Happy Leap Day!

The AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) has designated 2008 as Year of the Frog. One-third of all known amphibian species are currently facing extinction, a number which is hard to wrap one's mind around, but think if one-third of the planet's mammals were facing extinction? One of the best ways I've heard this crisis simplified is to think of amphibians as the nuts and bolts of an airplane. If we start losing the nuts and bolts eventually the plane will fall apart. I could go on and talk about amphibians as bio-indicators, providers of biomedicines and vital components of ecosystems (think of the pest-control they provide), but I don't want to be pushy and prefer to keep the theme of this blog cheery. We have five new exhibits at work addressing these issues and here a couple websites for those wanting to learn more: AZA and Amphibian Ark

Lots of zoos and aquariums opened special exhibits and displays on Leap Day and will continue to do special amphibian and frog related programs throughout 2008 to continue to raise awareness. Check out the zoo by you!

Some Wii Video

We love Wii!

Went over to Kelly's tonight for some pizza, baby, Wii fun. I hadn't played Nintendo Wii yet, and it lived up to all the great reviews I'd heard. We had a pentathlon and tried out tennis, bowling, golf, boxing and baseball. I think I liked baseball and tennis the best, not sure about Andrew, but I would guess boxing. Oh and Kelly, I completely agree that we need to host an Urban Wii tourney some night over here on the big screen. Anyway, it was a fun time. If spring wasn't right around the corner I might be antsy to get one. Right now just antsy for dog-walking and gardening....

Sychronized Sleeping

Are we done with this yet?

Hockey Video

Mark, here's the video of Carrie's cousin from Friday night. Enjoy! For those of you not familiar with our local hockey team, there is always a jersey-strip after the game. Not exactly sure what purpose it serves, but you can definitely hear the 15 year old girls scream....

Dinner, Guitar Hero, & Sing Star

We went to Clare and Megan's tonight for dinner and some video games. I've heard about Guitar Hero from quite a few people and was looking forward to testing it out. Andrew had played it before too so between everyone I was the rookie. Picture two is of me getting booed off stage playing Pat Benatar's We Built This City. Picture three is Bo the cat playing air guitar. Picture four is our mini pies for dessert. And picture five is proof for Megan who claims she is, "almost as tall as my mom."

Sing Star 80's Addition

Video of Megan and I singing Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time. It's painful, trust me. Megan was a good sport; the game actually gives you ratings....bad! Awful! I'm pretty sure that the cat walking around yowling while we were singing is a bad thing too. Video of Uptown Girl, We Built this City, and Material Girl will not be shown as the speakers on your computer may actually explode.

More Snow!

Cash normally pees in the yard, but this season, we've received over 60 sixty inches of snow-this video proves that the lines of patio and yard are not easily identified by the dog. It's funny too, every morning when I let Cash out I think in my head, "Today will be the day," but he STILL (at almost two years old) will wade out to an unused spot and squat (which dips his penis into the snow) and then to compensate for what I'm assuming is quite a rude wake-up he'll arch his back into an awkward stance for the remainder of the elimination. Ice to genital contact at 5:55 a.m. Hmmm, you'd think some lessons would be easier to learn.

Happy Valentines Day!

For our first "married" Valentines Day we opted against the fancy dinner out (we did that last weekend anyway) and instead enjoyed beers, nachos & hot wings followed by nine holes at Pebble Beach. After 3 holes I was 8 over and Andrew was 11 over so.....we started over with best shot. Still finished 7 over par, not too terrible considering we could not get the hang of chipping on the golf simulator. Oh well, better luck next time. (The pictures aren't terrible, but lighting was making it difficult.)

Best of Dumb Dares for the office January

Secret Santa Kevin got me a page-a-day calendar called Dumb Dares for the office. Each day gives you a new, fun and completely annoying idea to try out to lighten the mood at work. They have been pretty hilarious. Here are my favorites for the month of January (in no particular order)

1. Shout "phone!" every time someone's phone rings.
2. Stick out your bottom lip and stamp your foot every time someone asks you to do something today.
3. When riding the elevator sigh loudly every time the door opens.
4. At the end of a meeting, suggest that, for once, it would be nice to conclude the meeting with the singing of the national anthem.
5. Empty your trash bin into a colleague's trash bin while they're at their desk. Don't say anything.
6. Add "tra-la-la" to the end of every sentence you say today.
7. Growl every time someone walks past your desk.

We've tried out one of these....any ideas which one?

Village Bar

On Saturday night we went out with a group of 10 to the Village Bar, a supper club in Kieler, WI that is known for the fantastic food. We weren't really celebrating anything in particular, but the group definitely splurged. All the guys ordered the prime rib while the ladies favored the steak and crab legs. It is a good thing we enjoyed the food because I think everyone took a box of leftovers home! I feel like I should point out that the bill for Andy & I (including drinks) was less then $60! Top picture is of Nathan and Nick enjoying, bottom picture is Andy and Jeremy in matching shoes, coats, shirts. (Nathan had already left, otherwise he would have been in the matching picture too!) Sorry, I didn't take a "girl" picture...

A few more Dad took...

Focusing is hard work!

Now I got it!