Hiatus

It’s been almost a month and I have not posted a blog entry – seems to be the theme these days. I actually had to block out two hours this morning just to make my first entry on the Grafik.com blog.

If you want to read today’s thoughts on social media, you can read it here.

But honestly, there’s been a lot going on in the Clark household as of late. We’re in our third trimester, we’ve been working on the baby’s room, spaying the dog, shopping for a bedroom set, cutting needless trees down, etc. When I have had time to jump on the computer, it’s mostly been spent doing work or balancing the family checkbook. It’s been a real test of establishing priorities and also an opportunity to learn about what’s truly important in our every day lives – a subject that occupied about 30 minutes of our dinner conversation this evening.

It’s really no different than how the economy has forced families and companies alike to do the same evaluation as they review their budgets. Most companies have been forced to make some difficult decisions, Grafik and WeatherBug included. I suppose the main difference between the two is that the economy is an external factor outside of our control, while our impending arrival is a beautiful and blessed choice. Either way you slice it, times are tight and smart decisions need to be made which has led to less time to spend blogging about the going-ons of the family.

That said, I’ll try to do a better job keeping this up to date, particularly over the next few months as we look to welcome our new family member and we experience the joys, the challenges, and all the fun things we’ve heard come with being parents.

Utility Room Day 2

Well, about 85% of the way through prepping the utility room for painting the floor my shop vac quit on me. I had to resort to mopping the concrete and tile, and am hoping that the shop vac will be rejuvenated tomorrow so that I can begin painting the floor on Thursday.

I never knew how much “fun” it was going to be getting a house ready to move into… Now I know.

I have to admit that it’s kind of creepy being in an empty house all by yourself with every sound you make echoing off the walls. It doesn’t help that our house is adjoined to some creepy person that we have yet to see. We just missed this person last night when we pulled up, but until we actually see him/her, they will remain a mystery.

Good times.

Fun Surprises

The fun part of being a homeowner now is that we’ll learn so much about our new house. Some things may take us a few years to learn, and some you learn the first time you decide to move the mirror in your bathroom.

I guess the previous owner did not like her medicine cabinet… so it’s just one more thing to add to the now long list of home improvement projects.

Sad Guys on Trading Floors

With all the craziness going on with the stock market these days, this blog does a great job of bring some smiles to the teary faces…

Kevin takes a break from riding his lightcycle to check up on the Tron market.

Penn State Riot After OSU Victory

Watching the various videos that were taken Saturday night following Penn State’s win over Ohio State give me shivers, and not the same kind of shivers I get when I watch JoePa tribute videos, or moving Penn State victory montages, but shivers of fear, disgust, and anger.

Great, so we won a big game… let’s celebrate by ripping down lampposts,  uprooting shrubbery, and closing down a main street.  We are… Penn State.  We are… a storied football program.  We have… been there before.  Why on earth do we need to act like we’re some Division I AA school that just knocked off Michigan (last year, not this year of course)?  I’m not sure if it’s the fact that the town is currently populated by a large percentage of students who don’t know the history, have not experienced the winning, or what…. though one could argue that the past three seasons have not been too shabby.

Anyway, it’s embarrassing as a Penn State Alum and even more embarrassing as a football fan who argues that his team is one of the best teams in the country week in and week out.  Fans acting like naive, never been there before idiots, after a big win just undercut this claim. 

Instead of property destruction, let’s all start saving our money now and party on the streets of Miami in January.

Wedding Photos

Before the weekend hits, I wanted to let everyone know that our wedding photos can be found on Facebook and Flickr. Facebook features the photos shot by the photographer, while Lauren took some time aggregating all of the photos shot by you and posted them to her Flickr account.

Check out the Flickr pictures here.

If you have a Facebook account, you should be able to access the various albums that Lauren posted to see the great shots from the photographer.

Arts on the Ave & Penn State v. Purdue

[I had supposedly posted an entry from my iPhone as I was watching the Penn State game that talked about the annual Arts on the Avenue held in Del Ray each year, as well as the football game, but apparently it did not post. To that end, the festival was great, we bought some art that will be used very near in the future to decorate a room, and Penn State beat Purdue to go to 6-0. All in all, it was a good day, and a great weekend. I apologize though for the blank entry until now.]

Puppy Run

Took the pup for her first run tonight and she did pretty well. I took her on a one mile loop that you can see here.

Thought for sure it would wear her out, but it took a good 3 hours for her to finally settle down and curl up. Maybe next time we should try two miles…

Skins Win & FFL Progress

Gameday: Skins v. Cardinals
Originally uploaded by psubuzz

As suspected, the Skins-Cards game was back and forth and required a defensive stance in the final minutes to ensure victory after a botched 52 yard field goal. The victory puts the Skins at 2-1, and squarely in the hunt in the NFC East. Next up, Dallas… IN the Big D, which should serve as a pretty good test to see how for real the Skins really are. As everyone has seen these first three weeks, Dallas is good, very good. But, after losing to the Giants in the first week (which I attribute to the team still not being familiar with the offense and a rookie head coach), beating a ‘decent’ Saints team, and an overrated Cardinals team, we do not have a real measure of how good this Redskins team is.

Next week, we will know.

As far as my fantasy football teams go this season, the teams have taken two completely divergent paths. In the big money league, I will sit atop the standings at the end of this week at 3-0. In my 2nd league, I will sit in the basement at 0-3. Not sure how I ended up with such good/bad teams, but as long as I can finish in the money in one of them, I’ll be happy. Stay tuned.

Full game day pics can be seen here.