Today is 2 weeks from our due date! Something like 90% of babies are born during the 2 weeks before or after the due date, so we’re getting down to the nitty gritty. Since the baby could come any day now I have a bunch of lesson plans ready at work so I can be absent without warning. And because the due date is so close, the next picture you see might be the baby itself, so I figured I better post some final “before” pictures.

Every week we’ve been taking a picture of Stacie’s belly, and I turned it into a short video. You can watch the video of her tummy growing here. You have to enter a password which is babyblarg.

I feel like lately we’ve been buying all sorts of stuff in anticipation of the baby. First it was a new small camera for Stacie, then a videocamera, and of course an assortment of baby stuff. Stacie is shopping with my mom right now for a baby swing.

I’m looking at new cell phones since mine likes to not work sometimes and when I open the screen it’s a bunch of jumbled garbage. We’ve had our cell phones for over 3 years…that’s some sort of record right? I don’t want to change carriers (we have T-mobile) because the cheapest family plans are $10 more than what we have right now. I’ll have to do a new contract to save money on phones, but that’s not a big deal. OK, just got off the phone with t-mobile and new phones are in the mail. I got the Motorola w490. It’s a cheap phone, great battery life, good display, and good talk quality…the only things I want in a phone. Stacie got the pretty purple one, I got black. These things say they have standby time of 14 days….that’s insane, especially compared to my old phone that only lasts about 2 days. Our old phones didn’t even have bluetooth (in case we want hands free stuff come June with the new law). These have mini-usb connections, and transferring stuff is super easy. The only negative I can find is that the camera sucks…but I’m sorry, all cell phone cameras suck. To say one sucks more than another is silly.

Next on my list is to build a charging station. I’ve seen a cool one here, but I don’t know if I’ll worry so much about aesthetics. I want everything in one spot, and out of the way! I also need to make emergency lesson plans because I have no idea when the baby will come, and I won’t have time to make lesson plans.

That’s probably the worst…not knowing when. I’ve got a bunch of stuff to do, and I don’t know when it needs to be done by!

Edit: Also, heard this dope song the other day and thought I would share. By a band called Parade the Day. Listen to the first song. Dopeness! The baby loves it.

I’m getting to the point where I really enjoy my job. I feel I’ve become much more efficient than I used to be. I’m able to finish lesson plans during the week and can enjoy my weekends, and my class is run in a way that it’s actually pretty fun. It’s amazing how much you learn about teaching in just a year, and starting a fresh year with some experience under your belt really helps.

This is the first job that I can go to work and actually enjoy the day. I remember working shifts at my part-time jobs and just watching the clock tick for four hours on end. I don’t know if it was the content of the job or my mindset, but it’s a lot different now. Yes I still enjoy my weekends, but I’ve been able to take that feeling and spread it out all week long. This might come down to the mindset I’ve adopted.

I often tell myself that vacation isn’t over…yes I have to go back to work, but it’s different. I can’t stand going to work on a Monday and thinking I’ll dread the next 5 days straight until the weekend. What a waste of time! Instead I will enjoy those 5 days (albeit not as much as the weekend or Summer), but for the 7.5 hours that I’m at work I will enjoy my time almost as much as vacation. Not only does the time go by faster, but it’s truly enjoyable.

Whether you have a "real" job or not, I hope everyone can find a career that they enjoy almost as much as the weekend.

I’m still here…and still not very inspired. I’ve spent all weekend working on lesson plans and grading tests. On top of that I have beginning teacher "work" I have to do. It’s like doing college work, but even worse because you’re already done with college, and you’ve got people telling you that "NOOOO, you’re not done you idiot!!!"

I still don’t know what I want for Christmas…how about $600 to build a home theatre pc? my media player ran for 12 hours straight last night, so I have some renewed faith in the little box. I like books, so those always work. Hardcover only please.

I’m watching what the Dodgers do this off-season…so far there has been good and bad, but I’ve got faith in Ned. We’ve got more starting pitching than anybody in all of baseball.

Good to see UCLA beat USC…though I really don’t care. UCLA was one of my "maybe" schools back in High School, so I’ve got more love for UCLA than USC for that minor reason.

I miss Zelda.

Our spring break officially starts today giving us 9 straights days of no work and no kids. Hallelujah.

So far we’ve watched recordings of Survivor and Lost, ate at Marissa’s last night, and had BK for breakfast this morning. We don’t have plans to go anywhere or do anything very substantial. We’ve got a busy Easter Sunday tomorrow, a little school work and lesson plans to accomplish by the end of Spring Break. I feel like we should accomplish some stuff around the house, but not sure what exactly. We might hit pier 1 or cost plus and find some cute decorations/embellishments for the house. Our walls are still pretty sad looking. We finished our taxes the other day, so not stressing with that this weekend. Got a new blarg friend to the right for you to check out. Paul finally has some of his awesome work on display for the world to see.

As I relax over spring break I probably won’t be as amped up about the illegal army invading our borders and things of that nature. Who knows, maybe I’ll find the energy to make posts of a whimsical nature.

I got a techie fix the last couple days.

Last night I convinced Stacie to let me buy a surround sound system. It’s a budget Sony, but it works really well. It only came with 22 gauge wire, so I want to upgrade it to 16 gauge, and get a couple speaker stands. The difference isn’t mind blowing, but it feels much more like a movie theatre. After watching a whole movie with it on, changing to just the TV speakers feels really flat and one-dimensional. The other cool thing is that most HD television shows are broadcast in 5.1 surround. When I told Stacie it feels like being at the movies she said "But I’m in my pajamas."

Other than that I tried a couple games on the PC. I downloaded the Call of Duty 2 demo. My graphics card is old and stinks, but it was still cool. It’s only single player though, so not sure how multi-player would be (and that’s the most important part). Then I tried MVP Baseball on the PC, and specifically a mod called Total Classics 3. Some modders went in and changed all the teams to classic ones, like the 1990 Oakland A’s and 1988 Dodgers. I tried that for a few minutes and it was fun, but I’ll stick with the gamecube version.

Now it’s back to doing homework and getting lesson plans ready.

Yay! I get to teach the same class at West for the next 2 weeks! I have lesson plans for the next week and it’s nothing too difficult. Luckily most of the classes are well behaved. It’s nice knowing I won’t have to wake up to a ringing telephone for a while.