Chiclets

Oh poor Isaac, he's decided to cut a few more teeth this weekend. And they're his top front ones. When he smiles, there are two bulging chiclets looking back at us, planning their escape from the inside of his gums. While he maintains a good attitude, he's requiring regular doses of Motrin or Tylenol (alternating, for the sake of his tummy), and needs a few extra cuddles.

Knock on wood, but we seem to have avoided the horrors of the stomach flu that ravaged the family reunion last weekend (that we didn't attend, but Bella was our emissary). So chalk one up to clean living!

A final note: I saw a movie the other night that literally broke my brain: The President's Analyst starring James Coburn. It was one of the silliest, most random movies ever... from 1967. It had strange moments of seriousness (one person recalling a horrible moment of becoming aware of racism as a child) followed IMMEDIATELY by completely madcap chases... and with one of Lalo Schirfin's most surreal scores. I'm still processing the strange information that was inserted into my brain from this movie.

I think my mother recommended it. Hmm.

Off to do chores - a little mowing, a little de-trashification of the yard, who knows what else?

Bittersweet

Today was my last full day at the old client. Yes, the upgrade did in fact go VERY VERY well: We reverted to standard support by Tuesday evening. We ended daily status meetings Wednesday AM. We had no help desk calls Wednesday night... there were no major bugs that didn't have workarounds. We really nailed this upgrade: The hospital didn't lose a minute of work, and we were all walking around wondering if we were about to wake up and realize it was all a dream. But it really worked, and we kept today as my last day. (The CIO noted that only I could get away with picking Friday the 13th as my exit date - it's just too JimB-style)

I scrambled all week to make sure that the five people they're replacing me with were all comfortable with their new roles. And we had some good tests - some tricky situations that I usually handled, my new people took on and muddled through... learning how it all works. And I actually feel pretty confident that things won't fall apart Monday.

I was going to make this farewell, but the client wanted to fete me, so I'm coming back for 2 hours on Tuesday for a farewell pizza party. In a semireluctant move, my old consulting firm (who I'm also breaking with) grudgingly decided to pay for HALF of the pizza party. They'll pay half? Crazy. But Monday, I get to move in to the new client full time... and hopefully sit in on a few more procedures....

I had a parade of well wishers today, which got me misty eyed. Some people took me to Crazy Buffet (see earlier blog postings, late 2006), which was "wonderful" as always. There are a lot of people who are very sad to be seeing me go, and I am sad to not be working with them. I am GLAD that I have done good work and am REALLY psyched to be going to the new gig full time, but there are people who I have really liked working with who I will miss. Some of the comments I have got have truly made me blush... one said "you're one who shines bright in the world, and we'll be a darker place without you".

One person who I will not miss was something of a manager-nemesis: He was really good at not taking on responsibility for his team, and his team left my project high and dry a few times, undermining me in meetings, etc... well, yesterday he got demoted - I mean "decided to take another position under his existing one in the same department". So that was a nice going away gift. I don't celebrate the misfortunes of others, but I do appreciate a nice comeuppance now and again.

As it was a day of passages, Paul and I came to an agreement to part ways on our Brain Stuff today. We had never been able to really gel on a way to make it profitable, and it was stuck at the "hobby" level for too long. We also had different ideas on how to take it forward. So we agreed to disagree. I'm taking my books, and he's keeping the website and the podcasts, and we're keeping it friendly. And I'll figure out if the books are something to push further out into the world. In truth, I haven't heard much real feedback about the books from anyone, so I'm curious if I should just walk away from them. If any of you have read them and found them valuable, please do let me know... I could use the feedback!

And just yesterday, I had lunch with another Paul, and started talking about a business idea we had a couple of years back... and I was thinking that it might be a workable idea. So perhaps there will be another thing born of this time of flux.

I'm out on the front porch typing this. A blueish small bird with a small crest and a big orange beak is watching me blog and is making lazer gun blips and whistles. It's a beautiful night, and things are good in my world.

Aaaahhhhh.

The big upgrade has been installed. I spent over 15 hours at work yesterday, starting at 2:30am, and around 11 today... My team is tired, but the signs are very clear: We did a good job. We're dealing with a mere handful of issues, most of which we were able to clear up within hours. Hospital operations were back on track without a blip. We're only the third client in the country to upgrade to this version of the software so far, which was a bit risky, I admit. But almost every other hospital in town who runs this software will be upgrading in the next 12 months... and we've proven it can be done well.

I've resisted posting before now to ward off any jinxes... but as we're over 36 hours with no major bumps, I think I might be justified in giving out a whoop and a holler.

People had thought I was crazily optimistic to plan my exit from the client only one week into the upgrade - that we'd be chasing issues for weeks. And we may still find issues, yes. But Friday is sure looking like a fine day to make my way off to the new client for full time.

So it's off to an early bedtime for me... much sleep needs to be caught up on.

Upgradin'

5am and all is well. Not really - things got off to a rocky start here: A last minute change in upgrade procedures threw the techies for a loop and we didn't get to the "meat" of the upgrade until an hour had passed, eating up my contingency time. So we'll have to see if I get done in my window of opportunity. Now that it's running, maybe we'll make up some time, since the production system is so much more powerful than the test system we did our 3 dress rehearsals on.

Happily, the end-users seem pretty comfortable with the downtime: There have been no help desk calls.

We're either the first or second client ever to go up on this software release (one smaller hospital MAY have beat us to the punch by a couple of weeks), so this is pretty fingernail-biting. We did have some very good runthroughs, and there's no reason to expect a problem other than... well... problems happen.

I'll be heading out soon to get donuts for my developers who'll show up in an hour... though they'll probably be bored since we're behind schedule. All the more reason to make sure donuts are here. Tired cranky is better than tired cranky hungry.

I was going to bring in my espresso machine, but decided that while it's pretty easy to use, I'd have to be parked in the lunchroom with it, and I have more important things to be doing than being a Barista at 6am. So I made a few extra shots this AM to get me going... and my developers will just have to make due with regular coffee. (and truthfully, I believe I'm the only espresso-head in the bunch anyway!)

On the beach...

I think that was the title of a book where there's been a nuclear holocaust and people in New Zealand are just waiting for the fallout clouds to come their direction... I could be wrong, but that's the image I'm looking for:

We sent Bella off to the Family Reunion on Thursday, and had been hearing amazing stories of her swimming, fishing, playing with cousins, having a great time. BUT... an unwelcome visitor came to the reunion: A particularly virulent strain of stomach flu has been pulling an "and then there were none" routine on everybody. Bella got it at midnight last night, and seems back on her feet this morning. It takes 2 at a time, makes their lives miserable for 8-12 hours, then gives them their lives back.

One branch of the family heard about this and wisely decided to cancel the trip (they were going Sat-Mon, the bug first hit Thursday Night)

And so we sit here in Minneapolis, wondering if our little daughter will be returned to us as a carrier of this virus, if we'll all wind up with it next week... we're preparing the buckets now.

Just a quick update - many things to do today AND I need to rest up for my big Golive at 3am Sunday AM. Whoo HOO!!

JimVentions Redux - GRAZER

You may recall my JimVention of the "get me out of here" pager service. Here's another JimVention for you:

Around 2 years ago, I was writing back and forth with my friend in Seattle, Paul. We were batting around ideas for "Web 2.0" concepts that might lift us up and out of our day jobs into the fun and excitement of venture capital fueled startups. He had started with an idea of a web image aggregator - something that took a feed from "Amihotornot" and played them in a little window on the side of the screen. Strangely, I didn't flat out tell him that was ridiculous - I can be quite indulgent.

But I thought - what about if you took those images, but then could at a moment, link directly to where they came from? Or what if we built in something to automagically track your preferences for pictures, and served up more pictures in the vein of what you liked?

Now - as I write this, you are probably thinking I am describing something with adult entertainment as its target market. With the Great Spirit as my witness, throughout this whole thing that was never the goal or even thought of: The idea was for something you could have in a window while at work... so raciness just wasnt in there. I just wanted to say that.

Anyway, why stop with pictures? I said ANY media could work this way: You start tagging things you like, and the browser... the Grazer brings you more of what you like. Music, cartoons, pictures. But the secret has to be in these TAGS - you'd need to have a totally extendable set of tags attached to the media.

Then, a file could have not just the name, and some tags describing it for your preferences, but it could have embedded links to take you to the artist's website, or some tags for similar artists - if you like this, you might like...

Well, you can't just cram an infinite amount of data into the spare spaces inside of a media file: At some point, the file will be too bloated. Also, you'd run into the version problem: One file of a song might have a few tags, another of the same song would have a bunch - there'd be no consistency. And what if you got a file with some INAPPROPRIATE tags attached - like a link to a virus site?

So what if you took an idea like Wikipedia - a public "contribution site" for a global set of information: Artist links, reviews, things like it you might like, biographical info, additional artwork, links to where to buy it, where to see him/her live... all in a user-moderated context... and the file only has a single tag that refers to this online repository? A single GrazerTag?

So then you're in iTunes, playing a song, and there's a Grazertag embedded: You click on a "find out more" button, which contacts the nearest GrazerServer, which points you to the proper archive for this work, which then downloads the appropriate content down into your viewer... like a website.

And similar to a Wiki, there could ALSO be a PRIVATE, COMMERCIAL aspect to this: Some files would have a grazertag that points to Sony, or Getty Images, where the additional information is moderated by the content owners, where the experience could be more controlled. That's where the idea could actually make some money for the people doing it! But you start the thing as a non-profit, something to build a community around, so that the geeks adopt it first, build the content, and only THEN can the private side appear (much as there are Corporate Wikis out there). I had a plan to entice the BoingBoingers, and THEN actually make a little money.

Now, this is just the very high level view of the idea: I wound up with a marketing plan, detailed technical designs, and a much more geeky level of explanation of how it works. So why oh why would I be putting this out on my Blog, people?

There are a few reasons: First, as we put it together, it because obvious that outside of the technical architecture, the hard work here is that of being a LIBRARIAN. And to be successful, you'd need to moderate the heck out of it, and over 90% of the content would be stuff I just don't have the passion for. Oh, yes, I could have created a KILLER Grazer library for 1980's synthpop. But I would have stopped well short of Michael Sembello, and even Real Life. I'm too much of a snob to even review those entries.

So the way to do this would have been to employ/engage a lot more people, and to do that would have involved a lot of work. Let's put it this way: I could have built the hotel, but I would not have been able to run it... and in short order, it would have been a smoldering ruin, laid low by Russian hackers intent on placing corrupt links to nastiness in corners of data about Kim Wilde and Alphaville. Not my idea of fun.

And fortunately, it DOES appear to be somebody ELSE'S idea of fun: The MetaBrainz foundation (with BoingBoinger on board) has a project called MusicBrainz, which is almost exactly the Grazer concept - restricted to music of course. They have a proprietary browser, and are inviting people to help them tag media. Their commercial angle has already emerged, with a partnership with BBC... I'm not sure how far along they are, but when I read their press release, I said "ah, someone's doing Grazer". Absolutely no hard feelings - as I said, I dropped the idea almost 2 years ago with no intention of pursuing it, so I'm just glad it's out there getting done. Plus, they have some MASSIVE investors, which I just didn't have.

It's further proof to me that sometimes there are just ideas flying around, and our minds can be antennae picking them up. And if we don't act on them, someone else may be listening in on the same transmission... and might just act.

And so, thank you again for visiting the mind of Jimmy. Please come again.

Delightful Daffyness

Three things to mention today:

1) I got to do one of my very favorite things in the world today: I got some old friends set up with a spanking new Macintosh, set up their email, set up iTunes, ripped a CD, got their printer working, showed them the web, and left them to discover the fun. I had helped them get Mac-ified over 5 years ago with a candy iMac, but they had never hooked it up to the big web. Now they're out there. My mom set them up with their first incoming email, and their first internet meme: The "Dramatic Chipmunk". I couldn't think of a better inauguration.

2) Speaking of Mom: It is no secret that we have had our differences throughout our lives - things are up, things are down, and we adapt. I am happy that recently things have been pretty up. But through it all, one thing that I have always been able to rely upon has been a movie recommendation from her:

It was she who had us over for Christmas one night and showed us Die Hard - a fine christmas movie if there ever was one. It was she who took me and my best friends to see "Car Wash" for my 10th or 11th birthday. She showed me the genius of Val Kilmer in Real Genius, a role he still has not done better than. She BOUGHT me Repo Man so I could watch it 20 times with friends and annoy the world by quoting it. And it was she who said "you will enjoy Ghost Rider".

I have just spent two delightfully daffy hours watching Nicolas Cage go "Awww GAWRSH" while turning into a flame headed demon, going after someone who looked like a goth Cory Haim (the internets say it's Wes Bentley....) and avoiding a very creepy Peter Fonda. It was far more fun than it had any right to be. And yet.. do I recommend it? I'm not too sure there are many with my exact movie DNA who would get it the same way. It may just be a family thing. And yes, Nic Cage is looking pretty good these days. It is true.

3) As I ate dinner tonight, I had a dessert of a nectarine. As I ate it, the following statement came to mind: This thing is so dang juicy, I'm considering pressing charges.

I don't know exactly what that means, but it came through loud and clear, and I felt like sharing it.

Quick before bed

It's 9pm and I'm about to fall asleep... it is time for rest. But before I nod off, I must tell you that I have seen an object FROM THE FUTURE. The iPhone.

People, the hype is entirely deserved. This is one of the most beautiful objects in form and function I have encountered. As I flipped through pictures, surfed the web, and placed a call, my mouth went dry and my heart started racing. I started to think of how, just HOW this could enter my life.

Which is not to say I need it: I have a phone. It syncs with my email and my contacts and my calendar. It works. I have an ipod or five and they all play beautiful music, and one even does videos for me. What the iphone can do is not something I cannot do now. But it's something I could do BETTER with an iphone.

And so, as I rest, I will dream of this technology... of this amazing object that has fallen through a rip in space and time, out of a fabulous future where our tools are sculpted extensions of our minds...

Goodnight!

Things to remember about the Kids

Bella:
When she is humming idly during a project, almost always does "Jingle Bells" over and over again.

When she is pretending to be a big girl, her name is always "Annalise", and she's always 7 years old, with her birthday being either today or tomorrow.

When she's at the Arboretum, she's calm, focused, and happy from the moment we arrive to the moment we leave. We went again today, and she was a sight to behold.

She is still having some sharing and territory issues with her little brother.

Isaac:
Today he climbed the stairs. All of them up to the second floor without a pause. He then made a beeline to the toilet. He also walked a little today... just a few steps here and there. But he has the skill.

His new development was that today he started wrassling with his sister: She was dragging around a white comforter, which he decided he loved. He was diving down into it, and rolling around giggling. When Bella tried to establish territory on the blanket, he rolled over her, climbing over her, and teasing her. She got very frustrated, but he was having a great time.

He loves his big sister unconditionally.

No, no I didn't

Sorry to disappoint, but I did not get an iPhone. I didn't wait in line all night, I didn't place an order online. I'm just too scared: I've had crazybad cellphone mojo in my life. Phones that others rave about, I can barely hold a signal. I feel like my calls drop all the time. I sit at my desk, and a voicemail icon pops up on the phone, and it NEVER RANG. The "fast internet" features people rave about... I just get "loading..." for eternity.

I'm just not willing to open my heart to an Apple phone, when cellphones in general have let me down so often.

There is another reason I can not get an iPhone: We are in a "not spending money" phase here at the house, and Pamela knows what the iphone is, what it looks like, and is on the lookout for my weakness.

Nope. Ain't gonna do it. Not til Rev 2 at least.

An important announcement.

Ahem. Is this thing on? Yes? Ok. Here we go.

ISAAC WALKED TODAY. SEVERAL TIMES. NET TOTAL OF 20+ STEPS IN 3-6 step INCREMENTS.

He got so excited, he couldn't walk any more, he was too busy bouncing a victory dance as everyone hollered encouragement. He did most of the walking with Pamela, MaeMae, and Bailey (the sitter) watching, but he gave daddy a few steps in the evening just to show he can.

9 months, one week. Walking. WOW.

That is all.

Some random impressions

1) Yesterday, on my way out of the house to work, Bella gave me two huge hugs, then walked me to the door, opened it for me, walked me out to the stairs, and stood waving as I drove away. I almost drove off the road with tears - she was so sweet. I was very happy to be able to help her go to bed last night reading stories and telling tales of when I was young. I might have revved her back up with a detailed story of climbing Long's Peak... she got pretty excited.

This morning, I was out of the house at 5:45 and didn't come back between the workout and going to work. Apparently Bella was a bit sad around the house.

2) Isaac remains ornery about being fed: Pamela was trying sweet potatoes, and took a 2 minute video of the refusenik in action: He was not particularly mad, he was just plain NOT HAVING ANY OF IT. Mouth locked shut, skillful parries of the spoon. More than once, he grabbed the spoon... now if you're thinking "oh, he'll feed himself then?" HAH. No, he holds the spoon with one hand, wipes all of the food off of it with the other, THEN puts it in his mouth. Spoons are for chewing, not for eating. Silly parents.

3) With Pamela better, I'm back to my 6am workouts: I had written a "top five reasons to work out a t 6am" letter which was sent to the whole health club, and since then, "my" 6am class has had 8-9 people, which is twice what we used to get... so my 6am won't be canceled, and they'll probably add back in a Thursday 6am! Hooray!

4) Some success at work: Our dress rehearsal for July 8 went very well today - no technical glitches. We have some rough edges, but we'll be able to iron them out without too much trouble. I did have a FULL SCALE REBELLION on my hands with the team on something: A different team handles reporting - they never came to my meetings, they wouldn't be managed by me, they were autonomous. Then a month before golive they asked for our help in "proofing" their work, just a final look at it.

We started looking, and realized that they were less than half done, and hadn't even mildly tested that half. And they started asking for us to help them "prioritize" their work, and let them know what wasn't working (basically to the FIRST level of testing, not the final review). I asked the team what they thought: A lot of times, they'll take a hit to make sure the product is ok for the customers... they'll do the extra work. But I wanted their input.

Well, they said no, this isn't their job, and this is too typical for that team. SO I got to tell my boss and my bosses boss that our team was too busy and this was the reason. I went to bat for them. And my team was amazed... that's not something people have done for them, and they said they're REALLY going to miss me.

Anyway, that's work geekness... but when people ask me what I do all day, I advocate for people. I represent.

5) A food post? WHAT? I was starving at lunch and ran off to Key's restaurant in Fridley... and horror of horrors, they were OUT OF CARAMEL ROLLS. Fortunately they still had some eggs, hash browns, bacon, coffee, and rye toast, so it wasn't a total loss.

Sabado Gigante

Poor Isaac had a rough time settling last night - it seems he's going through more brainstorms and it's making him a tad cranky. He was up before 6 this morning, and Pamela was the on-duty who took him downstairs. I'm the on-duty tonight, so I figure tomorrow will be an early one for me.

It was a big day because Pamela is finally going without her finger splint for much of the day. Splint still goes on for labor and sleep, but for most of the day, the finger was out in the world. It looks to be recovering nicely - not drooping , but it doesn't have the same upward tilt as the other fingers, it's perhaps a little lazier. But considering the horror stories we'd heard from so many mallet finger injuries, she seems to be coming out OK. Add in that her back is practically back to "normal", and it's a good life we're living now.

We've figured out that Isaac simply will not abide being fed unless it's a bottle (which perversely he has NO interest in holding). So we're trying to be creative about self-feeding options. He likes cheerios, goldfish, bananas, mangoes, and bread-and-butter so far. Bread and butter was my idea today, and he absolutely loved it. Carrot cubes weren't such a hit. I think he's got a sweet tooth, this kid.

We did tons of yard work today, finally weeding most of our flower and hasta beds, which really sharpened everything up. Bella spent the entire day "in the neighborhood", bouncing between neighbor's houses, in and out of pools, games of "kissing tag" (which she announced "was fun, but got boring after a while") and general mischief. By 4, she, Jenny, and Madeline landed at our house.

Madeline is 7 or 8, and left us a darling handwritten "ad" for her "mother's helper" service. We couldn't say no, so twice now she's played with Isaac while we got stuff done around the house. And she gets a couple of dollars, which she parades proudly around with. So when they came to the house, we hired Madeline for an hour to keep an eye on Isaac while we finished our chores (including a mow). Then we got some Famous Dave's for a feast!

Pamela, Bella, and Isaac were all asleep by 8:30 I think... I puttered around, not doing anything work, language, or brainready related at all: I rented a movie "The Fountain" with Hugh Jackman.

Now, I'm a huge fan of the Clooney Solaris movie, and the reviews of the Fountain were of a similar tone, so I was expecting a mishmash of musings about love, death, and life. And I got it. But it wasn't all THAT great. It was very nonlinear, and about the quest to conquer death. I was distracted, however, in that a recurring image of this star he way flying to in the future track looked a lot like the cover to Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life". and then I think of "Sir Duke", and it sort of breaks the mood. You may think I'm kidding, but I'm not here. Anyway, it was pretty OK with some interesting bits, but as a whole, a bit of a mess. Oh well.

By the way, Bella is now forbidden from whining that "She's BOOORED" when we deny her a video. She's acting so old these days! Last night, as we were lying in bed, she was wearing her favorite flannel duck pajamas. Suddenly, she sat up and said "You have got to be kidding me... these pajamas are WAY hot. They're totally too thick. I need different pajamas". So we switched to the silky monkey pajamas... while she is remarking "What were we thinking? The silky monkeys are WAY better".

And so with the family a snooze, and me getting more tired, I think it's time to say goodbye to Saturday, and welcome Sunday to the fold.

Corporate Tales of Woe Part 1

Today I went for a long walk at lunch - a good 45 minutes outside and found myself musing about my work, my life, and some of the odd places I've been... and I decided to do occasional blog postings on horrible work experiences I've had in the corporate world. Just little anecdotes. Not a horrible diatribe - don't get me wrong: I do love what I'm doing these days... but some of my early work...

Way back in 1992 when I was just getting started in IT, I took a programmer job for an outsource code shop. Looking back, I was a subcontractor working for a subcontractor, working for a contractor, working for a telephone company in southern Minnesota. I was paid $15/hr, and told to bill 40 hours a week, no matter what I was doing. With 3 subcontracting firms above me, I am guessing that the client must have been paying at least $50/hr for my work, with everyone taking betweekn $5-10/hr off the top.

We were in an office plaza in Eden Prairie, the dress was business formal (shirt, ties, slacks), there were 6 of us in this office. I shared an office with a woman just a little older than I. In the back were the "mainframe guys" who literally did nothing but play card games on the computer all day. One other guy would stare at lines of code all day. One slept. This was before the world wide web - I can only imagine what THAT would have been like.

For 4 weeks, I was given nothing to do. NOTHING. But bill 40 hours, and say I was doing "Conversion" work. Turns out, this shop was in the SLOW and LABORIOUS process of converting a system from MainFrame to Windows Server... very very very slowly. Bored, I surfed through the code library, trying to make sense of what the system did (boring billing stuff), and see what massive changes were needed.

Finally, after 4 weeks, they gave me an assignment: Take this one program, and convert it. It should take 2 weeks, they said. I took this program, and God as my witness, all I could see it needed was ONE LINE of code changed to work properly. So I did it. And my boss said "you're not done, this will take two weeks". Which I took to mean there was something else I needed to do. So i got in there and started to do some additional improvements, I reformatted the output to work on standard printers, I changed some of the input parameters to match PC keyboards better....

And after 2 weeks of puttering, my boss said "it'll take another week". So a week LATER, they sent off the code. And one week AFTER THAT, the top-level contracting firm called up and yelled at me for making all of those changes, what was I STUPID??? So I immediately backed out those changes, just did the one line of code, and shipped it off 10 minutes later.

8 weeks, and only one program modified, and only one LINE of code modified. And I had made almost $5000. And it felt TERRIBLE. I talked to others in the office, and they all said "kid, relax, this is an easy gig - enjoy it! The next one won't be like this and you'll remember this fondly". Really.

The boss called me into his office and said that "the clients wanted me fired, but he talked them into giving me another chance". I said thank you for the opportunity, but I don't think this is right for me. I walked out. Actually I'd like to say I walked out, but I gave two weeks notice, did nothing but show up for 80 more hours, made another grand. Sigh.

Two gigs later, I ran into one of the Mainframe Guys in the shop: He had taken ill and there was some code that NEEDED to get done. I filled in, and the work that was supposed to be 80% done hadn't been started, but that was ok because the two weeks he had said he needed turned out to have been only about 30 minutes of code on my part. I didn't make a big deal out of it... but I did learn some lessons about trusting people: there are a lot of people in this business who are not interested in working very hard, and are not above deception to keep themselves comfortable.

I am not one of those people.

9 Months

Today Isaac is 9 months old. What a blur the last 9 months have been!!!

That's all I have to say at the moment... gotta go work!

Father's Day!!!!

As I wrote, my hopes for father's day were a little sleep, some cuddles, and the crossword. As of 9:45 tonight, the first one was achieved, and the crossword is not far from done. But cuddles? The kids were just too hyper today to pull that off... well there were a few, I guess!

The house woke up at 7, and let me sleep til 8:30. Already things were getting crazy - Bella was VERY excited about the day and was literally running in circles over and over, jumping over Isaac, jumping on Mommy... she got so hot she stripped down to undies to keep running around. This much energy couldn't be contained, so I got showered and dressed and dragged her out of the house to see the Penguins Surfing movie, which was really a LOT of fun. (no violence other than a comic whack or two, no physical peril, no big villains, no crude jokes, just a good comedy about surfing penguins, and Zooey Deschanel was the voice of a googly eyed girl penguin... gotta love that).

Then it was straight over to Grandma and Grandpa's house - where they had put up an advanced slip and slide for Bella... and a tiny pool for Isaac. I was told to go put my feet up and chat with Dad, while Grandma wrangled the kids... which was heavenly. The puzzle got around half done, I had a great chat with dad, and I even caught a little nap in there. Bella and Isaac went through 3 outfits each, being drawn like moths to the flame of the water.... (malformed analogy: Acknowledged, but somehow relevant)

Carrie and Scott showed up and the party kept going - a crab and shrimp feast was concocted (along with salad and bread, natch) and finished with Key Lime Pie from Turtle Bread (a wonderfully tart pie, a Bella ate a full slice!) Got everyone home by 7:30, Isaac and Bella were zonked by 8, which was good because I needed to go get MaeMae and Jenny from the airport - they had been visiting Randy in DC.

So now I'm home, everyone's asleep (including Pamela, whose back finally conked out after ALL of that great activity this weekend) and I'm updating the world...

It was a busy day - busier than I had perhaps anticipated, but that's what being a dad of an 8month old hercules and a 4.5 year old busybody will do: It's just a busy life, and that's what I signed off for: I wouldn't want a father's day without doing any dad stuff!!! (I even changed the one poopy diaper of the day - hey... wait a minute... I got ripped off!!!)

Odd Encounter...

A few days ago, I was going into a sandwich shop and spotted an old acquaintance. He hadn't noticed me, and honestly, I would have been ok if he never did, but as i crept closer to the sandwich pickup spot, I passed within inches of his table, and our eyes met.

It was Matt, the saxophonist from my high school rock band PG13. Ok - it was 1984-1986. We loved INXS. We played half covers, half originals, and weren't half bad... but we did have a saxophonist, and he loved to play. He played on and over every single song we wrote - no matter if we were singing, a guitar solo, whatever, there was this honking going on at all times. And he was WAY more serious about "The Band" than any of the rest of us combined - he really wanted to go to the top.

He was also a very mean person in some ways: his screamed phone conversations with his mother during band practices were equal parts hilarious and chilling - we weren't sure if both would survive. He also had some very non-sequiteur expressions: Talking about a family that was "Old World", he said "Old world? Third world! Probably squeezing out babies right now". This was about a polish maestro and his son our good friend. Bizarre.

Things with Matt after the band got strange(r) - he got into fast motorcycles, went off to a music college, tried to get my mom to co-sign on a loan for a soprano saxophone. I saw him every few years after that - suddenly he was a bouncer at William's pub? I heard second hand that he had created a combination Bass and Sax, which made no sense, because during a sax solo, wouldn't you still need the bass going?

So now I see him again, and he's looking like a Gym Rat, with a shockingly young miss thang with a bare midriff, improbable chest, and "Diva" printed across her bum. He gives me a very mild "hey" and asks "so are you still doing that thing you were doing last time we met?" - possibly the most effective way of saying "I don't remember, nor do I care what your life is". So I said yes, gave him the 10 second update. He shared that he owns a Gym not far away... and that's it.

So we parted ways... in truth, we were never friends, just co-workers in a band, and without that context, there just isn't much to relate. I refused to ask the question "do you still do music". That feels like I'd be trying to connect, and this is a guy I don't need to connect with.

No big lesson here, and not a hilarious story - just an odd encounter with the past.

Further Pleasantness

Friday, she was a nutty day. Big meetings at OldClient, then hustling across town to a full day of vendor demos for NewClient, complete with recap documentation sent out by 5pm. Grabbed some Thai at King and I, and met Pamela at home, where Uncle Ant was waiting. Yes, that means another Scotch Tasting was on offer. But Ant has become more than an evening pal - he loves Bella and Isaac and plays with them (while also making good conversation with us) for over an hour before we get to business... So the whole family actually looks forward to our Scotch nights.

The tasting was narrower this time (and Nick/Chicken was still in Seattle) - vertical tasting of 3 years of Highland Park, and a lateral tasting of two Dalwhinnies - one double matured. It was a highland Scotland party. but then we did a "pretasting" of a dram that will be formally tasted in 2 weeks when Nick rejoins us: A Laphroaig Quarter Cask. And shock and surprise, the Lap showed amazing character and overshadowed our Highland party.

The movie was X2, which still brought a tear to my eye... though even MORE so when I consider how badly they had screwed up X3 - such DRECK that movie.

In the night, I had more of those crazy hallucinations where I think Isaac has been left in bed with us and I need to get him out or we might roll over him accidentally (I'm very afraid of the "Family Bed" concept, I guess). And of course it was Pamela who woke me up demanding to know why I was trying to lift her knee out of bed (I had a pretty good grip and was pulling hard). An hour later, the dream returned, but in a strange moment of lucidity, I put aside the possible imminent danger of Isaac rolling out of bed, and crept into his room to see if he was really THERE. He was, and Pamela's body parts were safe again.

An early morning - Isaac woke at 6:15, Bella at 6:30. Bella played in the AM with Casey, then we all ran off to the Arboretum - the "Big Room". We were there for 4 hours, going through hedge mazes, looking at art, eating, and generally loving the world. It's amazing to watch Bella there: She was all rolleyes and bored in the car, until she figured out where we were going - then she perked up "I LOVE THIS PLACE!"

And she is truly at peace in the Arboretum - she meanders, looking at plants, at sculpture, doing activities - she has such a peaceful look on her face, true contentment. I had a flash of her as a botanist or some such thing in the future. Isaac, on the other hand, was experimenting to see just HOW MANY TIMES we would discourage him from eating bark chips: After a certain point, you just need to let him have a taste... he figured it out more or less.

That's that latest - Isaac is asleep, Bella is not far from bedtime... not sure what the night brings us, but I'm hoping that Father's Day brings me a nice crossword, a sudoku, a little sleeping in, and a cuddle or two from the family.

A great weekend...

Friday afternoon, we packed the kids up and went down to Lanesboro MN - mere miles from Iowa and Wisconsin, this little town amidst rolling hills and glacier-cut rock faces has experienced a rebirth thanks to over 60 miles of old railroad bed being turned into paved trails: In the summer it's a biker's haven, in the winter, X-Country skiers rejoice.

We stayed at a converted grain mill in a two room suite... cards on the table, we were not HUGE fans of this room: It was below ground, one of the two rooms had no AC, and there was a dehumidifier running at all times. And there were no windows. And there was a mustiness that had our children coughing at night. But we lasted two nights there... surprisingly. The third nights, we DID move to a new suite, which was much brighter and more airy.

Though a cycling mecca, we were bipedal tourists: Pamela's back isn't back up to snuff yet, so we padded around, visited amish stuff, and spent a LOT of time in Sylvan Park, a big open area with a great playground.

The first two days, at the park, there was a green dinosaur that Bella just insisted on sitting on: She would spend 10-15 minutes on that dino, lost in thought. She wouldn't touch the rest of the gear. But you know our girl, she's the observer. She was planted there figuring out the whole park. So by Sunday morning, she barely said a hello to the dino, before hitting the equipment with gusto and making friends. On Sunday AM, she chatted up a 7 year old boy, and they were fast friends for over 2 hours. In the evening, she and a 3 year old got to be partners in crime. In both cases, she sort of hung out doing something on the gym, waiting to be noticed. She's cunning that way.

Food was pretty decent: There are some haute cuisine places we simply did not visit due to the kiddles. But bar/diner/cafe food was all done well: Some of the best onion rings of my life were at the Pedal Pusher cafe. Breakfast at the "Chat n Chew" didn't disappoint either visit... Bella subsisted on Cheerios, Buttered Toast, Pizza, and Ensure somehow. Isaac insisted on teething biscuits for every meal... or he'd make our lives challenging. The biscuits kept coming, so the peace was kept. And boy, he would get filthy as a result!!!!

Pamela took a few hours out to do an Amish tour, which sadly wasn't quite up to her expectations... but there were other real life ones she chatted up (and bought goods from), so it was a wash.

The only downside to the trip was that the kids just plain did NOT sleep well, and as a result we didn't sleep well either. So it was a lot of wrangling, and playing, and pushing strollers, and playing, and eating and managing them in restaurants, and comforting them as they woke... So mom and dad are pretty much cashed. It didn't help matters that I got completely overtired and went on a Quixotic crusade against whirring, buzzing, and clicking sounds in our room last night, not falling asleep until well after 3am. Old man B-Reay was in FULL EFFECT, and Pamela was a kind kind woman not to have murdered me.

One nice thing was to have been totally disconnected for the weekend: No cellphone coverage in that valley. There were Wifi hotspots everywhere, but the computer had been left at home (WHAT???). When we hit Rochester on the trip home, my phone filled up with messages and emails, and fortunately the world did NOT end during my absence... though one email ALMOST TOLD ME ABOUT THE SOPRANOS FINALE WHICH I HAVE NOT YET SEEN!!!!!!

On the ride home, Isaac mercifully napped for 2 hours, and was easy to keep under wraps the remaining 45 minutes. Bella made good use of the Ipod, watching the NEW Pooh adventures (Purists beware - it's CGI, and CR is a girl... And they go on "detective adventures"... but Bella seems to love it).

And now Bella's playing in the basement with Casey from the hood, and I'm hoping it's an early bedtime for the kids so that the Sopranos CAN be seen, because I almost ruined last week's episode for one of my coworkers, and I'm POSITIVE he's waiting to return the favor... ;->

Good to be back!

What's happening?

1) Pamela's back continues to improve: She is almost back to full fighting strength, and is capable of caring for the kiddos on her own for good stretches. She hasn't needed much pain killer, so we're optimistic that her back is definitely on the mend.

Her finger was looked at by the docs today, and they'll start doing exercises with the finger this weekend: Which means they're optimistic that it's healing. So I'm hoping to have a fully functional googy in the near future. Whew!

2) Isaac Isaac Isaac. He is now pulling up to stand, and then raising his hands, standing free. He is so proud of himself... he gives such a big smile when he stands! It's only a matter of time before he's marching around the house. I wonder how Bella will take it?

3) Bella Bella Bella. The other morning, I was sleeping in, Pamela had Isaac downstairs. Bella came downstairs and told Pamela "I was in my room and I heard a sound, so I went out into the hall to see what it was, and then I went into your room, and I realized the sound was coming out of daddy's nose".

She has a soccer ball now, and loves to carry it around and do a LITTLE kicking work. Perhaps more than kicking, she likes to have the ball rolled to her so she can STOP it with her foot, and tap it back. Again, she likes activities where CONTROL is the object, not distance of kicking....

4) ME AMO CRAIGSLIST. Oh my goodness. We're getting rid of a few things (including one of the big TVs). I put postings on Craigslist, and I had two of the things gone the same night, paid for by cash, no muss no fuss. Item 3 will be picked up tomorrow. It's amazing - people really read these ads and come get stuff. And there are no fees, and you're not bombarded by people asking for shipping costs and will I return the balance from a cashier's check that you always get with Ebay. CRAIGSLIST UBER ALLES.

And yes, we're down to one TV now, and our living room has no TV: We're changing the lifestyle - TV is a destination (basement) if we want to see something we make an effort. We're also reverting to basic cable and losing the DVR. We have books to read, languages to learn, and children to play with. Who needs it?

That's the update for now... Now that things are getting less crazy at the house with Pamela back in action, I'm hoping to update with more regularity again!

The Columbo Effect

Today was the big kickoff at the new client... a full day started with a presentation, went into a walkabout, and ended with heavy heavy geek talk. It's a little interesting the arrangement: My boss is out for 6 weeks with replacement knee surgery. My main go-to guy is turning into an over-allocated resource (and was deathly ill today), so it's looking like I'll be doing a lot of the work myself, which is just fine. Because not only did I take this gig to get closer to the delivery of patient care, but I also took it to refresh my tech geek chops.

And refreshed they're being: I spent an hour at a whiteboard outlining data replication and storage network connectivity: Turns out the initial plan had some flaws which I kindly pointed out, and we designed a better solution together. Moments like that, I live for. Not to be the 24/7 geek, but rather to be the high-level project guy who sweeps in Columbo-like and asks "there's just one thing I don't understand..." and the nerds realize that I HAVE been tracking all along... I love it.

But a day like today makes me realize -- for the next few months I could easily be doing 50+ hours a week between the two clients. Could be a lucrative summer... if I can keep the home life balance going.

Speaking of home: Pamela was solo with Isaac for a couple of hours today, and wasn't gravely injured. Her range of motion keeps getting better, she really is turning a corner. She had a rough night last night - the Vicodin tried to get its talons into her and didn't take kindly to her decision to give the stuff up. She had some mild withdrawl, with wild tossing and turning. She wound up on the couch (her decision, not mine! Poor DEAR!!!).

Isaac started raspberrying like crazy this week, crawling around making motorboat sounds. I got some video of it, and it's been making us giggle pretty much nonstop. Bella has been playing with friends a lot - it's going to be a play-hearty summer. Today was a humid afternoon, and late afternoon, the clouds opened up with a warm downpour. In an expression of pure kid-joy, Bella and Casey ran outside, got soaking wet, played on the playset, had water fights, and laughed wildly. It was a pleasure to see them out there connecting to the world!!!

At Bella's age, there's a lot of willfulness. LOTS. And I'm reminded of a tale I was told about my own youth. As a little boy (3? 4?) one clear January morning, I walked to the door in shorts and a tee-shirt. Mom said no, it's way too cold for that sort of outfit. But the kid-tv weather guy "Wallace the WeatherBear" had said it would be a beautiful, sunny day. And so I told mom what Wallace had said, and that yes, I WOULD be going out in this. After arguing the point, Mom said "ok, go on outside". I proudly marched out, got to the end of the porch and realized... it's sunny, but COLD. I turned around and pounded on the door: Mom let me in, but only after coercing a confession: Who would I believe? Mom or Wallace? MOM.

Now, before I had kids, this was just a funny story. When I had an infant, I confess, the story sounded just TERRIBLE - who could do such a thing? That's just NOT FUNNY!!!!! But now I have a 4 year old, and the story sounds just about right. I can't say I would have played that one differently than Mom in the end. Especially if little Jim was half as willful as Bella is (and Isaac is shaping up to be).

It's off to bed now - It's been a successful day at work, and at home, so my rest will be just.

Very very quick update

Pamela is on the move again: Her range of motion improves daily - she was able to drive herself to the chiro yesterday! Her pain is lessening, and we can see recovery in the future! She even picked up Isaac last night... it's the putting him DOWN that's stressful on the back.

Isaac is cooperating by sleeping pretty well the past two nights - which makes daddy much happier too.

Today's a big day at the new client: A big kickoff meeting with doctors and the vendor... Should be fun! Better get going!

The Fog of Life

Ok, since Wednesday, Pamela's been flat on her back, it's that bad. She was able to make it to the Chiropractor Friday, padded around a little Saturday, and was actually up and around more than she was in bed today (though it wiped her out). The hard thing for me has been that with her back kaput, I'm the Isaac handler. And he's going through something strange right now - waking up every 2-3 hours throughout the night and being very hard to settle. So I've been operating on 3-4 hours of sleep total per night since her back went out the first time over a week ago.

I'm ashamed to admit that it's wearing on me. I got downright rude this morning, and had to make up for it by making breakfast and being extra nice... I can't imagine not being able to move - I have deep sympathy. I'd just like to imagine sleeping more, and my nerves are getting a bit ragged. I'm glad she's on the uptick, at least!

Today was a very nice day: Bella was with Grandma and Grandpa on an overnight last night and stayed with them into the afternoon, so it was just us three in the house. Pamela had an errand to run, so I drove the three of us to it, then I needed to wait on that side of town for an hour. So Isaac and I took a long walk around a lake which was very nice.

The family came over late afternoon for grilling and laughs - and Pamela was able to make it downstairs and participate - albeit in a slightly drug-induced timedelay manner. It meant a lot that she was there! Dad had steaks, and I actually grilled them to order: Dad's Rare was rare, Scott's Medium Rare really was, and mine was really medium! Remarkable what a decent grill can do for your cooking.

You may know that Isaac has been a true puzzle with the eating - he's 8 months old, and none of us can get a spoon of food into him. But he'll eat crackers or fruit in cheesecloth: If he can't do it himself, he wants none of it... but will settle for bottles. Well tonight we got the cheesecloth out and tried a new thing: Mangos. And hoo baby does Isaac like the mango. He ate to big slices, and got a faraway look in his eye, a deep contentment as he gnawed on the yellow flesh. So we're buying stock in Mangos inc and have a hold on Mangoes.com. Hooray for Mangoes!

Everyone's asleep now but me... and I'm not far behind. I just wanted to give a quick update!

Baby got back.

Yesterday, yes there were trucks. We've established that. But it was also a VERY LONG DAY at work, with no fewer than 3 major crises occurring that I wound up coming up with solutions for. After the trucks and the blogging, at 11:30pm a just-before-bed check of messages revealed that things had gone poorly with one of my recovery efforts, and there was a very good chance that 70 people would show up to a meeting Wednesday AM and not have a system for their demos.

Most frustratingly, at the root of all of my crises yesterday was HUMAN ERROR. People not doing what they were supposed to, or not asking questions before acting, or unilaterally deciding they were done for the day in the middle of a process... PEOPLE.

Fortunately, by 6:30am, things had been resolved more or less - those same humans causing the problems did pull it together to help solve them, so that was good. So around 7:30 I was good and ready to strut into work, knowing things were under control.

I was in mid-shower when Bella ran upstairs to say "Mommy wants you to know she is stuck and can't move". I rinsed off and sprinted downstairs to find her splayed awkwardly on the couch: Apparently she was picking up Isaac and her back popped out grandly. I had to help her upstairs, and she was in a LOT of pain, and couldn't move at all.

Happily, Grampette was on tap and ran over to take care of the kids while I went to work. I checked in frequently: Around 2pm, the tornado sirens went off and Pamela crawled all the way to the basement (despite the fact that this house is so solid it'll be the last thing standing on Scott Terrace in the year 3000... her storm warning training is deeply ingrained and I respect that).

By the evening when I returned, the torch was passed to JeMae, who was helping with Isaac while Bella played with Jenny. I got food... fed everyone... put Isaac to bed, put Bella to bed after everyone left, am blogging, and am preparing to haul Pamela back up to bed. She's got some "good" painkillers, which I'm hoping help her regain SOME movement (or at least allow her to move a little which COULD help that back pop back into place). Tomorrow she has another appt with the Chiro, and Grampette and MaeMae are willing to help out with the kids. I can steal away to take Pamela to the doc as needed, but it's another busy day planned at BOTH clients, alas, and I won't be able to skip work.

I tell you, between the bum finger and the bum back, I'm going to DEFINITELY need to check my extended warranty options on Pamela - see if I can get a full drivetrain extension to 100,000 miles or so.

Of course American Idol finished tonight, and I got to hear the "Song" that won the contest. A very generic chest pounder, and it's no wonder Jordin was able to knock it out better... and now she it our idol. Please don't directly worship her, however, as that is forbidden in the commandments. I will say that MY Idol song (which I abandoned as too trite) was certainly competitive with the one that won. But since I never finished it, you'll just have to take my word on that.

Finally, as I put Bella to bed tonight, the bedtime story was a book called "Paris" from the 1960s, in French, which shows all sorts of things you would find in Paris. I read it in French to her, and translated each page as we went. Bella thought it was pretty cool to hear it in the language, and I think she would like to visit Paris. She was particularly interested in the Louvre - imagining just HOW MUCH ART could be in a building that big... and the REAL MONA LISA is there? WOW!!!

So it's off to bed early for me, since I'll be on duty all night with the 3x a night wake-up monster. Wish me luck... and send good wishes to Pamela's lower back. We could ALL use a miracle there.

TRUCKS TRUCKS TRUCKS

The Edina Public Works department had an open house this evening... AND IT WAS AWESOME. WE brought the kids and walked around the garage - they had set up displays and opened up the equipment to view. Helpful guys were everywhere and boy they WANTED to tell us about the cool things they do.

One guy caught me and told me all about the HVAC system they put into City Hall. Three boilers, rotating each day, with zone temp controls for each room, recovered energy on the outflow, realtime digital monitoring of temperatures anywhere, bar graphs showing temps and airflows for the past five days... little animated fans in their graphics.

Another guy gave me the "key" to what those sprayed markings mean when they're about to tear up the ground (Red is electrical, Orange is cable/phone, Blue is water, Green is sewer, and Yellow is GAS) I guess I could have just found that out from Wikipedia but it was more fun to be told. He also told me about the way that lights change when the police are coming: It's a 120hz strobe light that triggers it. When you see a SOLID light above the streetlamps, it means the emergency vehicle is behind or in front of you. If it's blinking, it means the vehicle will be CROSSING in front of you.

The gentleman in front of the automatic pothole filler truck (a huge unit with a telescoping arm on the front) said he was picked for the job because he's a mechanic (and can fix the arm when needed) AND a videogame nut (because it's all run with a joystick in the cab). This arm - he positions it over the hole, uses high pressure air to clear out the debris, then fills the hole with a mixture of crushed granite and oil, then dusts it with rock, rolls over it and moves on. He can fill holes up to 8" deep, and it takes all of 90 sec to finish one. He can do TWICE the work of a two man crew...

The guy with the Sewer Vacuum truck did patiently explain to a kid in a Star Wars shirt that no, those aren't missiles on the side of the truck, just vacuum canisters.

The man in front of the 18' wide mower confessed that when he started out, it sure seemed massive, but now he knows the boundaries pretty well... but was thrown off when they got a new 24' wide mower... it's like learning all over again. He hand sharpens all of the blades once a week, by the way - the thing cost over $80k, and if you don't take good care of it, it's going to cost a lot more than THAT.

The road painting truck was there to see: There's a tank for yellow paint, white paint, and GLASS: Yes, when they're painting, they blast glass dust into the paint, so that it refracts with your headlights.

I was a good dad, by the way, and Bella was by my side as I learned ALL of this essential knowledge, and I fed it all back to her. She seemed pretty interested, though by the end, all she wanted was an ice cream treat. I will also mention that Pamela was with Isaac while I was absorbing all of this VITAL INFORMATION... but there were moms of other boys we knew, so they were standing around chatting.

There is one excellent picture I'll need to upload: Bella in the back of a police cruiser. Hopefully that will be the last time....

We went off to Big Bowl for food, and Bella ate two kid's entrees... so boy, her patience must have really been at the end! I'm sure, however, that as the years go on, she will remember the day we all saw the giant trucks. At least I will.

Another Whirlwind...

On Saturday night, I was feeling a bit listless: I didn't want to work on Brainready, I didn't feel like a language lesson, I didn't want to write music... so I confided in my spouse that I was feeling a little like a loser... Shouldn't I be DOING something? She had a good long laugh and talked me out of the tree. She reminded me that my life in the past year has been something sort of crazy - with the language, blogging, writing music, exercising, making books, working multiple gigs, AND being a great dad who is there for the kids AND taking care of a lady with a bum finger AND whose back went out... She demanded that I cut myself a little slack. So slack has been cut... just a little.

I just wanted everyone in blogland to know that I do have moments of human weakness and tiredness. It DOES happen. And who could blame me after yet another busy busy weekend?

On Saturday we had won in the church auction (which means more "bought" than "won" but why quibble on semantics?) a morning of bowling and bagels. It was in a school basement in St Paul, the CUTEST little bowling alley: 6 lanes, very old equipment (but curiously, the scorer was totally high tech - but you could see the old pinsetters clanking away). We had the run of the place with 6 other couples with kids who also "won" with us.

Bella was very shy about bowling, but got the hang of it by the 5th frame, and was crawling around like a tiger, growling at the pins, daring them to stay standing. Of course the kids had bumpers in the lanes, and the kids learned some cool billiards-style "banking" maneuvers to help them maximize the pinfalls. It's telling that Bella got a better score in the end than I did (the parents played in non-bumper lanes).

We tried to hit Cossetta's afterward, but there was a line out the door, so nuts to that. We then went to our former neighbors' new housewarming party. It instantly became clear why they moved out of the neighborhood: The house was AMAZING, and very perfect for them. I made some contact with Japanese speakers (see the other blog on that), and learned where the best sushi in town REALLY is (Kabuki in Eden Prairie!).

After my freak out in the evening, we went to bed good and early.

We all got up a little late (around 8) which was very nice. Bella and I passed on the funnies and drew our own, which is one of my favorite things to do now. Bella is still exploring the hilarity of the "Sneeze" gag, so this morning, the comic was about a girl eating sausage for breakfast, sneezes violently, and is amazed to see she has blown the sausages clear off of her plate. I'm really thinking these are pulitzer material. We'll see.

Today was MUCH MUCH COLDER, and we did get some rain in the afternoon thank goodness. But in the cold cold morning, my biking Bella decided she needed to take a ride. So we went up 4 blocks to the toy bench... and back slowly. She is VERY afraid of "coasting" at all, and would much prefer to work up a hill than enjoy the ride of the downhill. So she was getting off the bike and walking it in all the areas where any NORMAL kid would coast, and really working the pedals on the hard uphills that any NORMAL kid would ask for a push on. I love my mutant daughter.

Isaac woke up today with a glint in his eye, and a taste for trouble. He must have got an extra half inch on his bones, because he was getting into EVERYTHING today. He reached up to a table and spilled juice. He reached into a bin and took out CDs. He found a closed door and pushed it open. He stood up against a wall without any handholds (walking his hands up the wall), grabbed a picture taped to the wall and ripped it down. So today the GATES went up.

We are now living is a home with closable zones. And he has ALREADY figured out that this is for his benefit/imprisonment, and he howls at the outrage. Bella was the same way whenever we tried to close her into a room with a gate, it didn't matter if she was happily playing clear across the room: She heard that gate and she ran across, grabbed the bars, and wailed at our cruelty... when in fact we just wanted to keep her in one place so we could maybe grab a shower? Isaac has the same tendency, 4 hours into it.

Pamela's back was still hurting (she is going to the Chiro early this week...) so she passed out around 8, perhaps asleep even before Bella. So I've been knocking around... not actually being productive mind you, but enjoying a little relaxation. I hope the readership doesn't mind...

Though I did just make a bet that I'd finish Book 4 of my exercises for brainready in 10 days, or I'm buying a sushi feast....

An AWESOME Friday

Work: Spent the morning with my old client, mopping up the aftermath of a particularly annoying "emergency" that we were all drawn into at the end of the day Thursday. It was something that was presented as a "Patient Care Issue", but wound up really being a report formatting issue that was VERY work-aroundable. The department in question likes to be the tail wagging the dog a bit, so we've got some work to do with them...

In the afternoon, I was encouraged to come out to the NEW client to see some workflows in action... So I got there and was told to "suit up" - an angioplasty was being done RIGHT NOW, so I got to see the procedure being done, and the software they use to document the procedure... and be in the middle of an OR, listening to the banter. It was a non-critical case, but there were some difficulties.

Afterward, one of the techs talked me through the whole procedure, what was happening, why there was a difficulty, what some of the terminology they used was. He was very helpful and patient, and I was on cloud NINE: IT WAS SO COOL to be in there. I suggested that I could REALLY help them out if I knew their workflows better, and now I have an open invite - anytime they're doing a procedure, I can get my lead apron on, wear a hat and mask, and watch the entire procedure.

THIS is the sort of this I was hoping for with this new gig - getting closer to patient care, seeing technology HELPING people. At the old client, I still love what I'm doing, but billing and receivables... I could just as easily be working for Target or something.

HOME: When I got home, Bella was READY TO GO. I had got a couple of phone calls during the day confirming my time for arrival: WHEN WOULD I BE HOME???? And why this urgency?

Friday was the day Bella was to get a BIKE. A two wheeler (with training wheels). The real deal. She was deliriously excited about the prospects.

We went to a small, locally owned bike shop and asked to see the kids bikes. (We had preshopped at Toys R Us the day before, with no luck - kids bikes can be nasty little things, covered with BRATZ and BARBIE and other things I don't even know about). The guy was very helpful... it turns out they don't carry any "toy bikes" - only real ones that Bella will be able to use for a few years. We sized her up to a 16" wheel bike, and she was able to climb on and off no problem, pedal, brake, steer, the whole shebang.

The bike is from "Electra", and is the same group that made OUR bikes, our supercool bikes. She picked a light BLUE bike with hawaiian flowers on it. And she rode it around the store, around the house, up the block... she was giddy with pride in her real bike. We got her a pink helmet (it coordinates nicely with the blue bike), and ordered up some tassles and a bell.

With all of the excitement, both kids were pretty late to bed (a midafternoon nap didn't hurt things - while I was watching balloons being fed into a lady's heart, they were snoozing...), and by the time Bella was out, it was well past 10, and we just plain... passed out.

Notes on a Wednesday AM

Some true random notes for the morning:
1) Driving along yesterday, I saw two identical semis driving next to eachother, but one was being towed by one of those GIANT tow trucks. And instantly in my mind I thought "Awww, they're friends, one is sick and has to go to the hospital, and the other is keeping him company". It seemed very sweet at the time.

2) I went to a SMALL work party last night, which was very nice. 6 people sitting around a table chatting for 2 hours... But the best part for me was at the end, a half hour of shooting hoops in the driveway - he had basketballs for everyone, so balls were flying left and right. It felt sort of surreal...

3) We were watching a video and one of those "plasma balls" came on: those things from the Sharper Image back in the 80's - a glass sphere with an electrode in the middle and it has glowing tendrils of plasma... Bella wanted to know how it worked, and I told her it was filled with a special gas that glowed when you put electricity on it.

She said:
I wish I had one of those for a nightlight in my room. It would look so cool. And when people asked me "how do you turn that thing OFF", I'd say "you just take the electricity away"

That's my girl, always thinking.

And that's my mini update.

The weekend, it was wild.

Friday:
The boys came over for another Scotch Night, since Nick was in town. This time we sampled two Glenlivets and three Taliskers. The key learning was about the effect of a "finishing cask" - one of each had a special cask - French Oak for the Glenlivet, something unspecified for the Talisker, and a secret taste of a Glemnorangie with a Madiera Cask revealed that putting that stuff in a different, wood barrel for a good year at the end really imparts a different flavor.

The Glenlivet 18 was a bit of a puzzle to us: A rather stern drink, it demanded a rather rigorous discovery period to get to it's truly happy flavor. In this case it was a splash of water AND at least 5 minutes to sit, and it became a tamed, delicious beast. I think that Rich (the Scientist) was quite proud of having "cracked the code" on that one. For me, the Glenlivet 15 in the oak cask was much more eager to please, so I let it into my heart.

The main movie of the evening was "Renaissance" - a black and white animated french sci-fi movie. So-so noir-ish story, but great visuals, including a beautiful multi-level Paris that retains its character amid the futuristic enhancements. We also watched a movie about Depeche Mode's making of Black Celebration, which was a glorious geek-fest. What was great was that this was an album that had a difficult gestation, and at the end led to a separation between the band and their longtime producer, and we got the real story... right from all of the participants. Very behind the music for the hard geek set.

Oh, Pamela, Bella, and Bam were out having fun at a church Mother-daughter dinner.

Saturday:
Rick, Kari, Bailey, and Ty blew into town late Friday, and Saturday we had 20 people over for Isaac's dedication. It was mostly a yard party, with a 20 minute ceremony in our dining room, with dedications from Kelli, a minister friend of ours (who also sang swing songs of love at our re-wedding 2 years ago), and the 4 godparents: chicken, Kari, MaeMae, and Sherry (who was absent but sent a note to be read). Isaac looked great in the "Reay Heritage" christening gown, and spent the event gnawing on a diamond bracelet.

The evening was grilling with the family, then games into the night.

Over the night, Isaac was a bit hard to settle... not so much crying as just uncomfortable. In the morning we learned why. One tooth broke through his gums, the second is right there about to break through. So he was TEETHING, and as bad as it got for us was a bit of unsettledness and a need for extra cuddles. No wailing, no screams. This kid is AWESOME. We'll see how the molars go, of course... ;)

Sunday:
Despite having been up 3 times with Isaac for extended periods, I treat Mother's day as sacred: Pamela gets to rest, and she gets pampering. She works SO hard every single day that for me to complain on this day just because I'm exhausted seemed a cheap move. So Isaac woke at 6, Bella at 7. Pamela at 9:30. With Bam and the K family in town, I had plenty of coverage, so I ran out and bought bagels: I made bagel/egg sandwiches to rival any store: Fresh made beats reheated egg-pucks any day.

Then it was off to church for Isaac's public dedication: He was wearing a fabulous seersucker "little man" suit, and was very well behaved. He did try to eat the Rose that was offered to him, but otherwise was a perfect gentleman. The rock band was playing fun songs (Come together, Imagine, Love Train), which Isaac loved and danced to. We were well supported - the Ks, my Mom, Sister, Dad, and Karen, Pamela's mom, Uncle Chicken, MaeMae Randy and Jenny, and the whole congregation. Father Ted did a way out sermon about synergy, about how how the higher (and further away) you place your god/gods, the less empowered your society is... it may have freaked out a few of our visitors, but it was a good rant.

In the afternoon, it was lazytime - eating, relaxing. There was even a little napping... but not much. "The Menfolk" were called upon to move a 400 pound stone bench from our yard over to Dad and Karen's: It's a memorial we commissioned to honor Karen's sister Susie who died of an Aneurysm two years ago. When we first made it, Karen wasn't ready to have a memorial... so we kept it. Now she's ready, and we gladly had it moved. And now it's at home in her garden, where it looks beautiful.

Summary:
So it was a VERY busy weekend, and it's nice to have a quiet house (Bam and Pamela are chilling with some telly, the kids are abed.... I'm doing this.) No other big plans are afoot for a while, which is a good thing!

Signs and Portents

Well, just one but it was cool. As I walking up the walk to the house late last night, having picked up Bam from the airport, I felt something SMACK into my abdomen... I thought that's one huge junebug... looked down and realized it was a BAT. It was clearly stunned and flopping around a bit on the ground. It got it's act together and flew away in short order.

It's only fair to say that the bat was sure lucky, since having hit my ROCK HARD ABS must have been like hitting a BRICK WALL. HA HAHAHA ha hhaa ha. ha. Sorry.

That aside, I'm not sure what sign or portent one could ascribe to "got whacked by a bat, but we're both OK".

I did almost a full day at the new client today... It's starting to gel what sort of project this will be, and it still seems fun. Fortunately, they have found me an office that is a little closer to "the action" - actually right in the middle of the cardiology department, so I can be easily accessible... but still a room with a door, so I can have privacy (napping).

I believe I've blogged about CuteOverload in the past. Nothing but cuteness every single day. There's a geeky adjunct out there that I'm a huge fan of called I Can Has Cheezburger This exploits a strange subculture of "Lolcats", where they take cute pictures and add large "caption text" right on the picture. I share this with you not knowing why it exists, but that it is funny.... to me.

Oh, all three BrainReady books are now at Amazon, so people who are feeling all "consumery" might want to check them out. That's the update tonight.

Outer Space

Bella's best friend Jenny's grandma finally passed away this weekend. It had been a loooong haul, this woman spent five weeks bouncing between units, having surgeries, being on and off of machines, before spending 5 days in palliative care. She had amazing tenacity. I kept suggesting they bring her a pen and paper, because she's obviously waiting around to finish the great American Novel before she goes.

But go she went, and it was a peaceful passing. The wake was this evening, and it was actually quite nice.

The upshot is that Bella and Jenny have been talking about (and talked TO about) death and dying a fair amount in the past few weeks. And they're processing this information.

The other day, Bella asked Grampette "where is Heaven?". Grampette decided to keep it somewhat literal, so she said "way up in the sky". Bella replied "So, it's in outer space, then?" I can only imagine Bella has an idea of heaven as a space station of some sort. In that, she is indeed her father's daughter.

And that's the update for the evening.... zzzzzz......

Happy Cinco de Mayo

It turns out the Cinco de Mayo is a relatively minor holiday in Mexico... more of a marketing opportunity in the US really. That said, it's a good thing to pay attention to other cultures, so if we have a day when we "think" about Mexico, even if that day is less important to the actual Mexicans, I say it's a good thing.

I had my Spanish dinner tonight, and it went very well. I felt pretty comfortable and nobody could quite believe that I'd only picked up Spanish in the last year. So, a success. I am glad I had prepared so well... and I'm ready to spend time with my "other languages" again. I also had my first taste of Mezcal, which was very delicious.

Bella loves loves loves her playset. She brings all sorts of things up to the crow's nest and hangs out. She also likes to invite Pamela or me up there, and she plays pirate captain. She was a bit out of sorts today, and needed a lot of parent time, so we spent a lot of time up in that crow's nest.

She's got some new mannerisms: She seems to be channeling a 1950's diner waitress. She'll walk up, prop her arm up on whatever you're sitting on, cock her head a little, and say something like "so, if you're thirsty, I could get you a cup of water you know." or "If you're done reading that paper, I could use some help upstairs". She'll raise her eyebrows, and the delivery is very matter-of-fact, sort almost world-weary at times. It's not something she does all the time, but when she does, it's so cute I just want to scream.

Isaac's in a slightly difficult place: He's so mobile with the fast crawling, and pulling up on everything... but he's still refusing to eat solid foods for the most part - he just clamps that jaw shut and stares you down. And if you persist, he starts with the waterworks. But he also has some new cute moves - he'll actively cuddle now, and his flirty moves are to die for.

Last night we were at a playspace in a mall, and Isaac was making time with ALL the ladies. Bella, on the other hand, found a slightly challenging thing to do (jumping from one structure to another, pulling up and vaulting over it), and did it around 40 times in a row to refine her technique. In previous visits, I had seen her standing and watching other kids doing this move, but she had never attempted it. Last night, she not only attempted it, but she OWNED it.

I get the feeling that that's how it's going to be with her: She wants to see it, think about it, and then do it perfectly (even if this process takes weeks). A couple of weeks back i took her to a dance class, and she WOULD NOT DANCE: She stood there watching everything and everybody, immobile but totally attentive. But now a couple of weeks later, I have seen her doing a couple of the moves from that class when I'm playing music.

On the other hand, I can easily see Isaac seeing, trying, failing, trying, failing, trying, succeeding. It's not that he's without caution, but he seems to be a bit more straightforward. Maybe it's just the "boy" thing?

Final note for the evening: My current client did let all of the employees know that I'd be phasing out in 2 months... and the note itself was one of the nicest I've ever seen. AND I have been inundated with emails and visits from people who are sad to see me moving on. I get the feeling that if I wanted to return, there wouldn't be a problem AT ALL. That's a nice feeling, to know there are options and good will.

Building Permit

Today was the day that the climbing structure arrived. It's big, it's beautiful, and it's actually relatively size-appropriate for the yard. Bella was in a blissful state of happiness that was hard to describe - just a perma-smile as she climbed up and down, and had a snack up in the crow's nest... Isaac seemed to like his special swing.

We made a decision not to invite anyone over, to let Bella know that this is HERS. The playdates can start up tomorrow.

The day was just gorgeous for the install - mid 70's, not too hot, without a cloud in the sky. I had come home to oversee the install over lunch. Alas, I needed to get back to work JUST as the guy arrived...

I got home in time to grill up some chicken for dinner, while Pamela made some very nice green beans with lime and cilantro. Dinner was served on the deck, then I had to flee to go work out: On Wednesdays I like to do a double - BodyPump AND BodyJam.

I got there just as the warmups were starting (2 min late), and Jeannie the owner did me the "favor" of setting up my bench for me: RIGHT IN FRONT and CENTER. A good number of people probably couldn't see the instructor what with me looming up there. But it was a good workout. The bodyjam dance set was also a blast, and I find myself NOT terribly exhausted after 2 hours of working out.

I'm excited to have another meeting with the new client tomorrow: This time I meet more of the business owners and start leading meetings.

And that's about what I know right now... not TOO clever tonight.

Weary of the double cross

I watched "Lucky Number Sleven" as the family slept, and I probably should have just slept too. It's not that it wasn't a clever movie. Oh it was clever. And many strange characters running around. It was "wacky".

I think that I'm just exhausted with the double-triple-octuple-cross movie. They have such a familiar pattern: They give you everything in the first five minutes, then string you out for the rest of the movie by tactfully omitting key data from each scene until by the end, you say "oh, all those things related to that scene they showed me at the very beginning, so now it all makes sense".

Along the way, there's random violence, crazy throwaway lines, actors having fun in ridiculous outfits and overblown accents... And because we KNOW it's an octuple-cross movie, we're just waiting for the waiter who wandered into the scene randomly to hold the key to the mystery OR shoot someone.

Maybe I need to relax and enjoy things more... but I don't like being put in the position of thinking I need to outsmart a movie, and if I figure it out first, I win, otherwise the movie wins. Some people like Chris Nolan (The Prestige) make excellent puzzle movies, but the movie also has merit BEYOND the puzzle - it's the heart of the movie, not the spine. You can remove the mystery and still have a full structure to enjoy.

A movie like Sleven has the puzzle as it's skeleton, and once it's sussed, there's nothing holding the mass of skin and organs up and it's just a messy pile on the ground.

Not that I hated it... I just felt a bit tired of the whole scheme.

Night night!

Oh accursed human frailty!

So nobody's sick, it's a beautiful day, we even got a half decent night's sleep. Things were shaping up to be a good day. We had such plans: Gardening, me going to exercise, a BBQ in the evening...

Bella started with a "hunger strike", which fortunately I knew what she was holding out for: A cream cheese bagel from Brueggers. So I packed the kids in the stroller and we headed off... and took the long route home so that Pamela would have time to have a leisurely shower unperturbed by her mini shadow (who likes to help pick out EVERYTHING for mommy, from makeup to underwear to shoes).

Upon our return, I saw Pamela holding an ice bag around her finger... uh oh...

Turns out that while enthusiastically tucking the sheets into Isaac's crib, she pushed just wrong on her fingertip, and tore the tendon clean off. So now the end of her her middle finger of her right hand dangles limply. Sadly, this exact injury happened to Pamela's dad just last year - another tucking incident.

We were on our way up to the Emergency room when a brainstorm hit: There's a big orthopedic specialty clinic just up the street, and recently they put a big sign on their building advertising "Acute Injury Clinic" - an orthopedic urgent care! I pulled over, dialed 411, and got connected. Yes, they deal with EXACTLY the sort of injury Pamela has.

We got to the clinic, and it took only 5 minutes to get in to see a doctor, who had the exact treatment ready... this will take 6 weeks to recover, but should NOT require any surgery. Her finger has a stylish temporary splint, and she'll get the custom molded one on Monday. We were back home in less than an hour and a half - about the amount of time it would have taken to get REGISTERED at a regular Emergency Department, in my experience.

So now, I missed my exercise classes... and I'm doing all of the gardening while Pamela directs the work. She's got the pain, but I'm doing the projects. I'm writing this from the basement where I'm hiding, pretending to "look for something". If you get this, PLEASE SEND HELP. There's only so much beer down here.

A Friday Night

Some little bits of status for you:
1) Isaac looks quite on track to be moving directly from the "army crawl" to walking: He's pulling up on everything, standing in his crib, creeping along furniture, and squealing with delight at his cleverness. This is definitely taking precedence over his attempts to coordinate knee-hand crawling: He's back on the belly dragging himself along between vertical objects.

2) At the "old" workplace, I had been given something of an albatross: The largest cube on the floor - almost office sized... but with poor lighting and surrounded by large walls and with the worst cell reception in the area. In addition, the setup forced me to have my back to the door/hall at all times, so every single person who came to speak to me had to clear their throat or say "knock knock" to avoid startling me. But the cube, it was big.

Well, they moved me today to a smaller cube in a less "desirable" row of cubes... but it's near a window, I get great reception, and I face the right way to greet visitors. So don't cry for me argentina - I'm quite happy. But co-workers seem intent in thinking it's a demotion... Which speaks to a strange thing they do there: People move cubes quite often, and the arrangement of the cubes favors seniority: Employees who have been there the longest are closest the the coffee maker, I think. Consultants are clustered in the back room... and will often be shuffled further around in that room if an employee joins - so that the employee can sit in a cube closer to the coffee makers.

It's only my theory: I haven't figured out any other rhyme or reason to this shuffling... I think that Coffee proximity may be it. Oh, I'll survive this madness. It's only for a few months yet. Then I move to my remote windowless office next to the dialysis department at the new client. WHOOOOO!!!!

3) Poor Pamela got a stomach bug yesterday, pulling me home to take care of Isaac (Bella was belle of the ball and had playdates stacked up through the afternoon). I was still trying to get "work" done in the afternoon, with mixed degrees of success. That Isaac is so busy, but then he realizes he's just a baby and is maybe a little scared of all this independence, and needs a cuddle.... So an afternoon watching him is basically play-cry-cuddle-play-cry-feed-lollygag-play-play-play-cry-cuddle... with each phase being between 8 seconds and 3 minutes.

It is a wonder Pamela gets ANYTHING done at all. Much respect going out.

4) Watched a movie tonight: The Illusionist. It came out around the same time as "The Prestige" - I'll never know why studios can go for decades without a turn-of-the-century magician movie, then two come out in the same year and everyone confuses them. Anyway, this is the romantic one, and it was excellent.

It was written by Steven Millhauser, who wrote one of the most surreal books I've ever read "Martin Dressler - Tale of an American Dreamer", which chronicles the rise, rise, rise, and fall of a fictional department store. By the peak, the goods on display in this store defy imagination. By comparison, in the Illusionist, the tricks that Edward Norton's character does are similarly fantastic: A full orange tree blossoming from an empty basket, phantom children, etc...

Twas cool.

5) Final update: I brought Chuck from work out to get Pho today. As you may recall from previous updates, Chuck has some unique restaurant mojo, and often times having him along will cause an unexpected dining experience. I'm pleased to report that today's meal was uneventful AND delicious.

Of course, we HAD tried to go last week, and the place was closed. So perhaps that event had cleared the mojo curse on that particular restaurant.

That's enough. Good night!

Dork Alert

I just want people to know that I have so much geekiness in my head that I've started a second blog. This one is entirely focused on language and my adventures with it.

It's called Language Addict

I'll still post some language-y stuff here... but I think that you might find that the LEVEL of geekiness over there is either your cup of tea or it isn't... and for those of you who are more interested in my Bella and Isaac stories, I'd hate for you to suffer through my obsessions differentiating between two different spanish learning podcasts.

The other advantage I have is that I can share the Languageaddict address with strangers I meet in my language adventures and they won't stumble across too many personal details.

So that's the latest. We'll just have to see how this works.

Los ninos esta noche

Randy and JeMae have been spending a lot of time at my current client hospital: Randy's mom is very ill and possibly on her deathbed. I went to visit them since I'm over that direction and gave them some support - with all of the madness in the past few weeks around us, this is just one more spoke in the crazy wheel.

To help out, Pamela picked up Jenny from the bus after school, and the girls were playing this afternoon. When I got home, I was greeted with wild shrieking... the girls were beyond excited: We were going out to eat and then... TO EDENBOROUGH PARK!!!!!

Dinner was at Fuddruckers. Oh my. They messed up my order every possible way, but in the end, I did eat, so it was ok. The girls liked their food... and the place was pretty quiet. We did play one game in the game room - a totally excellent thing where ping-pong-ball bumblebees are blown aloft by a fan and you are supposed to scoop them and drop them into a bucket. It was surprisingly fun.

Afterwards, we went to the park, which was more empty than I've ever seen it: Bella and Jenny got to do everything - shoot baskets, zoom on wheeled scooter chairs, jump in the moon walk, and climb to the very top of the climbing structure. There were maybe 5 other kids there in total. They were having such a great time! Even Isaac was having fun, chasing a rolling basketball, crawling hither and yon, and working on his standing.

I should mention that Isaac's physicality is getting flat out silly. He's able to pull up to a stand on just about anything. And he's FAST with his crawling: My shame is that on Saturday I had my back turned for just a moment and he bolted past me toward the basement stairs, and pitched over and rolled down two of them. FORTUNATELY, it's just 3 steps to the flight, so there was no epic long tumble which would have been, well, unthinkable. But he got a bruise on his cheek and I feel like the worst dad in the world. I'm getting over that, but the gates are definitely going UP this week.

Anyway, now the kids are all asleep and all seems well with the world. Jenny is spending the night, and got a little sad because she misses her parents who have been at the hospital so much. So she got extra cuddles.

We're counting the days, by the way, to the installation of the new playset in the back yard. Oh, years ago we said "we don't need a playset - there's a great park just down the hill". And we didn't. But now there's Isaac. And when he's napping, Pamela can't really bring Bella down to the park to play. The baby monitor range isn't good enough for one thing.

So we decided to splurge - there was a coupon in the paper - discounts, free delivery and install. So we decided to do it. On Sunday we went to the showroom, and Bella played for over an hour while we decided on all of the details. She jumped up and grabbed the olympic rings and swung herself back and forth - she is STRONG. This will be a good thing for her.

Finally - Isaac got a bit of a cold, and has been a little snuffleubagus. Last night, his stuffy nose got him all awake AND mad, and I wound up driving for 20 minutes with him in back to chill him out. It worked, and that's the first time I've had to do that sort of thing with EITHER kid. Of course I was thinking "Earth Day and I'm burning a gallon of dinosaur mash to put a kid to sleep... " But whatchagonnado?

Ok, the triple post evening is over. Thank you all for your patience.

Language Nuttiness

This weekend was the big Auction at church. Pamela worked her tuchis off on this - she was in charge of decorations, as well as provided a lot of items for auction. Coming right on the heels of the Great Adoption Debacle of 2007, our lives were pretty hectic.

Well, the auction was a great success - over 200 people, over $25k raised for the church, and a crazy good time with good food, cerveza, lots of laughter, and way more auction items that the human mind can process. We bid of a good lot of things, and fortunately only won a few of them.

There was a heated moment during the live auction when Pamela was soundly outbid on a tour of the state capitol and luncheon with the secretary of state.... by the head minister. We really couldn't raise on that. Plus she had doubled the price just like THAT. The lady meant business, it was clear.

One thing I DID win was a Cinco de Mayo dinner party... with the condition that the conversation be all En Español por todo la noche. I'm excited but nervous, because this is just two weeks away, and I need to CRAM on vocabulary for the event. Here's my plan:

- 2 good Spanish Podcasts a day. www.notesonspanish.com has a series of 10 minute long conversations between two people - no script, just a topic... with transcriptions. They are from Madrid, so there may be some lisping that may not work if the diners are Latin American. www.spanishsense.com is the sister site to Chinesepod, and they're Argentinian, and theirs are a bit more basic, but there are good points in there.

- 1 page of translations a day: I'll write out a few key discussion points in English, and then translate them.

So if all goes to plan, in 12 days, I should be a bit more comfortable.

Now, there's actually a chance that this dinner won't happen - I was the only one who bid on it - there were 4 chairs for auction. Oh, and yes, I'd be stag - it was PER SEAT. So either I'll be sitting alone with two social justice advocates, or it might get canceled. We'll see. But I'm sticking with "The Plan." Wish me luck!

Oh how typical

As everyone here knows, Jimmy's starting a new gig. And you all know that I did try to do the right thing by my current client, and that I got everything well arranged. Boy, for transitions, I really thought I had done a good one here. Well, word finally filtered back through my consulting firm that the owners are so VERY disappointed that I have acted so unprofessionally (for working with my client on a transition rather then them, who don't know what I do) and are worried about how they could possibly recover face with the client, and certainly we won't be working together again.

Not to my face of course... but a mole inside the meeting let me know.

I'm just a little frustrated because I actually DID quit them almost 3 years ago. I've been the best not-an-actual-employee they've had. In a year when this current gig is done, you can bet won't be the first people I call for the next gig.

It was fun, but knowing that those people were not being gracious makes me realize they're not my friends. So it's time to move on.

Bella on Tragedy

Today, we went out for a Burrito for dinner. Bella spied a flag at half mast and asked why... much as she had asked back in the President Ford funeral days. I reminded her that it's at half mast because people are sad about something, though I wasn't sure what.

She said "maybe someone died? Or maybe an EAGLE died? That would be really sad."

Sensing a possible moment to ask her about her feelings, with all of the emotions of the past weeks, I asked her what she thought was very sad.

"If a bunny died, that would be the saddest thing. Oh, or a dead butterfly. OR A DEAD BUTTERFLY WITH A DEAD LADYBUG ON IT - that would be the most sad thing. Actually, the dead bunny would be sadder. I love bunnies."

And that's that, I suppose!

Work Update:
I had my orientation at the NEW client today: I'm very excited about this project. It's much smaller than my current project, but it's working with doctors and technology that I need to learn, and I was getting that geek excitement going. I'm formally declared with my current project and consulting company, and there don't seem to be any repercussions, so we're cruising along!

My new office is almost comical in a Brazil sort of way: It's on a different floor than either the IT department or the Cardiology department, in a tucked away corner. It's a big room, but no windows, holes in the walls with exposed wiring, and a locked filing cabinet that's not mine... but I think I'll be able to bring some speakers in and enjoy the privacy... and my cellphone coverage is GREAT throughout the site.

Geek Update:
Last week was Japanese week, this week is Chinese week for language, and I'm still loving it. There's a program at Chinesepod where you can get a 10 minute phone call every day to help you practice and progress.... and maybe in a month or two or three I just might do that for a little bit. I can only imagine it would be amazing practice. I only wish JapanesePod had a similar program.

On the BrainReady front: The third book is on it's way to Amazon, but can be bought anytime at The BrainReady Lulu Store. I've started work on the new 8x11 brainflex worksheets too: I have 6 done so far, and should have another full book of them in 2 weeks or so. These incorporate more of the deeper creative exercises from the BrainChallenge books, have larger fonts, and are generally more readable for tired eyes than the first BrainFlexes.

We're trying to think of really how to get these exercise books out into the hands of some people who need them: Anyone know how to get a case of books out to brain-injured Vets in the VA system without getting trapped in purchasing/requistions hell? I'd give a case away just to get some good feedback and help a few people in need... send me your ideas, ok?

Allright - that's enough update for the day.