Cleaning Costs

So Merry Maids came by the house today to provide an estimate for their house-cleaning services. It sounds a little costly to me: a one-time fee of $200 to clean the house from top-to-bottom, then every two weeks, they'll clean the place for $95. I don't think I'll go for it, but I'll let Heidi decide if the cost is worth it. I'll keep shopping around too - I'm sure I can find some cheaper labour.

Ass-fu#&ed!

Now what do you suppose is going on here?

Shizzy's Mailbag

This is kind of funny. If you have a minute, check it out:

Shizzy's Mailbag

Cleaning Service

Is it considered lazy to hire a regular cleaning service? Since Heidi started her new job, the house just hasn't been the same. I think if we could have somebody come in and tidy, mop, dust, clean the bathrooms etc, we might have a little more free time. Most importantly, I will not have to do any of the above-mentioned chores. It's not like I do them now, but with a cleaning service, I will not have any guilt for not doing them - and that's really what matters here. I bet cleaning services are extremely over priced. I'll look into it and report back.

Christmas Gifts

A strange thing has occurred this year. I don't really want anything for Christmas. In years past, there has always been something that I've wanted. It was almost always some kind of geek gift. If I didn't get it for Christmas (usually Heidi would get it for me), I'd just go buy it myself. But this year, I really can't think of anything I want. I've become much more money-conscious of late, and that has certainly helped curtail my desire for high-priced items, but I don't think that's the main reason. I think the real reason is that I'm becoming more practical, and I know that these gadgets would get limited use if I was to get one. I already have too many gadgets just gathering dust.

Now, if only someone would by me that 55" Sony plasma TV I saw the other day...

Staying up late

Ewan goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. Over the last month, his sleeping habits have deteriorated greatly. It wasn't that long ago that we could just drop him in his crib at 9:00, say "goodnight", and we wouldn't hear a noise from him until 8:00 a.m. Now when we put him to bed, he says, "stay, mama stay", or "dada stay" and he wants one of us to sit beside his bed until he falls asleep. If we leave, he throws a royal fit - kicking and screaming and the like - until we come back. Of course, we realize that by actually coming back into the room at his "request" just worsens the situation for future bed-times. However, for our sanity, it's just easier to sit there for 5 or 10 minutes until he falls asleep. One of these days, we'll just bite the bullet and let him scream his lungs out until he falls asleep or passes out.

Heidi goes to bed at about 10:00 p.m. I must admit, I will often stay up until midnight or later just because it is so quiet once those two have gone down for the night. Those couple of hours are the only time in the day that I can sit down and do what I want to do. Usually it entails watching some TV show I recently recorded, reading a magazine, or reading and writing useless blog entries like this one.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

I went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra last night at the Frank Erwin Center. This is the second consecutive year in which I've gone to see them. Once again, I was very impressed. For me, any live show with a significant amount of pyrotechnics is enjoyable. I'd probably go see Celine Dion in concert if she had fireworks.

Some families make it a Christmas tradition to see live shows, like The Nutcracker Suite. For me, I think I'll make it a tradition to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Once Ewan is old enough, I'll certainly take him with. If you have the opportunity to see them this year, I highly recommend going.

Santa Clause

If he's all-knowing, then why does he drive around on the back of a firetruck and wake up my kid while he's napping? Damn you Santa Clause. I dare you to come down my chimney this year...

Death of a Legend

I just heard on the news that "Dimebag" Darrell, was shot and killed while performing with his new band, Damageplan, in Columbus Ohio. Apparently, some lunatic stormed the stage with a gun and fired several shots at Dimebag before turning on other band members and the audience. He was eventually killed by police. It's reported that one other band member was killed.

If you don't know who Dimebag is, he is considered a legend in the guitar world. He became famous as a front man for legendary metal band Pantera. He recently started this new band with his brother. I have the Damageplan albums, along with a Pantera album or two. I must admit, even though I'm not a die-hard fan, I'm pretty saddened by the news.

94

Well, at least it's an improvement. This time, I played at Falconhead Golf Club in worse weather than last week. The wind was howling, the temperature was chilly, and there was a light rain. Once again, a couple of holes kept me out of the 80's. Two triple bogeys on the back nine pretty much sealed the 90+ score. I missed several short putts on a few holes as well. On the positive side, I drove the ball well relatively long and straight (uhhhhh...huhuhh... uhhhh... huhuh... long and straight). I'm hoping to get one more round under my belt before Christmas, and hopefully break 90 again before the year's end.

"Pee onna potty"

My son did this for the first time today. I am quite proud, but a little saddened at the same time. Proud for obvious reasons; saddened because he did it at his daycare, and not at home where Heidi and I could have witnessed it. Now, if only I could get Heidi to start peeing on the potty...

KISS

Did you know that I've seen these guys in concert 5 times? Yeah, yeah, yeah... say what you want; but KISS has the best live show you'll see from any band, anytime, anywhere. Unfortunately for me, all the shows I have seen have been since their reunion in 1996. I wish I could have seen them in the 70's, but I was still in diapers. I've seen KISS in the following cities: Toronto, Ontario; Portland, Maine; San Antonio, Texas (twice); and Austin, Texas.