Our Win-Win Negotiations

I thought I'd share the conversation I had with Terise last night. Well, it was more like a negotiation. You see, in several things,Terise and I are very different people. One of our differences is that I like to stay up late and drag myself out of bed in the morning (I don't really sleep in much) while Terise likes to go to sleep early and wake up early.

So, I was crackin' up the other night when I came home from school, had something to eat, and sat down to watch TV for just a moment before our nightly routine of negotiating the time we'll crash for the night. Variations of this conversation happen for us at least 3-4 times a week, so I thought I'd share:

Terise: So, we're going to bed at 10pm?
Brian: Huh - No, I just sat down and I have some reading to do.
Terise: Remember, we have to wake up early.
Brian: Yeah, I know. Ok, how about 10:30.
Terise: How about 10:10, and you clean Christopher's dishes.
Brian: 10:25, no dishes.
Terise: 9:50
Brian: Huh? (confused look)
Brian (to Chuck): Where did you find this girl?
Chuck: (chuckling to himself)
Terise: Ok, 10:00 and no dishes.
Brian: 10:20, no dishes.
Terise: 10:10, no dishes - and you have to start reading. If you stop reading, the deal is off and we go to bed.
Brian: Deal.

"The Unorganizer"

Now that Christopher is up and running (actually, it's more like a walking fast/run) we have a couple of nicknames for him. I thought I'd share them really quick.

The first one is "The Unorganizer"...for his unique abilities create chaos from a perfectly stable, organized environment. There are times when a toy doesn't interest him unless it's been put away in it's proper place. At that point, Christopher seizes the moment to remove the object (toy, clothing, dish, etc) from it's location, toss it on the ground, and move to his next target. It's all done in one quick motion. Kind of how Shaolin monk would do it. (Note: I really don't know much about Shaolin monks except for what's on wikipedia - pretty cool on there!)

Also, we have another nickname him - Mr. Destructo. It kind of has a "superhero" tone to it don't you think? In his defense, he's not all that destructive yet. But, he's appears to be very keen on perfecting this talent in the near future.

A Trip Down Memory Lane...and a huge find! (to me)

I took a trip down memory lane today. Let me explain.

If any of you ever collected baseball cards, football cards, or any sports memorabilia then you'll understand my excitement. As a kid, I would buy hockey cards and mail them out to different players in the NHL to be signed. I had 33 cards signed from some of my favorite players. After my mission, about 10 years ago, I came home to find that my family had pretty much lost, misplaced, sold, confiscated, burned, etc etc.. everything I left behind. Seriously, I didn't own anything when I got home. That's what happens with 4 brothers - in my family anyway.

Well, I heard from one brother last month that a folder of signed hockey cards was still at my mom's house. Keep in mind, I had a few boxes of cards which I still haven't located yet. But, today I was over there and decided to look one more time. AND...I was so happy when I found it.

Here's the final count: Patrick Roy (2), Ed Belfour rookie, Jeremy Roenick rookie, Kelly Hrudey (2), Brett Hull, Rob Blake, Tomas Sandstrom (5), Steve Duchesne, Alexei Zhitnik, Jimmy Carson, Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov (3), Dave Taylor (4), Paul Coffey, Corey Millen, Mike Donnelly, Mike Modano (2), Jari Kurri, Rob Stauber, Vladamir Konstantinov (2). Pretty cool huh!

So, here's the deal: If anyone in the family is a big fan of one of the players for which I have more than one card I'd be more than happy to send it to you. It's all yours.

Have a great week!

Brian-

Christopher's Blogging Already!

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Ok, so he's not really blogging...this is what happens when you let your 1 yr old son pound on the computer keys. Of course, I had to keep closing other windows and, to be honest, I still don't know how to get to one of the screens he brought up. Anyway, a few other random (and I do mean, "random") thoughts I had:

1. Baseball Fans - check out this website: http://www.battingstanceguy.com/ . I think you'll like it.

2. What's up with that new hands free phone law in California? If the government can't show that being "hands free" has anything to do with accidents why make it a law? Did our politicians in Sacramento just GIVE UP on the important things like a) making sure all illegal citizens get more rights than legal ones, b) leaving no child behind by "dumbing down" classes for the rest of the kids c) prosecuting border patrol agents for protecting the border (or was that Arizona?).

I guess there are some benefits to this new law. I get to look like an overworked real estate agent AND I can drive, talk, and use my free hand to eat something while I drive now.

3. I was swimming at the gym the other day and a guy came in with a speedo on. Lesson learned: If a man walks into a swimming pool area with a speedo on he's going to make you look like there should be a lifeguard on duty for you because, let's face it, you look like your drowning now (even though you thought you were a pretty good swimmer)- if possible, don't share a lane with him.

Pretty random huh!

BBQ at Thornock's (July 4)

We spent the late afternoon and evening at the Thornock's home. Here's a picture of Christopher and I enjoying the pool together. If you stare at the picture long enough you can see the tan line at my neck.



Terise and Kathryn chattin' it up with Sophie and Christopher

Sophie and Christopher

Christopher and Sophie are pretty much pals now. Sally and Chuck have been gracious enough to watch them during the a.m. hours every weekday morning for the last few months while Terise and Kathryn are both working. On this particular, recent morning, Sally left a few of the dropped graham crackers on the tile for them to munch on - they look like they really enjoyed it from this picture!

San Diego Trip

This weekend Terise, Christopher, and I all took a short trip to San Diego. With Terise as the mastermind behind our spending we managed to accrue some points on our credit card and stay at the Westin for 2 nights. The beautiful thing to me is that we didn't pay a dime of interest on the account. Nice.

Admittedly, we didn't do too much though, but we enjoyed walking around the Gaslamp District and Seaport Village. I enjoyed the heated pool to myself in the mornings, Terise used the gym, and Christopher loved just being there. Seriously - he was so good the entire trip! Priceless. AND, he had his first experience with a swimming pool! (picture above)

Seaport Village, for those of you who are unfamiliar with San Diego, consists of a block of shops along the water. There really isn't much else there. It's across the bay from a naval base, so there were different military helicopters flying over and ships out to see. I thought that was pretty cool. If Chris was older we probably would've done a tour of the USS Midway. For now, here are a few pictures...

We have a video of him chasing a small bird in the park..but it wasn't uploading for some reason. We'll work that out later.

Brian -

Christopher likes...

Here's are a few of the things Christopher likes at 13 months old:
Airplanes - after the recent airshow we went to at March AFB, cars, trucks - pretty much anything loud , birds, other kids, Elmo, Curious George, any animal that's on TV at the moment, playing with all the neat things underneath the bathroom sink - you don't want to know, his mom and dad (and running away from his mom and dad), his cousins (seriously..he goes crazy when the Thornock girls come over), pictures of all his cousins and of course, himself, water fountains, biting, trying to eat dirt and rocks (luckily he hasn't succeeded at this), spinning the TV, climbing , getting things out of the lower cupboards and wreaking havoc in the kitchen, racing to the refrigerator when you open it. Yeah..that should cover it for now.

French - Canadian Missile Launch

French-Canadian's aren't looking very fierce in this video either (see Hal's blog). I apologize in advance to Marc.

Pics of Christopher

Wise Family Quotes

This side of the family has joked that someday we need to make a family calendar with some of the great Tai-isms and Sally-quotes. I thought I'd post some of the quotes / phrases that have been said by these two. I won't limit it to just Tai and Sally. When other phrases come up...I'll post them too.

Tai:
Uses the phrase "powder your chicken" when somebody is being overly flattering to you. Good one Tai!

Sally's Quotes:
"They say that oatmeal is very good for you to eat. That's why we make cookies with it" - Sally (6/1/2008) after a conversation about whether or not to start feeding Christopher oatmeal.

...to be continued...

Our Credit Card Fraud Experience

Today we found out what it's like to have somebody steal all of our credit cards. Let me tell you...it was lots of fun (not) and we learned a little bit about being prepared for something like this.

Terise went to the gym in the morning at 7:30am and sometime within the next 30 minutes somebody broke the driver side window and popped the trunk (we think with a screwdriver). The thief managed to find her planner that was in the compartment between the front seats.

By 8:11 am there were already some charges made at a gas station a few miles away on several of our credit cards. When we called our credit cards to cancel them we learned that it was very beneficial to have an American Express card. Here's why.

Although only Terise's credit cards were stolen we were required to cancel both of our cards (as we both have our own card for each account). Most of them will mail you new cards within 5-10 business days with some exceptions. One credit card offered to mail a card to us faster if we paid a $20 fee. American Express offered to UPS a new card to us within 2 days. On top of that, even though Terise's card was stolen I was still able to use my card. So, it's probably a good idea to keep an extra card at home that you never use except in case of times like this. But, if you don't do that you should use an American Express card because they can treat each card on an account individually and leave the other cards open. Nice.

To the thief I want to say that I hope you enjoyed your meals at Burger King and the "free" gasoline. Oh..and I also I hope you pumped that gasoline into an old Ford Pinto and get rear-ended.

Trip to Catalina

What's on the BBQ today?

So, I'm kindof on a BBQ-ing kick lately. I pretty much don't like to cook. But, a few weeks ago the young men wanted to have a BBQ for their Tuesday night activity so Terise hooked me up with a nice portable grill that I've been lovin' ever since.
At first, I did the typical hot dogs and hamburgers. Chuck Garcia (an expert bbq guy) has shown me how he has mastered his tri-tip steak too. But since then, I've ventured onto this website called allrecipes.com. This is a great website because you can save your recipes to a recipe box, have it automatically adjust all the measurements in the recipe for the # of servings you need, search by the ingredients you want in the recipe OR by the ingredients you want to leave out, and you can read other people's recipe ratings, etc etc. We found some great marinades for chicken and steak. Tonight we did some chicken with a marinade that had garlic, soy sauce, canola oil, and honey. It was like a homemade teriyaki sauce - good stuff! That's what I'm talkin' about!

Our Family

One Week Old. I love this pose.

Welcome

Welcome to the blog for Brian and Terise. We'll try to post some of our pictures and keep it updated the best we can.