Christmas Gifts

So Lucas is still a bit inexperienced with the Christmas gift thing.  He asked Santa for a Wall-E toy that turns into a box, apparently the remote controlled $60 Wall-E my dad bought him earlier just wasn't cool enough.  So we are opening gifts at 

Rachel's house, and Lucas has the expectation that the present he opens is going to be this Wall-E.  I have this all on video- so I'll have to post it.  But he tears through the gift and opens the box to find... a shirt!  "Dad!  A shirt?!  This is not a Wall-E!!!"  Looks like Aunt Rebecca failed on that gift.  He turns to the next present which was a sweet monster Doctor's kit- 

which actually is a great gift because he plays with his cousins kit EVERY time he goes over there.  BUT- it's not a WALL-E!  So he clips that gift too and actually turns to his broth

er Ben's singing spiderman.  So I pull out the gift that might save Christmas (also from Aunt Rebecca) a box of "reject bots" from the Wall-E movie.  He is ecstatic!  Finally.  Of course, Santa should have dropped off the Wall-E that turns into a box at this grandma's house, because he had to wait until morning to get that.  So fast forward to Christmas morning at my parents house.  Lucas is happy because he opens like 6 different Wall-Es, Jake is happy because he got a Blu-Ray player, Ben is just always happy, but Rachel is NOT HAPPY.  I imagine Rachel will tell her side of the story on her blog-  but here is how I saw it.  

As a promotion to one of my massive lab equipment orders, they threw in a free Wii video game system.  Not too shabby eh?  Truth is, I got a sweet deal on the bundle as it was, but that definately sealed the deal.  Now, I think Wii's are cool, but no way I'd spend $250 on that when I could be that much closer to a PS3.  But, I admit they are fun for the whole fam

ily so we will have fun with this free one.  Now, since we are in CA for forever- the Wii was not going to show up before we left.  So, I think, this will be a fun surprise to present on Christmas instead of just going home and telling Rachel about it.  After ordering it, I see that there is a Wii fit apparatus I am pretty sure that Rachel would enjoy it- particularly since we are walled up in the single digit weather for months at a time.  So I buy it on black Friday and then decide I had better tell her I got her a gift because we originally were not going to buy each other Christmas gifts.  So, it probably would have been 

best if I just wrapped up the Wii fit and taped the promotional ad to it so she could see that I didn't spend money on it.  Sadly though, I did not take that route.  I had her open up a controller first- to which she would realize that I had got a wii.  Then she opened up a second part to the controller (the nunchuk)- to which she said and I quote "A numchuk?!  Whatever that is, thanks a lot."  She was pissed.  Lucas opened up a Wii Cars Movie game, I opened up a Wii Star Wars game and lightsaber attachments, she opens up a Dancing with the Stars game, and then thinking it is the actual Wii- opens up a Wii fit.  She is totally flipping out at this point thinking that I have pissed all this money away on a Wii and is especially mad because while she will enjoy it, there are so many other things she 

would have spent that mone

y on first.  Finally, after torturing her for 15 min and even having my dad tease her by quoting Lucas from the previous night "This is NOT A WALL-E!" I pull out the ad.  She realizes that it was free and suddenly changes her entire countenance.  She now realizes that it is pretty  cool, but is still not cool with the what I pulled on fooling her.  I do regret it now, because I didn't think she would react to that degree, but on the other hand it was pretty funny.  I only wish her dad could have seen it- because he is the king of those types of pranks, and once I told him my plan I just couldn't go back...  

So much to say...  Life has been crazy and I really do need to be better at updating this blog, but if I can do it once a month, I'll consider it a success. 

So we left Vermillion, SD the week before Thanksgiving.  I gave a seminar at my old alma mater Pepperdine University and met to talk over a paper I am writing with my old advisor.  Once that was done it was fun with Thanksgiving.  The big fun was watching my laptop die a few days previous to my trip to Mexico.  I had yet to finish my 30 min talk for the conference I was attending when suddenly I just could not get it to start.  Nothing.  Awesome.  Luckily, I had access to the hard drive, and I am a big time prof with a research budget- so I just went to Best Buy and bought a "netbook."  It is a laptop that wieghs only 3 lbs.  It is not high powered and would probably melt if I tried to run statistics on it- but it is the perfect little thing to throw on your lap and finish your presentation on.  It is also sweet in that it is small enough to use on the plane without tilting your screen completely forward because of the seat in f

ront of you.  I am sure I'll have to deal with folks from purchasing for not going through them, but that is old hat for me now.

The conference was great.  I met some people, hung out with others I knew, but most of all- I was able to travel with just my wife!  We left the kids at her parent's house, and Rachel sat poolside reading while I went to talks.  Then in the evening we toured  around the old city of Merida.  It was great.  We took an evening trip to see the ruins at Uxmal, which were really cool- 

we stayed for the "lights and sounds" show there though- which was really lame. 

We then returned and have been bouncing back and forth between my parents house and hers.  I haven't done nearly the amount of work that I had hoped to do, but about the amount I expected to get done...  It's all good though, because I got to sit in the Premier seats at Staples Center t

wice.  Once for a Lakers game, the other for a Kings game.  Also took the kids to the Long Beach aquarium- that was pretty cool as well.

  Unfortunately, I had scarred Lucas for life on entering small dark places with lines of people.  Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  My aunt Jackie was gracious enough to take us all to Disneyland once 

again.  We started off well with Dumbo, but then I thought Mr. Toad would be fun.  Nope.  It basically ruined Lucas for the entire day.  Any ride after that he pretty much flipped out on.  It was a miracle to get him onto It's a Small World.  When he saw the boats outside going he was ok with it, but once he saw the boat go INSIDE- nope.  I did what any good dad does and forced him onto the boat kicking and screaming.  Luckily it worked this time, because even though that ride is a little scary to me (lots of dolls

 singing gives me Chucky nightmares) Lucas thought it was ok.  

Christmas was great... but I am going to save that special story for after lunch... Yes two blogs in one day!

There must be some sort of alarm in my head that tells me that I have not blogged in a month!  I suppose that not much has changed, and therefore there is nothing to blog about.  Of course every time I sit down to blog, I do think of a thousand riduculous stories that I deem worth sharing.  I'll choose Halloween, because it fits the chaos and challenges of this month.  

Where to begin?  Well, I'll preface it first by saying that Rachel's parents were out here this week visiting us.  So, normally having people stay with you adds to the chaos- but I think our house is actually big enough now, that it really was not inconvienent in the least.  Rachel's dad grew up a couple hours from here and so we got to visit the farm that both he and his grandfather worked.  So, Lucas and Ben got to see their Great Great Grandparents Farm...  What does this have to do with Halloween?  Nothing, but I had to throw it in here because that is both rare and cool.

Halloween morning we decide to go to the zoo in Sioux Falls.  So we wake up early, drive an hour and tour the zoo.  Other than a rhino trying to spray us with urine, a pretty uneventful and fun trip.  We drive home though, I head to work for a couple hours (because taking a day off is prohibited these days), and then come back for a night of Halloween fun.  Or so I thought.  I get home and find the neighbor outside with my kids and no one else around.  So, I think whatever, they must be inside.  I chat with him for awhile then decide I better let Rachel know I am home.  So I go inside and find no one in the house.  So I ask my neighbor where was every one was.  "Oh, they must not be back with the realtor yet."  The what?  Huh?  Apparently, my in-laws had contacted our realtor and were looking at the house immediately behind us.  How's that for a Halloween scare?  Actually, I think it would be cool if they lived there...  I think.  Well after sorting all that out- I think they were more curious than serious, we began to make dinner.  We were of course running late, and just sat down to eat when the doorbell rang.  It was our neighbors ready to go trick or treating.  They have a boy Lucas' age, and we really like hanging out with them and thought it would be fun to all go trick or treating together.  They, being polite and nice South Dakota folk, say not to worry about it- they'll start trick or treating around the neighborhood and we can meet up with them in a bit.  So, feeling bad, we rush through what was perhaps the most delicious dinner that week, and scurry to get everyone into costume.  I was going to shave my goatee to make a better Joker- but there was just no time for it, so white paint over the goatee.  We make pretty good time and head out to trick or treat.  We don't see our neighbors, but figure that they must be down the block- so we decide to do the few houses behind us and then look for them again.  Well, first I'll say we must look ridiculous because all of us are dressed up- me as Joker, Rachel as batgirl, Ben as Batman, and Lucas as Iron Man.  After a couple of minutes of conversation at the first house, we go onto the second.  Here we are not only invited to come into the house, but then are instructed to sign a book, and finally to pose for a photo!  If we were still in LA, we would have be gone in a flash, but here in South Dakota- well you take the time to get to know your neighbors and what's the big hurry?  The final house was the home that the in-laws looked at buying and a 300+ lb woman answered the door.  You might think it would be a little awkward since they had just gone through her house a few hours earlier, but that was quickly trumped when Lucas asked me why "Her legs went like this..."  referring to the bowed legs required to hold up such a frame.  I, like any good parent, shushed him along and discussed it with him later.  So, now we go back to our street and I head to our other neighbors house (who we also talked to for a few minutes) and right when we were leaving finally see the folks we are supposed to be going trick or treating with.  So, I am thinking that they must have started on the opposite side as us- since they are talking about going to the houses behind us.  Little did I know, that in fact, they had not been trick or treating, but had been waiting patiently for us at their house for 45 min!  So while I am thinking to hurry up on to the next house so we can catch up with them and finish the neighborhood, they see themselves waiting 45 min and then us heading in a different direction.  Then it gets even funnier (for me anyway) because I proceed to take Lucas and Ben to the next house and the next one and so forth- thinking that I am just going to to trick or treat the rest of the block and then head back.  Meanwhile, Rachel thinks that I am just going to do one more house- and keeps getting more and more frustrated with every additional house I go to.  See, she had found out the neighbors had waited, and wants us to stop trick or treating the block so we can go to the next thing (an event for kids in town) all together.  So, the neighbors finally track us down and we go to a house all together, but then we are done.  Ben is getting tired, so I suggest we put him to bed and then go to the event.  The neighbors say they'll do one more house and then meet us up there.  I ask them if they will wait for us to come back because I am not sure where the place is.  She asks in a priceless face "You want us to wait for you!?"  I have no idea what is going on still, but having been married and clueless several times before I know that something is wrong.  Also, having this experience, I decide to just stay dumb and figure out what is going at a later time.  So I say, "Yeah, we'll be just a second." and off we go.  We come back and they are getting into their car (so luckily they didn't have to wait) but I am sure that she is just super pissed at this point.  We drive up to the event and she pulls up to a spot that she is going to back into.  Well my father-in-law pulls in behind her, not realizing she is intending to back up, and basically steals her parking spot.  So, our poor pregnant (did I forget to mention that part) neighbor is forced to drive down and find another spot to park!  Well, we finally go inside and do all kinds of fun activities and then I catch on that we have been screwing them over the entire night.  I apologize and she graciously accepts the apology- but I wonder if they are now thinking of us as those rude West Coast neighbors.  I think that story sums up our month well- the awkwardness of a new culture, new friends, the busyness of our lives, and the zaniness of being a Kerby in South Dakota! 

Skype!

So, a friend of mine asked me about using Skype and I realized that I have said nothing about our sweet arrangement that is literally saving us hundreds of dollars!  Imagine having using a cordless phone, and having unlimited long distance and local calls for roughly $5 a month!  If you have heard of Vonage- Skype can do this but instead of it costing $25 a month, imagine paying $5!  I don't know about your phone bill, but for us that was 1/10 of the price.  We are saving $45 a month!

So perhaps many of you have heard of Skype, it has been around for a long while and basically gained its popularity from folks "calling" people via their computer to their friends and family overseas.  It can be used to call people computer to computer- but with all the fancy instant messenger programs, that is hardly worth installing a new program.  Being able to call an actual phone in London for pennies a minute though, is well worth the trial of talking via a computer.  The ability to call an actual phone was the big step in technology- this ability (which they refer to as SkypeOut) ends up costing a few bucks a month.  So, if you don't mind talking through your computer, you can pretty much call any phone in the world for practically nothing.  The cooler addition is "SkypeIn" where you can buy a phone number ($30 a year) and anyone can call it on their phone and it goes to your Skype account.  So, this pretty much subverts the need for a phone entirely.  Of course, the big limitation here is you have to talk through your computer or some headset hooked up to your computer.  So, this kills it for most regular folks.  BUT...

You can buy Skype phones!  There are two types- a wireless version that stands completely on its own and runs off of your wireless internet, and a wired version that plugs into your router.  The wireless version is incredibly tempting since it doesn't need to be tied down anywhere.  So theoretically you can take this phone to a coffee shop, get on their wireless network, and BAM you can chat there!  This is pretty cool, and I might get one soon- but since I knew if this experiment didn't work with minimal interruption, my wife would clip it faster than you can say Skype.  So we bought a version that you plug in directly to the router.  The phone itself works like a cordless phone, and has a base station that is wired directly.  I felt like this would be more stable- especially in my house where the wireless connection gets a bit wacky at times. 

So, I plug it in to the wall, plug it into my network, type in my Skype ID and password, and viola it is setup! This might not be for everyone, but if you are thinking of going with Vonage, then you should definately opt for this instead!  Not only is it MUCH cheaper, but if you are away from the house but have access to the internet- you can open up Skype on any computer and check your voice mail, make calls...  I love it.  

I will warn folks that it is not perfect.  

First off, you need to be a little saavy to set this up- it is not too hard, but it takes a few steps (see below).

Secondly, you might not get a "local" number.  (Same issue with Vonage) There are numbers in every area code, but it might end up being a toll call depending on where you are.  This is probably less of a big deal in bigger cities.  But in Pullman, the number was from a town just North of us, and here in Vermillion, our number is actually from Sioux Falls, a town an hour north of us.  I don't think this makes too huge a difference in today's age- but it is something to consider.

Third, there is no 911 service.  Since this is entirely over the internet- there is no way for 911 to locate you.  So, you can program your local police dept in your phone- but really I would use my cell phone in an emergency since it is always in my pocket!

Finally, the service itself is about 95%.  Randomly, the phone acts up and won't dial a number or won't ring when someone calls.  We always get a voice mail if it doesn't ring, so can easily call people back, and can resort to our cell phone if the thing will not complete a call.  I actually have never had this problem, but Rachel has run into it a couple times.  I think a lot of times it might just be that it doesn't like busy signals.  When Rachel calls the same number on her cell we get a busy signal.  So the call might be going, but for some reason the software isn't telling us the line is busy?  

In our situation, the phone is unbelievable.  We share a 400 minute family cell phone plan and so don't have minutes to burn chatting away to someone not on the Verizon network.  With this phone, Rachel can talk forever and it costs us $5 a month.  Totally crazy, but I love it!  So, it might not work for you- but now you know that this option is out there!

Steps for running Skype:

Go to Skype's website, download the software and create an account.  (This is totally free)

You then sign up for a couple plans- Unlimited calls to US and Canada- $2.95 a month (this is the SkypeOut), once you do this you will get 50% off a SkypeIn number.  

You can then try this out on your computer.  Call the number and watch your computer ring!

Finally order a phone- there are phones on the Skype website, but I found mine for cheaper on Amazon.com.  Ours is no longer sold on it, but there are plenty to select from ranging from $60-$450.  Which, $450 sounds like a ton of money- but think about it, that is how much you can be saving in 10 months!

Life has become so busy, that I am only able to muster a few blogs from my cell phone...

Since my head is pounding from congestion, and I have 30 min before I administer my first exam, I though I'd take a break from work and update the blog.

Life as a professor is good- incredibly busy, but good.  I knew that there would be a lot to juggle at once, but am surprised by how quickly it has come to be that way.  Yesterday, things came to a head when I was trying to finish a grant (that I wrote in 1 days time) by 5pm, only realizing that I had promised office hours from 3-5pm to allow students to ask me questions on an exam that I had yet to write (the one I am giving in 30 min).  In the midst of all this, accounting is bitching me out for having booked airline flights on the University Credit Card without have submitted an approved travel request.  And of course, randomly met with a Masters student whose committee I am now on!

Mainly, I have learned that I just need to do things at about 80% quality.  Much past that requires an exponential amount of more time.  Take email for example.  As a graduate student, I would mire over "important" email to make sure that my grammer was correct, statements couldn't be misread, etc.  Now, I literally have forgotten the email I wrote about 30 seconds after sending it.  I just don't have time to spend on it.  A three page grant would have  taken me 2 weeks at least to get into top shape.  But when you only have a day, you only have a day...  I think that my experience in doing these things has obviously shortened the amount of time it takes, but my key to survival has just been to stop dwelling on every detail and just get it off my desk.  

Today marks the end of my teaching for a month's time.  One would think that would leave me with lots of extra time.  I suppose- lots of extra time to write two grants, resubmit 4 papers, write a 5th one, select a textbook for next semester's course, actually get next semester's course scheduled and in the catalog... oh dear- I am going to stop blogging and get back to work!

Strangely though, I am loving this!

I have conquered the random drywall opening! It is now the nicest bulletin board ever!
-Jake

this ain't no frog in the window!
-Jake

Mowing the lawn... part 1

So we moved into our new place and the lawn was beautiful. I spent 6 days and nights in the basement and neglected any yardwork. We then left for over 2 weeks and returned to a jungle. Having a thousand other things to do, I neglected it further for a few days until today. I filled up the lawnmower full of gas and started mowing. By the time I finished the front little patch on the one side of our house, I realized that was already more than what I had previously mowed at our Pullman home. I know this because the bag was full. So, rather than collect 50 bags of clippings, I tossed the bag and decided to mulch. I began to move to the side yard where I started to take on some of the bigger weeds. The first one I ran over and the mower just died. Umm... That is nuts. So I start it back up and go for the next one... dead again. So I start it again and this time prop the mower so the front end is about 6 inches of the ground. This worked by chopping off the top of the weed and then progressively cut it up as I pushed over it. And so I went with this strategy for the rest of the job. Rachel took the boys downstairs for a bath, I was still mowing. She got them dressed and brought them upstairs, I was still mowing. She let them play outside for an hour, I was still mowing. She put Ben to bed, I was still mowing. Lucas had a cup of milk, then came inside then crapped his pants, I had no idea because I was still mowing. The sprinklers in the front yard came on and they run for about 15 min so I began to pick up the pace so I could beat then before the ones on the other side of the house came on. Nope, still mowing. I was going to try and do the last little stretch that wasn't wet yet and then... I ran out of gas! I am going to say that the amount of mowing that I did today was likely equal to the TOTAL amount of mowing that I did in Pullman. Hopefully, it won't take nearly as long without the 3 foot high weeds to plow through, but it does put a bright point on the fact that the growing season isn't all year long! Fun fun fun!

14 beds in 31 nights...

We have returned to our new house! You should have seen how happy Ben and Lucas were to be home. They were totally crazy on the whole trip back and when we got here- there were like the best behaved and happy kids on the Earth. So, I started thinking "How much hell have we been through recently?" Since my back hurts like hell at the moment I decided to count the number of beds that I have slept in the past 30 days as a picture into the madness. So here is the recap:

1) 7/18 Pullman, WA: Last night in my comfy bed for awhile- seems like a year ago.
2) 7/19 Pullman, WA: Still at home, but on an inflatable mattress.
3) 7/20-21 Gardiner, MT: Shared a queen bed with Lucas- I think I still have a broken rib from his kicking.
4) 7/22 Rapid City, SD: My anniversary. See previous blog for that rant.
5) 7/23 Vermillion, SD: Nope not my new house, but another hotel room. I did have a queen bed to myself at least. (Cheapest hotel on the trip, and easily the largest rooms- I love Vermillion!)
6) 7/24-7/31 Vermillion, SD: Back in my own bed but in my new home!
7) 8/1-3 Woodland, CA: This was our HQ for our Northern CA trip. The Fosters rule for putting up with us! Queen bed with Ben in the room.
8) 8/4 Chico, CA: Visiting our good friends and sleeping in their 3 year old daughters room... all 4 of us!
9) 8/5-8 Woodland, CA: Not sure if this counts as "another bed" but since it plays into the madness of our schedule, I am counting it again.
10 and 11) 8/9-12 Redondo Beach, CA: My parents house. Here the kids sleep in the bedroom and Rachel and I sleep in the living room. 2 beds here because Rachel and I switched off between the couch and the pullout couch.
12) 8/13-15 Simi Valley, CA: Rachel's parents house. We slept in a queen bed in Rachel's old room.
13) 8/16-17 Simi Valley, CA: Same house, we gave up the bed for Grandma Krueger. So again all four of us sleeping in the bonus room. The bed was a KING, although amusingly only a few inches off the ground. It originally broke about 2 years ago...
14) 8/18 Vermillion, SD: Back home! Oh I am going to enjoy tonight's sleep! Well, what I will get anyway. Lucas starts preschool at 8:30am, which is the equivalent of 6:30am CA time- ouch!

Rachel has posted a ton of photos here- Even the dreaded 135 degree outside angles! I have beaten you with my mighty miter saw!