Laura's got the flu. She had a hard time making potatos from a box. I'm not sure she got the proportions right, because they looked awfully thick and pasty to me. But what else would you expect from Idaho Spuds? She did seem to really appreciate the fact that I came home early from work to bring her some food. I made some tomato soup, and some jello, and bought other sickness necessities on my way home: Cepacol, Robitussin cough drops, apple sauce, and of course the #1 necessity, Coffee Ice Cream.

I'm not the only one to worry about this. In fact, its pretty common for parents to register domain names for their unborn children. Some wonder if they should even post pictures, much less anything more revealing. I never even thought of the possibility that somebody could approach my child, and recognizing him, pretend that they weren't strangers.

I never thought of this potentially much more devastating reason either:

The main reason I don't use their names is so that when their high school enemies (or buddies) Google their names they won't find a bunch of potentially embarrassing stories and pictures. I try not to write stuff that I think will mortify them, but who knows?

Frankly, being a blogger with a prominently displayed name, I've never been too concerned about the privacy implications of writing online. That's because I know the real truth: everybody who reads this knows who I am!

Okay, so that's not entirely true. In any case, for those of you who are friends, and those of you who are friends I haven't met yet, introducing andersonkovacs.com That number down there is going down way to fast!

The picture from Monday doesn't really show the size of Laura's belly like this one does. In fact, I'm not positive its not a trick of the lens, because I didn't even think it looked that big. Two months to go!

Here's an embarrassing admission for everybody. Sometimes, I get so nervous that I'm going to get somebody's name wrong, that I'll do anything to avoid saying it. This doesn't happen for my closest friends, but it does happen for more people than I care to admit to. Its not like I have their names wrong either. There's just a little voice in my head that says "Peter, are you SURE that's his name? You'll look an awful fool if its not!" And instead of a proper greeting, out comes "Heeeeey... whipper-snapper".

Yesterday it was officially two months until Laura's due date. We're starting to hit the time when we tear apart the house in hopes of making it better again. We moved nearly everything out of our home-office, and we're starting to turn it into a full-fledged nursery. We've only got one more major piece of furniture to put in there -- the crib! Of course, it still needs lots of work. Like those shelves right there? Totally dusty. Yes, we live in squalor, but its not like we could've reached them for cleaning before anyway.

I want to thank Jeff for letting me use his camera to take these pictures. I think I'm going to have a hard time giving it back. At least until I can convince Laura that I need one. Hey, its bonus time soon at work. Too bad we have a down-payment to save for.

Another week, another picture. As the Kovixen mentioned, we spent most of the weekend moving furniture around, and for some reason today my right hamstring is killing me. I don't get it. I did go to bed with a sore back. I guess I did a decent amount of lifting, but it was only four boxes of books! If I have to move again (and surely that'll happen eventually), I have a feeling I'm going to be in a lot of trouble. Maybe its time to start hitting the gym again.

Really, is there any other kind of fudge worth having? The last of it was finished off today, so I figure now is as good a time as any to post some pictures of this fabulous creation. If you want to make it, and I highly recommend that you do, you can get the recipe from the King of the Kitchen, Alton Brown. Sure, 234° may scare you off, but really its not that hard. I got my candy thermometer from the hardware store for $4!

What starts off as a simple mixture of sugar, butter, chocolate and half and half becomes the gorgeous fudge that you see below. The hardest part was the vigorous stirring required to make all the tiny crystals that give fudge its characteristic texture. But, just like childbirth, while it may suck at the time, looking back on it, I could totally do it again. (Did I really just compare making fudge to what the Kovixen is going to go through in a little over 2 months?)

I should mention, if you do make it yourself, please for the love of all things holy, line your 8" x 8" baking dish with parchment or wax paper. The directions neglect to mention that, and I had a heck of a time getting it out of there with no squishing.

For those of you who made it this far, be sure to check out this wicked awesome website I found. You can play these totally rad games online, for free! *cough* *cough*

For those of you keeping track, my surgery is scheduled for March 2nd. Hopefully, it's going to be much easier this time since I'm only getting local anesthetic. The thought of waking up on the operating table ready to puke was a little too much for me. Hopefully a skin graft won't be required so my recovery will be nice and quick. Otherwise I'll be on crutches for 2 weeks.

It turns out I get to keep my toe. Yay! I went to a plastic surgeon, who fit me in between a breast reduction and a tummy tuck. He tells me that if he can't sew up my incision then he's going to do a skin graft (probably from a piece of skin from my thigh). The only problem with a skin graft is I have to take it really easy for about two weeks. Crutches easy. I'm hoping I can just work from home. Work from bed even. I hate crutches. They always hurt my arm pits. I'm definitely not going to subject myself to hobbling down the ridiculously long hallways at work.

Speaking of work. I've been working on a new project in Java. I have to take back most of the wicked things I've said about the language. Its not half bad. I still find C++ much more familiar; Java is still a foreign tongue, but its definitely bearable.