collin Raye (from a picture that Tiff had taken with him a few years ago, she's a big fan)
I found it amusing that they had the Hoff-meister in there :)
Not willing to leave well enough alone, I decided to hit my library of pictures I've taken through the years. I started with a couple of pictures and photoShopped the top of one face on top of the mouth of another
Sample 3: "Frank-en-face 5"
Leonardo DiCaprio. 'Nuf said.
After trying to mold two faces together, I tried three...
Sample 4: "Frank-en-face 3"
Emma Watson? Ouch. I hope this doesn't discourage her from doing the next Potter movies.
Not willing to stop with a real face, I proceeded to open the MS paint program that comes standard with windows. I drew a face and submitted it...
Sample 5: MS paint generic ("police drawing") face...
Yeah, looks pretty boring, I tried to spice it up some...
That didn't work either and I decided to give that dream up.
I decided to try one more...
Sample 6: "I-can't-believe-I-went this low"
HEHEHEHE. I think I've gone far enough with this. 68% Phil Collins. <sigh>
Well, there you have it. I hope you'll enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed making them. Hope everyone is doing well. Things here are good. Tomorrow night we've got a social at the Shaw's planned. It's been a while since a board game night and I'm looking forward to enjoying company with brethren. Have a great weekend!
-gmz
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| Quirky...
I have finally caught up on all my xanga reading (did this about 2 weeks ago). I decided to make another entry and figured I'll try a list of some of my quirks.
1) Brushing my teeth makes me gag (mostly near the end when I'm brushing the top of my mouth and my tongue). Also, I strongly prefer the gel toothpaste to the paste stuff. My personal favorite is the Cinnamon stuff from Crest.
2) I use my towel in the same direction to dry off (the washing instructions tag is always up--doesn't matter if it's in the front or in the back, just up). This way I don't dry my face one day where I had dried my toes the day before. I started doing this several years ago. I also hang the towel over the shower curtain in such a way that when I dry my hands on it that I dry them on the portion where I dry my face. Maybe it's because I'm a microbiologist I thought of doing this...?
3) I like bland cereals. I prefer cheerios over just about any kind of cereal. I have that for breakfast probably 4 out of 5 days. I can't stand honey-nut cheerios, they are way too sweet. I used to like the sweet cereals (like lucky charms) when I was younger but can't stand them now.
4) I don't like to have many things in my pockets and when I put the stuff in them for the day, each pocket is the same as the day before. For example, my wallet goes in my back right pocket, my keys in my front right pocket, my cell phone in my front left pocket, and my vitamins in my front left pocket too. This way I know exactly which pocket to go for when I reach my car, when my phone rings, etc.
5) I don't like a fat wallet (maybe I'm afraid it'll ruin my posture--as if hunching over this laptop doesn't do enough damage). I don't carry much cash (I spend less that way) and only have 6 cards in the wallet (license, work ID card, credit card, Sam's club card, insurance card, and ATM card--these are also in their own places for the same reason the stuff in my pockets have their place, it's easy to find them when you need them).
6) My hand's don't sweat. I first realized this wasn't normal when Scott came over to play video games. After he would play, I would grab the wet controller and complain about it each time. No matter how long I'd play, the controller didn't even show the least bit of perspiration. This has, in recent years, been beneficial at work. The bacterium we grow at work is sensitive to oxygen and we grow it in a heated anaerobic chamber. The chamber has gloves you put your arms in and work with the bacterium on the inside and you on the outside. When working in the chamber for extended periods of time the heat transfers to your hands and there is no place for your hands to eliminate the heat and so they sweat (for most people at least). Unfortunately, my co-workers do not share this sweaty-free-hands trait.
7) I like sour foods. When I was younger, it was 'Sour Patch Kids' candy. I couldn't get enough of them. Throughout high school it was orange juice. I drank at least a quart of orange juice each day and I never got sick that entire time. However, I think that had an effect on my digestive track and I really couldn't drink it during college. It was only until recently that I've started drinking it on a once-in-a-while basis. Green apples have been my favorite on the list of sour foods that I still enjoy. This is especially true when combined with crunchy peanut butter (no smooth peanut butter for this guy!). I think I usually add more peanut butter than apple though... it's just too good!
8) I am lactose intolerant. This is probably more of a 'trait' than a 'quirk,' but I think it does lead to some quirks. For example, I eat cereal dry (it just doesn't seem right to eat it when it's mushy), I try to limit myself to no more than a serving of milk-product a day (hopefully less and it is always--when I remember at least--with a few lactaid pills), after eatting a milk product I usually become very thirsty for several hours afterwords, I have never dipped an oreo (or cornbread, as my grandparents used to do), ... and so on.
9) I don't like to drink liquids while eatting meals. (I would have said "I don't like to drink during meals" but that could be taken the wrong way. Thanks a lot Shaun!) Whenever we eat out for a meal, the server usually has a difficult time in keeping my drink full before the meal arrives. After we get our food though, I hardly touch my drink until I'm finished. When we eat at home, I will usually get a drink before the meal but not touch it at all until after I've finished.
10) I have nightmares when I watch "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Strangley enough, it's the same nightmare. This has really only happened twice and the last time I saw the movie has been at least 10 years ago (probably closer to 18 or so). It was a weird dream that ended up having something to do with aliens testing me and there being mountains of human brains... it was quite scary.
11) I clean off the shaving cream container periodically throughout the day. I realized this one several days after starting this list (otherwise it'd be up near the top with the other bathroom rituals). When I finish shaving, the shaving cream container has dribbled some shaving cream out and I wipe it off. (I'm not sure why it does this, perhaps some pressure left in the tube holding the shaving cream that comes out?) By the end of the day it has dribbled some more and I again clean it off (I don't make a special trip just for this, I do this when I go to use the restroom). In the past, I've left it to stay on there and it becomes a sticky, gloopy mess that just seems unkept. Also, if it's still there when I get my next bean-sized serving of shaving cream the clumpy part sticks to my face and it just doesn't have the nice feel of the new, smooth shaving cream.
I'm sure I've got several more quirks, but I can't think of them right now and I should post this since I had first started it about 2 weeks ago. Hope all are doing well. Isaac is doing well and is taking a nap at the moment (although he has just made a noise so I should probably check on him soon). Yeah, he's fine, still asleep. Till next time,
-gmz | | |
| Spam:
Since I mentioned about a month ago about letting my spam folder get
full, I've got a little over 11,000 spam messages in my Yahoo
account. Other than that, my last two weeks of vacation have been
nice. I've been able to
- spend time watching our Netflix movies with Tiff (and get the movies back in the mail ASAP),
- my brother-in-law has let me borrow his Nintendo DS and I've
played the latest Castlevania game (it's actually a lot more fun than I
thought it would be),
- I've been able to take a nap in the afternoon when/if I feel like it,
- I've added a mouse drawer on my desk (since the desk I bought on
ebay from the University didn't have room in the keyboard tray for a
mouse--I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out too), and
- I've gotten to read the July 1st - 19th daily digests on my xanga subscriptions (only 20th August 9th to go...).
I think that high-lights the past two weeks, besides the whole getting
to spend the first two weeks with my son :P He's not very
interactive yet, but he has had a couple of times when he's been awake
and not eatting, filling a diaper, being bathed, or waiting to be fed
(this is when he really throws a fit).
Luckily for me, I've slept fairly decently at night. I sleep
soundly and it's a good thing I'm not the one that has to feed
Isaac. Tiff is up every few hours (if she's so lucky to get to
sleep that long) feeds him and then maybe gets to go back to
sleep. I've only got a few more days before I need to go back to
work. I think this is the longest vacation I've taken since the
end of my freshman year of college (now that I really think about it,
the time when I finished college might have had a vacation then--even
though I did work that summer... if you can call counting trees in the
heat of the day work--yes, I really did get paid to count trees).
Enough of a tangent.
Since I've been reading other's xanga postings I figured an updated was
needed for anyone that might want to know what I've been up to.
So there you have it. I hope everyone else is doing well.
Someone is beginning to wake up and it is dinner time.
Enjoy!
-gmz
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