I've finally gotten around to my first attempt at fixing the exhaust leak on my Subaru. The problem was that the bolt holes for two of the exhaust studs were stripped, so each exhaust flange only had one bolt holding it on rather than two. The reason I say that this is my first attempt is because I don't expect it to work, but it's worth a try before spending a shitload of money getting somebody else to fix it. I just cleaned the bolt holes and exhaust studs with a wire brush, and used some JB Weld to put the studs back in. I haven't bolted the exhaust back up yet, because I ordered new exhaust gaskets and they haven't arrived yet, but by tomorrow I should know if it's gonna work. Of course, even if it works at first, the studs might pull out eventually. If that happens, I'll need to either install some heli-coils with new studs, or I'll have to get somebody to cut the exhaust flanges off, turn them 90 degrees, and weld them back on in order to use the other two bolt holes in the cylinder heads. If it ever comes to doing either of those, I think I'd just rather buy a new car than try fixing this one, but we really need something we can haul the whole family around in without asphyxiating everybody.

My garden is nothing more than a patch of weeds now. Very few of the seeds that I planted actually sprouted. Out of two entire rows of tomatoes, I got four plants. I think I've also got one watermelon and one cucumber plant, but nothing else came up. For a couple of weeks now, I've been contemplating letting those few plants grow until they're big enough to transplant into a single row to make watering them easier, but with as much as I've been away from home lately, the weeds have taken over to the extent that I have no desire to get rid of them now. I suppose I'm just too lazy to have a garden--I'd like to have fresh vegetables in my back yard, but I don't care to take the time to tend the garden. Maybe next year I'll start with established plants instead of seeds, and maybe it'll be worth my while.

Surprisingly, things aren't too different around here with a new baby in the house. When Michael came home from the hospital, our lives changed pretty drastically, and I was expecting the same thing with Bradley. He's pretty much been sleeping the whole time, except when eating or being changed or bathed, and even then he's pretty mellow. I've been pissed on twice already, once when changing a diaper and the other time while bathing him--that kid could contend for the world record for peeing distance by a week-old baby. The one thing that has changed is how I view Michael now--I always used to see him as being small (which he is, for his age), but with Bradley around, Michael seems like a giant. It's wierd how perceptions can change so quickly.

When we left the hospital, the pediatrician said that Bradley was a little jaundiced, but that we shouldn't worry about it unless it didn't go away in the next few days. Yesterday, we decided to call his pediatrician's office because it wasn't getting any better, and the nurse said that we should bring him in as soon as possible. So Traci and her mom took Bradley all the way up to Provo, and all the doctor did was look at him and say that he's doing fine. I was kinda pissed off that they didn't at least do a blood test, because if all the doctor had to do was look at him, I don't think it was worth a 160-mile round trip. I'm just glad that I stayed home with Michael, 'cause I would have been really pissed if I had to miss 4 hours of work for that.

It feels great to finally be home. Sleeping in a fold-out bed in the hospital is far from comfortable, so hopefully tonight I'll get a better night's sleep that I've gotten in the past five nights. Of course, what I experienced is nothing compared to what Traci's going through, so I can't complain too much.

Pictures are here, and I'll probably put some video up later this week, but I don't have the space to keep videos on this site for very long. I love my new camera so far, but I can't really say how good it is until I pull some video off and burn some VCDs or something. I'll need to get some good video editing software, so if any of you can make some recommendations, I'd appreciate it. Oh, and I guess it's time to get that Western Digital 100 GB hard drive from Sam's Club. I've had this 20 GB drive for almost five years, and it's been pretty much full for the entire time.

Welp, Bradley was born Thursday, June 19, at 9:15 a.m., 6 lbs. 9 oz., 19½ in., and perfectly healthy. It's been so nice this time around, not only because we went to Orem actually prepared to have a baby, but because we get to keep him. With Michael, he was whisked off to the NICU not long after he was born, and he spent 10 days in there, so we only got to see him every-so-often, and even then he had to spend his time in his cradle with all the sensors hooked up to him. But Bradley spent all day and all night in the hospital room with us, with the exception of going back to the nursery for a few minutes to get a bath. Traci and Bradley are both doing just fine, and we'll probably be leaving the hospital on Sunday.

He doesn't look at all like either Traci or me, but it's strange because sometimes when I look at him he looks like Michael. I took a lot of pictures and video, and I was planning on posting some pictures today, but I left the camera and a CF card with Traci and took the MicroDrive home, and my damned card reader won't accept a CF type II card, so it'll have to wait until Sunday.

For some reason, I had that song in my head when I went to bed last night, and when we were driving up here to Provo this morning, that was the first song that was playing on the radio when we got within range of the SLC stations. Hopefully that's not a sign of things to come...

Well, we're for sure having the baby tomorrow morning (well, Traci is, I just get to sit around and look dumb). Traci didn't have to undergo amniocentesis, because the ultrasound revealed that there wasn't much amniotic fluid anyway, which is reason enough to take the baby early. According to the ultrasound, the baby weighs around 6 lbs. 14 oz (give or take a pound, they said), which is considerably more than Michael weighed when he was born, so that's already a relief. We're just getting a hotel room here in Provo for tonight, and we have to be at Orem Community Hospital by 6:30 tomorrow morning.

I'll be going home on Friday to water the lawn and take care of a few other things, so hopefully I'll have time to post some pictures while I'm there. I'll also have some video, but I probably won't have time to do anything with that until after we get the baby home.

The Blue Life--artwork of Jason Diersman. I especially love the poorly-drawn stop sign.

It looks like we may be having our baby sooner than we thought. Traci's doctor fucked up and told us she'd schedule the c-section for June 30th, but it turns out that she already had something booked for that day. The only way we can have the baby sooner is for Traci to have amniocentesis done to make sure the baby is mature enough to be delivered earlier, so she scheduled that for next Wednesday. If all goes well, the baby should be delivered on Thursday. We're not really quite ready for that, but I don't think another week or two would prepare us any more than we are now.

Hahah...get a haircut, you damned hippies!

Since the new baby's right around the corner, I bought a digital video camera today. It's a Sony digital 8, and though I had no idea what I was looking for when I bought it, it seems like it'll work out alright. I need to buy a FireWire PCI card for my computer before I can really start using the camera, but it does also have USB output, though I'm not sure how well that'll work. I bought it at Wally, so I suppose if I end up not liking it, I can just take it back. I probably won't even use it until after we go camping this weekend, 'cause I've got too much getting ready left to do to be messing around with toys.

Yesterday was one of the most greuling days in my life, but it was also one of the most satisfying. I went on a very long and steep mountain bike ride, something that I've been wanting to do since last year. I ended up taking a different canyon that I'd originally planned, but the destination was the same--the highest point of the ridge between the Price River Valley and Emma Park. There's supposed to be a USGS benchmark up there (a cross chiseled in a boulder), but I couldn't find it. There had obviously been some surveying done there recently, because there was a small drill hole in a rock with orange spray paint marking it.

As I mentioned in that post from last year, the road I traveled on doesn't exist on the 1972 topo map, but you can see it in recent satellite photos. Well, the reason for that is because it's not a road at all--it's a cattle trail, and a very steep one at that. I drove my car up the road as far as it would go, then I unloaded my bike and headed up the canyon. Shortly after I parked the car, the trail became too rough for any vehicles except 4-wheelers or motorcycles, and it was definitely too steep and rough for me to ride my bike--I actually hiked the entire way, about 4 miles and 1400 feet up in elevation. I kept thinking to myself that I'll never make it to the top, but I just kept pushing until, 3 hours later, I made it. The view was awesome--I could see the east side of Price, and the entire valley to the south, including the north end of the San Rafael Swell. I ate my lunch on the top of the ridge (a couple of granola bars, some beef jerky, and a Slim Jim), took a few pictures, then headed back down. I was able to ride my bike most of the way down, except for the steepest and rockiest parts. I turfed pretty hard twice while coming down, mostly because of the really soft dirt (from being trampled recently by cattle) and the huge rocks along the trail. I made it back to my car in just under 40 minutes, a little after 4:00 pm.

My entire body is pretty sore now, and I'm banged up and bruised in a few places, but it was well worth it. I think I'm going to have to do some more stuff like this throughout the summer, preferably every weekend, but I don't know if my body can recover in time to do it all again in another week.

I got my CFP application shipped off today. The course I took on Saturday was pretty much worthless to me--I didn't learn anything because I've been pretty involved with CCW since I bought my handgun. It was probably a good class for beginners, but I knew more about state law than the instructor did, and I already knew how to handle and shoot my handgun safely (I've shot 850 rounds through it so far). But the only way to get a permit is to take a course from a state-certified instructor, so I had to do it. The only thing I got out of it was a sunburn, which will unfortunately show up on the photo on my CFP.