26 weeks down! Just about 90 more days to go....

Wow! We are now at around 26 weeks pregnant and life isn't showing any signs of slowing down. As always Emily and me are staying pretty busy, but we are trying to make time for all the cool stuff that goes along with having a baby. Our list is growing with things that need to be done, and I've been able to check a few things off already. Some of these completed items include pressure washing the driveway, getting the chimney and gutters clean, and getting some baby stuff. We've already received some much appreciated hand me downs from Uncle Daniel and Aunt Ashley that Riker's cousins wore, and they are really, really cute. No seriously guys, you don't understand. I mean REALLY cute. Plus Aunt Grayson has already bought some clothes too. See what I mean about the cute factor?

See? Pretty cool. Really cute boy stuff! I especially like the batman stuff, and the robot. :)

A lot of other things have happened as well. For starters Emily and me had our third wedding anniversary. For most people this means they've been together for three years, but Em and I have actually been together for 10 years! I know this because in 2003 is when I saw Pearl Jam for the first time live. It was because of Emily that I saw them. She got tickets and invited me. The deal was that we had to drive to Raleigh, NC to see them, which sounded like an awesome road trip to me. And it was! Little did I know at the time that this would be the first of many road trips that we would take on as a couple. This also marks the second time I met Emily's folks. We had a great time! Me, Emily, and Jeff went to the show and had a blast. I think this may be the first time I considered a relationship with Emily even though we were just "friends" at the time. It wasn't until  much later that year that I knew she was the one. Just like the rest of our relationship... slowly but surely. So, 2013 - 2003 = 10 years. :)

To celebrate our wedding anniversary I took Emily to a place here in Athens called the Branded Butcher, and let me tell you, it is really, really good! If you are ever in Athens and want a special place to eat please don't hesitate to check these guys out. You will not regret it. We shared some Pork Belly Confit, Trotters, Scotch Egg (on the house BTW :) ),  Georgia Gold Cheddar and Green Hill cheese, and the Pork Chop plate (which was HUGE!). I also had a few special cocktails called the Daiquiri (Rum, sugar, and lime). The waiter told me it was served Kennedy style. I must say that they were very tasty! Here is a picture of the menu for all you foodies:

Our anniversary also signals to me that another one of my favorite events is right around the corner, and this is SIEGE, which stands for the Southern Interactive Entertainment & Game Expo. I look forward to this every year as it gives me a chance to hangout with other gaming professionals and researchers in the gaming and digital media field. There are discussion panels and networking parties all weekend. A bonus for me this year is that I got to attend for free as I was asked to help give a talk on motion capture technology. This was a huge honor for me and I shared my knowledge from my published research involving the X-Box Kinect and PlayStation Move. I now feel like a professional, but I still have so much more to accomplish as I feel that I have only scratched the surface of the knowledge that is left to be gained. This is a very exciting field to be in right now as the research opportunities are endless, especially if I decide to couple this with my interest in Artificial Intelligence.

In addition to SIEGE, I am also preparing for a panel talk about the commonalities between game theory and education as part of the National Collegiate Honors Council Conference.  Namely this panel will cover how games and game theory can be used in, not only the University Honors Program, but college education in general. As part of the abstract I wrote about game theory that suggests that people are motivated in games by SAPS (Status, Access, Power, and Stuff). In Education this can be the same too. As we all play games for different reasons (maybe for SAPS?), so we too go to school and participate in honors for different reasons. Some of us do it to gain status, or access to things we previously didn't have, or to gain a power that other uneducated people don't have. Or maybe it is other stuff such as the sake of learning or just the simple idea of enjoying the journey and fellowship. Either way you put it we are all playing this game together. I hope this idea is well received.

Emily Tells me how proud she is of me, but I am in awe of her and always have been (and probably always will be). For starters she is awesome! But also, she is the mother of my child and carries Riker around with such strength and clarity! I really don't know how she is able to continue going to work and performs on average 7 massages a day. She really is a shining example of a strong and confident woman and I love her for it. I mean, she is now about 26 weeks pregnant and is still going strong! Just check out these new pregnant pics!

22 weeks

25 weeks

As Emily's belly grows with each passing day, so does Riker's strength. He is kicking and punching up a storm, especially in the evening after we eat supper. Just tonight I was sitting next to Emily and she said, "Quick! Put your hand here!", and she grabbed my hand and placed it on her stomach. As soon as she did, Riker seemed to know that I was there and he kicked about 5 times in a row! It was like a machine gun firing off! It was pretty cool. :)

With all the baby fever in the house I've decided it might be time for me to get into better shape. It has come to light that high blood pressure and heart problems seem to run on both sides of my family tree so I really want to start now to become more heart health conscious. Running seems to be a logical choice in achieving this goal, and because of this Emily signed me up for the the Down and Dirty Mud Run which happened just recently. This is a 5k run with obstacles which, well, get you muddy! Emily's family came down from NC (Ruth, Jeff, Grayson and her boyfriend Michael) and we had a blast. Our friends Laci and Alan also raced. While Ruth amd I did the 5k portion, Grayson, Laci,, and Alan participated in the longer 10k version. We had a blast and this event helped raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project . Here are a few pictures from the event:

Lookin' Ahead and Gettin' Ready

As you can see, we had a muddy mess, but it was really fun!

Speaking of Grayson, Guess what? SHE GOT A TEACHING JOB!!!!! HOORAY! We are all so happy for her and proud, so if you see her wish her luck and give her a nice congrats! She deserves it!

One more notable mention is the while they were here I got help from Jeff and we put together Riker's crib. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. We got this from Target because we fell in love with it as soon as we saw it. This crib not only matches our own bed in the master bedroom, but can also grow with Riker. It can be adjusted to fit an infant, toddler, and then a little boy as it can convert to a twin bed. Check it out:

We really like it so far.

Well thats about it for now. I'll post an update again real soon. Now I have to get back to the grind of writing program code for a few projects for school as well as trying to study for the GRE (even though my dad thinks I should, in his words, "Start a career", but I believe that this is part of my career so there!. Wish me luck!

Cheers!

-josh