New Year's Eve

Yesterday, I made a quick trip to downtown Seattle to Sound Sports for some running shoes. They were great, and suggested in-soles instead of new shoes. This afternoon, I went for my first run with them. It was only 22 minutes, but the pace was fairly up-beat and the sky was clear as the sun was going down. The in-soles seem to let me strike my heal better, which will hopefully help my joints.

Bill was better last night, he gave us a 3 to 4 hour span after some fussiness going to bed. Then it was one to one and a half hour spans till breakfast. We hit the grocery store and did a short walk around the neighborhood. At the grocery store, Bill was attentive and there, but not fussy which was a novelty.
Tonight, we have friends coming over for dinner, but no late night plans.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Bull Dog Outfit

Besides thinking that Bill looks best in navy blue, I felt this outfit was appropriate because Bill was in a bull dog of a mood all night. He's 40 days old today, that's about 6 weeks. He was up all night, never still for more than an hour if we were lucky. We tried pretty much everything.

So, it's 11:30 and we are in bed letting the day pass us by.

Crummy weather, let's stay in and play

We saw Bill's Aunt off to the airport today. Bill was sad to see her go.

We all went to Steph's Doctor today.

The weather today could be qualified as crummy, all day. On the verge of snowing, but really really wet.

Bill got into a mood this evening, so we took him on a walk. It was foggy, cold, and misty out which was interesting weather...except that Bill was unhappy the whole way. This is not a good sign when the great opiate of a long walk doesn't work. After we got back, he had a long snack and calmed down. He had eaten just before the walk as well.

Steph and Bill played with his new Jungle gym toy. He liked it for a little while and checked it out for a bit. It will probably be pretty popular the next few weeks as he gets more interactive. He really looks at you now, which is pretty cool.

The day after Christmas

Bill had a wonderful first Christmas. We opened presents with a warm fire in the fireplace and snow falling outside. It was great having family here to share.

Today, Steph and her sister went shopping downtown while I took care of Bill. We ran a quick errand, he was great riding in the car. Back at home, he slept for a while. Then he got hungry. He went through twice as much formula as he has in prior feedings.
After picking up the shoppers, we came back home and rested before a walk to the dog park.
In the past, Bill has not taken to the pacifier usually dropping it after 30 seconds or so. Today he pretty much kept it in his mouth almost the entire walk. I'm happy that he is starting to take to it.

I joined a local Mom's group for meeting other parents in the neighborhood. I hope that they are welcoming of this Dad.

Stockings are hung by the fire

Bill meets his grandpa

Merry Christmas

Bill plays with his squeaky toy

Thanks Kimberley, it's a hit.

Pee pee Teepee Expose'

A peepee teepee is this wonderful invention for the changing table. The idea is that while you have your baby on his back, you can hang this "teepee" on his penis and it will deflect or catch any fountains that he decides to let loose. The fallacy of this invention is that it completely doesn't work. Once he lets loose a water cannon, the teepee is flung across the table.

The more interesting application of the teepee is not to stop pee from going everywhere, but rather to see how far he can shoot the teepee. We're up to 2 feet with expectations of 3 anytime now.

Deans Visit

Nice friends came to visit.

Tummy Time

No screaming yet

Neat Things on the Web

I've been listening to Pandora for a while, now. It is a free streaming audio website.
www.pandora.com

It works a little differently than other audio sites in that you can search for your favorite artist or song, and it will build a station of music similar to your favorite. It is easy to use, and does a pretty good job. Pandora is based on what they call the "Music Genome Project" which is basically categorizing music with hundreds of attributes.

I've enjoyed listening to my John Lee Hooker, or Eliades Ochoa, or Dave Mathews stations in the past; but what is great this time of year is creating a "Christmas Carols" station. It's an endless supply of holiday music. Just point the laptop at Pandora, plug in the speakers and let it run in the background.

Schmidt Park in Admiral Neighborhood

Highlights from today.

• An hour sitting in the rocker keeping Bill company while Steph slept.
  
• 35 minute run to Riverview park and the Sky-way green space.
• home-made Tuna Nigiri for a lunch snack, this is funny to say we made slices of raw tuna but I hadn't really made the rice this way before.
• Visit to Bartell's on Admiral to shop for a few things, visit friends and then walk around the big trees of Schmidt park.
• 7 packages today, including our ham and a present for Bill from Alex and Misa in North Carolina. We also got a package from Brian and Jenny in Redlands. And Brian and Janice's Christmas card. Our mantle is filling up with Christmas cards, it looks great.
  
• Getting the garbage and recycling out, and finding that while full we seem to have everything in there.
• Reading National Geographic and finding out that we can recycle our VCR at our local Staples. Bill probably will only read about VCR's, when he's in college or something.
  

Bill is so popular that it's getting to where I'm seeing our mail carrier so often we are gonna need to add her to our Christmas list. His tracking with his eyes is getting better each day.

Photo for the grandmothers

For our errands today, Bill is sporting a soft yellow shirt and navy blue slacks. His navy blue hat making a perfect accoutrement. Absolutely Dashing!

Bill sends love to his Grandmas.

Our Anniversary

Today is our Anniversary, just like my parents. Being the parents of a newborn, we aren't making any plans to go out. So instead, we are going to make something special in.

Tonight's menu highlights:

• Sashimi tuna appetizer
  
• Ribeye steaks
• Root 1 Chilean Cabernet

We had a good errands run this morning: auto parts store, butcher shop, wine shop, and Trader Joe's.
The Wine Shop proprietor suggested the Chilean cab, and we hope it will be yummy.
I'm just hoping that the weather takes a break while we grill this evening.

I'm confident we will have a very romantic evening, we'll see what Bill has to say about it.

Parents Considering a New Car Purchase

Since Bill was born, we have been considering a new car. We are avoiding the rush to buy one, thinking it best to wait until Steph goes back to work. Plus we are both similar in temperament, often choosing to delay purchases just to see if we can talk ourselves out of it. The prices aren't going up as we wait, and we like to first figure out what we want.

Currently, we have a 6 year old Toyota Corolla and a 12 year old Toyota Tacoma. This configuration has served us well for the last few years. We have the truck for getaways to the mountains and the car for commuting. This last year, we got to use the truck quite a bit to drive gravel logging roads and 4x4 in the mountains and on snow. We value having a vehicle that lets us get to beautiful places. But at the same time, we don't really want to put a bunch of miles on it driving around town or on long highway trips. That is to say we value reducing our fuel consumption.

The Corolla is great. It is a simple, very reliable car that gets 40 mpg on the highway. It is a perfect, inexpensive commute and highway car. We enjoy how simple it is. The car seat works great in the back of the Corolla, but is unusable in the truck. It is a bit cramped when we take the car to the park for a walk with the dog. Dog in front seat, parent in back with baby. It would be great to have an area to isolate the dog away from the baby, somewhere he can be a dirty dog without making a dirty automobile.

To put it simply:
The new vehicle will need good car seat handling, safe space for the dog, and the ability to drive on snow and gravel without much concern. It needs to replace the truck.

We kinda like being a Toyota family, but they aren't the leading candidate at this point.

1. Subaru Forrester - moderate price, good visibility and clearance, suv fuel economy
2. Subaru Outback -Subaru Forrester - moderate price, good visibility and clearance, suv fuel economy, AWD. Daddy likes the looks of the Outback, and was surprised that the price of the low end model is the same as the Forrester. Disappointed in the fuel economy.
3. Toyota Highlander Hybrid - Better gas mileage, good visibility, It's a Toyota, 4x4. Fairly expensive, but the reviews I've read liked it.
   
4. Honda CR-V. SUV gas mileage, ugh. Pretty much a city SUV in the price range. Honda's and Toyota's tend to have the highest resale values, meaning quality. 100,000 miles before any scheduled maintenance is not bad either.
5. Ford Escape Hybrid - Comparing SUV's and sport wagons online, it is impossible to miss the Escape. Overall, I'm not a fan of Ford. The Big Three auto-makers seem to do everything they can to thwart attempts to increase mpg and make greener transportation; not to mention a poor record for maintainability. But when you look at the numbers, you gotta be impressed with the mileage that the Escape Hybrid gets. The $28,000 base MSRP is a little high for our target but significantly less than the Highlander and probably better for rougher roads. I wish I liked the "bold new styling" better, but can't say that I do.
   

As it is, a new car should make life easier this next year. We are crammed into the Corolla, and the truck is basically unusable for any trip with the baby.

Bill's Bath Time

Gotta love this crazy baby face.

After floating the Thermo-Ducky, Mommy and Daddy gave Bill a bath today. Our thermo-ducky is very stylish with sunglasses, a hat, and a camera; thanks to our friend Mary for picking that one out.

Bill didn't enjoy this bath as much as previous ones. This photo was taken just before Bill turned on the bath jets. No worries, it's pretty easy to replace the water.

It's great to have another day of taking it easy, watching him grow. Bill is definitely growing.
We've considered getting a baby scale, but the down-side there is that our doctor visit gambling wouldn't be as much fun. Of course, the fun might be multiplied by having a daily ounce's game. This would involve careful reviewing of time on breast, pump mechanics, re-gurgitation quantities, and overall state of mind. Considering that list of variables, I would probably find it to be a forum where Mommy always wins; given that she has inside information.

Manifesto

Hi SeaGus Readers,

As I see it my blog has 3 purposes

1. Keep Bill's grandmothers et al informed about the latest and greatest in his life.
2. Practice my writing. As a computer programmer for 10 years, I let this skill go a little.
3. Practice and discuss Marketing(Google Analytics, AdSense, and other affiliate programs)
   

So besides cleaning up the house today, I've added Google AdSense. The title over the ad section is "New Car Fund". This is to make it clear that clicking on these ads, while not only being useful to you, will provide micro funds towards things useful in raising a child.
So join me in viewing how well Google ties the ads shown, to the content I write. Naturally, you can expect an increase in topics like Buying Cars, Mesothelioma(aka asbestosis), Discount clothing and furniture. You know, the things that are useful to you and companies are willing to pay for your click. I'm not saying abuse the links, I'm saying "Please click them" if they interest you.
And we are off.

Breakfast Out

Don't tell Uncle John, but we had breakfast at a diner this morning. Steph hadn't gotten to eat outside the house in a while, and we had spotted this small diner nearby yesterday while on our Christmas Tree mission. Ed's diner is a nice place on the way to Burien. It has big windows, so lots of daylight, and we sat near the door with Bill in his seat on the floor. He didn't get much interaction and slept through it until Steph's food came. Bill was a gentleman, but had us scrambling for the check as he signaled his hunger.

The day was also noted by a quick trip to the grocery store. By the time we got home, I felt like it had been a full day already. I had previously gotten up early and gone for a run down at Alki. It was a pretty good length for me, and into the wind, plus some time running in the sand for my ankle.

We also had a visit from our neighbors across the street. Diana and Megan came by. Megan was born on Oct 31, about 3 weeks before Bill. We greatly appreciated them coming by to say "Hello".

The Christmas tree is a nice one by my standards. I tend to go with a scraggly doug fir, made even better if I got it from the Forest Service on some snowy logging road in the mountains. This year, I found a church lot selling them in support of their Boy Scout Troop. The Boy Scout selling them was clueless on whether it supported anything or not, but the adult at least had the story straight. It's a fine Noble Fir that I hope the in-laws enjoy.

Uncle Gus

Uncle Gus got to play with the two electrons, Cameron and Lucy.

With a good nights sleep and a cold front to clear the Austin skies,
I got out for some exercise with an old track mate from high school,
Garrett. We found a track and did some sprint intervals. He always
was faster on a straightaway, I preferred to have hurdles in the way.

It has been great to see so many family, but I am happy to be getting
back to Bill and Steph.

Of my three finals, I got them all done on time. Qmeth was done on
the flight down and submitted 2 days early. Ithink I did alright.

Ahead, a week with Bill and Steph and next to nothing scheduled.
Perfecto, I might even finish reading a book for fun.

Éclair's

My Uncle John has made eclairs with my grandmother since he was 13.
So I had to document him and his Sister Judy(my Aunt) making them
this year. He is a model of efficiency in the kitchen, grin.

Photo for the Road

Rough Day

This is the kinda day they talk about.

Bill kept us up plenty last night. Both of us. He seems to be much more burpy lately. If it isn't burps, he's got gas or hiccups, you name it. So after a rough night, we woke around 9 and realized we needed to get going. We had an appointment for Bill at Dr Chow's at 10:15am. So we needed some quick breakfast, showers, and ready to go.

Leaving tomorrow for my Uncle's funeral has us finishing up all kinds of errands before my trip. This includes picking up my suit pants from the tailor's. Yes, the pants from college don't quite fit the same now that I'm a Daddy; but really the biggest culprit is being a grad student. I hope to get back to regular exercise, once Bill is big enough for a jogger.

The doctor's office went fine. We did alot of swaying and dancing to keep Bill from throwing a fit. Dr Chow was nice and thought that everything was fine on Bill's finger. If it grows and gets huge, then we need to call him.

We finally moved our old love-seat from the living room up into the baby's room to be under the window. It's a great spot to catch some of the limited daylight. The hummingbird feeder at the top of the window is pretty cool to sit under. You can actually here their wing beats through the window.

Probably the biggest trouble for me personally today, is being tired, having alot to do, and knowing that sometime today I need to finish a 3 hour take-home exam before midnight. Each new thing, pushes me closer to that midnight deadline. It's gonna be a doozy. Once done, I will only have the take-home exam for one other class to do by Saturday night. Ugh, I'm ready to finish this quarter.

On a plus side, I ordered a honey-baked ham for Christmas at our house. Besides being some really yummy ham, it comes with free shipping.

Hairy business

Last night was a good night for mommy. Maybe we got the temp right or something. Dad's glad she is happy. He recalls getting to sleep
around 11, then changes at 2,4, & 6.
6 was interesting because he was cooing and making nice noises for a while.

Bill is growing some serious hair on the back of his head, when he isn't squirming.

Today, breakfast, a walk, study and more studying. But for now. A treat of lox and bagels.

Person to Person lending

I've added a link to prosper.com, it is a person to person lending website.

It's alot like "ebay" for loans, or kiva.org where you get paid back. Micro-finance harnessing the power of the web.

You can sign up as a lender and bid on personal loans in as small as $50 at a time. It's kinda cool. I'm trying it out with 5 loans right now, and averaging about a 14% return rate. I'll post if it goes awfully wrong, but so far so good.
Or you can get a loan for yourself to consolidate bills or expand your business, or build your credit.

I've enjoyed just digging through it seeing why people are getting loans. It's an interesting window into the economy. The reason I think it is cool, is because you can help people with interesting goals. I've loaned $50 to some folks in the midwest to open a coffee shop, and I've loaned $50 to a woman starting a printing business in Georgia. It's not a lot of money, but with the other bidders it helps them out. I also get paid back with interest.

Another Nice Day

Last night was a little better. Tired today. We made a grocery run.
Bill was great until the car ride home.
I'm trying out posting from my iPhone, we'll see how it goes. I've
also added a flickr slideshow to the blog. I added google analytics a
little while ago and I'm working on adsense to try out some marketing
stuff.

What do babies dream?

I know this sounds like a silly question, but watching Bill in REM sleep I have to wonder. His little eyes flicker back and forth, up and down. Sometimes his arms shoot up over his head like he's Che Guevara or Sub-Commander Marcos.
He definitely has an innate cuteness while sleeping. I'm definitely biased there.

Not much going on today. Last night was pretty rough. I had to get up and make it to my study group meeting by 10. So I made some ham and eggs on a tortilla and served it in bed to the sleeping mother. Couldn't forget the paper, tea, and OJ either.
Study group was good, and then back for lunch and a walk to the park. Some more studying for me. Mom & Bill got a good nap in. Sun went down, and now it is time for dinner.

The temps have been in the 30's lately, so we are having a fire tonight which is always fun.

Beautiful Day

Seattle had a beautiful blue-bird day today. Temperature read about 36 degrees this morning before we headed to the park but it was crystal clear with great views of the mountains.
Out near Coleman pool, it was neat to watch a gentleman putting on his waders, felt soled boots, and assembling his rod to go out and cast a fly into the Sound. The rod was like an excuse to stand out there, even if in the cold water.

Mom and Dad were a little tired from the typical "up 3 times" in the night. Overall, we're happy with that. But it does tire you out. If I'm tired, I know Mommy has to be completely tired.

The photo may seem kinda random, but it is from a hike Steph and I did back in the Spring. I've been thinking about how we can take Bill on that hike this Spring. It's a great place to get a full dose of sun away from those cloudy Seattle days.

Time to start studying for my QMETH final.

Promoting Another Blog

A couple of years ago, I raced at the Marymoor Velodrome. I was a novice at it, but it was incredibly fun. The velodrome has quite a community and I am still on their email list.
There are three cyclists from Marymoor at the Beijing World Cup right now, including Olympic medalist Jennie Reed.

The real power of blogs is that you can read such personal experiences from all kinds of places. And we are lucky that one of the athletes is blogging about her experiences there:
http://kelekele.blogspot.com/
Check it out, it's really interesting.
And a BIG GOOD LUCK to all the racers from Seattle!

Gus' Rule of Parenting

Never use the best looking outfit first in the day. There is an immutable law that the better looking the baby outfit the shorter the time before the baby delivers and the daiper leaks.

This makes one posit the question, why would a man who hardly coordinates his own outfits would take pleasure in matching a Basset Hound themed blue and maroon striped onesie with light blue pants?

It's finals time for Dad, so we will have a walk around the neighborhood today and some serious writing to be done during the mid-day nap.

Photo is from two days ago out at Alki.

Mommy continues to take the brunt of getting up in the middle of the night because she has something Daddy doesn't.

Yesterday, besides getting the uh-hum done; we also had a weighing. Mom bet he would be 8 lbs 7 oz or less and Dad bet 8 lbs 8 oz or greater. Bill came in at 8 lbs 8 1/2 oz. Daddy wins!


Here's a nice picture from this morning. We're trying to put him down in the crib or co-sleeper whenever we can to get him used to it. It works for a little while.

This isn't really the Ferber method or the Fokker Method, and not the Happiest Baby on the Block either. This is the Train to Sleep Method that has a better name that Daddy can't remember right now.

Gotta go for that walk.

Ouchie from the Circumcision

Dear Bill,
I know you didn't like today's visit to the Doctor. It was not nice to not get to eat for a couple of hours and to not get changed out of wet clothes in the waiting room. I know that the procedure does not feel good and it hurts down there, but this will get better. Dr Dong is a great doctor and performed the procedure without any hitches.

Your Mommy and I want what is best for you.
Love Dad

Today's Agenda

Today's Goal: Find a suitable picture for an announcement
and get a bunch of copies made.

This seems simple enough, but finding the right picture is turning into a real challenge. Never fear, some pillows, blankets, and cute cloths on the kitchen table should give us everything we need. Right?

Secondary goals:
Go for a run, study, get out for a walk, wash clothes, change sheets, clean dishes, fill bird feeders.


Thanks to Dale and Eileen for the great pillow.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Seattle is known to have rain from time to time. This week is no exception. The snow melted off pretty quickly under a couple of inches of rain and 50+ degree temperatures. Today, it rained hard all morning. Skiers call this a "gully washer".

We decided to head to Lincoln Park again for our walk. The tide was up and there were many logs rolling in the small waves. It was pretty nice looking out over the windy water. The gray clouds merged seamlessly to the water. The bald eagle flew over us fighting the wind out near the point. We had the park almost completely to ourselves.

Bill didn't have much to say for the view, he pretty much falls asleep in the Snugli and I try to keep the rain off the top of his head using the umbrella. It's amazing how a walk in the park becomes the accomplishment of the day. Oh yeah, except for wrestling with AT&T Wireless customer support. Gotta love "setup fees" that dissolve away if you just call about it. Oh and then there was the Mail-in rebate that was denied. The story is that the store gave us an old copy of it, but the guy on the phone fixed it easy enough. Wouldn't good service be to just fix it automatically? These games are ridiculous.

While I got to hold Bill sleeping in my lap for 2 hours today, Stephanie made a batch of the secret candy recipe. Can't beat lounging on the couch and eating home-made caramel.
Bill says hello to his Grandmothers.
I'm off to school.

It's Snowing

While maybe not a big deal in other places, Seattle doesn't get that much snow in town. We went for our daily walk, back to Lincoln Park again. After we got home, the snow started to fall.
Of course when it is snowing, the first thing you need to do is carry some logs out front and split some wood. That is what I did after starting a fire in the fireplace.
Bill and his Mommy are sitting in the rocker by the fire as we listen to Baby Mozart. Bill is definitely gotten a rhythm for a long nap in the middle of the day.

I refilled the bird feeder, and the birds are still coming in. The hummingbirds are still hitting their feeders as well. Puget Sound's Anna's Hummingbirds don't migrate, so they have a tough time of it during the snow.
Tomorrow, forecast should warm up over 40 degrees and we are supposed to get alot of rain.

Eventually, I am going to get back to my homework. Eventually....