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I really should be putting fingers to keys and getting all the stuff in my head down in an IDEA PIT for Goodhalos II & III. But dang it, I made a promise to my reading audience a while back about the love of a certain breakfast ball and I'll be danged if I'm not going to stick to it.

Yes. It's time to write about Pancake Puffs.

First we broke open the box and pulled all the junk out. We then found some pancake mix in the cupboard. And then we...

You know what? Never mind writing about it. Check out the video instead.



So, that's what our Saturday morning breakfasts look like (thank you Eels for the perfect song!), although I have to admit we (and by "we" I mean Laura) are a lot better at making them than the first couple of go-rounds.

We have yet to try the "flavor injector" but I'm sure we'll go crazy and blast all kinds of garbage into those puffs. Hey, we're the Troupes. We're crazy like that, yo.

Oh...and yes, I did get to enjoy a puff (or 6) of my own. See?

Nothing like a chocolate chip pancake puff and some severe bedhead.

Oh, there's so much crap happening, I can't even begin to keep up anymore. How is it possible that another week has rolled by and the best I could come up with was an old Milli Vanilli picture that was Photoshopped. Well, let's start at the start, shall we?

Video Guy Again - I know I shouldn't complain, but the people at my soon-to-be-old-job aren't going to let me coast through my last week. Oh, heck no. Instead, my boss's boss, who we'll call 'Bill' thought I should try and do another episode of that goofy 'Office' send-up I did back in March. This idea, not only larger in scope (with a larger cast, now) needs to be written, shot and sort of assembled before my last day on Friday. Tall order? Comin' up.

So I got the thing written and it's a nasty, evil little video project. People are snarky in the show, they do awful things to each other, they say the worst things possible, and somehow, someway it's actually kind of funny. I think it's got a lot more (dare I say it) style than the last script. It'll be interesting to see if I can pull off filming all the stuff I need in the next few days. It's ambitious, y'all. Updates as time allows.

Delicious Dividends - Okay, remember that video my friend and I made? The one with the two horribly uncoordinated white guys rapping about Chipotle? This one? Well, I thought it'd be kind of funny to send the link to the big shots at Chipotle HQ and see what they thought of our vocal stylings and what not. I sort of didn't think we'd get a response.

We did.

The dude wrote back and said:

Thomas,

I watched it, and I must say you guys put some effort into that for sure. And although I wouldn’t necessarily suggest that you guys quit your day jobs and become hip-hop artists, we thought it was a funny video (and yes, I’ve seen Lazy Sunday as well). Please send me your respective mailing addresses, since I’d like to send you guys some free burritos for your efforts.

Sincerely,

Joe Stupp
Chipotle

So...yeah. I wrote back and said thanks for watching and all that jazz and today I hit the proverbial jackpot! A card came in the mail from Chipotle stuffed with what looked like playing cards.

These are no ordinary playing cards, friends. If you click on the picture, you can see that these are actually cards that'll net you ONE FREE BURRITO (or in my case, bol). And the best part? There were 10 of 'em. Yeah...were 10. I already burned through 2 for dinner tonight. Sue me.

As if that weren't enough, I got an e-mail from a LOCAL Chipotle guy. He wanted to swing by the hospital where I work and bring a bunch of free burritos for the peeps I work with. So...as luck would have it, my last day (this Friday) is going to be free burrito day for me and mine. Seriously. This is going to be so much better than a Goodbye, Good luck Potluck or something.

I've Been Married For 4 Years! - So, in a true act of horrible-ness, I neglected to let the rest of the world know of my wedding anniversary last Thursday. The important part? I didn't forget to wish Laura (my wife! pay attention!) happy anniversary, so I suspect I'm all set for another year. Here's a random shot from the reception:

That's my friend MKD, Dumb Ol' Nick, Laura & the Luckiest Dude in the World hamming it up in Mankato. I'm singing 'You Give Love A Bad Name' and hip-checking Laura for some odd reason. Oh, I see there are questions. Yes, you behind the keyboard...

TKT, why is DON wearing what appears to be a superman t-shirt?

Funny story. During our reception, there was an event happening at the place where some people from an organization called the Strength Ministries were doing some sort of show. I think they use the power of Jesus to lift Nissans or something. I'm not sure. Anyway, my friend Nick and Big J went and purchased a t-shirt and proceeded the wear them during the rest of the reception. We're nothing if we're not informal. Yes? You staring at the monitor?

Thomas, you look like you weigh as much as Dan Aykroyd in "Driving Miss Daisy." What up with that?

It's true. I had a bit of a weight problem back in the day. I couldn't wait to eat. (rim shot) I look at some of my wedding pictures and I shudder a bit. Not that I'm now super svelte and rippling with muscle and what have you, but I've gotten myself whipped into better shape than I was. You wanna see scary? I should break out the pictures of me whilst Laura was preggers with lil' TKT. Yikes. At 5'9", I really shouldn't have weighed 236 pounds. But I did.

Anyway, we had a nice, mellow anniversary. We ordered pizza, played with our kid and just relaxed. 4 years. BAM! Just like that. It's been a great trip so far. I could wax nostalgic about it, but it doesn't need to be said. We're happy people and happy together, yo.

***I hope you brought a lunch***

Well, it's been an interesting week...and it's only Tuesday, y'all! Let's do this thing.

Jobby Job - Well, I kept this under wraps, but I had a job interview on Friday afternoon. I was scheduled to interview with 5 people (5!) all at once for a position that was closer to home, better pay, a lot less stressful, better hours, not so much traveling around, etc. Basically, it was just the kind of job a fella like me would like. I was the last interview on Friday, so I thought Dang...these people are going to want to get outta here. I'm at SUCH a disadvantage. It was raining. My pants got wet (and not from Egg Drop Soup, thank you) and I was tired from the day. It just wasn't a good set-up. I got there and they fired all kinds of questions at me and like someone who REALLY wanted a new job, I wound up and cracked off a pretty decent answer for all of them. I left feeling pretty good about the whole thing, but then I (of course) started 2nd guessing myself.

Why did I say THAT?
What did so-and-so mean when she asked me about my future with the company?
Did I sound like a braggart and a jerk?
Was my handshake weak?
Why didn't I get that degree?

This went on for the entire weekend. Despite that, I started (in my head) planning on how I was going to break the news to my boss about my new job (which I didn't have) and how awesome it was going to be to NOT have to travel waaaay up north for weeks at a time to train miserable nurses and techs on a system they probably don't care about. I do this everytime. I imagine life in my new job and I get all happy and what-not only to get the crushing news a few weeks later that I'm no good or whatever.

Of course, I wanted to know NOW if I got the job. The worst part? I made up a nice list of references before the interview and only when I got back home did I realize I'd forgotten to offer them. I was screwed.

Cut to Monday afternoon. I'm enjoying lunch at, you guessed it, Chipotle with some co-workers. You know one of them. He was the dude in the Crazy Monday video. You remember the guy. Anyway, we were talking and I said: "I just want to know NOW if I got it, you know? Is that so much to ask?"

I recounted how I got my current job. It was end of August and I got an interview here in the morning. What sucked was that it fell on the day Laura and I and her family were going to go to the State Fair (the Great Minnesota Get-Together). So, I went to the interview, thought I did okay, and went to the fair. I got a call on my cell phone (while in the Midway) and was offered the job. That was like a 2 hour turnaround!

Anyway, I thought it'd be nice to get something like that going, so when I got back to work I checked my e-mail for a nugget. Nothing. I drummed my fingers. I checked Craigslist for jobs. Nothing good. Not thinking I'd hear anything so soon, I dialed up my voicemail at home.

"You have...1 new message."

There's nothing quite like having that crabby electronic lady tell you you've got a message waiting. When you don't have one, it's like she gets all ugly about it. "YOU HAVE NO MESSAGES." Fine lady, be that way.

But yesterday...I had a message, y'all.

I punched in the codes and listened. It was the head-honcho lady for the department where I'd interviewed. She sounded nice n' friendly and wanted me to give her a call back. She ended the message by saying: "I look forward to talking to you."

I freaked. Could this be good news? I played it again, listening for tone and what-not. Would someone really be looking forward to talking to me if she wanted to tell me I didn't get the job? Could this woman be that cruel? I asked my co-workers. I listened to it again. I had them listen to it. I tried not to soil myself (and succeeded).

I called her back. Long story short? She said both groups that were looking for someone were BLOWN AWAY (huh? really?) by me in the interview. She offered me the job and gave me my choice of which specialty area I wanted to choose from.

"Really?" I asked. "I can pick?"

I had my choice between the Medicine Specialty group or the Cardiology/Pulmonary group. I thought they'd just put me where they thought I'd be best, but I guess they both wanted me, so it was up to me to decide. Since I like hearts n' stuff, I picked Cardiology/Pulmonary. The big boss lady said those two Directors will be thrilled and that's it. I've got a new job, starting on May 5th!

Crazy!

Lappity Lappity - I sort of anticipated that I was going to have to stay up north a bunch this summer for my (old) job, so I decided I wanted to be more productive whilst on the road. In the past, I would drag an Xbox or a Playstation 2 (sometimes both) with me and when I was done teaching my classes, I would hole up like a hermit in my hotel room and just play video games. Seriously. Like from 4pm - midnight. Yes. Time well spent.

Since I've decided THIS IS THE YEAR THINGS HAPPEN, I didn't want to do that. I've got a pretty big writing to-do list, so I decided I needed to get a laptop. Nothing too fancy, just something where I can put words on a screen...maybe do a little with the world wide community of the internets...perhaps burn a dvd or two...and, all right, edit a video or what not.

So, anyway, I got one. I almost wonder what's wrong with it since I got such a good deal. It's got a 17" widescreen display, CD/DVD burner, a built in webcam (that I don't know what I'll use it for) and all kinds of other crap. It's thin, lightweight and is quicker than brown chocolate powder you stir in milk.

But yeah! I'm portable, baby! I know I'm like 10 years behind the times and all my writer pals are like...

Yeah, great TKT. Welcome to 2008!

But it'll be great. I can go into coffee shops and fire up my laptop (to be named later) sit there until the stink of coffee makes me sick and then go out to another place where I can just sit and type to my heart's content! I can blog from the road! I can check my e-mail just about everywhere. I CAN DO STUFF.

Beddy Bed - Man, this post is getting out of hand. Feel free to check out when I lose you. My feelings won't be hurt. Anyway, Travis go an upgraded bed yesterday. He was rockin' the toddler bed for a little over a year and we decided it was time to get him a bed big enough for us to lie in as well. So, when we got his crib all those years back (3) we got one of those Transformer beds. You know, you can convert it from a crib (insert Transformers sound effect here) into...a FULL SIZE bed.

Full size? For our little Travis?

Yes. He's skipped past the Twin Size bed (which I had until I was 16 and old enough to buy myself a futon) right to the deluxe accomodations a Full size provides.

I converted the crib to the bed (no easy task) and delivery of his new mattress and box spring came last night while I was working out at the club. I came home all sweaty and a bit stinky and he was THRILLED!

"Dad! Dad!" I could hear him drop his Hot Wheels cars and come running over. "I got my big boy bed! Come see! Come see!"

I followed him to his room and lo and behold, there it was. Laura wasted no time in making it up and putting his brand-spanking-new Cars quilt on it. I imagined little Travis sleeping in that enormous bed and I have to admit I got a little misty.

He tried to climb in it and couldn't. The bed was too high and he was a bit too short.

Last night when I got back from another (suicide attempt!) EMT call, I went into his room and lay with him a little bit. He said he was scared of his new 'big boy' bed and that he wanted to sleep in Mom and Dad's bed. I told him he didn't need to. He was a big kid now and big kids slept in their own beds. He told me he had bad dreams. I reminded him that dreams were just pretend things that happened in his head and that he couldn't get hurt by bad dreams.

"Besides, I'm right downstairs under your room listening for you." (That's where the Nerdery is, where I spend my free time in the evening, crafting those book things I mess around with.)

He looked at me like he didn't know I was right below him.

"I also check on you a bunch of times at night to see if you're okay," I told him.

"You do?"

"Absolutely," I said. "I want to make sure my little guy is doing okay."

I then told him about how I came in a couple nights ago and how he was asleep and his arms were up like he was on a rollercoaster.

"Like this?" He put his arms up over his head and opened his mouth.

"Exactly," I said. "Another time, you were buried under deedees (his word for blankets). I had to lift them up to see if you were in there."

"I was?"

"Yep. So go to sleep, Buddy. You'll be okay."

He smiled and closed his eyes. I gave him a kiss on his crazy little head and told him I loved him. As I walked away, he sat up.

"Dad!"

"Yeah?" I turned around, half-expecting him to ask again to sleep in our bed. Not this time.

"I love you, too." He then promptly laid down and dropped off to sleep.

Seriously? Kids rock. Well, at least mine does.

I have been meaning to direct your attention for some time now, to Chris (C.C.) Humphrey's podcasts of his trip to Transylvania and Romania. He was there to do research and soak up the atmosphere of the old stomping grounds of Vlad Tepes aka Dracula. Humphrey's mellifluous voice is very easy on the ears.