Now this is an older video, but it has been busy the last month, so it took me a while to get it edited and posted. When I say older, I mean like a month, but it is amazing how much he has grown since then. This video doesn’t show quite how tiny he really was, but I’ll post that video later this week.

Now, this video is of Kyle’s first walk around the block with Kymba, Barbie and myself. We keep saying he is about to wake up in the video, but he actually never did, and still doesn’t ever wake up when he is moving out in public. So, it is about 3 minutes long, but for all you grandparents out there, I’m sure you’ll still enjoy it.

In case you didn’t know, I have begun taking university classes again. I am taking a couple UC Berkeley classes (Psychology I & American History since the Civil War), and a Stanford course (Modern Physics). I’m sure your asking yourself what in the world, how can Graver be taking courses at two different universities? Well, I am listening to them, and they are 100% free online. Berkeley, Stanford, MIT and several other universities are now offering their courses online as a Podcast, i.e. mp3 format. You simply download the lectures and listen to them on your mp3 player. I usually listen to them while walking the dog, driving in to work, or feeding Kyle. Nothing like getting a free education.

Here is a good link that shows a lot of the courses offered on the web…Enjoy
http://www.eliteskills.com/free_education/?foo=x

I heard about Cingular going back to the name of AT&T a while back, and spending about $2billion in doing so, but for some reason it has become big news all of the sudden. Here is a funny video clip about AT&T went from owning everything, to being split up, to owning everything again.

So Grandma Graver is in town and we couldn’t be happier. Nothing like having another extra hand around when you have a 7 week old baby waking up every few hours. Actually, Kyle is up to about 4-5 hours at night, so its not so bad, but it definitely helps me out a ton when I have to be at work by 7am. Hopefully this will cut down on those lack of sleep miscues that I mentioned in my last post. Of course, this wouldn’t be any fun for you to read unless you got to see Grandma Graver with her grandson, who is now 9+ pounds and is starting to look every bit the part of the chubby happy baby.

  

Everyone tells you that you will get no sleep when you have a newborn, and you always tell yourself how in the world am I going to function off a few hours of sleep a night. Well, somehow your body just adapts, and next thing you know you think 5 hours of sleep is absolutely wonderful. Kyle is actually really good, and can go 4 hours in between feedings at night, and since Barbie and I can swap feedings, it ends up being OK…that is if you consider 5-6 hours OK. Well, then there are those times when he just wants to stay up and visit, so you are left staying up and cutting into sleep time. So, I thought I would share some of the more humorous things that I have done after going a few days on little sleep.

• Driving 20 minutes to a Dentist appointment and realizing that I am a week early. Now this might not sound so bad, but my appointment was on January 3rd, and the radio announcers kept saying what they were going to do for New Years since it was only December 27th when I was driving. You would think after 20 minutes of driving that it would have hit me, but NO.
• Pouring a bowl of Orange Juice when Barbie asked me to get a glass of Orange Juice. I actually managed to fill up a bowl of OJ before I realized it wasn’t a glass
• Waking up in the middle of the night b/c the baby is crying, then looking over and asking “is it my turn?” Falling back to sleep since it isn’t your turn, only to wake up 2 minutes later and begin getting ready to feed the baby b/c you are sure it is now your turn to feed b/c it is a couple of hours later. Of course, Barbie looks over and asks what am I doing, and she tells me I just asked two minutes ago, and she told me it wasn’t my turn. This same scenario plays out all the time in different situations, as sometimes 2 minutes can feel like 2 hours.

Today, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stated that he is going to be cutting welfare wages. Apparently, California has been giving much larger checks than what most states do, and is higher than what the Federal Government requires. In order to help save some money, the Governor is simply going to bring California back into alignment with the Federal Government. Now, there are two different ways to look at this story…one of which is how I just told you, and the other is how the Sacramento Bee puts it…

Governor aims cut at kids
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will propose saving hundreds of millions of dollars in next year’s state budget by halting welfare payments to children if their parents do not go to work, Finance Department officials said Sunday

Geez…heaven forbid if we don’t give money to people who refuse to go to work. Anyways, check out the two differences in the way you can portray this story on your website. One image is of Sacramento Bee boldly stating “Governor aims cut at kids,” and the other is an image of the San Jose Mercury News putting it in small text under Top Stories. Just thought I would share this as I found it quite amusing.

  

I’m sure most of you have no idea what I am talking about. Well, today is the day Kyle was supposed to be born. So, since he is our first baby, we are those silly parents who make, and/or take, any opportunity to celebrate anything and everything having to do with our baby boy. Barbie went out and got a Oreo Cheesecake, and Kristen was lucky enough to be here to help us celebrate. We actually didn’t do much, but as they say, it was the thought that counts. Below are a couple of pictures from today, and you can also go to Kyle’s photo gallery to see the rest of them.

Click Images to Enlarge
           

Watch the video first…

Now, of course Clinton is really talking about Santa, and the video was edited to make it seem that way, but it is quite funny. The Clinton portion is really from an interview with Foxnews.com correspondent Chris Wallace, which in and of itself is a fairly good interview. Clinton actually gets pretty upset during it, something you never see him do.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,215445,00.html

For those of you who did not get a Christmas card this year, I apologize. If you email me your address I promise to include you next year. However, here is what you missed, although it was this picture inside a Winnie the Pooh Christmas card, but you get the idea. Enjoy!

Click to Enlarge

The Bowl Season is upon us, and it has been quite enjoyable. Unfortunately FSU didn’t make it to a New Year’s Day bowl, but they did make it the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco, which means I got to go. My buddy Yamo and I went up and decided to scalp for tickets assuming we could get something under face value, but to my amazement there were few people selling tickets. Of course, there was the normal riff raff that tries to sell you $75 seats for $200, but other than that there wasn’t much out there. So, we stood outside the stadium holding our arms up with 2 fingers raised so people would know we were looking. After about 5-10 mins a guy came up and asked if we were selling or buying, and after we told him we were buying, he handed us two tickets and simply said “Merry Christmas.” We came to find out that he was a coach of a Pop Warner team, so they got some tickets for the game, and his wife and daughter couldn’t make it, and he didn’t feel right selling them, so we ended up the big benefactor. Of course we bought him and a few of his coaches a nice frosty beverage, but it will still a lot cheaper than the actual ticket costs. Of course you know by now the end result of game…FSU 44 vs. UCLA 27. Here are our Emerald Bowl Photos.

As good of a game as the FSU game was, it didn’t compare to the Fiesta Bowl game between Boise State and Oklahoma. This game was probably one of the best games I have ever seen. It featured, all in the last 2 minutes of regulation mind you, a tipped ball for a touchdown for Oklahoma. Three attempts at a 2pt. conversion to tie the game due to penalties on the first two plays, with the end result being a successful conversion for Oklahoma. An interception returned for a touchdown on the very next offensive play for Oklahoma. Then a last minute drive, which resulted in a 50 yard TD on a hook and ladder play by Boise State. Another TD on the very first play of Overtime for Oklahoma. Then a conversion by Boise State on 4th and 2 for a TD on a half back pass. Then, instead of going for the standard 1pt. conversion, they decided to go for a 2pt. conversion. The play for this one was a fake pass to the right, then a handoff to the left side…you have to see it to believe it. Either way, check out the Fiesta Bowl highlights to understand the craziness of this game.

Now, we wait for the Sugar Bowl and BCS Championship Bowl to finish…isn’t bowl season great!