Happy Leap Year!

I'm not really sure if there are many people who celebrate Leap Year, but when a day only makes an appearance once every four years, I feel that it's worth noting. My good friend Lori got married on Leap Year four years ago. Today, she's in Vegas to get her vows renewed by an Elvis impersonator. I say, good for her. I don't think any marriage is really complete unless The King was there to witness your vows.

Kasia got so excited about it being Leap Year, that she tried to do her own leaping. Alas, I fear that the best she could do was hop. We're members of a little play gym in Chesapeake called Little Birdies, and they have a giant inflatable bouncing room and slide. She and I both love to go there and jump around for awhile before climbing up the slide and leaping down. There's a lot of hopping and a lot of leaping involved.

So, whatever you decide to do this Leap Year, just remember to not jump to any conclusions! (in the comedy business, that joke is what we would call "a groaner"... for obvious reasons)

A New Experiment

I was reading a very interesting article a few days ago about a reporter's experiment to go without the internet for a week. I had read similar stories about reporters trying a week without their cell phones or television, but going without the internet for the week really made me think. Could I do it? Should I give it a try? My conclusion was no, to both questions. But I thought it would be fun to try a neat experiment like that, so I've decided to see what it would be like to go a week without food. I know that anorexics have been making a name for themselves with this whole "no eating" mantra, but could an average joe like myself do it? There's only one way to find out.

I'm keeping a journal so that everyone can know how the experiment is going.

8:10 am: Breakfast is over, and I'm going to begin this new quest with a full stomach. If I'm going to be giving up food for a week, I at least want my last meal to be filling. I had pancakes with maple syrup. They were extremely good. Oh well, here's to a week without food.

8:30 am: I can't stop thinking about pancakes. I can still taste the maple syrup on my lips. And as though to tease me, Kasia spilled maple syrup all over the table and I can't get the smell to go away.

9:25 am: Still haven't eaten anything. I'm drinking lots of water to compensate.

10:55 am: My stomachs rumbling. Kasia and I are going to go out so that I can get my mind off of food for a while.

1:15 pm: Can't stop thinking about food. Steak sounds so good right now. The thought of a nice, juicy burger is so appealing right now. I can't remember when I last ate. I'm beginning to get the shakes. My legs are weak. I'm having trouble seeing. I can get through this though. I need to see this experiment through.

1:20 pm: I just ate pizza. It was extremely tasty. The experiment is over.

Another Pet Peeve

Awhile ago, I mentioned how two of my biggest pet peeves were snarky British judges on reality TV shows and Australian hosts for informercials. Well, in looking for a new car, I discovered that there's another peeve out there that is now my pet. Fake wood paneling. Is there anything more ridiculous?

Why do cars pride themselves on having fake wood paneling on the dashboard? Why is that supposed to be a sign of luxury? If it was real wook paneling, would that make it better? No, it would be stupid to have a wooden dash. Maybe in 1923 it was kind of neat, but not today. One of the reasons we chose the minivan we did was because it was completely void of the fake wood paneling.

And if it wasn't bad enough in cars, the other day I noticed that my treadmill has fake wood paneling. ?? A book shelf made out of wood is a good thing. A table. A chair. These are all fine things to be made out of wood. But a treadmill? The thing is black plastic and gray metal... but then there, along the bottom, is a long sticker to make it appear as though there was a trim made of wood down there. Why?? I'm just thankful that neither my computer nor my television have any wood or want-to-be wood pieces in them.

Or as the snarky British judge would say, "It's just so hideously old fashion and cabaret."

We Finally Bought a New Car

I'm sorry to say, but for everyone who was thinking about getting us the BMW Z4, it's too late. We decided to go out and get a car ourselves. And so we bought a nicely previously owned vehicle that takes practicality to a whole new level. We bought a Dodge Grand Caravan. I still can't believe it.

Neither Kara nor myself ever thought that we would be the owners of a minivan. But as we started looking, somehow we stumbled on one and took it for a test drive. It was roomy. "This thing would be great on a road trip," we thought. Then I saw the whole "stow 'n' go" seating and I was hooked. We have finally admitted to ourselves that we're no longer 20-somethingers who need a sports car to go out and impress people. It has finally sunk in that it's ok for us to have a "family" car since we are in fact a family. We don't have to worry about getting anything sportier for another fifteen years or so when one of us goes through a mid-life crisis.

So now, my primary car has gone from a Saturn coupe to a minivan. Kara has decided that she can't quite adopt the minivan as quickly, and so she's going to be driving the little black car for awhile.

What this all means now is that we have a '98 Chrysler Sebring convertible for sale if anyone wants one. It's in great condition with just a few miles on it. We'll accept offers at any time.

Last Chance

Being a one car family is beginning to take its toll on our lifestyle.  Now that we live out in the boonies, without a second car, Kasia and I are stranded at home.  

I've offered before that if anyone wants to help us out by donating their old car to us, we would greatly appreciate it.  Though, if there's some rich philanthropist out there who just wants to buy us a new one, that would be great too.  I've done my research, and the most practical family car for us is pictured below.  I think the car seat would fit into that just perfectly... especially with the top down.

Where Are the New Pictures?

If you're wondering why there haven't been any new pictures put up lately, it's mainly because there aren't any.  We're working on getting some good photos of our lovely daughter, but the little booger just isn't cooperating.  Hopefully one day soon we'll have some more to share with everyone.

Rest In Peace

We always said that we would driver our cars until they died.  Well, that day has finally arrived.  After 155,000 miles and 10 years, the Chrysler Sebring convertible has finally decided to call it quits.  Once it was Kara's pride and joy and now it's pushing up daisies. 

In all fairness, it's quite remarkable to have gone this far.  Whenever we tell a mechanic that we have a Chrysler with almost 160,000 miles on it, jaws seem to always hit the floor.  The really sad part is that with the exception of a few things under the hood (a few expensive things) the car is in really good condition.

So right now, we're a one car family.  Kasia and I are finding new ways to entertain ourselves at home while Kara is at work.  Hopefully we'll get a new car soon, but I think we're really holding out in the hopes that somebody will just give us one.  If there's anyone out there with an extra car that you'd like to donate, please feel free to call us.  We're not all that picky.

By the way, we've also now truly acclimated to living in North Carolina.  We have a broke down car sitting in the driveway that won't go anywhere.  Later today I'm thinking about taking the tires off and just have it sit on cinder blocks.  That will give our house the good Southern charm that we've always wanted.

Where There's Smoke, There's Smoke

Just before we went to bed last night, we saw on the news that all the high winds we'd been suffering through all day had apparently turned some brush fires into what are known as "major brush fires." Moyock is on fire. Well, not just Moyock, as there are a number of fires that were started all along the Virginia/North Carolina border.

What does that mean for us? It means that it's very foggy outside right now, except that it isn't fog. It's very reminiscent of when I lived in Orlando during the forest fires of 1998. Everything smells like smoke. It's like you're standing next to a campfire but there's no way to avoid having the smoke get in your eyes.

Maybe we need to move even further south.

Happy Groundhog Day!

I hope that everyone managed to have a great Groundhog Day last saturday. Unfortunately for all of us, good old Phil up in Punxsutawney, PA did see his shadow. Here's the official report:

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

On Gobbler's Knob on this fabulous Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2008
Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators,
Rose to the call of President Bill Cooper and greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths.

After casting a weather eye toward thousands of his faithful followers,
Phil consulted with President Cooper and directed him to the appropriate scroll, which proclaimed:

"As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me.
Six more weeks of winter it will be!"

Who knew that a groundhog would speak in rhyme? Regardless, things aren't looking so hot for the globally warming country of ours. As most people in the midwest are now discovering, winter is here with a vengeance... and it's all because of a groundhog named Phil.

We here at the Gruetzmacher compound had a great Groundhog Day. Shawn came over in the morning and helped us install the stairs for our attic. Then in the evening, we grilled some hog on the grill and watched the movie Groundhog Day. If there's one thing that I've learned from watching the movie umpteen times, it's that there are two basic ways to celebrate this wonderful holiday. One is to over indulge in the pleasures of life as though it were your only day to live. Eat sweets. Have a drink or two. Have fun. The other way to celebrate the day is to do something that betters yourself. Read a book. Learn something new. Play the piano.

People always ask why I have such an affinity toward this obscure holiday. The movie was good, but was it really that good? The beginning goes back to high school. My first job was working at a Blockbuster video, and the manager I would constantly work with loved the movie. Every shift, he would play it non-stop. That would be three times a shift, three times a week... and you so you could say that I became very familiar with the movie. The thing is, the more I watched it, the more I enjoyed it. I really liked how it touched on the concept of enjoying the here and now as opposed to always thinking about where you're going to be.

The groundhog is famous for being able to predict the future of winter. While he's doing that, maybe the rest of us should just enjoy the weather we have now. And in North Carolina, that weather is spectacular!

I'm Sooooooo Sorry

How could I have been so rude. As it has been pointed out to me in the comments for one of my posts, I learned that I completely failed to mention that on December 26th, we went to Pat and Stacy's house for a really nice holiday get together. I was just going to blow this off, but then the phone calls started. One after another, I was being bombarded on why I hadn't mentioned the partY.

So now I mention it. We went to your party. Are you happy? Does that satisfy you now Patrick? I played Guitar Hero for the first time and I really really stunk at it. Then of course Pat picks up the guitar and aces some song just to belittle me. Thanks a lot buddy. You could have at least pretended that it was harder for you just to make me feel better about my poor performance.

It was also really nice to be able to sit down and chat with Stacy's parents for awhile. We never really got the chance to talk with them during the wedding.

So, everyone knows now about the party, right? It was on December 26th, 2007. I guess I just glazed right over it when writing about Christmas because it was near the end of January when I wrote the post, and I just really, really wanted to get past the holidays. But it was a lot of fun.

Change is Good

Welcome to the new website.  I know, I know, it's not as pretty or complex as the old one, but it is a lot easier to maintain.  Our old website was hosted through Apple's .Mac service, which has a yearly fee (that I'm too cheap to pay) and I could only update it from the same computer.  Plus, it loaded really slow which just irritated me.  So, since Google is slowly taking over the world anyway, I've decided to sell them my soul and use their services.  Again, it's not as pretty, but it's free and easy.  Gotta love it.

Our other big change here at the Southern Compound of the Gruetzmachers, is we finally installed our stairs to make an attic in our garage.  Kara's brother Shawn gave us the stairs as a wedding present, and while we've been meaning to get around to it, we just kept putting off.  The boxed up stairs were becoming a focal point to our garage decor.  But alas, we finally got off our rears (and when I say "we" I'm mainly referring to myself) and asked Shawn to come over and help us put these things in.

It took a couple of hours, but as you can see from the picture, it turned out really nice.  The stairs work great, and you wouldn't believe how much storage room we now have.  It's like we added another room on to our house.  That is, unless we're talking to somebody from the tax department, in which case, I think it actually lowered the value of our property.  Now all I need to do is lay a floor down up there.  In the end, hopefully, we'll be able to clear out our garage enough so that we can actually park a car in it.  I know, it's a crazy though, but a boy can dream, can't he?