Obama on Saturday Night Live
http://www.hulu.com/watch/99945/saturday-night-live-obama-address
Michell Obama on Sesame Street
http://www.hulu.com/watch/99370/the-tonight-show-with-conan-obrien-sesame-street-does-health-care
Hello everyone! This is Wendy. I hope everyone is well and happy. As most of you know, I took a huge step and had Gastric Bypass surgery on the 31st of August. Will and I talked it over and after we decided to go forward with it, things just fell into place. I went to see the doctor and 3 weeks later I was in the operating room. And no, no one is going to see my before pictures. (not that you would want to see them) Those are for me and my photographer (Will) only.
For the seven days prier to the surgery I was put on a liquid diet of protein drinks, water and things like Crystal light. Let me tell you, finding a good tasting protein drink is not easy. And today I am still on that liquid diet except now I can have creamed soups, pudding, and light yogurt. So just like that, I am off food. And going off food "cold turkey" has the been the hardest thing I have ever done. Yes I will admit it, I was a food addict. Luckily, there will be more food choices in five days. Even though I don't feel hungry the thought of something other than soup and yogurt is really sounding good about now.
Anyway, the surgery went well and Will was able to spend 9 days with us because of it. Any excuse to get him home. I will apparently stop at nothing to see him. I have had a bit of pain and have felt nauseated every day, though things are starting to ease now. But needless to say, the weight has been coming off very rapidly. That's the point right? In the last nine days I have lost 16.4 pounds. The only problem is I am having a hard time enjoying it because I don't feel all that well yet. Don't get me wrong, it is very exciting to be on a road to a new life. But it is very strange to see the scale move down about 2 pounds a day. It is like in the movie "The Santa Claus", Scott Calvin sees the polar bear directing traffic but he doesn't believe it is happening. That is how this is. I see the scale, but my brain has a hard time comprehending it.
I guess that's enough about that. We are doing OK. Will is working hard and trying to find the time to find a job so he can be with the family again. The girls start soccer again on Saturday, Skyler has begun his senior year in high school, Kenzie is still living in Ogden and is also looking for a job, and Scheyler started 9th grade and is close to getting his drivers permit. Crazy life huh?
Recently Michelle Obama went to serve food to the homeless at a government funded soup kitchen.
Cost of a bowl of soup at homeless shelter: $0.00 dollars
Having Michelle Obama serve you your soup: $0.00 dollars
Snapping a picture of a homeless person who is receiving a government funded meal while taking a picture of the first lady using his $500 BlackBerry cell phone: Priceless
Does anyone besides me remember the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is complaining that we put a man on the moon? Well if you don't, here is the opening monologue…
We never should have landed a man on the moon. It's a mistake. Now everything is compared to that one accomplishment. I can't believe they could land a man on the moon . . . and taste my coffee! I think we all would have been a lot happier if they hadn't landed a man on the moon. Then we'd go, they can't make a prescription bottle top that's easy to open? I'm not surprised they couldn't land a man on the moon. Things make perfect sense to me now."
That is kind of what it is like living in San Jose. Whenever someone has trouble with their cell-phone or computer you hear people say, "how can you live in San Jose and not know how to do such-and-such." We invented the super-computer and you don't know how to add someone to your contact list? What's the matter with you?
I found myself thinking this about Skyler's school district. They still use the mass-calling phone system that we had back in the 80's at Ukiah High. It's very sad and very annoying. While I don't mind a quick phone call to notify me that "your son/daughter was absent/tardy from 1/more periods today" they use this system for EVERYTHING. I am getting 2-3 calls per week. And these calls aren't short. Some have gone on for over 5 minutes (on my cell phone bill, thank you very much). They have even let the mayor and chief of police get in on the act. The problem is, if you are out and about, how are you supposed to remember dates, times, yadda yadda yadda. (do you like the full circle Seinfeld reference there?)
I even understand being green and not wanting to print thousands of hand-outs that never make it past the first trash bin at the school. But…how can we live in San Jose and they have never heard of email??!! There I said it. I'm guilty. But I think I'm justified. A mass email has to be cheaper, quicker, and easier than a mass-phone system. Plus, I would have the information saved in a nice readable form that I could actually reference again. Whereas with the phone call, the information has dissipated into the ether as soon as the words are spoken.
Sadly, I know what probably happened. Some yahoo at the school district got cornered by the phone salesman who convinced him to pay a fortune for the system. And now, not wanting to admit they made a mistake, they use it incessantly trying to convince themselves how valuable it is - while the rest of us suffer.
Wendy and the girls drove out to California to visit Skyler and I. It was great seeing them again. We took everyone to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose. The girls had a great time but Skyler was a touch bored. There were lots of hands-on activities like a real ambulance and fire-truck for them to go through. I thought Skyler could have done a great job making an Indian corn-husk doll if he had just tried. :)
We also went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. If you ever find yourself out this way you really should go. It is one of the finest aquariums in the U.S. This time everyone had a great time; including Skyler. The highlight was probably the sharks but we weren't able to get a good picture (sorry). But the jellyfish were incredible and the girls loved the petting tank.
A major snow storm hit the morning they were supposed to return home so they stayed an extra day. They started home and made it about 25 miles when Mckenna started throwing-up. So Wendy decided that 13 hours in the car with a sick child was just not going to happen so she turned around and came back for another day.
So at this point, they were going to go home on Wednesday but Wendy thought it wouldn't be fair to Mckenna to drive home on her birthday so the visit got extended yet again. This was fine with me because we were all able to celebrate her birthday. Wendy and Mckenna came by my office so that we could take her to McDonald's for her birthday lunch.
Well, it has been raining here . . . a lot. We had 4.8 inches in February plus we will probably get another 0.5 inch today. For comparison, Salt Lake City ended February with a whopping 0.85 inches for February. The mountains are very green. But, when it rains pours; literally and metaphorically. The humidity level has been so high for so long that we are running into a slight problem with mildew in the trailer. A house can equalize temperature and humidity fairly well whereas my trailer with its 192 square feet and single pane windows is struggling a wee bit.
So first things first. I decided that half of the problem is that we weren't getting a good amount of airflow in the trailer; especially since we've been using a space heater (electricity is free here). One side of the trailer is 80 degrees and the other is 60 degrees. So a grand council was convened and it was decreed that a new thermostat for the trailer was needed. I needed one that you could program the fan to run on its own schedule independently of the furnace. This would even-out the temperature and improve airflow to some of the problem corners.
Jumpin' Gee Wilickers Batman! Wherever will you find such a thermostat? To Ebay, Robin!
Well, the new thermostat arrived in short order and I tried to install it. White wire to "W" - check. Red wire to "R" - check. Green wire to "G" - . . . oh booger. I don't have a green wire. As this wire controls the fan operation (which was the whole point of the new thermostat), this discovery was fairly problematic. So I pulled the wiring schematic for the furnace and started to analyze. It didn't make much sense but I was able to come to the unassailable conclusion that there would be no green wire.
Running a new wire ended up being harder than I would have thought. I had to remove two light units, a speaker, a ceiling vent, the access panel in the closet, and the front grill of the heater to get the wire to the right place. There is only about 3" of clearance in a trailer ceiling and 1 inch in the wall the thermostat is on so I had to feed the line from opening to opening to get it where it needed to go. Lots of cuts, scrapes, murmuring and gnashing of teeth later I now have a green wire.
Since I was going to have to connect this green wire to the furnace somewhere I decided I better understand how the thermostat was working. So I used my multi-meter to determine which lines were doing what and when. I knew what had to happen but not how to do it. So I recruited John to help with the project. It was decided that the thermostat must have a way to change a setting. But I had reviewed all of that. I had gone into the appropriate menu but there was no such option.
Disappointment? Frustration? Anger? No! That is for lesser men who do not have the internet. It turns out there is a secret menu - like In-n-Out Burger except it won't give you fries with your order. Once inside this new magical realm all sorts of possibilities emerged. I was granted greater power than all of my wildest dreams! Well at least the ability to make the green wire have 12.54 volts of power when it was supposed to. I could scarcely contain my joy.
After that, I just had to cut and splice two wires at the furnace, put everything back together, and then sit back and bask in the glow of another manly task completed.
