11/22/07

11/22/2007 - Happy Turkey Day!!!  It has been a long year in the making.  I am about ready to head out the door to Iraq and Vern will be joining me in about a month.  She is going to be a late deployer due to a medical procedure she had done.  The radiation treatment made her system immuno-compromised-something-or-other. :p  This prevents her from getting all the wonderful vaccinations (Typhoid, Flu mist, Small Pox, Anthrax, etc) the Army requires prior to deployment.  After her treatment she was quarantined from me due to the radiation she was still emitting.  Then just when she was okay to be around I got my small pox vaccination so then I was quarantined from her.

I will be stationed on Victory Base Complex next to the Baghdad International Airport working in the 4th Infantry Division Planning staff as an Operations Research Systems Analyst.  My job is to add analytic rigor to the courses of actions presented to the leadership.  This could be both qualitative or quantitative in nature.  An example would be to examine combat power (a quantitative score given to a unit's capabilities) and determine the best deployment strategy based on mission requirements.

Vern will also be stationed at the same location but will be working in the Division Chemical Section.  Their mission is to assist the commander in preparations for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Environmental (CBRNE) defenses.  However, since the insurgents are not using a lot of this method of attack her section also focuses on Force Protection.  This would encompass analyzing the enemy's methods of attack (IEDs, Mortors, Rockets, etc) and developing methods to mitigate their effectiveness.

TK and Koji have gone back to their Aunty Kris for the next 15-months, possibly a little longer so TK can finish up 1st grade at Didion Elementary School.  TK has been having a blast and has already made several friends Ian (lives next door) and Adam (schoolmate).  Kris being a teacher has insights on methods to help him learn.  He has almost mastered his ability to read and knows all his numbers past 100 both in English and Spanish.  His next task is to start learning simple arithmetic.  He has been so active that he has managed to already break his wrist.  The doctor said it is a buckle break since kid's bones are so soft it is really not a break.  He will have a cast on for the next 4 weeks as the bone grows over the "buckle" and smoothes out the bone.  Hopefully, this will not affect his karate lessons.

TK has been attending the Satori Academy of Martial Arts in their Lil' Samurai Program.  I really like their program as it teaches the kids more than martial arts.  They also include lessons in morals and values, as well as, everyday survival skills (such as what to do when confronted by a stranger, how to make new friends).

Koji is just starting to get around more.  He is furniture cruising and crawling.  He has not tried to take any steps by himself.  He has 4 more teeth coming-in, in addition to his two bottom teeth.  He has given up his binkie for his two fingers which he sucks on non-stop.  He always has to get into the middle of what his brother is doing and has already been antagonizing TK.

Koji is so young he does not fully understand what is going on.  I just hope that this does not scar his psyche.  He was always very clingy before with Vern, but Kris says that he does not like to let her out of his sight now.  I also hope he remembers who we are when we get back.  Our mid-tour leaves should help jog his memory.  Vern and I will come back separately so that the kids will get a month of us instead of 18 days of both of us at once.  Vern should be headed back around June 08 and I will come back around August 08.

Gung-Gung (Grandpa in Chinese) has just retired from his 2nd job (Post Office) and has started up his 3rd profession as a Day Care Provider to help out Kris since both her and Jeff work and she is expecting her first child.  Koji is the complete opposite of his big brother when he was little.  Koji will crawl up and down the entire house in a 20 min span while sticking everything in reach into his mouth and trying to access all the cupboards and drawers.  Gung-Gung will probably think it is easier to supervise his postal office employees. :p  Kris and Gung-Gung should get short breaks when TK and Koji go to visit the other various relatives (Grandma Rita or Abuelito Gus).

As for the house, our realtor Eva and Rick Keagle volunteered to check on the house weekly while we are gone.  I have also tied the security system into the Internet so I can check on it from Iraq.  We just installed a 6.5 KW PV solar array and 80-gal solar water heater so that should minimize the power requirements of the house while we are gone.  During the summer it generates 50% of our electricity power needs and 75%-100% of our power needs during the other seasons.  With net metering we only pay for what we use and get credit for the power we dump back on to the grid.  If you are curious about how much power we are generating - Overview, Daily Report, Monthly Report, Power Report, and Yield Report.  Granted our power generation is dependent on the weather, but Texas usually has some nice weather.  We has more sun in El Paso, but Harker Heights is not too bad.

I was not sure about letting the cars sit for 15-months so Kris will get to use Vern's and hopefully try to sell it and mine will go to Diana.  Both have cars that only get between 17-26 MPG so the Prius (on a bad bay gets 48 MPG) should save them some money and keep the vehicles in good shape.  Cars seem to break down when they sit.  When we get back Vern wants to upgrade to something bigger for those occasions we need to ferry 7 people around or tow something.  We are looking into the Toyota Highlander Hybrid.  If I can get 65-70 MPG on the Prius I should be able to get around 35-40 MPG in the Highlander.  Vern will inherit my Prius which has been significantly modified and be a big improvement over her old one.  Who knows maybe when we get back there will be an even better hybrid on the market.

We should have Internet over there to talk to everyone back home.  My gaming laptop (WidowPC) is too big and cumbersome so I will be taking my smaller Sony (VGN-670P), it is only 1.2 lbs versus the 20 lbs of the WidowPC.  I have not been playing many games lately as I have been busy preparing for the deployment so the Sony should suffice for all my needs.

3/9/2007 - Well, I finally had enough time from unpacking to add an entry.  After 11 days I have unpacked about 90% of the house, and believe me with all of our junk that is no small task.  I think the last 10% is the hardest.  It is all the items that does not quite fit with the new house.  Luckily we have a very large wall-in attic to store this stuff so we can finally have an uncluttered garage.

The cedar porch turned out awesome.  I will have to post some pictures of it.  I think it came out better than the house that David originally showed us.  We will be spending lots of time out there since the weather here is so nice.  It has been about 78ish during the day and 60ish at night.  I know it will get hot and humid here but at least it is very nice during the spring and fall.  There was a nice fire pit table at Home Depot the other day that would make it nice and cozy during the winter.

TK of course picked the upstairs room.  We put his Thomas the Train set in the window sill since it is about 4' x 4'.  He does not seem to notice that it is about 5-6 deg warmer up there.  He has been pretty good while I have been unpacking.  He has spent most of his time playing with his train set, matchbox cars, Leapster Lmax, or watching a recording of The Secrets of the Cosmos over and over and over ... :p

Vern is due to close up shop at El Paso and head out here with Gung-Gung (Grandpa Chinn) and Koji.  Koji seems to have taken a liking to GG like TK.  I wonder why all the other cousins were afraid of him.  He carries him around in his backpack carrier and only gets fussy when he is put down, even if he seems to be sleeping.

Vern will have the job of handling all the little projects that I could not get to yet like paint protectant on the back patio and garage floor and cedar fence.  We also have to put blinds on a ton of windows, some of them are huge (8.5' wide and 7' high).  I will let Vern do this is I will most likely pick the wrong color or something. :p The sun would really heat up the house until I put some of the packing boxes in the windows to block the sun.  The honeycomb blinds should look a little better than boxes. :D

My next project after unpacking the house will be to get a solar water heating system and a PV solar system installed.  The system will be a kick in the wallet but I should break even in about six years.  I hope to be here that long to at least give TK some stability in his elementary school.  I may have to make a few trips overseas for a year to keep the family in one location.

2/5/2007 - I stopped my Arabic and started my Japanese back up.  I figured I should finish that one first seeing as how I will probably use it more.  I knocked out 4 lessons from Course 1 of the Rosetta Stone Series.  I only have about 6 more lessons in Course 1 and 19 more courses left. :p  I guess what partially drove me nuts is I hate my cursive handwriting and Arabic is a cursive language.  Plus I did not like the fact you had to figure out the vowels between the consonants.  Maybe I was doing it wrong.  When I get over to Iraq maybe I can find someone who can teach me properly then I will start it back up.  For now, nihongo no benkyoo o shinakereba narimasen. :p

1/31/2007 - Well, where to start... a lot has happened since the 6th.  I did not update the web page since my new computer had a problem with the headphone jack.  I would get a low buzzing noise whenever I tried to use headphones.  So I sent it back to WidowPC.  They were not able to fix it so they paid half for my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA sound card.  It works great, much better than the AC'97 integrated soundcard on the motherboard.

We drove the Prius out to Fort Hood to go house hunting.  Even with one flat tire (ran over a chunk of metal which caused a slow leak) I still got about 49 mpg in 30 deg rainy weather.  Vern and I were surprised at the number of Prius we saw on the road.  We finally picked a house out of 30 houses.  It is 2495 sq ft with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths.  It is about 3 blocks from the Nolanville Elementary School that we want to enroll TK into when he gets back from California.  It has a French Villa look to it with all the accents.  It is made by Prestige Solutions and you can tell the quality from the other homes we looked at.  David was very accommodating to ensure everything was perfect.  We decided to upgrade all the kitchen appliances, thermostats, add a dog run, gas stove capability to the kitchen, and cedar enclosed porch. 

We also got to meet the people in the sections we are headed.  Part of me cannot wait to start the new adventure, but it will be a pretty big change in our lives.  I hope TK takes it in stride he seems to be doing well with the arrival of Koji and we have been constantly talking to him about the new house and how he gets to pick his own room.  I do not think Vern is as enthused to pick up and move again.  Hopefully, we can homestead here for a bit to give Koji and TK some stability. 

Nana headed back home yesterday so Koji went to the CDC on post.  He seemed to do okay.  I hate to take him to the CDC since TK had such a great day care provider at Ft. Riley (Carol).  I wish she was here for Koji.

1/6/2007 - We have started looking for houses at Fort Hood.  We have not decided how much we want to spend yet.  We think about $225k since we will only be there for 2-3 years (and one of those will be deployed).  There are several houses in this price range that we like but one in the $260k range.

Our primary concern is finding an area with a good elementary school for TK.  Based on Great Schools ratings there are three primary schools we are looking for Cedar Valley ES (Killeen), Nolanville ES (Nolanville and Harker Heights), and Mae Stevens ES (Copperas Cove).  Two other schools we think are acceptable but not at the top of our list are JL Williams ES (Copperas Cove), Mountain View ES (Harker Heights), and Fairview ES (Copperas Cove).  We also want to only look in Harker Heights, Copperas Cove, or Killeen to reduce the commute since we may have to drop TK off at day care and school. 

We also want at least 2000 sq ft, or at least very close to that.  No smaller than 1900 sq ft.  Vern prefers to have at least 4 rooms so that TK and Koji will have their own rooms.  I wanted to get a bunk bed and put them in the same room.  I guess this will be a consideration when Koji is sleeping through the night.

Other than that, we seem to have two very different sets of criteria.  My primary concern is the kitchen and the look of the yard.  A nice kitchen would translate to stainless steel appliances, granite or corian countertops, gas stove, double oven, etc.  I also prefer a newer house unless the older house has been upgrades with the newer energy saving features and has been well kept.  I do not want to have to do a lot of maintenance to get the house back into shape.  Vern's primary concern is size and cost.  She also seems to prefer the older houses because she thinks the newer house's bathrooms look cheap.

We also thought about getting a cheaper house or one that was in progress and doing some remodeling but I wanter to try to avoid that.  If anything we can remodel minor features but not entire room.

1/5/2007 - Koji is finally sleeping though the night, or at least we ignore his crying (usually stops after 5 min and goes back to sleep).  He gets fed around midnight and then around 6 or 7 in the morning. 

1/3/2007 - Today we made a cross between an empanada and a tamale.  Vern made tamale masa paddies and we stuffed it with the left over sweet potato soufflé, then pan fried it.  Vern refused to like it because it broke tradition so I got to enjoy them all by myself.  They were delicious.

1/2/2007 - Mushu made bail ($65). :p  I was surprised at how busy Animal Control was.  There were tons of people there either dropping off strays or looking for their lost pets.  Mushu was picked up one street over about 2 hours after he got out.  Luckily we had the chip put in him a couple of months ago. 

12/31/2006 - Well, we are already starting the new year off on a bad foot.  Mushu got out of the house while we were fixing Kris' bike rack and the garage door.  We did not notice him missing until a couple hours later.  We have spent the last 2 days searching for him with no luck.  It has been in the upper 20's here so I hope he found someone to take him in.  I hope this is not an indication of what it to come this year. :(

12/27/2006 - Koji had his RSV vaccination today.  He weighed in at a hefty 10 lbs and 4 oz.  If you look at his adjusted age (going by the Dec 5 due date) he is about 1 lb heavier than TK was at that age.  Koji has definitely been a different experience than TK.  They are like night and day.  I think it must be the God (Fate or whatever higher power you believe in) getting back at us for TK being such an easy baby to deal with. lol

12/25/2006 - Merry Christmas everyone!  TK and Koji made out like bandits this year.  I guess they must have been really good. :P  TK is finally of the age where he can understand and appreciate the holiday, well kind of.  He still thinks it is better to receive than to give. 

12/24/2006 - I took Kris Mountain Biking with my Biking Group.  They took us to the Northeast side of the Franklin Mountains.  I ended up belly flopping on a cactus patch so I spent about an hour pulling out thorns ranging from large 2" sewing needle size to small 1/2" hair size thorns.  I was trying to take a sharp turn and the wall of the path collapsed.  Kris rode my old Iron Horse hardtail mountain bike.  We had to lower the seat for her but it was still difficult to manage since her bike is smaller and has full suspension.  The trail was 7.3 miles and a little easier than the Westside Franklin Mountain Trails.  Trail maps are posted on my Franklin Page.

12/15/2006 - The kitchen is done!!!  No more washing the dished in the bathroom.  I love the new kitchen.  It will be hard to move now. :(

12/1/2006 - What a mess it was at the St. Louis airport.  I went on a business trip and got trapped there on the 30th and 1st due to sleet and ice.  I decided to sleep in the airport to keep abreast of the conditions.  They gave us blankets and pillows.  It is a good thing I did because I ended up changing my flight 4 times after they would delay or cancel my flights.  The guy that went to the hotel came back the next day and he was bumped until Sunday (3rd).  :p

11/28/2006 - Koji went to the doc today for his immunizations.  He weighed in at 7 lbs and 6 oz.

11/23/2006 - Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!! We were lucky to have family with us this Thanksgiving.  Diana, Grandma and Grandpa Zamora celebrated the holidays with us.  I fried a turkey this year and it came out perfect. 

For instructions on what I did: A couple days before I defrosted and cleaned the Turkey.  We got a 12 lbs but I generally stick with 12-14 lbs for the best results.  Then I injected it with Butter Creole Injection Sauce.  We have also tried Honey BBQ and Teriyaki Honey.  They were good but since they tend to have a high sugar content it also tended to burn the skin more. 

On the day of the cooking, I heat the peanut oil to about 375 deg.  I have a 34 qt pot so I only need to fill it about 1/2 way for it to adequately cover the bird.  While the oil is heating up I sprinkle Cajun seasoning on the skin (not too much or it will be salty), then I lightly sprinkle flour on the bird with a flour sifter.  This will help protect the skin for cracklings later.  I do all this right next to the heating oil so that I can monitor it.  You should not leave the oil unattended.  Place the bird butt up on the turkey hanger and slowly drop it in.  Although some directions tell you to keep the lid off I keep it on slightly cracked open so I can have my thermometer in the oil.  Adding the turkey will drop the temp to about 325 deg so I bump up the heat until it gets back to 350.  Cook for 3.5 min per lbs so this bird took about 42 min (doing a 12.75 lbs about takes 45 min, size of the birds on the 19th).  I also turn off the gas at about 5 min left.  When you pull it out you should let it "rest" for about 15 min.

I let the oil cool and filter it at night.  Then store in a cool dark place.  I only keep the oil for a couple months and usually fry about 6 turkeys with it.  The more turkeys the more flavor for the next one.  I would not cook more than 2 turkeys at a time without filtering the oil or the 3rd turkey may have a bunch of burnt stuff on the skin.

11/21/2006 - We started the Thanksgiving feast early this year.  We figured that it would be better if we spread it out so today we cooked up a spiral ham on the bone.  yyyuummm!!!  We also had a butternut squash casserole with cheese and rice and for desert an apple pie with ice cream.  I am getting hungry just thinking about it. :D

11/19/2006 - Koji had his 1 mo B-day (15th) and he has gained 2 lbs (now 6 lbs 1 oz).  Grandma Rita came to visit and see her grandson.  I made a page for Koji's photos.

I made two deep fried turkey's injected with Creole Butter Injection Sauce for a unit party on the 17th.  They should have added tons of flavor to the oil for our Thanksgiving Turkey.  I plan to fry another one up for Grandma and Grandpa Zamora and Diana.  It will be interesting cooking in the new kitchen without a sink and a counter.  I am not sure what else will be on the menu for Thanksgiving but I think it will be:

•  Butter Creole injected deep fried turkey

•  Sweet Potato Soufflé

•  Cranberry Sauce

•  Mashed Potatoes

•  Rice and Broccoli Casserole

•  Pumpkin Pie

11/11/2006 - Grandma and Grandpa Zamora have just left to go visit family in San Antonio.  They helped us take care of Koji while our kitchen was being remodeled.  We took them out to eat at The State Line.  It is a BBQ place that is half on the Texas border and the other half on the New Mexico side.  Their ribs are awesome.  They are 3 times the size of the ones you get at the store and have more meat with no fat and are really tender.

11/03/2006 - The cabinets have arrived.  Sam and Dan are our contractors form Lowe's.  I am glad I decided to have them do it instead of trying to do it myself.  They had to fix many things that the previous occupants tried to do.  I would not have been able to do myself, nor known to.  They also had between 4-8 people in their crew to speed things up.  Their dad was also on the crew helping out.  I will post pictures of their progress on my kitchen page.

10/31/206 - TK did not get to go trick or treating tonight because he would not eat his dinner.  However, we did allow him to watch the Halloween cartoons and pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters.  He also carved the pumpkin with mom.  I was not too heart broken about it since Vern could not take him trick-or-treating I would have had to, but it was cold out that night. :p

10/30/2006 - Koji is home now.  I will be posting new about Koji on Vern's pregnancy page for now.  I have taken a week off work to help her care for Koji.  I am hoping he will spread out his feedings to 4-5 hours (from 3) by the time I have to go back to work.

10/29/2006 - Koji was 1862 grams but his temp was fluctuating so they want to keep him for another 24 hrs for observation.  His feedings are up to 45 ml of formula and breast milk.

10/28/2006 - Koji was 1720 grams.  They will put him in an open crib to see if he can hold his temp. 

10/26/2006 - The doctors took Koji off the high calorie diet since he was doing so well and guess what happened... he lost all the weight he gained. :p  Not sure why they did that.  So now he may not come home until next week.  As early as Saturday if he can keep his temperature up.  He was at least more photogenic today.

10/24/2006 - Koji was 1781 grams today (he gained 2 grams on the night of the 22nd and 15 last night).  Now that Vern is producing a lot of breast milk (more than with TK) they will mix a special supplement in it to help him gain weight.  He was very active initially, but then fell asleep halfway through the feeding then work back up and was squirming all around when we put him back in the incubator.

We were told by the nurse that the doctors said that Koji may come home in one week since he is gaining weight and doing so well.  When he hits 1800 grams they will put him in an open air holder instead of the enclosed incubator.  He was much more active in the afternoon feeding.  He ate all 33 ml of breast milk with supplement plus about 10 min of breast feeding.  The nurses are going to increase his feeding amount since he is eating so much.  He is still very quiet compared to all his roommates.  I hope that continues.

10/22/2006 - Koji has a net gain of 4 grams (1764 grams).  The nurses said he seems to have a 7-9 gram gain a day.  They will start him on a high calorie diet today to put some more weight on him.  Vern was able to breast feed him today.  We think he is eating about 30-40 ml per meal every 2-3 hours.

10/20/2006 - Koji gained 10 grams today.  Not sure about yesterday.  They had removed all all the tubes and he just has the vital's monitoring cords hooked up to him.  We got there just before feeding time so Vern was able to breast feed him.  He latched on pretty good and got a good amount.  Probably about 2 ounces.  Vern then fed him some formula I think about another 3 ounces.  He immediately went to sleep (actually kept on falling asleep during feeding).

He is turning out to be like his brother.  A very quiet baby.  The nurse remarked he is very quite and never cries.  She had to take some blood samples and he did not cry when she pricked him or was squeezing his foot to get the flood to flow.  We almost thought he did, at the exact moment she pricked him the baby next to him started crying.  Added some new pics today.

10/18/2006 - Today was a busy day.  I spent it being a chauffer.  We had to get Vern's meds, check in her office, and then visit Koji.  He had just eaten lunch and was taking his nap so he did not do much other than yawn a couple of times and get the hick-ups.  Check the pregnancy pictures page for the new pictures.

Today, Koji had lost 33 grams (now 1727 grams), but this was expected.  Since he is eating well from the nipple/bottle they will take him off his IV feedings.  It almost looked like milk (20% fat mixture) going into his IV along with a vitamin cocktail.  He tested negative for infections so his antibiotics was stopped also.

10/17/2006 - Yay!  Vern is back home.  They let her go home around 1800 hrs today.  They would have preferred 48 hrs but let her go at 42.  Tomorrow we have to get all her meds and then make the daily visit to see Koji.  TK will go to daycare since they will not let him in to see Koji.  He still asks if Koji is still in mommy's belly.  I will have pictures soon.  Too tired to get them off the camera.

10/16/2006 - Vern has been pretty groggy all day due to the drugs.  She had the epidural, general anesthesia, and a morphine drip.  We were able to get them to stop the drip since it was making her groggy and nauseous.  By the end of the day she was becoming more coherent.

Vern plans to visit Koji tonight.  They only allow the parents and grandparents (no more than two at a time) in the NICU. 

TK is holding up pretty good for only having about 4 hours of sleep.  He would fall asleep in the car instantly whenever we got in and be knocked out.  He would not wake until I pulled him out of his seat.  He went to bed without any resistance right when we got home at 1800 hrs tonight.

Vern wanted me to pick up a hand breast pump so we let TK pick out something for Koji and get something for himself.  He picked an activity mat for Koji and a Thomas the Train toothbrush and cup holder for himself.

10/15/2006 - Today Vern wanted something light so I will make grilled chicken, somen (rice noodles),  Julianned cucumber, and cherry finger Jell-O.  ... Well, when I left Vern did say she felt a little pressure in her cervix and that she thinks it may be an indicator of the start of labor but was not sure.  From what I understand she was moved to Labor and Delivery around 2030 hrs for monitoring due to pain, but ended up being contractions.  By around 2250 hrs she was fully dilated and that is when I got the call.  By the time I got to the hospital around 2330 she was already in OR.  Luckily, I was able to get TK to spend the night at a friend's house, SFC Greene, since no kids under 14 yrs of age were allowed in the hospital at night.

Vern described this labor being worse than TKs.  Probably because they it happened so fast.  She did not get the epidural until she was fully dilated.

Kojiro was born at 2336 hrs weighing in at 3 lbs and 14.2 oz.  He seems to be the big boy in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).  The others around him were under 1 lb. :(  They were so tiny.  He has a little fluid in his lungs and is having a little difficulty breathing but this is normal for premies.  We have been told that he will stay until he is 5 lbs or reaches the original due date (Dec 5th).  The doctor estimates a min of 1-2 weeks that he will have to stay.

10/14/2006 - TK seems to be taking Momma's hospital stay in stride.  We told him that she is there jus in case Koji wants to come out early.  Since he has been so good about it I got him the Blue L-Max Leapster, the recharger, backpack, and two games (Thomas the Train and Reading with Phonics).  This one was much better than the V-tech, which he lost in a store, since it has a screen cover and rechargeable battery.  He was going through batteries like candy with the other unit.  We are working on his reading at night so we are hoping this will help him in the car during commutes.  Not sure he can read yet, I think he is memorizing the words rather than the process.

Today the doctor told Vern that they would now induce if she has not gone into labor by the 24th.  We are not sure which one to believe but this seems more inline with what the have been telling us than what was said on the 13th.  So far it has been a different doctor every night.  They are now giving Vern her antibiotics by pill.  She is happier about this since the IV stuff was painful and making her arm swell up.  I cannot imagine it is too good for her or the baby so I am glad they will induce on the 24th.

She is settling in there and worked on some of her movie editing, reading (Freakenomics), and watching TV (her Battlestar Galactica on SciFi).  They have let her walk around a little more but she is still leaking amniotic fluids, just not as much as before.

Since TK and I were busy cleaning up the house and shopping for groceries Vern got some sushi from the commissary.  Her favorites are the Maguro, Salmon, and California roll.  We also got the Imperial roll since it looked neat, basically a shrimp tempura roll with avocado and cucumber.  I also made her and the nurses some banana bread cup cakes with cream cheese frosting on top. 

10/13/2006 - TK and I have gotten into a routine of visiting Vern every evening so we can bring her dinner.   Luckily, me work lets me leave a little early so I can get to the hospital in time to spend a couple hours with her until I have to get TK back home for bed.  Tonight we made her steamed bok choy with shitake mushroom sauce, mapo dofu, and rice.  TK also did his homework there.  He has to do 4 pages a night in his preschool workbook in order to get his allowance (in addition to feeding the pets in the morning and evening). Today's doctor said that the hospital would release Vern is she has not delivered by the 24th for bed rest at home.

I seem to be having horrible luck with deliveries lately.  First my Alienware computer gets here with a corrupt HDD and the motherboard incorrectly hooked up.  Luckily they have good tech support to get it installed.  It is runny though when I call I think I am calling India due to their thick accents but their names are Mike, Fred, and Steve so far.  Makes me think of this short Internet movie when I talk to them.  Then I have had problems with 3 Dell 24" widescreen monitors (all sent with problems).  Cross your finger this will be fixed with the 4th one coming at the end of this week.  Then I managed to discover a packing problem with Food Network DVDs that took them 3 tries to send the correct DVD to me.  Finally, Koji trying to come out early. Gonna have to lay off the Internet ordering for a bit.  Well, for everything except the last order. :)

10/12/2006 - The next two weeks will definitely be a test of the Chinn Family. Not that we will have a major adversity, but it is like going off to college by yourself for the first time. You are both excited and scared. We are excited to have the baby come but worried about the repercussions of Koji being a premature. Although the Doctor said the risks are minimal at this point since he is above 2 Kg.  The hospital gave Vern some chop suey which she was not too thrilled about so we brought he rotisserie chicken, steamed gai lan, and rice.  Not sure how they expect her to gain weight if they do not give her decent food.

10/11/2006 - Vern is at the hospital right now.  Her water broke so they have her there on antibiotics and bed rest.  The baby is about 2.2 Kg (4.8 lbs) so they want to wait until the 34th week (2 weeks from now) before inducing.  They will not stop the baby if he comes sooner.  They will induce if there are complications like an infection.  They will do a Cesarean if the baby is still breech.  He is very active and she has had some mild contractions.

Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa Chinn are still here.  They were due to head out this morning but will stay a little bit until we get everything figured out.

The hospital is state of the art.  It has very large and modern rooms (but no internet or cell phones). :(  The hospital has 2 ICUs and 2 intermediate care units with their own lab.  She has a machine hooked up to her feet giving her massages to keep the blood moving and preventing clots.

Vern has now been moved to the antepatum/postpartum rooms.  They are a little more comfortable than the labor and delivery rooms.  Plus she will get real food since they will not induce.  We did take her some dinner and ice cream tonight since all she had was broth and water today incase they had to do a Cesarean.

The new room will also allow TK to visit as long as his vaccinations are up to date.

We have decided on the name Kojiro Mateo Chinn.  So that will cover all the bases with a Japanese, Mexican, and Chinese name.  He will probably get called Koji-kun for short.

10/5/2006 - Just got done with my Thursday Mtn Bike ride and nearly killed myself.  A big German Sheppard was in the middle of the trail which caused the guy in front of me to crash and then I crashed to avoid him.  I did not see him until I was halfway off the boulder into the river bed (good 4' drop).  Managed to bruise my right palm and my ring finger on my left hand is black, blue, and swollen.  I think I twisted it in the brake levers during the fall.  Hurts like all-get-out. :p  It was still fun. :)

9/29/2006 - Well, we finalized the contract with Lowe's for the kitchen remodeling.  I do not think I have spent that much money before except to buy our cars and house.  It made me a little queasy.  I hope it is all worth it.  To bad we will only get to spend about 4 months in it before we have to move.  It should definitely increase the value of the house.

I managed to kill myself again going mountain biking with the local club.  I am getting better since I did not fall nearly as much and only had to walk up a two hills.  I lost my balance and could not get back on the bike in the middle of the slope.  It is definitely making me healthier.  My endurance is increasing and probably my strength.  I just got the GPS in the mail and hope to make use of it next ride to mark my route.

Okay, I think I need to go lie down now.  Everything will seem better in the morning. :p

9/22/2006 - Today was a good day.  Not to brag, okay I will a little, we had a parent teach conference with TK's daycare teacher and she stated that TK is really advanced for his age.  He knows all his alphabet and numbers where many of his peers do not.  I guess this is partly attributed to us reading a lot to him, making him do chores for allowance (which turns into a math lesson also), and he has to do several pages in his pre-school book his Nana got for him for his allowance.

The downside is that he gets bored easily in class unless the teachers give him something challenging.  I hope we can keep this up even when Vern or I get deployed.  I do not want to turn him into a child prodigy but the earlier we can instill some good study habits the better.  I hope he does better in school than I did.

9/18/2006 - Well, we finally took the plunge and we are going to remodel the kitchen.  We finally got tired of some of the appliances working intermittently (stove and oven have a hard time lighting) and the run down look of the kitchen (stains on the counter, fading/bleaching of the cabinet doors, water stains, etc). 

We went with Lowe's since they will give us 12 months of 0% financing.  We decided to go with the Diamond Cabinets for all the specialty cabinets, Formica solid counters since they will give us a free sink molded into the counter, Frigidaire Professional Series stove/oven and hood microwave.  They will also have to rip out the false ceiling in the kitchen to allow me my special tambour counter cabinet modifications.  You can check the photo album for what the kitchen looks like now.  I will post the final pics later.

9/12/2006 - Just got the KitchenAide Two-drawer Dishwasher.  It rocks!!!  Normally it takes us 3-4 days to fill a dishwasher.  Now we can just wash a drawer.  If we have a party then we use both drawers.  It is also super-super quiet.  You can barely tell it is running unlike our old one. 

We also got a new vacuum cleaner to replace our old Hydra (used water to trap the debris).  The problem with this is Vern got tired of pulling out the pet hair before she dumped the water in the toilet.  Also, she had to vacuum the rug several times to get all the hair off.  The new Dyson Animal DC15.  Instead of the normal wheels it moves around on a ball giving it exceptional maneuverability.  The canister is easily emptied and Vern only has to make one pass on the rug to get all the pet hair off.

Now we have to replace the old sink.  We are not sure we are going to totally remodel the kitchen, but had to replace a few of the old stuff that was broken.  We tossed the instant water heater under the sink since it was broken and the trash compactor will be out the door also.  I think we will turn it into a cabinet.

My next project is to scan in all of our old pictures to digital format just in case something happens.  I am dreading this as it is a sizable box and number of albums.

9/11/2006 - I am currently on 2 weeks of use or lose leave.  Basically, I am completing all the honey-to-do tasks that have been piling up like fix the sink, dishwasher, vacuum, lawn, cars, guest room, ... <sigh> I need to go back to work for a vacation. :p

9/6/2006 - We took TK to Disney Live.  He loved it and entertained him the whole hour.  He liked all the magic tricks, singing, and dancing numbers.  He also discovered cotton candy and turned his mouth blue.  We got him a baseball cap and a picture.

8/24/2006 - I am finally back home after 2 months of school.  I was attending the FA49 Qualification Course.  It is a certification course for Operations Research System Analyst (ORSA) field grade officers.  I should not need to go to anymore schooling until I make Lieutenant Colonel.

Vern is doing well and has finally picked a first name, Kojiro.  I am not sure where she heard that one.  She is still looking for a Mexican middle name.  Her weight is progressing fine and according to her last check up the baby is doing well also.  She has noticed that he is very active but does not remember TK being as active.  Hopefully, he will have the same temperament as TK.

We are now giving TK an allowance for doing chores.  He gets a quarter each day for feeding the pets in the morning and at night.  We are hoping it will help him with his arithmetic as well as being financially responsible.  He understands what money is used for but has not desired to spend it on anything.  Usually it is Vern or myself that asks him if he wants a toy.  Otherwise he will just play with something at the store and then put it back when it is time to go.

6/15/2006 - All is going well with the baby.  After the last check they estimate the baby will be due Dec 5 but will leave the date for the 3rd since it is so close.  It may change at the 20 week ultrasound.  This is around July 19ish I think.  I seemed to have some sympathetic pregnancy weight gain.  I now weight 149 (up from 135).  Not sure where it is since my clothes do not feel any tighter.

6/5/2006 - Vern and I feel much relieved after today's ultrasound.  We did not see any twins in there and it is possibly a boy.  Although Vern was hoping for a girl I think.  I still think it is a girl.  We got to see the baby performing some pretty cool acrobatics.  (S)he fully stretched out before curling back into a ball and sucking her thumb.  The nurse was not quick enough to take a picture of the baby fully stretched out.  The baby is estimated at 14.2 weeks and 3 oz.  Vern says she could not really feel the baby moving around during the ultrasound.  Photos are located at our Baby Journal Album page.

After Vern did some reading, and it seems that the body remembers what to do on the second pregnancy so starts expanding and getting ready for the baby earlier.  So far Vern has only managed to gain about 7.5 lbs, but already has a decent sized pooch to her belly, enough to require the addition of a few maternity clothes to her already expansive wardrobe.  Luckily for her, the new ACUs (Army Combat Uniform) are formless enough to allow her to put off getting the dreaded and totally oxymoronic "Pregnancy BDUs". But it won't be long now...

5/29/2006 - Well, the 4-day Memorial Day weekend is just about over.  Vern has only gained about 7 lbs.  We do not think it is twins because she would be much bigger (or so we think).  We are thinking the baby with be due around the first week in November.  She has been getting nauseous in the evenings.  We have tried everything from cold water, crackers, to vitamin B.  Nothing seems to eliminate it but does make her feel better.

Vern has been constantly running compared to the last pregnancy when she had her thyroid surgery that prevented her from working out during her recovery.  She gained 45 lbs with TK and took her about 18 months to lose it all.  She is hoping to not gain so much this time around.  We are shooting for 143 lbs or 25 lbs.

5/26/2006 - Well, we have started looking for names Vern would like to keep the same naming convention, Japanese Hispanic Chinese.  For a boy we may use Tadashi and a girl Tamiko Felicia.  Not sure about a boy's Hispanic name yet.  Depending on the verdict on June 5th we may have to pick more names.

5/21/2006 - Vern's last visit to the doctor has got me worried.  The nurse thinks that either they have miscalculated the due date or we are expecting twins.  This is due to the development of the upper part of the womb at this time.  The next appointment will be June 5th for an ultrasound to verify the number of fetuses and stage of development. 

5/19/2006 - TK had his first piano recital.  He did really good and did not have stage fright like many other kids.  He seemed to like getting in front of everyone.  We took some movies so Vern will add it to the DVD later.

5/1/2006 - It is official.  We are now expecting.  The estimated date of arrival is around the 2nd week of December.  Our first doctor's appt. is next week.  We do not know the sex yet.  TK first wanted a brother, but now seems to want a sister.  Half of me is hoping for a boy to use all of TK's old clothes and half of me wants a girl so that Vern can dote on her instead of spoiling TK all the time.  Maybe it is just a phase but TK has become very emotional. :p

4/2/2006 - Vern was just promoted to Major during her deployment to Crete, Greece.  TK and I are holding down the fort while she is over there.

4/1/2006 - TK has been doing piano lessons on the weekend.  I am amazed at how quickly he picks it up.  I think it is also helping with hand-eye coordination.  We are working on simple melodies and music theory.  We are also practicing during the week.  He only has about a 20 min attention span so that is about as much practice we get every couple of nights.

3/31/2006 - This is the beginning of the news page.