A laptop... without the lap.

This is my computer.

It's not that different from your average laptop that you probably have yourself.

What makes it so unique?

The fact that the white fan and the bubble wrap (it's been anything from chapstick containers to small books-anything handy to keep it angled) is a package deal now.

You can't have the one (laptop) without the others anymore.

Well, you can... but the computer will only run for 15-45 minutes before freezing.

We've taken precautions, as I've mentioned before. All of my files are on a Media Storage Drive that networks our computers together. And, it's not like I'm without a computer -we have two downstairs in the office.

But, with all of the stuff I do on my computer (both work-related and non work related) its nice and almost a necessity to have a laptop so I can fit in a few minutes here and there when the Little Man is playing by himself.

For now, I'm confined to the kitchen table -pulled up close to the island so my fan can be plugged in. It's really not THAT bad of a set up. But, it will be nice to use a laptop on my lap again soon.

An international affair

Monday night we hosted a unique group of people for dinner.

At a recent Kiwanis club Justin volunteered to have a group of people from the Middle East come to dinner. We had 3 people (one woman and two men) plus an interpreter and a couple of our friends come over. Justin and I were a little nervous (which is one reason why we invited another couple to come -just in case we had nothing to talk about). We weren't sure how much English they knew, or what to cook for dinner.

Thank goodness for the internet, because we quickly found out their dietary restrictions. Muslims have their form of Kosher called Halal. Justin found a Halal market in town and bought some chicken from them. He also asked a few questions about the meal we were cooking, and the guy there offered us a lot of help. We had to buy whole chickens, but luckily the store owner cut it up for us. And, luckily for me, Justin de-boned it.

It was actually a really fun evening. They loved The Little Man, and he was pretty good during most of the dinner. And, they all spoke English. There were a few words and phrases we'd get stuck on, and then the interpreter would help out. They were from different area's of that region; Palestine, Gaza and Qatar -plus the interpreter was from Lebanon, but has been in the states for 4 years. They all worked or volunteered with different people -womens issues or after school programs. I'm not quite sure what they were doing here, or who they all met with while they were here, but we enjoyed their company.

My happy place

(I know, I know, 2 posts in one day -what I am I thinking?)

Without going in to too much detail, our cable (well, technically, it's fiber optic) service is changing. They are expecting to change out EVERYONE'S boxes in 5 days. I have spent no less than 90 minutes on hold with them since Monday, and I've had 2 appointments set where no one showed up.

Tonight I was SO annoyed -spending 30 minutes on hold to ask why someone hasn't shown up 2 hours after the appointment, only to find out that they would 'most likely' be there first thing in the morning -whatever that means.

I was watching a bit of TV, being mad an ornery about the horrible customer service we've been receiving, until this came on.

Have you tried to change one of these? It's not far off. I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eye. Guess I can wait around again for these guys to show up tomorrow.

Stay away from milk products

I just got off the phone with someone from the Little Man's doctor's office.

We went in 20 days ago to make sure his cold/cough/fever wasn't RSV. We saw a random doctor, who said it was probably just a cold, he looked okay, but would send in a sample -just in case.

I can't remember why, but I was talking to OUR doctors nurse a few days following that appointment and she said the Little Man was fine, the sample was negative for RSV.

So... 20 days later, someone called from the random doctor (not sure if was his secretary or nurse) to tell me "the good news" -he didn't have RSV.

Thank you. Just for the record, I wouldn't have waited almost 3 weeks to see if my son had a contagious respiratory virus.

The best part?

I wanted to double check that it was still normal for the Little Man to still have a little cough. She said it was, and to stay away from milk products and stick with clear liquids.

My response? Well, he's only 5 months old. So... he's pretty much ONLY eating milk products, and a little rice cereal.

I know we're not your regular patient, but could you at least LOOK at the patient you're calling about?

What is Phase 5 to the World Health Organization?

I'm sure we've all been following this Swine Flu Pandemic as it has become imminent and I wanted more information about these phases and what a pandemic actually is. Take a look:

Then go here for more information.

Did the little guy know what he was doing?

A drive through memory lane (or, a main road in Roy)

Yesterday the Little Man and I went to see my mom in the hospital following a surgery on Monday. After hanging out with her for a bit, I went to hang out with a friend that I hardly ever see anymore. The funny thing is, I go to Roy all of the time -at least 3 or 4 times a month. But, my parents moved from the home I grew up in when I was 22, so I don't drive around really familiar roads much.

I was just surprised that so many random memories came up while I was driving. First was the credit union that a friends mom worked at and I would go and see her all of the time. The road that used to be a field, that another friend always wanted to drive through -when it was a field. He said it wasn't very exciting after they paved it and made it legal to drive through. The 'old folks home' that our youth group would go to every couple of months on Sunday -and where my friend got a speeding ticket while we all watched as we drove by to get there one day.

The other thing that I found odd (and made me feel kind of old) was how much things have changed. Roy has gone west over the last few years, and countless fields and parks that I was used to seeing were now dotted with commercial buildings and new neighborhoods.

It made me remember driving with my dad to my Great Grandpa's house in Sandy. Every time we went my dad would have to make the same comment about how 'all of this' used to be fields (where malls, auto-dealerships, and countless commercial buildings now are).

I guess now I'll have the same story for my kids.

It's been a while

I keep looking at the blog thinking that I need to post soon, and all of the sudden it's been over a week.

First of all, the Little Man had his first sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's house (and Aunt Jodi and Big Matt). I was a little worried (about me, not him), but turns out we both did GREAT! Justin and I went to a movie, did some shopping, out to dinner, to the temple, I went to the gym for almost 2 hours on Saturday and we cleaned the garage. It's amazing how productive you can be when you have more than 20 minutes! (Not to mention slept 8 1/2 hours!)

He also came back with a new party trick -rolling over! It's only from his stomach to his back, and it's only one way (it's pretty funny to put him near a solid object on the side he wants to roll to and watch him struggle -but it's good for him, so it's okay!) I tried taking a video, but to be honest, it's kind of boring. It's just him, falling/rolling onto his back.

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My computer is slowly dying. I guess when you have your laptop on pretty much nonstop for a few months (which happened to be the first few months the Little Man was around) you might have problems. I was so worried about losing stuff (pictures and music, mostly) that we started looking around for a hard drive to transfer all of it to. Instead, we bought a server (I think) and we've networked our computers together. This way, we can both access stuff from each other's computer, and our files are all backed up. AND, we can print remotely (I think). I'm pretty excited. So... now we'll just watch the laptop slowly die and THEN go and get a new one, since we know all of our files are safe.

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The Little Man had his first trip to the Hogle Zoo yesterday. His cousin (and her parents) bought a pass, so I think we'll be tagging along with them a few times this summer. I'm not sure he really noticed anything -other than the fact that I made him wear a little summer hat and he got to hang out in his stroller a lot longer than usual. But, the rest of us had fun!

I think that's about it for the last couple of weeks. Hopefully I find something to blog about sooner rather than later.