All Is Well

Sorry for the delay. The day of my daughter's surgery was obviously very hectic. Then my wife and I had the brilliant idea to get a horrible stomach bug for three straight days as soon as we got home. So we were out of commission for a while there. I had trouble remembering who I was a few times, let alone remembering I had a blog to post to.

But anyway, the surgery went great. My little girl has a giant bright pink cast for two weeks and the doctor said everything went perfectly. She's already realized that the cast makes a great weapon against her older brother. We're just thankful that it's all over now. The pre-surgery nerves are finally gone.

But I do have to tell you that we picked the worst seats in the entire hospital right before the procedure. We inadvertently sat at the door that leads to the operating rooms. So we were eyewitnesses to every parent saying goodbye to their children right before surgery. That is not a fun place to be for three hours. And we had nowhere else to sit.

On a lighter note (literally), due to the stomach bug and no desire for food, my wife and I each lost 10 pounds last week. So all-in-all, a good week. Although I wouldn't have said it while it was happening.

Pre-Op

My little girl is having surgery tomorrow morning. She injured her finger about six months ago, and it's been determined that she needs a skin graft to straighten her finger. I'll spare the details because it's just sad and unnecessary, but basically she hurt her finger and then started healing faster than most little kids do. And while that sounds really awesome and Wolverine-like, it's really bad in reality. Because it means that her scar tissue was harder and caused her finger to heal in a bent position. And that means they have to fix it in the operating room.

The hard part is that she really has no idea what's coming. She's two, so the most she can grasp is that a doctor is going to fix her finger tomorrow. We don't want to scare her with details about being sedated, and she really can't understand much about it anyway. So we feel like we're tricking her or something.

And I have to admit, I'm really freaked out by this whole thing. I'm usually pretty level-headed about things like this. But just the thought of her being put out for the procedure is scaring the daylights out of me. I don't like it, and I don't like thinking about it. And if I say that to my wife, I'll just scare her even more (which would be a bad idea). So I'll just confess it here on the blog. And she'll find out a month from now when she's bored with Facebook and decides to catch up on my posts.

So anyway, no funny story today. But at least I have a better excuse than the usual laziness. I know we have nothing to worry about, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm worried. I guess that's just part of the parenting gig.

Am I O-blog-ated To Post?

Today I'm having one of those classic blog probems. Nothing interesting or funny has happened to me. None of my older brothers has told me a funny story. But I feel like I should blog more often since I actually have followers.

So do I make up a ridiculous story that no one would believe?  Do I over-embellish a boring story just to post something? Do I post my Facebook statuses?  Or do I just call it a day and try to blog tomorrow?

What I settled on today was a glimpse into my internal struggle.  But who knows what I'll decide tomorrow.

Sidenote: It's supposed to snow tonight in my warm-climate Texas town. It's hard to think about anything else.

Snickerdoodle-Doo!

My older brother told me today that Blue Bell now makes a "Snickerdoodle" flavor. It was all I had not to leave my desk and drive straight to the grocery store the moment I heard this. If you don't know what Blue Bell is, you're missing out. It's a Texas-based ice cream company that has really good ice cream. And if you don't know what a snickerdoodle is, then you haven't lived. It's basically a cinnamon sugar cookie. But honestly, that description doesn't do it justice. A well-made snickerdoodle is more like a cookie-shaped piece of happiness, sprinkled with pure joy, and deep-fried in hugs. It's the best cookie ever.

So I found out about this ice cream. It combines my favorite cookie with my favorite ice cream. And I was excited. Then I found out that the ice cream has actual chunks of snickerdoodles mixed right in!

Now I need to mention that I have this pesky allergy to milk and ice cream. It's not lactose intolerance (because that's lame). I can have cheese and yogurt all I want. But I think it's some kind of allergy to a protein in milk. Anyway, it means I can't eat too much ice cream or drink too much milk unless I want to get sick.

So it seems that Blue Bell is trying to kill me… with awesomeness. And I'm thinking it might be worth a near-death experience just to have three bowls of this ice cream.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Well it finally happened. I was playing Xbox, and the video signal started going out. I started getting horizontal lines all over the screen. The reds looked orange. The blue looked green. Something was wrong. So I borrowed an extra video cable from my older brother and hoped for the best. That turned out to be false hope. My Xbox is now dead. After three years and hours upon hours of play time, my Xbox is dead.

I looked into tutorials online to fix my problem, but they involve soldering things on the motherboard (which sounds too sci-fi for me). And one of the tutorials warned of the risk of electrocution. So there's no hope that I can fix it on my own. And that means having to buy a new one.

And yes, I do need to replace it. It's my only hobby and it's what we use to watch DVDs and stream Netflix and communicate with some of my online-only friends (aka "ugly people"). So it's not just about the gaming. It's mostly about the gaming, but not all about the gaming.

Anyway, now I have two choices. I can either buy a used one for fairly cheap and risk it going out on me without a warranty, or I can buy a new one with a wonderful warranty for three times as much money. The pros and cons lists aren't helping. It's a dead heat due to the price factor. And as soon as I settle on one choice, I chicken out and start over.

But I know myself well enough to know what I'm gonna do. I have enough money in my Amazon account to buy a new one today. And look at the difference below. It's obvious I'm gonna get the sleek new black one, not the chunky boring white one. I can kid myself with pros and cons lists and argue all the good points for buying a used one. But I just know I'm gonna get the new one and blow that $300. Goodbye Amazon balance!