Just Another Day…

Category: Photo Post

  • The Windy City Lions


    Club Officers of the Wind City Lions Club

    Since 1993 I have worked on video projects for the Lions Clubs International Foundation, based here in Oakbrook IL. Projects include convention videos, on-site editing and news magazine shows, always highlighting the good that Lions members do around the world and for their community. Brenda has worked on the same projects since the late 1990’s (it’s good to be young).

    While becoming a Lion myself wasn’t anything I had thought much of in the beginning, it’s hard to deny that over the years it just kind of gets into your blood stream and before you know it you’re compelled to help others. For the last several years, many of us that work on the Lions projects have talked about not just joining a club, but starting our own. It took a lot longer then we had expected, but we finally did it. 

    One of the main reasons we did it now after all of this time is that the current President of Lions, Al Brandel, offered to sponsored our group and really pushed to get it done during his time in office. He was even kind enough to make a special trip to Chicago to be there for our Charter Night Dinner.

    So now Brenda and I are members of the Chicago Windy City Lions Club, along with 40 other friends and colleagues. Below is a video that we created for the charter night dinner to introducer our group to the people that were there. You may see a few people that you recognize. 

    For more information on the group, visit our new website at www.windycitylions.org.

    [flv:/blog/video/Charter_Video_v5.flv 600 337]

  • Weekend MI Trip

    We spent the last weekend in Michigan visiting the family. I didn’t take as many photos as usual, but here are a few of the boys and their cousin John (my sister Dawn’s son). 

     

  • Andrew MRI Follow Up Report

    Today we had our follow up meeting with the neurologist. She reviewed the MRI report, took some measurements of Andrew and did another evaluation. The overall feedback was that he’s totally normal. He does have some extra fluid around the brain (we already knew this) but that should become less over time. 

    His head measurement was just a touch higher then she wanted to see, so we scheduled one more appointment with her in December where she’ll do another measurement. Obviously, his head is supposed to get larger, but she wants to be sure it’s not growing at a faster rate then what is normal for his age. So one more follow up is just to be sure. 

    Developmentally, he is doing fine. He’s a little behind where Max is, but because of his larger head size and overall larger size it’s very normal for him to be a few weeks behind where Max is. Over time he will catch up and they will be more in sync. 

    We were also told that using walkers, at all at any age, is not considered a good thing. And in Andrews case, it may slow is progress because it throws off him learning how to balance himself. So as of next week we’re taking the walkers away in trade for more floor time that forces both of them to crawl, stand and eventually walk more. 

    I did do a google search, and there is a lot of information about this out there. Who knew! Here are a couple articles I fond interesting. 

    iVillage

    Keep Kids Healthy

    So overall, he’s doing just fine and we’ll continue to keep an eye on him to be sure. 

  • No More Stinky Clothes

    Old Washer and Dryer, coming soon to an eBay ad near  you!

    Last week we were very disappointed to find out our washer was not working. It would start normally, but once the tub was full with water clothes and soap, it would just sit there with the timer running. Then it would drain the water and rinse the same way, and then most of the time not even spin dry. After a service call and a estimate of $300 to fix it (it only cost $500 new, 11 years ago) we decided to get something new as a long term investment. 

    Because of the boys (and our future set of triplet girls, coming in 2009-2010) it was clear that the amount of wash to be done is only going to be more and more as time goes on. I did some research on the Consumer Reports website. After picking 2 models that seemed to fit our needs, we went on Saturday and purchased a new washer. Then, we purchased a new dryer too. It’s hard not to buy in a pair since the capacity of each should be matched. We went with the WFW9600T series from Whirlpool.

    So earlier this week we received our new washer and dryer. The old ones will be up on eBay for sale very soon. 

     

    Between the living room remodel, new TV, New Air Conditioner and Furnace, this has been a very expensive year! Oh yea, and twins are not cheap either. But we wouldn’t change a thing. 

    The guys delivering it had a nifty harness that they attached to both of their shoulders and back that allowed them to just walk the washer and dryer down the stairs into the wash room (and carry the old ones out). 

    My only concern now is, what will go next? The dishwasher is about 10 years old, and the Refrigerator about 15. 

  • Tom’s Amazon.com Store

    Over the years I have received many questions like “What is a good camera to buy?” or “What computer would you recommend?”, or even “Why do you always look so handsome?”. OK, not the last question but you get the idea. People ask me because I’m a nerd, and I’m always reading reviews and tech articles. I’m always glad to help because I know what it’s like to need that kind of help in other areas of my life, and I know it can really be a big help. 

    I’ve always said if I got a dollar for each product I sold I would have a nice little piggy bank. Well now it’s possible for me to do that by having an affiliate store with Amazon.com

    Here’s how it works. If I send you a link to a product as an answer to a question you asked me, the link will be to Amazon.com (as it usually was in the past) but will be coded with a special number that gives me credit for any the purchase you make. The price for you is exactly the same, but I’ll get a small percentage of what you purchase. 

    In addition, there is a new page on this site (Tom’s Recommendations) that has some of the things people most commonly ask me about. In most cases they’re things that I currently own and really like.

    I don’t really care if you buy it from Amazon.com or not, but in case you do it will be nice that Amazon.com pays me a small fee for sending you there.