smacky and bucky

The news

2012-02-02T10:52:00.010-05:00

Well, since Laura started a secret FB group to update family and friends about it, I can post it here:

On Tuesday, we popped into Henry's pediatric cardiologist's office to make a follow up appointment that would have been due in June. His amazing doctor, Dr. [X] fit us in right after the patient he was with.

We went straight to the echocardiogram. This was Henry's third visit to Dr. [X]. The two previous echoes showed a heart murmur. The second one indicated his heart was somewhat enlarged. We'd been encouraged to come back in a year. Yesterday, Henry stretched out lying on his Dad's chest watching "Thomas the Tank Engine" and Dr. [X] was able to get the best look yet at Henry's heart.

Dr. [X] is the most soothing specialist you can imagine. During our first exam he talked quietly and kept saying reassuring things as he checked each area. Yesterday though, he calmly said, "This is freaking me out a little bit." We waited as he continued the exam. He got the exact pictures he wanted and then he took out his model heart and began to explain to us what is going on.

Henry has ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) Sinus Venosus. He also has one or more pulmonary veins that are routed to the wrong part of the heart. What this means is that his heart is recycling a bunch of blood and working quite hard to do so. He is not in any pain or immediate danger. However Dr. [X] said that open heart surgery is required.

The good news is that once the repair has been made, the heart will be "good as new" and Henry can live a totally normal, long life. I finally had the courage to Google the condition today and found these words very reassuring, "Excellent surgical results with a mortality rate near 0% can be expected. This is particularly true in patients who undergo repair when younger than 15 years. [First repaired]... in 1954 ... at the Mayo Clinic. "

=+=+=+=+=

So that's our news. Out 16 month old is probably going to have open heart surgery in the next six months. It's scary as hell to think about, but the success rate is amazing, and I think about all the things it could have been, and we're really fortunate. He doesn't need a transplant so we're not waiting on a donor or risking rejection of an organ; it's not something that could be fixed and recur later like cancer; and it's something that can be fixed and he can have no memory of going through it at this point.

I'll update here as news comes and things happen, but I'm still going to be posting goofy shit, because lord knows I'm going to need some goofy distractions now and then. For instance, De showed me that there is a Cobra figure that is a zombie!

Details on this cute thing here!

What a week

2012-02-01T16:04:00.002-05:00

We just got some overwhelming medical news yesterday. I'm not ready to discuss it yet, which may seem silly since I can count the number of people who read this blog on one hand (and probably give you their FULL LEGAL NAMES!), but... yeah, just know that this is going to be an interesting year in our house.

Nightmare Fuel

2012-01-30T13:51:00.005-05:00

When my wife's aunt died, all the boxes of family genealogy stuff came to Laura. She's been scanning them to discard paper and such, but she still has boxes of photos and the like. The other day, Henry walked into the room carrying something. I asked what he had and he handed it to me. Never mind the random photo that was in the envelope... this was the envelope holding the photo:

This only confirms my opinion that clowns are evil.

Eating a Banana...

2012-01-26T09:54:00.000-05:00

LIKE A BOSS!

Busy day

2012-01-24T09:54:00.002-05:00

Going with a new acquaintance from the neighborhood to a Caps game tonight. He has tickets. But with Backstrom and Green out with injuries and Ovi suspended for three games, they're going to have a tough game against the Stanley Cup champs Boston Bruins. Ah well, it's just one game, and it will be fun.

Full disclosure: The point of going (beyond seeing the game) is to, in the words of my wife, "make a friend." My wife is friends with the wife of this guy, they have a daughter a few months older than our kid, and they live two blocks down on our street, so it makes sense. Plus he likes the Caps, plus, as I've mentioned before on this blog, most of my friends are now just Facebook friends, since they live so far away. I can count my nearby friends on a single hand (or cough*finger*cough). So I'm letting the fact that the seats are in the 400s (the highest tier; I've never seen a game and not sat in the 100s) slide and not be a snob (or a knob) about it.

WOW

2012-01-20T07:51:00.003-05:00

The Manos restoration is underway (background here: www.manosinhd.com/why-im-saving-manos-the-hands-of-fate/), and for a movie shot on a crap camera on a shoestring budget over 40 years ago... it looks amazing!

Manos: The Hands of Fate (Clip #1) from Manos in HD on Vimeo.

Can't wait to get a copy of this on BluRay when it's ready.

Sigh (a happy one this time!)

2012-01-18T19:34:00.002-05:00

We just watched Mars Needs Moms on Netflix streaming. If the boy had been six months older, I think it would have scared him. But man, it's a great movie for adults. I may have teared up a little a few times. Shut up!

You know you're a dad when...

2012-01-15T19:55:00.004-05:00

...you have a great evening with the kid: You feed him dinner, watch an episode of Backyardigans, give him a bath, and play with trucks before Laura asks what the score of the Caps game and you realize the game started an hour and a half ago and you forgot.

But good karma means you turn on the game and it's scoreless in the second period. And you play more games and dance with the kid to the music of a stuffed musical panda while the Caps win 2-1.

Musical Panda Dance!

YAY!

Snow is the wonder drug

2012-01-11T10:56:00.003-05:00

We had our first snowfall of 2012 on Monday afternoon. It was unremarkable, not too much more than a dusting, really, except for one thing: Snow is the most absolute favorite thing in the world for our dog Kirby! He loves shoving his face into it. He's had back leg issues for the past year, but all that is forgotten when he sees snow. He becomes a little puppy again, frolicking like mad.

Memphis on my mind

2012-01-03T19:34:00.003-05:00

This pic is for Kate. I decided after my birthday that it was time to stop bringing a backpack to work. I've been at this company nine years this month and I had just turned 40, for Pete's sake. I wasn't in college. I decided a briefcase still wasn't me. I'm no businessman. But a nice messenger bag would be a good compromise between the two. So that's what I got from Laura for Christmas: a very nice black leather Kenneth Cole messenger bag.

But I also found this and couldn't resist adding it to my Amazon wish list, and my father-in-law gave it to me for Christmas:

Officially licensed by Sun Records. It's a mixture of vinyl iron-on (the logo) and stitching (the record grooves. Isn't it awesome? I decided the black leather one would be my work bag and this one would be my play bag. Right now it's holding all the DVDs I got for Christmas... but that's the subject of another post!

Taste #1

2011-12-30T16:18:00.002-05:00

Here's snapshot of the books I received for Christmas. Despite my complete lack of time for reading, I stubbornly continue to ask for books!

They are (From left to right, starting at top):
(1) Not Bad for a Human, autobiography of Lance Henriksen. (Title from his line as Bishop to Ripley in Aliens, if you didn't know.)
(2, 3, 4) The newest Torchwood novels, all three taking place before the events in Miracle Day.
(5) Shatner Rules, the latest book by Bill.
(6 & 7) Two Doctor Who novels from the early 2000s, starring the seventh Doctor and Ace.

My left ear is still almost completely stopped up, but the drugs have dulled the pain to a light throb, so that's progress, right?

Last Caps game of 2011 is tonight. Hopefully we'll see the team that beat the 1st-place New York Rangers the other night 4 to 1!

Sigh

2011-12-29T10:54:00.002-05:00

I'll post a Christmas roundup soon, but feel like hot crap. Son got RSV, then passed it to us. Now he's better (yay!) and I was happily controlling the symptoms in myself with meds, but I awoke at 4am this morning with intense pain in my left ear. It got worse as the morning went on, so I went to the urgent care place in town. I'll spare you the gross details, but the doc said I have a really bad ear infection. To the best of my knowledge, I had managed to go 40 years without getting one (It hurts so freaking bad I'm sure I'd remember). Now I'm in bed waiting for the meds to kick in. Did I mention my family is visiting? So happy the kid is well, but this blows.

Last bit of calm before the Christmas storm

2011-12-24T08:37:00.003-05:00

The boy is feeling a bit better. Fever down. He's still Captain Whinypants if I try to put him down (or dare to leave the room). And I'll spare you the disgusting details, but let's just say that dairy and phlegm don't mix. Yuck!

Last night we got him to sleep and I was able to wrap his and Laura's gifts while watching the Caps lose in a close overtime shootout. This Christmas is going to be crazy with presents. We are definitely reaping the benefits of having the family's only grandchild. L's father and stepmother sent a HUGE box of wrapped gifts, and we had assumed they'd all be for the boy, but half the box was for L or me. L's sister and her husband are arriving tonight, just in time for Christmas. My parents, grandmother, sister, and nephew are coming for a few days on the 27th. In light of the boy's illness (and him passing it to his parents) we're so fortunate we're not traveling anywhere. L had been toying with the idea of us going to Wilmington, NC to see her dad. An eight hour drive with a sick kid would have been awful!

This has been quite a year. Kid's gone from completely immobile to crawling to walking. He's gone from crying to speaking a few words. He is showing preferences for certain foods. He loves music. He dances. He laughs. We have to research preschools after the start of the new year! Yikes!

Merry whatever holiday you celebrate. However you celebrate it, I hope you have a few moments of happy peace. We all deserve it!

The Car!

2011-12-21T10:53:00.003-05:00

Kid has snot-running cold and fever. He's in a cranky mood. Luckily we have a few more recovery days until Christmas. His increased snoozing allowed me to watch a movie on my iPad via Netflix streaming. I watched The Car (1977), staring James Brolin. It's best described as Jaws, if it took place in the desert and the shark was an indestructible possessed driverless car. You know what? It kind of worked! After the first kill, it was kind of spooky. And in typical 1970s cinema fashion, they don't really explain shit at the end! Makes it better, in my opinion. Can't embed the trailer with the iPad, but check the link to see it's grainy glory!

Still waiting for a few gifts to arrive. Not worried... yet.

New Jersey (not the state)

2011-12-17T21:35:00.005-05:00

So, for my birthday, Laura said I could get a hockey jersey, if I so wanted. I wasn't too keen on anything in the official store (especially in the $200 range!), so I said I'd look around the web. I found something I liked, but when I placed the order, a few weeks later I received an email that it wasn't available (but I had received a shipping notice, huh???), so that was a bust.

I was browsing ebay, just looking at random jerseys, when I came across this one:

It's Alexander Semin, with his name spelled in Cyrillic. Am I a complete dork? Here's what pushed me over: It was $35. At that price, you're lucky the name is spelled correctly (and it is, I checked!).

So I get a jersey and save the family $165. Win!

2011-12-17T17:22:00.002-05:00

I can watch the hell out of some kids TV these days. Wiggles, Yo Gabba Gabba, Backyardigans (which I find really has catchy songs)... It's replaced reading in my life, which, is a little sad, but what a trade off for having this little dude to watch things with! The Caps play tonight in Colorado, so the game doesn't start until 9 (usual start time is 7), so I will hopefully get the kid bathed and asleep before the first puck drop! Wish me luck!

What a difference a year makes

2011-12-16T08:50:00.004-05:00

The boy can now walk, feed himself things, play by himself, look at his books, say some words, and notice the world around him. Because of that, his trip to see Santa went from this:

to this:

Happy holidays everybody!

Things happen

2011-12-12T13:44:00.000-05:00

Sometimes things happen and you deal with them and you even forget to post about it on Facebook. Example: We got a flat tire yesterday afternoon on 95 North. Emptying the trunk to get to the spare with a wife, screaming baby, and two dogs in the car on the side of the of the highway. Good times.

Awkward...

2011-12-07T20:47:00.004-05:00

[I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. The office is next door to Goodwill (classy, huh?) That's the background to this post.]

Number of times in my life I've thought about Penn State before their recent child rape scandal: ZERO. I can literally not think of a single time the school has entered my mind. I knew the name of the head coach, but only because he apparently coached Abe Lincoln when he was in school (haha, age joke).

But yesterday at Goodwill? TWICE:

The book was on the "new arrivals" shelf.

Yes, it's a Penn State baby shoe. I can't make this stuff up, folks.

Oh man...

2011-12-07T12:23:00.003-05:00

This is exactly what you do NOT want to see your sitter posting on Facebook:

This seems very appropriate to post right now:

It starts with barfing...

2011-12-03T17:53:00.002-05:00

Laura bought us tickets to the Revels for this afternoon. The revels are ... huge musical productions done across the country. This one is in DC. You can read about this year's theme here (It's worth the read, honest!). It included a very comical scene with Don Juan fighting a dragon that Henry really enjoyed.

But let's rewind an hour and a half. We're driving around downtown DC looking for a specific parking garage. Henry starts crying, then it gets louder, and louder, and louder. Finally, he spews two full pouches of baby food (pumpkin/pear and apple & cinnamon) all over himself, the backseat, and his car seat. Laura starts crying, because she had planned for this to be an experience to kick off the holiday season and Henry's outfit is covered in orange puke. But there's a superhero in the car: Daddy! I grab paper towels and start wiping him down, and inside his diaper bag: a second outfit, including another Christmasy red top! I strip him down on the sidewalk and toss his nasty clothes in the trunk, then dress him in seconds flat. Clean again, I hand him to Laura and tell her to go ahead inside. I'd park the car and find them (assigned seats made that easy). Henry felt much better after vomiting, and was in good spirits the rest of the afternoon. Yay!

Now we're having some chicken and stuffing for dinner and there's a hockey game at 7, during which I will have a few well-earned brews. Yay again!

Get it?

2011-12-01T20:49:00.001-05:00

I made this...

(Found the pic, made up the joke)

"Manos"

2011-12-01T09:12:00.003-05:00

Working hard this morning...

Caps got a new coach

2011-11-29T08:23:00.003-05:00

Wow, so immediately after Thanksgiving the Caps fired their coach and hired Dale Hunter, who played for the Caps for years and years (former captain). He'd been coaching in the minors in Canada.

First game with new coach is tonight!

Sorry, this is basically a poop post.

2011-11-26T16:58:00.003-05:00

I just carried the baby home from his grandparents' place next door (at our river place), thinking he had a wet diaper. Turns out it wasn't pee.

I had to bathe him and wash his clothes. And the bath mat. And my shirt. I'm having a beer and watching Star Wars on Spike as I type this. All's well that cleans up, huh?

And Caps play the Sabres in two hours. Maybe they'll actually win this one too? That would be a change from their recent games!

Same to you, weekend.

2011-11-21T07:53:00.001-05:00

Nearly succeeded in doing nothing all weekend. But I still managed to get a parking ticket on Saturday and our big TV stopped working last night, so... meh.

Actual pic of my Twitter feed

2011-11-18T13:14:00.002-05:00

These two tweets appeared next to each other in the timeline. Does it say more about Twitter, the world in which we live, or me and the choices I've made?

Ugh, long week.

2011-11-18T11:22:00.002-05:00

Wife had a kidney stone this week. Between that, work, household chores, and the little boy, not a lot much else to report.

Now that I'm reading the Walking Dead compendium (over 1,000 pages!), I'm enjoying the show on a different level (mainly because they are diverging from the comic and moving at a glacial pace!).

Still, love me some zombies, so I will support this show until the end (which I hope is 15 seasons from now ;-) ).

I want to do nothing all weekend.

Hopscotch post

2011-11-12T20:01:00.003-05:00

I didn't bother to check the country of origin for this stuff. I doubt it's America...

Keeping busy. Last weekend we went to an oyster festival in a small coastal town and had a blast. They close the entire town and charge you to park in a field, then you walk across the bridge into town where you can sample tons of different food (not just oysters). From the assorted vendors I had: 12 oysters, then a fried shrimp basket, then 5 more oysters, then 2 deep fried Oreos, then 8 more oysters. We actually walked over four miles that day, so I needed the fuel anyway! We watched a guy juggling and telling the worst jokes while doing it. Then he got on a unicycle and juggled. It was a corny act, but seeing it through Henry's eyes stopped me from making any snarky comments to the wife about it. The baby is making me a better person (less of a jaded dickweed?)

Then H saw one of these and was entranced. He sat on the ground and looked up at it with awe on his face for minutes. We finally had to pick him up and lead him away:

If all goes well, I'll have something cool to report about what we're doing tomorrow...

In the meantime, let's go Caps! Going for the second win in two days tonight!

Boo!

2011-11-01T09:34:00.002-04:00

Halloween was a lot of fun. We got the boy in his costume (third time in less than a week) and hit the neighborhood. Here he is at his very first trick or treating house (monumental moment!):

He's carrying a glow stick.

Halloween Weekend

2011-10-30T18:38:00.004-04:00

Halloween used to be about the candy, then it was about the parties, then it had no meaning at all, then it was the annoying night when I had to pass out candy while the dog barked and I was trying to watch horror movies on TV.

And now? Now it's about the kids again, except I'm not the kid.

We've been to two Halloween parties this week, and it's not even Halloween yet! The kids tend to gravitate to their own size, which is hilarious to watch!

There was a children's parade scheduled in our neighborhood for Saturday afternoon, but it was snowing. Hard! Luckily they had a backup plan, and we all converged in a giant empty room at the church in the neighborhood and "partied" there. (By partied, I mean the kids ran like crazy, hopped up on candy, while the adults stood and watched.) We were given tickets when we arrived, and they had a raffle at the end. And we won. Us, the couple who didn't attend a single neighborhood event before we had our baby, won a pretty nice prize...

A bottle of champagne, two bottles of French wine, and random candy in a plastic crate. We actually had our other number called two prizes later, but I really didn't want to be an asshole, so I raised my hand and said "It's us, but we pass. Let someone else win." I don't know if everyone else appreciated the gesture. Maybe I should have grabbed another prize and ran for the door. Oh well, good karma for being a good guy.

Tomorrow evening we're treat-or-treating until the boy is too tired to continue. Then we'll eat all his candy. He's 13 months old. He doesn't get to keep it. (Cue evil laugh: AHHHHHH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)

Walking Dead

2011-10-27T08:22:00.003-04:00

I'm enjoying the second season of Walking Dead. Some people complain that it's more a soap opera with zombies than a zombie show, and they're sort of missing the point that that's exactly what it is! I watched the second episode of the new season last night after the boy fell asleep. If money were no object, I'd get those giant volumes of the Walking Dead Omnibus. (Omnibuses? Omnibi? Singular is the plural too?) [Omnibuses is the correct answer, for those playing at home!]

I can handle all the weeping and crying and talking, because it is just the lull between bad-ass moments like the redneck dude who uses a crossbow to silently kill zombies. A crossbow!

Smile

2011-10-26T13:39:00.002-04:00

Need to write a new post, darn it! Okay, so here we go:

My kid is awesome!

He dances in public when he hears music and all the mommies around swoon.
He breaks a cookie in half so he can hold equal amounts in each hand while he eats it.
He smiles at other kids instinctively.

And all this was just yesterday afternoon!

The chicken may not be chicken (anymore)

2011-10-20T11:31:00.002-04:00

Feeling much better. I did not get it checked (and yes, it occurs to me now that that was the same "let's wait and see" attitude that killed Jim Henson!) but thankfully I'm still here. Got a flu shot on the 18th at work, so hopefully now I'm indestructible!

Something a little gross: Last night I had leftover Chinese food for dinner, and I heated it up in the microwave. We got a new microwave a few months ago, and the thing is apparently super-strong. Anyway, a few bites into it I noticed that the chicken did not taste like chicken anymore. I wondered if it was possible that the microwaves broke down the chemical composition of the meat to the point that it was no longer chicken. And if it wasn't chicken anymore, then what was it?

Yeah, it went into the trash after that train of thought. Yuck.

Saturday night

2011-10-15T20:17:00.002-04:00

Watching hockey, baby is asleep, and except for the unnerving fact that I can't take a deep breath (literally. I am physically unable to take a deep breath. It's like someone is sitting on my chest), all is right with my world. I would be much more concerned about the whole "can't breath in because my lung capacity has apparently dropped to about 20%" thing if my wife hadn't described the exact same symptom last week in herself. So I'm cautiously optimistic it will abate without incident. In the meantime, I won't be running any marathons.

Busy Week

2011-10-12T11:04:00.005-04:00

I feel like I should have something interesting to write about, but I have been busy. Work is busy (but good!), and the boy is teething like crazy with a small cold too, and L has a cold also, so home isn't the Rancho Relaxo, if you know what I'm saying!

I received two books for my birthday, both which I wanted but don't know when I'll get the opportunity to read:

Simon Pegg's book about his nerdy life so far!

The stunt double for the Indiana Jones movies (and many others) wrote a book!

Right now they're sitting unread (on a high shelf, because if Henry gets a hold of it, it goes in his mouth to be chewed on!).

I also received the original Star Wars trilogy on BluRay (with only a single commentary as an extra on each? I needed to get the big box set to get the other extras? SCREW YOU, LUCAS!).

Just gonna come out and say it...

2011-10-06T07:58:00.003-04:00

My birthday is on Sunday. And I am turning 40. FORTY!

Let that sink in for a minute.

...

...

...

...

...

Holy crap, right?

I don't feel anywhere near that old. In some ways I still feel very young. I love the art of Jack Kirby, Yo Gabba Gabba!, movies and books about zombies, and science fiction in general.

But you know what? When I was a teen, I probably would have kept a lot of that to myself. I don't remember high school fondly. I felt awkward and lonely and unpopular. I wanted to fit in. I wanted a girlfriend.

It wasn't until years later I finally realized I have to be myself. The rise in "geek culture" (despite the fact that a good portion of it is due to companies trying to make it hip in order to tap into the geek disposable income) has felt very liberating. I put a graphic novel on my Amazon wish list without hesitation. I wear a T-shirt we made with Muno's face on it proudly. Age brings experience and confidence. And the knowledge that I wasted so much time in my school years fretting over nothing.

This was pre-internet time, folks. I couldn't find forums where I could discuss Doctor Who or Batman. I was a kid in a smallish town that happened to be the home base of Jerry Falwell and the "moral majority." Can you imagine? He fought our cable getting MTV because it was sinful! I went to college in another town, came back for a year, went to get an M.A. in another town, then joined the Peace Corps and went to Africa. That's when I felt like I was finally free. In that small town, I was largely in class with the same people from kindergarten to 12th grade. That's not an exaggeration. All the girls dated older guys. Guys who could drive.

Going thousands of miles away was an adventure on so many levels. No one knew me! I was a blank slate. Kate discusses in her blog post for today the idea of "dropping out."And she is spot-on. Escaping everything I was up to that point in my early mid-20s saved me. I didn't reinvent myself. I just returned accepting the parts of me I had held close to the vest. Having seen a larger part of the world, I returned aware of how much our worldview (and our view of ourselves) is dictated to us by television, advertising, and the government.

I moved to the nation's capital without any job leads. I met an incredible girl through a fellow Peace Corps friend. I went from temping at an art school, to being a glorified receptionist at a foundation, to becoming an editorial assistant in the publication branch of that foundation (and learning all the ropes from a super-demanding boss I was happy to escape but grateful I had worked for), to where I am now (and have been for the past eight years).

As Steve Jobs is quoted on Kate's post:

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Amen. If I hadn't decided to get off my butt and get student loans and get my master's I wouldn't have seen the flyer for the Peace Corps outside the office of my thesis advisor. If I hadn't joined the Peace Corps I wouldn't have met Laura's college roommate in Africa, so I wouldn't have met Laura two years later through her college roommate, so we wouldn't have gotten married and had our little guy. See? Connecting the dots looking back. I certainly didn't have a plan at the time!

And this reminds me of a song, so I'll make this a song post! One of my favorite bands is Big Country. One-hit wonders in America, but they made a lot of really good albums that are loved by their fans. Lead singer Stuart Adamson (RIP) committed suicide in 2001. But he could write lyrics that read like poetry. Songs about pride, faith, strength, and belief in yourself. Here's the song I thought of: "Leap of Faith" (a live performance)

I know you have the strength in you
The love to make that leap of faith
The time is right to let it go
Make that simple leap of faith

Sometimes that simple leap of faith makes ALL the difference in the world.

And yeah, I'm about to turn 40!

Two images

2011-10-05T10:36:00.006-04:00

I love this production shot of the cast of Alien. They must have been doing a wardrobe test or attempt at a publicity shot. I believe there was only one scene in the movie where the entire cast was together on-screen (the infamous cafeteria "chestburster" scene!).

We catch him every now and then looking at his books and chattering quietly to himself. Lately he's had a fascination with Mr. Brown Can Moo!

Well well well

2011-10-02T20:17:00.004-04:00

We ended up getting into downtown DC Saturday AND Sunday, and that is so unlike us! We had a ball. Saturday we went to the "Crafty Bastards" festival. It gave me more creative ideas than actually making me want to buy anything. It rained and rained and rained, but we had Henry covered in his stroller, and we asked for one of the balloons they had with the logo on it, and he LOVES balloons, so he was totally happy the entire time.

Sunday we went to the Turkish festival. It wasn't raining, but it was gray and windy. We saw a friend who was in the Peace Corps with me and just happens to be Laura's cousin (I'll tell the story again sometime) and her 2-year-old daughter. But while Henry was awake the whole time, the 2-year-old slept the ENTIRE time! We never saw her wake up!

Yep, that's the Capital dome in the background!

He's mad because I won't let him put the flag in his mouth! But it looks like he's cheering "Yeah! Turkey!"

Weekend

2011-09-30T13:26:00.002-04:00

Not much planned for this weekend. Weather is supposed to be dry(ish) and fall-like. The season finale of Doctor Who is on BBC America at 9 p.m. Saturday night, and the first televised Washington Capitals hockey game is Sunday at 5 p. m. And we'll probably get out and do something fun with kiddo. And... that's about it.

Hopefully some good sleep in there too.

Rain, rain go away!

2011-09-28T08:44:00.003-04:00

I have been unmotivated to post anything. Why? Well, work has kept me busy during the day, life has kept me busy at night (teething kid who run/walks now and grabs everything), and it's been raining every damn day since, what? August? Seems like it. The inside of my windshield is wet in the morning! What's up with that? How do you fight humidity in your car? How long before mold starts? Sigh.

It's so wet out there that mushrooms are sprouting up in huge clumps in the middle of yards.

Yes, I know it's not cancer and it's such a "first world" problem to complain about stuff like this. Screw it. Having a blog implies I have a computer and so I'm already a privileged douche, so let me complain here!

Guy scores TD, hits reporter in face

2011-09-21T10:02:00.001-04:00

I'm sure it was an accident, and I'm sure the guy is fine, so it's okay to watch this and laugh and laugh and laugh. I did!

Bonding time!

2011-09-17T15:43:00.006-04:00

Today was the first day of training camp for the Washington Capitals. The hockey season starts in early October! I took the boy to see the action. We had such a good time! He loved watching them zip up and down the ice. Plus they had helium BALLOONS everywhere, and balloons are just about his favorite thing on the planet!

Ready to Rock the Red! Go Caps!

Oh man, if the show didn't START at his bedtime... we'd be there!

One year

2011-09-13T11:13:00.004-04:00

One year ago today (around 10:30 p.m.) you arrived, tiny, screaming, and pink. They cleaned you up and you fell asleep in my arms (after making sustained eye contact and freaking me out, like you were sending a mental warning: "Don't fuck this up, Dad!").

One year later, look at you now:

Taking those first steps on your own, exploring your world, (terrorizing the pets!), and I can hardly remember life before you.

Good thing I have a blog archive going back to 2004, huh?

You're amazing and Daddy loves you. Happy birthday.

First birthday

2011-09-12T08:07:00.006-04:00

What a fantastic weekend! The boy's first birthday party was so much fun. We had three sets of grandparents, a great grandmother, two aunts, one uncle, and two cousins attend. The kid got a zillion gifts, of course, and had a ball looking at everything. We had a small helium tank and had balloons all over the ceiling. The kid was totally overstimulated, but he lasted through the gifts before needing a nap. We postponed the cake until after dinner (I grilled burgers).

Laura made this cake from scratch:

Yo Gabba Gabba! cake!

With a surprise inside!

Yep, it has six layers, corresponding in color to the characters on the show:
(1) Green for Brobie
(2) Orange for DJ Lance
(3) Yellow for Plex
(4) Blue for Toodie
(5) Red for Muno
(6) Pink for Foofa

L's mom made Brobie cupcakes for the boy to eat. Once he tried it he consumed all the icing and left the cake. Yep, he was wired and it took forever to get him to sleep!

Love my internet pals!

2011-09-08T07:52:00.002-04:00

It puzzles me how many people still believe ‘friendship’ or at least bonhomie conducted in cyberspace isn’t a valuable form of social contact, but, say, being thrown together at an NCT group, or in halls of residence, or because your desks at work face on to each other, is. Or that anodyne small talk with a neighbour is ‘genuine social stimulation,’ whereas chatting over Twitter with someone 6,000 miles away who loves Top Gun and Jefferson Airplane as much as you do is just lonely, dysfunctional nerds clashing in cyberspace. This, to my mind, is idiotic. It’s time for us all to come out of the closet about our secret internet chums.

Grace Dent, How to Leave Twitter

At last, pictures!

2011-09-02T07:45:00.008-04:00

"Tomorrow" is such a vague word when you're a parent (and lazy about posting!), so here are some pics to end this week...

Henry has ALWAYS been a fan of feeding himself. He's got a really independent streak when it comes to that. We discovered squeeze smoothies that can include yogurt, veggies, grains, etc. They went on sale for $1 each (regularly $1.69 each) so we stocked up! Between these and the freeze dried yogurt drops he loves, I told Laura our son is ready to be an astronaut!

This is the gate I installed between the living room and the kitchen. Please note that it's at an angle, due to the fact that the two sides are about four inches out of line. I'm pretty darn proud I found this gate (and it's swivel-hinge system) and installed it correctly! It swings open with the hinges on the right (counter) side and latches into place. Now the dogs can eat their meals in peace and Henry is somewhat more limited in his wanderings.

We're still loving Yo Gabba Gabba! Henry and I get up in the morning and watch an episode together. He has his formula and I have a cup of coffee. Good daddy & baby times!

Henry started walking a bit (did I mention that yet?) so we went to the mall to look at shoes. We didn't find shoes, but he got his first balloon. It held his attention all evening.

He wanted to play with it at dinner. I spent the whole meal silently chanting please don't pop, please don't pop, please don't pop, please don't pop, please don't pop... I could just imagine the shock, anger, and screams that would have brought. Luckily it survived his attempts to bite it and died a natural death later at home, where it slowly sank to the floor overnight.

Border's continues to lower prices on their remaining stock. All books were at least 60% off when I went there yesterday. That may have been my final trip, as their stock is dwindling FAST. I picked up the three above titles and a Johnny Cash CD of children's songs (Holy crap, how awesome is that?!? I didn't know that existed!) for under $20. I already took the opportunity provided by a sleeping baby to read the first few chapters of the Aliens book. It's a fascinating concept:

Someone on Earth knew about the aliens. Someone battled them, and survived. Before Ripley, there was a first encounter. Aliens and humans have fought before! When a human spaceship discovers a vast egg-shaped vessel in Saturn's orbit, the crew powers in to investigate. Thinking the ship might contain usable metal for Earth, they force their way aboard. Three teams split up to explore the ship. Already the aliens have awoken. The first of all the battles unfolds.

Basically, the author is postulating (as he explains in the very interesting Author's Note) that The Company knew about the aliens when they sent Ripley's team to investigate in the first movie. And they knew because there was an encounter before that one. The book was published in 2007 and sounds like how the studio originally envisioned the prequel they're doing. (The movie has since changed focus a bit, but still involves humans and the aliens, and is still set about 30 years before the first movie, so in that aspect they're they same). Check out the movie details for Prometheus here. With Ridley Scott directing, I have medium-high hopes for it!

Now, Labor Day weekend! I seriously doubt I'll post. But I'll probably take a pic or two to post later!

Placeholder Post

2011-08-30T11:06:00.002-04:00

I was going to do a photo post, detailing what I've been up to this past week (during which we had an earthquake and a hurricane!) but I ran out the door this morning and forgot my phone. I was a bit distracted by the baby crawling after me and crying every time I left the room. Made it feel like I was defusing a bomb: "Cut the blue wire! No wait, the red wire!"

So I'll post pics tomorrow.

Out.

Calm before the storm

2011-08-26T21:14:00.003-04:00

A-Ha reunited on August 21 (this past Sunday) to play "Stay On These Roads" at the Commemoration ceremony in memory of the victims of the Oslo and Utoya attacks. It's a beautiful song, with a full orchestra this time. Love the band. Sorry they reunited under such tragic circumstances.

Just waiting for Hurricane Irene to blow through.

"I feel the earth move under my feet..."

2011-08-24T07:42:00.004-04:00

(Today's post title courtesy of Carol King)

Yep, we had an earthquake. A 5.9 earthquake. The biggest recorded in Virginia since 1897! How about that? Our building shook hard twice, with a few seconds in between each. With all the destruction next door (documented here a few times), I figured the construction guys had created a sinkhole or hit a gas line. Either way, my office is in the part of the building that is held on the Hollywood video side by pillars and has a driveway running under it, so I immediately had images of my office collapsing in on itself. I got the heck out with everyone else.

Twitter was, of course, amazing the first few minutes. People I follow reported feeling it in North Carolina, New York City, and even Toronto. Then (also of course) once it was established what it was and that everything was okay, the web was flooded by jaded, cynical a-holes saying east coasters are pussies and California gets this all the time, blah blah blah. Because you can't just experience something and think "Wow, the biggest earthquake here in 115 years, amazing!" No, you have to be the first to be a douche and let everyone know how cool you are.

There is still something special about experiencing something for yourself, and while the internet has been amazing for finding people with shared experiences (just look how many cool folks are in my blogroll!) I am realizing that it's a double-edged sword: that same internet can take something unique and make the experience seem less special (to the point you're sick of hearing about it).

I suppose people may have felt the same way about 24-hour news channels when they exploded. Information overload. Except now it's the internet and everyone is a reporter (or, more accurately, a pundit expressing a skewed view).

I'm expressing an opinion about it too, as I write this. I'm aware of that. But the fact is this: We had a 5.9 earthquake that was felt by every sister my wife has (with the sole exception being the one in Oregon). There are hundreds of miles between some of these sisters, but they all experienced the same event.

Another cool fact: People in NYC said they were reading tweets about the earthquake before they felt it themselves. Can you imagine that? "Hmm, earthquake in Virginia?" (shake, shake, shake). "Whoa!" Imagine the wave traveling through the crust of the Earth, traveling north (and south, east, and west) like ripples from a pebble dropped into a pond, except the ripples are waves of energy traveling through rock. Hopefully today a lot of good science teachers are altering their lesson plans to discuss how earthquakes work!

And, because I'm a complicated hypocrite, here's another good thing about the internet, even as I complain about it:

Whew!

2011-08-22T13:49:00.005-04:00

Not a lot to write about. We had a good weekend, just the three of us. The boy is showing more personality every day. He smiles and giggles and crawls after the cats and dogs (much to their sighing annoyance!). Biggest accomplishment for me: I installed a new swinging baby gate in the house! Big deal, right? Any asshole can do that. But wait, ya jerk, because there's a catch: The opening is between the end of the counter and the wall between the kitchen and living room, and they do not line up. One ends about four inches before the other, meaning you can't use a standard pressure-lock gate. What do you do?

Well, I found a gate that is designed for use on stairways that has "angle mount" hardware, meaning you can mount the hinges in any direction and the gate will still swivel to the other side. I'm not explaining this very well. I'll take a picture and post it tomorrow (since I know you're dying to see it!). When I was done, I was proud of myself. I took a measurement, did some browsing, found a hinge system that would work (on a gate that can be adjusted to the size I needed) and installed it successfully. Go handyman Smacky!

I also watched Hobo With a Shotgun (click link for plot synopsis) on Netflix streaming Friday night during HUGE thunderstorms. The movie is not for everyone, and it's a bit over the top on violence, but Rutger Hauer is in it, and he's excellent in everything.

Finally, I broke out the instructions and reconfigured the boy's exersaucer to its third (and final) stage. No more will he bounce. Now he WALKS around the "S"-shaped activity table! He's still not walking yet, but he can stand unassisted for quite a while if he's engaged with something.

Oh, and Ghaddaffi is about to be kicked out of Libya (and replaced by a rebel leader who spent the last 20 years living less than five miles from CIA headquarters. Coincidence? Don't you believe it!) and the West Memphis 3 were released after being scapegoats for nearly 20 years. So yeah, busy weekend!

Muno kills it

2011-08-17T07:41:00.003-04:00

I LOVE BUGS!

(We be buggin'...)

Bees make honey. They don't do it for money!

Tuesday Troubles

2011-08-16T08:05:00.004-04:00

Kiddo is teething again, which makes him angry and weepy and moody. He woke up at 5 this morning and refused to go back to sleep, but by 6:45 when I left for work, he could barely keep his eyes open.

I'm feeling a bit tired, depressed, and anxious myself today, probably from lack of sleep and a little lack of enthusiasm about the current project I'm working on at work.

We've become fans of Yo Gabba Gabba! There are so many nods to the parents on the show: The old Atari-like graphics between songs, the "hip" guest stars, the musical guests (Weezer!). Good times. And Henry love watching singing and dancing. And the songs are catchy without being annoying.

Kiddo is 11 months old now and standing on his own (when he's not aware he's doing it). He'll be walking unaided any day now.

Yep, he has his own little chair. Doesn't spend much time in it yet, because when he's awake he does not sit still!

Flea Market Find

2011-08-09T07:37:00.007-04:00

As I mentioned yesterday, I carried the baby around the flea market to see what the competition was selling. Much of it I could pass without more than a glance. Glassware, piles of Beanie Babies, random kitchen gadgets, etc. But I did manage to find two things I wanted from one dealer.

Now, I quit smoking five or six years ago and have no intention of starting again. EVER. But ashtrays from Las Vegas casinos are too dang cool to pass up! The first is from the Las Vegas Hilton (formerly the International Hotel), the hotel where Elvis played at all of his Vegas engagements. I like to think this ashtray was on a table in the ballroom while Elvis was performing. (Hey, a kid can dream, right? With at least 100 little cocktail tables in the room, each with an ashtray, it's certainly possible!) Now it holds my change!

The second is from the Sahara, one of the places the Sinatra and his Rat Pack performed! The original Ocean's Eleven was filmed there! Anyone could have used this ashtray. Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, the Chairman of the Board himself! It now holds my water glass on my desk at work.

Grand total for these two items: TWO DOLLARS. And I didn't even bargain with the guy. He just said "Dollar each." SOLD! And that's how I got a few pieces of classic Las Vegas.

So proud

2011-08-08T07:28:00.007-04:00

This weekend was super-busy. One sister-in-law and her husband came down from NYC by bus Friday afternoon. We picked them up in the city and went to an early dinner at Zaytinya. It's one of José Andrés's restaurants. The first time we ate there it was just Laura and I for a late lunch and she was about seven months pregnant. The second time was Friday and we brought along our 10-month-old. (the visiting couple are vegan, by the way, so that's why this restaurant was a good choice).

Saturday morning we got up at 5am (well, I did. I got the visiting couple up at 5:20 and Laura and the baby up at 5:40) to get over to the Civitan Flea Mark et by 6am so we could set up. I had driven a car loaded with stuff over the previous evening to claim our spot (the same one we had used in the June flea market; it's an excellent location, as it's in the first covered area you enter after entering from the uncovered level and you have to walk past this level to get to the upper level or the lower levels, depending on where you entered the garage, thus you have foot traffic in both directions all morning long!).

We ended up making less money than we did in June, but we had less stuff to sell this time, and we didn't eventually lower prices 50% like we did last time. Still, we got more stuff out of our house, we sold the big items we had brought (a chair, a table, and a DVD/VCR combo), and I sold five large figures of Stormtroopers (to five different people) at $10 each. One little boy got his dad to buy him my "Capitan America!" (it was so cute and he was so happy!).

We took turns entertaining Henry (though in general I was the seller and Laura was the baby wrangler. I think my job was easier!). We had the carrier, so twice I strapped the kid on and did a circuit of the entire market. Let me tell you, when you're a seller, you look at the other vendors items with a much different eye than when you're just browsing on a humid Saturday as a shopper. Our stuff was freaking PRIMO compared to some of the crap people were trying to unload. Some stuff I would have been embarrassed to donate to Goodwill (seriously).

On one of our circuits, I saw a toy I know Laura had been looking at on Amazon (where it was about $50). I asked the woman what she wanted for it, and she said she was asking $10. I pulled out my wallet and dug into my pockets and said, "I have $5.85," (which I did. I wasn't lying to try to get a deal). It was at least 85 degrees and I was hot and dirty and wearing a baby. She said okay without hesitation. I carried it back to our table and Laura said, "Oh my god, where did you get that? What did you pay?" I told her and she said that back in June she had asked the woman about it and the woman wouldn't budge on $20. I said I guess a combination of her hauling it back and forth to three different sales and me looking so pathetic resulted in her coming down 75%! Here's a pic of Henry with the toy when we got back home:

So it turns out that Henry has basically been dying to walk but we never gave him a toy that allowed him to do it. He walked back and forth from the kitchen across the living room at least 20 times, moving with more confidence each time, to the cheers of his aunts and uncles (and his parents). It will be good practice for when I make him start mowing the lawn! :-)

Now here's the story that explains the title of today's post. Toward the last two hours of the sale, I had Henry strapped to me and he was looking at the table of random toys we were selling. One in particular seemed to catch his eye, so I picked it up and ask, "This one?" He grabbed it and put it into his mouth, so I said, "Okay, he bought this one!"

And that's how Henry made friends with Jackie Chan!

He drags him around by the arm in one of his little hands while he's crawling.

Laura took this last pic and sent it to me and swears she didn't pose Jackie that way. Henry did.

Another generation of Jackie Chan fans is born!

Hollywood Video's Secret Bunker!

2011-08-04T11:49:00.002-04:00

They are continuing to demolish the Hollywood Video next to my office (and with it, metaphorically violently slamming the door on video stores as a viable retail option in general), and today they used the big back hoe digger thing to lift out the steel boilers. Behind one was this:

Click pic to embiggen even more!

Ohhhh! What could that have been at one time? I only had a few seconds to speculate before the machine demolished it with one smashing metal fist.

Oh well. At least I got a picture!

How my mind works

2011-08-03T10:13:00.003-04:00

The gas light came on in my car this morning, so I pulled in to the 7-11 to fuel up. Standing there watching the numbers fly up (seriously, why do we allow oil companies to charge about $4 a gallon? Don't give me that supply-and-demand bullshit. They're having record profits every quarter now!) when this caught my eye:

According to the poster there are four cups available but I didn't know who the other three were so I concentrated on Rowdy Roddy Piper here (who I've never seen wrestle and only know from the awesome movie They Live).

What held my attention is the fact that he's wearing something on his wrist. A gold Rolex? A MedicAlert bracelet? I'm pretty sure even the genre of "sports entertainment" involves enough physicality that wearing jewelry in the ring is a no-no. [Ring. Jewelry. I made a joke there!]

So that's a snapshot of my morning and how my brain processes new information.

Bless me

2011-08-02T07:25:00.002-04:00

Why did every parent on the planet neglect to tell me the baby would give me every cold he has, including this snot-running one in AUGUST. My joints hurt and it feels like someone took Silly Putty and filled my sinuses. No wonder the baby woke up crying at 9:30, 11, 12, 3, and 5 last night. At least I can take medications to treat the symptoms. All he has is baby Vick's Vaporub and the ball syringe that sucks snot out and makes him scream.

Still, on a selfish note I can freely share in a blog, having a cold when it's scheduled to be 97 degrees today blows.

Always on the move...

2011-08-01T11:33:00.002-04:00

This has been a whirlwind two weeks, looking back. DC to the river, to my hometown for a funeral, to DC again, to the river again, all in seven days. A triangle (with one side drawn three times).

Back at in the land of temps approaching 100 degrees.

Oh! We're doing the Civitan Flea Market again this Saturday, so come and buy some of our random crap! At the last one we made over $600! And this time L's sister is coming down from NYC with her husband and a car full of junk to sell in the parking spot next to ours!

Do I ever sleep?

Yeah, sometimes.

But I don't have any set schedule!

Productive

2011-07-29T08:23:00.003-04:00

This has been the first time I've been alone in the house for three days, ever. I've been busting my butt doing things I can't do otherwise. Like what? Like this:

This is our attic. The shiny stuff in the picture is rolls of insulation I installed with a kick-ass staple gun. The ground floor living area is already cooler because of it, which is not a moment too soon, with another weekend with temps expected over 100 degrees!

I also did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, organized the pantry, straightened the basement, cleaned the baby's room, culled junk and tossed it, filled lawn bags with dry brush, and went grocery shopping for items to bring to the river this weekend. Whew!

I also listed and sold a few things on Amazon, gave some attention to the cats (who do actually love attention, even when they act aloof), and slept... well, not like a baby, because I know how a baby sleeps, and I did not wake up every few hours crying! (Seriously, "slept like a baby" is the dumbest phrase ever. Whose baby was that based on???) No, I slept like a person with the entire bed to himself in a cool, dark room. Gotta admit, I enjoyed it. But I can't wait to see them after work and a three-hour drive this evening!

Living and moving

2011-07-26T19:17:00.003-04:00

Friday we went to our place on the water, then Sunday afternoon we drove across the state to my hometown for the funeral of my great aunt on Monday. We took two cars so that this morning Laura and the baby could return to the water place while I completed the triangle and ended up back up in the DC area. I mowed a little, did some major cleaning and sorting, did some laundry, and went to the grocery store for supplies.

Now I'm watching an episode of the '60s Star Trek and having a dinner of a cold chicken breast and potato salad, followed by a cool bath and reading a little in bed before going to sleep.

I miss my wife and kid, but I am determined to make the most of these three days until I drive down to rejoin them Friday after work!

Oh, I have some music to recommend: "Barton Hollow" by the Civil Wars. If it's country, it's old country (as in, it has a little Irish in it!). The songs are love songs, and lullabies, really. Our boy is going to be hearing it soon. Check out the studio version of "To Whom It May Concern." It's my early choice for favorite song by them.

And here's a live performance of the same song.

Life

2011-07-22T09:21:00.003-04:00

Dog limping with leg pain of indeterminate origin.
Baby teething.
Heat index of 116 today.
Going to a funeral on Monday.

I am really making an effort to live each day in the moment... to remember what John Lennon said: "Life's what happens when you're making other plans."

I don't want to look back on this time as a series of chores, as a line of annoyances, as a constant buzzing I was trying to silence.

I want to feel this.

I want to feel.

I will.

Send your camels to bed.

2011-07-20T20:45:00.003-04:00

Don't have a lot I feel like talking about, but I'm tired of seeing that damn SIGH post, so I'm writing something to replace it!

Inspired by Kate's posts about music, here's a quick funny one. The other night the little guy woke up crying (as he does) and I hopped up on autopilot to go to the kitchen to get him a small bottle. On the way I passed a digital clock, and it happened to be 12:00 exactly. As I entered the kitchen, I caught myself singing softly, "Midnight at the Oasis, send your camels to bed..." It is one goofy song, and like many songs in the mid-1970s, it's about humping! I giggled as I returned to the baby, bottle in hand.

Here's a live version:

Sigh

2011-07-14T20:31:00.003-04:00

My wife not unkindly told me on Sunday that she was having difficulty compiling much of a list for my 40th birthday coming up in October. Sigh. "No shit," I thought to myself. I keep in touch with one high school friend (whom I see about once every three months) and a handful of others only via Facebook. Ditto with college friends. Ditto with Peace Corps friends. Everyone lives multiple time zones away. I have actually have FEWER friends now than I did when I first moved to the DC area a decade ago. They all moved away. I've had the same job for 8.5 years, so I know my coworkers very well, but not for more than gossip or pop culture BS. We don't get together after work. Everybody is married and has responsibilities. I'm not on any sports teams, nor do I have any hobbies than promote social interactions. I can count the number of real friends I have on one hand. I go to Caps games, but you don't meet people at hockey games!

This usually doesn't bother me, except on rare occasions like "I wanted to invite all your friends over. Who are they?"

Yeah... about that...

CRAP!

2011-07-11T20:45:00.002-04:00

Crap, I left my iPod at work. Please be there when I arrive Mr. iPod! I can't live without you!

Back on the Beat

2011-07-11T09:27:00.002-04:00

Returned to work after a week off. Not a lot to say. Just catching up with the stuff piled on my desk in my absence.

And thank goodness for Google, because I knew the title of today's post was from a song I loved, but I couldn't think of it to save my life:

Oh, now she's gone and I'm back on the beat / A stain on my notebook says nothing to me / Oh, now she's gone and I'm out with a friend / With lips full of passion and black coffee in bed

By Squeeze!

By the way, I read somewhere that sites that say they have song lyrics are supposedly some of the worst sites for picking up computer viruses (I guess because they know mostly kids [and addled adults] will be visiting). So be warned!

Still around, just taking it slow...

2011-07-07T16:00:00.003-04:00

Still on vacation, FYI. I've been reading a battered paperback called The Regulators by Richard Bachman (Stephen King's alter ego) that I bought for a quarter at some flea market in the middle of nowhere a few years ago and which I am only now reading because I wanted to read something I could toss down at a second's notice to grab the kid and not care if the book gets more battered.

That's a nice sentence. Long, but lean! And the book is unlikely to survive this reading, by the way.

Spine broken in multiple places, torn back, pages bent and yellowed... the prognosis does not look good, doctor.

Now THAT'S a summer storm!

2011-07-04T21:26:00.008-04:00

Laura took video on her phone of last night's huge thunderstorm (the kind you hear coming 30 minutes in advance with slow rolls of thunder) then she downloaded an app that let her make a picture of a single frame. That's how she got these amazing pics with her phone!

Oddly enough, there was hardly any rain. Just wind and lightening! Vacation excitement in the middle of the night!

Time for the shorts and the flipflops!

2011-07-01T10:38:00.003-04:00

Got a vacation coming up. Like, coming up at 3pm today! Nine days off (including two weekends and the 4th of July)! Last year it was pics of red Crocs and fireworks. This year it will be red Crocs, fireworks, and a baby. Holy crap y'all. I have a kid. That still blows my mind sometimes to write down!

I'll post now and then while I'm out.

Things I hope to do while on vacation:

Finally watch the BluRay of Watchmen I bought so long ago!
Get out in the kayak.
Read a book.
Late afternoons in the pool with the boy.
Drinks on the back deck while something is grilling.
Napping when the baby naps!

We don't have to...

2011-06-27T09:40:00.003-04:00

We had a good appointment with the cardiologist. Won't go into too much detail, but he assured us and we have a follow-up appointment in a year, so that's comforting.

The little guy loves to stand up holding on to things and he is also enjoying dancing. I played this video on my iPad over the weekend and we danced together:

The kiddo doesn't understand the lyrics, but he loves the melody and the beat! I was saddened to hear Jermaine Stewart died of AIDS, especially after he had a hit with the song promoting drinking and dancing over getting naked.

Work in progress

2011-06-21T07:16:00.005-04:00

Mobile baby means baby proofing!

Not too long ago, I put three IKEA bookcases in a line on our... front porch? Sun room? Not really sure what to call it. It's a front porch that has been enclosed, so it's part of the interior of the house (insulation, AC, etc.). Yesterday I installed doors with tempered glass in them to keep the enticing items behind closed doors for a few years (until he can reach the handles). It's a lot of random junk there now (which Laura will organize as she sees fit) and I still have one more set to install, as you can see below...

...but we're making making progress. I also installed a child latch on the cabinet under the kitchen sink were we keep all the cleaners.

Good thoughts for the little guy, please. The pediatrician heard his little heart murmur (which the cardiologist said he would outgrow by one year), so we have a follow-up appointment this afternoon with the cardiologist.

Father's Day

2011-06-19T16:10:00.002-04:00

We started celebrating the Father's Day weekend Saturday. Laura made me a bacon, egg, and cheese English muffin for breakfast while Henry and I watched Sesame Street (he giggles at Cookie Monster).

We went into downtown DC for lunch at Hill Country Barbecue. Man, it was good. YUM. I had beef barbecue sandwich, bourbon sweet potatoes, chipotle deviled eggs, and a black cherry soda. Laura had barbecue chicken and mac & cheese.

Then we walked to a fancy cheese shop and got three different cheeses (one aged in a cave in Switzerland for FOUR YEARS. I picture it sitting next to Nazi gold and stolen paintings. I am a child of Indiana Jones.)

Our next stop was a fancy chocolate shop where we got some fancy chocolates. One thing I got: chocolate covered applewood smoked bacon with sea salt. There's a blog post coming about that one sometime!

We headed home for a sec and then headed out on foot for the Columbia Pike Blues Festival. Holy crap, it was fun! Great music. Good beer. Lots of couples with little kids (seriously, south Arlington is jammed with couples just like us. We have to meet some of them someday!). I wore Henry in the harness carrier. I know at least one person took a photo of us, so I just need to find where they posted it.

Henry was beat after our big adventure, so he fell asleep pretty soon after we got home.

Sunday morning started in dramatic fashion. Henry projectile vomited on me and himself. He looked exhausted when it was over, then he was giddily happy. We need to figure out if he just has a virus that will pass or if he's developing acid reflux of lactose intolerance. This makes three mornings (not in a row) that he's vomited formula. But the rest of the day he drinks it and he's fine.

Laura made a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and eggs.

I had a list of items I needed to pick up and decided to take the kid on a Target run. Well, as soon as I lifted him out of his car seat (sorry, this is going to be graphic, so skip to the next paragraph if you're easily disgusted!) poop was running down his leg and covering his foot. WTF. It took quite a while to clean him up (and I considered just throwing the clothes away!) Luckily we keep a change of clothes in his diaper bag. But I had to walk around Target with some of his poop on my shorts. CLASSY! So, for the record, on my first Father's Day, the boy vomited and pooped on me. Makes me think it's more virus than anything else.

The kid and L have been napping the last two hours. I installed an IKEA cabinet in the bathroom. Did you know that the wall in our bathroom isn't flush? It BOWS. Makes it very interesting to install a cabinet when it won't rest flush with the wall. Oh well, the house is 77 years old.

We'll be having a private happy hour later with fancy cheeses and a little wine, then I'll be grilling two filets Laura picked up while she makes spinach and parsnips. YUM!

Vomit and poop aside, a pretty wonderful weekend.
Seriously, how the hell did I help make something so freaking awesome? I'm convinced my brain releases endorphins when I see him, because he just makes me smile so much.

When the day starts this way, it has to get better!

2011-06-16T07:33:00.002-04:00

This morning the boy awoke at 5am and was content to stare at me for 30 minutes before deciding he had had enough and it was time to get up. Just as I got to a standing position, he projectile vomited formula on me, again, and again, and again. I carried him to the bathroom to grab a towel and stared at us in the mirror. I had to laugh. We were both covered in white vomit. He had even gotten it on my chin, making it look like I had in fact vomited on him. He too looked in the mirror and smiled. At that age, post-vomit is about the happiest time of your life because all you know is that you feel better.

And that's how my day began.

Oh, did I mention that a colleague retired last week, and finally, after more than eight years, I will be getting her office. The big office with a wall of three windows. I'll post pics when the move is complete. Here's what it feels like:

I love this song. Probably my favorite song of an artist with MANY songs I love.

Contented sigh

2011-06-14T09:29:00.003-04:00

God, I love this little giggle monster who has taken over our home.

For those of you who watch it, did you catch the midseason finale of Doctor Who? HOLY CRAP! THAT was a good episode.

Here comes trouble!

2011-06-09T07:28:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, around 2pm, our boy started crawling. After weeks of only going backward, it just clicked in his head what he has to do. And suddenly, the world has opened up to him. Things catch his eye and he heads straight toward them. Suddenly, his two baskets of toys hold little interest compared to mom's purse across the room.

Now, it starts to get interesting...

This is post #1,230, by the way. Nice number for a monumental (in our house) event.

Well, this is awkward...

2011-06-06T08:15:00.002-04:00

I received a call on my cell phone at 10pm last night from a number (and area code) I didn't recognize. I reluctantly answered and was surprised to discover it was a friend of mine from Peace Corps. He was calling from a hotel in South Dakota (traveling for business). He said he didn't want to tell me this in a Facebook message so he was calling. I tensed up, wondering what the heck he was talking about.

Well, he told me quite a story. He discovered a few months ago that his wife was having an "online affair" (what exactly that means I can only speculate. I certainly didn't ask for details!). It had been going on for NINE months. Whatever an "online affair" entails, it's serious enough that they're in counseling and she said she wasn't sure she still loved him. (They have two kids, by the way, ages 6 and 4).

The kicker? The reason he was calling me? The "other guy" in question was my college roommate senior year! My Peace Corps friend's wife "met" him through me via Facebook. I've seen the college roommate once since graduation (17 years ago!) yet I was the conduit to this thing. I feel a bit guilty, like I brought a sexual predator to a party without realizing it.

I "defriended" the college friend after the phone call, because damn, if I'm gonna take sides, I gotta side with the married father and not the "other guy."

None of the people in this have met each other in person, and likely never would (unless the online affair had somehow become a physical one, which seems unlikely, as she lives in South Dakota and he lives in NYC, but the heart is not rational, so of course that could have eventually happened.)

I feel like I'm on the fringe of a crazy Jerry Springer episode.

Busy, busy, busy!

2011-06-03T08:51:00.003-04:00

This is going to be a busy weekend. We have L's stepfather's SUV (since he and L's mom are traveling across the country in a rental car) and we have it FULL of stuff we are going to attempt to sell at the Arlington Flea Market tomorrow morning (7am-1:30pm). We'll have toys (still in the packages!), books on a variety of subjects, household items, and other odd knickknacks you know you want. If you're in the area, stop by, say hi, and buy something!

Anything that doesn't sell will likely go to Goodwill, rather than being brought back into the house.

If it's a success, we might do the next one in July too (it's the first Saturday of each month, from April to November, and over 1,500 people usually show up to browse and buy. COME BUY OUR GREAT JUNK!

:-)

After all that, we have a few hours rest and then a cookout a couple is hosting. It's one of Laura's knitting group friends. She told me one of the girls in the group "has a husband like you." So, he's awesome? Or a sci-fi geek? I guess we'll see if I make a new friend or walk out of there feeling terribly offended by the comparison.

This Is Your Life.

2011-05-26T09:37:00.002-04:00

This band is called Banderas (like Antonio? Don't know. Hope not!) and this song was a hit in England in the early '90s. In my uneducated hindsight, I'd say they had the misfortune of having a shaven-headed lead singer about two years after Sinead O'Connor. America doesn't have room for two of them.

But it's a great song... dancy but melancholy at the same time.

Hurt

2011-05-26T06:28:00.000-04:00

If the introduction of Johnny Cash to a new generation of music fans is ultimately Rick Rubin's final legacy, I think he should be okay with that. Because, oh man... what an introduction!

"Up in my lonely room"

2011-05-25T11:50:00.003-04:00

(This is post # 1,225, if that matters. Just a nice number.)

In this modern world, where we watch images from around the world in real time, I'm always surprised when I discover a really good song from a band I never heard of. Not only from a band I'd never heard of, but a band that had enough success to release a greatest hits package in the UK!

Anyway, the band is called The Coral, and the song is called "Dreaming of You." The performance below is from 2007, but the single was originally released in 2002 (almost a decade ago?!?)

Sigh

2011-05-23T10:17:00.003-04:00

Having an annoying time with my insurance company. When you are diagnosed with something by a medical doctor, and then get it treated by a dentist, how the hell are you supposed to submit the claim to the insurance company? I've done it twice so far, and was just on the phone with them for almost an hour, being told the second one "has errors," mainly the dentist's bill does not have a diagnosis code. The diagnosis came from a medical doctor. The treatment came from the dentist. The dentist did include a treatment code. Now I'm waiting for a return call from the medical doctor so I can ask him for a letter with a diagnosis code in it, so I can have it in case the insurance company demands I submit it. (And WTF, insurance company? Everything has to be physically mailed to a PO box in Kentucky? Why? Why can't I at least fax it to you?!?).

At least we had a silver lining (unrelated to this but of a financial bent): The gentleman who purchased the DVD ROM of the comic collection last week must have been happy with the purchase, because he bought the Captain America one from me last night for $175. Which helps a little as I wait for the insurance company to reimburse me for the $850 I spent at the dentist (which is supposed to be ONE HUNDRED PERCENT COVERED BY INSURANCE SO JUST PAY ME BACK!!!!!).

I need to win the lottery. Not a huge jackpot, just a medium-sized one. I'd be thrilled with... $250K. That's it. I'm not greedy. Pay our bills, send the kid to college. I don't need "quit your job" money.

Swanson rules.

2011-05-20T14:03:00.001-04:00

A little on the side...

2011-05-16T20:42:00.002-04:00

I apologize in advance for the vagueness of this post, but I don't want to name anything that would make this post come up in search results. You'll understand why in a sec.

We sell things on Amazon from time to time. It's simple to do and Amazon doesn't take too big a cut. We purge a few DVDs and books now and then. Well, I listed a DVD Rom of a collection of comics by the publisher that does Spider-Man. Got it? Anyway, it was $50 new when I received it as a gift four years ago and I listed it for $199 ($50 less than the next lowest). And someone bought it.

Well, that's nothing...

I received a box of ppostcards (misspelled on purpose), again, of images from comics by the same publisher mentioned above two years ago as a gift: 100 of them in a cardboard box. It was $20 new two years ago. I didn't do anything with them. I looked on Amazon and there were five for sale (one for $1,500?!?) and the cheapest for $300. I listed mine for $225, thinking it would never sell. C'mon, it was just ppostcards! Well, it sold this afternoon. Needless to say, this bastard is getting a free upgrade to Priority shipping!

These certainly help. In this crap economy, I've gotten a promotion (two years ago) and a fantastic evaluation (last week) but no raise. And we got a baby, yo!

2011-05-13T19:44:00.000-04:00

Ron Swanson, drunk on Snake Juice and dancing in a little hat.

Something, always it is...

2011-05-11T22:20:00.000-04:00

Baby is better, but now I have his cold. Fever, cough, headache, aching joints... yuck. It's always something, right?

Pregnant Tina Fey on roller skates!

2011-05-09T12:52:00.000-04:00

Sunday

2011-05-08T19:39:00.002-04:00

Baby has a cold. And when you're a baby, you don't know how to blow your nose. So you sit around miserable. And get very little sleep. And thus mom and dad get very little sleep either. Then the mom catches the cold and two people are sick. And the house seems a little bit cramped with the sickness and the short tempers.

Today was Mother's Day. Flowers, card, gifts, I made all three meals today, we went to a park so baby could ride the swings, I listed a bunch of stuff on Amazon (and sold four things already).

While they napped, I mowed the lawn this afternoon.

I'm kind of tired.

This Monkey Has Some Miles On Him

2011-05-01T19:37:00.006-04:00

We went to visit my family this weekend. That's not really an important detail, except to explain why we were in the parking lot of a hotel in a town 175 miles away...

The baby got a stuffed monkey for Christmas (to the right of kid in pic):

He's come to use the monkey as a "soother." He holds it and looks at it, and usually sleeps with it.

I took this pic of two of his current favorite toys sitting like that this weekend
(unposed, believe it or not!)

He had it with him at the grocery store this weekend:

Last night we got back to the hotel and I dragged in the million bags we travel with now that we have a kid and went to bed. Around 6:30 this morning I quietly got up and sneaked out to get coffee and donuts for me and the wife. I got behind the wheel and my sleepy eyes fell on something on the other side of the windshield. I got out and saw this:

The monkey fell out of one of the bags I was carrying in last night and I didn't notice. Some kind person came across it and put it under the windshield wiper so I'd see it.

Now, the kid is only 7.5 months old, so it's unlikely he'd miss that monkey much in the big scheme of things. I'm probably more attached to it by virtue of watching him interact with it. But holy shit, it was such a relief to see it and realize what almost happened.

As I'm writing this, the baby is asleep in the other room, with his arms tightly around a monkey almost as big as he is.

Tremulous Dreams

2011-04-29T09:45:00.003-04:00

Had a dream last night that I was at a Willie Nelson concert (never have) and between songs someone came on stage and whispered something into Willie's ear and then Willie said "The test results are in: I don't have diabetes!" Then he made up a song on the spot about it:

"I... don't have... dia BEEEEEEEEEEEEE TEEEEEEEEES..."

What The HECK???

Can't begin to imagine what that means, beyond a poor night's sleep due to a cranky baby with a mild fever.

Game one of the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is tonight. Caps are playing Tampa Bay Lightening (who I hope are very tired after playing all seven of their first round games to beat the Penguins, while the Caps only needed five games to take down the Rangers).

LET'S GO CAPS!

(Not my pic. Stumbled on it on the web somewhere. It's awesome!)

Spring

2011-04-26T14:32:00.002-04:00

Spring used to be my least favorite season. Unexpected rains, the temperature fluctuates between freezing and 85 degrees several times a week, etc.

But that was before a long winter with a baby. Now it's just so nice to get outside and get some air, and the kid is old enough that he really likes seeing things and going to the park and riding the swings.

Spring, y'all. Count me in.

Who has two thumbs and is kicking ass (and taking names)?

2011-04-21T10:58:00.005-04:00

Three weeks ago, my boss stopped by my office and asked what the odds were I could get my last two Spring books to the printer before the end of the fiscal year (end of May). Through a series of setbacks (none my fault) both of these books had delayed again and again until finally we had put them down as July publications on our website. Now she was asking what I could do in six weeks.

Well, thanks to a lot of emails, nagging of authors, illustrators, and indexers (with some hurt feelings along the way I shrugged off. No time for a diva illustrator!) and a lot of cooperation from the production and art departments... those two books are BOTH going to the printer today. FIFTEEN days before the "to printer" deadline.

Wow. I did it.

Talk about taking one for the team. We've already been told there's no money for raises this year. I did it for the satisfaction of getting it the heck done. And I wish I had a T-shirt that said "BADDASS" on it, because I think I deserve it today!

This is me today:

Oh, and the Caps won last night in DOUBLE OVERTIME, so they lead the series against the Rangers 3 games to 1. Next game is Saturday afternoon.

Sorry to the blogger buds having sadness in their lives. A general hug to all.

Parks & Recreation is getting pretty funny...

2011-04-18T13:23:00.000-04:00

Technology is confusing

2011-04-14T09:32:00.003-04:00

I made an executive decision regarding my iPod the other day, and after doing a little research (and considering my age and hearing) I decided to click the box that said "Convert higher bit rate songs to 128 kbps AAC for this iPod." Would I hear the difference? I don't know. Forums seemed to be 75% people saying you wouldn't notice the difference and 25% snobs saying "anything less than FLAC is a sin!"

All I know is that I had barely 2 GB left on a 160 GB iPod, and now I have 51 GB free. Isn't that crazy? The downside is that it took over 36 hours to transfer all the songs to the lower rate! The upside is I have 50 free gigs now!

Please tell me if I made a mistake. I can take it.

Write your own caption

2011-04-12T07:35:00.001-04:00

Sometimes just taking away the text at the bottom takes the comic to a whole new level.

Andy Astronaut

2011-04-11T10:28:00.003-04:00

Choose your own colors.
(As always, click photo to embiggen.)

Yum

2011-04-08T10:11:00.002-04:00

There! With this post, I officially shared a picture of my breakfast on Twitter, Facebook, and my blog. Apologies to most of you for the triple post, as the number of people who see each of these gets exponentially smaller from Twitter (thousands?) to Facebook (maybe 200) to this blog (maybe 10 at the most!).

What a week. Let's just say that Monday morning I had two books that were scheduled for publication in July. By Monday afternoon I was told to "do my best" to get them to the printer (and the warehouse) by the end of the fiscal year (May). Let's just say I worked like crazy and one is in final review (then to the indexer early next week) and the other is going to final review this afternoon. I ROCK THIS WEEK!

And with Wednesday's win, the Capitals are back at first place in their division (for the first time since December) and the Maple Leafs are officially out of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Woo!

The promised music post (27 records)

2011-04-07T07:40:00.033-04:00

Got a box of records from my wife's aunt a few weeks ago. These were the "keepers."

Isn't that special?

2011-04-05T07:34:00.002-04:00

So BP should be praised for "keeping their word" and cleaning up the disaster they caused? This is a banner ad from some random site. The embedded video in it is a grizzled shrimper saying nice things about BP.

Did I mention that BP wants to start drilling in the Gulf of Mexico again? This is the start of their PR push to sway public opinion. I'm sure much MORE money is being spent on oil company lobbyists to grease politicians (*cough*republicans*cough*) to get votes to allow drilling to recommence. Next year is an election year, and folks have to raise a ton of money to pay for campaigns, so why not use oil money to fund it? See how it's a rancid snake eating itself? And the regular middle class sits on the outside of this spectacle, being told it's the fault of illegal aliens, terrorists, and Planned Parenthood that our country is in the state its in.

Sorry. Work is uber-stressful at the moment (a rare occurrence for me) and I'm just pissed that BP (and the congressmen they fund) wants business as usual and for the regular folks to just shut up and get out of the way of "progress." Meanwhile we're paying about $4 a gallon for gas and being told it's because we're funding public television and NPR! But we can't let the Bush tax cuts expire. That would hurt the economy! What a crock! You know the deficit (which is ALL you hear about any more) would be cut in HALF if we just sucked it up and let the tax cuts expire? But no, that view will not get you elected. The problem MUST be welfare leeches. And not the fact that we spend more on military spending than any other country on the planet or that we're actively fighting two or three wars or that we continue to maintain a HUGE military presence in Japan, Germany, South Korea, and so on.

Cannot wait!

2011-04-04T21:16:00.001-04:00

[Click the pic to super embiggen!]

The Prequel to Episode 1 of the New Season of Doctor Who

2011-03-25T13:24:00.003-04:00

Oooooooooooh!