So since Tracy and I don't gamble, yet still go to Vegas with family, we've found something to spend money on instead. Room and Board. Last year we figured out we could try appetizers and cocktails while the family gambled at each casino. This time we tried out the Aria Las Vegas, since it was new. And we loved it. Best sleep Tracy's had in a while. And so good we turned down the free room my parents got at Paris Las Vegas and paid for another night there, because, well, a good night's sleep for a pregnant woman 7 months along is absolutely priceless. Very nice place. Bed most of all. Control4 automation system is nice, the automated drapes is very cool, but the control system itself, well, there's some lag time there. Turned me off wanting to implement it at home. I think home automation is the one place where you really can't skimp, and it shows when you do. Also, the new camera held up pretty well I think. Full battery though the weekend. Only around 300 photos though. Definitely still playing with settings, mostly exposure. Also saw that there was a Raw Camera update for Mac OS X that supports my camera now. So I think it's time to finally upgrade to Snow Leopard and iPhoto '09. I'll try and post photos to Flickr when I get them uploaded to the computer. I still haven't figured out a workflow yet. Great to see my family, parents, Al and Nicole, at the annual Abando Vegas Vacation. Good to see the Basas, then the Argaos. No problems travelling, and keep getting to the airport on Sunday too early with way too much time to kill. And also keep going to Vegas when it rains, and leaving when it gets sunny and warm. Also started using foursquare to track where I went. It beat out Brightkite a couple weeks ago, and go figure, it went down on Saturday night. Today worked from home again, and was surprisingly super productive. I had guessed the opposite.

Working from home all this week. Totally throwing off my schedule. I'm a little surprised that both days I've left the house. That and the productivity increase. Odd. I figured I would go the entire week without going outside, but that's a little much. I feel like I need fresh air right around 5pm. Which probably makes sense since I've been in the same 15 feet area for roughly the whole day (I'm right next to the kitchen). Otherwise, I made dinner last night, since Tracy worked the night. Just a simple beef stir fry. I tried to use my mom's Beef and Broccoli marinade for the meat and might have used a little too much corn starch. Tracy made chili for dinner tonight. Also starting to feel a little under the weather, sore and scratchy throat, slight fever, feels like a cold. Started drinking my OJ and water in copious amounts today. Also made some rice crispie treats for dessert tonight. Still want to make a black forest cake at some point, and I keep buying those pints of heavy whipping cream, and I keep letting them go bad in the fridge. One of these days.

Okay, I cede there is a bad point to working from home: it's hard to separate work from home time. That blended a bit over the last day and night when I had to meet a deadline. But still good. I also think having one big screen instead of two small screens is more productive. It's like single tasking, instead of multitasking. Did some errands today, so again got out of the house. Still feel the cold coming on, not quite full strength, but it's not going away either. I am disappointed tha I haven't been posting my new camera photos to flickr on a timely basis, or even at all. It doesn't bode well for the future baby pictures. Also, my online reading is decreasing rapidly. Crazy. And I even started paring down my Google Reader feed list before I started slacking. Again, crazy.

I'm totally off my routine. Well, probably because it's a brand new routine working from home. Also really busy at work, so that's kind of throwing off the hours a bit too. I did manage to not leave the house today. And I actually felt bad about it. I figure I need to schedule walks. For example, tomorrow morning I'm planning on walking down to Belmont to get Dunkin Donuts. Just a little piece of my former life. But first unhealthy thing I'll have for breakfast all week, which is new for me. The cold I felt coming on is, I guess, here. Just up in the head, got a dry cough. Waiting for all the mucus in my sinus cavity to dislodge. Just a matter of time. Stupid Vegas. With the light streaming in through the windows and doors and where I'm sitting at the dining room table and us without window treatments means I get blinded by the sun after 4:30 or so. For now I'm just taping a giant manila envelope from my x-rays and moving it to match the position of the sun. Lo-tech, but works.

Didn't go for donuts this morning, instead cooked up my favorite Pepperidge Farm Apple Turnovers instead. I also made myself a nice hazelnut latte. Third time this week I made an espresso drink. I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of that going on. Gotta stay awake, and I think it's cheaper than going to Starbucks or Caribou Coffee. So even though I didn't go out this morning, I did kind of go outside on the roof deck. Even piped the music up there. I started listening to music while working today. Kind of nice, and the genius iTunes playlists are pretty swweet, especially since I don't know half the stuff in my library. So after a week of working at home? I like it, but I do need to learn to separate work from home. Otherwise, been pretty productive, eating healthier, less physical activity. Hoping it's permanent. Headed to Prentice tomorrow for a Great Expectations class for expectant parents. It's just one day, but it's the whole day. Maybe some shopping on Sunday. And dinner with the boys at Revolution Brewery since Whitney's in town.

Going in for Jury Duty tomorrow. This time at the Criminal Courts. Should be fun getting out there and back. Kind of a bad time, with all the work that's due, but I am a citizen. Gotta do my part. Friday had a cream cheese and sardines on toast for lunch, being Lent and all, and that was a tasty meal. Ended up doing tuna salad for dinner. Saturday went to an all day class for expectant parents at Prentice. That was interesting and fairly informative. Finally got the Mac Box Set and will go about trying to upgrade computers at home finally. Couldn't wait for the next release of iLife or iWork, and with the GF1 being supported now, but only for Aperture 3 or iPhoto '09, well, had to upgrade. So figure on Apple announcing or releasing updates soon. Checking out was super easy at the Apple Store, and makes me sad for all the people waiting in line at the checkout counter. Went to Bricks Pizza for dinner, and it wasn't as amazing as the last time we went there, which was after the Olympic Fun Run, which probably explains why we loved it the first time. Still pretty good I thought. Sunday made crepes for breakfast, headed out to Old Orchard. Met up with the boys for dinner with Whitney at Revolution Brewery. Good stuff there. And I also need to get back out on the bike. Thanks to Tony for the pie. And good to see the guys, but still a little weird. And as far as I can tell the working from home thing is permanent. Going in to work next Saturday to bring my desktop home and clean out my desk. Very very cool. Finally watched Terminator: Salvation while eating dinner from Taco Burrito Palace #2. Good times.

Jury duty was easy. No cases needed any jurors today, so they even let us out early. Took the 60 Blue Island/26th there and back. Took the 145 down with Tracy on the way to her doctor's appointment, and then took the 8 back up. Super easy. Managed to do a nuke and pave on the MacBook for Snow Leopard and now having issues for Microsoft Messenger which I use for work. Very annoying. I thought all these things would have been taken care of by now, like 6 months later, but I guess not. More annoyed at Microsoft. Haven't even tried iPhoto yet for the GF1 support. Ugh. Back to jury duty, didn't venture out, didn't even really leave my seat even during lunch break, just got some snacks from the vending machines. Got there early enough and got a prime seat near a power outlet. It was just us laptop junkies in the back row. No free wifi, so almost all of the time spent on the iPhone. Now that I've got Snow Leopard on the MacBook, I'm tempted to get a new battery to just make it a new laptop. Tempted. Might last me another year then.

Finally got Messenger for Mac working under Snow Leopard. Had to add X509Anchors in Keychain Access. That's all. Ended up having to pull it off the install discs using Pacifist since I screwed up the one on the hard drive. But just that simple. Very very annoying. Very annoying. Otherwise Snow Leopard seems pretty cool. Still haven't used it for anything non-work related. And I'm totally just getting a new battery, and hoping the MacBook sticks around for another year or so. Works well enough for me, and I'm not planning on doing any serious photo editing. Just using what I get. But with a new battery means I get to carry it around with me, and with the weather turning nice, means I could work from the deck. Sweet. Finally getting tax stuff together and ready to send off to the accountant, as well as some other financial todos. A little easier to do when I was working out of the office, because the post office, the bank, and all that is really close. Now I actually have to bike to get to these things. A perk of working from home? Took a break when Tracy got off work and went for a walk. I'll finish up a couple things later tonight, but nice to have that option. Also don't have to get up crazy early to make a 7am conference call tomorrow. Can just roll out of bed. Over the weekend finally got some butane for the creme brulee torch I think my brother got me. It is the most amazing thing ever. I want to torch everything. Like the cinnamon bagel that I melted butter over for breakfast, or the cheese I melted on my ham sandwich for lunch. Seriously, it's amazing. So thanks for that Al.

Early morning conference call isn't so bad when I'm wearing pajamas. My todo list is gradually getting smaller, but continually postponing items. Tomorrow. Always tomorrow. Maybe I can actually get out during lunch and run some errands tomorrow. Definitely need to. Bonus of working from home: didn't have to worry about taking a day off to be home for furniture delivery. Glider/recliner is super comfortable, and won't get used until the baby comes because there's no TV in the nursery. But I believe the nesting has started, and I'm getting sympathy nesting. Didn't really leave the house today, just to take the trash out. I did wear real pants today though. I've switched back from Chrome to Safari. And can't wait until I pick up my work computer this weekend. Will be nice to have a personal computer again that isn't plugged in all the time.

Parents are in town. Came in last night, dropped off some food, did a little cleaning, and came back today to do some more. It's what the like. Just trying to make them happy. Brought them out for dinner at HB Home Bistro. Had another great brioche bread pudding for dessert. Fabulous. Otherwise, another week working from home in the books. I am planning on heading down to the office to pick up my computer and clean out my desk tomorrow, which I realize isn't the best idea with the St. Patrick's Day parade and the river dying, but I figure if i do it early enough it shouldn't be a problem. I should also make a Home Depot run tomorrow, as I got lots to do at home, as the nesting sets in. Probably not hitting up the Chicago Home & Garden show, even though we remembered this year. Not sure having a pregnant woman waddle through a trade show on the last day of the weekend is a good idea.

Guess it was a possibility, but I think I work more when I work from home. Probably, just trading the commute time from my reading time to more working time. I am absolutely loving the new battery I finally got for the MacBook. It's like I have a brand new computer, with Snow Leopard too! Seriously, I'm good for another year or so. Of course, while I'm knocking on wood, this will mean this computer will flame out sooner rather than later. Didn't go to Home Depot until Sunday, just hung out at home on Saturday, besides making a run downtown to pick up my work computer. I'm now setup on the kitchen table, and had to fold it out to have enough space for all the monitors. And I even want to get an additional cheap video card so I can run a third. Besides that I need to get a USB bluetooth adapter for the headset for Skype. I need to make a run over to MicroCenter to pick that stuff up. Did get some more wire shelves for the closets, and hopefully the stuff needed to put the railing together. Also went back to Paciugo Gelato, which is awesome, but wrecks a little havoc with the GI tract, but the Black Pepper Olive Oil gelato is actually really good. Oh, also checked out some open houses over in Roscoe Village. Figured weather was nice, and with both Tracy and I working from home, we might need more space sooner rather than later. But just looking. Always.

I hate Windows. Tried adding another video card to my work computer so I could rock the triple monitor goodness, but putting it in, then updating video card drivers, causes a blue screen and the RAID to verify. Awesome. Stupid. Why isn't it as easy as dropping a card in, having it show up, and adjusting the settings to extend the desktop to the third monitor? Why isn't it as easy as plugging in a third monitor to the onboard video of the motherboard, except that Dell disables the onboard video when a video card is present? Seriously? Ugh. Ran some errands at lunch which took up taking about twice as long as I should have taken, but got some things done, which is good. Being a good treasurer for the condo association is a good thing. Of course that meant I had to work through the night, but that's only proper. As for food, started scrounging for meals, finding whatever's in the fridge to eat. That only took a couple weeks. Wondering when the Ramen and mac & cheese cravings start to happen. And I still haven't exercised in like 3 weeks. Maybe I should just take a short break from work in the morning and whip out some planks.

Ugh. Really hate Windows. How hard is it to get a PCI video card installed? Apparently super hard. Drivers, driver versions not compatible with this version of operating system, I think drivers getting installed over other drivers because both cards are ATIs? How hard is it, with a Dell Optiplex 755 Mini Tower with a PCIe ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT to work with a PCI ATI Radeon 7000 at the same time to drive 3 monitors? Seriously, I was throwing in like 3 different PCI video cards with a previous work system without any problems, well, except for maybe one blue screen. I've gotten it to the point where it boots up with the PCI video card, but once Windows XP loads the PCIe card takes over and the PCI card shuts down. It's stupid. Stupid and annoying. But would be so sweet if it would ever work. Which I am still hoping for. But very very frustrating. Wouldn't be having this problem on a Mac. Didn't leave the house today. Did go up on the deck, where Tracy was starting to garden. I did manage to put up an additional wire shelf in the closet today. So that was something. Tracy also made corned beef, cabbage and potatoes for dinner, since it's St. Paddy's Day. Yum. Looking forward to corned beef hash some time this week. Maybe we should get some sweet potatoes.

Had an early start to the day, so had an early end too. Worked out well with the nice weather and Tracy working the early shift as well. so we took a walk down to CVS to pick up her prescription. Got more gelato at Paciugo Gelato. They had a flavor called Beer Chill, lime sorbet flavored with Corona. Amazing. The Tiramisu gelato tasted like the different layers of tiramisu. I love that place. I want to try every single flavor they make. Even the Soy and No Sugar Added versions. Also odd? Seeing all the people out and about in the afternoon. So strange. Ended up eating at Rocks Lakeview, Tracy had a sweet potato fries craving. Stopped at a Borders at the southern turnaround point of our afternoon out. There's some strange parenting books out. Also, lots of books on how to raise boys. Only saw a couple on raising daughters. Thought that was funny. I've given up trying to get the PCI Radeon 7000 card working in my work computer for the time being. At some point though, it sure would be nice. It would be nice if something said what the problem is. Maybe the power supply doesn't have enough juice? But it really just seems to be a driver problem. I install the drivers for the PCI card, it looks like it overwrites the drivers for the PCIe Radeon 2400 XT card. And vice versa. Why can't I install both?

I might be working too much. It's really easy when Tracy's on the night shift, to just stay in front of the computer while she is too. Will be even easier when she moves out to the living room as well, and then I'll just say it's keeping her company. But really easy to keep working. But this time it was more like there's something I was striving for, rather than a deadline I needed to meet. So that's good. Otherwise, more random stuff for eating today. Except for breakfast. Made the turnovers again, since it was Friday. Sardines for lunch. And a PB&J. Ramen for dinner. Also made espasol for the baby shower tomorrow out at the Argaos. Wonder what our loot's gonna be like. Hopefully good. Will try and get a good workout for my camera. Will try keeping the aperture not quite so wide open to increase some sharpness. Hopefully. Might rebuild the Mac mini, finally put Snow Leopard on it. That's if we move the computers out to the living room this weekend. Still got to put the railing up. Maybe I'll try that this weekend too.

I'm not expecting another snow until Fall, but it wouldn't surprise me. The snow after the 60 degree day on Saturday is the one I knew was coming, so with that out of the way, I figure we'll be treated to a very windy, brisk spring. Had a baby shower on Saturday at the Argaos. Good to see lots of family friends and family, and much thanks to all the gifts. Got lots of clothes, and lots of cleaning/bathing stuff. Baby's gonna be very very clean. Food was good, and surprised that my espasol was completely eaten. I'm gonna have to make another batch for Tracy and myself. Watched the huge upset in the NCAA tournament, and tried to help my father-in-law with some Mac video stuff. Also took about 200 photos with the camera, not sure how they turned out. Still haven't figured out how I want to organize photos on the computer. I do just need to take the plunge and dive right in. Went out to Shaumburg for lunch on Sunday at Wildfire to see cousin Ron on the way back to the airport. Good to see him. Sad that we're gonna miss out going to Poland for his wedding this August. But figure a transatlantic flight with a 3-month old wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. Also did some shopping, got some supplies. I moved my computer from the dining room table to the breakfast table so Tracy had space to finish up the curtains for the nursery. I no longer had the space to use the Apple Cinema Display, so I'm just back to the 2 work 19" monitors. And continuing to work from home. Put up the shelf in the nursery closet, and need to cut the balusters for the railing using the Dremel.

So I've been given Windows 7 to run under Parallels on my own MacBook for use by work when I go into the office. And it's pretty annoying. I was used to Windows XP. That was an OS that didn't get in my way. It's very much in the background for me right now. Windows 7? Always up in my face. Always. And trying to figure ways to make it go away, well, that's just annoying. Was it the same way with Mac OS X, from 10.5 to 10.6? Not at all. From 10.1 to 10.6? I'd have no idea. But I assume it wouldn't be as awkward as it's been. But slowly starting to figure it out. Which means I'll be able to work from anywhere soon. So I guess I have that going for me. Need to get out to Home Depot to pick up some more cheap paper window shades and some wood dowels to put together the railing. That sounds bad, but it's not what you think. Picked up dinner from Panino's a block away. Not bad. Doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. Watched some TV. My internet consumption and production has drastically decreased, to the point I'm thinking of getting rid of some services that are no longer being used.

Spent lots of time trying to get a working development environment on my MacBook under Parallels and Windows 7. It's been hard going. And some of the issues I've come across have no defined problem, no easy fix. I do Google searches which return forum posts with a few me toos and no actual solutions. That's just annoying. That was the last couple of days. So after spending the day at work dealing with it, I just went ahead and reinstalled Windows, and will start adding software piece by piece. I'm scared though about putting Visual Basic 6, still needed for development, on it. Figure that might screw up a lot of things. Also found that some issues are registry related. Yup, Windows 7 registry related. Doctor's appointment on Wednesday was fine. Again, Tracy and the baby are tracking well. She made a cornish hen for dinner last night, which was great. Tonight I made, sorta, coconut milk chicken adobo, which I didn't even end up eating because I finished off the mac & cheese with ham she made for lunch, since I was in the office, and the rest of the leftover pizza. I got to have sushi for lunch, and I'm looking forward to the pickled herring I picked up at Treasure Island for lunch tomorrow.

I imagine my posting will get even more sporadic after the baby's born. Anyway, Friday worked from home again. Ate the pickled herring. Strange stuff. Tweaked MTU settings for work VPN connections. Helps to one location. Also finally got my Windows 7 install under Parallels on the MacBook in a good spot. When everything's mostly working, it's not a bad OS. Also cleaned out the car cause on Saturday while Tracy was working I brought it over to Simon's Shine Shop to get detailed. You know, pre-baby nesting. Great idea cause the car looks brand new. Took like 5 hours though. I did some work at a Starbucks, wandered through Moosejaw and Barnes & Noble where I played with a Nook. Ugh, the dual screen interface isn't my cup of tea. Went to Twist for dinner and moved to the bar so we could watch the cooks. Always fun to watch. They just stack up pans on the heat. That's just one of those things you'd never think about but totally makes sense. Watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which was light and fun. Enjoyable. Sunday went out shopping, Babies 'R Us for detergent, then looking for a new desk/chair for Tracy. Found one at a Target. Which I put together today. More supplies from Home Depot. First visit to Super H Mart. Fun place. Ended up having to do work at a Barnes & Noble (free WiFi!), and dinner at Corner Bakery to continue working, before realizing we could have just gone home instead. Well, I know now. Monday finally moved Tracy's computers out of the nursery and into the living room on her new desk, and moved the rest of the computer equipment out of there as well. Now it's all in the living room. Tracy's also started decluttering, which I guess is that nesting thing people always talk about. I'm just happy we finally have shades in the living room, even if they are the cheapie paper blinds. Something's better than nothing.

Took an early day today since Tracy had the early shift. Went out to Target and got another Anywhere Desk. So now we have a set of matching desks while we work at home together. It's very nice. Even took the chance to clean up the wires a bit. So at least that little side of the room is nice and neat. Oh, I also got back my Aeron chair. Tracy's in her chair from Arhaus instead. So nice. Took apart the breakfast table, next up is disassembly of the desk in the nursery. All of this is in preparation of delivery of the dresser and crib for the nursery on Friday. And that sentence had a whole bunch of prepositions. Also finally cut the iron balusters to size. Dremel's are awesome. So now I just have to put it together. Closer and closer. Still no luck with bluetooth on Windows XP and the Magic Mouse. Even with an additional USB bluetooth dongle. Of course it was just another Broadcom chipset. So I'm still trying to track down a different bluetooth radio device. No idea if I can. Gotta go in to work tomorrow.

Was in the office today. Not so bad. Missed being home though. Brought back a wired headset, so I could just skip over the whole bluetooth Magic Mouse issue. So I can use the mouse with the scrolling now. It's awesome. Also pretty productive with the MacBook/Parallels/Windows 7 combo. Took the desk apart after dinner from Taco Burrito Palace. Need to patch and paint screw holes in the nursery before the dresser/crib shows up on Friday. And back at home to start April. And the weather. Right, the weather. And road construction. There's something going on on Halsted with those giant slabs of metal covering up a hole in the street, except it's not nice and flat, so makes a nice loud clunking noise when cars drive over it. It's awesome. But at least I don't notice it so much when I'm sleeping. Oh, and a have a dentist appointment tomorrow. Been a long time since my last one.