I'm not sure at what point the workplace became an airport terminal. It's amazing just how many bags some people bring to work.
When I first started in the workforce 10 years ago, people would maybe bring in a small bag to carry a planner and a notebook of some sort. It was often just another version of a briefcase and was relatively minimal. I'd say the vast majority of people didn't bring in bags at all.
Flash forward to today. I see multiple people coming in with enough bags to facilitate a 4 night stay in a Florida resort. One woman had a duffel bag, a side bag and a purse. Another lady had a laptop computer, a duffel bag, a lunch bag, and a large purse. Listen, I'm all for being prepared, but there's a reason that we have storage drawers and cabinets in our offices. It's so we don't have to carry all that stuff back and forth from home to the office!
Me? I walk in with my car keys and a jacket. Perhaps I appear as though I'm not doing anything because I don't carry multiple bags into work on a daily basis. I'll deal with that. I think the same people that bring bags into the workplace are the same ones that sometimes take their work burdens home with them. I prefer to leave that stuff at work and spend time doing stupid things to entertain Kali 1.0.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
My naked finger..........
Mrs. Lime probably likes it this way, but I feel totally naked when I don't have my wedding ring on. I have to take it off for basketball games on Sunday nights. Since then, I haven't got around to putting it back on. As a result, I have various random moments where I panic thinking I've lost my wedding ring, only to realize that I just haven't put it back on yet. Most of this feeling likely has to do with the incidents on our honeymoon back in 2000. Prepare for another family secret revealed.
Mrs. Lime and I went to Tahiti for our honeymoon. We actually stayed on two separate islands. The first island we visited was Bora Bora. We stayed at the island for around 4 days in a small bungalow. The bungalow was actually built on poles over the water. As a result, we could literally jump into the ocean off our deck and go snorkeling.
I took off my ring on the last day we were at Bora Bora to do some snorkeling and set it on the table next to the bed. The next day, we jumped on a commuter plane to go to Moorea, which was a short flight away. Halfway through the flight, I flipped out. I realized that I had left my ring on the table next to the bed. Uh-oh. Were the marriage gods trying to give me a sign or was I just absent-minded?
We got to Moorea and the next hotel. We immediately called the hotel at Bora Bora and were relieved to find out that my ring was found by the staff. Even better, they had someone that was coming over to Moorea later in the day, so they would send the ring on the plane with that person. Wonderful! Later that day, I got my ring back and I was 'married' again.
The next day, we went to another hotel to go swimming with the dolphins. Mrs. Lime and I went down to the dock to make sure everything was in order. As Mrs. Lime was setting things up, I was standing behind her, sliding my ring up and down on my finger. As luck would have it, the ring slid out of my grasp. It fell right into the crack between the boards on the deck. Good Lord, not again! I actually could see the ring and thought I could get it back out. As I used a couple of sticks to try to ease it out, it actually moved to the side and fell even deeper into the deck. I was REALLY upset! Losing a wedding ring twice in one honeymoon can NEVER be good.
We called in some staff members and pointed to the area where the ring fell into the deck. We had to go to our dolphin lessons. As we were leaving, staff members were literally pulling the deck apart, board by board. The dolphin lesson was about to start when a staff member showed up and he had my ring! Mrs. Lime folded up some multi-colored francs and gave them to the man as a tip. As the man headed off, he unfolded the francs and realized that Mrs. Lime had given him a pretty substantial tip for his trouble. He stopped his cart, turned to us and yelled "Thank you!" from a good distance. Mrs. Lime had made his day, thanks to my wedding ring that refused to stay on my finger.
Mrs. Lime told me, "Now don't lose it again!". Thankfully, I didn't lose it again and I haven't lost it ever since. But even today, I still push my pinky finger against my ring finger quite a bit. I think it's a subconscious thing where I'm always checking to make sure the ring is still there. As a result, I get the 'naked' feeling whenever the ring isn't on my finger. I hope I never have to deal with losing it again.
Mrs. Lime and I went to Tahiti for our honeymoon. We actually stayed on two separate islands. The first island we visited was Bora Bora. We stayed at the island for around 4 days in a small bungalow. The bungalow was actually built on poles over the water. As a result, we could literally jump into the ocean off our deck and go snorkeling.
I took off my ring on the last day we were at Bora Bora to do some snorkeling and set it on the table next to the bed. The next day, we jumped on a commuter plane to go to Moorea, which was a short flight away. Halfway through the flight, I flipped out. I realized that I had left my ring on the table next to the bed. Uh-oh. Were the marriage gods trying to give me a sign or was I just absent-minded?
We got to Moorea and the next hotel. We immediately called the hotel at Bora Bora and were relieved to find out that my ring was found by the staff. Even better, they had someone that was coming over to Moorea later in the day, so they would send the ring on the plane with that person. Wonderful! Later that day, I got my ring back and I was 'married' again.
The next day, we went to another hotel to go swimming with the dolphins. Mrs. Lime and I went down to the dock to make sure everything was in order. As Mrs. Lime was setting things up, I was standing behind her, sliding my ring up and down on my finger. As luck would have it, the ring slid out of my grasp. It fell right into the crack between the boards on the deck. Good Lord, not again! I actually could see the ring and thought I could get it back out. As I used a couple of sticks to try to ease it out, it actually moved to the side and fell even deeper into the deck. I was REALLY upset! Losing a wedding ring twice in one honeymoon can NEVER be good.
We called in some staff members and pointed to the area where the ring fell into the deck. We had to go to our dolphin lessons. As we were leaving, staff members were literally pulling the deck apart, board by board. The dolphin lesson was about to start when a staff member showed up and he had my ring! Mrs. Lime folded up some multi-colored francs and gave them to the man as a tip. As the man headed off, he unfolded the francs and realized that Mrs. Lime had given him a pretty substantial tip for his trouble. He stopped his cart, turned to us and yelled "Thank you!" from a good distance. Mrs. Lime had made his day, thanks to my wedding ring that refused to stay on my finger.
Mrs. Lime told me, "Now don't lose it again!". Thankfully, I didn't lose it again and I haven't lost it ever since. But even today, I still push my pinky finger against my ring finger quite a bit. I think it's a subconscious thing where I'm always checking to make sure the ring is still there. As a result, I get the 'naked' feeling whenever the ring isn't on my finger. I hope I never have to deal with losing it again.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Good dog.......
We've taught Kali 1.0 along the way the proper way to pet the dog. Initially, she'd grab his fur and pull on it, which didn't exactly please Nova. Instead, we taught her to 'pat' the dog by moving her hand up and down instead of a stroking motion. Every time we'd show her how to pat the dog, we'd say 'good dog, good dog'. She's figured it out now and so we just reinforce the behavior by saying 'good dog' every time she does it.
A side effect of teaching her this behavior is that she now applies that behavior elsewhere. She's decided that 'patting' something is a reward for whoever/whatever she's patting. As a result, she'll sometimes pat Mrs. Lime or I. She's usually smiling when she does it and it's meant as a good thing, but at some point, we're going to have to reverse that thinking. I don't want her walking around her kindergarten class all day patting her classmates. We'll obviously have to work other methods of approval into her repertoire.
A side effect of teaching her this behavior is that she now applies that behavior elsewhere. She's decided that 'patting' something is a reward for whoever/whatever she's patting. As a result, she'll sometimes pat Mrs. Lime or I. She's usually smiling when she does it and it's meant as a good thing, but at some point, we're going to have to reverse that thinking. I don't want her walking around her kindergarten class all day patting her classmates. We'll obviously have to work other methods of approval into her repertoire.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Time for music class!
I took Kali 1.0 to her music class last night. We got there a few minutes early and played on the slide a few times. Kali's getting pretty good at the slide since her aunt sent her one to play with at home. She also got a big kick out of watching the other kids play with things in the room.
Miss Emily is her music class teacher. Kali's a big fan of Miss Emily. Kali got most of the attention last night from Miss Emily and the other parents in the group. The other kids in the class were between 3 and 4 years of age, so Kali drew everyone's interest. We started off with a song set to the tune of Frere Jacques. The group sang the same song for each kid in the group...........
Hello, Kali. Hello, Kali.
How are you? How are you?
Glad you came to music. Glad you came to music.
Thank you. Thank you.
During the whole song, everyone banged the mat in front of them to the beat. Kali was caught off-guard by all the banging initially, so I grabbed her hands and started showing her the motion. By the time they got to the last kid, Kali had finally caught on and was banging the mat while smiling at everyone else.
The 'theme' of the class was swing dancing. We started off by playing some swing music and waiving some colored scarves to the beat. Kali, as before, was more interested in watching everyone else than actually participating. Miss Emily noted that kids that are Kali's age learn quite a bit by watching, so it was perfectly fine if she just wanted to watch.
Next, we got some echo microphones to sing with. If you sing into them, your voice produces an echo effect that alters the sound. I started singing into it with the group. I offered the microphone to Kali after showing her how it worked, but she wanted none of it. She pushed away my microphone and crawled over to grab her own microphone that was sitting next to Miss Emily. Little Miss Independent! She put the microphone up to her mouth and made the same motion as everyone else. Miss Emily praised Kali and she was pretty excited about that.
Miss Emily then gave us all maracas to shake to the beat of another song. Kali stared at everyone for awhile, but eventually she started shaking the maracas and getting into it. Her only problem was when the song ended. I put the maracas back into the container and Kali started to crawl over to the container to retrieve them. She wanted to play some more!
We had a multi-colored elastic rope circle that Miss Emily put in front of the group. Everybody grabbed the rope and we bounced it to the music. Kali kept trying to grab on to the rope, but it was bouncing quite a bit. She was smiling even though she couldn't grab a hold of the rope. It doesn't take much to entertain a one year old kid.
Near the end of the class, Miss Emily brought out a couple of containers with all sorts of instruments. Kali jumped out of my lap and crawled over to the containers. She sorted through the instruments and picked out a few that she liked. She's big on the shaking instruments, though she did like to bang on the drum after seeing one of the kids do the same thing on their drum. Same problem here as with the maracas.......Kali obviously wasn't through when Miss Emily said the time was up. Kali didn't raise a fuss or anything, but you could tell that she was confused why they had to stop playing with the instruments.
We finished up with a slightly altered version of the original song........
Goodbye, Kali. Goodbye, Kali.
How are you? How are you?
Glad you came to music. Glad you came to music.
Thank you. Thank you.
Miss Emily is her music class teacher. Kali's a big fan of Miss Emily. Kali got most of the attention last night from Miss Emily and the other parents in the group. The other kids in the class were between 3 and 4 years of age, so Kali drew everyone's interest. We started off with a song set to the tune of Frere Jacques. The group sang the same song for each kid in the group...........
Hello, Kali. Hello, Kali.
How are you? How are you?
Glad you came to music. Glad you came to music.
Thank you. Thank you.
During the whole song, everyone banged the mat in front of them to the beat. Kali was caught off-guard by all the banging initially, so I grabbed her hands and started showing her the motion. By the time they got to the last kid, Kali had finally caught on and was banging the mat while smiling at everyone else.
The 'theme' of the class was swing dancing. We started off by playing some swing music and waiving some colored scarves to the beat. Kali, as before, was more interested in watching everyone else than actually participating. Miss Emily noted that kids that are Kali's age learn quite a bit by watching, so it was perfectly fine if she just wanted to watch.
Next, we got some echo microphones to sing with. If you sing into them, your voice produces an echo effect that alters the sound. I started singing into it with the group. I offered the microphone to Kali after showing her how it worked, but she wanted none of it. She pushed away my microphone and crawled over to grab her own microphone that was sitting next to Miss Emily. Little Miss Independent! She put the microphone up to her mouth and made the same motion as everyone else. Miss Emily praised Kali and she was pretty excited about that.
Miss Emily then gave us all maracas to shake to the beat of another song. Kali stared at everyone for awhile, but eventually she started shaking the maracas and getting into it. Her only problem was when the song ended. I put the maracas back into the container and Kali started to crawl over to the container to retrieve them. She wanted to play some more!
We had a multi-colored elastic rope circle that Miss Emily put in front of the group. Everybody grabbed the rope and we bounced it to the music. Kali kept trying to grab on to the rope, but it was bouncing quite a bit. She was smiling even though she couldn't grab a hold of the rope. It doesn't take much to entertain a one year old kid.
Near the end of the class, Miss Emily brought out a couple of containers with all sorts of instruments. Kali jumped out of my lap and crawled over to the containers. She sorted through the instruments and picked out a few that she liked. She's big on the shaking instruments, though she did like to bang on the drum after seeing one of the kids do the same thing on their drum. Same problem here as with the maracas.......Kali obviously wasn't through when Miss Emily said the time was up. Kali didn't raise a fuss or anything, but you could tell that she was confused why they had to stop playing with the instruments.
We finished up with a slightly altered version of the original song........
Goodbye, Kali. Goodbye, Kali.
How are you? How are you?
Glad you came to music. Glad you came to music.
Thank you. Thank you.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Kali 1.0 birthday picture blowout!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Time for a picture blowout of birthday proportions. Kali 1.0 in living color. First, Kali 1.0 inspects her birthday flowers, which were appropriately "Kali-lillies" as we call them in our house..........
Fun time with the birthday balloon..........
Unwrapping her first present...........
Pajamas!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!
Kali reached out for a hug. Mrs. Lime with the assist...........
The bow is more interesting than the package...........
Checking out her birthday card..........
Grandma and cousin Gwen hanging out at the party..........
Somebody likes their new doll!!!!!!!!
A new cowgirl hat!
Showing off her hat.........
Here comes the cake!!!!!!!!!
Let the demolition begin........
Birthday lipstick...........
Starting to get ugly.............
Someone tried to stick cake to their forehead.......
We've move to double-handed eating at this point.........
There couldn't be a worse time for an itchy forehead..........
Note the icing splatters on the chair pad beside her head.........
OK, I'm all done! What's next?
Kali had a blast at her party. As a sidenote, frosted icing requires heavy soap to remove from a baby. Those of you who have babies under one year of age have been warned.
Fun time with the birthday balloon..........
Unwrapping her first present...........
Pajamas!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!
Kali reached out for a hug. Mrs. Lime with the assist...........
The bow is more interesting than the package...........
Checking out her birthday card..........
Grandma and cousin Gwen hanging out at the party..........
Somebody likes their new doll!!!!!!!!
A new cowgirl hat!
Showing off her hat.........
Here comes the cake!!!!!!!!!
Let the demolition begin........
Birthday lipstick...........
Starting to get ugly.............
Someone tried to stick cake to their forehead.......
We've move to double-handed eating at this point.........
There couldn't be a worse time for an itchy forehead..........
Note the icing splatters on the chair pad beside her head.........
OK, I'm all done! What's next?
Kali had a blast at her party. As a sidenote, frosted icing requires heavy soap to remove from a baby. Those of you who have babies under one year of age have been warned.
Kali 1.0's badge of honor..........
Here's what a baby's hand looks like after a dog bite. These photos were taken after she got back from the hospital. Her hand actually swelled to twice this size shortly after the bite..........
Who needs a tippie cup?!?!?!
We spend a couple of weeks with a tippie cup, but we quickly figured out that Kali 1.0 enjoys other methods of drinking. The learning curve was a bit rough at first..........
But eventually, she figured out how it works..........
In this photo, she's practicing her new favorite hobby......chewing on the straw......
But eventually, she figured out how it works..........
In this photo, she's practicing her new favorite hobby......chewing on the straw......
Friday, February 15, 2008
Dad of a perfect child...........
Parenting is a confusing thing.
I've got a daughter that just turned one year old. She's healthy. She's very smart. She already shows a great love of music (which warms the heart of this former choir geek). She's strong. She's very tough (I've never seen a baby handle sickness/injury so well). She always behaves when we're in public places.
Yet I have this limited sense of guilt about the whole situation. It's not something that burdens me by any means, but I feel extremely lucky to have such a wonderful baby and wonder why I was so lucky while others lose babies during pregnancy or have babies with health issues. I think that everyone loves their child just as much as I do. I guess I should just be thankful for what I have and let everything else take care of itself. I'm an extremely fortunate person. I hope that everyone else is fortunate enough to feel the same way.
I've got a daughter that just turned one year old. She's healthy. She's very smart. She already shows a great love of music (which warms the heart of this former choir geek). She's strong. She's very tough (I've never seen a baby handle sickness/injury so well). She always behaves when we're in public places.
Yet I have this limited sense of guilt about the whole situation. It's not something that burdens me by any means, but I feel extremely lucky to have such a wonderful baby and wonder why I was so lucky while others lose babies during pregnancy or have babies with health issues. I think that everyone loves their child just as much as I do. I guess I should just be thankful for what I have and let everything else take care of itself. I'm an extremely fortunate person. I hope that everyone else is fortunate enough to feel the same way.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Another Mount St. Helens snapshot..........
Same webcam, 45 minutes after the previous shot............
Valentine's Day with the dinosaurs............
Mrs. Lime and I celebrated an early Valentine's Day last night. We did what any other couple would do that has a one year old child.......we went to a restaurant that our baby would enjoy!
We went to a place called T-Rex. It's similar to a Rainforest Café, except the place is full of animated dinosaurs. From the moment we sat down, Kali 1.0 was in awe. She stared for minutes at a time at the animated dinosaurs, octopus, squid, and live fish tank behind the bar. I'm not sure what she was thinking, but she was totally distracted and barely knew we were sitting at the table with her outside of the few times we fed her some food.
During dinner, there were several times were the roars of the dinosaurs were interrupted by the waiters clapping for the birthday song. There were evidently a lot of birthdays being celebrated, because we heard clapping every 5-10 minutes. The funny part was that every time the clapping began, Kali would whip her head around and listen to the clapping. After a few seconds of listening, she'd start giggling and bouncing in her seat. She'd also start clapping along with the waiters. Had you asked her right on the spot, she would have likely told you that it was the most fun she'd ever had.
The next time the waiter came over to the table, we mentioned to him that Kali was in the hospital on her birthday, so we were wondering if they could sing 'Happy Birthday' to her. He was happy to do so.
I could see over in the kitchen that they were organizing another birthday posse, likely headed our way. They started clapping and Kali got excited again. But when the birthday posse showed up at our table, she stopped clapping and just grinned at all the servers. She was caught off guard that they were headed for our table. She got a couple of tickles from the servers who noted "she's so cute!". She obviously didn't mind the attention at all.
Kali got a free ice cream sundae for her birthday. I gave her a small bite and she gave a bitter look, mostly due to the cold nature of the ice cream. I was going to stop as it looked like she didn't like it, but she reached out for my arm when I set the spoon down. That usually means she wants more. She ended up eating around 8 small spoonfuls of ice cream before she said she was done. She then went back to staring at fish and dinosaurs.
A birthday and a Valentine's dinner all wrapped up into one. What more could you ask for?
We went to a place called T-Rex. It's similar to a Rainforest Café, except the place is full of animated dinosaurs. From the moment we sat down, Kali 1.0 was in awe. She stared for minutes at a time at the animated dinosaurs, octopus, squid, and live fish tank behind the bar. I'm not sure what she was thinking, but she was totally distracted and barely knew we were sitting at the table with her outside of the few times we fed her some food.
During dinner, there were several times were the roars of the dinosaurs were interrupted by the waiters clapping for the birthday song. There were evidently a lot of birthdays being celebrated, because we heard clapping every 5-10 minutes. The funny part was that every time the clapping began, Kali would whip her head around and listen to the clapping. After a few seconds of listening, she'd start giggling and bouncing in her seat. She'd also start clapping along with the waiters. Had you asked her right on the spot, she would have likely told you that it was the most fun she'd ever had.
The next time the waiter came over to the table, we mentioned to him that Kali was in the hospital on her birthday, so we were wondering if they could sing 'Happy Birthday' to her. He was happy to do so.
I could see over in the kitchen that they were organizing another birthday posse, likely headed our way. They started clapping and Kali got excited again. But when the birthday posse showed up at our table, she stopped clapping and just grinned at all the servers. She was caught off guard that they were headed for our table. She got a couple of tickles from the servers who noted "she's so cute!". She obviously didn't mind the attention at all.
Kali got a free ice cream sundae for her birthday. I gave her a small bite and she gave a bitter look, mostly due to the cold nature of the ice cream. I was going to stop as it looked like she didn't like it, but she reached out for my arm when I set the spoon down. That usually means she wants more. She ended up eating around 8 small spoonfuls of ice cream before she said she was done. She then went back to staring at fish and dinosaurs.
A birthday and a Valentine's dinner all wrapped up into one. What more could you ask for?
Absolutely stunning..............
I regularly visit the web camera at Mount St. Helens (Link to webcam). Usually I go there to check on any eruption events like ash or increase in the magma plug at the top of the mountain. Today's view of the mountain was well worth the visit. I've never seen the clouds do anything like this before. Also, you can see a line through the higher clouds where a jet flew through it..........
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Back in the saddle (at home)........
Finally got to take Kali 1.0 back home yesterday after a 2 night stay in the baby hotel otherwise know as Children's Mercy Hospital. As much as it is a bummer to have to stay in a hospital for a night or two, we're extremely blessed to have one of the best children's hospitals in the nation a few minutes from our home. The staff was great the whole time we were there and did a great job of getting Kali back into shape relatively quickly.
The staff mentioned how good Kali was as a patient. They were always surprised how little she complained/cried when they were giving her treatments or checking her out by poking and prodding her. The hospital had wagons that you could use to wheel around the kids in the hospital. Kali loved the wagon rides (as long as the wagon kept moving) and liked to wear her new hat that she got for her birthday. She received tons of 'Awwwwww!' responses as she rode down the hall from passing people. She loved the attention.
When I went down to pick Kali and Mrs. Lime up, I took along Nova 7.9 since he hadn't been on a ride in awhile. When I put Kali into the car, she saw the dog and squealed loudly with delight. I could hardly get her strapped into her car seat because she was excited to see the dog and wanted to pet him. So, it appears that Kali isn't holding any ill-will against the dog for the bite incident a few days earlier.
Kali got home and started to giggle and kick her feet as soon as she saw some of her toys. She wanted down to play. Her IV in the hospital was on her ankle, so she didn't get to crawl or walk around much while she was there. She spent the first hour or two at home just crawling around and playing with toys. She was pretty happy to be free again. We also opened up her new toys from her birthday party so she could play with them. Grandpa B. brought by some balloons and a stuffed animal for Valentine's Day. She loved the balloons and played with them quite a bit. By 8:00 PM, she was pretty tired and went right to sleep in her crib without any issues. I think she was pretty glad to be back at home in her regular routine.
The staff mentioned how good Kali was as a patient. They were always surprised how little she complained/cried when they were giving her treatments or checking her out by poking and prodding her. The hospital had wagons that you could use to wheel around the kids in the hospital. Kali loved the wagon rides (as long as the wagon kept moving) and liked to wear her new hat that she got for her birthday. She received tons of 'Awwwwww!' responses as she rode down the hall from passing people. She loved the attention.
When I went down to pick Kali and Mrs. Lime up, I took along Nova 7.9 since he hadn't been on a ride in awhile. When I put Kali into the car, she saw the dog and squealed loudly with delight. I could hardly get her strapped into her car seat because she was excited to see the dog and wanted to pet him. So, it appears that Kali isn't holding any ill-will against the dog for the bite incident a few days earlier.
Kali got home and started to giggle and kick her feet as soon as she saw some of her toys. She wanted down to play. Her IV in the hospital was on her ankle, so she didn't get to crawl or walk around much while she was there. She spent the first hour or two at home just crawling around and playing with toys. She was pretty happy to be free again. We also opened up her new toys from her birthday party so she could play with them. Grandpa B. brought by some balloons and a stuffed animal for Valentine's Day. She loved the balloons and played with them quite a bit. By 8:00 PM, she was pretty tired and went right to sleep in her crib without any issues. I think she was pretty glad to be back at home in her regular routine.
Monday, February 11, 2008
When life gives you lemons............
Kali 1.0's birthday party was this weekend. Certainly ended up being an exciting one.
Everyone came over to our house around 6:00 PM. We were getting the food ready when we heard a snarl from the laundry room area where Nova 7.9 was eating his food. Following that, you could hear Kali start to scream. Mrs. Lime went into the room and found Kali with a couple of nice puncture wounds on her hand. She had snuck away unnoticed during all the hub-bub and stuck her hand into the dog's food bowl. Bad idea.
As a result, there was lots of concern about Kali and her hand. A couple of the doctors on hand checked it out. We ended up putting a band-aid and some neosporin on the hand and we went ahead with the party as Kali felt better. We ate dinner and then Kali opened her presents. She got a few new toys to play with. For some reason, the best toy was apparantly a pink cowgirl hat. She kept putting it on and then taking it off again. Every time she put on the hat, everyone would cheer her on. She'd put a big grin on her face and then take it back off. She couldn't get enough of the attention.
Later on, she got her 'smash' cake. She had a blast eating some of the icing and cake while most of it ended up all over her and the high chair. After she was done, I took her up to the bathroom to clean her up. Her cake had red icing. As a result, when she was finished with her cleanup, the bathtub in her room had red coloring smeared all over it, leaving it looking more like a murder scene than a baby's bathtub.
We put Kali to bed and she went to sleep quickly, tired from the long party. Unfortunately, she woke up after a couple of hours and started screaming. Mrs. Lime brought her into our bed to keep an eye on her. By morning, Kali's hand was swollen to about twice its normal size. We took her into the emergency room at the hospital. By the time we got into a room a short time later, her hand had started turning red and showed signs of infection. The emergency room doc even came in and took a picture of her hand to show how quickly an infection can spread in a bite wound. So Kali will indirectly be teaching future ER doctors about bite wound treatment for years to come!
Kali ended up being admitted to the hospital overnight for some IV antibiotics. So she gets to spend most of her birthday hanging out in a children's hospital. She's likely going to be home today or tomorrow, so she should be fine in a few days.
While it's initially a bit of a bummer that Kali is spending her birthday in a hospital, I think the whole visit should be put in perspective. While I was at the children's hospital yesterday, I saw a couple of kids who were cancer patients and other kids with very severe health issues. They are in the hospital for weeks at a time, despite their relatively young age. Much like Kali did after her injury, those kids put on a smile and continue on with their play and other daily activities. They aren't phased by it at all. Kids are amazingly resiliant and can deal with just about anything. Adults could learn a lot from these kids.
So even though it's a bummer that Kali is in the hospital for a day or two, we should be very thankful that we have a child that is healthy. Also, we should recognize that the sick or disabled kids that have more problems than we'll ever have to deal with provide a great role model for the rest of us to never take life too seriously. Have fun and enjoy every day that comes along.
Everyone came over to our house around 6:00 PM. We were getting the food ready when we heard a snarl from the laundry room area where Nova 7.9 was eating his food. Following that, you could hear Kali start to scream. Mrs. Lime went into the room and found Kali with a couple of nice puncture wounds on her hand. She had snuck away unnoticed during all the hub-bub and stuck her hand into the dog's food bowl. Bad idea.
As a result, there was lots of concern about Kali and her hand. A couple of the doctors on hand checked it out. We ended up putting a band-aid and some neosporin on the hand and we went ahead with the party as Kali felt better. We ate dinner and then Kali opened her presents. She got a few new toys to play with. For some reason, the best toy was apparantly a pink cowgirl hat. She kept putting it on and then taking it off again. Every time she put on the hat, everyone would cheer her on. She'd put a big grin on her face and then take it back off. She couldn't get enough of the attention.
Later on, she got her 'smash' cake. She had a blast eating some of the icing and cake while most of it ended up all over her and the high chair. After she was done, I took her up to the bathroom to clean her up. Her cake had red icing. As a result, when she was finished with her cleanup, the bathtub in her room had red coloring smeared all over it, leaving it looking more like a murder scene than a baby's bathtub.
We put Kali to bed and she went to sleep quickly, tired from the long party. Unfortunately, she woke up after a couple of hours and started screaming. Mrs. Lime brought her into our bed to keep an eye on her. By morning, Kali's hand was swollen to about twice its normal size. We took her into the emergency room at the hospital. By the time we got into a room a short time later, her hand had started turning red and showed signs of infection. The emergency room doc even came in and took a picture of her hand to show how quickly an infection can spread in a bite wound. So Kali will indirectly be teaching future ER doctors about bite wound treatment for years to come!
Kali ended up being admitted to the hospital overnight for some IV antibiotics. So she gets to spend most of her birthday hanging out in a children's hospital. She's likely going to be home today or tomorrow, so she should be fine in a few days.
While it's initially a bit of a bummer that Kali is spending her birthday in a hospital, I think the whole visit should be put in perspective. While I was at the children's hospital yesterday, I saw a couple of kids who were cancer patients and other kids with very severe health issues. They are in the hospital for weeks at a time, despite their relatively young age. Much like Kali did after her injury, those kids put on a smile and continue on with their play and other daily activities. They aren't phased by it at all. Kids are amazingly resiliant and can deal with just about anything. Adults could learn a lot from these kids.
So even though it's a bummer that Kali is in the hospital for a day or two, we should be very thankful that we have a child that is healthy. Also, we should recognize that the sick or disabled kids that have more problems than we'll ever have to deal with provide a great role model for the rest of us to never take life too seriously. Have fun and enjoy every day that comes along.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Unbelievable quote.............
"No one should kill. But no one should drive another person to kill either."
I find this quote to be simply amazing. A man killed 5 people in St. Louis last night at a city council meeting. The above quote came from an interview of the killer's mother. She has somehow rationalized in her mind that, because her son had some disagreements with the city, the killing of 5 innocent people was somehow justified.
These killings aren't the real problem in my mind. Similar incidents have happened in the past and there's little that can be done to stop something like this from happening if someone wants to do so. The real problem is the thinking behind the incident. How does society go about changing the thinking on display by the mother of this killer? I'm not sure that I have any real answers. I'm still somewhat surprised that a person could react in this way to what happened. I don't have any answers, but I hope someone does.
I find this quote to be simply amazing. A man killed 5 people in St. Louis last night at a city council meeting. The above quote came from an interview of the killer's mother. She has somehow rationalized in her mind that, because her son had some disagreements with the city, the killing of 5 innocent people was somehow justified.
These killings aren't the real problem in my mind. Similar incidents have happened in the past and there's little that can be done to stop something like this from happening if someone wants to do so. The real problem is the thinking behind the incident. How does society go about changing the thinking on display by the mother of this killer? I'm not sure that I have any real answers. I'm still somewhat surprised that a person could react in this way to what happened. I don't have any answers, but I hope someone does.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Today is always the best day..........
I have a lot of online friends who I never have met in person, yet I know them well and chat with them often. One of those friends recently put up a blog entry that I think helps to summarize just how great the gift of life is and never to take any days for granted...........
Bonjour mes amis! As promised today tells the deepest tale I have to offer. Should you be one of my regular readers of my Magic column, you will already know this. Should you be on my staff last year, or on housing staff this year, again, you will already know.
As a result, you can go ahead and click the back button. However, for the rest of you, this will be news of a highly significant nature. I figure that since this is already out there, I might as well be up front with everybody.
As a quick review of my past, in 8th grade, my mother died, I broke my wrist and was unable to be on the basketball team despite working my way up to the starting five in practice, and then my father announced that we would be moving away from my previous home, family and school in Boone County. It was a tough year, and yet, in many ways, it was my greatest. I overcame a lot of stigma from fourth grade when I publicly told people I was gay as a joke, and they caught on and the school teased me. I was popular enough, secure in my faith, and I was in my niche. Moving was a tough thing for me, especially since I had lost my mother four months or so before we moved. The anniversary of her death is in one weeks. That makes this blog even more poignant.
My mother died in her sleep from heart complications due to a condition referred to as Huntington's Disease. I was the last to speak to her before she died. I remember being called down the principal's office on a cold October morning and passing by Mr. Weikel in the hallway and beaming that I had been called to the office. You either got called for something good or something bad, and I hadn't done anything wrong (which was, in itself, something unusual).
I came to the office and saw my father in the hallway. What was he doing here? He quietly ushered me into the teacher's lounge where Mr. Johnson was as well. I had no idea what was about to be said but I figured it was bad. My mother had a deteriorating condition with no cure. We knew she would die, but no matter how you steel yourself, you are never ready to hear that your mother passed away.
I watched many people die that day. My grandmother came to the house to bury her only daughter, and she was forlorn. It is not natural to bury one's own child. My father withdrew into his role as a pastor and would not come out again for some time. My sister kept wanting mother back and did not understand what was happening. I understood.
I returned to my literature class and announced that my mother had died. I figured that they had a right to know. I sat down in my chair and began to cry, out loud, right there is the classroom. Mr. Peters came over and rubbed my back. After about a minute, I asked if I could have the worksheet that the rest of the class was working on. Everybody deals with grief differently, and for me, her death had sunk in, and I was ready to move on.
I shed many other tears over my mother during my life, including one as I write these very paragraphs I love her and still miss her to this day, but the tear in my eye does not stop me from writing, and that day, they did not stop me from working on whatever worksheet was in front of me.
Here's the main issue and the reason that I bring it up now. Huntington's Disease is genetic. There is a 50/50 chance of passing it to your child.
When I went to consider grad school, I decided that it was time to find out if I had it or not. Plans in your life change depending on whether or not you expect to live until 40 or a normal retirement age.
Huntington's Disease is a disease that strikes your central nervous system. It begins with a palsy – a slight tick or motion that is uncontrolled. Over time, the palsies and ticks grow, and you begin making a lot of uncoordinated spontaneous movements.
You begin to lose the ability to write, to eat, to walk, to sleep. You eat less and burn a lot of energy, so a lot of people that suffer from Huntington's will suffer from malnutrition. Your mind starts to go as well. You experience memory loss, change of personality, and lose your ability to comprehend and understand things. Over time you become wheelchair bound, then bed ridden, and then eventually some part of your body gives out and you die. It could be your lungs and you suffocate, or your heart , in my mother's case, or something else. There is no cure for Huntington's Disease, and no drug you can take to stave off the effects.
The tests came back positive.
I have the Disease with the same degree that my mother had it. I can expect to contract it at about the same time and die at about the same time – 38 and 43.
In December I turn 31.
There will be no last minute reprieve, no miracle cure, no drug that will save me. In seven years or so I will have the first sign, and it will quickly and irreparably go down from there.
I think I always knew I had the disease. The beast that slew my mother and her father and his father before him will die with me. I have no children, no wife, no long term girlfriend that will become a wife. I'm just me. I enjoy my life, and I'm happy to have it.
I'd prefer to be alive with Huntington's than to have never lived at all.
That's why London was my last hurrah. It was my final chance to go out and do something, my last adventure before I retire. What is left for me but complacency? Hopefully this new dream of writing will succeed where the previous one failed. It's a much harder dream, but I have to keep trying at something. I cannot become a cog in the machine, waiting until for every tick of the clock, every turn of the calendar to bring me that much closer to my doom.
I will do what I can to make these last seven years matter.
Thanks,
Abe
Bonjour mes amis! As promised today tells the deepest tale I have to offer. Should you be one of my regular readers of my Magic column, you will already know this. Should you be on my staff last year, or on housing staff this year, again, you will already know.
As a result, you can go ahead and click the back button. However, for the rest of you, this will be news of a highly significant nature. I figure that since this is already out there, I might as well be up front with everybody.
As a quick review of my past, in 8th grade, my mother died, I broke my wrist and was unable to be on the basketball team despite working my way up to the starting five in practice, and then my father announced that we would be moving away from my previous home, family and school in Boone County. It was a tough year, and yet, in many ways, it was my greatest. I overcame a lot of stigma from fourth grade when I publicly told people I was gay as a joke, and they caught on and the school teased me. I was popular enough, secure in my faith, and I was in my niche. Moving was a tough thing for me, especially since I had lost my mother four months or so before we moved. The anniversary of her death is in one weeks. That makes this blog even more poignant.
My mother died in her sleep from heart complications due to a condition referred to as Huntington's Disease. I was the last to speak to her before she died. I remember being called down the principal's office on a cold October morning and passing by Mr. Weikel in the hallway and beaming that I had been called to the office. You either got called for something good or something bad, and I hadn't done anything wrong (which was, in itself, something unusual).
I came to the office and saw my father in the hallway. What was he doing here? He quietly ushered me into the teacher's lounge where Mr. Johnson was as well. I had no idea what was about to be said but I figured it was bad. My mother had a deteriorating condition with no cure. We knew she would die, but no matter how you steel yourself, you are never ready to hear that your mother passed away.
I watched many people die that day. My grandmother came to the house to bury her only daughter, and she was forlorn. It is not natural to bury one's own child. My father withdrew into his role as a pastor and would not come out again for some time. My sister kept wanting mother back and did not understand what was happening. I understood.
I returned to my literature class and announced that my mother had died. I figured that they had a right to know. I sat down in my chair and began to cry, out loud, right there is the classroom. Mr. Peters came over and rubbed my back. After about a minute, I asked if I could have the worksheet that the rest of the class was working on. Everybody deals with grief differently, and for me, her death had sunk in, and I was ready to move on.
I shed many other tears over my mother during my life, including one as I write these very paragraphs I love her and still miss her to this day, but the tear in my eye does not stop me from writing, and that day, they did not stop me from working on whatever worksheet was in front of me.
Here's the main issue and the reason that I bring it up now. Huntington's Disease is genetic. There is a 50/50 chance of passing it to your child.
When I went to consider grad school, I decided that it was time to find out if I had it or not. Plans in your life change depending on whether or not you expect to live until 40 or a normal retirement age.
Huntington's Disease is a disease that strikes your central nervous system. It begins with a palsy – a slight tick or motion that is uncontrolled. Over time, the palsies and ticks grow, and you begin making a lot of uncoordinated spontaneous movements.
You begin to lose the ability to write, to eat, to walk, to sleep. You eat less and burn a lot of energy, so a lot of people that suffer from Huntington's will suffer from malnutrition. Your mind starts to go as well. You experience memory loss, change of personality, and lose your ability to comprehend and understand things. Over time you become wheelchair bound, then bed ridden, and then eventually some part of your body gives out and you die. It could be your lungs and you suffocate, or your heart , in my mother's case, or something else. There is no cure for Huntington's Disease, and no drug you can take to stave off the effects.
The tests came back positive.
I have the Disease with the same degree that my mother had it. I can expect to contract it at about the same time and die at about the same time – 38 and 43.
In December I turn 31.
There will be no last minute reprieve, no miracle cure, no drug that will save me. In seven years or so I will have the first sign, and it will quickly and irreparably go down from there.
I think I always knew I had the disease. The beast that slew my mother and her father and his father before him will die with me. I have no children, no wife, no long term girlfriend that will become a wife. I'm just me. I enjoy my life, and I'm happy to have it.
I'd prefer to be alive with Huntington's than to have never lived at all.
That's why London was my last hurrah. It was my final chance to go out and do something, my last adventure before I retire. What is left for me but complacency? Hopefully this new dream of writing will succeed where the previous one failed. It's a much harder dream, but I have to keep trying at something. I cannot become a cog in the machine, waiting until for every tick of the clock, every turn of the calendar to bring me that much closer to my doom.
I will do what I can to make these last seven years matter.
Thanks,
Abe
Monday, February 04, 2008
Going postal............
Yikes!!!!
A divorcee at my work is now imploding as I type. Evidently, her husband decides every now and then to not take their child at the previously set-up times and dates. As a result, she gets tired of having to take vacation time to go pick up her child. Here's some of the better quotes........
"I've been taking it from behind for 7 years from this guy!"
"Awful convinent for that guy to dump the kid when he's got things to do!"
"Who does this clown think he is?"
"I've had it up to HERE with this guy!"
"This is a load of horses#^%!"
Note that all of these quotes were screamed at a level of rage which was quite clear and quite scary. I was waiting for her to stomp past my cube with a .45 caliber gun drawn at the ready. It's amazing how much rage and anger people have pent up in them in some of these situations. I thank my lucky stars every day that Mrs. Lime and I have such a good relationship. Having a bad relationship must be a major pain in the backside.
A divorcee at my work is now imploding as I type. Evidently, her husband decides every now and then to not take their child at the previously set-up times and dates. As a result, she gets tired of having to take vacation time to go pick up her child. Here's some of the better quotes........
"I've been taking it from behind for 7 years from this guy!"
"Awful convinent for that guy to dump the kid when he's got things to do!"
"Who does this clown think he is?"
"I've had it up to HERE with this guy!"
"This is a load of horses#^%!"
Note that all of these quotes were screamed at a level of rage which was quite clear and quite scary. I was waiting for her to stomp past my cube with a .45 caliber gun drawn at the ready. It's amazing how much rage and anger people have pent up in them in some of these situations. I thank my lucky stars every day that Mrs. Lime and I have such a good relationship. Having a bad relationship must be a major pain in the backside.
Standing and sipping.............
Sorry for the long delay between blogs. At least Kali 0.11's grin was front and center on the blog for awhile to keep everyone smiling.
Kali 0.11 added a couple of new tricks. She's now standing on her own for quite a bit longer than she has in the past. No steps of any kind, but that's likely to be coming soon. She likes to stand at her baby piano and push the buttons. Once the music starts, she sticks both hands in the air and wiggles to the music. I suppose that our payment for a year of parenting is that we get to see Kali perform for free. She loves the attention.
Kali also caught us off-guard yesterday. We went to meet with my sister and her husband. That also means that Kali gets to play with her cousin, Gwen. Gwen was in fine form, piling home a mix of Cheerios, cheese and bologna at break-neck speed. Kali did similar work with baby turkey, green beans, oranges, and animal cookies. Kali was even nice enough to offer a half-chewed orange to Gwen, who grabbed it and knocked it down in record time. The surprise was that Mrs. Lime offered Kali a kiddie cup and Kali immediately began to drink from the straw! Once she figured out how neat that was, we couldn't keep her separated from the cup. We even took the cup home and she drank two more glasses of water at home through a straw! Needless to say, the next diaper was VERY wet. But she loved it, so we're going to be keeping more cups when we go to restaurants so she has plenty to drink with at home.
Who knows what new tricks today will bring?
Kali 0.11 added a couple of new tricks. She's now standing on her own for quite a bit longer than she has in the past. No steps of any kind, but that's likely to be coming soon. She likes to stand at her baby piano and push the buttons. Once the music starts, she sticks both hands in the air and wiggles to the music. I suppose that our payment for a year of parenting is that we get to see Kali perform for free. She loves the attention.
Kali also caught us off-guard yesterday. We went to meet with my sister and her husband. That also means that Kali gets to play with her cousin, Gwen. Gwen was in fine form, piling home a mix of Cheerios, cheese and bologna at break-neck speed. Kali did similar work with baby turkey, green beans, oranges, and animal cookies. Kali was even nice enough to offer a half-chewed orange to Gwen, who grabbed it and knocked it down in record time. The surprise was that Mrs. Lime offered Kali a kiddie cup and Kali immediately began to drink from the straw! Once she figured out how neat that was, we couldn't keep her separated from the cup. We even took the cup home and she drank two more glasses of water at home through a straw! Needless to say, the next diaper was VERY wet. But she loved it, so we're going to be keeping more cups when we go to restaurants so she has plenty to drink with at home.
Who knows what new tricks today will bring?
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