JUSTICE IS PREGNANT
27 February 2007
Thank goodness she doesn't have fertility issues or the emotional waves could sink this ship. So that's the good news about the pup. The bad news is that it won't be until June when we get our little guy. I guess that's what happens when you work with a specific breeder. We could go to the shelter and purchase one today or browse the classifieds and find one for tomorrow, but this is the rout we have chosen to take and are happy with the decision.
I'd like to give a big thanks to all those who have participated in the contest to win a prize in guessing what breed of dog we're actually getting. I figured it would be a pretty sure call that the majority would vote St. Bernard, and I'm happy about that. As I consider myself a proud Saint owner and lover for life, there's only one Saint that I want at this time and I can't have
him. With that in mind we've decided to keep Liddle close in thought but try something new (to us) and purchase a brother to my sisters Retriever. Yep, we're getting a Golden and Shan and I are very excited about that. We'll be dropping off our deposit and paying a visit to the mother Justice and father Bear, real soon. I'll post some photos as I get them.
Author: KDAY » Comments:
ONE OH TWO
24 February 2007
On Wed. night I seemed to be coming down with something, Thursday I found my self calling in sick and spending the day in bed trying to regulate my temperature (to somewhere below 102) and keep some fluids down. I hate being sick, I hate calling in sick and I hate being sick... As if somewhere, someone actually enjoys it. Regardless, it's given me some time to think about the events currently taking place in my life and how to go about getting things done and catching up on projects I'd like to be well into.
I had a dream last night about a bicycle race. Everything seemed normal about it until I found out where the race was and the bike I had to ride. The race would take place at a bmx track. Typical track complete with start gate, table-tops, rhythm section, step-ups etc.. I was actually pretty excited about that because I feel pretty confident in my riding skills and would be happy to do it on my mtb or a bmx bike. This race called for us to use the traditional bmx bike, but for some reason the one I was to use was old and it handled poorly. I took some practice runs hoping for the best, but I found that over every jump I was coming down nose first and could never really open it up to catch anyone. As I lined up for my race I had visions of the bike I wish I could be riding because I knew that at least I would feel comfortable riding it.
(I typically have “BAD’’ dreams like this one when i'm sick)
I wonder if that has any thing to do with the fact that at this moment I don't currently own a mountain bike. Strange you may think since I spend my summer riding and racing bicycles, but I was counting on having a plan to ride my old Schwinn Homegrown that I father currently uses. I was hoping to up-grade some of the components and turn it back into the race bike it once was. But deep in my heart and on the desktop of my computer all I see is this.
I'm not exactly in the position to purchase “the dream bike” and don't know if I will be because of some of the up-comming expenses we may face with the Infertility issue and student loans that we're working hard to pay off, but that's what life throws at you sometimes. I'm pretty optimistic about riding the Homegrown, it's just a matter of getting things sorted out how they need to be.
I have some more interesting thoughts that have been consuming my day but in the interest of time, I'll get to those next time.
Author: KDAY » Comments:
CHINESE NEW YEAR, PRESIDENTS DAY AND WELCOME BACK FEBRUARY
19 February 2007
Great weekend of bikes, rice, sleds, more bikes and some running.
Got out for about 70 miles on Sat with Weston and Ryan. nice day, nice company, nice ride. Later that evening Ryan, Kevin and I played a little b-ball, indoor soccer and some more b-ball. Final result: I still suck at basket ball, can sometimes hold my own with the soccer ball and now i've got some nasty shin splints.
Sunday, my mother threw a rock'n Chinese New Year party with the family. My sister Kady, is working as an interior designer in China and for that reason it's customary to throw a party here in the states.
Today was set to be a fantastic ski day with my dad but he canceled on me. No worries, Shan called and said she showed up for work not knowing she didn't have to be there and she wanted to do a little
sledding. I set the camera to snap some motion shots in the BURST mode and it gives me a big
contact sheet full of poorly lit photos. tells the story regardless.
After a day on the hill, I hopped on the bike and road until sunset. I was still feeling pretty good so I came home and decided to work out the sore legs and go for a jog. The jog turned into a run and I found myself at the high-school track running some bleachers. Now the legs are really sore. I'll take the advice from my new Bikers Edge T.
Shan and I are headed back to the Doc tomorrow for some more tests. We'll see how thins go and I'll keep it posted.
Thank you and good night.
Author: KDAY » Comments:
WE FIND OUT IN MARCH IF SHE'S PREGNANT
16 February 2007
Very exciting news! we've been speaking with a breeder on this one and will know in March, if the “process” worked.
You may be wondering about this so let me explain. Unfortunately this has nothing to do with Shan and our infertility issue. In fact, we had another appointment yesterday and received about the same results as we did on monday. It's going to be a long process for us. But on the lighter side of things... we're hoping to have a puppy on the way. Yep, we are working with a breeder this time and have received news that if every thing goes according to plan, we'll be the proud new owners of a ____________ dog in late April or early May. It took us a while to decide and after some debate, we finally settled. I've decided not to tell the blog readers what kind of dog we settled on because I want you to guess. Send me your comments of what kind of dog you think we're getting and if you get it right I'll send you a surprise.
“Legal stuff” that I made up: Surprise is subject to change. only one surprise per user per household. There may only be one surprise period. Do not ask what the surprise is because it is not know at this time. If you win the surprise and don't like it, it's your fault. KDAY will not be held accountable if the surprise is not much of a surprise. He will be held accountable if the surprise is better than any other surprise you've ever received, unless it causes any complications or serious trauma. For a complete lis of this “legal stuff”, highlight this list, copy and paste it then print it out. That will be your list.
Author: KDAY » Comments:
HCG, IUI, FOLLICLES, INVITRO....
12 February 2007
These are some of the terms and situations Shan and I have been dealing with over the past 18 months, and no, I've never really addressed the subject on the blog.
About 4 years ago Shan was diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) A non life threatening but life altering disease that has to do with insulin resistance. Some of the glorious side effects are: weigh gain, hair loss, the inability to process sugars, and Infertility. When we discovered this news Shan was pretty devastated. All I wanted to do was fix it and get on with life as most men tend to do with any problem. Unfortunately there's no such thing as a fix and the treatments aren't much help either. At that time the thought of raising a family was on our mind but not entirely in the plan. From the day we got married till now, Shan can be found writing name of our future children in all of my sketch books that I take with me most everywhere. WIth high hopes of having our family started or on the way by now, we've been set back a bit by a few complications.
We never really figured that the Infertility issue would actually be a problem but for the past 18 months it has. Now I realize that for some 18 months is not that long to be trying. I have to give some major credit to those ( 1 in 4 women) who suffer from IF who have spent years and years trying with little or no success. It's not easy. It hasn't been easy on Shan, it hasn't been easy on me and combine it messes with a marriage. Thankfully we have wonderful family and friends that have continually supported us and have always been there. That combined with the wonderful communication that Shan and I have, keep us strong and happy to face the challenge.
After a quick ultrasound today, we realize we may be even further away from raising our family than we think. Throughout the next few weeks we'll be going in for some more tests to see if
IUI is something we need to try. If that doesn't work then we'll be investing in Invitro. It's not cheap, it's not easy, but who can put a price on having a family. We're willing to do what it takes and together we'll make it happen.
Adoption is also an option and we've considered that as well. We're luck to have some great friends experiencing the process both locally and internationally. They too have been a great resource and excellent form of support.
The hardest part of this experience is that I'll never understand how Shan feels. Men always say they'll never understand women and that for the most part is probably true. And I'm fine with that because I know that I could probably not endure the emotional pain and stress that she or any woman takes on in this process. I will continue to look like a "deer in the headlights" as she comes to me for support. But I'll never step out of the way and let her go through this alone.
Author: KDAY » Comments:
GOOD SATURDAY
11 February 2007
It would be nice to be down south and riding in the warmer sunshine over the weekend but I haven't had that luxury so far. I was able to take advantage of our April in February and spend about 3.5 hrs on the road bike this saturday and I couldn't be happier. I headed north on 89 and then up Weber canyon. Made my way to Morgan and back to Mt. Green where I took a turn up trappers and followed it to Snowbasin. It was a fantastic day in the saddle and made me extremely excited to get out even more. I'm hoping to start commuting on the bike pretty soon and that's a decent 50-60 miles a day. I'll need to have the lights on hand though, because sometimes or most of the time, I'm a victim of late hours.
I'll be accompanying Shan to a much anticipated doctors appt. tomorrow. It pertains to something we've been dealing with for nearly 2 years now that I haven't written much about. I have decided though, that after our visit tomorrow, I'll provide an update to the www.
Author: KDAY » Comments:
I LOVE MY JOB
08 February 2007
I was able to visit with the local Neenah and Xpedx rep today to have a look at some new paper and products. To some this may sound pretty lame but as a designer, it's simply fantastic. It's similar to when a new product come out in the cycling industry and the sales rep drives around, showing it off to prespective buyers, then tells you that it's not available for a few months or more. But in this case, the rep says we have it in stock and more samples on the way. Then we do what we do best and use our little creative minds to apply new and innovative designs to the paper in hopes of seeing a big smile on the clients face. But it doesn't end there. A good designer never designs to please the client. A good designer designs for the audience and that's where you come in. Hours and hours of time is spent creating the visuals that surrond us every day. Some we can tell only hours or less, but for the most part, good design is around you somewhere. Just take a look. Now look closer. Now reach out and touch it. Notice the paper selection. The thickness, the texture or smoothness, the way the colors make you feel. Notice the typeface that was used and how it coralates with the design. Now take that little bit of extra observation and view the web, tv commercials and other forms of media that you see every day. Become a concious observer and seek out the things that you like and then surrond yourself with them. And when you find the thins you like, show them to others.
Author: KDAY » Comments:
TOTAL LIQUIDATION
06 February 2007
It happened.
Primetime has put it all on the line.
Author: KDAY » Comments:
100 OF THE BEST?
According to a German publication,
here is their choice for the top 100 fonts. I'm pleasantly pleased that Helvetica is found near the top but it comes as no surprise. It's a favorite of mine and found just about everywhere that good typography exists. But, there are many others that top the list or are even found near the end that are and should be a part of everyones favorite, classic fonts.
Jason D. will be happy to know that Cooper Black made the cut but unfortunately I don't think it's getting the respect it deserves. I suppose we can thank Payless Shoe Store for that.
Author: KDAY » Comments:
WEB BROWSERS
03 February 2007
So I've heard by one person (and there may be others) that they're having problems viewing my blog. (I've temporally removed the background. It will be back soon.) With that in mind I decided to do a little test and check the common browsers to see if I was experiencing the same issues. I was told that the background was too much and that you couldn't read the text. It was strange to me because I tried really hard to keep the repeating box behind my text fairly simple so it wouldn't cause any legibility problems. After I finished tweaking a few things I checked my blog and took screen shots from four different browsers. I realize that for some they may not have the latest
flash reader causing the image at the top and the music not to appear and or play. I saved the swf file to version 6 or better. If you don't have at least that, I recommend taking a minute and downloading the latest version for your PC or Mac. Also while your updating a few things make sure that the browser your using is the most current version of that browser. If you're using Exploer, I recommend giving it up for Firefox, it's much better.
Click on the image to see what this blog should look like.
Please comment and let me know what browser you use for the majority of your internet use. Also let me know if you did or did not have problems viewing this blog. My goal is to make as user friendly as possible, without looking too much like a blogger template. Thanks
Author: KDAY » Comments:
