Hi Everybody!

Let’s take a moment and review the past few weeks, shall we?

Little Allison is doing well. She’s growing really well, and already we can look back at pictures from previous weeks and see a big difference. She’s started smiling more, and definitely talking more, and generally is more attentive to the world around her. She still remains pretty good natured, although she can get pretty pissed off when she’s tired (she’s like her Daddy that way). She has a doctor’s appointment today where she’s going to get some number of shots. That’s not going to be a pretty scene. Her new thing is sleeping for hours at a time, which is pretty cool. She’s pretty consistently sleeping from 9pm to 3am, and then again until 7am. Diana appreciates that.

Diana’s been doing a great job as stay-at-home Mom. It sounds like it’s not really hard work, but just constant. Even breaks during naps are filled with other things that need to get done. She’s been making lots of playdates with friends and grandparents, so that sounds like it breaks up the days a bit, which is nice.

We were supposed to have Thanksgiving with my family, Diana’s family, and another family. However, my parents at the other family got a pretty nasty stomach virus and were horribly sick, so Thanksgiving was officially cancelled. That was kind of a bummer, but we still spent the day with Diana’s family, and that was still nice. I’m glad we didn’t get whatever sickness was going around… it sounded awful.

This weekend I officially entered myself into the holiday spirit. Friday evening found me at Home Depot for some reason, and they were setting up Christmas tree sales in the parking lot, and holiday music was playing, and I got all caught up in it. I think last year I let the holiday season just sort of come and go without making much note of it, but this year I’m into it. My parents visited on Saturday, and I roped my Dad into helping me get a tree. So we got that all set up Saturday afternoon, and Diana and I decorated it that night. That was a really memorable evening. I was sitting with Allison sleeping in my arms while Diana decorated the tree (under my careful supervision, of course). We had Christmas music playing, and I just was filled with a happy feeling. It was really nice.

I’ve been able to get out and see some friends recently, too, which was nice. The Buhr’s came down and it was nice to see them. I got in some quality gaming with Eryn and Little Buhr and his roommate. We played a new game (whose name I don’t remember), which was very Puerto Rico’ish and very fun. I’ve logged some good Team Fortress 2 hours, including a session with Mike and Eryn and a workboy, which was pretty cool. I learned this weekend that even Iwan was getting set up with TF2, and I loo forward to meeting him online sometime.

I beat “Raining Blood” in Guitar Hero 3, which I’d previously thought was impossible. That means that I’ve completed ALL songs on Expert, getting me to the final Boss Battle against “Lou” the devil. The song is a metal version of “The Devil Came Down from Georgia”, and it’s really tough. And unlike the other boss battles, I don’t think I can wuss out on this one. You have to pass it to continue. I’m pretty pissed, since I want to get the final song unlocked, but I think I need to beat Lou first. Ugh. Fucking Boss Battles. I hate you. In other gaming news, Rock Band has come out, and official reviews are glowing. Some user reviews on message boards are a little complain-y (mostly about defective equipment and compatibility issues, not the game itself). I’m pretty sure that I really, really, REALLY want it. People looking for gift ideas could do a lot worse. I still haven’t played it yet (aside from the broken demo at Best Buy), and it’s killing me.

That’s about it for now. November is quickly passing, and December is quickly filling up with social plans, including family birthday and Christmas celebrations, as well as company holiday party, Eryn’s traditional gift exchange party (which I look forward to ever year!), and so on.

All things considered, it’s a pretty good time to be an Adman.