I despise facebook because it allows people to limit their thoughts to ONE sentence. And it’s oh so easy to put down one thing, without elaborating, and be done. BLOGS FOREVER!

I only have to see students for two more days. Heading to Knott’s Berry Farm on Wednesday. I plan on taking a DS to entertain myself. Very much looking forward to this summer. I have dreams of redoing a bathroom, but that’s on top of wanting to start a new book, convert old family negatives to digital, and I already have a small list of home repair projects. The upstairs screens have big holes in them. Remarkably, one of the holes spans the entire width of the screen, but is only about 4 inches high. That’s because a sparrow can’t reach any higher. Apparently ripping off pieces of screen is a favorite activity of the sparrows.

I’m almost 30 hours into Final Fantasy VII for the original Playstation. It’s fun, and I’m finally getting to parts of the game that I don’t remember from my first play through (I got far, but never beat it). I’m not speeding through it, but I don’t feel the urge to uncover every single secret and side quest. I have VIII, IX, X, X-2, and XII all lined up (in that order) to play through next, so I should be busy for a long time.

For father’s day we got our dads meat from Omahasteaks.com. We bought ourselves some too, and while we haven’t eaten any of it yet, I must say it’s super cool to get food in the mail. It comes in a styrofoam cooler with dry ice, and each meat is packaged in a separate box, and each piece of meat is separately vacuum sealed. Place it in the fridge the night before, and you’ve got thawed out meat to throw on the BBQ. The top sirloin looks awesome. I’ll be sure to report back on how it tastes.

And finally…I have a quick story that I think is pretty cool. On the way home from my parents we stopped behind a newer corvette at a red light. I remarked at how bright the 4 big tail/brake lights were, but a moment later the rear lights flashed briefly, and the tail lights dimmed. The man had put the car into park while waiting at a routine red light, and I could only think of one reason: he knew his brake lights were bright. I know, this seems minor, but the more I thought about it, the more impressed I was. Here was a guy who had gone to the bother of putting his corvette into park for a red light he knew wouldn’t last more than another 30 seconds or so, just because he didn’t want to blind us in the car behind him. How thoughtful is that? Most people would never even know they were bright, let alone go to any bother to look out for the people who would have to stare at them. Kudos to you Mr. Red Corvette guy. And even if that wasn’t why he did it, I’d like to think there are people out there who are thoughtful enough to do that for someone else.

Tonight Stacie and I went out on a date for the first time since Luke was born. We called up a set of grandparents, requested their services, and off we went! Woodranch BBQ in Cerritos is one of our favorite places for good meat, so we headed out there. It was fun being able to go out just the two of us. We both remarked about how life didn’t feel that different, like it still didn’t feel real that we have a child. Life is certainly different than it was before Luke, but it’s not 100% different, it’s only partly different. I’d say a baby is more like an upgrade to your current life.

I started putting baby videos on the computer today, so hopefully by tomorrow I’ll have some posted.

Friday night we went over to see our friends Lydia and Joe. They just had a beautiful baby girl a week before we had Luke. We had planned to go out there to see their new daughter Nicole, but then we had Luke! It was really cute to see both of them together. Obviously they don’t interact yet, but it’s fun seeing their mannerisms and hearing the sounds they make. Joe cooked up a super good BBQ meal too. Thanks guys.

Two nights ago we gave the baby formula for the first time in an effort to make him sleep through more of the night. On average he lasts about 2 hours on breastmilk, but formula should be able to hold him about twice as long, which means more sleep. Two nights ago didn’t go super great. He didn’t want to eat as often which was good, but he was still fussy. Last night we kept him up from about 7-10 pm, then fed him formula, and then went to bed. And last night he slept from 10 pm to 4 am! That’s a new Luke record. Stacie fed him at 4 am and he slept more, so overall it was a very good night. He was in his basinet the entire time also, so hopefully this will lead to sleeping through the night on his own.

I’m back to work and the blog is already suffering.

I’m getting my fill of Dodger baseball with the game last night on TV, and the game today on TV. By TV I mean regular TV that I don’t have to pay for.

Nothing too exciting to report about work. Different classes will have different challenges, but the year is off to a good start. Each year feels like it’s getting easier and easier. I have one period that could be a big pain, but I’ll do my best to reign them in nice and early.

Went to Woodranch BBQ last night with Sarah and Andrew. Ate the second half of my baby back ribs today for lunch. Mmmmm.

Today we drove from Provo, UT to Teton Village, WY. Along the way we drove through Salt Lake City. We got off the freeway and looked for the Temple Square. We eventually found it, but you had to park and walk. Seeing as how we aren’t even Mormon, we decided against the detour and continued on. Next on the list was the Great Salt Lake. What a bust. It’s big, flat, and boring.

Next stop was Idaho Falls in, shockingly, Idaho. They built a big hydroelectric dam that creates 50% of the city’s power, and it makes for a long/pretty man-made waterfall. There were a bunch of geese hanging out trying to get fed. We got some shaved ice from an old train car turned into a shaved ice stand. Idaho Falls>Salt Lake City.

Eventually we got to our final destination in Teton Village outside the Grand Tetons National Park. It was about 6 pm when we finally got here, so we only spent about an hour driving in the park. In that short period we already saw a moose up close and personal, way cool. It started to get dark so we headed to a BBQ restaurant we saw on our way to Teton Village. it was pretty darn good too.

Now we’re back at our hotel, the Alpenhof. It’s an expensive resort, but it was the only thing we could find at such short notice that wasn’t booked yet. Surprisingly, as Amy would say, it’s even got the wireless. We’ve got the entire day tomorrow in the park, so hopefully we can see a ton.

I know I’m late on this update. Both of you that noticed will have to just deal with it.

Our next stop found us moving Southeast towards Cape Cod. After the busyness of Boston it was nice to do some relaxing. In Cape Cod we stayed at the Clapp’s Guest House. It’s a cute little place in the town of Harwich Port on the Cape. I was originally under the impression that we were staying in "Cape Cod," but that’s like saying you’re staying in the Gulf of Mexico. This photo is from the backyard and facing the main house. The guest house is behind me, but this shot really shows the greeness and beauty of the area.

Here’s a picture of our room. I show this picture for several reasons. It shows how quaint and interesting the rooms are, and it sort of felt like staying at Grandma’s house. The bathroom was tiny and there were a lot of bugs to begin with (but I killed them all.) The other reason I show you this picture is because of what’s on the television. That would be the show Myth Busters on Discovery. I am fairly confident I have now seen every episode of the show…ever. It totally rocks, and is a perfect example why we should never get cable tv…hmm, but it is educational right?

This is a very good picture of my hot wife. It’s 6:45ish on Tuesday, anyone like to take bets on how long it takes her to read that last sentence? Like I said, this part of the trip was mostly relaxing, so if you were expecting grand church buildings where wars concerning the fate of a nation were fought, you will be disappointed. This is taken out back in the beautiful backyard. She was nice enough to let me work on my photography skills (ie humoring me).

Because I like to keep you guessing, there actually were a few sites to see on the cape. There are TONS of lighthouses, and I’m guessing that’s because a cape was really easy for boats to run into or something. We visted a couple and saw some from a distance. This is the Highland Lighthouse which is about 100 yards from a really steep cliff on the sea. There was another guy there with some fancy Nikon taking pictures. There is a strange bond you feel towards someone else that has a similar camera, much like when I’d see other people driving a Ghia. I know nothing about them, but I feel like we have a connection is some odd way. Last I heard though his wife was yelling at him. As he went over the barrier separating the viewing area from the cliff all I heard was "Don’t worry honey, I won’t fall!"

One night in Cape Cod, frick, I mean Harwich Port, we went and saw a local baseball game! There were signs all over Harwich Port advertising the game, but it took us awhile to figure out what it was all about. The game was part of the Cape Cod Baseball League where college players come to play during the Summer. There were players from all over the country at various points in their college careers. We even saw several players from CSULB. The game was between the Harwich Port Mariners and their crosstown rivals, the Chatam A’s. It was a packed house, but Chatam was thoroughly thrashing Harwich Port. I kept the roster list so I can check back in 5 years and see if I’ve heard of any of them.

That is Cape Cod in a nutshell. Before the baseball game we went to a very tasty BBQ place with a funny old man called Dave’s Barbeque. We went to a Mexican place called Aye Caramba advertising "authentic Mexican food." Paul asked if the burritos come wet, to which the waitress replied, "I don’t know what that means." Yes, eating was one of the best parts of the trip.

Last update is yet to come…the big apple, New York City!

Tonight we busted out our cooking creativity! We made buffalo wings and bbq corn on the cob, and it was freakin’ awesome.

The buffalo wings we baked in the oven, and then doused them with Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wing sauce. They were super good. A little over done, but we can adjust our cooking times for the next batch.

The bbq corn on the cob was excellent! I took a corn on the cob, put a bunch of butter with lowrys and pepper, then wrapped it in aluminum foil, and put on the bbq for about 20 mins, turning 3 times. This was some of the best corn on the cob I’ve ever had.

All in all it was a yummy dinner, and cooking is a heck of a lot of fun. Now I’m going to go finish watching a Japaenese cartoon, The Castle in the Sky (#249 on the imdb top 250).

I survived the first 1.5 days of school! Woo Hoo! Haha…really though, it’s not so bad. It’s a lot like subbing, but I have to decide what to do each day. It’s a weird feeling having a real job and knowing/hoping you’ll be doing it for years.

Tonight we’re going out for my Mom’s birthday, mmmm Lucille’s. Hopefully she doesn’t read this in the next hour. I’ve got all kinds of random pictures to post, I’m so behind. Here we go:

Kevin and I went to a Dodger game thanks to Kurtis, and sat in the best seats I’ve ever had…

Stacie and I planted flowers in our little backyard, and it looks so much better with some color…

And then we had people over for Labor Day and tried out the BBQ, lots of fun was had by all…

Alright, I think that makes up for a week or two of really boring posts, I’ll try not to do it again. This week I get to actually start teaching math. Woooo Wooooo.