Latest News
Sunday, December 16, 2001 : I noticed that my beard is turning gray. The desire to be age 8 has become strong again.
Christophermas shopping is done pretty much for Andrew and Nikki. I hope Andrew is getting me something fun!
I'd like to get a larger desk for my computer sometime so that I have room for the scanner. No new pictures for a while, I know - but it's just a matter of hooking the scanner up. Motivation isn't that high, I know Andrew will just mess it up like he does the rest of everything I own (not that I mind, he's such a wonderful kid!).
Speaking of Andrew, he's standing at my side watching me type this. His finger is in his nose to the second knuckle and then HE WIPED IT ON ME!!!!
It's nice to be back in contact with my long missing friend Stacy Maliogas after something like 3 years. Welcome back!
Work update: Work has been making me pine for the days when I worked in fast food for a living. On the bright side, I was told last week that a corporate (as opposed to divisional) job was pretty much mine if I wanted it. I will believe that when I have a job offer in my hand, but it does make me feel pretty good. I hope it pays better!
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Thursday, April 26, 2001 : Work update: On March 16 I was given the additional responsibility of being the divisional research engineer. I'm having some fun with learning about LCDs, plasma displays, LED's, OLED's, electroluminesence, and lighting slang.
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Tuesday, January 16, 2001 : I get food poisoning and spend two days "running at both ends". I spend a lot of time wishing my fate on my worst enemies.
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Saturday, November 12, 2000 : Work update: I hyperdesigned (as in I designed within a timeframe of less than two weeks) a machine to complement the previous one (described in the last update); the prints and cost estimates are still sitting on the bosses desk waiting to be seen by the president of our division, and than the corporate CEO will have to give his approval. No stress here. Anyway, what's a couple thousand bucks between co-workers?
On the bright side, I have actually (unofficially) begun doing the job I was hired to do in the first place. I only hope you have some sort of appreciation how much relief this gives me. Since machine design is something I generally have no clue about, and looking at a process and deciding if there is very much common sense involved in the sequencing is something that I do have a clue about...I can do that. :^)
Andrew has not graduated to real words yet, but he's got "gah gah" down to a science. The teeth gritting thing still applies.
I had another typical post-25 year old birthday. Denial, depression, and nobody noticing all day that I am deteriorating quickly into senior citizenhood (32 years old). If I had to guess, I'd say I still feel 23. Unfortunately, that was a depressingly long time ago. It only makes it worse that I can remember every single detail about being 8 years old...including what my opinion was on people who were 32 years old.
(If you want to know this, you can make a wild guess based on some adjectives, and the word "old" being used a lot.)
In my mind I should barely qualify for the Boy Scouts of America. Don't they have a merit badge for surviving until you are 30?
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Sunday, October 07, 2000 : No updates recently due to finding the updating process to be pretty boring at times.
Andrew is starting to communicate with crying instead of trying to speak. This is having the effect of making his father grit his teeth a lot.
Can one have too much stir fry broccoli? I will be able to tell you pretty soon if things keep up the way they have been! :)
Andrew has new full body fuzzy pyjamas that make him pretty cozy to hold on your lap during these days of 23ºF weather while the heat isn't turned on yet.
Work is good. I spent 2 months inventing an automated thing-a-ma-thing, getting it to the point where all we had to do was get the approval to build the machine I designed from the company CEO, only to find out the thing I am trying to automate just became obsolete. At least the president of the company said "Sorry about that!" to me. ...Superstar!!!!
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Thursday, August 10, 2000 : Andrew said "Dada" today, sending Nikki into a petulant sulk because he did not say "Mama" first. I am the winner!
Note to the world: Starbuck's chilled Vanilla Coffee is really good, but has one of the most awful aftertastes. You need to try it, then go smooching on your "other" heheheh.
Chandler the Cat is banished to the balcony until Andrew's face heals from the scratch that goes from his eye to his chin.
Nikki is becoming increasingly interested in American politics, and often asks who is doing better, Gore or Bush. I think she is wanting Bush to win, since she said, and I quote using her Thai accent, "I hope there are a rot of peeple helping George Bush with his erections".
I am still laughing.
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Monday, July 3, 2000 : I don't have to work today or tomorrow. I plan on going to Lexington for tomorrow night. Today I would've liked to go, but we did a big unpacking push and got a lot done.
My scanner doesn't work right. The pictures are weird looking. I've sent an email to customer service, I'll have to wait and see what happens. We've got pictures to scan, but I don't think you'd want to see the scanned images.
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Saturday, July 1, 2000 : We went to the Cincinnati Zoo today. I think the best attraction they have there is this cold water mist machine that you walk through to cool off. It's just a canopy with some pipes spraying water out as a mist. I'm suprised they don't charge a quarter to walk past it...the place will fleece you. ($11 per adult to get in?!?!!!!) We had to cut the trip short because Nikki wore dress shoes with no socks and got some painful blisters.
Andrew's first top tooth broke through today, and he has a painful bite. My solution is to teach him not to bite. Nikki keeps sticking her finger in his mouth to feel the tooth and getting chomped.
I am designing a Genius of the Year certificate for her.
I received my diploma in the mail today. They can't take it away now! It's already in a frame, too.
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!!! SPECIAL BULLETIN !!!
Wednesday, June 28, 2000 : Andrew Welch took his first steps today, Wednesday, June 28, when I arrived home from work. In fact, he took his first 6 steps in a row! (Boy, he must've been glad to see me!)
He's got 2 bottom teeth, and it looks like the top front teeth will be breaking through soon. Andrew is not happy about the situation, and tells us just about all the time in that special way babies communicate. (Yes, whining and crying.)
I got a letter Saturday saying my graduation was held up. I will spare the details, but after a panicked 20 minutes on the phone on Monday, everything is O.K. and I have my degree after all.
Nikki is wishing we did not give away our living room and dining room furniture. There is nowhere to lounge.
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Saturday, June 24, 2000 : Patrick and Kevin came to visit me and see the new place. They went swimming in the pool, and than spent a little while lounging in the hot tub while I was busy looking for my (still) missing bathing suit. Then we all went to Red Lobster and spent too much money on food.
It's nice to once again live close enough to people that they come visit!
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Tuesday, May 30, 2000 : I've been out of town a lot recently. I received a job offer from LSI Industries just south of Cincinatti, OH, and I have been looking for somewhere to live up there. The mission has been accomplished, and I will be moving as soon as we can get things going. I will be starting June 5, so I might have a few nights of sleeping on an empty floor.
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Monday, May 15, 2000 : I had an interview last Thursday, I found out today it went extremely well. My source for news tells me the plant manager is convinced, and he is now deliberating the issue with the company vice-president. More news on this as it becomes reality as opposed to wishful thinking. Otherwise, all this is is a waste of typing.
That Moby CD Patrick let me listen to for the next few weeks (months? years?) is pretty good. Too bad on the way home from Lexington the CD player in my car broke. When you put a CD in, it beeps like I hit the eject button and the CD ejects. Blah.
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Sunday, May 14, 2000 : I took Nikki to Martin, TN for japanese food.
After driving for an hour and 15 minutes, we discovered the resturaunt is closed until May 22.
In a fit of disappointment, and with Nikki needing a restroom pretty bad, we drove to Paducah.
If you are in Murray and you want to go to Paducah (40 miles north of Murray), never start by going south for an hour and 15 minutes.
Tomorrow's tip of the day: Don't eat yellow snow.
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Friday, May 5, 2000 : Andrew is standing up without support for up to 10 seconds.
Michael, Nikki, and Andrew all have colds. Andrew and Nikki are getting over theirs, but Michael just got his sore throat about an hour ago. (8pm) Blah.
The summer ritual has begun. I am hot and sweaty, it's 78 degrees in the apartment, and Nikki is freezing. So I don't get to turn on the air conditioner. Well, I *do* turn it on, but she turns it off again within minutes. As I said, it's a ritual.
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Saturday, April 29, 2000 : Andrew has a cold or something, and has cried all day.
I've been working on my Dad Voice. A few years ago I could make Billy jump when I mimicked the Dad Voice and said "WILLIAM!". When I say "ANDREW!" he shuts up, drops down, and pretends to sleep for something like 10 seconds.
I haven't dared to try a "NIKKI!" yet. I have a hunch it would result in pain and suffering for me.
Note: Nikki, while reading this over my shoulder, was heard to murmur "Right!" with a totally serious look on her face.
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Wednesday, April 26, 2000 : It's a super nice day outside, and I am, too tired to do anything about it.
Andrew got his last immunization shots today for a while, I guess he's dealing with it ok. At least he's not crying.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2000 : I've been cleared to go back to work. Im missing 9/10 of my fingernail and a sliver of skin at the base of the nail bed.
The hole at the tip of the finger was actually 2 drops of blood. I cleaned them off earlier today. I am relieved I don't have a crater in my fingertip after all.
The doctor tells me my finger will heal normally, and the fingernail will grow back without any problems.
Andrew is practicing being annoying. He has started a habit of hyperventilating and whining whenever he wants something he can't have. Examples of things that make the baby whine because he isn't allowed to get them :
potting soil
the toilet bowl
the cat
dead bugs
the bandage on my finger
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Monday, April 24, 2000 : At work today I accidentally caught my middle left finger between a drill bit and a hard surface, and I lost my fingernail. Note to all readers: Don't try to be like me, it hurts. I might not get to go back until Wednesday at least, since Im supposed to be using pain pills to keep me from gasping in pain all the time.
Andrew's using a baby walker to walk back and forth across the living room. He now tries to steal my morning pop-tarts when he's up when I get up. I think he's addicted.
Professional job hunting update: Something looks real promising, but I don't want to make anything official until I have a written job offer in my hand. You never know if they might stumble onto my webpage at the odds of 1 to 10000000000000 against, but it's possible.
Nikki is sreepy. Sahleepy. Sleepy. Whatever. Michael is crazy. *slurp*
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Sunday, March 26, 2000 : Andrew's first tooth has broken through, and he is NOT HAPPY about it. He's going around sliming anything he can get his slimy little hands on.
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Wednesday, March 15, 2000 : Andrew has eaten his first spoonful of potting soil. Nikki the Paranoid Wife is living up to her name. The 'Drew is laughing his head off, he's so happy with his mouthful of dirt.
Nikki has a habit of buying toys for the baby at Wal Mart and wanting to return them the moment she gets home. I wonder if there is a psychological term for this? Her latest "borrow" is a baby fence to keep Andrew from crawling into the kitchen.
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Tuesday, March 14, 2000 : Andrew is now crawling all over the apartment (very fast, I might add). Today he learned how to open a cabinet and get out a bottle of vinegar. Incidentally, today was also the day that Nikki made me childproof the cabinets.
Andrew seems like he's happy. When you play with him he laughs out loud. He's got the baby laugh thing down pat. He sleeps an awful lot, which is good. It's just that he only sleeps for 20 minutes at a time all the time, which is bad. He's one napping baby.
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Saturday, August 21, 1999 : This webpage would have been updated MUCH sooner if Geocities and Yahoo had not merged and made it so hard to get write access back to my page that it took me 2 months to figure out. :(
Andrew Welch was born on Saturday, August 14, 1999 at 7:21 am, and weighed in at 9 pounds 1 ounce. He was 21 1/4 inches long ... I think he was longer than that, you should see how quickly they try to do these things.
I had my wisdom tooth (I only had one) extracted yesterday, bottom right tooth. I am now on pain medication, and I don't like it. It started out it only made me sleepy, but now it is making me feel nauseated. Well, to make things more fun, I was flossing my remaining teeth about 1/2 hour ago and about 1/8 of the molar 2nd from the back popped out of my mouth. Yep. Bottom right molar is broken. I think it was a weak tooth because back in the 70's dentists would see a small cavity and hollow out your skull for a filling rather than just fix the cavity spot. Guess I'm going back to the dentist. :(
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Thursday, June 17, 1999 : Nikki and I are now married. We are both very happy, and want to thank everyone who came to the wedding. It seems like there should be a lot to say, but the phrase "very happy" seems to work real nice for just about everything I can think of! :) By the way, even though it may not have seemed like it, I really did enjoy being kidnapped the night before my wedding! I had a lot of fun, and it was worth the looks on your faces when I attacked Dad in his bed wearing a tie around my head, a sock in my shirt pocket, 1 shoe, etc.
This one needs to be short because I'm working extra to cover for my friend Brian at work while he's on National Guard duty in Louisiana, and I don't get very much sleep. I think maybe he's pulling a hoax on us all, and he's actually hunting giant crocodile eating mosquitos down there. Bring one back for me, Brian.
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Monday, May 24, 1999 : The best way to get to Patti's 1880's Settlement is go north on 641 to get on the Purchase Parkway. Stay on until you get to 24 east to Nashville. Get off at the Grand Rivers exit and follow the signs (or the car in front of you) to the resturaunt. This route takes only 35 minutes as opposed to the 50 minutes required by the other drive. Other news: We begin moving into Essex Downs Apartments (same people) on May 25. Nikki's parents are here already, and they are nice, fun people. Nikki has a new thing where she sticks out her tongue at me while saying "blah". One last thing, I went catfishing (which means fishing for catfish to you smart-alecs) Saturday, and in addition to getting so much sunburn through my 45 strength Coppertone lotion that I blistered, I caught 9 catfish ranging from 4 to 20 pounds. I'm not counting the numerous Drumfish, Gar, and the lone Spoonbill that I caught.
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Thursday, May 12, 1999 : It's official. Nikki and I are moving to Calloway Apartments probably on May 26. Also, more information here on the wedding: Saturday June 12, 1999 at 1pm at Patti's 1880's Settlement in Grand Rivers, Kentucky. If you are familiar with the area at all, you know what I mean when I say "to get there you go to the Land Between the Lakes and go north on the Trace until you get to Grand Rivers, and there are signs". When I get some initiative, I will make a map on Lycos or something and post it on here.
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Friday, May 7, 1999 : It's now the second day in a row of perfect weather. We had a pretty hard rain when those Oklahoma tornado clouds came through. We had hail about 3/4 inch diameter. I was on the front porch watching it pelt my car, wondering "How am I going to get to work if I get knocked unconscious getting to my vehicle?". I didn't really say "vehicle" but I didn't want to say the word "car" 2 times in one sentence. I'm sure your squirming in your seat wondering if I was knocked for a loop getting to work. Well, let me tell you! The rain let down just long enough for me to go to work and sit around for a a few half hours before it started back up. Talk about luck! I guess what they say is true about stepping on ants.
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Friday, April 30, 1999 : I Have spent most of the day at school trying to finish a final in Motion Control studies. I still need to go back since the building doesn't close until 11:30 pm tonight. Isn't the last day of classes supposed to be a relief?
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Wednesday, April 28, 1999 : Chandler has taken over Nikki's suitcase. It's laying flat on the floor, so I suppose the cat thought that he and the suitcase had some common ground, no pun intended (it is just there). Chandler has recently decided that Nikki is his new best friend, and he follows her everywhere she goes. Nikki isn't as excited about this, since Chandler weighs a lot and likes to step on her stomach. This would knock the wind out of most people, but Nikki's very small. It makes her fall asleep on the couch right during her favorite t.v. shows! (Jerry Springer?!?! Home and Garden Television?!?!) You can plainly see that I live in a complex household.
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Saturday April 24 1999 : Nikki is dying to go to a Japanese resturaunt in Martin TN. I have no idea where it is, but I think if I want to stay in one piece I better figure out how to get there.When asked how her craving was a few seconds ago, Nikki replied "I want it real bad," meaning Japanese food. A rough guess on the distance from here in Murray KY to Martin TN would be maybe 40-50 miles travelling to the southwest.
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9:30pm - Well, we went and found a Japanese resturaunt. I had salmon teryaki, miso soup, shredded salad, and sliced squid with that soy sauce/green horseradish mixture. Nikki had some sort of burnt (grilled) eel, miso soup, and a big wooden platter with 6 different samples of raw sushi and 6 clumps of "California roll" sushi, which is the cooked kind. Well, neither of us were much into the raw sushi, but we eventually dared each other enough times to eat some of it that it all got eaten. Each of us had 3, and both of us had a very difficult time swallowing it. We laughed very hard about it all until Nikki got to the point where she started burping. :) After that I wasn't allowed to mention sushi or fish for the next 40 miles because she said she would throw up in my car if I didn't stop. I think this was one of those evenings that stick in your head for some reason. Note to Mom and Dad : Nikki paid for dinner (because I sure couldn't).
Special message dictated from Nikki : Michael forced me to type something here but I have no idea what am I going to type about! Help me please! I don't know! That's all. Chandler is sleeping evil. Is not related to my message at all! *giggle*
It's pretty weird now that I'm finally getting a grip on this semester at school that it's only a week from finals, and I actually am not ready for lectures to stop. This is not the same thing as dreading finals, I'm just enjoying the lectures a lot more now.