Stardate 59957.7 - Random Thoughts

Been in a bad mood for the past couple of days. I think the weeks and weeks of not getting more than 4 hours or so of uninterrupted sleep has caught up with me. I'm also trying to stay off caffeine these days, so I'm really tired by the end of the day. I know Cheryl has things MUCH worse because after I've changed a diaper and gone back to sleep she has to stay awake to feed, and while she is getting an occasional afternoon nap in I think she is still getting less sleep than I am. So I don't know how she is doing it, because this sleep deprivation is taking its toll on me. And my mood is starting to take a toll on her, so I need to try and improve my mood.

It may also be the stress of the holidays and trying to get things purchased that is beating me down. It is always doubly stressful for me as Cheryl's birthday and Christmas are in such close proximity...so I have to come up with two interesting ideas/gifts for her, not to mention all the other gift buying that has to occur. Life would be much simpler if everyone just had on-line wish lists. I have a huge Amazon.com wish list, so anyone purchasing stuff for me, please use it!

I think I'm also doubly stressed because my usual stress-reduction of PC game playing has been unavailable. I have a graphics card that does not support Direct-X natively, and I cannot play any game made in the past 12 months or so. But I have fixed that issue (hopefully) by ordering a card today that should permit me to play the more recent games (MSI NX6600GT-VTD128 Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card).

I think I am just worn down with work as well, and the fact that the apartment always seems to be so cluttered and needing of a good clean. (I know, I know, the days of organization are over until I get Loren trained to pick up things). I feel like I get up, refill the humidifiers, water the Christmas Tree, scoop the cat litter, take out the trash, go to work, then I get to spend some short time with Cheryl and Loren, refill the humidifiers, water the Christmas Tree, and then go to bed. Repeat.

And one of my HUGE pet peeves as a telecommuter is when people f*** up the dial-in conference numbers for meetings, and that has happened 3 times in the last 2 days. I love dialing in 2 minutes before a meeting is supposed to start, and having the automated voice tell me "We're sorry, but you access code is not recognized". Or even better, today I got, "Your conference ended 15 minutes ago"...and I dialed in 5 minutes before it was supposed to start! This is such a simple thing to get right, and yet people continue to disappoint me.

Maybe not really getting out of the Apartment for weeks on end also is taking a larger toll on me than I expected. Anyway, we're taking a few days off around Christmas to take a short trip to NJ (about as far a trip as Loren can handle right now), so hopefully we can recharge somewhat. I still have a couple of days of parental leave I have not burned yet, so I may use that time and extend my days off a little bit around Christmas time.

I think I also am missing my typical decompression time at the end of the day between when I stop working and Cheryl gets home from work. I used to use that time to clean up a little, maybe watch part of a Star Trek:TNG episode or the news, or do a little reading. But with Cheryl home I don't have that time anymore. Additionally, I cannot get to the gym. I've dropped around 10 pounds since Loren was born, but some of that has been muscle mass. I can tell because my weight is low but my pants are a little tighter than they were 4 weeks ago. I have to try to get some situps and pushups into my schedule.

So I guess I am done with my random complaining. I know Cheryl has it worse and that I should just keep my big mouth shut, but I need to be able to gripe too. I noticed that I have not done any real ranting in some time, since I am always right and most other people are stupid, so here is a rant for your amusement.


Why do people with speakerphone capability on their cell phones walk down the street, holding their phones 1 foot from their heads, carrying on a conversation using the speaker mode? I don't care about their half of the conversation, and I certainly don't care about hearing both halves of the conversation. Do these idiots not understand what the speakerphone is for? It is for using if your hands are full or if you have other people around you who need to be involved in the call. I have some news for you. First, no-one on the streets of New York cares to be involved in your call, and if the phone is in your hands, you don't need the hands-free capability of speaker-mode! That is just rude behavior. Try to think about someone else for a change.


What else is going on right now? Well, I'm still reading Jess' book. By the time I finish working at the end of the day I am so brain-dead about all I am capable of doing is sitting in front of the TV, so I have not read it as quickly as I had hoped. And when Cheryl is feeding she is kind of trapped in the living room, so if she has read all our magazines then she gets bored and so we tend to watch TV while she is feeding. But I digress. If you are in Virginia, don't forget to stop by on Saturday to buy your own copy of Jessica's book and get it signed.

Oh, and we took some pictures at Cheryl's small Birthday party last night, so once I get onto the home PC later today I'll post some pictures. And it is warm today (48 right now) so Cheryl took Loren out for an hour to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to buy some hypoallergenic sheets. Loren has a bit of a rash on her face and we are guessing that it is due to the sheets on our bed. Guess we'll see if we guessed correctly.

Stardate 59954.53 – Picture of Loren and Daddy

Just a quick picture of me, Loren, and Magic. Oh, and today is Cheryl’s Birthday!! Happy Birthday to Mommy!!

Captain’s Log Supplemental - Aidmheil Arrives

Received my copy of Aidmheil today. Did I mention I was the first person to place an order? Other than the book for which I wrote a chapter, this is the first time I’ve held in my hands a book that someone I “know” has written. Granted, I’ve never met Jessica before, so it’s not like I know her, although we have corresponded on occasion. Regardless, it is pretty cool. And to have a signed copy to boot is really, really cool. This whole thing has actually been pretty exciting. It makes me want to get off of my butt and finally do some serious writing myself.

And as a reminder for all my Northern Virginia friends and family, Jessica will be signing copies of her book on Saturday, December 17th, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at the Starbucks in Cascades for a low-key sort of meet-and-greet/book signing. If you go, please let her know I sent you. I'd like at least someone to attend this event, otherwise she'll know all my friends are lame!

Address:
Starbucks at Cascades Marketplace
21019-21 Southbank Street
Sterling, Virginia 20165

More information is available on Jessica Stover dot com.

Stardate 59951.57 – Cold Morning in NYC

Woke up this morning at around 0600, surprised that I was not woken up all night! Cheryl took care of the late night diaper change and let me sleep. She says she let me sleep because she was awake and I had the cats on me, but I think she was being nice because I cleaned our bathroom yesterday. Her Dad came in to hold Loren and entertain her while Cheryl and I got some things done around the apartment, one of which was the cleaning of the master bath. But I digress. My point was that once I changed Loren around 6 or so, I put her in the bouncy chair so I could eat breakfast, and once I was done and booted up the laptop I saw that it was 17 degrees outside. That is pretty cold. It is all the way up to 21 as I write this entry, but it started off this morning at 17.

Now I have to run and put Loren’s laundry into the dryer, if the service elevator is working again…

Captain's Log Supplemental - Book Signing

Jessica will be signing copies of her book on Saturday, December 17th, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at the Starbucks in Cascades for a low-key sort of meet-and-greet/book signing.

Address:
Starbucks at Cascades Marketplace
21019-21 Southbank Street
Sterling, Virginia 20165

If you were thinking about purchasing her book, or if you already have a copy, here is an opportunity to get it signed. More information is available on Jessica Stover dot com. If you think you might show up, go over to her site and drop a comment to let her know.

If you are a really cool friend of mine living in the NoVA area you'd go get yourself a copy!

Stardate 59948.91 - The Thin Red Line

I watched The Thin Red Line over the past couple of days (it is 3 hours long, and with a 4-week old at home I don't get many 3-hour blocks of time where I am completely free). I recorded it onto the DVR from one of our many movie channels, so I did not see it in its full, widescreen glory, but I don't think that would have mattered. Thumb down. Way down. It was awful. I thought maybe it was just me, but I talked last night with a former Army Captain friend of mine, and he agreed that it was long, boring, and bad.

I understand that Terrence Malick recorded more than 6 hours of film and then trimmed it back to 3 hours. He should have trimmed it back to 90 minutes. The film was ponderous, and it was very obvious to me that entire sections had been cut out. Example - near the end there are supposed to be hordes of Japanese soldiers moving down a creek towards the company of soldiers, and everything is made to seem like any second they will be overrun and all killed...and then suddenly they are all down on the beach loading into boats to leave the island. Uh...how exactly did that happen? And they paused long enough to bury someone? WTF?

I think the main character died at the end, but with about 20 main characters it was hard to a) care, and b) remember who he even was. Add to that the fact that two of the actors looked enough alike to be brothers, and I was even more confused. But I found that ultimately, I just didn't care. I don't like my war movies cerebral, I like them with action. A little thinking is good, but long dream-like sequences of one character remembering his wife...BORING! I found that I just didn't care when he got a "dear john" letter near the end.

The movie did a good job of showing the brutality of war, and how completely disorganized things get during an attack. But that was its only redeeming feature.

Highly recommend that you not watch this. Thumb down.

Stardate 59944.05 – Loren’s One Month Birthday

Sunday was Loren's one-month birthday. In celebration we decided to take a stroll outside and then pick up a Christmas tree. I won't tell you what we spent, but I have to agree with my friend James in that the days of getting a $10-20 tree are long, long past.

That reminds me of a story. Once, we had a "stolen" Christmas tree. The local volunteer fire department in the town I grew up in (Churchville,VA) would sell Christmas trees, I think for $20. One year we went down to get a tree and there were no personnel at the station, but the trees were out. So we took one. Mom went back a few days later and paid, of course, but we kids loved the fact that our Christmas tree was "stolen" that year.

Anyway, here are some shots of the tree and of Loren on her one-month birthday.

This picture is actually from Saturday, but I'll put it up here anyway.

Another cute shot.

If you ignore my hairy legs, I think this is a cute shot.

Captain's Log Supplemental - Christmas Gift Idea

If you are looking for a unique Christmas gift for someone, there is still time to purchase Jessica Stover's book, Aidmheil.

If you thought it wasn't real and I was a crazy person pimping a non-existent book just to get Jessica to respond to my e-mails, well then feast your eyes on this!

And you don't need to be purchasing a copy for me. I've got an autographed version on the way. Additionally, I shall go down in history as the first person to purchase Aidmheil, about 20 seconds after the order page went up.

And if you live in the metro-DC area and are really cool, you will be interested to know that Jessica may be holding a book signing during December in the Northern Virginia area. Stay tuned for more information, here and at her site.

Stardate 59937.91 - Heavy Snow This Morning

Woke up this morning to the second snow of the season, but the first substantial snow. It is right at 30 degrees, so it is perfect for snowing and sticking. Much to John's irritation, we probably won't be going out in this today. Once Loren is older and can appreciate/play in the snow, then we'll get more excited about this type of thing.

Looking down the street you can see the condition of the roads. It is supposed to drop another inch or two this morning. 

Across second avenue the snow is highlighted against the fancy, dark-glass building that is too expensive for me. 

Captain's Log Supplemental

Not sure if any of my hordes of readers have explored any of the other blogs that I have links to over on the right, but Jessica Stover posted an interesting article on getting Science Fiction/Fantasy published as a movie when the subject matter is not already firmly established with an existing fan base. She put out a call for feedback and debate, so if the subject of getting a script sold and a movie made is of interest to you, then I urge you to check it out. You can read it here.

Stardate 59935.14 - Possible Fire at CVS Down the Street

Woke up this morning to constant sirens and when I opened up the shades 16 emergency vehicles were down second avenue from us, apparently tending to a fire at the CVS.

Looks like they were ready to evacuate people. 

Four ladder trucks showed up. 

Stardate 59932.59 - Daddy's Hair is a Fright

Loren is cute, but I seem to have less and less hair each year. 

Captain's Log Supplemental

Here is one with the flash. Loren is getting a little grumpy in this shot.

Stardate 59930.58 - Weight Check

Cheryl went to the Breastfeeding Mothers Support Group today and while there had Loren weighed. She is up to 8 pounds 5 oz. She seems to be getting enough to eat. :-)

Sorry for the repeated picture, but we haven't taken any new shots today. With the light in our apartment, if we don't take pictures during the day with natural light they just don't turn out that great.

I think we are going to get a Christmas Tree this weekend, so you have those pictures to look forward to!