Reflections.......

What has everybobys highlights been of the past decade??

New years resolution for 2011!!

EAT LESS BURGERS!!

Ringing in the new year!!

What a huge night. this is a picture of all my friends that i spent the night partying it up with.......

I was wondering earlier when the last time was that i actually did nothing on New Years - i think it was 1997. for some reasons all of my friends had gone up to Queenslan and i stayed at home and worked new years day. I have a better reason to be taking it easier this year. I had a good run so i cant complain.

Tonight i ran down the road to get a few beers to drink while i watched a movie. As i was standing in line i realised i was wearing my bleach stained track pants that i vowed never to wear out of the house while i was surrounded by 20 something year olds all dressed up and ready to party. At that point i started to feel old and it reminded me of myself 10 yrs ago when i would look at people who were clearly not doing anything for the night.

My mother in law always tells me that it is just another night and tonight it has felt exactly just like that. My arguement to her is always if you have nothing to celebrate, what do we have to live for? It might mean nothing in the big scheme of things but if we are not able to enjoy ourselves when we see another year in the rear view mirror what can we celebrate?

So with having said all of that, i will return to drinking my beer on my own and vow that this time next year i will be doing something. THIS IS NOT THE BEGINNING OF OLD AGE!!

2011 Challenge!!

This year started off so great with the new fitness regime and nutrition plan i was on. I lost about 24lbs and was leaner than i had been in years, but then summer hit and with that came a bevvy of burgers and beer as it does every year (not that i am complaining). I managed to maintain my weight for a few months but just as the new job hit and my schedule that was so reliant (not working) went out the window, my trips to the gym became few and far between. To say that it has taken me a while to get used to being a functioning member of society is taking longer thn i anticipated is an understatement. It didnt help that this all coincided with cold weather and a very pregnant wife. My life at the moment has become work, commuting and spending time at home with the family (which i am not complaining about). As i close out the year i am almost back to my starting weight for the year.

I have always read stories of people that lose weight only to put it all on again once they have a change in their life. I never thought i would be in the same boat. I am just lucky that the weight i gained does not put me back in the overweight category. I have always considered myself a preety fit person but have never been as trim as i would like - that was the intention of the program i took on early in the year.

Now that we are only days away from the new addition to the family i am finding it more important than ever to step my game up again. It would be too easy to forget the fitness and all of a sudden find myself 10 lbs heavier than where i am now. So i decided it was time to get back in the game. Luckily last week i found a contest on bodybuilding.com that has up to $100,000 worth of prizes with the overall winners taking 25k. I am not saying that i will be one of the lucky winners but it will help to keep me focised and to have some structure. I am hoping to kick it off a fortnight after the baby arrives so stay tuned for some more gym updates. Lets just hope that i can break away from the feeling that once i am settled in for the night i am done!!

Top of the pops.....

I have been toying with the idea of doing a list of my top songs for the year again but as it happens, my ipod will not sync with my last fm player........and to do a top of the decade list would be next to impossible. So it looks like you will all be spared as it would be too much work to go through all of the music and to be honest last year i had about 10 times more free time than i do right now!! Lets just say that after a slow start its been a great year.

Happy New Year!!

How is it that yet another year has passed us by.....scratch that - how is it that yet another decade has passed us by?? I find it strange that i havent heard much talk at this time about reflecting on the past decade. Today in melbourne i hear they are expecting 41c weather while i sit here in Utah avoiding the -8c...which would u prefer??

Song of the week

Lupe Fiasco - Lasers

Not a Nerd!!

For a couple of years now i have been reading star wars novels, and for most people that know me thats quite impressive as i do not read!! I have always said that if i read, its either the sports pages or an autobiography of a rockstar/sports person.....but that does not happen often!! This is about my 7th  Star Wars book i have read. I started it about 6 months ago and over summer completely forgot about it. I picked it back up last week and got back into it!! This book was awesome.

The reason i am doing a blog about this is to let everyone know who complained about the lack of story line to the 2nd star wars trilogy is to let them know that all the back story you could ever need are contained in these books. I couldnt put it down once i got back into it. Now its time to move onto my next book - Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis, but as soon as i am done with that i am getting back into my star wars novels.......and no I am not a NERD!!

I made it......

Today was a bad day weatherwise. It basically snowed all day long which made the commute horrendous. IT took me about 2 hrs to get home which normally takes about 55 mins. It was easily the worst conditions i have ever driven in. Visibilty was almost zero and thats not due to the fact the snow was so bad. The snow had built up so badly on my car so that i could only see out the front window and partially out the side, which made merging a guessing game. When ever a car would drive besides you they would kick up so much water and slush that it looked like i was driving in a car wash. It was impossible to see lines so driving in your lane was all about following the car in front of you. A few times there were no cars around except one just in front of me and with no one to follow they would swerve into my lane to cut me off!!

I wouldnt exactly call it driving as i had little control over where my car would go most of the time as it floated across the slush. I am just glad that i made it home. I saw many cars on the sides of the orad and even some who had "floated" down into some enbankments. I would like to see any other aussies see if they can drive in what i had to deal with tonight!!

Aussie Muscle

Saw this beast in vegas....its the American version of the holden!!

Pics of the week.....

My Dancer Girl!!

 Grandma bought her a flower for a performance well done!!

 Morning sunshine!!

 Final Little Gym Party - with Ashleys high school friends daughter

 Cheesey smiles!!

 Still trhowing the silent public tantys!!

 Loves her chewy lewy!!

 Superstar!!

 Pst xmas meal snooze - seriously ate too much!!

 Stylin!!

 Birthday Present from her Aunties!!

 Ava is becoming quite the photographer!!

 So proud!!

 Favourite pic!!

 When we went to vegas we took about 5 pics.....i guess thats what happens when you have been to a place a hundred times.....

 Our good friends we went to Vegas with....

Daddy day care......again!!

Today i had the chance to stay at home with Ava. Our daycare lady had strep so Ash & I have switched out days to stay home. It was nice to have the opportunity, it reminded me of my time without work....except this time she is WAY more active!! I also realised just how unmotivated i was to do anything toward my term of unemployment. Today i was all into anything Ava wanted to do, but back before the new job i only did what i had to, no more.

With the new baby due in a week tomorrow it was nice to have 1 last day with just Ava and Daddy. Nothing is going to be the same yet again. Its got me to thinking again. I remember when we had Ava my initial thoughts were how do i share my love between Ava and Ash. All the attention i would direct toward Ash would now have to be shared with this new person in my life. Well lately i have been having the same thoughts. How do you now split this in 3?? Doies it mean that Ava wont be getting the attention that she is used to and will she feel like we care for her less?? I know that all things work out fine and if anything it makes the relationships more complete. Its just bizarre that i am having the same feeling that i had leading up to having Ava. Having said that, i cant wait!! I am so excited, Ash is a little more cautious but i say bring it!! I cant wait to have 2 little girls. When i wake up tomorrow morning i will be 7 days to the hour away from becoming a father yet again!!

About time.....

I finally have myself set up with a new P.C at home. The original plan was to get some more memory for the laptop and hold off on the P.C, but with the new job i need to learn a new program but i didnt want to load it onto the laptop. After talking about it for a long long time we got our hands on a monitor and i eventually got around to getting a desk. For christmas i had Ash buy me a new external hard drive seeing as though i dropped and ruined the last 1 (after having it for a month).

So the good news is i am now transferring all of my videos onto my hard drive and got my hands on a copy of a program that allows me to edit and make dvd's. Now i just need to get more memory for the P.C as it is VERY slow!!! Fun times......

We work......its what we do!!

Ever since i have been living here in the states there has been 1 issue i have always had problems dealing with. In Australia, we generally take some vacation time over the xmas period. This year with xmas day falling on a weekend we only have a 3 day weekend. I dont understand why they dont take the whole week between xmas and new years. Wouldnt the workers be better for it? Around this time of year i know i am always rerady for a break to recharge the batteries. Over here they dont function like that and the idea of it is completely foreign to them, its work work work to them. I mentioned the idea to my mopther in law over the weekend and her reaction is why would you want to do that?? Umm, wouldnt you want to have the opportuniy to spend some time at home with family and friends?? Dont we all work enough as it is??America have got many things right (as well as many wrong), but this is something they clearly have wrong. Where is the quality in life??

Also highlighted by the fact that they get about 1 weeks holiday a year and about 3 days sick pay (thats my current situation as opposed to 4 weeks paid holiday and 10 sick days)

Song of the week

Higher - Taio Cruz Ftg. Travie McCoy

Its just not happening!!

Another week, another missed gym session!! this is getting ridiculous - something happens between work and home that makes me not want to go to the gym. Its really hard to break the habit of eating dinner and sitting on the couch for the rest of the evening. I need to start eating a light dinner on gym nights and then topping up when i am done. I think the main problem is the fact that i know that in 2 weeks the new baby will come and any hard work that i do now to get the motivation back will be gone once again. That will pose yet another problem. I know that with bbl2 at home it will be even harder to go......i just need to force myself to go!!

Funny Fact......

During Ashleys pregnancy i have actually gained equal or a few more pounds than she has......needless to say i am back to what i was at the start of the year!!

House No. 6

So here is the latest addition to my sketchup models. Not sure this one is going to be to many peoples likings. Last time we were down at Ephraim i took my sketch pad and when i had a few spare moments i got to sketching. This house is born from pure concept. I wanted to do a design with simple form that only had windows along 1 of the elevations, meaning it would have to face directly north/south - depending on the hemisphere you lived in. I wanted it to appear disconnected from the street to create privacy (must come from the house i grew up in) but be completely engaging to the space it opened out to. The ultimate party house!!

Woo-freakin-hoo!!

I DID IT.....FINALLY!! I finally went to the gym more than one time for the week and i made it through my 2 circuits. I wouldn't say i won, more like stumbled across the finish line!!

Brilliant idea!!

Tonight on my way home from work while i was enduring another painful wait due to a crash i got to thinking. There should be a penalty for causing a crash during peak hour - i say ban them from driving on the freeway for 3 months!! I bet that would make people be more aware of what they are doing. Also, if you cant merge you should not be allowed on the road!! Come on people driving is easy!!

Oh it hurts so bad!!

Tonight was round 2 of my circuit workout and lets just say its gym = 2 Owen = 0!! At the moment i am struggling to get through 2 rounds of the circuit, but the plan is 3. Just the thought of that makes me feel like i need to throw up!!

Ford Raptor

This thing is a BEAST!!

The name game!!

We are now about 3 weeks out from BBL2 arriving and are about as close to deciding on a name as we were about 9 months ago. The original name that we both liked turns out to be too close to the name that my sister used so ever since then i feel like we have been chasing our tales trying to figure out a new name. About half way into the pregnancy we settled on a name that we both liked and thought we had it, then a few weeks later Ashley trhew another name out there and it became a fight between the 2. After sitting on them both for 4 months we are now second guessing them - as you do when they are all you think about (try saying 1 word over and over for months and see how you feel about it).

Every other week we will come across a name that could be a possibility but nothing has been a home run yet. I think we have a short list of about 5 names right now and we can not pick one out that is a winner just yet. Its becoming very frustrating. A name is for life and oh so important - there are too many factors to think about. Lets hope that over the next few weeks we start to lean toward one more than the others............

We are taking suggestions (just not Dusty, Kathy!! UGH!!)

Introducing Miss Ava Joelle.....

Bad camera work - we havent used the handycam for a while so i am not used to how best it is used. I will try to create a better vid but here is the raw & uncut.............Launching a career tonight people!!

Woohoo!!

A big congrats to my good friends Kelly and Andrew back home who just gave birth to their twin boys Will Keona & Jonah Bane. So happy for you guys - cant wait to meet them!!

I did it!!

I finally made it to a NBA game. Jazz v Heat - what better game to go see....the big 3 were playing too. It wasnt the best game as the jazz lost, and they made plenty of mistakes but it was way cool - great atmosphere - i can not believe how loud that place is!! I will be sure to return!!

Public service announcement........

Driving home from the gym today i saw a crash.....some young dude had run up the ass of a S.U.V and lodeged his bonnet under the rear of it. I got to thinking about all of the crashes i get to see on the freeway while driving to and from work. How bad would it suck to have an accident at this time of year.....good way to ruin your christmas (let alone any time of the year)!! So drive safely this festive season especially if your carrying some precious cargo on baord - but more importantly, DRIVE SMART!!

Holy Crap...........

OUCH!! Today i finally made it to the gym.........even if it was only for a short while!! I am so out of shape its not funny!! My new program is circuit training and about 5 minutes in i was about ready to die!! My aerobic ability is shot. Oh well, looks like i have a mountain to climb - yet again!!

The missing link.....

Life would be so much easier for Ashley and I if we had family that lived closer. I think its safe to say that our social lif is somewhat lacking. We get out and about every other week but always have to take the little tike with. We are not known for forward planning often enough. Its such a hassle to have Kathy come up or take Ava down to ephraim so that we can have just 1 might to ourselves. It would be so nice to have the ability to call a family member up on the spur of the moment to have them sit at our home while Ava is sleeping so that we could be more spontaneous with our lives......Everything has to be so planned out and it drives me nuts!!

Under 5 weeks!!

YIPPEE!!

Ever Wondered??

I often wonder what I would do if i wasnt in the architecture game. this first started while i was unemployed and struggling to find work. If i was ever to leave the line of work i am currently in i would have to move into something i really enjoy. I am currently watching a TV show called brew matsers..........good enough for me!!

Song of the week

The Time (Dirty Bit)- Black Eyed Peas

My U.S Bucket List!!

So over the past few days i have been doing alot of thinking, I am not sure if it is the enormous amounts of time spent in the car or thinking of things that might make me feel better during all of this sickness and cold weather. I have come to the realisation that with all of the things i have listed on my to do/see list i am not going to get anywhere near checking all of them off. In 5 short weeks we will have baby number 2 and that means going back to the good ol days of not getting anything done for oursleves for quite some time. So i have decided to do a revised list with only the top of the tops (some more attainable than others). :
- Jazz Game
- NHL Game
- MLB Game
- Cowboys Game (in Dallas)
- Maine (visit camp and Sean, with a top at Niagra Falls, DC or NY)
- See the inside of Alcatraz/Ride across Golden Gate Bridge
- San Diego
- Carribean cruise
- Miami
- Hellicopter through the Grand Canyon
- Snow board
- Moab
- 4-Wheel at little Sahara
- Sky dive
- Camp at Lake Powell
- Take a surf lesson at Hawaii
- Go to 6 Flags
- Have my picture taken at Motley Crues star on hollywood Blvd
- Walk on an Alaskan Glacier

Here is the original extended list
http://wampa07.blogspot.com/2010/07/us-of.html

Sick of feeling sick!!

:(