Editor's Note: We had previously included images of the ultrasound, but they are no longer available online since our webhosting was provided by ISU and we don't keep our computer account active over the summer. Should family and friends have missed the pictures we had posted, send us and email and we'll send them to you directly.
We've already told our immediate families, so this won't be anything new to most of our readers, but Angie had her first ultrasound Monday, 25 April 2005, and we found out that our baby boy is developing well and everything looks good.
We're having a BOY!
Angie will probably want to say more than I have, but I wanted to get the good word up on our blog!
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Doctor's appt. and the ULTRASOUND!!!
Well, I had another appointment today. Everything went well, as usual. We were able to hear the baby's heart beat again which sounded a little bit deeper. It was awesome. The shots I'm taking are going well. The nurse said that just because I get bruises doesn't mean I'm doing it wrong. It's expected. So I'm looking all black and blue from the waist down. I'll have to start letting Cory put the shots in my arms again. ARGH! I was even starting to get the hang of it with only a few times not bruising. The Doctor did verify that I'll have to take these shots for all my pregnancies. So, I guess we have something to look forward too later on. We scheduled an appointment for the ultrasound. It's going to be on May 12. So everyone should be expecting a phone call from me later that day. We're really excited to find out what it is. I can start buying baby clothes again. YEAH!! We don't really have a preference to what we want. We just can't wait to find out what it is. We do have a busy and hot summer ahead of us. But, at least we won't have to worry about school.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Sheibenkleister Defined
Editor's Note: In order to conserve space on our webserver, I've removed the link to the audio file and adjusted the post text accordingly. (4/27/05 1:56 am)
Scheibenkleister doesn't really mean anything at all. If you break it down into the two words it's composed of, you get "sheets of glue." Of course, it sounds close enough to something else in German that the person hearing it generally gets the idea.
Scheibenkleister doesn't really mean anything at all. If you break it down into the two words it's composed of, you get "sheets of glue." Of course, it sounds close enough to something else in German that the person hearing it generally gets the idea.
Cory's Spot: Recipe: Crispy Potato Wedges
Editor's Note: There's really no graceful way to return from such a lengthy hiatus, so I'm simply going to continue on as if there were no break.
The other day I was craving French fries, but was too lazy to go out and get some, so I thought I'd try making my mom's cheesy potato logs. I couldn't find her recipe among those she's given me, though, and I couldn't get ahold of her, so I decided to turn to Google for help. Turns out there are lots of different recipes involving potato wedges and Parmesan cheese available online, so I printed a couple out and decided to improvise. When it came time to actually throw everything together, one recipe looked best, so I ended up following it almost exactly.
Here it is:
Since then, I haven't used the recipe at all and just throw in what looks to be a goodly amount of the same ingredients (with the occasional addition of garlic powder), but this is a good starting point. As always, I prefer to use fresh-ground pepper. Although I’ve found that it’s usually best to use actual grated Parmesan instead of the powdery stuff, the powdery stuff works best here. Go figure. I’ve also found it works best to make sure each piece of potato gets the seasonings on it and then to tap it on the edge of the mixing bowl to get rid of excess oil. There’s also no need to use a greased baking sheet – the oil provides plenty of grease! Finally, I like to blot the potatoes off on paper towels before serving with ketchup. Believe it or not, I’m also something of a ketchup snob – Hunt’s is the best, in case you were wondering.
The other day I was craving French fries, but was too lazy to go out and get some, so I thought I'd try making my mom's cheesy potato logs. I couldn't find her recipe among those she's given me, though, and I couldn't get ahold of her, so I decided to turn to Google for help. Turns out there are lots of different recipes involving potato wedges and Parmesan cheese available online, so I printed a couple out and decided to improvise. When it came time to actually throw everything together, one recipe looked best, so I ended up following it almost exactly.
Here it is:
Crispy Potato Wedges¼ c. olive oil
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. each dried basil, thyme, and oregano
¼ tsp. paprika
4-6 med. potatoes
¼-½ c. grated Parmesan cheese
- Combine olive oil and seasonings in a bowl. Scrub unpeeled potatoes well. Cut each potato in half lengthwise, then in thirds.
- Coat each slice in the seasoned oil. Spread in a single layer on a greased baking sheet.
- Bake at 450° for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake 15 minutes longer.
Since then, I haven't used the recipe at all and just throw in what looks to be a goodly amount of the same ingredients (with the occasional addition of garlic powder), but this is a good starting point. As always, I prefer to use fresh-ground pepper. Although I’ve found that it’s usually best to use actual grated Parmesan instead of the powdery stuff, the powdery stuff works best here. Go figure. I’ve also found it works best to make sure each piece of potato gets the seasonings on it and then to tap it on the edge of the mixing bowl to get rid of excess oil. There’s also no need to use a greased baking sheet – the oil provides plenty of grease! Finally, I like to blot the potatoes off on paper towels before serving with ketchup. Believe it or not, I’m also something of a ketchup snob – Hunt’s is the best, in case you were wondering.
Friday, April 08, 2005
Baby Speaks!
Here's an .mp3 of the baby's heartbeat. We took a digital voice recorder to the doctor's office and recorded the sounds of the heartbeat from the doppler. I have to say, it was really exciting to hear that! Angie's been feeling the effects of the baby for a couple of months now, but this was the first time I got some evidence of it (other than Angie's hormone swings)!
Angie wants everybody to know, she's now 16 weeks along!
Angie wants everybody to know, she's now 16 weeks along!
Thursday, April 07, 2005
The Cutest Couple. Ever.
Since we can't post pictures of our cute kids yet, we decided to post one of ourselves.
Friday, December 17, 2004
Cory's Spot: The Post This Should Have Been
Editor's Note: This post has become a little exercise in revisionist history - the way it originally appeared was just embarassing since it promised I'd soon return to blogging, which obviously didn't happen. What follows would have been a more accurate statement to make at that time. 4/6/05 8:44pm
I just finished my last final and school is out for the semester! Now if we could just accumulate a bit more snow, I'd love to make it out snowboarding over the break!
Not that I've been a terribly prolific blogger since the inception of Cory's Spot, but I feel a lengthier break coming on. Don't hold your collective breaths or anything, but I'll return sometime.
I just finished my last final and school is out for the semester! Now if we could just accumulate a bit more snow, I'd love to make it out snowboarding over the break!
Not that I've been a terribly prolific blogger since the inception of Cory's Spot, but I feel a lengthier break coming on. Don't hold your collective breaths or anything, but I'll return sometime.
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Cory's Spot: TiVo
If you haven't heard about TiVo specifically or DVR in general, I'm sorry to say, but you're dreadfully behind the times. TiVo is a specific brand of DVR, or digital video recorder, also known as PVR, or personal video recorder, which essentially take the place of a VCR for recording programming from your TV provider and is available for use with anthing from an off-air antenna to cable to satellite.
Since I sold my soul to Convergys some time in the past and work as a customer service representative for DirecTV in their customer installation support department, I've been selling their integrated DirecTV receiver/TiVo units to people for quite some time now, and I'd begun to drool quite heavily over the technology. Well, I finally got my satellite dish installed and activated my service and, liking that, decided to take the next step and purchase one of the basic 40GB models, which allows for up to 35 hours of recording and actually records the digital stream straight from the satellite.
I have to say, I'm in love. Working full time and taking full-time credits at the university (I won't say I'm going to school full-time, because that just wouldn't be true), I had a hard time finding something to watch when I had time, even with 200+ channels to choose from. With my TiVo, I set my favorite shows to record every time they're on and set movies and other shows to record if I think my wife or I will be interested in them, either individually or together. Not only am I catching up on past episodes of Angel, Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis, but my wife gets to watch Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and we've been watching some movies we'd missed in the past or that we simply hadn't seen in some time, and this without happening to catch the show at the right time and happening to have the time the watch the show all the way through.
A couple of other features that are extremely cool are the ability to pause live TV (for up to 30 minutes) and to rewind back through the past 30 minutes of the show you're watching live, as well as the ability to start watching a show you're recording from the beginning while it continues recording through to the end, even if you start watching after it's already started (as opposed to having to wait until it's over to watch it like you do with a VCR, or even the DVR software I have on my computer). I can also record up to two shows at once, and can even watch a previously recorded show while I'm doing that. I'm telling you, the flexibility is great!
The one thing I wish I'd done differently is spend a bit more and get a unit with a larger hard drive. 35 hours is fine for a couple of first-run shows and a movie or two, but following three different series, one of which is entirely in syndication right now and the other two I've missed a lot of earlier episodes, I find that I sometimes have to watch more than I'd like to in order to not fall behind or run out of space. It's created a sick sort of addiction to TV that's at an entirely different level than I've experienced before. A larger hard drive would simply allow me to build up more of a backlog and then watch when I really have time.
Personally, I think the DirecTV DVR with TiVo is a great unit, especially if you subscribe to DirecTV (and if you're willing to pay for television, DirecTV seems to be pretty much the best option, corporate loyalty aside). Even without DirecTV service though, TiVo sells standalone units that work with pretty much any provider, or other cable and satellite providers have their own units available for sale or rental. One thing the standalone TiVo units support that I wish were available on the DirecTV models is in-home networking to share recordings between a couple of different units (so you can record a show on a TiVo unit in one room and watch in on a TiVo in another room, as opposed to having to record it on each with the DirecTV models if you want to be able to watch it in either location. I believe it's also possible to upload recordings from the standalone units to a PC to watch there or to burn to DVD, but I'm not sure. Of course that kind of functionality can be hacked into the DirecTV units (using the native Lynix OS), but I'm not quite ready to void my warranty.
In any case, I'd best be getting back to that annoying school thing. Oh, and then to watching more TiVo.
Since I sold my soul to Convergys some time in the past and work as a customer service representative for DirecTV in their customer installation support department, I've been selling their integrated DirecTV receiver/TiVo units to people for quite some time now, and I'd begun to drool quite heavily over the technology. Well, I finally got my satellite dish installed and activated my service and, liking that, decided to take the next step and purchase one of the basic 40GB models, which allows for up to 35 hours of recording and actually records the digital stream straight from the satellite.
I have to say, I'm in love. Working full time and taking full-time credits at the university (I won't say I'm going to school full-time, because that just wouldn't be true), I had a hard time finding something to watch when I had time, even with 200+ channels to choose from. With my TiVo, I set my favorite shows to record every time they're on and set movies and other shows to record if I think my wife or I will be interested in them, either individually or together. Not only am I catching up on past episodes of Angel, Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis, but my wife gets to watch Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and we've been watching some movies we'd missed in the past or that we simply hadn't seen in some time, and this without happening to catch the show at the right time and happening to have the time the watch the show all the way through.
A couple of other features that are extremely cool are the ability to pause live TV (for up to 30 minutes) and to rewind back through the past 30 minutes of the show you're watching live, as well as the ability to start watching a show you're recording from the beginning while it continues recording through to the end, even if you start watching after it's already started (as opposed to having to wait until it's over to watch it like you do with a VCR, or even the DVR software I have on my computer). I can also record up to two shows at once, and can even watch a previously recorded show while I'm doing that. I'm telling you, the flexibility is great!
The one thing I wish I'd done differently is spend a bit more and get a unit with a larger hard drive. 35 hours is fine for a couple of first-run shows and a movie or two, but following three different series, one of which is entirely in syndication right now and the other two I've missed a lot of earlier episodes, I find that I sometimes have to watch more than I'd like to in order to not fall behind or run out of space. It's created a sick sort of addiction to TV that's at an entirely different level than I've experienced before. A larger hard drive would simply allow me to build up more of a backlog and then watch when I really have time.
Personally, I think the DirecTV DVR with TiVo is a great unit, especially if you subscribe to DirecTV (and if you're willing to pay for television, DirecTV seems to be pretty much the best option, corporate loyalty aside). Even without DirecTV service though, TiVo sells standalone units that work with pretty much any provider, or other cable and satellite providers have their own units available for sale or rental. One thing the standalone TiVo units support that I wish were available on the DirecTV models is in-home networking to share recordings between a couple of different units (so you can record a show on a TiVo unit in one room and watch in on a TiVo in another room, as opposed to having to record it on each with the DirecTV models if you want to be able to watch it in either location. I believe it's also possible to upload recordings from the standalone units to a PC to watch there or to burn to DVD, but I'm not sure. Of course that kind of functionality can be hacked into the DirecTV units (using the native Lynix OS), but I'm not quite ready to void my warranty.
In any case, I'd best be getting back to that annoying school thing. Oh, and then to watching more TiVo.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Cory's Spot: Tires: Les Schwab
My lovely 17-year-old pickup had tires that were probably half to lots-more-than-half as old as the pickup itself. I kept getting flats, which were luckily manifest in the form of slow leaks, which allowed me to keep pumping more air in at random gas stations until I could get them fixed. In getting these various flats fixed, I always went to Les Schwab and sat around cursing their slowness whilst eating free popcorn and waiting for them to finish. I then went back to driving my pickup with my newly freely repaired tire (because I told them I'd be back to buy tires from them when I finally gave in to the inevitable) until the next incident. OK, so I exaggerate on the frequency of these events (it happened twice – both times to the front right tire) and I left out the fact that second time I actually let the tire go completely flat. I then had to prop it up – on a jack that didn't actually fit under the frame without lifting the pickup up to slide it under – for several days until I decided to take the time to have my spare tire fixed (which also happened to be flat) so that I could put in on and drive my pickup in for new tires. Of course, in order to get them to fix the spare without charging me, I had to tell them I'd be back within a matter of hours to buy all new tires, which I actually did. Turns out my old tires were also really squishy, even when fully inflated, and it's much nicer driving around now – I don't have to fight against the lack of power steering quite so much to turn.
I've also left out the fact that I have a 90-days-same-as-cash account at Les Schwab that I've had to use far too often. First for a new battery for my car, then for four new tires for my car, then for a new battery for my car (less the warranty trade-in value on the old battery), then for two new tires for my car (less the warranty trade-in value on the tire that went flat on the interstate), and lastly for four new tires for my pickup. You'd think I'd be bitter about the battery and the tires that went out before their times, which I am. On the up side, the friendly tire guys at Les Schwab now jump nicely any time I pull in to have a flat fixed for my tires rotated, and I don't have to tell them I'll be sure to buy from them next time just to get the work done for free, because they can see I already bought the current tires from them.
The point to this rambling monologue is that for a non-mechanic with a dinky hand-cranked emergency jack and no jack stands, air compressor, or other handy tools, Les Schwab is a good place for tires.
And yes, I did write this post immediately after the "Mosh" post. Go figure….
I've also left out the fact that I have a 90-days-same-as-cash account at Les Schwab that I've had to use far too often. First for a new battery for my car, then for four new tires for my car, then for a new battery for my car (less the warranty trade-in value on the old battery), then for two new tires for my car (less the warranty trade-in value on the tire that went flat on the interstate), and lastly for four new tires for my pickup. You'd think I'd be bitter about the battery and the tires that went out before their times, which I am. On the up side, the friendly tire guys at Les Schwab now jump nicely any time I pull in to have a flat fixed for my tires rotated, and I don't have to tell them I'll be sure to buy from them next time just to get the work done for free, because they can see I already bought the current tires from them.
The point to this rambling monologue is that for a non-mechanic with a dinky hand-cranked emergency jack and no jack stands, air compressor, or other handy tools, Les Schwab is a good place for tires.
And yes, I did write this post immediately after the "Mosh" post. Go figure….
Cory's Spot: Music Video: Eminem – "Mosh"
It seems that at one time I had something important to say about Eminem's "Mosh" video. Naja…it may not have been important, but at least it wasn't any less important than anything else I've chosen to post on. I guess the long and the short of it is that that video is an anti-Bush statement with as strong an emotional impact as anything else I've seen. The Gorillaz-esque video certainly provides an eye-catching visual to go along with Eminem's lyrics, which, by the way, are as eloquent and on-topic a rant as I've ever heard from Eminem. I'm particularly impressed with the reveal of the twist – that Eminem's army isn't marching to violently express its opinion, but to exercise the right to vote. While I don't agree with the vote Eminem was encouraging (and I'm satisfied with the outcome of the presidential race), I have to give him credit for powerfully stated argument.
P.S. Sorry about the delay on this one, Tara.
P.P.S. Go figure – the one time I write two posts, one after the other, and the server goes down in between so I can't post this one until much later.
P.S. Sorry about the delay on this one, Tara.
P.P.S. Go figure – the one time I write two posts, one after the other, and the server goes down in between so I can't post this one until much later.
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