A new life; same as the old life?

Yep, this weekend, AJ tried her first solid food, well "thicker than milk" food. I am not sure it really qualifies as solid if you could suck it through a straw! As you can see from the picture on the right, it was the messy affair you would expect, although the video shows that she did actually open her mouth voluntarily a few times This has been a funny month, not much going on one minute, then all hell breaking loose the next. Easter coming so early threw a lot of folks, and work seemed to be really quiet compared to previous Easters. We have secured the house, as i said earlier and will actually get the keys this Friday 28th. We don't move for another month, but this will give us time to clean, paint, etc before we actually have to move in, which is really excellent. And of course many other pictures , taken this month, of our impossibly cute girl!

After a final blast of cold and snow last week, another foot or so on Good Friday, it seems that the winter is finally over. We are getting ready to move house and also take a trip back home with AJ for her first time. The ice on the lake has mostly melted and I got some good pictures this past weekend, when we went to the new house for some measuring up. The winter in Chicagoland has been amongst the most severe in recent memory. In our little town of Libertyville, we had 37" of snow in February alone and a season total of 78", that's right 7.5 FEET! Of course as it all melts now and the spring storms come, there will be considerable flooding, but hopefully, some of the golf courses will open soon. For those of you reading this in the UK, the trip is planned for 7th-22nd May for me, and 7th May-4th June for Lorraine. I emailed everyone I had in my address book pretty much, but if I missed you then let me know and I will send you the trip itinerary Click here for the fin...

what to yell when a plane is coming in to land on the fairway. Last weekend, I was driving from an appointment along route 22 near our office and one of the local golf courses, I frequent in the summer. There were a number of police cars and some crime scene tape on the road bordering the course, and I could see some officers actually standing around on the course. It turns out that someone had chosen to land their small plane on the course, complete with skis and all, to ensure his son made it to his tennis lesson at the club across the street. The full incredible story is here and some more details here .

My calorie controlled diet continues to go well, and in fact I have now lost over 18lbs. My eventual target is still 50lbs, but I can already fit back into my 40 waist jeans, trousers and shorts. Hopefully when we move, I can get back to more regular exercise, beyond walking the dog occasionally.

Winter is still with us, and some more snow and cold coming this week. Last weekend, we went over to our new place to try out the walk down to town and the lake. It was a gorgeous day, and we made the lake in 40 minutes, which is about as long as it takes to walk to Libertyville town (for those who have been here). We signed the lease on the new place, and paid an initial deposit this weekend, with the move date set for 1st May at the latest. We took some excellent pictures, including the one above and this one, down by the lake. The current background shot was from there too. Click here for lots more.

We are on the move AGAIN!! When we first came to the US, we had grand plans to buy a nice house, settle in for the duration, then rent it out when we went home. That was before we really understood the market, rates, deposits, etc, and of course before we actually built a credit rating. Three years in, we are now in a strong position to buy a place from a credit standpoint, but we would still need to have a 20% deposit (or pay some sort of secondary insurance/loan) and the "lowest rate" ever deals are still running in the high 5-6% range. So the reality is that we can continue to rent for much cheaper than a mortgage/PMI would cost and get great places to stay, by trading up every few years. Hopefully this one will be our last one. It looks small from the front, but really it is a Tardis once inside. $1800 per month gets us this 4/5 bedroom, 3 bathroom, family room, living room, dining room and large fenced in yard with deck, house, with bigger rooms than we have today less t...

I thought this would be kinda cool for an international wordly person like me. Don't know if it works, so you will have to try it and tell me, but theoretically it gives you an opportunity to call me for free. Supposedly, you type your name and number and then it calls your phone for free and you then talk to me, leave me a message, etc. I just found out that it only works for US numbers, kinda crappy really! It is set to record a voicemail for now, but I can set it to call me at home too. Try it now, leave a voicemail, and let's see if it works first. Click on the blue button marked "Call Me" to the right of this post.

Nothing much to say here, just a bunch of pictures from the Vegas trip and some others I have been taking recently. Click on the links to go off to the album to see more if you like them. Click here for more pictures from Red Rock & the Vegas trip and here for more pictures of AJ.

In every way except one..I put back on 1.5lbs of the weight I had lost. I had expected to put some back on really, but I had been trying pretty hard not to snack, not to drink too much, to keep drinking the water, etc. Imagine how bad it would have been if I hadn't exercised control. Anyways, of course I cannot share much with you in terms of details, because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, however here goes. Day 1: Wednesday 6th The day started very early with a flight to Sin City leaving Chicago at 8:10am. A huge storm was expected that day, with snow of up to a foot, expected to seriously disrupt flights. We had prepared for this, AJ's first flight, by packing pretty much everything we thought we might need for a long airport stay. As it happens, the storm slowed down and our first bit of Vegas luck got us out bang on time. The flight was pretty uneventful, although there was some fun turbulence. AJ was an angel throughout. It turns out that the storm hit the Chicagola...

Vegas is calling my name, and it's Big Papi apparently. I will be there with Foxy Brown, Coco, Kitty Starlicious, Trip McLean, Frenchy, Johnny Bravo and Milky, our Vegas names. Assuming this snow storm lets us get out of here tomorrow, then by the time most of read this, I will be on the golf course. Thursday is the big day, the mighty 4 0 ! The diet will take a hit this week, although I am hoping to at least stay and not go back up, but we shall see..there's a lot of alcohol to be drunk. This is AJ's first plane ride and she has her very own US passport to accompany her. I hope she does OK and doesn't yell too much. Reports when I get back, although obviously only vanilla stuff, cos... Whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

OK so it isn't week three of the vision, but it is for the diet. Let's start with the diet though, as I am very excited about it. In the first week I lost 8.5lbs as you know. In the 2nd week it was a little more sedate at a mere 3lbs. Next week in Vegas is gonna be a huge challenge to have fun but still be mindful of the diet. On the vision front, I have just been for my week 1 check up. All is good, although my eyes are a little dry. The doctor isn't worried especially with the time of year and we have simply upped the dosage on the artificial tears for a bit. I am able to see at a level of 20:15, with almost 20:10. This basically means that I can read/see things clearly from 20 feet that most normal people can only see from 15 or 10. There may still be some regression over the next 6 months, but I have free lifetime adjustments too, so if needs be I can go back. So I am very excited about the golf season starting and if anyone wants to help me celebrate by buying me these...

Charlie probably will, although he said it when I had my MG, so he can't use it twice! This week I have been starting my soon to be 40s with a few significant changes. many of you will know that I have been talking about laser eye surgery for many years. Mostly cos I hate "fart-arsing" around with my glasses, skiing, driving, walking around, etc. So I took the plunge! I went to the same company that Tiger Woods went to, and obviously I will seeking a refund if I am not immediately accepted on the PGA Tour. I had Intralase LASIK, involving a laser cutting a flap on my eye, laser adjustment of the Cornea, and then replacement of the flap. This is a pretty cool little video of the process, but instead of the blade shown cutting the corneal flap, mine was done with a laser, as I said. There is lots more information here and here if you are interested. It is now two days post-op and so far so good. I can see better than ever, 20:15 for those in the technie know. It is pos...

Nope not for a minute. Despite the record high temperatures in the last week, and tornadoes blowing through the next state (less than 1 hour north), winter is coming right back at us this week. Temperatures in the 30s and snow up to 3" is expected tonight. All of that to say, that I don't get to play with my new golf clubs yet. My local course, which in the past has been quite aggressive in opening throughout the winter as weather allows, has taken a much more conservative approach this year. So it looks like Vegas may well be my first opportunity, assuming I take them with me. On a much happier note, Addison is continuing to develop well, and at just over 3 months is already sleeping most of the night, pretty much holding her head up all the time and laughing. Check out this video to hear that magical sound! Her list of talents now runs, in approximate order of achievement, to smiling sticking her tongue out at Lorraine blowing raspberries and bubbles for me holding her he...

Well the in-laws came over for Christmas and what a jolly time we all had. I was in Canada for the first two days of their trip and arrived home on the Friday night, on yet another delayed United Flight, I really hate flying United, to find both Madeleine and Jan hogging the baby! The next day, Saturday, Madeleine was heading into the city to meet with Ian who was flying in and spend a few days hanging out in their penthouse suite. We went to my buddy Steve's house for a Christmas party, where I got to play bar tender in his very cool basement bar, that he built himself. On the Sunday we had all arranged to go down to the city and have the famous brunch at the Hancock Center, Signature Room . We arrived very early and got in line, although the line was very short, I think the freezing weather must have put some people off. The brunch was excellent and I think pretty good value for $42, especially when you see what is on the menu and that you can spend all 4 hours there should you w...

We started 2007 with one of the warmest winters on record, not much snow and very mild. The plus to this was playing winter golf in Chicagoland, the downside being that we were looking forward to experiencing some "hard winters". Like the previous year, one of our sporting team were playing at the top of their sport. The Bears made the Superbowl, only to lose, but hey they made it right. We didn't know it at the time, but we were also on the way to our first child, conceived on or around Christmas day! In February the weather got colder, still not much snow, but the temperature was dropping so much sand was freezing! Oswego county in NY state was getting feet upon feet of snow, and we got a new car. The HHR, always intended to be Lorraine's car, in preparation for our baby producing efforts was an excellent find and an excellent deal. We knew we were expecting our baby, but hadn't told anyone yet, except the future grandparents. Late in March we went public, and ...

I don't know how one gets to the top of such lists, when there are soooo many sites out there on that world wide web thingy, but recently I have been seeing a lot of hits for three specific items.. 1. The Hippo Christmas Song 2. A Soldier's Silent Night 3. Slainte Mhath (Slancha Va) Nobody comes to see me anymore, it seems either AJ, or one of these top three items are the most popular!

The weather has been pretty wild over the last few weeks with some pretty big storms rolling through. One have had two ice storms, the first of which had all melted before I could get the camera out next day, it was crazy with my whole truck coated with ice, really wish I had some pictures! We had around 9" of snow in one storm, that was excellent and a lot of it is still around. The last week or so has been lots of freezing rain, sleet and snow, not much fun. This picture is from an ice storm we had at the weekend. Every branch, leave, bud and stick of every tree was coated in ice, it looks really cool. Not sure what else the season has in store for us, but hopefully more of the same, it's fun for us truck drivers. Lorraine's family will be in town for Christmas, so hopefully there will be a white Christmas.

Most of my UK friends will think this corny and most of my US friends will have either done it before, or will in their future. I am talking about the family Christmas card. In future, ours will be way more professional. I refuse to pay someone to do it, but I might try the old "green screen" approach, and get some compilation pictures going, but we will see. Anyways for now, here are some pictures from this year's shoot. Sorry they are a bit split up, but I filed them differently, so there are two links below. AJ & Reggie , Just Reggie

My friends who know me well, will also know that I love Christmas and specifically Christmas films and music (Charlie - remember A Country Christmas!) So when Lorraine got an email from a township an hour away to come and see their Christmas light show, set to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, I was there with bells on! Some of you may remember the guy who did this with his house a few years ago. Well they asked him to do this for their tree. I have a couple of videos below, that we shot in the freezing cold watching the results of his endeavours.

If you have been reading for a while you will know that AJ and bathtime didn't mix in the early days. Being my first, I still don't know if that was normal, or she was just fussy. It doesn't really matter now, because quite honestly she now loves the bath, and doesn't even mind water in her face..too much! As you can see, I have been playing with the Camcorder and shot some videos of her last night. AJ In The Bath : AJ& The Duck : AJ's Bathtime