Saturday Night: Burning Time

One of the very worst parts about working third shift is the nearly complete lack of things to do in the middle of the night. I mess around on my computer, watch a movie or play Xbox, but that's about it. There are so many nights that I'm tempted to go to bed about 3 or 4, but I know that if I do, I'll get up really early Sunday and completely mess up my sleep schedule. I sleep badly enough as it is, the last thing I need to do is completely louse it up. I really don't think I'll ever get used to working this shift, but it's far better than working 2nd shift. At least when the baby comes I'll be able to take care of it on the weekend when Steph's asleep.

Major News!

Okay, I admit it. I didn't take this photo. What you're looking at is the very first photograph of our unborn child. That's right, we're having a baby! We've known for a few weeks now that Steph was pregnant, but since she hadn't told anyone at work yet (except for dad of course), she asked me to hold of blogging about it until she did. So now you know! Steph had her first appointment a couple days ago, and also the first ultrasound. She's about 8 weeks along, and the due date is May 1st. As I said, we knew about this a couple weeks ago, but it hadn't really hit me until I saw this picture. I guess it was just hard to believe it was true, but there's no denying it now. It's been in my thoughts so much for the last few weeks, but for the aformentioned reasons, I couldn't really "discuss" it here. It's just a relief to be able to blog about it now.

I'm Watching You....

I'm sure at some point, you come to the realization that in a way, reading someone's blog is a truly voyeuristic experience. You really get a peek into that person's life, in a completely anonymous way. Little did you know, while you're watching me, Google is watching you! Before you lapse into paranoid delusions about "Big Brother", let me explain what I mean. Google Analytics is a free add-on for websites that tracks the traffic and gives you more information than you could ever want. Things like geographical location of users, number of hits and unique users, and even the web browser and operating system that person is using: Google tracks it all. This may seem a little intrusive, but all the data it collects is completely anonymous. It doesn't show who's viewing the site, but it does tell everything else. It's pretty amazing technology, and even more amazing is it's free!

I dropped my bad tire off this morning at Lou Bachrodt in Cherry Valley. The guy called me this morning and said they did indeed find more metal in the tire, and that they have fixed it. THANK GOD. This is the third place I've taken the damn thing, and frankly, I'm a bit annoyed that the other two places failed to find the problem. I guess I should be grateful I don't have a bent rim. That could've cost me up to $200 to replace. Good thing I don't have a car payment anymore....

Pick-Ups, Drop-Offs

I had a busy afternoon. We received a call today from our local Farm and Fleet, informing us that our mower was repaired and ready to be picked up. It's been about a week and a half since I dropped it off, and needless to say, the yard is really ready to be mowed again. I decided to make the trip to Rockford to pick up the mower. After having a cup of coffee and taking a quick shower, I was ready to go. I went outside, looked at my truck, then realized the tire I've been having problems with was completely flat. Great. On top of the mower, I now have a tire I need to drop off somewhere to be fixed. I put on the spare, then decided to just drop the tire off in the morning. After having two different places look at it without locating a leak, I think I may have a bent rim. I'll be dropping it off at the dealership in the morning, so if it is the rim, I can have a new one ordered. The mower repair was only $18 , so that was a nice end to the night. The replaced the parts, did an over-all tune-up, and cleaned it thoroughly. It looks like a brand new mower!

Thank God for iPod

To say my job can be tedious is a bit of an understatement. I work at the Chrysler plant in Belvidere, and as many of you know, it's an assembly line. The benefits and pay are great, but the work is pretty boring. Luckily, they allow their workers to use portable devices on the line. You wouldn't think something like that would make much of a difference, but believe me, it really does. I use my iPod 8 hours a day, 6 days a week. It's an absolute life saver. If I couldn't keep my mind occupied during those 8 hour shifts, I think I'd go bonkers. I listen to podcasts and audio books primarily, but occasionally I listen to music too. The privilege of using my iPod makes an ordinarily tedious job not only endurable, it actually makes it enjoyable at times. Right now I'm listening to The Bourne Identity on audio book, and I'm really digging it.

Forced Maintenance

Today we received a letter from our town president, regarding the sidewalk in front of our house. The bar next door received a complaint about the condition of the sidewalk after stepping into a hole making a delivery. The town has taken it upon themselves to get two quotes to replace the entire stretch of sidewalk on the East side of the street. No problem, right? Well, after approving one of the estimates, then then passed an ordinance requiring the residents adjacent to the construction to pay for half of the cost. Turns out our portion is going to run about $1,000. Needless to say, we weren't happy. Granted, the sidewalk does need to be replaced, but I have serious questions about the legality of the newly passed ordinance, and the timing of the whole thing. It just seems like they passed it simply to push some of the costs to the three properties and away from the Village. Unfortunately, to hire a lawyer to try to answer these questions just isn't an option. It would likely cost us far more to fight this than it would to just pay what they're asking. I just have to try to look at this from the bright side, and think how it will improve the "curb appeal" of the house when we hopefully sell it within the next couple years.

Coffee: A Tired Man's Best Friend

It's days like today that I'm grateful that I have a taste for coffee. I slept badly today, waking up about three of four times over the course of the morning. I woke up around 2 so I could watch the game, but even had I tried to slept later, it never would have happened. It seems every hill-rod in this podunk town has some sort of off-road vehicle, and they find it necessary to drive them on the road. Unfortunately, the bar is a natural destination for these people, so this afternoon was like an off road rally right outside the bedroom windows. Fun. To top it all off, we're starting early tonight, 9pm, and going 10 hours. Meh. Bring on the coffee!