2008 in review

Wow, what a year huh? We had a presidential election as well as a baby in the same year! Not to mention it being a historical election as well. As I sit here listening to Mad Season drinking a cappuccino stout thinking about all of my great friends and family I am in awe. 2008 has been nothing but a stellar year for us. We have managed to stay employed amidst all of the financial issues with this country. We celebrated the gift of life with our son who I like to refer to as "Maddogg". I will tell you this, for all parents that read this blog, I can tell you that this guy "gets it now".

There are a lot of things to be grateful for this year but as I mentioned earlier, my friends and family are truly the greatest. I would like to thank the Gaufins personally for being there in a time when we really needed them. Frank and Brenda I really cannot say enough about the two of you. The love we share for my son and your willingness to be there for us has been truly outstanding. I would like to say you are appreciated and even though despite our differences we do share our love for one another. Thank you for being so great. U are appreciated.

Friends are also a great part of our existence and I would like to point out someone special to me. David W. Dave and I grew up with one another and I would like to say that although we have drifted apart, he really still does mean the world to me. He and his wife Megan just gave birth to their 4th child and I wanted to say congratulations! For Dave, although we might not talk as much as we should, I really do miss you and look back at the times we spent together as kids and would not of done it with anyone else. Thanks for being such a great friend. Congrats to you and all of your success!

We stayed here at home for the holidays this year. We threw the Thanksgiving gig here for our family and friends. We threw such a shindig that we had 16 people over. It was a great time but a lot of work. We were so burned out this year that we even considered not getting a Christmas tree. In the end, we decided we would but just not put up all of the decorations. So, this is what we did.

Some of the highlights of 2008 for us were Barack Obama, Thaidra's Graduation, the birth of our son, Me working from home now, connecting with family and some lost friends and progressing in our careers. Well folks, that's going to be a wrap. I will post some more pictures here shortly. Thanks for reading.

Bored on a Friday night and I cannot sleep...watching Letterman

Well in the spirit of blogging and not being able to sleep..Here I am! Its getting late and I can here Maddox waking up for his late evening snack.

Well, it was somewhat a busy week. I recently just had the end of quarter for work and I think I did well. Although all of the final numbers are not in, I think that I did good. I am now getting ready for the 4th quarter and I just have 90 days left until the year is over. For those of you that are not aware, the year ends for me in November with is great. It gives me the month of december to recharge my batteries and to get ready for the year. Some of you are aware, but I am trying to win a trip to Marbella, Spain. It should be a good time.

Maddox is still growing like a weed and as I sit here and type he is sitting next to me as his mom feeds him. He is getting longer and making all different kinds of noises now. Nothing much really going on around this topic other than he still smiles all the time and looks like has not a care in the world. He is just so comfortable all the time. Mona has managed to be on the bed all night these days and I think its TLC 's way of making sure that she still feels like #1 to us

As I sit here watching David Letterman, he makes me laugh. On another note, I just saw a show that said Mccain's wife's outfit that she work for his acceptance speech was worth approximately $313,000.00. The earings alone were 3 karat diamonds. LOL. They compared this amount of money to the $900.00 dollar dress that Michelle Obama worse during Barak's acceptance speech. Where am I going with this? Well, I guess I am just really trying to figure out how Mccain and the hockey mom from a Alaska can relate to most americans.

I created a facebook www.facebook.com account about a month ago and I have managed to meet alot of old friends on there. Its a great way to connect and catchup with people that you used to have in your daily lives. Geez, time really flies. Most of my friends have had kids and really have gone off in their own direction. Like either moving to New York, Boston, Florida, etc. Some of them have remained the same and others have done something completely different. One particular guy I found this week I have been looking for awhile. He got an academic scholoarship to Stanford and was a high school all american in football as well. Turns out he lives in DC and he has an 8 month old. Him and I are going to chat, but I am glad we finally connected.

Finally, I just switched to ATT cable and my phone is not set up yet. If you are calling the house and getting the busy signal this is the reason. This will be resolved in the next couple of days,

Football is back!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for the season to be here. With the Padres not being competitive (nice way to say they suck). I think we have a really good chance of going to the big game this year. We will see how it goes. I am currently in 3 footballs pools as well, so every, I mean every game means something. Anyway, I am going riding earlty in the morning so I gotta run. Oh, by the way, I got a new tattoo as wel. If you want to see it, send me an email.

Okay, okay...he looks like me

Lots and lots to talk about but I am short on time. I will post this weekend with some new updates. Meanwhile, enjoy the "MAC"

Bee to the lip at 22 mph, San Francisco, Washington D.C , TLC and I hit the road

Its been a nutty couple of weeks. A couple of weeks ago I had to go to San Francisco for work for our QBR. This is our quarterly business review where we go over some of the finer details of the quarter. Overall the meetings went well and it was a good time with the coworkers. I returned to an empty house as Taunya took Maddox to her parents house in Madera, CA. This is a small town near Fresno. It was Maddox's first plan flight. He beat my personal record as I never flew until I was 21 years old. The kid is knocking out 1st's already. I did some hanging out with friends, went to sushi and did some riding with some of my time. I will tell you that it being that quiet around here was pretty unsettling to say the least.

Anyway, so last week I went in on a ride the day before I headed to a conference in Washington, DC. I was going about 22 mph and saw this little black thing coming at me. As it got closer, It was clear to me, its a bee. I tried to close my mouth but too late. The Bee hit my lip and then started to go into my mouth. In a panic, I began to spit and with a finger knocked him out of my mouth. Then I thought hmmmm, that is not bad.....ummmm hold on...what is that? Oh, its my lip killing me because he stinger is still stuck in it. I pulled over slowly skidding and with no mirror, pulled the stinger out of my lip. At this point, my lip began swelling like I just took a good shot in a street fight. I had about only 14 miles on the odometer, so I decided to finish out the remaining 16 miles and then head for home. After the 30 or so miles I got home and Taunya was staring at me and could not figure out what happened. Of course, she looks at me and says "Did you get in a fight on your bike?". I started to laugh and told her what had happened. I asked her to take a picture of it for me so you could experience it like I did. Well almost...

DC was good. Went by the white house on the way to the trade show called "CF United". Google it and you can find out more about the conference if you would like. Basically a developer conference for ColdFusion users and Adobe was on of the key sponsors. The weather was nice and I was happy to be home.

The latest heatwave of the past 3 days has been pretty bad. I went riding yesterday and managed to log about 64 miles before I broke another spoke on my other bike. I dropped that one off at the shop and rode my tri bike with TLC today and had a great time. My mom came over and watched Maddox for a couple of hours so we could hit the road. Taunya did well given the fact that it was in the high 80's and she has not really riden since before the baby. Boy it was hot though.

Maddox is getting better, developing and looking more and more like his mom everyday. He is such a joy to watch, hold, change and be with. Let it be known, that is it sits right now, the kid has blue eyes and fair skin with light brown/blondish hair. The skin is fair, but nowhere near mine. I basically put out a kid that has my face but with no single trait that looks like me. I am really happy that he is healthy, but I mean honestly, the kid is white. Nothing wrong with that as you all know.

As some of you read this you might think what is wrong with this guy? Well nothing, but I thought I would of at least gotten the eyes, hair or the skin even. Nada. We will see how things go. When I mention this to Taunya, Grandma Gaufin and others, they just tell me that they still could change and they laugh. Well news on the front too. His eyes went from dark blue to light blue. I mean at baseball games, soccer, etc. When I yell, "Nice job Maddox", people are going to whisper "is that his dad?" to other parents. The others are going to whisper back "Yeah, funny huh? He looks nothing like him"

I am THAT guy. I will be posting another youtube video of Maddox from this weekend shortly.

Friends of Maddox...

Sorry for the delay, here is Maddox!

Maddox Anthony Conte has arrived @ 5:33 am this morning

Hello everyone,

Most of you have recieved a text from me at this point stating that we were on our way to the hospital last night. What an experience is all I can really say. We left the house last night at 11pm and stayed awake all night until the guy arrived this morning.

He is an interesting little guy weighing in at 7.5 lbs and 20 inches long. He keeps his eyes open alot and looks like a burrito all wrapped up. We delivered at Sharp Mary Birch, Hospital. We had a great team of nurses and doctors. Everything went well and all of us are doing great. Taunya really did well and the doctor told us that we could be going home as soon as tomorrow. We are really excited about that so we can get started on building our routine around this guy.

We are going to be adjusting so if we do not return the calls right away please be patient. I will be posting pictures later today!

The Simple Life

Before the madness begins, I was thinking of things that I really enjoy.  Here is a list that comes to mind;

• Hot coffee in the morning
• Long talks with the wife.  
• Seeing the smile on my wife's face when she rides her bike.
• Waking up early when its still dark outside.
• The rain
• Accidentally falling asleep(wink wink).
• Feeling exhausted after a intense swim, bike or run.
• Being home with my dogs Mona & Truman.
• PS3
• Reading, yes I said reading.
• Ice cold beer while BBQ'ing.
• Sushi
• Friends like Katie & Chris, Jeff, Craig, Dave and Tim.
• Reconnecting with old friends.
• Quiet mornings.
• Watching my sister and nephew interact.
• Open minds.
• Trying new foods.
• Changing my opinion.

These are what comes to mind.  What do you enjoy?  Take time to jot them down.  You might be surprised with what you end up putting down.  Taunya went walking this morning with her friend Niki this morning.  Some contractions, but nothing really.

More baby news- We have a date...

So we went to the doctor yesterday as we are scheduled to have labor induced on May 1st if he does not come sooner. Still no name yet. We are taking suggestions..:)

Baby News!

There is none.  Thanks for the calls and emails.  We are in a holding pattern.  Maybe he realizes that life is more simple in there?  Maybe he is lazy already and knows that once he is out, he is going to hear about things like chores, jobs and gas prices.  Maybe he just is stubborn like his mother and is waiting until the last minute?  Maybe is like his father and knows to make the most of a good thing like free room and board?

Either way, we are ready for him to get here.  Its like being 9 and having knowing that Christmas is 4 nights away?

How ironic.  As I type the song "A Horse with No Name" by America is playing in the background as we sit here in the living room.  Taunya is sleeping already with both bulldogs surrounding her.  Funny.

If you are reading my blog, I am going to probably post here first when we are on our way to the hospital.  So if you are a regular reader of the blog, just know that you will probably be in the know when it comes to the baby ne

Tick tock, tick tock, ko koo, ko koo...

Well,

To sum it up that is pretty much what is going on now.  Its like watching paint dry around here.  As I sit here watching Truman and Mona chew their bones, snorting and making noises, I am waiting for the day.  Tick tock as I watch the clock and want the little guy to get here.  The ko koo for what I am going to be when he actually arrives.  Like I said, its like that long day at work, or sitting thru a 3 hour lecture and looking up at the clock and saying "OMG, its only been 22 minutes??"  Yeah, thats me.  I am THAT guy.  

As I sit here I am supposed to be in San Jose right now for training.  I talked to my boss and he let me get out of it which was nice.  I was worried that I might get stuck up there if Taunya went into labor.  Its only an hour and 15 minute flight, but if she went into labor I would probably not be able to get on a plane to come home until around 5:45 which would put me home somewhere around 8am. Not good.  So I decided to stay here and hang out to be more of a help.

I did a triathlon on Sunday that I was pretty much 100% not trained for at all.  Having been traveling and recently coming off of back spasms just a week ago, I still went ahead and did the race.  The distances were as follows; 1 mile swim, 26 mile ride and then a 6 mile run.  The last time I ran was about 3 weeks ago just before the back spasms.  I have not swam that far since about a year ago.  It was brutal, but amazing what you can tell your body to do when dealing with pain and issues when it comes to endurance events.  Some of the highlights or lowlights if you will from the race for me.

1. Swim-Took in 4 mouthfuls of San Diego Bay.  It was windy causing some chops in the bay.
2. Bike-26 miles, I think I did it just under an hour.  If I averaged 26mph that would be impressive.  I will wait to see my split times.
3. Run-Just trying to hang on. The first 1.25 miles was on beach sand.  Brutal.
4. Run-Ran with a 69 year old guy for awhile.  Cool dude.  Really nice guy.
5. This race is called the Superfrog/Superseal Triathlon.  Its done in Coronado and on the NSW(Naval Special Warfare) base where all of the SEALS train.  
6. My heat was with the military and I was running and swimming with some 20 year olds with 2 percent body fat, that were navy seals.  Alot of them passed me on the run needless to say.  
7. Finally, I did the whole race without stopping and walking at all.  I was proud of that fact.  With the exception of the Ironman, I have never stopped or walked in a race.  I am proud of that fact.

Anyway, enough of that  We might get some drizzle tonight but the weekend is looking to be a warm one.  I am looking to scoop up some new wheels for my bike pretty soon so I am excited about that.  Other than that, my next race is a bike, race again.  I am looking forward to it.  The only bad thing is that its a 100 mile race.

Oh yeah, Taunya finally had her baby shower this weekend.  Talk about waiting to the end?  Thanks to Katie her friend for putting it together as t really went well.  Thank you all for your help and baby stuff.  Its all gonna be put to use.

Happy Easter! Vegas, Boston, Tampa, baby news and my 1st bike race

It has been awhile since I have really sat down and typed.  I think that may have of been underestimating the work that it takes to get ready for the boy.  I will say that between the both of us working, the dogs, home projects and the like, we have been really busy.

We went to Las Vegas about a month ago for a close friends of ours 30th birthday party.  It was a great time for the both of us.  A much needed break and we just relaxed.  We were there from friday thru sunday.  Taunya bought her much wanted diaper bag and I got a shirt and hat.  Not just any hat, a Kangol.  Fun, Fun, Fun.

The last two weeks I have been traveling for work.  The first week I was in Boston and the last week I was in Tampa.  Boston is a great town and I really like it.  It was around 44 degrees so it was not too bad compared to the 23 degree's it was the last time I was there.  Other than work, one of the cooler things that we did was go to a Boston Bruins hockey game.  It was fun and exciting to actually watch professional hockey.  Something to note on the way back was that I sat next to a woman who had two kids.  One was 15 months old and the other was 4.  It did not bother me at all,

 but I gave her a hand with alot of things. I was helping her so much that people were asking me how old my kids were.  When I replied "I have one on the way, but these are not mine" they seemed amazed that I was not annoyed with all of the noise.  Well the truth is that the kid screaming the entire 4.5 hours of the flight was annoying and almost drove me nuts, they are kids.  They really do not know what is going on and quite honestly the poor woman was doing everything to try to keep them quiet.  She was extremely thankful when we got off the plane, but I felt its was the least I could do.  The funny thing is that we never exchanged names at all.  It was not really necessary I guess.

That same weekend Taunya's parents and came down to visit and give us some help putting up wainscoting in the babies room.  Man, what a task.  I can say that between the nail gun, the mitre saw and tape measure I thought I was going to lose my mind.  Frank and I (my father inlaw) began on Friday afternoon and finished around 9pm on saturday night.  I was so tired the day after I could of slept almost the whole day.  Overall it looks really good but I spent sunday morning and pretty much all day cleaning up

.  

The following monday I took off to Tampa, FL for guess what?  More meetings.  I had some delays in Denver flying United and I ended up getting into Tampa much later than I had planned.  It was really no big deal.  I stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel which was nice and had a great view of the city.  After being there for 3 days, I headed back home.  The flight was uneventful which is always good, but it was extremely packed coming from Denver to San Diego.  The plan was full of spring breakers!  My next trip is the second week of April that will put me in San Jose.  Its going to be a long one..ugh.

Everything is coming along fine with the baby these days.  Taunya is getting bigger and sleeping and overall moving around is getting tough for her.  She is still working and will probably work right up until the baby is born.  She is probably going to take off the following 3-4 months after the baby is born and then go back to work.  Working is essential for Taunya as she really enjoys what she does and her co-workers.  There is a woman in our complex that lives about 5 doors down who does daycare.  We have known here since we moved in here and she comes highly recommended from others.  Well we really lucked out because she has an opening for us!  So the plan is that Taunya will stay home long enough for her to have an opening and then we will shift over to using her.  Childcare is expensive let me tell you from some of the research that we have done.  I can understand why some people just choose to continue to stay home.  When you do the math, it can really make sense to stay home.  About 3 weeks ago we had the whole house painted.  I was going to take on the task, but between work and travel and everything it just was too much.  The colors are dark and light with some accent walls around the house.  This is just one more thing to check off of the list.

Finally, I did a bike race about a month ago as well and it was really really fun.  At first I was not really sure how much I was going to like it, but after we got rolling I really enjoyed it.  It was a 26 mile race and I started out in the middle of the pack.  I went by myself and met a neighbor up there.  The race was held on Camp Pendleton which is a Marine base here in town.  The course was somewhat hilly.  I finished the race in 1:21.  This is an average of just over 19 miles per hour.  In racing, this is quick.  Its not really too fast, but I felt I did well.  I could of done much faster had I not been dropped from the main pack.  I was fighting the entire time to catch up at times, but with the wind right in my face I had to do almost double the work.  Bike races are all about strategy.  Its all about staying with the Peloton and then at the last minute breaking away and heading for the finish line.  I was pretty much unaware of this.  

What I decided to do was to just go as hard as I can for the last 10 miles. The first 16 miles were somewhat hilly, but had a staged climb in there as well.  Hills and climbing are my strong point.  I passed a lot of guys going up the hill which was fun.  After climbing the hill there was a fast downhill.  I tucked down and peddled down.  I reached 45.2 mph!  Wooo Hooo!  I then began my attack to the finish passing a lot of people again.  I was happy, but I noticed that I had like 5 guys all drafting behind me!  I pulled a little off to the right in order to have them switch and let them break the wind for awhile.  Well guess what?  None of them would come up and take the lead.  This made me really mad, so I decided I would dig deep and try to drop them.  So I stood up and really started driving.  I dropped them but then I noticed that others caught up.  So if you can picture this, I was riding in the front of the pack with a line of about 5 guys behind me all in line.  I kept looking down to see how close the guys were behind me and could only see one tire.  Some guy yelled.."you have power".  Rather than get happy, I just got more mad.  I again slammed the quads and hammis and tried to drop them.  Again, no luck.  As we came close to the finish line, I began to sprint it out and head toward the finish line.  I crossed and was pretty much really tired and my legs felt like butter.  After the race about 5 random guys came up and said "nice pull".  This is the way that someone who sat in your draft the whole race says thank you.  I did not say thanks but more like "your welcome".  Next time, I won't be so nice.