The Monday Morning BS Report

Radian v2.0 (Million)

The Radian contest's winners will be announced sometime today. I'm glad for that because, well, it's good to know if we won or not. I'll admit that as we get closer to finding out the winners, I feel a combination of bad and annoyed with the other contestants. I'm annoyed because people keep posting harassing messages all over the website saying, "did you pick the winners yet?" "I thought you were picking the winners today! It's after midnight, so it's officially today! What gives!" This is incredibly annoying, and if I ran this contest, comments like that would be an automatic disqual. Anyhow, I also feel kind of bad for entering because among the annoying comments, there are others who are saying that if they don't win, they can't afford a car seat, and things like that. I can afford to buy this seat if I want. Hell, I already own one. I want another because it's better for extended rear-facing, and Orren's so tall he's uncomfy in his Britax Marathon in the truck, and could use the leg room of another Radian, while we save the Britaxes for the next baby. I guess my reasoning for wanting a(nother) Radian is trivial compared to a lot of people's. I tend to forget how badly a lot of people have it these days.

Oh Snap!

In HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY news, my snap order arrived!! I will be spending most of today converting all Orren's Bum Genius diapers from velcro to snaps! I can't wait. It's to the point that he unfastens the velcro THROUGH his pants, and takes his diaper off, and he does not do that with the covers we have, which close with snaps. The solution, of course, is to convert the velcro dipes to snaps, and KAMsnaps carries snaps in the Bum Genius colors, so I was able to get them easily and quickly, and it turns out to be about $1 per diaper to convert them. (OK, when you factor in the cost of the snap pliers, it works out to be a little over $2 per diaper, but that's a small price for the peace of mind it brings.) I'll post pics of the finished product.

Oh Master Tech, my Master Tech!

Thak is taking three more ASE exams this week. If he passes them all, this will put us halfway to where we want to be, and of course, where we want to be is with 8 certifications, which will make him a Master Automotive Technician. If he makes it all the way to that, not only will he break a school record (he already broke one by being the earliest in his studies to become ASE certified in any area. He did that last November.) but he will be pretty well set to make at least as much money on the outside as he is currently in the Army. Most of the Master Tech jobs we've seen come with very nice benefits packages, too, so that would certainly make the deal just that much nicer. We need him to pass all these exams before we can even really think about any of that, though. He's been studying all weekend (yes, it was the most boring weekend of my life for that reason.) and has until Thursday. He's taken online practice tests on the ASE website, and the practice tests in the ASE exam preparation manuals we bought him. His scores have shown steady improvement in all three areas he's testing in, as the weekend went on, so he should do fine come Thursday. That's our hope anyhow. We need him to be a Master Tech when he gets out. This will put us on the right side of getting there.

Orren loves cake like, well... like a fat kid loves cake.

We had some cake last night, and Orren had to have some, too. He loved it. That's the big news in Orren's world. You ever had cake? You ever had ENOUGH cake? Orren hasn't. Cake is good, and he doesn't quite understand why his mommy has only given it to him twice in his life. He needs more cake, and would like to ask anyone who gives a crap about him to tell his mommy that he needs cake every day. He thanks you for your time and commitment to his cause.



OK, that's about all. I'm going to put snaps on some dipes now. I'll post pics later.