DPD

My beloved Pamela has a very unique singing style - she really has a sweet and powerful voice, but suffers from what I like to call DPD, or Disassociative Pitch Disorder. What this means is that she starts on a certain pitch, and does a phrase pretty much in key... but then starts the next phrase in an entirely different key, and then sings THAT phrase pretty much perfectly, then the next phrase is in a different key again...

It makes singing along with her quite an exercise. Make no mistake, I love to hear her sing, and she can attack a song with quite a bit of gusto... but the DPD is there.

We were watching American Idol tonight (out on a date, at Big Bowl, sitting at the bar), and I discovered that DPD is pretty common actually - along with GWP (General wobbly pitch) and LF (Lyric Forgetfulness). I can't imagine wanting to watch the show in a non-tryout context - watching warblers go at standards is a bit much...

Now I'm going to go on a tangent...

I can't help but think that my old friend Mike from my musical adventures could walk in there and blow them all away. And he'd make it to the final round, and I'd see them ask him to do some country or something, and he'd just walk away... He could win it - no doubt (especially after I saw him last month - he keeps sounding better and better), but there's no question, the man would not want to win - it would just be a compromise.

I sometimes think the same about my songwriting - more than once, I've had a perfect pop song written, ready to make a demo and have it sent off to my friends in "the business"... but when I sit down to start to put it to tape... well... just about everything in the world seems more interesting - organizing my taxes, anything.

My friend Paul and I have almost started a dozen companies, and we have watched as a year later, somebody with the same idea gets millions in venture capital. But each time we're able to say "that wasn't what we wanted to do". Heck, we're smart - if it was just about the money, we could go to law school and learn real estate law. We want to make it... on our terms.

So just like Mike could probably win American Idol if he wanted to, I know I could have made a venture or two fly too... but it's not what we wanted to do. That's why I'm pretty excited about BrainReady: It's something Paul and I just enjoy doing - we have no grand scheme, no prospectus, no plan for venture capital. Just a website and some creative things we've made.

And we got over 100,000 visits in December, and our mail list grows by a hundred a day, and we have a book for sale, and 2 more products in the hopper, and guest bloggers starting up... and this just might take off, in it's own sweet time. And it's FUN, and it's what we want to do right now.

If I was a newspaper columnist or a preacher, I'd find some way to bring this back around to DPD, and I probably could if I worked real hard at it... but I think I'm happy with this post as it is, so let's just leave it there.

The Lair goes BOOM

Did a volume test tonight in The Lair - was CRANKING the 5.1 remaster of Depeche Mode's "Some Great Reward" (Track 7 - Master and Servant), full subwoofer. Bella was dancing, as was squirmy (horizontally). I ran up to the second floor to check, and I had to really strain to hear anything... the soundproofed lair is fantabulous.

It will be excellent for the movies with the booms and whatnot.

Also, to the question "is a 5.1 remaster of a 22 year old album any great shakes?" The answer is OH YES IT IS.

The Brainready Book: Monitoring our progress, it appears we have SOLD ONE BOOK. YES. AWWWW YEAH!!!! Big money, baby.

Tomorrow AM will come early - and I'm excited: It's a new workout tomorrow! We're moving on to BodyPump 60. We'll see if any tracks are standouts... I know I'll be a little sore. But hey, I've been schlepping furniture like nobody's business (getting the Lair ready).

Quick Update

1) So that night Bella decided she's a big girl and doesn't need us for bedtime... it was all talk. She's welcomed us back to night-night land every night since. HA!

2) The Basement is finally together (with some tweaking necessary). Surround sound and subwoofer set up, couch and chairs, comfyland made for movies and socializing. I call it "The Lair". The other 2/3 of the basement is bella's playland, with a curtain dividing it between bella's "house" with a kitchen, table, and doll stuff, and the creative/building area with a table, legos, blocks, and little people toys.

I was amazed at how it all came together. When I went to bed at 11, it all seemed so far away, but Pamela got her groove on and made it happen.

3) Headaches: Pamela was sidelined yesterday with a headache and exhaustion, so I tended the kids and tried to keep things moving along (with limited success). She took a good long nap and we finally got going again around 6pm. We chalked it up to exhaustion or something... but today I woke up a bit groggy, and here we are at noon, and I have a raging headache. UGH. Must be some sort of short-term ick. (and yet, I update FOR YOU, my friends).

4) Despite me saying it's almost ready how many times... the book is actually published and ready for ordering HERE. We are also revamping our site - the ads weren't working so we took them down (except for one that we're keeping because we have a direct reciprocity thing with them), and we have guest writers starting up - starting with the guy who wrote the FISH series of motivational books... we're pretty lucky!

5) My favorite defunct synthesizer company Waldorf has been reborn, and I'm excited to see their new products. Their first two new synths are named after Bond Villains - the Blofeld and the Stromberg. How cool is THAT? Beats calling things "JX30" or "Alpha". They'll be showing them in 1 week at that trade show in Anaheim that I've done twice but not this year... Perhaps next year.

6) Bella has been running around the house saying "Yippee Kai Yay.... FLOCK!!!" I don't know where this came from, since I have not watched Die Hard for a few years... You may remember that key line from that movie - and "Flock" is not far off from the explicative at the end of that line. She is not fessing up to where this came from either. But she's been replacing the "Flock" with "Rainbow" and "Flower" - which she seems to think enhances things.

But she is a sponge: Yesterday I was testing the surround sound and subwoofer in "The Lair" with The Incredibles, and she picked up on Mr Incredible's tagline "It's Showtime". She's been using it a lot in the past day.

7) Heck YES I'm getting an iPhone. As if.

Yet another weekend!

Friday night was another scotch night with Rich and Uncle Chicken (or Tio Pollo, as we are now calling him). This time, there were SIX on tap, which was sort of ridiculous - we were tasting for a good 90 min before we made it to the end and could start the movie... Superman Returns, which was just fantastic. But the star of the evening was a Laphroaig 15, which was good and smoky neat, but add a spash of water, and it opened up into something else entirely - very delicious. We tried the splash of water with our previous favorite - the Lagavulin 16, and it just made it taste weak and watery. So water - use it sparingly. As is our rule, even with 6 bottles on tap, pacing and portions are the watchword - nobody gets loopy, and there's never a hangover...

Yesterday we went to Bella's Birthfamily for a late Xmas - it was a great time as always and we actually got to see her birthfather too, who we haven't seen for a couple of years. Isaac and his little birthcousin (who is 5 days younger) had a lot of fun checking eachother out and squawking... and of course there was food. Bella has learned to be very polite with presents now, and gave a good thank you on each, and was even pretty methodical in opening them.

On the way home, we stopped in to Dad and Karen's place (Grandma and Grandpa, of course), where they had a gift for us - a Blue Meanie rug (from Yellow Submarine), and a pot of ham and bean soup they were willing to share, and a roaring fire too...

Between the birthfamily (two terriers) and Dad's (two cats), I continued my "no allergic reaction" string - though by the end of Dad's I was a little wheezy, but probably more from the fire smoke backing into the house (the fire alarm went off and everything...) So it's really starting to look like the allergies MIGHT be in the past? Who knows.

Today was nothin' but work. WORK. Around the house that is. Around 10 loads of laundry. And LOTS of work on the basement: We're re-orging the whole works, moving the exercise equipment up near our bedroom, and turning half of the basement into a surround sound video "Lair" (no new gear here, just better use of our existing stuff), and a better organized play area for Bella. We're imagining we'll be living in the basement a lot more with two kids now.... Justin was watching the kids while we were hauling and hauling... but it'll be great when it's done. We just need to find someone who can move huge equipment around... time to call the movers.

And now it's off to bed - the morning will come quite soon, and I need to be at the gym by 6 to keep fit!

My Big Girl

One nice way we end our days is to cuddle up with Bella until she falls asleep. Pamela and I trade off nights. We do back scratches and foot rubs and scalp massages, it's just a nice night. It's also a nice excuse to close my eyes for a few minutes before doing nighttime things.

Tonight, after I finished reading our bedtime story, Bella told me "I think I'm ready to be a big girl and go to sleep without anyone else in my bed tonight".

I told her I'd be right outside if she needed me. "Sure, if I need a back scratch, or a foot rub, I'll call you. Good night Daddy!".

I walked outside and felt a little sad. Happily, Isaac woke up and distracted me for 15 minutes while I got him back to sleep. I poked my head in and saw that Bella was fast asleep, with a sweet smile on her face.

I came downstairs and I needed a hug. Bella's getting too big. Awww I got something in my eye.

Back to work you lot.

First day of "work" since the 22nd... and I realized that it was the longest I had gone without holding my kids. I went through a little withdrawal. The kids were so cumulatively exhausted that Bella slept from 4pm-9pm, then 11-8am. Isaac went down at 10, and slept through to 7am. Pamela's so wiped she went to sleep with Bella at 8:30 tonight. I was supposed to be working, but Uncle Chicken had to come celebrate the new year with me, and we were surfing insane Youtube videos (the Infomercial for Quintron, Miss Pussycat and the DrumBuddy is the best ever)... now I'm ready to go sleepy.

Fortunately to get me through the day, Pamela was emailing with some commentary from Bella. They were watching President Ford's funeral. Here are the quotes:

"Is that him with the silly haircut?"
About the hearse..."Is that a taxi?"

And when told they were going to bring the casket into the church... she asked"What are they going to do in there" Pamela said "People are going to talk about his life and say prayers and sing special songs" Bella said " You mean like Itsy Bitsy Spider and stuff?"

I got a vision of a church choir doing a very solemn "itsy bitsy spider" as the pallbearers (or "The Bears" as Bella called them) did the processional....

Did I forget to mention that I did get a Wii-related injury last week? As I was doing the bowling game, I lept up with excitement at a strike, and banged my hand into a ceiling fan. It left a good welt. I was reminded of the time in college when I lept up in my room at the French House in an overenthusiastic reaction to The Human League's soporific version of "you've lost that loving feeling", and sliced my hand open shattering the overhead light. I tend to have injurious reactions. Still, better to hurt me than hurt Pamela with a poorly placed elbow or knee...

At BodyJam yesterday, I was up near a mirror as I was dancing, and came to the realization that I'm basically the tin man, or a collection of rulers and rubberbands. I can not be as funky as a stocky little guy (Isaac), but I can perhaps use my lankyness to some advantage.

Two final points: The test printing of our book arrives tomorrow, so we get to see what it's all about. Secondly, I really don't know why I had to tell you all my theories about clock selling. But it IS called "JimVentions".

Farewell to 2006

This evening, Jenny was over with her Dad Randy (Mae has a cold, the poor dear) and we had a long playing fest and chili feed. We had "Midnight" at 9pm, where we all ran outside and yelled "HAPPY NEW YEAR" and banged on pots and pans in the several inches of fresh snow that fell tonight.

We took pictures, and every one is filled with giant snowflakes lit up by the flash like little christmas lights.

Isaac was bundled up and made his first snow angel. The girls stayed outside playing in the snow for over an hour, while the grown ups relaxed inside with the door open listening to their laughs and squeals.

It was a wonderful way to see the year off - one that brought Isaac to us, and a magical trip to Disney, and a great summer break at the lake, and BrainReady, and some great scotches...

So I raise my glass of Lagavulin 16 to the world and say HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2006 was a great year - 2007 has a lot to live up to!

In the morning

The kids both slept very well in their own beds - Isaac back to 3 and 6 for wakeups.

Bella woke up after 12 hours of sleep. I brought Isaac into bed with her and she cuddled him and said "OH I just love this magic STUFF!"

About selling clocks

The following are my thoughts on selling clocks:

I don't think they should be running in the store, but if they ARE, they should not be set to the current time. You don't want a customer running out because they suddenly realize they're late. You should be able to sell timepieces in a time-neutral environmant. Importantly, set the clocks RANDOMLY to different times. This will create a fun variety for people.

The a downside to the running clocks is that a person may react positively or negatively to a particular time that's showing on the clock (major event in life, or perhaps just reminding them of what the clock looks like when they need to be at work. Or at home). As a retailer, you should be more in control of your customers and not allow their neuroses to kill a sale.

So I recommend the stopped clock - and having all clocks at the same time. That says "these are all fine timepieces, stopped for your convenience, so please evaluate them on their own strengths and merits, and not by the whimsy of what time means to you". It also prevents the customer from making a decision based on the loudness of "tick" on the second hand.

But what time? I am a fan of Ten after Ten. It looks very optimistic, sort of "Wave your arms in the air". Five after Eleven is a little too much "Stick em UP". Six PM may appeal to people who see things in black and white, but it's a bit too "put on", and people may feel like you're pulling one over on them. Same goes for 9:15, though the inevitable creep upward of the hour hand on that one perhaps adds a little character.

Twelve noon is just terrible, as it doesn't allow people to see and appreciate the difference between the minute and hour hands. You might as well just be selling clock FACES. Any of the downward pointing times (20 past 7, 25 past 6) are depressing - showing a figure that has given up and can't even raise it's arms. It shows weakness. Not something a timepiece should convey.

And that is I think all the advice I have for the clock sellers of the world.

Home.... and life is good

We left IL yesterday afternoon after a delicious and huge breakfast at the Palatine Inn, which is my all time favorite breakfast joint (sorry runners-up Original Pancake House (many locations) and Mickies Dairy Bar (Madison)). We took a leisurely drive up Hwy 12 to Fort Atkinson to visit Cousin Jen, Harman, and the boys Seeger, Liam, and Julian.

Bella spent about 1 minute sizing up the cousins (who are 4, 2.5, and 9mos) and decided yes, these will be excellent playmates. We saw very little of her in the ensuing 20 hours. Which left a good bit of time for us to hang out and play with Isaac, and generally relax in front of the fire and share stories of parenting and wild youths.. (youths in both senses of the word).

We hit the road around noon today for the final journey home - a mid-day 5 hour grueler. Isaac did spend 4 of it asleep (much needed catchup sleep) and one hour of it yelling "Get me OUT of this SEAT - it is CRAMPING MY STYLE". Bella was pretty good - she watched videos and got grumpier and grumpier... until by the time we hit the MN State Line, she was just moaning random songs of discomfort and woe.

Fortunately, when we got home (around 5:30), her best friend Jenny was ready to come play, and Randy and Jemae came by for (takeout) dinner too, so we re-integrated into the house and neighborhood, and Bella got 2+ hours to reacquaint herself with her best friend... All the kids were asleep by 9, and now I'm retelling the tales.

A few random details from the trip:
1) Minivan living is not for us: We'll rent these things when we need to roadtrip, but it needn't be a part of our life. Still, it WAS handy to be able to go with PapaBam and the whole family places.

2) In the final analysis, there was relaxing, but not kicking back: There was very little time for reading, puzzles, playing video games ("kicking back")... but there was time to lay back on the couch and stare at the ceiling and feel our bones a little ("relaxing").

3) I did stay unplugged from work: Yes, I checked messages, but I didn't RESPOND unless necessary, and I fully stayed out of things that I saw that someone else capable was copied on.

And now Isaac has woken up again and I must go settle him.

An interesting day

It was a long night with Isaac, who wanted attention every TWO hours, which left us a bit groggy in the AM - so it was a slow morning. Bella and I snuck off to the book store for some espresso, a brownie, and some more books. Since it went un-fulfilled on my wishlist, I got the Joy of Yiddish. Bella wanted to find magazines that would be good for her, so we found two nature-oriented ones.

Then it was off to visit the great grandmas. The visit to Grandma K was nice as always. The visit to Grandma B was a touch more eventful. We brought McDonald's (which she loves) and watched in amazement as Bella wolfed down 9 McNuggets. Then both Julie and I stepped out of the room to make phone calls...

And Grandma choked on a Filet-o-Fish sandwich. And Pamela heimliched. And the paramedics showed up, and took her to the hospital. It all turned out well - she's back at home and healthy - but a hospital emergency room was not on the original itinerary. Bella loved the fire trucks and the paramedics.

Afterwards, we went out to see Bailey and Ty, have some dinner, and play the Nintendo Wii. We convinced Pamela to try it out, and she bowled a 177 game on Wii Bowling, and gave Tennis a try... She was very game! The Wii was an absolute kick to play. What a cool system!

We stayed out too late - Bella stayed up until we got home, and passed out quickly at 10 - just 3 hours past her normal bedtime.... and it looks like Isaac just woke back up at 10:45... oh no....

Christmas Miracles Continue

Earlier in the week, I was talking to Ty's mom. (Ty and Bailey being the 15 year old twins who I've known since they were 3 months old... You've read about them before). Apparently Ty has been pining for a Nintendo Wii - the new game console that uses a really cool gesture controller, so when you play tennis, you're actually moving your arm and the racket on the screen matches...

Along with the Playstation 3, the Wii has been one of THE hot items this year, with them going for hundreds of dollars over retail on Ebay, and impossible to find. Ty had been asking relatives for money or gift cards for xmas to help fund a Wii... if only he could find one.

Today I went to Target with Bella and Isaac - my goal was to get more Mylocon anti gas drops for Isaac, who has had some gut troubles these past few days (poor guy). Long story short, they had a few Wiis left. They had got 18 in that morning, and were down to the last 6 by 10am. I got the 3rd to last one. I just had to get it - I figured if Ty already had found one, I could return it, or check with another family... But if he didn't... how cool would THAT be? When fate gives you a door, you need to go through it.

I called them up... and after a little phone tag, I got to tell Ty that he got a Wii. He almost dropped the phone, he was delirious with excitement.

So this evening Bella and I ran over to their house. Ty and dad Rick and run out to the store to get a second controller (unsuccessfully), and when he came home, I gotta give him credit - he did look me in the eye and say hello before he lunged at the box. So we wasted no time and raced upstairs to set up the Wii, and Ty paid me in cash and gift cards. It shipped with sports games, so we got started. I bowled a spare in the bowling game and left them early to an evening of fun. Fortunately I get to visit for the whole evening tomorrow night, so I'll have another chance to play with this.

It was just such a crazy coincidence to be at the right place at the right time, and to be able to help make someone's Christmas even that much more excellent...

Add to this, my Allergies are staying in check - I've had a few more sniffles today - I figure the histamines are breaking down the barricades, but it's being kept well in check by Sudafed (the real stuff, not that horrible PE formulation that does NOTHING. Look, I'm sorry that Meth is out there and that people are having problems, but please do not make the one drug that works for my allergies illegal because people are using it for that purpose. I'm glad to show my license, sign a voucher, whatever, but keep it on the market. PLEASE).

Whoah, that was a tangent. Anyway, the trip continues to be wonderful.

I should mention that my Chicago food "around the world" was almost made complete today: Having had an Italian Combo and a Gyros plate on Saturday, a Portillo's Burger and Maxwell Polish yesterday, I was only missing a Chicago Dog and some Lou Manatti's pizza. I snuck out to get the dog tonight (don't tell anyone), but the Pizza will likely go undone.

Oh man, I will need to hit the gym when I get back. This is craziness.

Further Update

Warning: VERY CUTE PICTURE:



Allergy Update: Spent 3 hours in a house with two golden retrievers and a cat. No ill effects. Something is definitely different this time around.

Bella came up to me and asked "Daddy, are you allergic to Geckos?". No I answered honestly. "Then we can get a Gecko. I love them". Pamela said we could only do that if Kaitie (Bella's animal and lizard loving birth mom) came over every week to handle the feedings and cleanup, because Mommy's not helping with that one.

Another comment from this morning from Bella: She was starting to get a little sassy, and someone said "Santa's still watching". Bella said, "well, we already GOT our presents." We had to add in that he's starting the list for next year. The girl's a little to sharp some days.

Isaac has been passed from person to person to person these days, and tonight he finally just needed some quiet time. I think he's earned it. Also, he has decided to learn how to flip over: He can do back to sides, and belly to back in a flash.

Tomorrow will be another lazy day - though work will be back on, so I imagine I'll be seeing quite a few emails come across... I'll need to filter it a little, but there are some big things happening on my project this week...

A Christmas Miracle

A quick health update: Papabam have a cat (Nissa), and every visit we've had, I've been suffering almost immediately, planning my days between doses of Sudafed.

This visit is different:

I've been here since Friday night, and I have not had a single sniffle. And I have not taken a single dose of allergy medication. I even went to a house last night with two beagles, and again, no sniffles.

Somehow, my allergies got put on hold for this visit. It's amazing. I wonder if I can give credit to my new workout regimen? Or just take it as a Christmas miracle?

Xmas Morn

Bella was full of amazingness this morning. Santa had laid out everything last night, so that there would be no morning assembly. The "Cadillac" gift was a huge 3-foot unicorn. The smallest gift was sets of "Littlest Pet Shop" toys. The educational gift was a how to lace your shoes toy.

Bella walked into the room, wide eyed, walked up to the shoe and said what is a SHOE doing here? Eyebrows were raised. Then the big gasp - we thought for sure the unicorn was being acknowledged... but no:

OH MY GOODNESS - A TURTLE!!! She had keyed into the very smallest toy from the littlest pet shop, and wanted to spend quite a bit of time with it... until I asked her to just look... up.... she literally had not noticed the giant unicorn!

Well, the rest of the opening went very well - she noticed a Groovy Girls DOG and and shrieked that she TOTALLY WANTED THAT, and that she had seen it in a catalog and everything! Then the stocking offered up nail polish and a stationery set - she immediately started a letter to Jenny, then insisted on being nail polished. We said she could have her nails done when we got dressed later in the day...

So she ran off, got dressed, then sat down to have her nails done!

It's been a fun morning - she's full of wonder and excitement. I'm full of smoked salmon and coffee, so I'm very happy too.

One little comment: Papabam live in an apartment building, and Bella demanded to know last night "WHY do Papabam live in a hotel????"

Chicagoland Update

So we picked up the rental minivan Friday, and loaded it up... well beyond the point of sanity. As we loaded, I couldn't help but wonder HOW we would have managed without the extra space. As we drove down, I told Pamela that I knew what she was thinking, that no, we were not going to trade the Jag in for a minivan. We had a good laugh as the crosswinds buffeted the boxcar, the road noise created a roar.... HA! The drive was pretty good, though there was terrible weather for about 100 miles. Of course, Pamela was driving for that stretch.

On the way down, we stopped at Culvers, and Pamela discovered the joy of the Eggnog Shake. Mmmmm (or so I hear).

Bella and Isaac were pretty good road warriors, considering it was 7 hours. When we arrived at ten, both kids got a burst of energy, but by 11, everyone was back asleep. Lilli spent the night, so the girls got up early and started their adventures... Bella loves Lilli so much, it's great to watch them together.

Saturday was a lazy day, with lots of baking and snacking, with Lilli and Bella playing, Isaac was passed around all day. Papa and Jimmy went out to have Johnny's Italian Beefs (actually, I had a combo) - BEST I've eaten in a long long time. This place (Johnny's) has their own recipe, and they were grilling the sausages over a fire, it was too good to pass up. It was only with great fortitude that I decided not to have a second Combo. Rich said it was just as well, that would have been unprecedented, and the news media would have got involved.

In the evening, we put in National Lampoons Xmas Vacation. That's one of the funniest holiday movies ever, but we had all collectively forgotten about all of the cussing in the movie, and we're all waiting for Bella to bust out with the S-word, and the A-word, and the Q-word. Also, I had forgotten how strangely womanly Chevy Chase was in that movie - all of those long shots of him gazing at things... made up with such caked-on makeup...

Bridget and Rich hung out in the evening - it's fun to hear Bridget's tales of the Apple Store, where she is some sort of manager-type. Turns out, their store is not TOO insane this season - it attracts a good clientele. Apparently people are buying these things called "EyePods" or something - it's like a "digital" record player. I should look into those.

Sunday is another lazy day so far, but it'll kick into high gear soon enough - Xmas eve starts at 3:30, then it'll be time for Santa to show up... he likes to spend a little time and set up all of the toys in advance - Santa knows there's nothing sadder than watching Daddy try to undo the packaging on toys with an expectant child waiting....

The love, the horror

The Love: Upgraded my phone to a Samsung Blackjack. SEXY PHONE. Love the phone. Email, Calendar, Contacts, Messaging, Web, it's all there, it's all good. AND it's small. So in summation: I love my phone.

The Horror: The client had their Xmas party today, so everyone left at 3pm to go to... the VFW hall just up the block. I walked in, and it was pretty much EXACTLY how you might imagine a party at a VFW hall would be: Brown carpet, brown chairs. Fried chicken in a buffet on styro plates, Buy your own beer in the bar next door, by the pulltab window. Oh, and it's exempt from the clean air act apparently because the smoke of a thousand ages decided to adhere to my sweater the instant I walked in.

I spent my polite hour and hightailed it. The sweater was thrown out the window somewhere outside of Golden Valley. (not really, but it will be laundered.)

Oh, the book is going to the printers TONIGHT - not last week, since my partner got swamped (literally) in the Seattle storms and only got back into town today. But it's gonna happen.

It's a date night tonight, and that makes it allright. Dinner? Movie? Not sure. We'll see. But no work, please. We need some fun!

(PS - no I did not get that nap Sunday)

Lazy Sunday

We went to the christmas pageant at church today - in typical UU style, it was a fun and slightly irreverent take on the whole business. The adoring animals included fish, a dinosaur, and a skunk (all kids in costumes). Many of the chorus of angels were wearing stripey tights and/or cowboy boots, and the baby jesus was delivered by a gaggle of kids on scooters, skates, and a unicycle, and Mary had to sign for Him.

Afterwards, it was arts and crafts for the kids, and Bella made several ornaments, a candy cane out of beads and pipe cleaners, a colorful votive holder, and a paper dreidel. Then to brunch, and home.

I went to help neighbors buy a computer, and when I got back a mere hour later, Pamela was asleep, as was Isaac, and somehow Bella had the VideoiPod, and was playing WonderPets. I looked at the snoozing Pamela, and she shrugged. Now I'm afraid I'll need to find something ELSE magical for the trip! On the plus side, Bella is giggling like crazy - the wonder pets are working for her!

I need to share that a teenager has joined our family. Occasionally, Bella will move with slightly more poise, and have a more detached, aloof look to her. She asks us to call her "Annalise" and claims to be 18 years old. When she is Annalise, she is very helpful. Last night when Jenny was over, they got Annalise ready to go off to College. Fortunately they came back pretty quickly. It was a wild preview of 14 years into the future.

I wonder if I can get in on the napping action around here? What's a guy got to do?

It's See-wee-us

To prep for the road trip to Chicago next weekend, I got some videos for Bella that she doesn't know about. She has ravenously consumed all of the episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins I could find, so I needed to keep these in reserve. But I've been watching them myself - it's a show called "Wonder Pets".

It's maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen. A kindergarten class hamster, duckling, and turtle go out to save animals "in trouble". The whole show is sung like an opera, and there are crazy little jokes throughout it. It's done with animated pictures, not really drawings, so it has a very cut-and-paste look to it. And it is cute cute cute. The songs won't leave my head. And every episode, when things are getting tense, the duckling says "This is SERIOUS!" but of course it is said "see-wee-us".

Allright back to life: Today was BodyJam, and I brought Bella in her special dance outfit. The problem was that it was VERY full today, and Bella got nervous about performing amid 20+ adults. So she played by the sidelines and was totally shy. But they were previewing the next release, with latin dance numbers which I was loving beyond reason. This will be fun. I'm lobbying the management to add a Jam class at 6am, because it's very easy for me to sneak out for 6am, and be at home at 7:15 for a half hour of family time before getting to work by 8. It's a win-win-win.

Speaking of rest - I was officially busted nodding off in a meeting the other day (not by a boss). Fortunately they're chalking it up to me having Isaac in the house. If I'm leading, note taking, or actively participating, there's no problem. But if I'm there in a FYI capacity, and they're talking about finance things, boy, I'd be hard pressed to stay awake even WITH more than 5 hours of sleep. But don't tell them that. I just got extended to the end of 2007.

Other details - I got the final proofs of the book off to my partner, and we should have it at the printers next week... though he may be a tad unfocused because he just had to evacuate his neighborhood outside of Seattle, which is now a disaster area. And I restarted Japanese after a 3 month break (hello Isaac!). So that's fun.

Now I'm going to go curl up with some Sci Fi and fall asleep after 10 pages. See ya!

Correction and a Fairy Tale

1) The correct Pamela quote is "It was F**KING AWESOME". Which is doubly funny because "awesome" is not in her daily vocabulary.

2) Once upon a time there was a little boy named Isaac who got his parents up every single night at 3am for a bottle. I'm not sure how that story goes - I'd like to think that at some point, he decides to let his parents sleep a little, but I can't be sure.

3) Pamela is a frickin' genius. Her business is really starting to get going: She had another magazine spread 3 weeks ago, another arrangement for hire last weekend, and a set of centerpieces were finished last night for a highfalutin' brunch. Her arrangements continue to amaze me. Huzzah!

Now I'm off to work.

Bond... James Bond.

Oh did we have a good evening out. Saw the new James Bond finally. Here is Pamela's review:

"The theme song was terrible. The rest of the movie KICKED F****ING ASS!!!!" (Parents please assume the F means "Freak" or "Funk" or "Flannel". Pamela does not use bad language).

I agree. Daniel Craig was fantastic - I will watch him in movie after movie now. I am a fan.

I did note that both Sony and Ford were well represented: Ford makes the Jaguar, Aston Martin, and Land Rover vehicles that were present throughout. At least it was classy - I'm reminded of the horrible Pierce Brosnan one a few years back where Smirnoff bought sponsorship, and we were faced with Bond drinking cheap vodka... Oh the horror.

Geek OUT.

Two more details

1) I did get up and do bodypump at 6am this morning, and after the massive MDF Ikea building project yesterday, it's fair to say I was a bit sore this morning... Ooof!

2) Some rules from Bella:
- Cracks on the road are filled with Ants
- Cracks on the sidewalk are filled with Spiders
- You should not step on these cracks.
- But if you do, you should apologize to the ants or spiders.

Much better than the "Break your mothers back" nonsense.

Ikea Power

Saturday we had babysitting all day - Bella out with Jenny, Isaac with Grandma and Grandpa. So we each carpe diem'ed the best way we knew how: Pamela had a good snooze-in and a spa morning, and I did errands, ate a meatball sub, and went to BodyJam. We re-convened around 2, each refreshed in our own way. We had a few hours left kidless... so what to do?

Ikea.

Pamela had another one of her grand plans: This time, to find a computer desk and filing cabinet for the room off of the kitchen - move the computer off the couch, move the toys down to the basement, and make that more of a work/lounge area. As luck would have it, we found just the right stuff, and even better, they have a delivery service that will bring it right to where you need it. Easy money to spend, if you've ever hefted a single flatpack of MDF "wood".

The goods arrived Sunday at 11, and I spent the whole day schlepping stuff OUT of the room, and building new furniture IN the room. It was all ready by 11pm, though the rest of the house looked as though a bomb had gone off... AND after that bomb went off, some bears and squirrels decided to re-arrange things even further.

When I came home from work today, I was shocked and delighted to find that Pamela had made it "all better" - I can only imagine that she has some way of wiggling her nose that makes things get re-arranged. It was wonderful. AND dinner was on the table. TACO NIGHT - Bella's favorite.

Tonight, Bella had two soft and two hard tacos. She made them herself with generous helpings of beef, cheese, and sour cream. This is the ONLY medium in which she will consume ground beef... but consume it she does.

Pamela ran off into the evening to be a good samaritan and decorate the tree of a woman who is recovering from colon cancer, whose husband had a debilitating stroke just a year ago - they're such a sweet family, and these woes are just too sad... especially considering they're pretty close to our age! But Pamela and her church gang are out there helping.

It was up to me to Mister Mom tonight, and I got a doublewhammy of Bella having a LOT of energy and Isaac having a stomach ache and alternately giggling, puking, screaming, and then demanding more bottle... lather rinse repeat. To her credit, my very mature little Bella understood the Isaac score, and was very helpful for bedtime, though she did get distracted by arranging a 10-dog birthday party in the bathroom, with place settings for each. She said the party wasn't for her, but for "Cassandra". She also gave me a gift bag with a clock in it, and I was to give it to Cassandra.

Pamela's home, and she has finally got Isaac to chill out again (though I did get close twice in her absence), and I think it's an early bedtime...

Spaghetti Night

Seeing my old buddy Mike the other night reminded me of an adventure we undertook... with very mixed results. Back in high school (around 1985 here), we were convinced that we were vastly more intelligent and cultured than just about anyone else... period. We'd sit around his house and listen to The Style Council, knowing all of the neo-socialist words and we'd drive around looking for coffee shops that nobody knew about (this was before coffee shops were ubiquitous).

We decided that we were do sophisticated, we had the ability to literally BLOW SOMEONES MIND. We crafted a plan: We'd invite someone over... someone who we had reason to believe was not as cool and cultured as we were... and we would wow them with our utter sophistication.

So the plan was hatched: We'd invite Greta over, have spaghetti (mom had a great sauce recipe), listen to the Colourfield, Everything but the Girl, and The Style Council, and get into discussions that were sure to raise her conservative hackles, at which point, our cleverness would somehow show her a thing or two. Greta was a popular girl from a different school.

The only problem was that we took a good week concocting this plan, and when it came time to execute it, we failed utterly. See, Greta turned out to be pretty smart, and charming, and liked that music too, and hated Reagan too, and instead of a battle of the wits, we wound up having a pretty pleasant afternoon. And she went off into her evening, and we just sat there and realized that maybe just maybe that really wasn't such a good plan. In fact, the entire idea was patently ridiculous, and that for all of our talk, we really just wanted to spend some time with Greta who was very cute. And we did perhaps learn that maybe people were a bit more than they seemed sometimes.

And we did enjoy the spaghetti, because THAT part of the plan was foolproof.

Big Kids

I'm just going to say it: My kids are getting bigger. Appreciably so. Bella put on 4 lbs in the past 2 weeks... and is looking a touch chunky. She's eating like a maniac - fish sticks, chicken nuggets, pad thai, burritos, spaghetti, egg rolls you name it. She's trying new food - she's up to over 20 new things tried in the past 4 weeks. Isaac is putting away the bottles like nobody's business. They're both revving up for growth spurts, I can just TELL.

Last night was a pleasure: We went to see the Blind Boys of Alabama at the new Guthrie, and thoroughly enjoyed the old gospel sound. They were just a riot to watch - they kept standing up and wandering around, being all blind and whatnot. After one song that was perhaps a LITTLE flat, the leader paused and said "well, that one is basically still in rehearsal. But we hope you liked it anyway". The end was a good 20 minute gospel stomp with the leader wandering up and down the aisles while his sighted "minder" kept losing track of him and making exasperated gestures - great comedy.

Warming up for them was my old buddy and bandmate Mike Mattison, and his duo Scrapomatic. They did old mississippi blues and other soul/blues sort of stuff. Mike is graced with an AMAZING set of pipes that just keep sounding better every year - he has developed a gruff rumble that is somewhere between Tom Waits and someone human... but he can also clear it up and sing just like he did back in the 80's with our fabulous INXS-style band. He was funny and the audience loved them.

Most bizzarely, they would occasionally break into little "Yah-dee-dah-dee-dah" lines that sounded like 1930s black and white cartoons - it was a bit jarring, but very amusing. We tried to see him after the show, but it seems he escaped with some old cohorts... the same ones he tended to escape with back when WE were in bands together. They are not good influences, these cohorts. I did scan the papers and he didn't get into any trouble I could see, or at least he was able to hush it up.

A funny thing - when I saw his mom, I could not bring myself to use her first name: I introduced her to my wife as "Mrs Mattison". That's the sort of thing we did as kids - parents did not have first names. I'm still not sure mine do, other than as part of email/mail addresses. It just doesn't seem right.

Tonight was all about the work: We got a LOT of cards done over coffee, and most readers of this will probably be GETTING the results of our labor shortly. I was reflecting on the seinfeld where George's fiancee Susan expired from licking toxic envelopes. That was me. I am expiring.

Finally, Bella's just killing us with this new "blase" act: She has a great time doing something, and then after the fact she'll state "that was BORING". "I wish I was playing with JENNY or something". It's all we can do to keep from giggling at our little world weary creature... so we tease her, as any loving parent would do.

Perhaps I'm done for...

Yesterday I wore a suit to work. It attracted no end of attention - comments, catcalls, etc from my co-workers. Some were actually concerned I was out interviewing (which says a lot, given that I'm "just" a consultant), others were making HR-questionable comments about how well I "clean up" (again, as a consultant, I am fair game for the meat market commentary... ;-) ) The best was that I had two meetings with the CFO, and he is traditionally a sharp dresser, and for some reason had decided on a casual look for the day. So I ribbed him for not bringing his game. Mercilessly.

Turns out I was dressed up for a schmoozefest for the company I sub for: They had an evening planned at the new Guthrie Theatre - tours and food (but no show), and wanted all their manager-level consultants to be there to chat up the clients. It was all current clients, so this was not so much a sales opportunity as much as a thanks and let's be friends sort of evening.

And I'm ashamed to say, I actually had a pretty good time. Usually these sorts of obligatory evenings are just my worst nightmare, but I got my chat on, and had a good time. And yes, I even stayed off the social lubricant - it was just chatty Jimmy. In fact, I spent most of the evening hanging with the clients, not gravitating toward my co-consultants... so I even did my JOB.

The new Guthrie is just an amazing space. The building is flat out hideous from the outside, but inside it feels like a slice of the future, in a good way. I half expected to turn a corner and find someone walking towards me on the ceiling. But what's craziest is that they literally planted the OLD Guthrie right in the middle of it - it looks exactly the same inside. Honestly, it reminded me of the Star Trek (Next Generation/Scab Crew) Holodeck. I half expected Picard and Data to be spouting some shakespeare before being interrupted by some Romulan nonsense.

When I got home, poor Pamela was at wit's end: Bella was asleep, and then got UP with a second wind, and Isaac was overtired and crabby. I slipped out of the suit into jammies and played "child whisperer" and got them down, while my grateful wife retreated to her sensory deprivation chamber to decompress... ;->

Tonight, Pamela was at church decorating, so I took the young'uns to a mall, we had dinner, played in the playpark, and I brought them home, exhausted, and tucked them in. No muss no fuss tonight...

I did break down and get a toy for myself tonight, however... you can't expect daddy to be out playing and not get something. The Dyson hand vacuum. LOVE it. It was that or "Butterscotch" the 3 foot high robot pony, which Bella played with, enraptured, for 15 minutes at Target. What I loved about Butterscotch was that while it did have "realistic" reactions, it also had VERY loud servomotor sounds, and it reminded me of when me and my buddy Mark would pretend to be robots, making whirrr sounds as we moved... yeah that was around 6 years ago, not in my youth. I know.

So now I'm going to finish up my intro to the Brainready book: I've tweaked all 28 worksheets, and we're ready for the printer, I just need to make a cover and an intro. If you haven't seen my worksheets, you really should look. There are 12 of them out on the website now (www.brainready.com). I'm kind of proud of them.

Two in One

Isaac continues to amaze as wonderbaby. Last night, he was clearly tracking action on the TV as we watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (which was just a crazy movie - I had forgotten much of it!). Then he delighted us with but one wakeup in the night... Today, however, we're seeing him gnawing on things and the drool is starting... can teething be far behind?

This morning I had a bit of a jump on the rest of the house, so I took advantage of the window to go do some exercising. I did my weights course, and then I don't know what possessed me, but I decided to stay and do another hour of step aerobics. So it was two hours of high intensity workout. I thought I was going to pass out. Luckily there was a quiche right across the street to help me through the protein crisis. Then I skulked off to home for a short nap (though unusually, there was no actual sleep - just me lying there thinking while my body did it's very best to NOT BE MOVING).

Tonight was the final round of Leftovers as far as I'm concerned, and they were great. We watched Elf, which is truly Will Ferrill's finest work as a spaz. Bella was laughing throughout, which was fun to see. When we watched Rudolph earlier, she simply steeled herself from the get-go for the inevitable appearance of the Abomnable Snowman, who she is no great fan of.

PapaBam and Lilli will head back to Chicago tomorrow, with full bellies and hopefully having had a great trip. I've loved having them here, and I appreciated that they let me have space to take this vacation weekend as decompression therapy. I'm really starting to feel leveled, which is nice. I'm feeling a bit bad about my B-Day proper, where I feel like I was still in high-stress mode, and maybe didn't loosen up to celebrate properly. I think that if given a do-over today, I would definitely loosen the tie and have some more giggles.

And now, it's late and I'm off to bed!

Sweet Downtime

It's only Friday and it feels like a Sunday. I took off a little early on Wednesday to get a little rest in before my Birthday festivities (dinner at Oceanaire - nothing can compare!). Thursday was pure mayhem from start to finish - we had sort of forgotten to pre-make any of the thanksgiving food, so we made it ALL happen just like THAT.

It was a good group last night: Carrie and Scott and Freddie, and a swedish family who didn't know what all the fuss was about... so we showed them! Plus Papa and Bam and Lilli, who is such a big girl now our minds are all blown. The Turkey was perfect, as was the stuffing and potatoes. Other things that I don't like to eat were also reported to be fantastic, but I cannot vouch for their excellence directly.

The swedes brought a pair of little girls, and Bella, Sara, and Lisa (ages 3-5) were a pack of nordic blondies running around giggling all night. We got some footage of a dance party (Dancing Queen, of course).

Today was much mellower - Bella and I went off to Body Jam again (she really loves it!), and enjoyed quiche afterwards at Patrick's. All evening, Bella amused and tormented us by singing some of the Body Jam cues (Paaah-puh-PAAAH-PAAAH). She also got a t-shirt, and was very very proud. Pamela, having done a bravura performance the day before, konked out on the couch for a well deserved day of rest, after working with Bam to somehow completely clean the house.

I've been working on the BrainReady worksheets - the book is almost complete... Things keep going well with that: We are getting over 2000 readers a day, and our podcast is in the top 20 of iTunes now. We are getting some wonderful emails too. Here's a sample:

"Hi to the folks and Brainready.com. I think you are great and I have already begun passing your site on to family and friends and even business contacts.
I work with folks in the beginning stages of Dementia and Alzheimer's creating video documentaries of their lives. Your podcast, blogsite, and mental exercises are a wonderful contribution to my clients and their families who worry. Thank you so much for not only providing this info but doing it for free. May all your good come back to you 1000 times over."

When I read things like that, it really puts a spring into my step!

And I'm off for the evening. But I have TWO MORE DAYS off of work! I'm just awash in luxury right now. I can hardly believe how good this "relaxing" thing feels. I'll keep the posts-a-coming.

Family Fun

With Birthday Season well under way, we had a fun change from our typical "have a blow out in a restaurant" affair - we went to Dad and Karen's, and had the pleasant surprise of Steve and Lorna, good family friends to celebrate an evening with a fire, steaks, crab legs, key lime pie, coffee, and a touch of good port. It was very relaxed and we loved the evening!

During the day Saturday, we were out most of it, seeing Santa's arrival at Bachman's: He was drawn by a sole reindeer, but it was dramatic. Then his annual comedy show, and pictures with the kids. As usual, Bella refused to smile with him, so the pictures had the look of duty more than joy, but they'll do the trick!

Afterwards, I was off to "Body Jam", which is an aerobic workout with dancing rather than working a step. THIS is what I was going off to when I got the call about Isaac, and I hadn't made it to a Jam session since... (Side note - for 3 weeks now I HAVE been back on the exercise wagon, going 2-3 times a week to my weights class - and I feel GREAT). Back to Jam. Around 1/4 of the way into it, Pamela and the kids showed up to watch daddy prance and crump... and within minutes, Bella joined me out on the floor. She was watching the instructor intently, and really working on her dance moves. She approached it very seriously, and she was actually pretty darn good at it. So now I'm thinking she can join me for Jam every week... perhaps?

Today, Bella and I had a date to go see Happy Feet. What a great movie. The trailers made it look like "Cute Robin Williams Penguin Movie", but really it was so much better: Tapping by Savion Glover, and a really good ecological message... and boy, I'm going to have a hard time going to a zoo ever again. Made by the same guy who did Babe, which had it's own subversive messages, this one takes stabs at religious orthodoxy too, and hugo weaving was spectacular as the penguin "pope".

Allright, a quick update, but I have to go clean the house - we have guests coming this week: Papabam and Lilli arrive Tuesday for the holidays!

A week already?

Yes I'm still alive. Unfortunately, work is being very busy again for me (the slowdown was much less than imagined), and when I get home, it's one kid or the other... and when I help put Bella to sleep, more often than not, I'm falling asleep too for an hour or two..

So the upshot is: Yes, we're ok, we're happy, we're healthy. But we're not good for much else outside of the home - I know I've missed some events and I feel bad, but only for a moment, because my little boy laughs with me every night, and somehow that's feeling like a priority. So to those of you who have felt snubbed - I am very sorry - and I'll try harder! Really!

My slow re-entry into the normal life will continue and I'll keep you updated.

Wednesday

First off... let me just say WHEEEEEEE what a great day after the election! I'm very excited to see the what's going to happen with some real checks and balances back in place in government. I'm a little sleepy from watching the races all night... but it's a happy tired.

Moving on...

Today while watching Oprah with Mommy, Bella asked "Why is she always talking to people she doesn't even KNOW?" Good question.

Pamela called me at work today announcing she was getting sick, so I rushed home and took the kids while she napped. We had a great evening out, going to the burrito store, grocery store.... but NOT the Apple Store nor Guitar Center today. I still haven't figured out the Isaac dimension for those two.

We got a new stroller today - which was only a few days too late: On Friday, I had taken the kids out for the afternoon, and almost broke my arms clear off holding Bella AND the baby seat with jumbo Isaac. At the end of the day, I was pushing Bella in a stroller while toting Isaac on the arm... it was a good workout I guess.

The new stroller is a double, with room for two kids strapped in, or one kid and one car seat. It collapses and sets up very easily, and feels very solidly built. So we took it for a test drive tonight - it did well through Babies R Us and Best Buy. Bella wanted me to bring it into the grocery store, but I tried to explain how I would also need to push the cart. Bella offered that she could sit in the front of the stroller and push the cart for me. What a train that would be.

Finally, the shoe finally dropped at my work: one of my team members was let go. She was the kind of person who worked 70 hours a week, but could never tell you when something was going to be done. We had really hoped that things would work out, but when we went live, her part of the application was revealed to have been rather poorly built in the financial area, and 3 weeks later there are still charges that haven't posted, and the CFO is hopping mad. It didn't help when he came to a meeting and asked WHEN things would get better, and she wouldn't commit to a date.

So she's officially pursuing other opportunities, which I believe means she was cashed out of 3 months of PTO and given 3 more months of severance... and we'll just have to go from there.

And now it's back to my brainflexes - I need to get caught up, after this election mayhem!

In the sweatshop

I now have a system for making Brainready Worksheets - several at a time. The goal is to have 28 ready for publication in an actual BOOK pretty soon... I'm having a lot of fun. There are 9 on the website now, 11 in the hopper, and I'm working on the final 8. Then I need to reformat them to greyscale, remove the color-based puzzles, add a new puzzle for the back (since a book of them doesn't need the intro to Brainready on every page), create an introduction and some tips for getting the most out of it, design a cover... hey that sounds like work. But FUN work, and I think the proof will be together within 2 weeks.

Tonight, I put some GEEK terms in for the vocabulary on one sheet - and one of the terms is "1337", which is number-speak for LEET, short for "Elite", which then means "Cool" or "Superior" in geek parlance. I bring this up because I went the grocery store to stock up on some supplies and was near ecstatic when my total was $133.37, and I exclaimed "I'm LEEEET!" The cashier sort of raised her eyebrows, which naturally I took as an opening to explain the whole thing. I don't think she was terribly impressed, but the bag boy gave me a knowing nod... he knew I was 1337. Or 13337.

I only wish my wife could have been there to see the geekiness first hand.

Tonight, as I'm working on my worksheets, I have Isaac on the swing before me, where he has alternated between gazing at me, smiling and cooing, nodding off, and doing a crazy fish thrashing move which seems to indicate "DAD, Look at my neck muscles - NEVER leave me alone on a changing table because I will TOTALLY somersault off." He's also enjoying standing up... With all his verbal cooing and physical ability, I'm afraid he's going to be walking by 4 months and joining debates by 6.

Still, it's just wonderful to be sitting here working on puzzles to help stimulate the brain with an audience... whose brain I can only wonder and marvel at.

Finally, we're going to get a visit from Justin the ex-Manny this week, to allow Pamela and I go see Borat and get some dinner... I just cannot wait!!!

Back to the digital sweatshop now - must make more brain exercises!

Clown Family

We have Jenny here again for an overnight - Once a month, Jenny stays here, and Bella stays there. They're having a wonderful time together.

Today as we were driving home (Jenny, Bella, and I) from a birthday party at a roller rink, Bella was telling Jenny a joke and I was laughing... Bella said "no listening - I'm talking to JENNY!!!!" and I covered saying "Oh, I'm just laughing at something else." Suspicious, Bella demanded to know WHAT I was laughing at then... I said "I just saw a clown driving a car".

Bella reflected for a moment and asked "What if WE were clowns? All of us? Isaac could be Baby Clown, I could be Big Sister Clown, Jenny could be Other Big Sister Clown, you could be Daddy Clown, and Mommy would be Mommy Clown!!!!"

I laughed at the idea, especially considering Pamela's morbid fear of clowns.

Bella paused and said "Hey - we already ARE a clown family. I mean, we ARE pretty funny".

We had the first of the November Birthday Dinners at El Meson in Minneapolis, an Iberian/Carribean restaurant. We had Paella, and many other delicious things, including the best Flan I've had ever. Bella and Jenny were in tow, and were PERFECT restaurant girls. There was a guitar and conga combo playing behind us, and Bella was quite fascinated: When we go to the music store (Guitar Center), she always loves playing the Congas, so she really was watching the man playing that wonderful hand drum. Isaac was pretty good, but got into his 7pm Cranky Phase.. we had to do some bouncing to help him chill.

Everyone's asleep in the house but me now. Isaac passed out on my chest after a baba, burp, poop, baba, and burp as Pamela put the overtired girls to bed, then herself. Now I'm going to finish a few more BrainFlexes!

A Brainready Update

Ok - so you know that little website project I'm working on with Paul - the brain training exercises with the podcasts and worksheets? Well, we have 3 podcasts out there now, and 9 worksheets, and a bunch of health updates in the "Blog" section, so go check it out at www.brainready.com if you want.

But what's cool is this: It's getting popular. We're getting over 1000 hits a day, and it's not all from robots. We have several hundred people getting the emails now, and our Podcasts have been downloaded 15,000 times. It was just picked by Apple as a featured podcast and put on a feature page...

We also have some "fans" who are spreading the word to other sites, like EONS.com (which is like a Myspace for silver foxes) and others. We're starting to get partners, like ZenMatcha and some others in the works...

So for all of the plotting and planning, it turns out that this little project that Paul and I did just because we had an INTEREST in the subject matter, but without a grand business plan is looking to be taking off all by itself. It's really remarkable.

My next step is to work on a few more Brainflex worksheets and we'll be assembling a book for purchase of them - sort of a go-anywhere product. That'll be ready by Xmas for sure if not sooner (I have a "system" for making these now... I can do 2-3 a day without hurting my mind!)

Anyway, I'm just glad that my work has started to ease up so that I can really jump in and make this crazy thing WORK! Wish me luck, people. Oh, and Paul and I are keeping our day jobs - this is still for love... we put some ads on the site, and maybe we'll make something on the books, but for now, it's two geeks sharing our love of knowledge with the world.

Recovery

1) My Macbook got it's fresh hard drive, and all has been recovered. It's working like a champ, and it's good to have my buddy back.

2) We've attacked the clothes piles upstairs, and I believe we're now winning the battle against laundry. Adding in one more set of jammies wasn't the problem, it was all of the blankets and towels we're blazing through with little mister mcspitty. Also, in the past weeks, we've sort of deferred some of the clothes "filing" so there were a couple of outposts of not put away things... but we've caught up!!!

Vigilance must be our watchword going forward, never let our guards down.

3) Isaac again proved a champion sleeper - over 6 hours last night! What a guy! Tonight as I bounced him to sleep on my lap, he held onto my fingers as he drifted off, and it was actually pretty hard to pry his little grip off! Not that I really wanted to - he's just soooo sweet. We tried to move him to a different bottle today - but he's not as "effective" with it, and he got pretty frustrated. We'll need to keep trying, however, since what he LOVES are the sample nipples we got from the hospital which were supposed to be disposable, use once, and I cannot find them in the wild!

4) If all goes according to plan, I hope to be working out again tomorrow - assuming they haven't canceled the 6am Mon-Thurs class, I'll BE THERE! It's been over 5 weeks... alas...

5) I got to be solo daddo for a few hours today with Squirmy (or "Squrims" as Bella calls him), and I have to say I'm amazed that Pamela was able to get ANYTHING done in the past month - he just occupies your attention, and time passes, and I imagine adding Bella into that mix, and I have a true appreciation for what an amazing job Pamela did in keeping our life together with the kids, and the big illness a couple of weeks back, AND my crazy work life in the past 2 months... I can only hope that with things slowing back down I can really give her some breaks and pay her back for the great work she's been doing!!!!

Time for bed!

S-a-t-u-r-d-a-y NITE!

First off, I'm sure every reader already knows: Isaac is officially ours now - no more waiting, no more deadlines. All we need to do now is the final legalities (which may go into next year, actually), but in terms of whether the birth mom/family have any further ways to rescind the arrangement, I believe the legal term is "No Backsies".

It's like a huge weight off our shoulders. We also finally got to tell Bella that she is OFFICIALLY a "Big Sister" - and she was so excited she jumped up and down... She paused to ask "But what if Tree comes too?". "He IS Tree" was our reply. She thought it over and gave a HUGE smile. She still calls him "Squirmy" however. Perhaps he will be a "tree" later in life... or perhaps Tree was just the POTENTIAL sibling... we may never know.

Today, Isaac was over with Grandma and Grandpa, and Bella was over with best friend Jenny (where she'll be all night). We got our fall yard prep done - stowing the patio furniture, bringing out the snowblower... The highlight for me was taking the fabric off of the gazebo, which revealed the full extent to the villainy the spiders were up to all summer - webs, dried carcasses, and egg sacs abounded - it's a wonder any other insects were able to survive in our yard, what with how industrious and cunning these eight eyed hunters had been. I wonder indeed how close I might have come to being their dinner....

We had a date out tonight - a good dinner and shopping with Isaac in tow. I spent a lot of time holding him, and stopping traffic - many ladies had to bask in his glory - a few were commenting on his alertness for his age - "you'd better start saving for college now!" I replied I'm saving for Grad School for him!

In other Isaac news - he has a new cry - a bit more throaty and plaintive - much more of an angry shout, which he's using to say "I'm uncomfortable" - he's still using his Cat Yowl when he's hungry.

Speaking of which, he's crying now, and Daddy has the magic touch to make him happy - we make faces at eachother and he laughs and smiles - I can spend hours doing this.

And it sounds like my services are needed now... Signing off!!!

He really DOES laugh

Bella really really loves Isaac.


Isaac is a happy baby. Here's the proof.




And that's that.

Killer Sudoku

Yesterday I was suffering a terrible lunch at the client cafeteria, and I had printed out a couple of Sudokus from the UK Guardian website (www.guardian.co.uk/sudoku) and one was something called "Killer Sudoku". This was to sudoku as flying a NASA Rocket is to hang gliding. Pure evil.

Same basic concept - 1-9 each row, column, and square. But instead of any numbers to help you, there are little boxes around 2-4 squares, and a SUM that the numbers within will tally. I say it was FIENDISH. I did make it through 1/3 of the puzzle before giving up, realizing that I MAY think I was done with that third, but because no number would be fixed in place until it was ALL done, and I had started in PEN, this just wasn't going to be do-able.

So you, hat in my hand, I tell you this defeated me. But those of you who know me will probaby realize that in 2 weeks, I'll post something about how I've spent 10 hours and now I totally understand Killer Sudoku and they're no big deal. Watch this space.

In FAMILY news - Bella's been needing extra reasurrance that she's still important to us, so for the third night she woke up at 1am and wanted to climb into our bed. I need to work out the real estate, because I THINK that it's Pamela 50%, Bella 30%, Jimmy 20% in terms of real estate. At times, I believe I am balancing 1/3 of my body over the edge of the bed. Maybe we need a king size.

Squirmy Isaac continues to prove himself a champion snoozer - up to 5 hours at a stretch in the night time. THANK YOU ISAAC.

Off to work I go. Hopefully when I get home, a box with the replacement HD for my MacBook will be here, and I'll be a portable computer guy again. I was teased somewhat relentlessly at work yesterday for taking notes... ON PAPER. Apple - if you're reading this, they were denigrating the brand, saying "get a real computer" etc etc. Perhaps if you want to send me one of those new super Macbooks Pros, I can wave it in their faces and say.... um... I got a free computer, so take THAT. That would really show them, eh? Let's do that! Call me, Steve. ;)

Krazy Komputer Karma

Months ago when I bought my shiny MacBook, I went online and bought a bigger hard drive and more memory and installed it all myself, as I tend to do. I turned it on.... and.... nothing. I brought it to the Apple Store where my sis-in-law works. The geniuses fixed it as a favor, but let me know they had GRAVE concerns about that hard drive in there. It might overheat they said. They couldn't support it, just so I'd know.

I'm sure you know how this story ends. I'm in a meeting MONTHS later, taking notes on the Macbook, when the spinning ball of doom appears. I click around, futiley - yes, the entire computer is locked up. I reboot, and I hear a sad little "click", see a gray screen, and a flashing question mark. It's dead, Jim.

Do I shake my fists at the heavens? Do I rend my garmets, believing life to be unfair? No. They warned me. It was my own "I KIN DOO EET" hubris that led me here. And I've been smart, and backed up everything regularly - nothing will be lost. This will be a blip on the radar (the replacement drive arrives in 2 days). But It is a continued illustration of the old adage: BACK IT UP, CHUMP!!!!

Geek Break: In the new iTunes, you can browse your collection through the album pictures. My new obsession when I have a free 15 min is to download the cover art to any albums that are missing the art. Considering I have 1770 albums with 21000 songs in my collection, that's a bit of a chore. But I'm getting them in there, and it's really FUN. Trust me on this one.

I've just spent the last two hours with Isaac Party Boy on my lap with him giggling and cooing and smiling, and nothing's going to bother me. He JUST fell asleep, after being a total party animal, followed by a crabby apple. I think I hear him stirring - I had better keep the typing to a minimum... and maybe catch up on some sleep. Last night was a looong one. He woke up at 3 for food, 4 for poops, and kept me up til 5 for giggles... all while I'm camping out in Bella's little twin bed because she's having bad dreams and wants to be in the big bed, but daddy's too hot, and she doesn't want any covers.... and that's just how the night went.

Tonight, both Mommy and Bella went to bed at 8, and it's just been me and Isaac partying down.

So it's now 11 and time for sleep. For BOTH of us.

Pleased to Meet You...

Hi! I’m Jim and this is my Blog “JimVentions”. Please welcome me back to the real world.

As you may have noticed, I’ve been somewhat focused on my work in the past few months. I’m pleased to announce that the impossible job I was handled was put into production a week and a half ago, and it seems to be going relatively well. Yes, we’ve had some problems, but nothing unrecoverable, and in general it looks like the organization sees this as a “success”.

My hours are starting to go back down to earth: by Friday I was back to 9 hours, and no midnight shifts are in sight. I had a meeting in which we were talking about what’s coming up in the next few months… and it was refreshing to start being planful again, to get out of the “Now Crisis”.

All indicators are I’ll be at this client to help with more work well into 2007: I’ve got very nice notes from VPs and the CIO thanking me for pulling this all together. And I am still sorting out exactly HOW I did it, but somehow I did get all those people moving in the right direction, movitated and believing they could make this deadline.





So I think life is starting to come back down to normal, which I need, Pamela needs, and Bella and Isaac need.

So look for more of the classic Jimmy stuff to come again in the next few weeks – lots of cute Bella and Isaac stories, more crazy schemes, more Language adventures, and more nerd-tasy.

Also, please do enjoy these fine pictures of my lovely family. My job in the next week is to get a picture of Isaac where he doesn’t look goggle-eyed and stupefied. He really does smile and laugh and coo – he’s a wonderful boy. He makes me smile and sing.

And yes, TODAY is Zero-Day: On Monday they’ll check with the courts to see if any unexpected challenges have been filed prior to today, and barring that VERY unlikely event, Isaac is officially a Balabuszko-Reay (after the formality of a court appearance sometime in the next 2 months).

I can’t help but update that things with Brainready.com are going very well too: We have over a hundred interested readers, people like the puzzles and the podcasts, and we’re starting to get some advertisers together (we may have a green tea partnership firing up….). Crazily, Brainready really does look like something could happen with it, and if I hadn’t been so completely swamped, I think I would have been crowing about it a bit more.

And that’s the update tonight! It’s good to be back!

Mad as heck

Somebody egged the Mini last night. Of course I didn't figure it out until I got to work, so I drove to a gas station and used their "mystery blue fluid" to clean it up... and it may still have some on it...

What a terrible way to start the day. GRRRRRRRR.

Still Alive...

Sorry about the no-posting: It's been a very busy week. The golive is still going well, though not without it's bumps... but in all much better than could have been reasonably expected in the shaky run-up. But it's been taking 12 hour days, and by the time I get home, I need to spend a lot of time with the family to recharge.

I'm thinking this schedule will start to ramp down by the weekend, and I'll have fun stories and (more importantly for some of you) more pictures!

Thanks for your patience and support!

Silent Night...

All's quiet here on the go-live front. No major issues, the phones aren't ringing... It's going well.

Yesterday, as I took my two hour nap prior to the all-nighter, I had a very vivid visualization of what would happen if gravity stopped working in the command center. I saw all the loose papers, pens, computers all drifting, and then I grew nervous about the file cabinets. I resolved to steer clear of those in case gravity came back on... Then I got to thinking, how long after gravity stopped working would you continue to brace yourself for it coming back on - 5 min? 30 min? When would you let your guard down, and possibly fall in an unpleasant manner?

These are important things to consider. Of course, then I started wondering just how gravity would get turned off, and the most obvious solution is that the hospital would be hurtling through space, which got me thinking about how airtight the facility really is, and if the lack of gravity would really be noticed if there was no air. VERY important. So welcome to my mind I suppose.

Time for a BellaQuote:
She visited the doctor and got some DumDum lollipops for her treat. She unwrapped one and announced it's "Can Flavored". We looked at the wrapper, and it was a barrel - Rootbeer flavor.

She unwrapped another an announced it was "Think Flavored". Puzzled, we looked at the wrapper: It was the "mystery flavor", and it had question marks all over it. She pointed to the question marks and said, "See? THINK flavor".

She's back to full health (as am I), and she's sleeping through the night again... it's great to have my girl back!

The world did not end, apparently

From my early AM dispatch yesterday, things went from bad to worse, then better, then worse, then pretty good. People were being pretty good and working together well... and by 9am we had most of the critical issues well in hand. I wrote up status reports, padded around the floors, and generally tried to be useful... but by 11am, it was clear I was getting fried (that two hour nap didn't quite do the trick of a full night's sleep). I was in slightly better shape than my counterpart, who worked the same shift but did NOT take an early evening break... zombie!

So I got sent home, and I took a 5 hour nap in the afternoon, to get myself ready for another shift tonight from 10pm to noon. After tonight, I'll move to day shifts for the weekend... yep, no weekend for me! This is what we've been working for, the crunch is inevitable, and must simple be endured.

The 75 tubs of Donut Holes fit handily in the mini - I could have maybe fit 25 more for a good 100.

Since 5:30, I've been up and playing with Isaac and Bella, and it's been wonderfully recharging - they definitely help me remember what the big priorities in life are!

Dispatch from the Command Center

This is what we've been waiting for.

It's 1:45am, and we're going live with the big project. Issues, of course. The hospital has their largest census of the year, a full surgery schedule starting at 5am, and a full Emergency Room. We were only planning to go down for an hour to convert, but have been down for two and a half. We just made the call to bring everything up for in-house patients, but our interfaces are still down, so any transfers or new admissions will not appear in the pharmacy or lab systems...

One key team member gave her two week notice today, another got into a screaming/crying match with her team. Everyone's got glassy eyes, but improbably, spirits are high... We'll see how things go by 5am.

The phones are ringing off the hook!!!!

I worked the full day, crept home, played with Bella and Isaac, had dinner, then a two hour nap, before showering, caffeinating, and now I'll be here until the afternoon.

I'm off at 5am to pick up 75 buckets of donut holes for the departments... I need to get a picture of the Mini full of donuts!

And now I need to go chase down more issues.

Birthday Girl

Bella finally turned FOUR this weekend, and the celebratin' was out of HAND. From presents in the morning on Saturday, to a party with 17 friends on Sunday, to family over tonight, the people have been parading to see Bella.

Which makes it pretty sad how under the weather she remains. While the cold has finally left her, she remains a bit bedraggled and low-energy. Last night, she got her best night of sleep yet - and still had two hours of fitfulness. As a change, while the previous nights she woke screaming about being scared and her head hurting, last night she awoke screaming about needing certain toys she had got for her birthday to be brought into bed with her. Tonight, as I put her to sleep, she had a dozen dogs and cats arrayed on her pillow, with her in the middle, with a sleepy smile. Perhaps tonight will be a better night.

Tonight Isaac seems to have discovered some new gas pain, because he's letting us have it with some worldly complaints. Still, I got some good cuddletime in.

Sunday, Bella had a party at an indoor gym called "JW Tumbles" - it was a two hour party with two young ladies who led the festivities. They started by letting the kids run around in the gym, doing the climbing wall, bounding on trampolines, rolling on mats, etc etc etc. They'd break it up with getting the kids together for activities, like an obstacle course, and Limbo, and singing... They were GREAT at keeping 18 kids from 2-8 going - there were no fights, no whining, just a great time had by all. BEST party we've thrown in a while, and we didn't have to do very much!

This is the big week at work, and we're all steeling for it: Go-Live is Wednesday, and I'm looking at meetings from 8am-4pm, then the whole golive sequence starts up at 10pm.... through to morning, to a 7am meeting for status, and so on through the weekend. Fortunately I get to wear a jumpsuit made of the same futuristic material as the uniforms on Star Trek and will not stink after all of that time.

Say, it's the year 2006 - where IS my jumpsuit? And my food pills and flying car? I feel VERY let down by this future, as much fun as the internet is.

Anything else? Hmmm.... Nope - I think I'll grab my sleep where I can!

The party animal

I've got to get better sleep. Last night I woke up and was convinced that somehow Isaac had wound up in bed with us, and I needed to get him back into his Bassinet. I got up and started to wrap him up in a blanket when he moved up and over Pamela's chest... which shouldn't have been possible. Except for one fact. I was ACTUALLY trying to put Pamela's ELBOW into the bassinet. Good old sleep deprivation hallucinations!

No illusion here, Isaac is a VERY alert young guy. He really likes being awake and loves stimulus. Cuddles, talking, rocking, you name it. Just last night, we discovered that at two weeks, we could shake a rattle to the left, and he'd look left, shake it to the right of him, and he'd look right.

Tonight I was wagging my fingers and moving my hand slowly across his field of vision, and he was tracking it like a hawk.

It's just remarkable to see these stages of development! He's just outgrown his tiny "going home" outfit. Fortunately, we were gifted a larger size as well, and since it's covered in rocket ships, saucers, and planets, I'm relieved.

We have a new name for him: Babatron2006 - the guy can DEMOLIST bottles. Especially since we switched him to a low-lactose formula...

Papabam are here for a visit, and we're having a lot of fun - Isaac's room will be painted this weekend with a space/robots theme of course. But recall that the last time Papa painted a room for a baby, we moved not 6 months later. We're not moving this time.

Finally, I should just mention to my loyal fans: NO I have not done any language ANYTHING since this little guy showed up. The brainspace just isn't there yet. Also, I have not worked out... which does make me sad. On the other hand, i'm inclined to cut myself a LITTLE slack since I'm working 50 hour weeks, just had a horrible multi-day cold, Bella's still sick, and a little creature called Isaac in the house. ;->

Quick - the boss isn't looking

An unprecedented at-work update for today.


First, a Bella quote: Holding a magnet, she said "DAD, this it totally MAGNETIVE. It can stick to the fridge. Look. MagNETive." I'm not sure how she made that up, but it just sounds so cool.

Also, here's a picture of Bella, lest you think that all I talk about is Isaac.


On the subject of the little guy: He's two weeks old today! He went to the doctor yesterday, and has BALLOONED up from 6lbs6oz when we brought him home to 7lbs12oz. He's packing it away. The doctor looked at his bellybutton and his willy and declared he's healed enough for a full BATH.

So he got a bath. Here's the evidence.

I'm much better from my cold, but Bella has it pretty bad. She napped much of yesterday, and needed cuddles all night again. Isaac on the other hand is a PARTY ANIMAL: He was up for over 8 hours straight yesterday afternoon, demanding playtime. He did sleep VERY well, however.

And that's the quick at-work update for the day.

The cold from....

Monday morning I woke up not feeling 100%, but made it off to work anyway. By 10, it was clear that I was NOT in good shape, so I fled for home and dove under the covers. I had... a COLD.

Last night, Pamela encouraged me to take the 3rd floor bedroom, so I could be well rested for today. So I did, but rest was not in the cards. Bella had gone to sleep around 8pm, but woke up around midnight crying for mommy. As the 3rd floor bedroom is right above Bella's room, I got to hear it all.

At 3, I got a call to come downstairs, Bella needed someone to cuddle and Isaac was hungry. So I climbed into Bella's bed, and noticed that she was not actually falling asleep - for a good half hour, she was just lying there semi-awake. Her breathing never lapsed into that good sleep sound. Sure enough, after that half hour, she started crying for Mom, not me.

I trudged back upstairs, and heard Bella wake up every half hour or so all night. When my alarm went off at 6:30, I came down to find Bella in bed with Mom, but still not fully asleep. Isaac was hungry, so I took care of him. Around this time, I realized that my cold was in no way better, in fact worse. So after packing a few ounces into Isaac, I called in sick.

Both Pamela and Bella looked like sleepy zombies this morning, and I did what I could to help out... before passing out for the rest of the day. Now Pamela and Bella are taking a good nap, I'm puttering around a little bit, feeling a TOUCH better, Isaac has a full tummy again.

Hopefully we'll be back on an even keel by tomorrow (and hopefully Pamela will not get this cold - it is EVIL). I need my health back to prepare for the big golive in just 8 days at work!!!!

Also, with BrainReady launching, I need to do more worksheets for the people! Apparently there are people signing up who we do not know... it's getting out there beyond out immediate sphere! How cool!!!!

Sunday Morning

An update to last night's multi-post.

Pamela's party roared until after 1, and she crawled into bed around 2 (after taking Kari back to her hotel). I took all of the night feeding shifts to help her recover, and she was up and at'em by 9 today.

Of course, Bella and Isaac and I were up and at'em around 7:30. ;->

Details: Isaac is starting to fill out and is taking a lot more bottle: While even Tuesday, he was an ounce-per-feeding, he's up to 3.5 per feeding now! He's grown very intolerant of even a slightly wet diaper, but I would not call him a fussy baby. In fact, he's remarkably easy going... lots of smiles, likes to be held by just about anyone, and only cries if he's gassy or hungry. Otherwise, he's a little owl baby, looking around with wide eyed wonder at the large, luminous shapes that seem to surround him.

One thing I love is that he throws his arms around like an orchestra conductor - I started singing "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's 9th, and he was waving them around and had a very serious, Maestro-esque look on his face. I'm thinking there's a chance that the spirit of Herbert Von Karajan may have landed in this one.

As we were walking around yesterday, Tyler was enjoying carrying Isaac in a sling. As he was waiting for us near a door, a pair of pinched ladies walked by, and asked rather horrified "is that YOURS young man?" Ty (14) took it well, but was pretty taken aback by their tone... Takes all kinds I guess.

And now that little Ike is stirring and seems intent on demolishing another bottle, so off I go!

Busy Busy Bones

Sorry about the long delay in posting an update. You may have heard about the business of late in our house... Here's a bunch of stuff:

1) Bella has been adjusting better and better - she's still pretty defiant, but the last few nights have gone much smoother, and she's spending more time being a sweet older sister than a competing baby. We're so proud of her, and of course we know there'll be continued adjustments. But we're here for her.

1a) In the surreal category: Bella said "I'm going to UPLOAD my boots... with FEET!" She'll be a nerd allright.

2) Bella and I had a burrito date the other night, and we met Nick (Soopahman, uncle chicken) out at Guitar Center. This evening Bella played drums very well, watched Nick pound the skins like the pro he is, played keyboards very nicely with both hands going up and down the keys, AND decided to start holding and playing guitars - right now a very rough strum and no fretting, but she was VERY into it. So I think our little instrument are needs a little guitar too!

3) Pamela's actual 40th was a rough day - I had to work from 7 to 7, and it had been a rough night before, so we were a little comatose. I promised to make the weekend better... so...

4) Today we celebrated with Carrie, Scott, Grandma and Grandpa at Ike's for brunch, where we decided that if we NEEDED a one-syllable nickname for Isaac, it could be Ike. We have that out to a committee right now. When we got home, we got a surprise visit from Kari, Rick, Bailey and Ty from Chicago - they came up for 1 day to meet Isaac and celebrate Pamela's B-Day. Pamela was so amazed, she LEPT from her chair, ran to the back of the room with her hands over her mouth, then ran forward to hug everyone, crying with joy. It was a great surprise (that I helped coordinate), and we had a great day with them, running around St Paul, eating well, visiting my old College, Macalester, and enjoying the colors of fall.

5) Right now, Pamela is downstairs with bottles of Veuve Cliquot, two cakes from Caffe Latte, assorted truffles, and 10 good friends who are feting her properly, while I am taking care of the critters. Bella went down an hour back, Isaac is settling down after another bottle. I'm doing laundry, folding clothes, and generally being helpful.

6) Work is crazy, and will only get more so until November. That's all I have to say about that.

7) I'm hearing nice things from people about the BrainReady concept. Thank you all for checking it out!

Different with a Boy

The night wasn't too long: Pamela took the 1 and 3am feedings, I took the 5:30, and stayed up to go to work. The good news is that Isaac is taking his bottle much better - making up for lost time with 2-4 ounce feedings, punctuated with lots of napping. There is no bad news.

We had some mystery soakings: dry diaper with a soaking wet armpit and sleeper somehow? Our neighbor Gwen solved the mystery: You need to position the willy when doing the diapers. AHA! A little different than Bella.

We went to the lawyer's today, and got things going for the formalities... it's sounding like the legal bit will be over relatively soon, but we still need to wait out the 31 day window no matter what. So help us count to Oct 21st, won't you?

Bella remains with Grandma - by her choice! She's having a blast "on vacation" with the Grandparents, and we'll get her back tomorrow...

The neighbors are parading through, all very excited! And people at work were beside themselves, looking at the pictures and hearing the stories... People they do love the babies.

I can't blame anyone for thinking BrainReady isn't as exciting as a little baby and all... ;->

BrainReady

Isaac's not the only thing happening these days. I was hinting a few weeks back about a project Paul and I have cooking.

It's ready.

www.brainready.com is the link. It's a cooperative effort: The total concept is both of us, but I make the BrainFlex worksheets, and Paul does the Podcasts.

Just check it out and let me know what you think!

Isaac Nikolai Aleksei

That's his name! Here's the breakdown:

Isaac is for Asimov (Genius), Hayes (Soul), and Mizrahi (Taste and Sass).
- Isaac Asimov was a famous science fiction author in the 20th century, very prolific and renowned for his mensa-qualifying intellect.
- Isaac Hayes wrote the theme from Shaft, and many other funk opuses in the 1970s. His 1990s detour as the voice of Chef in South Park and his conversion to Scientology are hopefully not indicators of future paths for our Isaac.
- Isaac Mizrahi is a clothing designer and talk show host, who is very sassy and stylish. His sass rarely goes to the side of mean...

Nikolai: A double on this. First off, Nick has always been a favorite name of mine, much as Isabella was an "always favorite" of Pamela's. Secondly, Bella's Uncle Chicken (aka Soo-pah-man, aka Nick) is a good friend and a surrogate member of the family, so he's a good person to be named after.

Aleksei: This is a nod to his older brother Alexander, who passed away in 2000.

Today has been a whirlwind: The night was punctuated at 2 hour intervals by mister squawker... It was easy to fall back into the habit. Bella woke up this morning and was very annoyed that we had moved Isaac back into our room for the night. She wheeled the bassinet back into her room and slammed our door.

Pamela and Bella went off to church this morning, and spent some one-on-one time. When they returned, Auntie Carrie was visiting... then Anne and JeMae and Jenny came by, and Bella got VERY envious of the attention her best friend was giving to Isaac, and we had a full blown regression - baby talk and pouting. That eventually blew over and the girls were able to play for a while. Bella really is being a good sport, but this is bound to be hard!

Bella is back with Grandma and Grandpa for the night, who will take her to school tomorrow, mostly so that we can get in to see the lawyers right away and not have to worry about finding things to do with Bella.

I did send the notice out to my coworkers... and one wrote back with a cute bit of verse incorporating all of our project phases into the rhyme! Alas, with only 18 days to go before we go live, and up to two weeks of 24-hour support after that, I will not be able to take a whole lot of time off... we'll be counting on our family and neighbors to help us make it through!

In all, day two with Isaac is going very well: Right now, we have no visitors, Bella is off with grandma, Pamela and Isaac are having a nap on the couch, and all seems right in the world.