Tuesday, February 28, 2006
So the baby?
Doing great. Had the one-week check this morning and the hungry little beast is almost back to her birthweight already. Popped over to have my staples out while we were at it..woo-hoo! Much more comfortable now. Overdid it today and am paying for it, though. Recovery is such a pain! I’m lousy at sitting around waiting to heal. I feel like dancing. I have a beautiful baby, an incredible toddler, and a husband you all should be wicked jealous of me over. And my wedding ring went back on today! Next step, pants without panels. Heh.
Stopped Clock Watch
Massachussetts has a reputation for silly regulation, and sometimes you can clearly see just how well-deserved it is. For example, there’s this business about banning formula company giveaways in hospitals. Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks this is insanely heavy-handed:
State health officials are balking at Gov. Mitt Romney’s demand they immediately reverse their ban on hospital goodie bags filled with free baby formula and coupons — gifts lambasted by pro-nursing groups as anti-breast-feeding propaganda.
Mitt may think that everyone weans to formula eventually, but bless him, he finally said something sensible:
But Romney said yesterday mothers can make their own decision. “If she doesn’t want to use it, she can save it for nine months or six months or a year, when the child is going to be weaned to a bottle,� the governor said.“I’m happy to let the mother decide.�
What a concept! You mean women are smart enough to feed their own children? Say it ain’t so, Mitt, say it ain’t so!
This isn’t enough to make me fond of Romney; quite frankly, I can’t think of a thing that could possibly make me like or even tolerate the man at this point. Nice to know that he does touch bases with reality every now and again, though.
(Story originally spotted at Health Business Blog, via Grand Rounds 2.23, which is up at A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure.)
Positive Air Pressure
One thing that has always seemed strange about the smoke from the apartment downstairs is the appearance that there is positive air pressure. That is, it’s as if their apartment is being pressurized, or air in it fanned upward, so of course it gets forced up through any available opening effectively. Well, yesterday I noticed that the first floor apartment has forced hot air heat! The other two have forced hot water. That explains a lot.
Meanwhile, I did more sealing, mainly to reduce cold air drafts, and that has made the smoke worse. It doesn’t really get worse, but it stays more effectively, and is evident throughout more of the apartment. Doh.
Bloggers Wanted
New England Republican is looking for guest writers. If you fit the description, it’s a great opportunity to do some blogging without maintaining and promoting your own blog.
Monday, February 27, 2006
I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
Mmmm… Robin’s Egg
Sunday, February 26, 2006
The Girls
Interesting Quiz Thingie
I’m a Talent!
You’re a risk-taker, and you follow your passions. You’re determined to take on the world and succeed on your own terms. Whether in the arts, science, engineering, business, or politics, you fearlessly express your own vision of the world. You’re not afraid of a fight, and you’re not afraid to bet your future on your own abilities. If you find a job boring or stifling, you’re already preparing your resume. You believe in doing what you love, and you’re not willing to settle for an ordinary life.
Talent: 81%
Lifer: 19%
Mandarin: 37%
Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.
Update:
A good explanation of what the three results mean can be found here.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Happy Third Blogiversary To Me!
As Kate noted, today is my blogiversary. It’s been a big three years! Hard to believe it’s been only that long since I started blogging, after a long period of reading blogs and repeatedly talking myself out of starting one myself.
That led to my co-founding and running one of the first and most successful blog carnivals, Carnival of the Capitalists, to meeting Deb, getting married, having Sadie and Valerie, and finding many new friends. In a sense, you could say blogging is my life.
Valerie At Home
This is one of the first pictures of Valerie after we arrived home yesterday.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Home
We arrived home a short time ago, a day early. Things are going quite well, though that doesn’t exempt Deb from being careful and taking it easy for a while. We stopped at my grandmother’s for a brief meet the baby visit on the way, even though we didn’t have to stop, as Sadie wasn’t there and I’ll pick her up (and other errands) later. She has spent three days in a row playing with her cousins while my mother went to their house to babysit. I just checked e-mail and made sure things were okay at the office, and we’re settling in and decompressing. Valerie has slept a lot today, including all the way home.
Next order of business is to call the doctor’s office about Valerie’s visit Tuesday morning, and arrange one for Deb next door immediately after.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Sadie Meets Valerie
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Valerie
If you missed it, there are other pictures and details in the previous post. This one was just taken later and is probably the best yet.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Why Yes, She’s Here (Updated With Pictures!)
Valerie Ruth Ellis arrived with much indignation at 8:07 AM eastern time. They had to work to extract her, since she was a strapping 8 lbs and 21 inches. She’s at least as adorable as Sadie was. Not so much with the birthmarks. She makes herself calm by sucking on her thumb, or just her hand, the right one thankyouverymuch. She isn’t as hairy as Sadie was, but does have a full head of long dark hair. What little we have seen of her eyes makes it appear they will not be blue, but a shade of brown or hazel. She was born hungry and knowing how to nurse.
When I left the hospital to come to the client, where I am typing this, she was nursing for the second time already, doing great, and Deb was doing great. I still have to unload our stuff from the car, fire up the laptop and process pictures, so that will follow. If I can stay awake. If I can make the client’s e-mail work again. The simple fix has seen me here over an hour and counting. I am also under suggestion of getting myself lunch not from the hospital cafeteria while I am out and about.
Update:
Pictures! The first two are the first ex-utero pictures of her ever.
Update Again:
There’s another great picture, more of a closeup, in this subsequent post. You can also come back any time to the baby pictures link to see the latest.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Happy Birthday
To two cool nephews: my brother Wayne‘s son Jonathan, and my brother Michael’s son Hunter.
OCD Girl Likes Routines
Real quick before I have to take my turn in the shower and get over to the hospital with Deb for the pre-op.
It was funny last night when Deb did Sadie’s bath. She turned around and Sadie had all her toys organized at one end of the tub and was sitting there expectantly. “Want to come out?” She leaps up and tries to climb over the side.
Then while Deb is holding her in the towel, she keeps reaching for the medicine cabinet door. Deb put her down to get her toothbrush ready and got a “you suck” look.
We have a routine. Most of the bath toys live in the same huge hospital cup we use for hair rinsing, so we start with Sadie putting all the fish toys away in there. I put the cup in its spot on the vanity. Then she stacks the stacking triangle set and I name the colors so she learns them. I put them on their spot. Then she hands me Bob the duck and he perches on top of the stacking triangle cups, as on some fowl pedestal.
Then, if I hadn’t already as a signal to her that it’s time, I take out her toothbrush, put paste on it and set it back on the shelf, ready to go. Then I pick her up, wrap her in the towel, and we grab the brush so she can do her teeth. Then we say bye to Sadie-in-the-mirror, leave the bathroom, finish drying and put on a diaper while she finishes brushing. Then she gives me her brush and at some point after that one of us puts pajamas on her.
Last night it was her turn to use the routine as a signaling device, the way I usually do to her. She’s always liked these little routines that go with things like bedtime. Since we read her a book, usually the butterfly book, if she wants to go to bed, she’ll get it and bring it to one of us. Very cool.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Blissfully Unaware What’s About to Happen
This is from the very latest set of pictures, following the trimming of the bangs. Sadie is wearing one of her favorite outfits ever, and sitting beside her “recliner.” When we brought the infant seat in from the hall to examine it and clean it in case it was needed, she latched on and started using it as a chair. She loves Sadie-sized chairs. That’s the other reason we decided to spring for a new one, besides the obvious stress marks in the aged plastic.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Approaching the End of an Era
Here we go; one of the last pictures of Sadie before the sister starts hogging the spotlight. This was a few days ago, before last night’s trimming of the bangs. (Can you say “moving target”? Sure you can.)
We’re pretty much ready to go. Today I’m going to pick up a crib, mattress and infant car seat for Valerie.
We have two hand-me-down pack and plays we were unsure of, but I unpacked and setup the better of the two to check it and found it in excellent condition. Curiously, Sadie latched onto it as something cool. I put her in it to be funny, then she wanted to go back in when I presumptuously rescued her. Go figure. But good, because she’s going to have to sleep in it when she’s staying with Sharon, Emily, Katherine, Julia, and some of Sharon’s family here. If those were no good, I’d have picked a new one up today.
The plan is the pre-op stuff is Monday at 10:00, and we won’t find out until then the time we have to be at the hospital Tuesday for the delivery. In any event, watch this space Tuesday, probably not before late morning, for news. Sadie will get dropped off Monday night or possibly Tuesday morning, depending. I’ll go to the Cape and get her on Thursday, and after that leave her with my mother and grandmother as needed. All nice and smooth.
The last ultrasound we had Thursday was cool. The hospital is heavily involved in education, particularly a school of nursing. Not sure how it fits in, but there had been a really cool student at three of the previous ultrasounds, just observing. This time the ultrasound was performed by the guy in charge, with her as a one-on-one student. Not yet hands on with her driving the machine, but with lots of questions asked of her, and things shown and explained to her. We got to see a lot of stills in great detail, and see exactly what they look for, how they orient themselves, and so forth.
Anyway, it’s very exciting. Just a couple more days. Poor Sadie won’t know what hit her! But she’ll probably get to go to work with me regularly while Deb is recovering (if not beyond), to make things easier.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Hopefully she’s done playing games with us.
Another round of appointments today and Val looked perfect. So we’re down to just the pre-admissions stuff at the hospital on Monday and then the Cesarean on Tuesday.
I am so looking forward to meeting this baby.
Happy Birthday
To blogger Craig Henry.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Happy Birthday
To blogger Rob “Acidman” Smith, who is a youthful yet legendary 54 today.
PoliVersary
Congratulations to Steven Taylor, whose PoliBlog is now three years old. PoliBlog is one of my illustrious contemporaries in what I think proved to be a particularly fine crop of new blogs started early in 2003.
My third blogiversary is coming up on the 25th, and it’s funny how much a matter of chance that was. I’d considered blogging myself, rather than merely reading, for months, and something just tripped me over into doing it, overcoming whatever might have made me hold back.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Mental Respect
I meant to link this post as soon as I first saw it. This is what we are worried about with Sadie, and I expect no less of her siblings. This is the problem we both had in school, especially Deb.
At the same time we dread trying to send her to school to be quashed into blandly sheeplike (appearance of) ordinary intelligence and hatred of education, we also feel overwhelmed at trying to do it ourselves. What’s it going to be like with a kid who would rather invent her own often obscurely symbolic means of communication than use the English she darn well knows? One who is already easily bored. At the same time, one who is highly social compared to us. Or at last not yet jaded into often avoiding rather than straight on encountering other people.
I certainly won’t hold her back. I’m not going to sit well with her in a position for others to do so. This should prove interesting as it unfolds. Why should I treat her as an intelligent human until she’s 5 or 6, encouraging her to learn everything she wants to take in, then turn her over for mental torture?
Now Playing On My Computer
Currently playing:
Beatles - Dear Prudence
The next twenty up, generated randomly, from a total playlist of 767:
Bee Gees - (Our Love) Don’t Throw It All Away
Beatles - Love Me Do
Blondie - Dreaming
The Guess Who - No Time
Steve Miller Band - Take the Money and Run
Foreigner - Hot Blooded
The Raspberries - Go All The Way
The Monkees - A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
The Mamas & The Papas - Creeque Alley
The Raspberries - Ecstasy
Huey Lewis and the News - Do You Believe In Love
Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
Kenny Loggins - Footloose
The Fleetwoods - Mr. Blue
The Righteous Brothers - Ebb Tide
Petula Clark - I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love
Beatles - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Travelin’ Band
Henry Gross - Shannon
Bee Gees - Lonely Days
How about you? Feel free to discuss, if you’re bored.
Sounds Like Fun
|
You Are Bobsledding |
 You’re not a world class athlete, but you are a world class maniac. Your need for speed could have you blazing past the finish line! |
Via Princess Jami the curler.
Business Question of Sorts
Much of what I do is tech support, which I frequently compare to being a doctor.
I like best fielding questions by e-mail, then going in person if needed, or calling if necessary and expedient. E-mail gives the opportunity to address easy things painlessly, in the best compromise between avoiding icky phones and wasting time in person. It makes getting more information, invoking incremental troubleshooting steps or questions and learning the results or answers, simple and efficient when time isn’t the right kind of factor to need a call, when there is the right ambiguity, and when e-mail itself isn’t the problem.
With the big client that is the main point of my existing business, that fits perfectly: I charge for time the way I would with anything else.
My question has been how best to apply a web and/or e-mail based tech support model to small, irregular customers, smaller businesses or even home computer users. That wouldn’t be the only element of the service, but I’d want it to be a major one.
As someone who might ever need support, how would you feel about being able to e-mail (or enter on a web form) questions or requests for help with problems to a locally based support person/service and get relatively timely answers, steps to try, a call, or arrangements to come in person?
What and how would you be willing to pay for that kind of service?
Obviously I do this now with an established client, and when I bill them they pay be. I can depend on it. I am wondering whether I should use a retainer-like fee up front, or if that would be off-putting. On the other hand, it could be a service only to those who have established themselves as clients already. On the third hand, it could be something payable per incident or in “packs” via an online payment method or less formal pre-arrangement.
I could imagine discounting the e-mail service as compared to in-person or even phone services. I’d rather exhaust the troubleshooting that can be done hand in hand with the customer before I clearly need to go there, and have them learn things in the process. I like to see people know more and more, thereby being happier and more independent in their computer usage and needing me less and less. There are always new people who can use help, new things otherwise knowledgeable people get stuck on, and plenty of challenging things most people will never handle themselves.
So, perhaps this is crudely asked, and too much question in one jumble, but how would you approach the nuts and bolts of this service model, or what would you expect if you were to use such a thing? I’d like feedback before I ponder further or make any decisions.
Update:
Crossposted at Jotzel as Questions of Marketing and Method in the Ask Jotzel section.
Breakfast
Sadie just said something that passes for “breakfast” in response to my asking if she wanted juice, or maybe breakfast or something. It was so cute. It came out something like “bweh fafa.”
Then she resumed humming in different pitches and miming/signaling. This involves putting her not yet empty cup in which she had coffee milk onto my desk, shoving it way back, pulling it forward beside the keyboard, pointing at it, humming, and walking away, making hums and moans.
Ah, now she deposited an uneaten cracker she stored late yesterday on my desk beside the milk cup. Heh.
Update:
She approves heartily of raisin bran. Mmmmm…
Happy Birthday
To blogger Eric Lindholm.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Well, that was exciting.
Summary: concerned but not concerned enough to serve the kid eviction notice.
Why do I have the feeling that this will be the longest week of my life?
Fiber Optic Comes to the Masses
I meant to post that we got a call from Verizon last week, fielded by the machine, that turned out to be about FiOS. It’s now available here, and as a DSL subscriber, we get priority. Never thought I’d see the day when fiber would go “the last mile” to the home.
My only question, besides things like cost, was whether we could get it wired into an apartment. Even if it would be an issue, we have a cool landlord who happily allows satellite dishes, and it’s really no different from cable being newly wired into existing places.
It appears that it would cost us $5 a month more than the DSL for 5 Mbps, which is the lowest speed. The highest being 30, for which they want real money. Well, except that “real money” is what I would have to pay to get a 128k or maybe as much as 256k fractional T-1 at the office. Makes me wonder if FiOS will become available there… Yeah, right, where it’s the same company as rents out the T-1 lines to the local connection providers or directly to businesses for huge bucks.
We’re probably going to wait; let it be better established and all, perhaps even more competetive in price if that’s possible, before we go for it. Plus it requires you to have their techs come in an set it up for you at your computers, which I always feel weird about. But then, they’re changing over your phone service and everything, as I understand it, and opening the possibility of TV service via fiber too.
I love technology.