Pregnancy

The last diary I wrote back at the beginning of the year is that my wife is expecting again.  Well, the good news is that all is going well, the baby is growing, and the baby is on schedule.  This time, we're having a boy, so we both are excited.  My daughter is still too young to really understand what is going on, but it's ok.  We bought her a baby doll with bottles, a stroller, etc. that she takes care of so she can know what we are going to be doing when the baby arrives.  As far as names are concerned, both of my grandfathers shared the name Robert, so we gave him that for a first name.  Also, to make him sound more distinguished, his middle name is going to be Alexander.  September is closing in on us, so we're getting the nursery ready now.

Sofia's Birthday

My wife's oldest sister flew in for my daughter's birthday.  It was nice.  Instead of having a big party, we decided to just have the four of us around and take my daughter to eat at a nice Italian place and have cake at home.  We wanted to be low key since we had to pack as it was only days before we went to what I will mention in the next bullet point.

My youngest sister's wedding

My youngest sister is the second of us four to get married.  It was nice, her husband seems like a good guy, but it was also a little sad to see her growing up.  Still, it's good and she seems to be enjoying her new life.  Of course, my daughter was a flower girl, which was nice.  The only bad thing is that the little boy that she was supposed to walk with was mean to her, so my wife had to help my daughter walk up the aisle.  I also learned more about the Pittsburgh area, or rather specifically the outskirts north of the airport.  I am really glad that I moved away from my parents house years before they went up to Pennsylvania.  Otherwise, I might have followed them to that hellhole of a place.

New Car

My wife was driving a Toyota Corolla.  It's kind of tough to fit two car seats there.  As a result, we decided to buy something bigger.  I was planning on saving up some more for a Lexus, but with time being of the essence I had to get something cheaper.  One or two people gave me grief for mocking minivans, but let's face it -- minivans are for losers.  I don't give a shit about their nice features that make your life easier.  Life is tough, so I'd prefer to do it in style than to be a lazyass loser minivan driver.  So, we got a Toyota Avalon Limited.  It's so awesome, with built in voice-activated navigation, it has AC in the seats, and is the smoothest car I've ever driven.  You see, back before minivans existed, or at least before my parents had one, we rode around in a bigass Buick.  Six of us, including two or three car seats, fit in the Buick.  The Toyota Avalon is a modern car along those same lines.  There is plenty of room, and it's so nice that you can even recline the back seats.  We're really happy with it.

Work

Work has it's ups and downs, but at least I'm being more busy now and getting some things accomplished that the CIO appreciates.  My boss has still failed to live up to her promises from when I threatened to quit back in 2006 (other than boosting my salary up), so I'm not really happy there, but in this economy I'm happy to have a job that isn't too demanding and pays great.  Plus, I just submitted a project charter for a project for 2010 that is over $400k, which would be the most expensive project I've ever been PM on, if it is approved.  I marked it as non-discretionary because of reasons I'd rather not write down publicly.

Death

All these celebrity deaths are a bit depressing.  First, Ed McMahon reminded me of my grandfather in some ways, so it was sad to see him go.  I was too young for Farrah Fawcett to have been that big of a deal to me, but the idea of dying from your asshole and spreading out sounds terrible.  The whole Michael Jackson thing was huge, not because I liked him or his music, but because of his fame.  He is likely the most famous person to die in my lifetime.  I can't think of another individual who died while I've been alive that has been as famous.  Not even John Lennon, and not Elvis (I think he died when I was alive, but I'm not sure and don't really care.)  In any case, all of these deaths are a sign that eventually, we all die, and it could happen sooner rather than later.  So for me, it's just a reminder to enjoy the time I have.

Swimming

Since we live in a place where I pay around $800/year for the stupid HOA that residents can't even have any say in, we've been utilizing our pool lately.  My daughter loves it, and it's good exercise for my wife and I.  Last weekend a neighbor went with us and helped out with taking care of my daughter so it was easier, but this weekend she couldn't go so we were on our own.

Eating

I'm not exactly a foodie, but I make some great salsas and marinades now, I can grill fairly well (although it's been too hot lately to be outside), and my wife makes some great beans from scratch and other items.  We've been eating well.

As far as restaurants are concerned, we have some great places nearby, although our favorite restaurants are still not close.  Right now we're on an empanadas kick, with a great Argentinian place about 15 minutes away that sells a variety of empanadas.  Unfortunately, they're all fried, so we try not to eat there too often.  It's one of our places we get rarely but love, along with Five Guy's Hamburgers recently.

Chest Hair

This is going to result in a poll.  A lot of younger guys shave their chests bald.  Having seen what my wife goes through with waxing and such, I think eliminating your chest hair has to be a huge hassle.  Plus, it looks less manly, in my opinion.  Some girls are proponents of chest hair, and others are detractors.  I know it's a matter of personal preference, but I'm curious what your thoughts are.  I know it's probably TMI, but this is HuSi so I don't care.  I am hairy.  Not in a Robin Williams sense, mind you, but enough that I have to keep my chest hair trimmed.  I will freely admit that, because for one I live in a place where it's been over 100F (over 40C) for a few weeks now, and because I have a daughter who would pull any strand of hair she could get her hands on as a baby.  So for me, it's about keeping it manageable but still representing the whole being a man thing.  What do you think?  Vote in the poll.