JaredBoothe

Not that I’m counting down or anything.  Really, I’m not.  However, that being said, as of today there are 200 days remaining until Formula 1 comes to Austin.  Which I am very excited about.  More importantly, in 65 days (+/- a few) we will be having our first child!  Now that is what I call something worthy of a countdown.  In fact, I have changed the page that was counting down until we were married to be a countdown until we are parents!

My how time flies.  Quite a bit has happened since my last post.  But, that is alright, life happens, literally.  Here in a couple of months we will be parents and that will be a huge change for both of us.  Change is good though, I strive on change.  I’ve been looking for a good solid change lately to help not only keep me motivated, but also allow me to get that sense of accomplishment that I do not get as often as I would like at work.  I’ve been feeling prepared and ready for a promotion for several months now and have told my manager that frankly, I am bored.  It isn’t that I don’t have enough to do, because I’m still working too many hours and plenty.  The issue is that I am not excited about the majority of the work I’ve been doing, and I do not feel like the skills and talents that I have are being properly utilized.  I’m ready for additional responsibility and a bit of a job function change.  We shall see how this summer goes.

Last October I had the wild idea to take my motorcycle (and three others w/friends) to a race track.  I learned so much from that experience and had an amazing time.  I am still glad that I did it, even though the end results weren’t exactly what I was hoping for.  The bike came back in pieces.  We actually used zip ties to try and keep the parts all together when the bike was back on the trailer.  Unfortunately I am still not entirely certain about how the crash occurred, but there are a few theories.  The biggest thought is that my tire pressure was a little bit too high, and I ran a bit wide in to the corner and got in to some dust on the track.  Those two forces combined are what I believe caused the crash.  I wasn’t hurt too badly, but the bike fared poorly.  No throttle, no front or rear brakes, and a whole lot of cosmetic damage.  Believe it or not though, even if the crash hadn’t happened I would have not gone back to the track on a motorcycle.  It was definitely incredibly fun, but it was just a little bit out of my comfort zone with where I am in life right now.  Not worth the risk.  I am still interested in the track, but with four wheels.  I’ve always preferred cars to bikes anyway, bikes just happen to be a lot cheaper.  We shall see what the future holds on that front.  Maybe I’ll get in to Superkarts next.

We visited Utah for Thanksgiving again last year and had some fun with telling our families that we were expecting.  They were all pretty excited and showed it in different ways.  We had a good visit and it was nice to have those conversations and get our families involved.  We will likely not be heading up to Utah this year and we’ll see how next year goes.  I really do miss the scenery of Utah though.  It has been extra rainy over the last year or two there and my was it green!  I miss how lush the lawns are there and how fertile the soil seems to be.  I know it is a desert, but at least there is decent dirt in the yards for planting a garden!  It was an optimal year to compare to Utah though, as here in the Austin area we experienced one of the worst droughts ever recorded for the state, and broke so many high temperature records it was not even funny!

At the end of the year is when we started letting our closer friends know that we were expecting and everyone was so excited for us.  It is always nice to have that support.  For the most part I don’t care what other people think, but it did feel good to have everyone so thrilled for us.  I then began letting some people at work know.  One of my coworkers was about to head out on a foreign assignment for 18 months or so and I had heard them talking about they loved the daycare they used and I wanted to get the scoop.  Once she learned that we were pregnant she offered us their baby seat that their child had outgrown, and we accepted it gladly!  Also, I learned more information about the daycare that they used and it sounds absolutely perfect.  I wish I was a little kid so I could attend.  It is all about Asian culture and values, which are things that I really admire and am fond of.  In the end, we may not end up needing a daycare after all as Elisabeth is leaving the teaching profession at the end of the school year, and we wont need to worry about any sort of daycare until/if she returns to work.  But depending on what happens on that front, that is one of my top choices for a daycare, such a cool place!

Over the last month or two we have had so many friends (mostly Elisabeth’s) that wanted to donate to the ‘Baby Boothe’ fund by way of clothing!  Our unborn child already has a wardrobe to be envious of!  Each time I see the little clothes it just reminds me of how quickly she (yep, a girl) is going to grow up.  Our neighbors had a little kid when we moved in to our home, and now that kid is driving around on his Power Wheels jeep with his little sister in the passenger seat.  I still remember when his sister was born!  It really doesn’t seem like that long ago.  I am definitely going to need to return to my old mantra about how it is the little things that count.  I have a feeling that she will be growing up so stinking fast and it is going to be hard for me to keep up!  Very awesome indeed.

Last weekend Elisabeth and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary by heading out of town for a few days.  Since I haven’t been getting much of a sense of accomplishment from work, and we were having the dogs stay at the kennel while we went out of town, I used the time in between wisely.  I finally did some tile work around our back door.  This has been far too long overdue.  It is mostly finished now, and I feel great about it.  There are still a few aspects that need to be completed, such as grouting, sealing, and then putting back the carpet properly.  I’m up for it, and with that sense of accomplishment that I received from the work I did, I am motivated to continue doing work around the house.  I think that the timing was just right to get me kick started with the energy and initiative to get the rest of the house ready and prepped to have our little bundle of awesome arrive home.  Going to be one wild ride.