Everyone seems to have that problem of a few sock casualties each time the laundry is done. Despite numerous hints from Heloise we can’t seem to develop a way to solve the issue. Until I discovered Greg’s method, which answered and raised a lot of questions.

Step 1: Don’t do laundry, ... [ more ]]]>

Everyone seems to have that problem of a few sock casualties each time the laundry is done. Despite numerous hints from Heloise we can’t seem to develop a way to solve the issue. Until I discovered Greg’s method, which answered and raised a lot of questions.

Step 1: Don’t do laundry, ever.

If Step 1 is not an option, try Step 2.

Step 2: When finished with laundry, gather all clean, loose socks without mates and immediately place them back in dirty laundry hamper to see if they will find mates magically. Repeat cycle until socks are all paired up by magic. Doing this 6 or 7 times may produce more missing socks, as the socks without mates from the next batch will compile onto the current batches. Also, DO NOT try to look in drawers for any lost socks that wife may have come across and stored away for you. DO take wife’s socks and claim them as your own, even though they do not fit feet.

If Step 2, surprisingly, does not work, proceed to Step 3.

Step 3: At this point, you should be noticing a difference in your laundry. Perhaps more socks are now going missing than ever now if you have been diligently adhering to Step 2. The final step is to take all the socks that have now lived in laundry purgatory for 6 or 7 washes and throw them in the trash. That’s right! Throw them away! This includes wife’s socks that you think are yours that may have mates appropriately living in wife’s drawers. Perfectly good socks that have been tortured by living in the laundry hamper have no use without their pairs. Again, do NOT check in drawers for possible large pile of single socks that will now forever be mateless.

This is the methodology I had accidentally stumbled upon one day doing laundry. While I can’t quite figure out a system myself, I didn’t think Greg’s running system was helping. Any suggestions of solutions from the blogosphere?

Greg and Sookie on the Snow Couch

Over the past five years, I’ve stored in a U-Haul storage unit in Gaithersburg an old bedroom set, a futon, a table, about 10 boxes of books 4 frames pictures and 3 boxes of mementos.  There’s been more and there’s been a lot more in that storage ... [ more ]]]>

U-Haul Storage Unit

Over the past five years, I’ve stored in a U-Haul storage unit in Gaithersburg an old bedroom set, a futon, a table, about 10 boxes of books 4 frames pictures and 3 boxes of mementos.  There’s been more and there’s been a lot more in that storage unit, but that list is things have been consistently in there since I moved down to DC.

When we bought the new house in November, I was resolved to close our storage unit. I had planned for the movers to swing by and unload the storage unit, but it proved too costly, so I determined to do so myself after move in day. Problem was, after we moved in, we already had a full home from just the condo, and there was no place for all those items. The storage unit remained open.

Over the summer I took a major step by removing the largest items. I resolving that there are others that need that bedroom set more than I, and I called Habitat for Humanity who came to the unit with a truck and took that furniture. Now all that remained were the books and frames and smaller items, but still the storage unit remained open.

At some point this fall I changed my thinking on this matter. I decided I didn’t have to know what I was going to do with it all. I could just bring it in house and deal with it when I can. And that is what I did. So, there are boxes in the basement level now, but seeing them everyday makes me more likely to deal with them. Plus, more importantly, I finally I turned in my key and closed the storage unit.

In retrospect, I should have done this a long time ago. I figure at approximately $70 a month for rental of our 5×10’ space, I’ve spent just over $4,000 to store that bedroom set, futon, books, frames and boxes; well more than all of that was worth combined.

On the rare occasion that we have some, it is ONLY handled by Mr. Scrapple himself ... [ more ]]]> As a born and bred Delawarian, Greg’s favorite breakfast meat is scrapple. Having spent my time in Delaware for 4 years, I must say, I’ve taken to scrapple as well. I’m not proud of this.

On the rare occasion that we have some, it is ONLY handled by Mr. Scrapple himself and comes out of the freezer onto the griddle. Except, every time we have it at home, it comes out as a big pile of mush. You know what’s worse than eating scrapple? Eating a mushy pile of it.

There are many parts of the cooking process that I question, yet Mr. Scrapple insists this it how it’s done. The other day, I got to witness the Scrapple ritual firsthand. As soon as it came home from the store, the first thing Mr. S did was cut it into slices with a knife, ribbons of plastic casing aflutter. He then took the pile of “sort of” meat slices and casing ribbons and wrapped that all up in a few layers of plastic wrap, then placed all of that in the freezer. All of this was done with more urgency than unpacking the groceries and putting away, say, the ice cream in the freezer. The scrapple was like a gunshot victim. When I questioned whether all this is really necessary, he rolled his eyes at me and huffed, “You wouldn’t understand. This is just how it’s done.”

I’m suspecting that when we eat it, we’ll still get a mush pile.

Selena deserves a night out with her friends, she hasn’t done so since Kaylee was born. So, she’s off to SATC2 and I’m going to be watching Kaylee alone, and what better way to be attentive to my daughter than to ... [ more ]]]>

What Kaylee thinks of being left home with dad.

Selena deserves a night out with her friends, she hasn’t done so since Kaylee was born. So, she’s off to SATC2 and I’m going to be watching Kaylee alone, and what better way to be attentive to my daughter than to live blog the experience. (Note: it would have been way irresponsible to actually live blog , so I’ve sync’d up the times with the thoughts and actions after the fact).  Here we go:

4:37pm – Dropped Selena off at the theatre to watch Sex and the City 2. Heading home with Kaylee.

5:12pm – Got home, Kaylee’s resting in her pack and play.  This isn’t so bad.

5:19pm – Here comes the crying

5:23pm – Sookie is using Kaylee’s whaling as a distraction to steal pacifiers, burp cloths or anything else of the baby’s not bolted down.

5:34 pm – Kaylee’s crying persists. Changing the diaper was not enough. Really hope this isn’t about the diaper rash as that could go non-stop all night.

5:36pm – Remembering that Selena asked if I had her step-mom’s phone number just in case. I said no and then she never gave it to me. Kaylee continues to cry.

5:38pm – Hoping she’s hungry, trying a bottle.
6:05 pm – I like feeding cause it’s brainless and I can watch TV while I do it. Tonight,  I see there’s a Two and a Half Men marathon. There are probably a lot better things to put on, but this episode has Ming-Na Wen guest starring.  I’ve liked her since Joy Luck Club.

6:12pm – All this feeding Kaylee reminds me that I’m hungry myself.  Baby first.

6:15 pm – Kaylee’s all fed and still screaming. WTF!

6:28 pm – Moving crying Kaylee to her carrier, it’s like a reverse backpack that I wear. I hoping she’s quiet with the motion.

6:32pm – It’s working, Kaylee is calming, now Sookie is ramping up. Debating walking her now, which I should, or eating first cause I’m starving.

6:38 pm – Nice, neighbor dog and Sookie’s favorite playmate, Saint, is in their front yard. The decision is made; I’m holding off dinner and taking advantage of having Kaylee in her carrier and an immediate outlet for Sookie’s energy out front.

7:04 pm –Sookie is spent, even fed her too (sadly, a year into being a pet owner, that’s not always a given that I remember to do that). Now to my own food. Kaylee is falling asleep in carrier.

7:19 pm – Kaylee’s is sleeping now, even able to move her from the carrier to the pack and play. Enjoyed my own dinner, leftover enchiladas. Damn they were good. Wondering if I should go clean up the kitchen or enjoy the moment of silence.

7:24pm – Took the moment of silence, five minues of silence actually.  Now, cleaning up the kitchen.

7:37pm – Kitchen’s clean, living room’s clean, Kaylee is still sleeping, Sookie is starting to stink. Dare I take on washing the dog?

7:41pm – Kaylee awoke, but was soothed back to sleep with the pacifier. I think I dare.  Setting up the minotor’s so I can hear Kaylee from the basement. C’mon Sookie, it’s bath time.

7:50 pm – Mid-bath for Sookie, Kaylee’s cries started coming in over the monitor, so had to make haste. Sookie’s darting around the house ringing herself out, but smells so much better now.

7:53 pm – Wow, this pacifier really works. I may be able to watch the Flyers game tonight even.

8:04pm – But not yet, have to do something about Sookie, she going absolutely nuts, sprinting back and forth on the couch.  Putting her in her crate.

8:10pm – Now, I’m finding my groove, Kaylee is calmly sucking on the pacifier, Sookie is calming her in crate, I am watching an incredible hockey game and going through mail and paying bills during breaks in the action.

8:24pm – Muting the hockey game to read Kaylee my favorite Little Golden Book, The Monster at the End of this Book.

8:36pm – Let Sookie out of her crate, but she decided to stay in anyway. This is new.

9:07pm – Finished all the bills, wow, that pile went way back to before Kaylee was born.

9:11pm – Here comes Kaylee back to life, gotta stop all other activity to get her calm.

9:20pm – No chance on getting her calm without some food, it’s been about four hours, that’s about right. Heading to the fridge for another bottle.

9:25pm – Selena called, it’s getting close to time to go pick her up. Told her I would as soon as I finished feeding Kaylee. Sounded really responsible on the phone.

9:29pm – Kaylee wolfed down the bottle, and she’s still crying.  Dilemma – Give her more bottle which will take some time to prepare or go pick up Selena?

9:31pm – Remembered that Kaylee will very likely stop crying once I get the car in motion. She has a convenient habit of zonking out in the car.  Bypassing the extra bottle, heading out to get Selena. The first night of being a single dad is over.  I certainly have a newfound respect for what Selena has been having to do all day when I go to work.

“Hi everyone, I’m Greg, and if you don’t know me it may be because you started working here in January and I’ve ... [ more ]]]> On Friday, January 29th I was standing beside a big projection screen in front of the entire company of The Motley Fool. I took a deep breath and began:

“Hi everyone, I’m Greg, and if you don’t know me it may be because you started working here in January and I’ve been out most of the month on my Fool’s Errand.”

“I think the Fool’s Errand is a fantastic initiative. I had the most remarkable and rewarding time. But wait, this is The Motley Fool, we don’t evaluate success based just on word of mouth. No, we look at the numbers. So I submit to you, Fool’s Errand – The Report.”

“All right, let’s dive right in.”

“I spent the first half of the trip moving into my new home. You can see in the upper left a chart of which level of my home I spent time unpacking. It turned out most of the work needed was in the attic and basement. Notice here too the number of boxes left to unpack: one. I’m very proud of that.”

“Enough about moving in, lets go on to the road trip. I drove down to Florida with my wife and my puppy, 2969 miles in total. I am presuming that’s expendable, I’ll be submitting an reimbursement report later today.”

“You can see here a breakdown of where I slept each night of the Fool’s Errand, about half in my home, and then a little less with relatives and less still in hotels and B&Bs including SoBe You in South Beach which I highly recommend and La Quinta in Savannah which… well, not so much.”

“While in Florida we travelled down to the Florida Keys and then back to Orlando to spend some time with family. We did hit all four Disney parks in one day. You can see in the lower right here a breakdown of time spent in each park, pretty balanced Disney experience. Also, I want to call attention to this score right here, 39 or -14. Yes, I played a sick game of mini golf  and held the low score of the day at Fantasia Gardens.”

“The weather was surprisingly cold, you see here 19 degrees in Orlando. The locals found that novelty fun and interesting. Me… not so much, I knew cold, I left cold back in DC, I wanted some warmth, which did come towards the end of the trip, 78 degrees on the last days in Orlando.”

“Let’s talk about what I ate while I was away. I totally recommend Puerto Sagua in South Beach for excellent Cuban food, and hey, did you know that there is still a Bennigans in operation in Orlando?! I was so excited to get to have a Monte Cristo sandwich again.”

“You can see her a breakdown of what I drank. We all know it’s important that we have a nice variety of beverages, and I think I achieved that here.”

“Now, exercise… let’s not talk about exercise, wasn’t much to speak of.”

“Ah, entertainment, yes. I highly recommend the Finding Nemo Stage Show in Animal Kingdom, it is Broadway caliber, by far the best thing I watched while I was away. And the worst… that would be my Eagles losing to the Cowboys twice while I was away. Ugh, Cowboys.”

“Oh, there’s my dog. I am very happy about this number, zero accidents in the house or car, she finally became housebroken during this trip. I will also point out this number here, six attacks by poodles. I don’t know what the deal with ShihTzus and Poodles but there is some bad blood there.”

“Finally, if I may tell a quick story, two years ago my wife and I got married on a very warm day in the Florida Keys, and a staff member at the resort, trying to be helpful, put our cake, well actually cake topper, in the freezer to keep when it should have been out thawing. When it came time to cut the cake it was frozen solid, there was no penetrating it. So, my wife and I never got to eat our wedding cake.”

“Knowing I had this opportunity  of the Fool’s Errand, I convinced my wife to join me on the trip to Florida, and we contacted that same bakery and ordered that same cake, and we went to that same spot on the resort where we married. It was two years late, but we finally got to enjoy our wedding cake. And it was damn good too.”

“That alone made this whole Fool’s Errand worthwhile, so thank you The Motley Fool for providing me this opportunity, and thank you all for letting me share my experiences with you today.”

And with that I returned to my seat, smiling, knowing that I had made the most of my Fool’s Errand and the most of presenting it back to the people at The Motley Fool.

Two neighbors and I shoveled out all the walks for the six houses in our row of townhomes. This provided Sookie a nice labyrinth to run through ... [ more ]]]> The power went out around 7:20am on Saturday here in Rockville after there was already close to two feet of snow on the ground.

Two neighbors and I shoveled out all the walks for the six houses in our row of townhomes. This provided Sookie a nice labyrinth to run through but also access between each neighbors home.

We took advantage of that by visiting the one neighbor who had a Coleman cooking stove. He invited us over for coffee and a small party formed at his place. Following another round of shoveling and dog walking, everyone reconvened at our place since we were all set up to host a party.

No one who came by seemed too concerned about the lack of heat or impending darkness, but none of these neighbors have small children. One couple, a few homes over do have a newborn in the house and for them this was a totally different day.

That neighbor was the first one out shoveling. He spent the day not only shoveling out the walk and the SUV but also the road too in hopes to get out of the neighborhood. They were either ill-prepared or adamantly opposed (or probably both) to having the new baby having to spend the night in the dark cold house. There was no sign of power returning before nightfall.

At one point we came together as a community, all working together with shovels and manpower to push out his SUV when he drifted into a snow bank only a few feet from the tire tracks that he could drive on to get out to the main road to get to somewhere with heat and power.

That really put things in perspective for me.

1. We need to add camping equipment to our baby registry so we can still have hot water even during a blackout and
2. That a fun adventure and a scary predicament are only separated by the condition of the people depending on you.

Fortunately for the Robleto family, baby is still the womb, Selena is healthy and Sookie loves the snow. So we were fine. After everyone left our little open house, Selena and I played the board games Agricola and Killer Bunnies by candlelight. Finally, about 15 hours later, when we were getting ready for bed, the power came back on.

Here are some photos from the Snowpacalypse:

Two feet of snow on the back porch

Neighbors (and Mr. A) weathering the storm at our place

Selena playing Killer Bunnies by candlelight

The story, as Greg relayed it to me went something like this:

Surrounded by walls of snow double the height of her, we cleared a small area on the porch where Sookie’s training pads are for her to use the bathroom. ... [ more ]]]> (WARNING: Gross material ahead. May not be suitable for all audiences.)

The story, as Greg relayed it to me went something like this:

Surrounded by walls of snow double the height of her, we cleared a small area on the porch where Sookie’s training pads are for her to use the bathroom. On Sunday morning, after finishing her business, Greg grabbed some toilet paper to bring it in and flush it down the toilet. (Our poop receptacle and pooper scoop were long buried at this point. Plus, it was more eco-friendly.)

Unfortunately, with all the water tracked in and out near the door, Greg lost his footing as he came in, skidding across the hardwood and sending poop flying into the air for a brief moment before it fell back down and landed neatly on three different levels of our leaning bookshelves next to some small decorative items, as if that was where it was meant to be.

I lament that I only got to hear this secondhand; I was asleep through all this. However, my vision of what this cartoon-like scenario must have looked like in my head is probably better for it.