John Stecher’s World

You thought Jordan was focused on the court look at her!

The little girl playing with her crack aka Airdogs

Over the holidays at the Stecher household our little Bella got what has probably become the greatest present that any dog has ever received. Beth got her these mini tennis balls called Airdogs and for all I can tell they must be filled with crack or something because she goes absolutely nuts with these things.

Toy’s normally had a shelf life of about a month or so before she would be on to the next big thing (well I lie…it was really because I bought her another toy in that time) but with the Airdogs she keeps on going with them. She hauls them to bed with her, out by her bowl to eat, and pretty much anywhere she goes in the house. She also DEMANDS to be played with by us throwing her Airdogs off the walls so that she can do some pretty some powerslides on the tile floor trying to catch them.

Here’s some pictures to how Lindsay and I spent our Friday night partying with the Airdogs and our baby girl. If only I had a video it would be cooler.

Home Life Airdogs, Bella, Lindsay

At long last and mucho nagging…err i forgot Lindsay reads this must find better words…loving suggestions from Lindsay and a hell of a lot of hard work over the weekend our basement is finally all framed in!  You probably can’t tell from the pictures I posted here exactly how much progress we made over the weekend but let me assure you that going from just a open slab of a basement to something you can actually visualize as a real life basement complete with new 60 inch 1,000,000 contrast ratio 1080p TV.

On Sunday we finished up the bathroom frame in around the tub and since Rob and I actually got confident enough to build our own walls and not screw them up progress was quick.  The only problem we kept running into was that every wall Rob and I built was about 1/4 inch to tall or 1/4 inch to short but with a little love tap from the hammer (well I typically bashed it about 1000000 times to get it in place if it was too big) they slide in perfectly.   Last task for the day was framing in the HVAC ducting which was a pain in the ass to say the least.  I think it literally took us 2 hours to do it but when she was done it was pretty damn impressive to step back and actually look at what was accomplished.  Like I said I don’t think the pictures do it justice in the least!!

I really owe a ton of thanks to Rob and my dad for all the help.  I never expected we would make as much progress as we did and I never could have done it without Rob coming over both days and busting his butt helping us.  Of course none of it would have been possible without my dad.  A little over a year ago this time I remember driving down to the hospital in Iowa City after his heart attack and coming to the realization that I really might never get to finish the basement with him and that thought for some reason made me more sad than anything in my life.  I don’t know why that was what stuck in my head cause it seems rather odd I am sure or what else I was thinking about as Lindsay and I we’re driving down there but its stuck with me for a long time.  I thought at the time it was because it was the one thing I had looked forward to more than anything to be able to do with him.  Just to spend time building something together with him and admiring the really amazing talents he has to build something out of a pile of wood that a lot of days I think go totally unappreciated.  Now looking back on the weekend its answered why it stuck in my head.  Its not because Rob and I would have ended up in the ER trying to do it without his help or the fact that it was just nice to get it done finally.  It was the fact that by doing the work with him I got to experience what he’s done his whole life…to see what 50 years of honing your skills at a trade does.  I got to share in the fun and pride he takes in his job and most importantly just take some time out from the normal everyday business that consumes me to really just spend some time with the one person I really admire most in the world.  Some day I REALLY hope my kids appreciate me as much as I do him and all that he’s given up and done for me in my life.  Thanks Dad!

Home Improvement, Home Life Basement, Dad, Finishing basement, Lindsay, Rob

So last night ProBuild (formerly UBC – United Building Center) dropped off all the lumber for my dad and I to start cracking away at finishing the basement. Well lets just say getting all the fricking wood down to the basement was a treat in the half. Hopefully finishing the rest of hte basement is a hell of a lot more fun than hauling 200+ 2×4x10 foot pieces of wood down the icy hill in 20 degree weather. Lindsay being the good sport helped out and for her saying “God the weather isn’t the cold” had mother nature repay her by making her eat it on the ice in the drive way, the snow bank and take a nice gash out of her knee…yep thats how vengeful of a beeoytch that mother nature is…or it could be Lindsay just is that clumsy. I’ll let the reader decide. Pictures coming shortly

Home Improvement, Home Life Basement, Lindsay

Ya gotta just love weekends. I know everyone loves weekends but what do you really love about them? Is it the time you get to spend just sitting on your ass contemplating how much work you should be getting done all the while knowing your really not going to actually get up and do it until your damn well good and ready. Yep weekends are excellent.

This one was spent sleeping in late on Saturday then Lindsay and I taking Bella to get her hair cut at Petsmart (always a sweet $60 dollar bill) while we then went and walked around Menards to contemplate what the hell we needed to buy to finish the basement over the year here. After that we came home and just hung out…well I hung out while Lindsay cleaned…I think I did something but cant remember. See didn’t I say weekends are awesome!!

Sunday was spent working out (from which I am still sore today) and then watching a badass game between the Cardinal and Eagles in which I was one happy ex-Iowan seeing Curt Warner tearing up the Eagle defense and hopefully playing himself into a well deserved hall of fame slot. After that it was off to Billy’s house to do some work for Trackpedia and check on the little girl after his wisdom teeth removal.

Yep weekends rule…I’ll take another starting tomorrow please.

Home Life Bella, Billy, Football, Lindsay, Weekends

So after procrastinating for what now four years (to Lindsay I think it probably seems like infinity) Lindsay and I are finally going to start to finish our basement.  That’s right ladies and gentlemen you’ll be along for the ride…all the broken bones, cut of fingers, cusing and swearing up a storm, and most importantly all the nail gun accidents.  Rob starting his basement motivated me to get rolling on mine but piece by piece over the next year as there is no real immediate need for it so I am going to spend my time looking for the best prices and making sure I do the best job possible…all while learning how to screw up doing Rob.  I told him I would pay him back for us learning how to put a race car together with my car.

First plan is to get the lumber ordered and have my dad come up the weekend of the 24-25th of January here to frame the baby in.  All the lumber from the local ProBuild here should be in the $600 range and hopefully that will include delivery as well.  I figured all those reading would be interested to see pictures of the progress as it SLOWLY moves along this year so below are the first pictures of what she looks like now.  Oh and if anyone wants a Bowflex I’ll cut ya a good deal.

Our basement looking to the southwest corner

Our basement's south east corner

Our basement looking to the North

Home Improvement, Home Life Basement, Lindsay, Rob

So Lindsay prodded me by making fun out of me for hours and then emailing me today making fun of me to tell everyone about my new work chair. I have been trying to figure out how in the hell to get some exercise sitting in the office on a daily basis pounding away code (or powerpoint sadly) and I stumbled across some pretty fit folks that were using a exercise ball as their office chair and I said screw it I know what I am getting. So I picked up my exercise ball and tried it out as a chair for the first time yesterday and damnit it’s a hell of a lot more physical than I imagined. I can pretty much sit on it for about 2 hours before my abs and lower back start to burn. I was skeptical that it would actually do anything but you really do subconsciously put in a good deal of physical effort to keep yourself balanced on the ball and in a normal seating position.

I picked up a 75cm Weider one since I am 6′3″ pumped it up to the max and she was beautiful. I’d recommend anyone out there try it cause hell if what I read on multiple health websites is true and you can really burn up to 200-300 calories more per day just sitting on it thats an easy way to lose weight.

That’s right guys I am not embarassed to say I sit on a ball at work instead of some ergonomic chair.

General, Work and Geeky Stuff Exercise Ball Chair, Fitness, Lindsay, Weight Loss

So shockingly enough I actually got someone emailed me and asked who I was.  Now after having this up for all of two days I was shocked anyone outside of myself actually stumbled upon it so my odds on bet is telling me that it was just a spammer and I’ll be getting a bunch of Viagra emails over the next few days but ah well.   So a little about me…not enough to bore you but enough to mildly know me.

My name’s John Joseph Stecher and I was born and raised in Iowa and currently live in the unbelievable cold state of Minnesota (yes I am writing this during the winter and why people like snowmobiling is beyond my small brains comprehension).  I am married to probably the greatest person I have ever met in my entire life Lindsay (see picture) who despite her shopping and purse addictions still scores of the charts.

John and Lindsay Stecher in Vienna

No kids to speak of at this time but you’ll hear about them probably as they come over the years and yes they will be exploited on youtube like every other baby in existence today.  I have an absolutely awesome dog Bella who I am pretty sure scientifically could be proven to be a human with as much as Lindsay and I baby her.  At the same time check out the picture and tell me how you can’t?

Our little Bella

Career wise I currently work for IBM and have my own awesome little company Trackpedia with a few of my best friends and since this is my personal blog I will try to keep posts for cool technology stuff over on middlewareworld and keep all my Trackpedia and racing related stuff over on that blog cause god knows my fans…all 4 of you would have to sift through stuff.

Beyond that I am just a normal guy.  I am a Chicago Bears fan (well hold on a sec that actually make me a above normal guy) and a Cubs fan, I absolutely love to race my cars, I do stupid stuff and make mistakes and I probably once and a while do some great stuff.

Lastly your probably asking why in the hell would you spend 5 minutes everyday writing an entry here.  I figured writing this blog was a pretty sweet way for folks that I work with in the real world (both customers and in my company) to know who I am personally without having to ask deep probing uncomfortable questions and that someday eons from now when the internet is going the way of the Encyclopedia my kids can look back and actually see that at one time I was just like them.

Home Life Austria, Bella, Lindsay, Travel