Weekend Recap

Saturday was Harry Potter Day. I spent most of it (besides caring for Alex and doing laundry) either waiting for UPS to deliver my book or reading. I didn't get the book until about 3:00 p.m., and yes, I was impatient. It would have been quicker to drive to Walmart and pick up a copy, but I'd preordered because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to take Alex to the store (depending on how he was behaving). Anyway, I finished the book and the Sunday morning. Without giving anything away, it was an enjoyable read. I foresaw a couple of things but not the main plot points. That's one of the things I respect Rowling for, her plotting. She does a great job of using minor details to great effect.

Anyway, Sunday the three of us drove to Evanston and met with the priest at the church where Alex will be baptized. Afterwards, we stopped by the Evanston Ethnic Arts Festival. The weather was perfect for it. I bought a couple of silk purses (one for a friend) and a pair of earrings. Afterwards, we stopped at Babies R Us before heading home.

Out and About

Would you believe I haven't filled up my car since May? I wasn't able to drive last month while I was recovering from surgery. But last week I was cleared by my doctor. Now I can take Alex to the doctor or run errands; I just need to time things so that he's sleeping. Last week I even got to go to the bookstore with him. We also managed to visit the Chicago Botantic Garden on Sunday with him. Although he kept us up during the night, he was quiet in his stroller. I didn't bring my camera because we had enough to haul around as it was. Eugene, of course, took his camera, so he may post some pictures when he has the chance.

Writing: Sigh, I haven't had a chance to do anything for a while, and two of my OWW critters have new chapters up. Do I work on that or my own stuff? And what project should I work on? It's too much for my sleep-deprived, post-partum brain.

Get Your Geek On

As you can imagine, I've been a bit busy since Alex arrived. It seems like as soon as I finish feeding him and putting him down to sleep he wakes up again. Plus I haven't been anywhere exciting; the last time I even drove my car was the day Alex was born. So that explains why I haven't blogged in a while.

Tonight on CNN's homepage, though, I saw something worth blogging about. There was an article about surprising things you can get for free. Among them was coursework at MIT. I guess this isn't really new -- other colleges are also offering noncredit online courses -- but I still found it cool. This would also be a good resource for science fiction writers looking to learn more about basic science or about something more advanced, like quantum physics or genetics. (They have biophysics as well, but that doesn't turn me on; I took it for my major, and it was a tough class.) There are also anthropology, language, literature, and even writing courses. I bookmarked the site, though I do have to wonder when I think I'll find time to do any of these courses. I suppose it would help if I stopped playing games and got to work. Even I can't convince myself learning about science is as relaxing as a game of Zuma, though.

Daddy's Bald!

OK, I'm a little slow on blogging this week. This picture was taken on Sunday. Eugene finally made good on something he's talked about for a while--shaving his head. Now Alex has more hair than his dad. ;)

The Kosher Mush Cake

My friend Heather came over to visit today. She wanted to meet Alex, so it was a good thing he was up when she was here. He was pretty well-behaved too (normally he only cries if he needs a diaper changed or if he's hungry). We talked about writing for a while, got a carry-out dinner from a local restaurant, and watched Finding Nemo. She also brought over dessert: a kosher cake with pineapples and strawberries. Unfortunately, the cake got a little battered (rimshot) during the drive over here, so we jokingly referred to it as kosher mush. It was still pretty good, though. Hopefully we'll have a chance to get together again before she leaves in July.

My Little Town...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/11/wisc.shooting.ap/index.html

DELAVAN, Wisconsin (AP) -- A domestic dispute erupted into a mass killing in southern Wisconsin, leaving six people, including two infant boys, shot to death, and a 2-year-old girl with a gunshot to her chest.
A prosecutor said late Sunday no one was in custody but that police weren't looking for a suspect and no one else was in danger. Officials often use such language when the shooter is among the dead.
"What we have is a complicated death scene and we're investigating all the possibilities," said Kevin St. John, a spokesman with the state Justice Department, which is leading the investigation. (Watch police and neighbors describe what they saw and heard )
Walworth County District Attorney Phillip Koss said the shooting was part of a domestic dispute, but he wouldn't elaborate until autopsies were completed and the crime scene was fully evaluated.
Officers, responding to a report of shots fired, stormed an A-frame duplex Saturday night with weapons drawn, kicking in the door, neighbor Richard Heideman said. He saw two paramedics go in behind them and come back out minutes later.
"That's when I knew everybody was dead," Heideman said.
As the bodies were wheeled out, one onlooker dropped to his knees on a neighbor's lawn and threw his hands to the sky in prayer.
The 2-year-old girl was found in a nearby van, seriously wounded. A male family member who escaped the shooting was helping investigators.
Authorities have not released the victims' names, but Kay Macara said her 19-year-old daughter, Vanessa Iverson, was among the dead.
With tears in her eyes, Macara said her daughter went to the apartment the previous night to visit friends.
"My child," she said. "I want answers."
Also in the house during the shooting were the twin infants, their parents, and the mother's sister and her husband, said Sarah Iverson, Iverson's sister-in-law.
The 2-year-old sister of the twins, Jasmine, was in serious condition at University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison.
The father of the children, 22-year-old Ambrocio Analco, was one of the dead, said Marco Pastrana, Analco's cousin. He said the boys were 2 to 3 months old.
Monday morning, a cluster of teddy bears, stuffed bunnies, a dinosaur and candles stood under a tree outside the duplex. The landlord, Duane Brellenthin, said two sisters rented the upstairs apartment. He declined to name them, deferring to police.
He said they'd lived there about a year and a half, and he'd never had problems with them.
Pastrana said Analco no longer lived with the children's mother. Analco left Pastrana's house Saturday night to drop the kids off with her at the duplex, Pastrana said.
"It came to my mind that this was not true," Pastrana said. "But when I came here I went to talk to the cops and they tell me that he was dead, his kids were dead and one was in the hospital."
Neighbor Leandra Mena, 65, said she heard what she thought were firecrackers coming from the house around 10:30 p.m. Saturday.
"I thought it was firecrackers because it's so close to the Fourth of July," she said.
Police cordoned off two blocks around the duplex for most of the day. On Sunday morning neighbors, some still bleary-eyed, clustered on the sidewalks, watching investigators move bodies out of the house.
Tina McKinnon, 37, lives about a block away and said there was never any commotion at the house. "The children were very pleasant," she said.
Delavan, home to about 8,000 people, lies in the farm fields and woods between Janesville and Milwaukee. The P.T. Barnum Circus, "The Greatest Show on Earth," was founded in Delavan in 1871, and statues of circus animals decorate the town square.


It's a little strange seeing a sleepy town like Delavan make the national news--and I certainly didn't want to see it for this type of story. At least I don't recognize any of the people mentioned here. My sympathy goes out to the family, and I hope the little girl recovers.

I spent my teenage years in Delavan, though the town has developed since then. Back in my day, Delavan only had about 5,000 people. Since I moved there in 1982, a dog track went up (though I think it's now a bust), and lots of new stores have sprung up too. There's also a much greater Hispanic population now; when I was in high school, there were only a few token minority students.

I still visit Delavan on occasion because my friend Liz lives there. I wonder what she and her family make of this story.

More Alex Photos

Feeding time.

How dare Mommy ground me to the bassinet?

His official one-week old photo with two Oscars.

Surprise!

It looks like my last post here was on May 30th. That's ironic, given how much has happened since then....

I have had blood pressure issues during the pregnancy, so my doctors monitored me closely to make sure it didn't progress to pre-eclampisa. At my 5/25 visit, my blood pressure was quite high initially, so I had to do a 24-hour urine collection over the weekend. I dropped the sample off on Tuesday the 29th, had some bloodwork done, and scheduled a C-section for 6/11 due to Alex being breech. The next day, I visited the perinatologist for the ultrasound of the week. Everything looked good during the ultrasound itself. However, when the doctor walked in, he said, "You timed it just right." It turned out that my liver enzymes were too high and that I had finally developed a mild case of pre-eclampisa. Since I was at 37 weeks, he wanted the baby to come out within the next 24 hours. So instead of using the rest of the day to take care of a few things, I wound up in Labor and Delivery. (The doctor's office was in another wing of the hospitial, so we walked over to the main entrance and then Eugene took me in a wheelchair the rest of the way.) They checked me in, had me change, and put me on an IV. Meanwhile, Eugene had to go home to fetch some things (good thing we had the essentials already packed). Since I had had lunch, we had to wait until the evening for the operation. We made some phone calls, and I watched TV and read a little, but waiting was very difficult, to say the least. Finally, they prepped me and brought me into the OR. It was so cold in there I started shivering. That made me worry a little about the spinal (in case it didn't go in the right spot), but it wasn't an issue. I have to admit I did feel a bit depersonalized as they positioned me and drew the sterile curtain over my body. Good thing Eugene was there to hold my hand and stroke my hair. After the spinal set in, I could still feel my feet. I mentioned to the doctor, who then asked if I could feel her pinching me. I couldn't. They proceeded. I didn't feel anything except some pressure as they drew out son out. He came out at 8:35 p.m., screaming, which was a good sign--and very amazing to hear. His Apgar scores were 8 and 9. (These are scores used to determine how well a baby is doing.) Weight was 5 pounds 2 ounces; length was 18.5 inches.

As the doctor was sewing me up, she showed Eugene my uterus. Apparently mine is heart-shaped, which explains why our son never turned head down. Any more children we have will also have to be born by c-section. Eugene got to go with our son to the special care nursery (all babies born by C-section go there automatically) while I recovered. I attempted to nurse as soon as they brought our son to me. However, I couldn't keep anything down, even liquids, until the next day, when they finally stopped my IV. I stayed in the hospital until Sunday, June 3rd. During this time, we got to know our son a little better and decided to name him Alexander Aurelio, after his grandfathers. Of course the grandparents visited, and so did a couple of our friends. By Friday, I was already feeling much better, but it was (and still is) painful to get into and out of bed, sit down, or do other things. But it's worth it to have our son.

Here are some pictures Eugene took while we were in the hospital:

http://s142.photobucket.com/albums/r89/Photovet1997/Alexander%20Aurelio%20Almazan/

There are a couple on his blog as well.

Catching Up

Our Memorial Day weekend was relatively quiet. Eugene attended a Nordic walking seminar Saturday morning; I'll leave it up to him to discuss that if he wants. That afternoon, we had our car seats checked to make sure they were installed properly. The technicians made a few minor adjustments, but overall Eugene did a good job with them. Sunday we visited his parents and got to enjoy the nice weather on their deck. On the way back home, we visited a couple of people we know through an Internet forum. One of them had given Eugene some advice, so he made a batch of cookies to thank her. We talked with them for about two and a half hours. We got home late, but it was nice to meet them. Monday morning we returned to Dinner by Design (I blogged about them before) and stocked up the freezer. I also got to talk to some friends. Not my normal holiday weekend, but it probably was for the best to take it easy.

Other than that, I've been busy with doctor's appointments and getting ready for the big event. I'm still working and plan to do so through next week. Writing has been going pretty slowly, but I think I got past a sticking point. It would be nice to post something on OWW before the baby comes.

Triple Tag

Seems like this is going around again; three of the bloggers I read regularly have been tagged in the past few days. One tagged me by name; the others by default of reading them. I guess I should play along:

From Sheila's blog--seven wierd things about myself:

1. I'm left-handed, but I crochet with my right hand. All of the pattern books are written for righties, so it was easier to learn how to do it right-handed than to switch all the directions over.

2. I write science fiction. Need I say more?

3. I'm not a girly-girl. I don't care about fashion, shoes, purses, or jewelry (other than a few sentimental pieces).

4. I've never seen American Idol, Lost, Heroes, or many other popular shows. TV just sucks up your time. (Well, so does the Internet, but I guess I enjoy that more.)

5. I haven't been to the movies in well over a year either. I might change that if we go see Shrek the Third this weekend, but it depends on how I'm feeling.

6. I built a DNA model out of beads and wire when I was a teenager.

7. I read science and English textbooks when I was a child. Hey, they were just sitting there....


From Maria's blog--eight random things/facts about me:

1. I didn't drink soda as a kid, but I became addicted to Mountain Dew when I was in high school. I finally gave it up a few years ago when the caffiene gave me problems.

2. My favorite scents are lilac and lily of the valley.

3. There's a statue of an Egyptian scribe on my desk.

4. Although my parents are German, I learned more of the language in school than I did from them.

5. I used to work at McDonald's. The first night I helped close the place, I tripped and got cut by some metal trays. I still have the scar on my finger.

6. I don't like coffee, but I do like tea.

7. I've been wearing my houseshoes to work for the past month due to my swollen feet.

8. I prefer unicorns to dragons.

Finally, from Sara, five reasons why I blog:

1. To keep in touch with old friends, many of whom I don't get to see in person very often. By reading their blogs and posting what I'm up to, I feel more connected to them.

2. To connect with other people who share my interests, such as writing.

3. To discuss writing in particular--how my latest work is going, what techniques work for me, and how I feel about my progress or lack thereof.

4. To express my views on the world or current events.

5. To carve out a small portion of immortality for myself on the Internet


Well, that was a lot to post at once. I'm going to bend the rules a bit here; I'll tag Russ, Eugene, and Sue to choose one of the above memes for their own blogs.

Missing Madison

"From you have I been absent in the spring...." Shakespeare, Sonnet 98

Normally I would be getting ready to drive up to Madison, Wisconsin tomorrow for WisCon, the feminist science fiction convention I've been attending oh, since 1998, I think. But not this year. It's too close to my due date, and the last thing I need to worry about is going into labor while I'm up there and fighting the traffic back to the Chicago area. It's hard for me to get around anyway. That won't stop me from thinking about Madison--the Farmer's Market, State Street, and all the other things I miss about my favorite city. Plus of course there are panels I could be attending, people I could be meeting or renewing a friendship with, and lots of books I could be buying. We do have things planned for this weekend around here, but it just won't be the same. The best I can do is log on to the WisCon website and look for updates. So please excuse my bout of self-pity and homesickness. There's always next year, of course, but that's so far away.

Nine Months and Counting....

Tomorrow I'll be in my 36th week of pregnancy. Since pregnancy normally lasts for forty weeks, I will be officially 1.9 people (as Eugene likes to say). Due to various issues I don't want to go into here, my doctors don't want me to go past 39 weeks. I have to admit I'll be glad to be done a little early. This final trimester has been a bit rough. At least we're nearly done with the nursery. We still haven't picked out a name, though. To make matters worse, I can't find the list of possible names. Better clean out the desk this weekend!

Dinner with Dancers

Well, friends from our tango class last year, anyway. We wanted to get together with our tango instructors too, but their weekends are booked for a couple of months. We got together at a place called the Bonefish Grill. The food was very good, especially the dessert--a warm, moist chocolate brownie with raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream. One of the best desserts I've had in a long time. We had a good time talking with our friends too. I didn't think to bring the camera, though. Hopefully we'll get together with them again after the baby comes.

Not much else to report otherwise. The nursery is slowly starting to shape up. All of the furniture is in; we just need to hang up a few more things and organize the place. We'll post pictures when it's done.

I haven't got much writing done recently; I've either been busy or not feeling too well. But I did remove the first half of Lennon's Line. It's still about 112,000 words, which isn't too bad. I'd like to keep it under 120,000, which should be manageable even though I'll have to add in some of the backstory. Of course, now I have to come up with a better opening paragraph. Hopefully I won't rewrite the whole story again!

Missing In Action....

Yes, it's been a long time since I posted; I guess I'm getting lazy. I haven't been up to much beyond the usual--plus of course getting ready for the baby.

Sunday was my baby shower. My mother and mother-in-law co-hosted it at my mother-in-law's house. It was a good-sized shower, with friends and family from both sides. We got a variety of gifts, including some handmade blankets and outfits. We also got our car seat and Pack'n'Play (a combination bassinette/playpen). We have some pictures, but I haven't uploaded them yet.

I'm behind on my writing and reviews as well. Maybe tomorrow I can get back on track.

Wonderful Weekend

Yesterday was a spa day for me. I had a prenatal massage. Since my back had been bothering me all week, the timing was good for that, and it was nice to relax for a while. I also had a couple of other beauty treatments and got my hair cut. I probably won't have much time for the spa after the baby comes, so it's better to have my hair taken care of now and not have to go in for a while. Later, Eugene and I went out for dinner with some friends of ours. Both the food and the conversation were excellent.

Today we got together with another friend of mine, Heather. We went to Navy Pier, where we took a boat ride, saw an IMAX show, and walked around for a while, enjoying the weather. Later, we went out for sushi, though of course I couldn't have any. But by the time we returned home, clouds were coming. It's raining now; I hope Heather got home before the storm hit.

I have pictures from the boat ride but don't feel like posting them now. Perhaps I'll upload them tomorrow.

Time for an Update

I've been slacking on the blog this week. Some nights I had a good excuse for doing so. For example, Monday night was the Billy Joel concert. Eugene and I went with Betsy, a friend of his from vet school, and her husband Ray. We had dinner beforehand and lingered so long that even though we were only a few minutes away from the venue, we had a hard time finding parking. We wound up having to take a shuttle bus from another parking lot. Good thing concerts never start on time. It was an enjoyable show; Billy Joel was at ease with the audience, and he played a mix of hits and some more obscure songs. I have to admit I was a bit more tired than I realized, so it was harder for me to get into some parts of the show. We didn't get home until about 11:30.

Tuesday we had one of our childbirth classes. It's part of a six-week long course, and we're about halfway through. We have breathing exercises to do (well, it doesn't matter if Eugene does them) and other things we're supposed to practice between sessions. I never knew pregnancy would require so much homework!

The last couple of days I've just been busy with other things, like working on my writing. Some info about that is posted on my other blog. I won't bother to go into it here, however. But there should be some other things to report on this weekend, so I'll try to post them sooner.

A Few Pictures....

One of the swans at the garden.

Eugene takes time to enjoy the flowers.

One of the many flower beds.

And of course, what trip to the garden would be complete without an Oscar picture?

Back to the Garden

At last we had a gorgeous weekend, so Eugene and I went back to our favorite spot, the Chicago Botanic Garden. It was very busy today, as there was an antique/garden show going on. One of the first things we saw when we entered the garden was a pair of swans. We took a few pictures of them before seeing another pair being fed a little farther down. Eugene let me use one of his cameras, so I practiced taking some photos with it. I may try to post them later on after I finish installing a new card reader. Some of the fruit trees were in bloom, so I enjoyed sniffing the blossoms. The bulbs were going strong, but of course it's too early for roses.

We only stayed at the garden for a couple of hours and tried not to walk around too much. I sat down every chance I could. Even so, my back was killing me by the time we left. I guess that's only going to get worse the farther along I am.

We're Baaaacckkk....

Finally, our Internet at home is up. We had to place a new order for Internet service, as the one call that I thought would take care of both the phone and Internet didn't work. We're gradually getting some other things sorted out as well. We've bought so many bookshelves at IKEA that we should get one free. ;) Once we get the nursery emptied out, Eugene will be able to assemble the crib and other furniture.

Speaking of home furnishings, we had planned last week to pick up some vacuum storage bags (the kind that you can pull air out of to condense bulky clothes) but couldn't find them at Target. While I was running errands today, I stopped at the Container Store and bought some. When Eugene came home from work, he also had a bag from there. I guess great minds really do think alike. We should be able to use them all, though, so we don't have to return them.

I had a request to report on how the meals from Dinner by Design turned out. We've eaten all but the beef brisket. Overall, we enjoyed them. The shrimp scampi was a little disappointing in that the shrimp were small and the shrimp/pasta ratio was too low, but it was good and garlicky. The pork chops and lasgana in particular were quite good. We plan to go back next month and possibly make more dishes.

Writing: I should probably put this on my other blog, but I have started to rewrite one of my books. I've also started revising a synopsis for Lennon's Line. I'm not sure yet when I'll start sending it out; it should probably go through one more edit/revision first, but I'm getting close to the point where I just want it done and out of the door.

Dinner By Design

Net Update-Still not up at home. Our land line works only intermittently due to a damaged phone jack. Our apartment complex will take a look at it on Monday to see if they can replace it. I hope we don't have to call the phone company to have it fixed; who wants to pay for something that was already damaged when we moved in?


Anyway, on to the main topic for the day....

I found out about Dinner By Design through one of my online forums. It's a franchise where you can prepare meals to take home and cook. (You can freeze them until you need them.) All of the food is already chopped up or (in the case of the meat) premeasured for you; you just have to assemble it. I've heard other people rave about this place, so I wanted to try it for myself, partly to get out of my own "recipe rut" and partly to have some meals stocked up for when the baby comes.

My first session was last night. (You have to sign up in advance so they know what ingredients to have on hand.) One other customer was supposed to be there, but since he never showed, I had the place all to myself. In some ways, that felt strange (and I felt bad for the people running the place), but it was also nice not having to share space with someone else. There were five stations set up to prepare food (each with a recipe and all the ingredients), and some of them were set up for two entrees, so I can see that there could be a wait if the place was too crowded.

The employees were very helpful. One of them explained how the setup worked to me. He would have walked me through a couple of meals if I needed him to, but I've done enough cooking to feel comfortable enough doing it on my own. They assisted me in other ways, however; they brought me melted butter for some dishes that needed it, they gave me apple juice to substitute for wine in the shrimp scampi, and they cut up a panni sandwich so it was more manageable.

The process was pretty simple. I had selected six dishes in advance. They had a list ready for me, so I went up to each station, read the recipe, and collected any utensils I needed from a rack in the back. All of the ingredients were at the station. The meat was already prebagged in the amount that I needed, but the other ingredients, such as veggies and spices, were set out with measuring cups and spoons. Most of the dishes went straight into foil pans for freezing and baking, though there was one dish (a beef brisket) for the crockpot. The meals were easy to assemble; I think the hardest part was trying to roll up a stuffed flank steak. I just tied it in several places instead. When I was done with each dish, there were preprinted labels with cooking directions to put on each pan.

The whole process took about an hour and a half. I made shrimp scampi, a veggie lasgna, a beef brisket, Greek stuffed flank steak, a panni, and pork chops with peaches and stuffing. They had some premade side dishes in the freezer, so I picked up some vegetables and a brunch dish as well. I'm not sure how the cost worked out for the sides, but the main dishes came to about $3/serving.

It was a interesting experience. I wish Eugene could have been there, but they have to limit the number of people there to control space. (Guess that wouldn't have been a problem last night with the no-show.) Assuming we're pleased with the meals, we'll do this again. Eugene is already picking out possible entrees for next month. Maybe next time he'll play chef too.

Child Care Class

Our Internet still isn't set up at home; heck, neither are our computers. Hopefully Eugene can take care of that this weekend. It's frustrating being without the Net at home.

Last night we attended a newborn care class through the hospital. (We're also signed up for childbirth, CPR, and breastfeeding.) They talked about various things such as what the newborn will look like, how to hold the baby, how to give the baby a sponge bath, and so on. We had dolls, so we could practice doing these things too. Eugene has more experience with babies than I do, and it showed. This will definitely be a learning experience for me!

Quick Update

Yes, I'm blogging on my lunch hour.

We finished the move by Sunday evening. The main part of the move took place Saturday, when Eugene and his brother moved the rest of the furniture. We still had piles of smaller stuff to transfer, plus we had to clean the old apartment. But it's done, and I turned in the old set of keys last night.

Now we just have to focus on setting up the new place. There's not much I can do (or the Proud Paternal Pregnancy Police will let me do), so Eugene has to bear that burden. I already have my own. ;)

Movin' Out, Part One

Today we got the keys to our new apartment. Thanks to a co-worker who had a few friends and a truck, we were able to get a fair amount transferred tonight. Talk about a lifesaver! It really helped a lot, especially since one of Eugene's brothers has several exams next week and won't be able to help us after all. Luckily, a friend of mine also offered to help, so hopefully we'll be able to get it all done. It's much appreciated, since I can't do much. I can carry small things and clean, but obviously I can't lift anything. We have until Monday to finish, but we're working that day.

The new apartment has smaller closets than this one, so storage will be a challenge. The kitchen cabinets are deep, but narrow. At least the storage locker is much bigger. Also, we'll have a dishwasher--something I haven't had in an apartment in years. (I would always tell people I had a human dishwasher--Eugene.) But the important thing is that Baby A will get a nursery. That's more important than us having an office now.

The Dreaded Drink

I try not to say too much about my pregnancy, but today's visit to the doctor was worth blogging about. Today was the day for my gestational diabetes test. It's a simple one: you drink some orange liquid they give you, wait for an hour, then have your blood drawn. I've heard people complain that the liquid is sickly sweet, but I didn't think it was that bad. Eugene sniffed the bottle and thought that just the odor was bad enough. At least I didn't get nauseated, but that's why the doctor's office recommends having something to eat beforehand--as long as it isn't sweet. Hopefully I'll pass the test; if I don't, I have to do a special three-hour fasting version. But in the meantime, everything seems to be going well. The only thing is the baby doesn't want to move for Daddy. I'll call Eugene over when I feel the baby kicking, but of course the kicking stops as soon as Eugene touches me. OK, I admit it; the baby gets its stubbornness from me. ;) It's that Irish-German heritage of mine. Should be interesting to see how the Filipino-Irish-German all comes together.

Harmony Sweepstakes

Sorry I've been MIA the last few days; between work and packing for the move, I've been too tired to do much on the computer. I'm only now catching up with reviews and e-mails and so forth.

Eugene and I did get to go out last night with a friend of ours. We attended the Harmony Sweepstakes, a regional contest for acappella groups. I'm pretty sure I blogged about this last year, but in case you've forgotten, several groups perform for ten minutes in front of a panel of judges and a general audience. The winning group gets to attend the national contest. This year there were several groups, including one from Madison. I'm afraid Eugene and I were disappointed with their performance. Their songs weren't as good as the sound clips on their site, and they were very stiff on stage. We preferred a group called Home Free. They introduced their set as "all the wrong songs to sing in the Harmony Sweepstakes," and it was quite funny. We will never sing "YMCA" the normal way again. But the group that stole the show was Nightwatch, the 2003 Harmony Sweepstakes winners. They had a new act parodying Broadway musicals--and they performed in costume. (A witch, a cat, a masked man in a cloak, and a knight in armor. Hopefully you recognize the shows.) We think Home Free was in first place until Nightwatch came on. They won both the popular and judges' vote.

We spent most of today packing for the move, but since we ran out of boxes, we needed to get out and run some errands, which gave us a chance to enjoy the weather. I hope it's this nice this weekend too.

Catching Up with Friends

Today I did something I've been meaning to do for a while: I contacted several of my friends. A few of my friends don't use the Internet or e-mail much, if at all, so I wrote them brief snail-mails with our new address. I also e-mailed someone I've meant to contact for a while to see how she's doing. When you're busy treading life, it can be easy to let people you don't see every day slip away from you. I tell myself every so often I should call my friends, but it can take me a while to follow through. I imagine once the baby comes it'll be even harder. It's still important, though.

Visiting My Parents

It's amazing how quickly time can pass without you noticing it; recently Eugene and I realized we hadn't visited my parents since Christmas Eve. Their anniversary (#48!) is this coming Wednesday, so it was high time for a visit. We therefore drove up to see them and my grandmother today. They wanted to go to Red Lobster for lunch, so we met them at the house and then all went up to Madison together. It's too bad we didn't get farther than East Towne. After lunch (which they didn't let us pay for), we stopped at a Babies-R-Us to show them some of the items we'd picked out. Mom already has a bunch of clothes already for Baby A. At least I won't have to do laundry so often. We hung around to have dinner with them as well and talked for a while before heading back. We got in about an hour ago. It's too late to pack tonight, but maybe I can catch up on my e-mail and work on my outline.

Packing Update and Cold Cards

Tonight we finished packing my paperback collection. It took about a dozen boxes. This does not include my hardcover fiction or nonfiction, let alone Eugene's collection of cookbooks, history books, or photography books. No wonder he said we should start our own library!

Cold Cards: Today during lunch one of my coworkers discovered someone had left a couple of business cards in the freezer. He also left them there because he thought it had been done for some reason. Later on, while I was making my mid-afternoon snack of half a bagel with cream cheese, I put the cards on the lunch table because it made no sense to me that they stay in the freezer. I'm sure this says something about our characters, but exactly what I'm not sure. I guess I need to blog before 10:00 at night.

Turning It On Again

My first concert was Genesis back in 1992, at Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. It was the summer after graduation, and I was working up in Madison and spending time with friends. We went as a group to the concert. Later on, I bought the live CDs to relive that time. So, fifteen years later, as the group reunites, Eugene and I knew we wanted to go see them again if possible. We missed the presale, but I updated my account information on Ticketmaster and hoped I'd be able to log on when tickets went on sale.

For some reason Ticketmaster didn't update my e-mail address, so it took me several tries to log in this morning. By the time I succeeded, there weren't any tickets left, even though it was still just a couple of minutes after 10:00. Still, I kept trying (and mistyping the verification code), hoping something would change. Something finally did, but it wasn't what I expected; they added another date. I immediately checked for tickets. Something else I never thought would happen did: Ticketmaster offered me tickets on the main floor. Despite the high price, I was tempted for a moment. If the seats had been closer--within the first ten rows or so--I might have taken them. But I figured I might not be able to see from twenty-one rows back, and I couldn't justify the price. So I let them go and found another pair on the lower level. They were still top price, so I searched on price and found a more affordable pair, still on lower level. This time I bought them.

The concert is in October, which will be about three-four months after the baby is born. Hopefully Eugene's parents will be able to babysit. (It's a bit strange having to worry about that.) If it doesn't work out, hopefully we'll have a chance to sell the tickets and get our money back. But it would be even better to go, as I'm sure we won't be doing any more concerts for a while after this one.

Accomplished

You know you're getting old when Saturday becomes a Chore Day, and it doesn't help when you can't even sleep in. I was up at my normal time during the week, so I just stayed up. But I did get a lot done today. First, I brought the car in to have the emissions checked (it's an Illinois thing). The last time I had to have this done was about five years ago in the summer; I had to wait for half an hour or forty minutes. This time, there were more attendants than cars, and I was done in less than ten minutes. (The car passed, which was no surprise, since it's not really that old and still has fairly low milage.) Then I picked up a few things at Target, bought groceries, and filled up the tank. After lunch, I ran a few more errands. By that point, I needed a break, so I finished a chapter review. I reviewed Sue's latest chapter and worked on a novel outline while we were at the bookstore tonight. And of course I bought several more books to add to the Towers of Unread Books. At this rate, I'll never read them all, as I can buy them much faster than I can read them! Now if I can only sneak a Book Day back into my life....

Running Willy-Nilly

I've meant to blog in the last few days, really I have, but sometimes I'm too tired at the end of the night or too busy trying to work on outlines for my stories. But sometimes you just have to post.

For reasons I'd rather not discuss online, we've put off buying a house. Unfortunately, this means that we're still living in a small apartment. But last night, as I was discussing our lease with the landlord, I found out that there's a larger apartment available at a lower price. It's still a two-bedroom, but they're roomier than what we have now. (And the kitchen is bigger too!) That apartment would be available April 1st. After discussion, Eugene and I decided to make the switch. That means we have three weeks to pack and move. I can pack some things, but obviously I can't lift anything. Good thing Eugene's brothers are available to help us. Add to that the fact that we're starting childbirth/childcare classes next month, and it's no wonder that we're outracing headless chickens. I just hope this move doesn't turn out to be an April Fool's Day for us.

Visiting the In-Laws

Eugene and I visited his family today. We haven't seen them since January, and he wanted to show off my growing baby belly to them. We also brought over some things to put into storage. Space is already at a premium in our apartment, and with a third occupant coming, it's going to get crowded in here very quickly.

On the way, we stopped at a nearby baby store to check out a mattress for the crib. (The crib shipped to work last week, but Eugene still needs to pick it up.) We also looked at bedding; we're not quite sure what pattern we're going to get, but we'll probably buy it there instead of online. Now if we could only make up our minds about which stroller to get, we'd be doing well.

Sure enough, Eugene's parents oohed and aahed over their future grandchild. They didn't even notice my haircut until later, when we were having a late lunch at a Chinese restaurant. We hung out with his brother for a while and discussed a couple of other things with his parents before returning home.

No News Is Good News

Remember a while back I posted a blog entry about how some attention-seeking people ought to be shunned as punishment? Turns out out least some media sources are trying the idea. AP ignored Paris Hilton (a name I never thought I would use here) for a week to see what would happen. You can read about it here.

I'm a little disappointed it was a non-event in some ways, as she didn't do much that was newsworthy during the blackout. It would have been interesting to see if the ban would have had more impact. Again, I'm not sure if something like this would ever work, as it goes against human nature. But isn't human nature something we're supposed to rise above?

New Link

"Topical Heat," Maria Zannini's writing blog, has now moved to Blogger under a new name, "Maria Zannini." Check it out!

(Ironic, isn't it, that I'm now using LJ for my writing blog? Someday I have to figure out how to add links to that template.)

Quotes of the Day

Some andecotes to amuse you...

I drink peppermint tea every day during lunch at work. (I used to switch teas, but I'm not sure which ones are safe during pregnancy, so I stick to peppermint. It was recommended by americanpregnancy.org, so I figure it should be OK. So far, Baby A seems to like it.) The particular brand that I like best prints quotes on the paper tag of each tea bag. Today I saw a quote I hadn't seen before: "A great man is always willing to be little," by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I wondered right away how I as a short woman should take this. If I'm involuntarily little, does that make me great? (Ha! I wish.)

On the way home from work, I saw a car with this bumper sticker: "Christopher Columbus didn't need directions...and neither do I!" Silly driver, I thought, don't you know Columbus was trying to reach the West Indies? I hope that's not where the driver wanted to go, as he/she will probably be as successful as Columbus.

Snowy Day

Today, the farthest I ventured was to the exercise room at the center of our apartment complex. With both snow and rain, I didn't want to go anywhere. Eugene did run a few errands, but we decided not to visit his parents as we'd planned. Perhaps next week. In the meantime, I baked a dozen rolls and CROWW (Cinnamon Raisin Oat Walnut Whole wheat bread), posted two crits on the workshop when it came back online, and finished going over the third draft of Lennon's Line. Oh, and I also ordered the crib and some more maternity clothes. So it was a productive day, but I'm still not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Guess I need more luck the next time we go to Vegas. (grin)

Life List

Since I visited two states for the first time on this trip, I thought it would be a good time to update my state life list. I'm told I visited Arkansas when I was a toddler, but I don't remember it. I counted it anyway.



create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

Vegas Vacation, Part Two

OK, where did I leave off? I don't think I finished Day Three. Eugene and I had dinner at a nice restaurant in our hotel. Then we walked around the Strip for a bit. We wound up at the Belliago again so Eugene could view the Ansel Adams exhibit for himself. I wandered around and played video games while I was waiting for him. We finished the night by playing The Simpsons and eating sorbet.

Day Four

Wouldn't you know I'd wake up feeling sick again? I've heard of some women having morning sickness throughout their pregnancies, but I'm still inclined to think it was too much food. It wasn't as bad as before, but I skipped breakfast with Eugene and spent the morning resting. By afternoon, however, I was feeling better and decided to go around a bit. The weather was gorgeous, so I'm glad I was able to get out. I took the monorail to the Mirage to see their dolphin/big cat exhibit created by Siegfried and Roy. The trainers there interact with the dolphins, but they don't put on a scheduled show the way zoos or aquariums do. I watched them for a bit, both above and below water, before checking out the other animals. They were quite active for the middle of the day; in particular, there were two beautiful white lions, both male, that scratched trees and played with each other. I'm not the photographer Eugene is (and my camera has significant shutter lag), but I still got some shots I was happy with. There were also white tigers, black panthers, and leopards. I picked up some stuffed animals and gradually made my way back to our hotel to meet up with Eugene.

We took the monorail over to the Hilton (I think it was the Hilton) for dinner and the Star Trek exhibit. By the time we found a place to eat, it was a bit late, but we were still able to see the exhibit. Mostly it was a timeline of Star Trek's future history and artifacts from the show. There were also exhibits devoted to the aliens. The experience ended with a simulated shuttle ride; the premise was that the Klingons had kidnapped us from the 21st century in an effort to seize one of Picard's ancestors, and the Next Generation crew had to return us to our time. They had some neat effects; the ride started with us lined up in front of some doors, then the lights went out. When they came back on, the doors were gone. Unfortunately, due to my pregnancy, I had to skip the actual shuttle ride, since the motion was too violent. That just meant I went down to the gift shop right away. I picked up something for the baby and an autographed of Nimoy; Eugene bought a tribble to add to our stuffed animal collection. We then went to Quark's for chocolate fondue. An Andorian was wandering around, but he left before we could take a picture of him. Eugene still found ways to take pictures of Oscar with aliens.

Day Five

Today was the highlight of our trip: a visit to the Grand Canyon. Eugene skipped the last day of lectures for this. We set this up through a tour group that picked us up from our hotel. (Unfortunately, Eugene forgot his jacket on the bench; we weren't able to recover it later.) We met up with others at another hotel before boarding a bus to take us to an airport outside of Vegas. From there, we flew in a puddlejumper to the Grand Canyon. En route, we passed over the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. In setting up this excursion, I'd tried to take my condition into account and find a trip that wouldn't strain me too much. One thing I hadn't thought of, however, was that small planes are more subject to bumpiness than bigger ones. The flight was a bit rough; I was holding onto the seat with one hand and my belly with the other. Baby A didn't seem to have any problems, however.

When we finally landed at another small airport, we picked up lunchboxes and boarded another bus. It took us to a spot on the South Rim. We had about 45 minutes to walk around, take pictures, and visit the gift shop. It was colder than I expected; there was still snow on the ground. I felt bad for Eugene, but he wouldn't have fit into my windbreakers. The views were amazing, however. After we were done at that spot, the bus took us to a second stop at Bright Angel Lodge. We took a few more pictures and bought more things at the gift shop. Eugene replaced his jacket; I bought some Native American crafts. By this time, the sun was setting, and we had to go back. We did see an elk, but I wasn't able to get a good photo from the moving bus. The flight back was much smoother.

We arrived back at our hotel after 8:00. We didn't finish with dinner until about 9:20, so afterward we hoofed it over to a restaurant we'd noticed earlier in another hotel. This restaurant, the Chocolate Swan, has been featured on the Food Network, so of course we were determined to sample its wares before leaving Vegas. The treats were well worth it!

This was our last night in Vegas, so after our chocolate, it was time to pack. I'm amazed we got all of our stuffed animals into our suitcases!

Day Six

We had a mid-afternoon flight back to Chicago, but we got to the airport well ahead of schedule. Given how busy security was, that was probably a good idea. I did get my first pregnancy comment from a stranger, so I'm definitely showing. (At least no unwelcome belly rubs were involved.) Other than that, the flight was uneventful. We arrived in Chicago before the storm, luckily. It's not the best welcome back, but at least we weren't stranded anywhere.

We're poorer in cash but richer in memories. I doubt we'll be taking any more vacations like this for a while, so it's good we were able to take one now.

I have too many pictures to post on the blog, so you can view some of them here.

Vegas Vacation, Part One

Eugene and I are in Las Vegas this week. He's doing continuing education; I'm on vacation. I have to pay for Internet access at the hotel, so I won't be on much until Saturday. But here's the trip so far:


Day One:

Eugene and I left the apartment at 8:30 a.m. to go to the airport. He’d checked us in over the Internet the day before, so check-in and security were a breeze. The flight itself was pretty uneventful too. I did manage to finish one book and nearly finish another by the time we landed.

I could tell the difference immediately. Even before getting off the plane, it was much warmer. And the bank of slot machines in front of our gate was a bit of a clue too that we were in Las Vegas. When we went outside to catch a cab to the hotel, there were palm trees and other unfamiliar plants.

All of the hotels here on the strip are huge. The whole first floor is dominated by row upon row of slot machines, ranging from penny slots to high-roller ones. Other areas are set aside for blackjack and poker, but I don’t know those games well enough to attempt them. Each hotel also has lots of shops and restaurants, the latter ranging from fast food to gourmet. The smoke wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be, but it’s still noticeable. By the end of my first night, I already had a sore throat.

After we managed to check into our room, Eugene left to sign in for his conference and attend lecture. I took off my long underwear, called my parents, explored the hotel, and relaxed until Eugene returned. We had dinner at one of the buffets in our hotel, then we explored two other hotels connected to ours by walkways. They were pretty similar to ours regarding the gambling, but the theme of each hotel was different. They also had different attractions. We ended up going through a shark reef exhibit in one of the hotels, The gift shop had a big stuffed orca, so we bought him as a friend for Oscar. After having tea at one of the Starbucks, we headed back.

Day Two

We both got up early; Eugene had lectures starting at 8:00, and I couldn’t stay asleep. We had breakfast together at the buffet before splitting up for the morning. I gambled five bucks while waiting for the hair salon to open, but my money was gone in less than five minutes. Video games give me more fun for the buck. When the salon opened, I made an appointment for a manicure in the afternoon. Then I set off to explore some of the other hotels. While the weather was much better than it had been in Chicago, it was still a bit cool for me. It was also overcast with some slight rain.

I stopped briefly in the New York hotel, but I was primarily interested in the Belliago and their fine art exhibit. That hotel had some of the pricier shops I’ve seen so far—not that there’s much point in me buying any clothes or shoes while I’m pregnant. The gallery had a special exhibit of Ansel Adams photographs. I was a little disappointed in not being able to see some of the old masters, but it was still interesting to see the photographs and learn more about Adams. Of course I had to tell Eugene about the exhibit so he can see it for himself. I had some sorbet before walking back to the hotel to meet Eugene for lunch, stopping along the way to pick up bottled water at a drugstore and check out another hotel. By the time I finally found Eugene, I was exhausted from all the walking. We had lunch with two of his godparents and our wedding sponsors; they were also there for the convention.

After my manicure, I relaxed the rest of the afternoon, too tired to explore. Eugene and I took a cab over to the Mirage to see the Beatles show “Love.” We had dinner at that hotel’s buffet. It was good; they had din sum, sushi (which I couldn’t have), and other seafood. My stomach was so tight I couldn’t even finish my salad, though. After dinner, we went straight to the theater and got seated.

“Love” was quite a show. I’d never seen a Cirque du Soleli show before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The theater was divided into quadrants with gauzy translucent curtains. Some of the cast members wandered around before the show started, offering entertainment. The show itself was showcased around the Beatle’s songs. It was vaguely biographical in the beginning, showing Liverpool in the aftermath of WWII and early Beatlemania. The Beatles’ voices could be heard occasionally, and clippings and movies were shown on two sceens. But most of the show was devoted to interpreting the Beatles’ songs. There were some recurring characters, such as a young girl trapped in a window and other woman in a long red dress. My favorite character was a guy who reminded me of Kramer from Seinfeld (which is more unusual because I didn’t watch the show very much). He appeared from time to time with a bouquet of yellow flowers, attempting to offer them to female characters but getting rejected each time. I felt sorry for him.

Some of my favorite parts of the show included “Something,” which featured women on trapezes swinging through the air while a man tried to woo all of them at once, and “Octopus’s Garden.” The costumes for that part of the show made the performers look like jellyfish. “Blackbird” was comical, as a man kept urging a group of four birds to fly. Every time they tried, they crashed. At other times, the show passed over the audience or even came into the audience. During one song, a bed rose into the air, and the sheets from it spread out over the audience. Unfortunately, they stopped a couple of rows shy from our seats; Eugene whispered to me he wanted a partial refund. It’s not a show that can be captured on DVD; there’s just too much going on all at once. Some of the interpretations were a bit abstract; I think it’s the kind of show you’d need to see a couple of times to get all of it. Still, it was great, the kind of thing I know John in particular would have loved.

We had talked about going around a bit more after the show, but while I was waiting in line to purchase a couple of souvenirs, I started to feel sick. We took another cab back to our hotel. Let’s just say it’s a good thing we did, as shortly afterwards I had to make use of a wastebasket. It must have been something I ate; I suspect perhaps it was the shrimp cocktail. The good thing is that it seemed to pass pretty quickly. Still, I crashed very early that night.

Day Three

The morning was similar to the day before, except that I decided to stay in and rest to make sure the baby and I were both OK. It’s always reassuring to feel the baby kicking, though the kicks are still on the “soft” side. I met Eugene for lunch. Afterwards, I walked to the Tropicana to see two of their exhibits. Unfortunately, both of them were closed until further notice. So I went next door to the MGM Grand to see the lions on display. (They’re in a zoo-like exhibit behind glass.) They have two males less than a year old. I watched them for a little while, took a picture, and then walked to the Bellagio. The weather was sunnier today, but it was still a bit cool (for my taste) in the shade. Of course, it still beats Chicago this time of year! I checked out the conservatory, which was decorated for the Chinese New Year, and took some pictures. Then I sat in the lobby and rested for a while, closing my eyes and bobbing my head every few minutes. When I returned to our hotel, I treated myself (and the baby) to ice cream. Then I relaxed in the room until Eugene returned. We plan to go around some more tonight. I think if I go anywhere tomorrow, however, it will be by monorail. This is more walking than I do on the treadmill at home.

That’s all for now. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to blog again before we get back. I do have pictures, but I’ll upload them later.

Missed Turns and Good Friends

Our friends Adam and Natalie came into town this weekend, so we planned to have dinner together and meet at the restaurant. Unfortunately, the directions from the Internet were flawed; a turn was left out. (And no, a "right out" wouldn't have helped either.) We realized we were lost about the time we were supposed to meet our friends. We called them to explain the situation, then luckily managed to find an alternate route on a folded map Eugene had in the car. We were nearly an hour late, which was quite aggravating. But our friends understood, and we had a good time talking to them.

I'd go into more detail, but we have to catch a flight later this morning. Time to turn int.

Stolen from Sara

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

http://www.blogthings.com/thesesamestreetpersonalityquiz/">The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Happy Rose Day!

I found a big box at my desk when I came into work this morning. (The roads were much better today, BTW.) It had arrived last night after I'd left. Eugene sent me two dozen red roses and a box of chocolates. Of course I had to take a picture of the flowers after I put them in the vase:
I had to work late tonight, plus I had to stop for gas on the way home. However, since Eugene was also running late, it wasn't a problem. We had dinner at home: shrimp and steak, potatoes, carrots, and salad. The baby ate well tonight! Plus, Eugene also made a chocolate tart topped with raspberries, and we also have chocolate-covered strawberries. We'll be having those soon.

As for gifts, Eugene spoiled me with a diamond necklace. (It has a pendant of dangling diamonds that are supposed to represent love growing over the years. There's a special name for it, but I don't remember what it is.) Unfortunately, my gifts to him didn't work out quite as well. I bought him three history books and a CD, but he already had two of the books. At least he laughed about it. I've already ordered a couple of different books (photography ones he wanted) for him through Amazon.

Need I say how lucky I am to have a husband who treats me so well? Happy Valentine's Day, my sweetie. I love you so much.

(Ok, better sign off before I get too mushy....)

Driving and Dogs

I hate to talk about the weather, but it was certainly blog-worthy today. I'm not sure how much snow we received, but with that and the winds, I was a Nervous Nellie on the roads today. It took me about forty minutes (instead of my normal fifteen-twenty, depending on the route I take) each way. Of course, I was going much slower than normal. My boss was kind enough to let us leave early, so that helped. I'm wondering if I should go in at the normal time tomorrow or not. It'll depend on how much snow we get overnight. I really should go in at my regular time to start an experiment, though.

I spent some time with Eugene tonight watching the Westminster Dog Show. There are some beautiful dogs out there, and some of the breeds were new to me. It's also amazing how the judges can evaluate so many breeds, holding each one up to its standard, without taking notes. I wasn't sure which dog to pick for Best in Show, but Eugene correctly predicted the winner. He may not be a judge, but he knows more about dogs than I do!

Baby Shopping

Eugene suggested the title of this post to make people wonder what we meant. No, we didn't find any babies for sale this weekend. Guess it's a good thing we did it ourselves. ;)

We went to Babies-R-Us this weekend to look at cribs. I've heard they can take months to come in, so it might not be too soon to order one. That is, if we can decide on one. There were several models set up in the store; through trial and error, we realized that we need to get one with a drop-down side. Given my lack of height, it's the only way I can reach into the crib. We did see a couple of models we liked, but since I forgot the Baby Bargains book at home, we held off on ordering. The book did say that this manufacturer makes good cribs but not-so-great furniture. I asked about that on a forum I belong to, and the moms there were satisfied. But then I looked at the reviews on the BRU website, and they were decidedly mixed. Several people even said their children were able to climb out of the cribs--not a good sign at all! All cribs sold in the U.S. are supposed to meet certain safety standards no matter what the price is. I'd like to think this model really will be safe, as we will probably end up buying a crib from BRU. We haven't found another place close to us where we can look and feel the cribs before choosing one.

Travel systems are also tough. We've definitely decided on the car seat, but the Baby Bargains book says the matching stroller isn't very durable. We did see another possible stroller at the store. It's more expensive, but it's lighter and has a higher rating. But will we be able to use it with the car seat? There's the rub.

At least I don't have to worry about clothing, as my mom seems to be taking care of that all by herself. But I think the baby registry is going to be much harder to create than the wedding ones.

New Links

I added a couple of new links to some more blogs.

The first one is called "From Me to You," and it's written by a local Beatle fan. We belong to the same Beatles forum. I'm not sure if we've met, but I'm sure we've been at the same "Fest for Beatles Fans." Maybe we'll get to meet this year; it'll depend on how things are going with the baby by then.

The second one is "Stuck Inside a Cloud," another blog of mine on LiveJournal. (The name comes from a George Harrison song.) Yes, I know; the last thing I need is another journal to maintain. As I discussed in a previous entry, it seems that most of the bloggers on my writing workshop use LiveJournal. The plan therefore is to move some of the writing-related posts to LiveJournal so I can network with them. (Ironically, one of my writing friends will be moving her blog to Blogger soon.) I don't know if I'll use it as much as this blog, but of course all of you are welcome to check it out.

I'm finally caught up on crits for the moment, though I'm sure that will change tomorrow. ;) For now, while I do have a couple of things to take care of before bed, I finally may have a chance to work on my own stuff. When will I stop being bass-ackwards about critting and writing?

More Hair-Raising Comments

Normally, I'm not surprised if people fail to notice when I have my hair cut. When my hair was below my shoulders, it's not so obvious if it's an inch or two shorter. But chopping off as much as I did is definitely drew some comments at work today. Most of them were complimentary, but my boss apparently is going to need some time to adjust to my new style. He keeps thinking I'm someone else. His wife, our company president, asked if I'd donated my hair. That's a noble thought, but since I hadn't planned to go so short, I didn't arrange to save my shorn locks. I'm not sure if they would have been suitable anyway--I think the hair has to be a certain length and unprocessed. I haven't had my hair highlighted since the wedding, but I'm sure there were still traces of that present.

With that, I think I'll have to find some new subject material tomorrow.

Update

Well, here's the new hairdo. Yes, we just took this, so I'm tired.

Not much for me to say about the Super Bowl; I don't even understand the game. Personally, I preferred the Puppy Bowl. But I did get some crocheting done. Now, it's time for me to get some sleep.

The Horsemen Are Coming!

Remember how I announced I was pregnant?

Horsemen Two and Three of the Apocalypse are on their way.

A couple of weeks ago, I looked at my hair and decided it was so long it was losing body. Plus, I have to admit I was getting tired of having to pull it back from my face every day. So, yesterday I went to the salon and got something completely different.

Just how much did I chop off? Well, I don't think my hair has been this short since undergrad, or even high school. I'm still getting used to it, though I have to admit it took me much less time to take care of my hair this morning.

No, I don't have any pictures yet. We should have taken some yesterday, but we didn't. I'm still in sweats and sans makeup, so I'll do everyone a favor and not post pictures until I'm more presentable. You'll probably have to wait until tonight, or even tomorrow.

This brings me to the second shocking thing I'm doing this weekend: I'm actually going to watch the Super Bowl. We were invited to a party by some friends of ours, and that's the only reason I'd spend that much time in front of the tube when I'm four crits behind on the OWW. At least it will be nice to get together with people; hopefully we'll also get to see our tango instructors again. I'm planning to bring my latest crocheting project along and work on that while I watch. I won't understand the game, but I've heard Apple has a big Beatles-related announcement to make. Now, if only Paul was performing again....

Double Crash

We hired a new scientist at work last month. We're not only sharing an office but also a printer, and my computer has been acting as the server. That means instead of turning it off every night, I need to leave it on standby. For some reason, it doesn't "come back to life" as quickly as my laptop at home, so I foolishly end up pressing the on/off switch several times. I say "foolishly" because when I did that yesterday, I wound up summoning an image I thought I'd never see again--The Blue Screen of Death. Even rebooting the computer didn't help. We were worried at first that I'd fried the hard drive completely and that I'd lost everything. (Well, not everything; I do back up my files. Unfortunately, I'd been remiss and hadn't backed up for three weeks.) By some miracle, our IT person was able to get my computer up and running again, files and all. And yes, I did immediately back up to a flash drive. I'm backing up my laptop to an external hard drive as I blog; at least that promptes me to back up every week.

I would have posted about this last night, but I was so tired I wound up crashing myself. It was probably a combination of several nights of "sleepus interruptus" and a hectic day at work. So no writing for me last night, but I doubt I would have been happy with it anyway. So I went to bed around 8:30-9:00. I guess I needed to do it; Eugene said he came in at one point to check on me and found me snoring! Hopefully today I'll be a little more wide awake.

Meeting the Monk

The Field Museum has a temporary exhibit on Gregor Johann Mendel, the monk whose work with peas led to the discovery of the laws of genetics. I've wanted to see it for a long time, so today we finally went. It was a blustery day, but luckily it didn't snow.

We're members of the museum, so we got in for free. We also got tickets for the evolution exhibit (the name escapes me at the moment.) We wandered around most of the upper level before we found Mendel. The exhibit featured books, documents, and tools used by Mendel, including some of his gardening tools and an apiary. Of course it discussed his pea experiments and explained what dominant and recessive traits are, including a list of dominant and recessive traits in humans. Mendel's work went unappreciated during his lifetime but was independently rediscovered in 1900 by three different researchers; part of the exhibit was devoted to genetics in the 20th century. There were also genetically-inspired artworks, including a karyotype imagining chromosomes as striped socks and a family pedigree done as a mobile. The pedigree traced the inheritance of Huntington's chorea over several generations; different shades of agate represented the various phenotypes. The exhibit concluded with research currently being done to trace gene flow in different populations. There was also mention of a plant that seems to rescue defective genes by resurrecting good versions that they didn't get from their parents. How they manage to circumvent Mendel's laws is still a mystery. We enjoyed the exhibit, but I wish they had more genetics books in the gift shop; most of the souvenirs were pea-related and overpriced. (I may have thought the bib saying "Give Peas a Chance" was cute, but I wasn't going to spend $40 for the set.)

After that exhibit, we went through the evolution one. It covered everything from the beginning of life to the present day. They've redone the exhibit since the last time we saw it; one part I particularly enjoyed was a computer rendition of life in the Precambrian Era. If you need inspiration for aliens, you need look no further. The dinosaur exhibit was also laid out differently from the last time I saw it. I wasn't able to take any pictures in the Mendel exhibit, but I took some here. Here's the link:

http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k301/smua/

By the time we finished walking through the exhibit, we were hungry. We had a late lunch at the Corner Bakery, browsed in the main gift shop, and headed home.

At the Box Office...They're Standing in Line

As Eugene drove home from work last week, he saw a sign advertising a Billy Joel concert in the Chicago Area in April. We're fans; we saw him perform with Elton John a couple of years ago and really enjoyed the show. So we invited a couple of friends to join us, and they accepted. I was designated the buyer of the tickets, which went on sale this morning. They weren't available through Ticketmaster, and since the venue is quite close to us, I decided I'd go to the box office and buy the tickets there.

Since it was Saturday, we wound up sleeping in. I got ready as quickly as I could and was at the Sears Centre by 8:30, an hour and a half before the tickets went on sale. There was already about forty people in line. I found out later that the first person in line had arrived at 4:00 a.m. Right behind him was a group of people with blankets playing cards; they'd arrived at 5:30. It was a good thing we got to wait inside. I'd brought a book, so I spent most of the wait reading, occasionally talking to the people around me.

Around 9:30, one of the employees came out to talk to us. (By this point, I don't know how many people were behind me, but the line snaked down the hall as far as I could see.) He said that we didn't have a better chance of getting good seats for coming here and that everyone might not get tickets. He suggested calling in for tickets while we waited in line. One guy even brought a laptop to search online!

The tension grew as the minutes passed. Several people called in before my cell phone said it was time, but they couldn't get through. I called the ticket number several times myself but got a busy signal each time. But I didn't have to try too many times; there were eight open windows at the box office, so the line moved quickly. It also helped that the woman right in front of me left when her husband at home got tickets.

When I got to the window, the woman told me the floor seats were already sold out. She did have some seats on the lower level in the second row, so I took them immediately. Eugene was later amazed that in six minutes (the time I had to wait), half of the venue was sold out. But I'm glad I bought the tickets in person. The wait wasn't too bad, and I got decent seats without having to add on extra fees. Can't wait for the show!

An End to Dual Citizenship?

Today, I did something I've been considering for a long time: I created a LiveJournal account. I was inspired to do so while commenting on a friend's journal, since LJ has mistaken me for not human on occasion. (Humpf!) But the main reason I have an account on LJ is because there are a lot more people from OWW (my writing workshop) on that site, so it would be a better place to discuss any writing issues I have.

I'm not sure I want to maintain two blogs, though. Sometimes it seems I barely have time for this one. It's still worth maintaining this site, since it helps me keep in touch with my college friends. The question is, do they really want to hear me talk about projects they haven't read and may never read? (I suppose I should ask them directly.)

Right now, there are two possibilites: I could duplicate posts on both blogs, or I could make one personal and one writing-related. I'll have to play around for a bit before I decide what to do. But I may still keep this name for this blog; I'm not sure people would appreciate it if I change it again!

Game Show Contestants

I think I've mentioned before on this blog that I watch more TV now that I'm married and we have Dish Network. I probably still watch less TV than the average person, but one show I do like to watch is 1 vs. 100. I also see a bit of Deal or No Deal occasionally, as Eugene likes that show. Personally, I find the drama on that show a bit over the top for my taste, and since it's all based on chance, it's not as interesting to me as a show that tests general knowledge.

One thing I've noticed about both shows is that I find a significant fraction of their contestants annoy me. The main trait I find annoying is arrogance. (Sue talked a little bit about arrogance in her blog today, which is part of the inspiration for this blog entry.) Every contestant on those shows is convinced when he or she first comes on that he or she will get the top prize. That's to be expected; it's human nature to think the best of yourself. What turns confidence into arrogance, IMO, is when the contestants dismiss the odds against them or insult the mob members on 1 vs. 100. Sometimes when the insults or cockiness reaches a certain level, I lose sympathy for the contestant. Also, sometimes contestants don't seem to realize how hard it's going to be to reach the top prize. Having been on Jeopardy! (and getting my own arrogance beaten out of me ;) ), I know the shows are harder than they appear. Sometimes the contestants learn that lesson as they play; others cling to their original mindsets for as long as they're on the show.

Sometimes contestants are annoying for other reasons, such as a certain type of laugh, an over-used catch phrase, or some other trait. One college student on DonD last year liked the color lime green--a very bright neon green. She and her supporters all wore the color. It's not to my taste and not a color I'd want to look at.

Why am I bothering to blog about this? It occured to me today that watching people on these kinds of shows can provide writers with character traits to use in their works. Arrogance would be a good quality to give a villain, while secondary characters (or even primary ones) can be fleshed out with quirks like the ones I listed above. The only thing is that certain traits may be harder to convey in writing than through TV. Just as describing an attractive person is less intense than seeing a movie star, so is it harder to make a reader hate a particular laugh than someone who can hear it. I'm sure it can be done, but it might be easier to show others reacting to the trait than describing it.

Having discussed negative traits, I should come up with inspirations for positive traits for heroes. That'll have to be another blog entry, though; it's close to bedtime for me.

Deboning Sorbet

Eugene likes to suggest "deboning ice cream" as an activity for improv performers to act out. After the last time he used this one, I thought it would be fun for him to do it for real. So I bought a Nylabone, wrapped it in plastic, and placed it at the bottom of a container of homemade apple sorbet. We had several servings of sorbet before uncovering the bone. Tonight he finally found it. We were eating out of the bowl when his spoon encountered it.

"What is this?" he asked. Apparently he thought there was something wrong with our ice cream maker.

"Let's dig it out," I suggested.

After several more spoonfuls, he pulled the bone out.

"Congratulations, you have now deboned sorbet," I told him.

He said it was a good joke and kissed me. I saved the bone so we could give it to Heidi, my parents' dog, later.

In Other News: There hasn't been much to report. I did bring my car in for maintenance at the dealer yesterday. It was the first time I've done so since buying the car over three years ago, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at all they wanted to do to it. It took a lot longer than I originally expected; I dropped it off at 9:00 and didn't get it back until 4:30. I was able to get a loaner for the day at no charge, so at least I wasn't stuck at the dealer all day. I wasn't comfortable driving the loaner (the seat didn't adjust very well for my short stature, so I had to scoot forward to reach the gas), so I just stayed home. Eugene and I did go out in the evening for dinner and a trip to the bookstore.

Writing I've been critting chapters on OWW while revising Lennon's Line. I'm rewriting part of the climax to put Paul's girlfriend at some risk without actually letting the bad guys get her (so cliched, IMO). It was tricky figuring out how to do that, but I think I've finally got the scene blocked out, if not completely written. Too bad it took me a few days to solve that. I do goof around on the Internet when I'm supposed to be writing, but sometimes it frees part of my brain for plotting purposes.

A Hard Day's Crit

It looks as if my regular crit partners on OWW are coming out of hibernation. Sue's been the main one to post consistently, but two more of them posted a total of four chapters yesterday. It was a good thing I had today off so I could get them done. I've been working on them since this morning, though I took breaks to check my forums and play Text Twist. Now I'm debating if I should chance going outside to start my car. Even I know I need a break from the computer occasionally.

Hunkering Down

As Sting would sing, it looks like the hounds of winter are harrying us down. Last night we got sleet; tonight so far we've had rain, but I'm afraid it'll change to snow later. I have tomorrow off, but I was supposed to bring my car in for routine maintenance. I think I may reschedule and stay inside all day. I'm enough of a Nervous Nellie when I drive in this kind of weather, but in my current condition, I'm even paranoid that I could slip and fall just trying to walk to my car.

At least I'm well prepared to stay inside. Between books and my computer, I have plenty to keep myself occupied. I'll have some time to finish crits for OWW and work on Lennon's Line. Tomorrow I'm planning to make a beef barley soup in the crockpot; I bought everything I need yesterday while I was running errands. I just hope Eugene will be OK tomorrow. He not only has to go into work, but due to some snafus, he hasn't been able to get the heater in his car fixed. (See his blog for more information.)

OK, time to see if I can get one more crit posted tonight.

A Happy Laptop

Even smart women make foolish choices.

When I bought my current laptop a couple of years ago, I didn't max out the memory, even though my other laptop was running very slowly. I think I was trying to save some money. That was my first mistake. My second one was more recent; I added bloatware (otherwise known as the latest version of Norton Antivirus) to my system. The drag on my memory immediately became apparent. I'd have to wait to switch between programs, and there'd be a lengthy gap between songs when I played music on my computer. I double-checked the specs and found I could quadruple my current memory, so I bit the bullet and ordered more memory from Dell. It came today, sooner than I expected. I installed the modules as soon as I came home from work.

What a difference! Word opens up so much faster; even a 600-page document like Lennon's Line pops open quickly. Music plays constantly without the band members taking a break after every song. Best of all, I don't have to wait when I switch between programs before I'm able to use them, and when I'm done playing a game, I can close the window just by clicking the red "X" once instead of twice. Even typing seems to be smoother; before when I'd blog or write, the cursor would abruptly jump to another part of the screen. So far, that hasn't happened.

There are still a few quirks I'd like to fix about this laptop, but it's much more usable now. I should be able to keep using it for another couple of years before it's time to replace it. Hopefully then I'll be smarter about the memory.

OK, now let's see if the memory upgrade helps the muse....

What I've Read: A History of God

I just finished reading this today after work. I started it before we went on vacation, but I wasn't comfortable bringing a book on religion onto a plane in that climate, right after the terrorists were caught in London. For a while the book was buried in a basket of books; after I rediscovered it, I decided it was time to finish it.

This book traces the history of the three major monothesistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It's interesting to note how they underwent similar developments. For instance, both Christianity and Islam were originally much more feminist in thought than they are today. All three religions developed mystic movements, though Christianity was affected the least by this, especially once the Enlightenment encouraged people to think about God as something or someone subject to rational thought. Perhaps this is why Christians (or at least some of them) are more likely to take their holy book more literally than do Jews or Muslims. I never realized before how the fundamentalist movement came about, but this book provides some insight into that. It's also worth pointing out that according to this book, Muslims at the beginning of the 20th century were much more friendly toward the West but then became humilated by some of the military defeats they suffered.

The final chapters of this book discuss the rise of atheism and the future of God. While it's difficult to view God in the same way post-Holocaust as before WWII, it still seems that there's an innate religious drive in humans that's not going away. On the other hand, the history of religion as traced in this book does suggest that mixing rational and religious thought doesn't work well for either science or religion.

There's a lot to ponder in this book, both on a personal level and on the world-creating level for writers. By looking at how religion has changed over the centuries, writers can develop religions for their own worlds that give us a new perspective on the subject.

With my next book to read, I'll be switching things up a bit with some hard science fiction. We'll see if I want to discuss it afterwards. In the meantime, I should also update my blog template.

Mental Breaks

The busier my life gets, the more I realize how necessary it is to step back and take mental breaks. When you're rushing around at work, doing several experiments at once, only to come home to dinner and chores, it's very draining. That's bad for anyone, but when you're also trying to write, you're left with no energy and a blank screen. Mental breaks give you a chance to think about your story before sitting down at the keyboard; that way, you're ready to write right away.

I unwind in several different ways. The Internet is always a good standby with forums and e-mail to read, plus there's games. Of course, these mental breaks can last all evening if you don't discipline yourself. Eugene and I have taken lately to playing Yatzee! after dinner; it gives us some couple time. TV is another way to relax, though I try not to watch too much of it. I also like to read and crochet, but it's harder to find time to work on those projects for an extended chunk of time.

Of course, life is going to become even more hectic soon once our baby arrives. But I think even then I'll need to find the time to relax. It's not something you can regulate just to the weekends or vacations; you need some chill time every day to keep your sanity.

On that note, I think I'll call it a night.

Re-Organizing

I know I'm way overdue for an update. I wanted to add my to-read list of books to the sidebar first, and I've been either too busy or too tired to do that until now. At least I have a start. This list doesn't include my non-fiction books, and I really should add the authors' names to the list. Perhaps it's easier to update the template in chunks instead of waiting to do it all at once.

I'm reorganizing other aspects of my life as well. When I was single, I kept track of receipts and other financial papers in an accordion file, a new one for each year, organized alphabetically by category. I tried that last year too, but I had so many papers I couldn't even close the file. So for this year, I'm trying something Eugene recommended. I'm putting the financial records in brown clasp envelopes, one for each major category I track in Quicken. I'm keeping all of the envelopes in a file box from Office Depot. The envelopes tend to get mixed up, but in the long run I think it will be easier to find receipts this way.

Not too much else to report. Eugene and I did get together with some friends last night. They had a little girl in November, and the new mom was itching to get out. So we went out for dinner to an Indian buffet. The food was spicier than what I'm accustomed to, so I wound up eating a lot of flatbread. Afterward, we went back to their house for dessert and (for everyone else) wine. Eugene and I got to hold their little girl; it still seems strange to think that soon we'll have our own baby. There's much to be done yet before he or she comes.

Writing: I've been making some progress with Lennon's Line. I'm revising some scenes toward the end. Basically, I want to put Paul's girlfriend in some jeopardy without her actually falling into the hands of the bad guys. (It just seems so cliched to have her captured, even though I do think it's necessary for Paul to believe she's in real danger.) It took me a while to figure out a way to make that work. Of course, it's up to the readers to decide if it does or not.

I've also returned to critting on OWW. Currently, only one of my regular crit partners is posting regularly, though some of the others may still have submissions up. I'm not sure if I'll go back and review those, especially if they've been up for months. When I do resume posting work of my own, I'll probably need to cultivate a few new critters.

Our New Year's Eve Celebration

As I mentioned in my last post, Eugene and I went out to dinner last night. We went to the Weber Grill. There's one in Chicago, but another location opened up near us last year. (Yes, it's sinking in that another year is upon us.) It was our first time there, and we stuffed ourselves royally. We started with a grilled pizza appetizer; Eugene also had a salad. I had a filet mingon with garlic mashed potatoes and a side of garlic spinach. Eugene had a strip steak with a baked potato. The steak was very tender, despite me asking for it medium well. (Had to make sure it was OK for the baby.) We didn't finish our meals, but that didn't stop us from having a sundae for dessert.

After dinner, we went to the comedy club and hung out for a while before they let us in. They had some new chairs in the entrance; I don't recall the technical name for them, but they're the kind without legs (so you're practically on the floor) that rock slightly. We liked them, but I don't think they'll work too well for me when I'm farther along. ;) The comedy club let us in shortly before 8:00. We had a table in the first row. The club was small, but it was well-packed, with 50-60 people there. There were mostly couples, but I saw families there too. Dress ranged from casual to formal.

The package deal for the night included a buffet of appetizers (hot and cold) and desserts, free soda and water, a toast at midnight, and party favors. Yes, this means we both got lei'd. (rimshot). Eugene got a red conical hat that made him feel like a Shriner; if I'd brought my camera, I would've taken a picture for your entertainment. I wore a "Happy New Year" tiara. Of course we got noisemakers too. I didn't have much room for food, but I sampled some cheese and fruit -- and yes, the desserts.

The first show began at 9:00. There were two improv shows with the same performers but different games. We offered a fair number of suggestions; in fact, for one game, the performer taking suggestions said we were "completely destroying the other tables" with our suggestions of Shakespearian drama and Greek tragedy. I also came up with a movie title: Aardvarks Go To France. In between the shows was some dancing; we got dragged up on stage for a song or two.

As midnight approached, the staff handed out drinks for toasting (yes, I just had sparkling juice). They showed a tribute to those who had died in 2006. There was supposed to be a clock ticking down the final seconds, but the comptuer running that developed a glitch, so one of the performers led us in the final countdown. We all drank and made noise and kissed our sweeties, but by 12:30 people started to leave. I was tired, so we left too. But it was nice to go out on New Year's, especially since it may be a few years before we can do it again.

Today we're just hanging out at home. We did some cleaning, and we have a pot roast cooking in the crockpot for dinner. Later on tonight, I may try doing something Sara has done and put a list of my "books to read" in my template. Since there are over 40 books, the list may take up the entire blog. :)