in what's likely going to be the most lively new year's eve kris and i will enjoy for the next few years, kris and i hit the town after an early deadline at the paper.
we caught two performances that were part of charleston's goodnight 2009 new year's eve events -- the kanawha valley ringers handbell ensemble at sacred heart and, a couple of blocks up the street at Christ church united methodist, the martin luther king jr. male choir.
the walking sort of took a toll on kris and there were no seats for her at christ church, so we left a little early from the men's choir. (some strong voices in that group.)
once we got home, as kris and i said grace before dinner, i thanked the Lord for what i called "a less trying year than others."
kris looked up at me and said we'd had a good year.
i stood corrected.
we and our loved ones enjoy good health. we remain employed in satisfying, enjoyable jobs. and we are weeks away from the birth of our first child.
this has indeed been a good year.
may the good Lord continue to bless us all in 2010.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
don't sleep on the turnpike
or, as i often gripe, "don't sleep in the passing lane, sweetheart."this was shot by my sister joy who wound up stuck on the west virginia turnpike for the better part of 20 hours when most of the east coast got hit by a monster snow storm that dropped about two feet of snow on the state.
while the rest of the family wished she would have skipped the housecleaning and left morgantown in advance of the weather, we were glad she at least packed the snow travel kit -- food, water, socks, boots. (the blanket got soaked with wiper fluid and left at my other sister's place to dry.)
she made it through fine -- thanks for the kind thoughts and prayers -- with nary a potty break. if things did turn for the worst, she was ready with plan b: a strategically placed umbrella to cover the flank left uncovered by the open door. so, against the median, she would have been able to maintain some modesty. luckily, she managed to hold out.
we're just glad that all worked out. and that joy didn't have to pay the toll once traffic got moving the next day.
going postal ... in a good way
kudos to our fine package delivery services from the u.s. postal service, fedex and ups.
this time last week christmas presents were whizzing up and down the east coast to friends, family and me.
orders placed sunday and monday via the internets, as well as a bundle of parcels dropped off via regular old priority mail at the post office on tuesday, were on airplanes and trucks from oregon to boston.
by the end of work wednesday, i had everything that i ordered. and i got a call from my friend in florida christmas eve that they'd gotten their box of gifts as well.
of course, the price for two second-day air orders was about thirteen bucks each, but it seemed a small punishment to pay for procrastination.
all told, i'd have to say i got my money's worth out of all these services. good job.
this time last week christmas presents were whizzing up and down the east coast to friends, family and me.
orders placed sunday and monday via the internets, as well as a bundle of parcels dropped off via regular old priority mail at the post office on tuesday, were on airplanes and trucks from oregon to boston.
by the end of work wednesday, i had everything that i ordered. and i got a call from my friend in florida christmas eve that they'd gotten their box of gifts as well.
of course, the price for two second-day air orders was about thirteen bucks each, but it seemed a small punishment to pay for procrastination.
all told, i'd have to say i got my money's worth out of all these services. good job.
beer glasses
i like it when a plan comes together.
on a visit to kris' folks some months ago, her dad spoke of a pint glass that the samuel adams brewery had designed to optimize beer-drinking experience in all its flavorful glory.
knowing the beermaker didn't mess around when it came to its product, i figured this had to be some well-crafted barware designed to do exactly what it says.
well, when christmas gift-giving time rolled around, i knew there was something parkersburg's no. 1 sam adams fan would appreciate.
Friday, December 25, 2009
God rest ye merry gentlemen
i finally got to sit with a plate of good filipino food after standing and grazing for about an hour on the goodies i could eat without utensils as i chatted with friends.
that moment, i told sami and ron, was what i'd been waiting for in a week crammed with christmas errands and the dread of an enormous holiday paper put together by a short staff.
i had time to relax, finish a beer and briefly catch up with friends i hadn't seen in some time.
and that's all i was responsible for.
if that isn't the good life, i couldn't tell you what is.
God bless us, every one.
that moment, i told sami and ron, was what i'd been waiting for in a week crammed with christmas errands and the dread of an enormous holiday paper put together by a short staff.
i had time to relax, finish a beer and briefly catch up with friends i hadn't seen in some time.
and that's all i was responsible for.
if that isn't the good life, i couldn't tell you what is.
God bless us, every one.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
big snow
we heard a winter storm warning thursday night in the newsroom calling for a foot of snow in charleston and 20 inches in beckley.
as of noon yesterday, some friends and i figured that as with half of these things, they'd be wildly off, and we 'd get maybe a light dusting.
well, this weekend, they were right.
normally, i'm ecstatic about this kind of weather.
but now i'm looking at the heavy, wet snow on the branches above the house and cars and hoping the boughs don't break.
mostly, though, i'm worried about my sister joy who's been stuck in her car on the turnpike between charleston and beckley since friday evening.
she says she has bread and water in the car, but no one has moved since the initial stop.
state officials said a number of tractor trailers had jack-knifed.
joy says the people who tried to pass stopped traffic by driving on the shoulders got stuck. now there's no way to get anyone through.
seriously, people always think they're smarter than everyone else. now they're just in the way.
we're now reporting a state of emergency and the national guard is out to pick up those in need trapped on the highway. the rest will be given food and water to wait things out.
joy said one of people stuck in traffic is diabetic and that folks around her have been passing along snacks to keep her sugar up. i'm hoping she makes it to one of those transports.
while i don't think joy needs to be on a national guard humvee, i would like her home by this evening.
as of noon yesterday, some friends and i figured that as with half of these things, they'd be wildly off, and we 'd get maybe a light dusting.
well, this weekend, they were right.
normally, i'm ecstatic about this kind of weather.
but now i'm looking at the heavy, wet snow on the branches above the house and cars and hoping the boughs don't break.
mostly, though, i'm worried about my sister joy who's been stuck in her car on the turnpike between charleston and beckley since friday evening.
she says she has bread and water in the car, but no one has moved since the initial stop.
state officials said a number of tractor trailers had jack-knifed.
joy says the people who tried to pass stopped traffic by driving on the shoulders got stuck. now there's no way to get anyone through.
seriously, people always think they're smarter than everyone else. now they're just in the way.
we're now reporting a state of emergency and the national guard is out to pick up those in need trapped on the highway. the rest will be given food and water to wait things out.
joy said one of people stuck in traffic is diabetic and that folks around her have been passing along snacks to keep her sugar up. i'm hoping she makes it to one of those transports.
while i don't think joy needs to be on a national guard humvee, i would like her home by this evening.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
h1n1 vaccine machine
thus completes our family's part in the swine flu pandemic of 2009
after kris' inoculation back in october with all the other pregnant moms and caregivers, my chance finally came today with the county's free vaccinations at the town center mall downtown.
i dreaded some mind-numbing wait in a line stretching down the plaza's walkways, but time passed quickly.
what looked like a long stretch circling the center court was really only held up by a few folks using planters as tables for filling out forms as the line advanced ahead of them.
luckily, the health department workers prodded them along while the rest of us utilized our clipboards -- of which there were enough for all participating.
by the time i finished my sheet, exchanged a few pleasantries with the lady in front of me and a few of the workers, another official had me take off my coats to save time. then i was next.
easy as pie. i sat down rather than stood. a quick stick and i was on my way.
i passed along my compliments to all the staffers i encountered about how smoothly the whole operation went.
"you guys are a machine," i said.
maybe 15 minutes had passed from the time i parked the car.
nice job, health department.
after kris' inoculation back in october with all the other pregnant moms and caregivers, my chance finally came today with the county's free vaccinations at the town center mall downtown.
i dreaded some mind-numbing wait in a line stretching down the plaza's walkways, but time passed quickly.
what looked like a long stretch circling the center court was really only held up by a few folks using planters as tables for filling out forms as the line advanced ahead of them.
luckily, the health department workers prodded them along while the rest of us utilized our clipboards -- of which there were enough for all participating.
by the time i finished my sheet, exchanged a few pleasantries with the lady in front of me and a few of the workers, another official had me take off my coats to save time. then i was next.easy as pie. i sat down rather than stood. a quick stick and i was on my way.
i passed along my compliments to all the staffers i encountered about how smoothly the whole operation went.
"you guys are a machine," i said.
maybe 15 minutes had passed from the time i parked the car.
nice job, health department.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
remember this?
this is for my brother who occasionally checks up on me here.
this is one the lesser known of many cartoons we lost hours of young lives to.
the chorus to the show's theme song occasionally pops into my head and i couldn't remember how the rest of the theme went.
after a quick google search and a few dead ends, found this great site with all the info i needed to know about the show and good quality video featuring the opening song, an episode and two shorts. thanks, toontracker.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
not the baby blog
i suspect these next few weeks and months will make the writing here even more occupied with our impending visitor, whose arrival gets more real every day.
the day before our baby class, i started washing the new infant and babywear friends and family gave us at the kris' baby showers.
it occurred to me this was the beginning of the rest of my new life washing clothes for three. it was like ... the early morning glow before the sun peeks over the horizon. something much bigger was going to dawn; it felt oddly momentous.
i held aloft the different sizes of clothes as if i were lifting the little guy under his arms.
this is him at three months. here's him at 24. and look how tiny he'll be as a newborn.
all if the good Lord is willing.
i remember my sister and my friend carrie both wishing as their babies grew that they could stay small for just a little while longer.
there was this obviously sentimental commercial from carter's baby clothes that both tugged at the heartstrings and effectively sold the product's sense of durability: "if they could just stay little until their carter's wore out."
years ago, when my sister's first child was born, i remarked to a friend in the gym how quickly she grew.
a grandfatherly type overheard and chimed in "it's faster than you realize."
a former colleague at the paper said after reading this column that she still remembers preparing for her son even now as he approaches 30. believe them, she said, when people tell me how fast it goes.
i will just have to remember to burn those moments into my brain and pray that we may always be in them.
the day before our baby class, i started washing the new infant and babywear friends and family gave us at the kris' baby showers.
it occurred to me this was the beginning of the rest of my new life washing clothes for three. it was like ... the early morning glow before the sun peeks over the horizon. something much bigger was going to dawn; it felt oddly momentous.
i held aloft the different sizes of clothes as if i were lifting the little guy under his arms.
this is him at three months. here's him at 24. and look how tiny he'll be as a newborn.
all if the good Lord is willing.
i remember my sister and my friend carrie both wishing as their babies grew that they could stay small for just a little while longer.
there was this obviously sentimental commercial from carter's baby clothes that both tugged at the heartstrings and effectively sold the product's sense of durability: "if they could just stay little until their carter's wore out."years ago, when my sister's first child was born, i remarked to a friend in the gym how quickly she grew.
a grandfatherly type overheard and chimed in "it's faster than you realize."
a former colleague at the paper said after reading this column that she still remembers preparing for her son even now as he approaches 30. believe them, she said, when people tell me how fast it goes.
i will just have to remember to burn those moments into my brain and pray that we may always be in them.
baby prep
kris and i attended the one-day baby class at women's and children's yesterday.as we exited the jeep, kris said her biggest fear was being able to nurse the lad sufficiently. it was an even greater concern to her than childbirth.
well ... after watching video of three women go through labor and delivery accompanied by animations of the physiology of the process, her mind has changed.
as the child of a physician who learned before he could read daddy's texts where babies came from, i was aware of the stresses the body undergoes in bringing a child into the world.
still, the video was sobering and galvanizing in the sense that this is the runup to where we're headed and that we should mentally prepare ourselves for it.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
advent snow day video
nice to see mother nature on the same page as the missus when it comes to decking the halls.
holidaze
especially since i started working in charleston, some time after new years, just before the city starts taking down the lights along the streets and the various business in town put away their decorations, i find myself wishing christmas would last longer,
it was only after the fact that i wanted some of that holiday cheer.
i guess in the run-up to the big day, i'd been so focused on work and tasks and obligations and things i'd put off, that i never really let myself get immersed in the mad mix of commerce and faith that the holiday brings together.
i've slowly stopped griping about how early retailers "jump the gun" on christmas with their ads and specials.
years ago a friend told my brother that more than half of his father's business is made at the holidays. i remember this now in the midst (turning point?) in our economic downturn.
i suppose in an ideal world, the build-up would only happen in the week before christmas; but ideals won't pay the rent or electricity or employees.
commerce is a fact of life and one must make hay while the sun shines.
kris was a genius to get us mostly done with our shopping. now i can focus more on being in the moment, not thinking about what i'm going to do next.
after all, it is the hubbub about the holidays that i enjoy -- the shows and pageantry, the parties and the music on the radio, the tree lots and commercials, the secular acknowledging the sacred -- the whole holy mess.
i suppose in my efforts to avoid stepping in it, i wound up missing out altogether.
the holidays, i guess, are an all or nothing proposition; one is either in or out of the spirit.
so i'll avert my gaze from the insane traffic and doorbuster maniacs and focus on the prettiness and warmth that the season offers.
it was only after the fact that i wanted some of that holiday cheer.
i guess in the run-up to the big day, i'd been so focused on work and tasks and obligations and things i'd put off, that i never really let myself get immersed in the mad mix of commerce and faith that the holiday brings together.
i've slowly stopped griping about how early retailers "jump the gun" on christmas with their ads and specials.
years ago a friend told my brother that more than half of his father's business is made at the holidays. i remember this now in the midst (turning point?) in our economic downturn.
i suppose in an ideal world, the build-up would only happen in the week before christmas; but ideals won't pay the rent or electricity or employees.
commerce is a fact of life and one must make hay while the sun shines.
kris was a genius to get us mostly done with our shopping. now i can focus more on being in the moment, not thinking about what i'm going to do next.
after all, it is the hubbub about the holidays that i enjoy -- the shows and pageantry, the parties and the music on the radio, the tree lots and commercials, the secular acknowledging the sacred -- the whole holy mess.i suppose in my efforts to avoid stepping in it, i wound up missing out altogether.
the holidays, i guess, are an all or nothing proposition; one is either in or out of the spirit.
so i'll avert my gaze from the insane traffic and doorbuster maniacs and focus on the prettiness and warmth that the season offers.
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
done by dec. 1?
seriously, this has never happened before.
coupled with an e-mail from amazon.com informing me my order has shipped, this toy and its duplicate comprise the last of our christmas shopping.
kris wanted to avoid the last-minute desperation in her usual approach to christmas shopping this year. (plus, given her state, she hoped to be prepared for an early arrival by the boy.)
she started in early november. when she dropped off her family's gifts over thanksgiving, i felt a little pressure as i was responsible for the "no-brainer" presents.
those are the presents i don't have to think about -- magazine subscriptions, unicef stationery, the dvd and, pictured, this year's hess toy truck.
my time in south carolina re-introduced me to the hess trucks, a toy my dad bought me for years when i was a little boy. each year, the oil company releases a new vehicle bearing their logo.
when i worked at the post and courier, i thought they'd be fun to get for my nephew, who turned 3 that year.
he's looked forward to them ever since. (as has his cousin, who got his first last year.)
anyway, following kris' lead, i went ahead and pulled the trigger, rather than wait until the week of, to order everyone's stuff.
except for our respective parents, the office exchange and for a few friends, we're done. short of some wrapping, i feel an odd sense of freedom.
now we can focus on making room for baby.
coupled with an e-mail from amazon.com informing me my order has shipped, this toy and its duplicate comprise the last of our christmas shopping.
kris wanted to avoid the last-minute desperation in her usual approach to christmas shopping this year. (plus, given her state, she hoped to be prepared for an early arrival by the boy.)
she started in early november. when she dropped off her family's gifts over thanksgiving, i felt a little pressure as i was responsible for the "no-brainer" presents.
those are the presents i don't have to think about -- magazine subscriptions, unicef stationery, the dvd and, pictured, this year's hess toy truck.
my time in south carolina re-introduced me to the hess trucks, a toy my dad bought me for years when i was a little boy. each year, the oil company releases a new vehicle bearing their logo.
when i worked at the post and courier, i thought they'd be fun to get for my nephew, who turned 3 that year.
he's looked forward to them ever since. (as has his cousin, who got his first last year.)
anyway, following kris' lead, i went ahead and pulled the trigger, rather than wait until the week of, to order everyone's stuff.
except for our respective parents, the office exchange and for a few friends, we're done. short of some wrapping, i feel an odd sense of freedom.
now we can focus on making room for baby.
Monday, November 30, 2009
this is only going to get worse
we really only imagine what's going on in our odd little cat's head as my mysterious, messy and rarely visited office has morphed over the past few months into an equally enigmatic repository of baby supplies and furnishings.
i got the crib up yesterday and it served to pique otto's interest even more as she explored its low-slung hiding space underneath and pined for its slatted confines above.
kris was bent on nipping this one in the bud and shooed her out of the room. unfortunately, she made the mistake of leaving the nursing chair next to the crib.
needless to say, having left the bedroom door open, i ran in after the sound of a thump and found the critter lolling about as the mobile swung to and fro after either the cat's leap or her batting it about.
i swept her out as fast as i could, but "mom" arrived just as i turned around.
"we can't allow this," she said. "we're going to have to keep that door closed at all times. this is how cats smother babies."
i hope the novelty of all this stuff wears off.
that, or i'm going to have to place a scatmat on the mattress as a shocking negative reinforcement before the baby starts sleeping there.
i got the crib up yesterday and it served to pique otto's interest even more as she explored its low-slung hiding space underneath and pined for its slatted confines above.
kris was bent on nipping this one in the bud and shooed her out of the room. unfortunately, she made the mistake of leaving the nursing chair next to the crib.
needless to say, having left the bedroom door open, i ran in after the sound of a thump and found the critter lolling about as the mobile swung to and fro after either the cat's leap or her batting it about.
i swept her out as fast as i could, but "mom" arrived just as i turned around.
"we can't allow this," she said. "we're going to have to keep that door closed at all times. this is how cats smother babies."
i hope the novelty of all this stuff wears off.
that, or i'm going to have to place a scatmat on the mattress as a shocking negative reinforcement before the baby starts sleeping there.
get it together
thanks to my sister pamy, our little guy will soon have a place to sleep in a room all his own.
the generosity of family and friends has once again helped kris and me prepare for yet another phase in our lives.
when i wonder if we'll ever get our act together in time to accommodate and provide for the raising of a responsible, contributing member of society, i think there are those trying to do more with much less. (or, sadly, doing nothing at all.)
the only pressure we face is the expectation we place on ourselves. i hope our response to it will only ever leave a positive impression on the boy.
meantime, let's just keep working, shall we?
the generosity of family and friends has once again helped kris and me prepare for yet another phase in our lives.
when i wonder if we'll ever get our act together in time to accommodate and provide for the raising of a responsible, contributing member of society, i think there are those trying to do more with much less. (or, sadly, doing nothing at all.)
the only pressure we face is the expectation we place on ourselves. i hope our response to it will only ever leave a positive impression on the boy.
meantime, let's just keep working, shall we?
advent
black friday dawned cold in parkersburg as we watched fat flakes flurrying outside the window as we ate breakfast at kris' folks' place.little frozen pellets were bouncing along the overpasses of charleston, which did not portend well for the traffic that would follow.
(we later heard that there were four accidents caused by the sleet that formed in the hour that followed.)
by the time we hit beckley that afternoon to help mom and joy get ready for kris' baby shower, we were seeing cars with a good couple of inches of snow on their rooftops.
my assignments included a trip to the dump for all the trash that would not wait for the weekly pickup, changing all the high light fixtures in need of new bulbs and bathroom/laundry room cleanup.
given her physical state, kris was spared any heavy lifting, but did help set up the buffet.
we were rewarded with a giant pasquale mira pepperoni pizza and beers. and, best of all, a mountaineer victory on the tube. she and i spent the night at flat top lake.
i drew dishwashing duty the day of the gathering before i had to disappear and get pamy's old pug, auggie, out of the way of the girl party.
i spent the next two hours with the little fellow driving to and from the wytheville, va., wilco, to pick up this year's hess toys for my nephews.got back just in time for the end of the shower and dinner of party leftovers. we headed home that night to feed our traumatized cat.
thus began the start of our winter season -- and all that this special one holds for us.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
no 13-9
i have friends who aren't west virginia university supporters who were quick to point out as we rejoiced in friday's win over the no. 8 ranked university of pittsburgh that our victory pales in comparison to the panthers' 2007 upset that knocked us out of the bcs title game.and i will agree.
what they stole from us that december day proved to be, well, everything. the chance to be national champs and, within a week, our genius coach. we hadn't been the same since.
but i think i like what this game represented.
this seemed to be the complete effort. no turnovers. no mental mistakes. a complete game from our defense; fairly smart play from the offense.
this was how good we could be if all the parts are in sync. i'd have to call this coach bill stewart's best game since the 2008 fiesta bowl. he was crazy out for blood.
watching this nailbiter of a game come to ride on a freshman kicker's field goal with three seconds left, i was struck with an epiphany.
if he missed and we were forced into an overtime that we would lose, i was ready.
legs splayed in mom and dad's dining room chair, hands behind my head, i tried to stay loose.
sitting through two time-outs, a revelation dawned about my relationship with wvu football: "this team has stabbed me in the heart so many times, i can't be killed any more."so i was relaxed as the ball sailed through the uprights, just left of center.
and we got back some small measure of the pain they inflicted on us.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
preggo
if we're to believe our doc, we're about eight weeks to zero hour.
i can use all eight of them to get ready, believe me.
meantime, i must say, for a guy freaked out by the pregnant demi moore's nude vanity fair cover, i'm much more at peace with the sight of a bare belly full of baby.
maybe because it's ours, but looking at kris' 7-month profile here and when she's examining her own fullness in the hall mirror, i can only see a miracle in the offing.
kris seems to mix with her sense of wonder the occasional gasp of amazement and disbelief at what her body is doing to accommodate this little person.
sometimes, though, she sounds downright pissed.
"it's going to take forever to get back into shape."
i can use all eight of them to get ready, believe me.
meantime, i must say, for a guy freaked out by the pregnant demi moore's nude vanity fair cover, i'm much more at peace with the sight of a bare belly full of baby.
maybe because it's ours, but looking at kris' 7-month profile here and when she's examining her own fullness in the hall mirror, i can only see a miracle in the offing.
kris seems to mix with her sense of wonder the occasional gasp of amazement and disbelief at what her body is doing to accommodate this little person.
sometimes, though, she sounds downright pissed.
"it's going to take forever to get back into shape."
Monday, November 23, 2009
dabblers
when i was a hardcore gym rat, my friend tony and i had a name for the folks who showed up after the new year: "the january people."these were the folks who made resolutions to lose weight, hogged all the equipment for the first week or two and would inevitably be gone by march.
i never had much use for them and their lack of commitment and couldn't wait for attrition to free up "my" workout space.
so much for hubris. i have since become a "january person."
turns out there's another kind of dilettante i wasn't aware of, which i guess i'll call "the thanksgiving people."
a friend told me if i really felt badly about failing to help the hungry, i should volunteer at our local soup kitchen.
well, when i called last week, i could almost hear the lady on the other end rolling her eyes.
"when were you planning to volunteer?" she sighed.
when i explained it was whenever they needed someone, she said that everyone and his brother wanted to volunteer thanksgiving day.
ah, yes, i reckoned, working off that guilt for gluttony with an hour ladling out mashed potatoes.i'd toyed with similar thoughts for years; not an original idea, apparently.
but hearing her apparent weariness with what bob dorough and miles davis called "december do-gooders" sort of confirmed what a hollow gesture it was.
they could use some help the week after thanksgiving, she said, when they were short-staffed and needed some restocking and prep work done before lunch.
yeah, i could do that.
frankly, if i never was assigned one of the "starring roles" on the serving line receiving grateful looks and words, i'd be just as happy in the background.
as the Lord said, the deeds done in secret are the ones He notices.
while this opportunity may have begun in penance, i pray that i may have the commitment to make this more than an hour's dabbling in charity.
too much food for too much thought
it's thanksgiving week and i'm anticipating a good meal. (and, yes, i appreciate what a great blessing it is to know where my next one is coming from.)kris ran down the menu for thursday feast and asked if there was anything else i wanted.
lessee, after the turkey, ham, potatoes -- sweet and mashed -- two kinds of corn, pie -- pumpkin and pecan -- how could i want for more?
"green beans," i meekly asked.
"oh, yeah," she said. "we've already got that."
well, we're set then. wow. two of everything. what a lucky boy i am.
much more so than this sad sack:
If you think about it, pies are major players in communal feasting observances -- pumpkin for Thanksgiving and Christmas or apple for the Fourth of July.this poor chap needs to loosen the belt on his thinking pants.
Cakes, on the other hand, commemorate individuals.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
cat
not entirely sure how otto's going to deal with having a very small version of us in the house.if baby should arrive weighing about what his mama and papa did when they were born, our little tabby is going to outweigh our boy by about 6 or 7 pounds. (plus, she'll have teeth and claws.)
she already seems to think the baby's room is hers. well, along with the rest of the house.
kris seems to think we'll have to keep the baby's door closed to the cat at all times to keep her out of the crib and/or other furniture in the room. (i reckon she'd like the extra perches for looking out the two windows.)
i'm going to see how the critter reacts to the kid.
otto might be bigger, but seeing a person this small might be enough to keep her off balance.
different size, different smell, different noises. that alone might be enough to keep the kitty at bay.
we'll see in about two months.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
mountaineers on the radio
on days like this, i'm almost glad to not have cable television.if i'd have watched an apparent university of cincinnati turnover reversed by a replay official into a touchdown against west virginia, i'd have fumed all night.
as it is -- having only heard it on the radio -- i'm merely disgusted.
judging from my friends' reactions -- and even an impartial sports illustrated columnist -- the bearcats got an unfair break.
not since the wvu-syracuse debacle of 1992 -- in which orange quarterback marvin graves initiated a bench-clearing brawl by chucking the football at a wvu defensive back, leading to three wvu ejections and the freaking syracuse kicker before graves, who did not get tossed, threw the game-winning touchdown -- can i recall such a lousy turn on a lousier call.
i told a friend this wasn't really a matter of close, but no cigar heartbreak. this, simply put, was maddening.
while i disagree on a few decisions -- like foregoing an easy field goal on fourth-and-long that might have helped us tie, if not win, the game -- it was a well-played contest by our boys that turned on a questionable call.
my best hope from all this is that this indignation will help provide next season -- the old mountaineer salve -- the contrast by which we can measure our greatest joys.
virtual bleachers
i've become convinced that eating at a sports bar to watch my west virginia university mountaineers play is bad luck.
so i passed on a friend's invitation to watch the wvu-cincinnati game with him and his wife.
i had a good feeling about this game, though, that it wouldn't be the slaughter everyone was predicting we'd suffer, and i wanted to keep up the banter with folks who were watching -- or listening -- with me.
if this were an afternoon game, i'd have been in the middle of household chores and listening to the radio.
but it was the evening of a long day and i was too jazzed to try anything major around the house.
so i sat on the living room couch with the radio tuned to wchs 580 am for the mountaineer sports network broadcast and my laptop open.
i was able to listen to the play-by-play without getting hysterical with live television, watch replays on espn360.com and exchange comments with friends on facebook and strangers on the smoking musket, an unofficial wvu sports blog.
while it was no substitute for a stadium experience or even the satisfaction of burgers and beer with friends, it was enough to share an evening with kindred souls.
(plus, given the way things turned out, we weren't out the cost of a night out while watching our team lose.)
so i passed on a friend's invitation to watch the wvu-cincinnati game with him and his wife.
i had a good feeling about this game, though, that it wouldn't be the slaughter everyone was predicting we'd suffer, and i wanted to keep up the banter with folks who were watching -- or listening -- with me.if this were an afternoon game, i'd have been in the middle of household chores and listening to the radio.
but it was the evening of a long day and i was too jazzed to try anything major around the house.
so i sat on the living room couch with the radio tuned to wchs 580 am for the mountaineer sports network broadcast and my laptop open.
i was able to listen to the play-by-play without getting hysterical with live television, watch replays on espn360.com and exchange comments with friends on facebook and strangers on the smoking musket, an unofficial wvu sports blog.
while it was no substitute for a stadium experience or even the satisfaction of burgers and beer with friends, it was enough to share an evening with kindred souls.
(plus, given the way things turned out, we weren't out the cost of a night out while watching our team lose.)
Thursday, November 05, 2009
pick it up
when we learned in may that we were expecting a baby, nine months seemed plenty of time to get ready.
well, we're about 12 weeks away from the main event and, as my sister and brother-in-law noted, sometimes you end up with less time than that.
would we be ready, say, in a month?
um ...
i thought once we had the baby's room painted, the hard part would be over.
well, kind of.
that just meant the biggest part was over. now we face lots and lots and lots of little things.
like putting up curtains and furnishing the room, for example.
my sister is kindly giving us a spare crib. we're registered for a changing table. i think we'll need a drawer.
then the rest of the house must be rearranged and rendered habitable. (one room, really, to accommodate the displaced study room. the basement can be done in stages.)
i feel urgency creeping in.
i have to keep reminding kris and myself that many have faced much more with much less.
we'll just have to stay steady and work forward.
well, we're about 12 weeks away from the main event and, as my sister and brother-in-law noted, sometimes you end up with less time than that.
would we be ready, say, in a month?
um ...
i thought once we had the baby's room painted, the hard part would be over.
well, kind of.
that just meant the biggest part was over. now we face lots and lots and lots of little things.
like putting up curtains and furnishing the room, for example.
my sister is kindly giving us a spare crib. we're registered for a changing table. i think we'll need a drawer.
then the rest of the house must be rearranged and rendered habitable. (one room, really, to accommodate the displaced study room. the basement can be done in stages.)
i feel urgency creeping in.i have to keep reminding kris and myself that many have faced much more with much less.
we'll just have to stay steady and work forward.
holding her
kris and i finally got to meet little elena a couple of days ago.
we each took our turn at holding my sister's fourth little princess.
a few seconds after kris handed off to me, the babe took the opportunity to shoot a poop into her diaper. oh, well. finders keepers.
luckily, i've been staying in practice with the steady stream of babies pamy here and my brother in florida have been producing.
pamy informs me her boy, now almost four, is behaving all-boy -- jamming things down the drain in the bathroom sink, decorating said sink with wreathes of toothpaste, testing the viscosity of shampoo down the bathtub and the like.
"i've never had this happen with the girls," she said.
unfortunately, i think i can relate to dimly remembered experiments of a similar ilk from my own years as a small person -- well into grade school, unfortunately.
with our own boy gestating in kristina's womb, i suspect we're in for an interesting ride in the next few years.
we each took our turn at holding my sister's fourth little princess.
a few seconds after kris handed off to me, the babe took the opportunity to shoot a poop into her diaper. oh, well. finders keepers.
luckily, i've been staying in practice with the steady stream of babies pamy here and my brother in florida have been producing.
pamy informs me her boy, now almost four, is behaving all-boy -- jamming things down the drain in the bathroom sink, decorating said sink with wreathes of toothpaste, testing the viscosity of shampoo down the bathtub and the like.
"i've never had this happen with the girls," she said.
unfortunately, i think i can relate to dimly remembered experiments of a similar ilk from my own years as a small person -- well into grade school, unfortunately.
with our own boy gestating in kristina's womb, i suspect we're in for an interesting ride in the next few years.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
wvu makes like a tree
and falls.
my no. 20 mountaineers headed down to tampa, fla., to play the unranked south florida bulls.
i knew going in that we always have problems with these guys. and playing down there is never a good prospect.
and, well, we moved the ball ok and shot ourselves in the foot just once with an interception inside the 20, but we had no answers for their offense.
they passed the hell out of us in a 30-19 defeat.
it didn't help that some key players are nicked and dinged, but who'd have thought our defense would let us down?
(on second thought, the biggest question seemed to revolve around our defensive backs, so, yeah, i think we know the answer: toast.)
normally, i'd be beside myself with a league loss, especially one where i thought we could win.
but i know these guys have our number in florida, and i suppose i've come to accept that.
luckily, the day wasn't wasted in anticipation of it -- even for the hope of eating burgers in a sports bar while watching what would have ultimately been a frustrating game.
got a coat of primer up in the baby's room. raked the leaves in the front yard. hopefully took out a yellowjacket nest.
a cheeseburger, beer and a mountaineer win would have been icing on the cake.
but that would have been greedy, wouldn't it?
just like dogs, west virginia university football will bring great joy -- and great sorrow.
the crazed mountaineer in me is just this side of deluded to believe we can win the remaining four games on the schedule -- which includes two top 20 teams.
get hard on defense and don't drop the ball. we can still win out. seriously.
my no. 20 mountaineers headed down to tampa, fla., to play the unranked south florida bulls.
i knew going in that we always have problems with these guys. and playing down there is never a good prospect.
and, well, we moved the ball ok and shot ourselves in the foot just once with an interception inside the 20, but we had no answers for their offense.
they passed the hell out of us in a 30-19 defeat.
it didn't help that some key players are nicked and dinged, but who'd have thought our defense would let us down?
(on second thought, the biggest question seemed to revolve around our defensive backs, so, yeah, i think we know the answer: toast.)
normally, i'd be beside myself with a league loss, especially one where i thought we could win.
but i know these guys have our number in florida, and i suppose i've come to accept that.
luckily, the day wasn't wasted in anticipation of it -- even for the hope of eating burgers in a sports bar while watching what would have ultimately been a frustrating game.
got a coat of primer up in the baby's room. raked the leaves in the front yard. hopefully took out a yellowjacket nest.a cheeseburger, beer and a mountaineer win would have been icing on the cake.
but that would have been greedy, wouldn't it?
just like dogs, west virginia university football will bring great joy -- and great sorrow.
the crazed mountaineer in me is just this side of deluded to believe we can win the remaining four games on the schedule -- which includes two top 20 teams.
get hard on defense and don't drop the ball. we can still win out. seriously.
Friday, October 30, 2009
old paint
judging by the layers of paint on this non-grounded outlet, i could imagine it might be one that came with the house, which i think was built some time before world war ii.
i sometimes wonder about the folks who've lived here before us and the kinds of dreams they had.
they painted. they wallpapered. they added on and remodeled. they lived their lives. and then they passed away or moved.
and then it happened all over again for at least a few more times.
now it's our turn.
it's a good chance that this will be last time i see behind the faceplate of these sockets and switches until our child is, well, probably not a little boy anymore.
kris and i are deep in preparations for his arrival.
sometimes i get so engrossed in the tasks of making room for him, i don't even have him in mind.
other times, i dream and wonder.
i wonder if he'll be task-focused, like his mom, or detail-oriented, like his dad. (kris and i both hope it will be the better parts of both.)
i worry what we'll fight about. if he'll be as hard to motivate as i was. i'm fairly sure he'll be pig-headed. i just hope it's in a good way.
i imagine that as he grows, the way the house is will be the way he thought it always ever was.
same colored rooms. same furniture. same cracks in the walls. same goofy cat.
i even have little hopes. that he'd be good with both words and numbers. creative. maybe even wiry and athletic, like a cross-country runner or a swimmer. (if not coordinated, then at least i hope he'd have rhythm.)
after healthy, of course, though, we mostly hope our boy would be kind.
he might never recognize the efforts that went into giving him a good place to land.
but i hope he'd never wish he had better.
i sometimes wonder about the folks who've lived here before us and the kinds of dreams they had.
they painted. they wallpapered. they added on and remodeled. they lived their lives. and then they passed away or moved.
and then it happened all over again for at least a few more times.
now it's our turn.
it's a good chance that this will be last time i see behind the faceplate of these sockets and switches until our child is, well, probably not a little boy anymore.
kris and i are deep in preparations for his arrival.
sometimes i get so engrossed in the tasks of making room for him, i don't even have him in mind.
other times, i dream and wonder.
i wonder if he'll be task-focused, like his mom, or detail-oriented, like his dad. (kris and i both hope it will be the better parts of both.)
i worry what we'll fight about. if he'll be as hard to motivate as i was. i'm fairly sure he'll be pig-headed. i just hope it's in a good way.
i imagine that as he grows, the way the house is will be the way he thought it always ever was.
same colored rooms. same furniture. same cracks in the walls. same goofy cat.i even have little hopes. that he'd be good with both words and numbers. creative. maybe even wiry and athletic, like a cross-country runner or a swimmer. (if not coordinated, then at least i hope he'd have rhythm.)
after healthy, of course, though, we mostly hope our boy would be kind.
he might never recognize the efforts that went into giving him a good place to land.
but i hope he'd never wish he had better.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
curved lines
somewhere there was a good idea when i made kris stand in the landing while i composed this shot. i'm not entirely sure what it was. maybe when there's more baby in the belly there will be more curve.i hope the rain doesn't totally wash out the fall colors in the yard or in town. i'd like to get sort of a record of her tummy against the backdrop of the seasons like we did back in august.
after a trying first trimester, kris has an appetite and actually enjoys the thought of food again. (to her own chagrin, she'd tell you.) and she's also hit upon the right pillow combination to accommodate her back and the bump when she sleeps.
funny, though, she seems to whipsaw between grumbles when the lad decides to go for extended bouts of kickboxing and plaintive worry when he rests for hours at a time. apparently, like his mama and papa, our boy will rarely reside in the happy medium.
the little fellow definitely likes sweets and seems to enjoy moving most when we're in the newsroom. this does not bode well for his choice of vocation.
blaze of glory
it seemed to take a long time to develop, but the autumn leaves seemed to finish strong the last week of october.
it's been raining most of the night, so i'll bet our trees will have been further denuded from saturday's showers.
if you follow the links, you'll be able to get a peek of what the mountain state offered by way of foliage this year.
(with any luck, we'll be able to get our yard cleaned up before our zealous neighbor crosses the street to do it for us.)
it's been raining most of the night, so i'll bet our trees will have been further denuded from saturday's showers.
if you follow the links, you'll be able to get a peek of what the mountain state offered by way of foliage this year.
(with any luck, we'll be able to get our yard cleaned up before our zealous neighbor crosses the street to do it for us.)
Friday, October 23, 2009
little news
at the time this pic was taken, she was elaina, but that has since changed.
thank heavens, my sister and her husband chose the more appropriate spanish spelling, now elena.
this was the munchkin who was responsible for us playing short-handed down in disney. a small sacrifice, i say.
besides, now her big brother has someone to look after.given his readiness to throw down when his elder sibs are threatened, God help the boy who crosses this little sister.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
porcinoia
we'd been reporting on the swine flu epidemic since spring.
i'd hoped it would be a phenomenon of mass hysteria that would peter out beyond its flashpoint.
i clung to this fraying hope even as a pandemic was declared by an international health body.
then, what was first reported in mexico, moved to the united states, then to our state and our city.
even as friends of friends were being reported with the disease, we in the newsroom employed our usual gallows humor to fend off concerns that it could reach us.
but every hacking cough or word of travel to areas of reported outbreaks made me wonder if i was somehow being exposed to the bug.
i became a much more scrupulous hand-washer over the past six weeks or so, actually timing myself and observing that i scrub as thoroughly as i can.
well, as one, then another loved one of someone in the office got exposed, i can probably say it's in the newsroom, too.
(for her own peace of mind -- and to the annoyance of our co-workers -- kris took to spraying lysol and using disinfectant wipes around the perimeter of her cubicle.)
in my mind, it seems to have begun in the back of the room and moved its way forward, like a wave. it's reached the last quarter of the office now, right about my area.
(the visual metaphor that kept going through my head was the rio bravo-style confrontation between the hordes of aliens overrunning the stronghold of lt. ripley and the marine platoon in "aliens.")now, what used to be a collection of seasonal ailments -- sneezes, stuffed heads or post-nasal drip -- are kind of being lumped together as "the swine flu."
this comes at a crucial time for me and kris, as she reads horror stories of the disease left untreated in pregnant women resulting in tragedy.
her ob/gyn has told her at that first tickle in the throat or other indicator of infection in her patients, she goes on the offensive with tamiflu to wipe out/stave off its effects.
well, earaches herald illness for kris, so after the second day, she made the call and had a prescription called in.
she took the pill at work and within a few hours suffered an alarmingly violent attack of nausea.
the precautionary literature lists this as a side-effect of the drug, but her doc says it was too soon and said it might be a stomach bug that's been going around.
weak and shaken by the episode, she went home early to rehydrate and rest up.
now all she can do is worry what this is doing to the baby. she's not even sure she wants to try another dose, even though her ears are still aching.
i believe these little guys are fairly resilient and can ride out most of whatever afflicts their mommies.
i just pray whatever course we take will prove to be the wise one.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
grin and bear it
unlike last year, when the outlook for the friends of coal bowl appeared bleak if you were a west virginia university mountaineer, i was cautiously confident before today's game.
then, our offense appeared in disarray and vulnerable to a surging marshall university squad. this year, i was worried much less about scoring as attitude as a weakness.
it very nearly held true today.
a drab, cold and damp day in the mountain state didn't lend itself to a jaunty, can-do frame of mind.
then, when our strong-armed quarterback went down, i thought the wheels would fall off the wagon.
i began thinking of how gracefully i would have to accept not only a loss, but the ribbing from my friends who root for the thundering herd.
there could be no using injury as an excuse. this one was going to have to be take it like a man.
after jarrett brown went down and the herd scored off his fumble, i tried to assuage my fears with the idea that we only needed to win by one. in an imagined bargain with God, i could meekly and gladly accept a 10-7 win.
luckily, our backup proved he possessed his own grace under pressure and rebounded nicely after halftime to collect himself and regroup, passing and running his team to victory -- by 17 points, no less, 24-7.the bonus was now knowing geno smith not only survived his baptism by fire, but that he has some real game experience under his belt. good for this year -- and next.
but more than anything else, i am most glad that my wife, the marshall alum, doesn't care nearly as much about this kind of foolishness as i do. otherwise, things would have been really uncomfortable in this house for a few hours.
Friday, October 16, 2009
rivalry
on the eve of the west virginia university-marshall football game, i've come to grips with the case of nerves that the game gives.
simply put, i'm nervous because we're expected to win.
we're the bigger school; we're in the more prominent conference (maybe only marginally so); we've got a couple of prestigious wins under our belt (fiesta bowl in '08 and sugar bowl in '06); and on and on.
long story long, we enjoy many advantages. this gives us a lot to lose.
this may be the underlying reason so many wvu fans want this series to end -- it offers nothing and threatens everything.
i agree with our erstwhile sports editor that marshall missed a great chance for a couple of wins by cancelling the first series after the '97 game when the herd's program and ours were headed in opposite directions.
that surely would have evened up things and taken the fear out of potentials for loss because, hey, we'd have them out of the way.
now, while i'd always thought it was a good idea that the ball game be played since we're all on the division 1 level, the growing stakes of staying undefeated give me pause.
outside of powerball, i hate gambles.
that said, despite all the grumbles that a home-and-home matchup is a losing proposition for wvu and any other arguments to stop playing, the upped ante of a keeping a perfect record is precisely the reason to continue the series.
it's a thrill ride, a flirtation with danger. (i'm not a big roller coaster fan, either.)
but other people like that.
seems reason enough to keep riding. i'll just make sure my harness is good and tight and hang on.
and when that loss finally comes -- and it will -- then this game will be a real rivalry.
just so long as it doesn't start tomorrow . . .
simply put, i'm nervous because we're expected to win.
we're the bigger school; we're in the more prominent conference (maybe only marginally so); we've got a couple of prestigious wins under our belt (fiesta bowl in '08 and sugar bowl in '06); and on and on.
long story long, we enjoy many advantages. this gives us a lot to lose.
this may be the underlying reason so many wvu fans want this series to end -- it offers nothing and threatens everything.
i agree with our erstwhile sports editor that marshall missed a great chance for a couple of wins by cancelling the first series after the '97 game when the herd's program and ours were headed in opposite directions.
that surely would have evened up things and taken the fear out of potentials for loss because, hey, we'd have them out of the way.
now, while i'd always thought it was a good idea that the ball game be played since we're all on the division 1 level, the growing stakes of staying undefeated give me pause.
outside of powerball, i hate gambles.
that said, despite all the grumbles that a home-and-home matchup is a losing proposition for wvu and any other arguments to stop playing, the upped ante of a keeping a perfect record is precisely the reason to continue the series.
it's a thrill ride, a flirtation with danger. (i'm not a big roller coaster fan, either.)but other people like that.
seems reason enough to keep riding. i'll just make sure my harness is good and tight and hang on.
and when that loss finally comes -- and it will -- then this game will be a real rivalry.
just so long as it doesn't start tomorrow . . .
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
uncle p takes the wheel
this is me with vivian and tallulah at the tomorrowland indy speedway at disney world's magic kingdom.
pj's girl, tallulah, originally wanted to drive, but backed out at the last second, so we switched.
now, back home, i'm still kind of wonky from doing the lion's share of the driving back from orlando.
dad was a bit under the weather, which i think sapped him of his usual road toughness, so i had to pilot my sister's honda minivan up i-95 and across to west virginia.
(i worry a bit that at 73 dad might be getting a little past the marathon drives that our family is famous for. i hope it's just the illness.)
i'm starting to realize it takes a little longer now to recover from these family vacations featuring long stretches behind the wheel.
part of it is driving fatigue, but i bet the other part is the emotional energy that small people demand of us. (i actually had to yell back at my niece, "i'll pull this car over if you don't stop teasing sammy.")
i'd set precedent when i pulled the minivan off the side of the road to reattach a seatbelt that i thought had come undone from a booster seat, so they might have known i'd do it.
and i'll take this opportunity to express my disappointment with honda's dash/console layout.
having driven numerous family hondas in my life, i was put off by the difficulty of deciphering the functions of the neat array of switches and buttons that all looked the same but had no bearing on their placement or purpose without long, distracting stares from the driver's seat.
other than that, the vehicle drove like a dream, steady on the road and true.
these are things we're going to have to think about once our own brood starts. (i'm still leaning toward station wagon with all-wheel drive.) but that's putting the cart before the horse, isn't it?
pj's girl, tallulah, originally wanted to drive, but backed out at the last second, so we switched.
now, back home, i'm still kind of wonky from doing the lion's share of the driving back from orlando.
dad was a bit under the weather, which i think sapped him of his usual road toughness, so i had to pilot my sister's honda minivan up i-95 and across to west virginia.
(i worry a bit that at 73 dad might be getting a little past the marathon drives that our family is famous for. i hope it's just the illness.)
i'm starting to realize it takes a little longer now to recover from these family vacations featuring long stretches behind the wheel.
part of it is driving fatigue, but i bet the other part is the emotional energy that small people demand of us. (i actually had to yell back at my niece, "i'll pull this car over if you don't stop teasing sammy.")
i'd set precedent when i pulled the minivan off the side of the road to reattach a seatbelt that i thought had come undone from a booster seat, so they might have known i'd do it.
and i'll take this opportunity to express my disappointment with honda's dash/console layout.
having driven numerous family hondas in my life, i was put off by the difficulty of deciphering the functions of the neat array of switches and buttons that all looked the same but had no bearing on their placement or purpose without long, distracting stares from the driver's seat.
other than that, the vehicle drove like a dream, steady on the road and true.
these are things we're going to have to think about once our own brood starts. (i'm still leaning toward station wagon with all-wheel drive.) but that's putting the cart before the horse, isn't it?
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
the view from here
throughout our disney trip, i sort of took it upon myself to stay at the back of the pack to ensure there were always seven wee ones in front of me.
contrasted with a theme park full of similar swarms of families and friends, this walkway to epcot's boardwalk resort shuttle bus center provided one of the easier accountings.
this is the start of day 2, begun late -- about 12:30 p.m. -- but followed by a solid 9 or 10 hours of gallivanting about the magic kingdom.
despite its duration, it turned out to be an easier haul than the previous day at epcot simply for the presence of better cloud cover and temperatures about one or two degrees cooler than the day before, right around 89-92. (the humidity hovered at percentages between the 50s and 60s.)
my sister-in-law informed me that it was indeed unseasonably warm for october, about 10 degrees so.
kris said the only thing that kept her from going all night was the toll on her back. despite doctor's orders, she hadn't been exercising regularly, so the day-long slogs kind of wreaked havoc on her endurance.
(well, there was that, and the gestating baby in her belly.)
we were well out of epcot before i realized i missed a great opportunity to sort of capture the whole last visit to disney without a child of our own.
there we were, in the shadow of the park's iconic symbol and i failed to photograph the juxtaposition of my wife's lovely fullness against the spherical monolith that is spaceship earth.
actually, given her posture or position in most of the photos, you can barely tell she's pregnant. her clothes seem to camouflage or minimize her tummy into an expanse of blankness.
contrasted with a theme park full of similar swarms of families and friends, this walkway to epcot's boardwalk resort shuttle bus center provided one of the easier accountings.
this is the start of day 2, begun late -- about 12:30 p.m. -- but followed by a solid 9 or 10 hours of gallivanting about the magic kingdom.
despite its duration, it turned out to be an easier haul than the previous day at epcot simply for the presence of better cloud cover and temperatures about one or two degrees cooler than the day before, right around 89-92. (the humidity hovered at percentages between the 50s and 60s.)
my sister-in-law informed me that it was indeed unseasonably warm for october, about 10 degrees so.
kris said the only thing that kept her from going all night was the toll on her back. despite doctor's orders, she hadn't been exercising regularly, so the day-long slogs kind of wreaked havoc on her endurance.
(well, there was that, and the gestating baby in her belly.)
we were well out of epcot before i realized i missed a great opportunity to sort of capture the whole last visit to disney without a child of our own.
there we were, in the shadow of the park's iconic symbol and i failed to photograph the juxtaposition of my wife's lovely fullness against the spherical monolith that is spaceship earth.actually, given her posture or position in most of the photos, you can barely tell she's pregnant. her clothes seem to camouflage or minimize her tummy into an expanse of blankness.
disneyana
this is most of the kid clan at disney's magic kingdom, minus the major contributors to the proceedings, pamy and lem -- parents of four of the seven little tykes featured.
(an excused absence, as my youngest sister is just about due with her fifth child.)
so this left us with baby-sitting duties for her kids, an unenviable task at first glance, but considering grandma was also there, along with the formidable auntie joy, a 7-months-pregnant kris and i were not nearly as outmanned as we feared we'd be.
still, it was quite the full-time job.
the effort of keeping the children from devolving into a theme-parked "lord of the flies" scenario required constant vigilance and policing from the time they awoke until we put them to bed.
the absence of the extra hands tired me out enough that there were no early-morning or late-night forays to explore the resort's development since my last visit and made even the idea of meeting my friends mike and carrie a couple of hours away in melbourne an impossibility.
i was lucky enough, though, to be able to steal away for a few hot wings and a beer with my brother at the espn zone on the boardwalk to watch re-caps of the saturday's ball games before bed.
one of the finer pleasure of gathering with the sibs, even with or especially because of the draining aspects of child-rearing, is the late-night wind-down with some adult beverages.
our short time frame, the absence of my sister and her husband, and kristina's own pregnancy pretty much precluded such gatherings on this family trip.
but it was comforting to see that the good folks at disney know the value of a little grown-up respite in the middle of the children's kingdom.
(this was the more open signal of refreshment and indulgence, as we were in attendance in the midst of the park's food and wine fest. i just liked that throughout the world showcase and all the resort hotels there were out-of-the-way watering holes where adults relieve some of the tensions that come with making a kid's dreams come true.)
(an excused absence, as my youngest sister is just about due with her fifth child.)
so this left us with baby-sitting duties for her kids, an unenviable task at first glance, but considering grandma was also there, along with the formidable auntie joy, a 7-months-pregnant kris and i were not nearly as outmanned as we feared we'd be.
still, it was quite the full-time job.
the effort of keeping the children from devolving into a theme-parked "lord of the flies" scenario required constant vigilance and policing from the time they awoke until we put them to bed.
the absence of the extra hands tired me out enough that there were no early-morning or late-night forays to explore the resort's development since my last visit and made even the idea of meeting my friends mike and carrie a couple of hours away in melbourne an impossibility.
i was lucky enough, though, to be able to steal away for a few hot wings and a beer with my brother at the espn zone on the boardwalk to watch re-caps of the saturday's ball games before bed.
one of the finer pleasure of gathering with the sibs, even with or especially because of the draining aspects of child-rearing, is the late-night wind-down with some adult beverages.
our short time frame, the absence of my sister and her husband, and kristina's own pregnancy pretty much precluded such gatherings on this family trip.
but it was comforting to see that the good folks at disney know the value of a little grown-up respite in the middle of the children's kingdom.(this was the more open signal of refreshment and indulgence, as we were in attendance in the midst of the park's food and wine fest. i just liked that throughout the world showcase and all the resort hotels there were out-of-the-way watering holes where adults relieve some of the tensions that come with making a kid's dreams come true.)
Thursday, October 01, 2009
in the waiting room
this is me missing out on one of the more underrated experiences of sitting in waiting rooms -- magazine reading.(who knew the auto shop had wireless networking that customers could tap into?)
one of the more interesting things about waiting in places like veterinarian offices, hair salons or tire shops is the sense you can get of the proprietors and their clientele.
for example, here at the applachian tire products store in downtown charleston, i can see the cabela's sports outfitters fall catalog, a copy of "automobile" magazine (featuring the pontiac solstice coupe and volkswagen scirocco), "motor trend" (pony car war: camaro vs. mustang and challenger) and, of course, "brake and front end" magazine (cover story: "what is in brake dust?")
as a wannabe gearhead, i can get down with the car magazines. (a good portion of my writing education came from reading "car and driver.")
what i really enjoy reading, though, are the outdoors magazines -- the traditional "field and stream" or the saucier "outdoor life" -- stuff written for enthusiasms i can appreciate, but i'm not exactly, um, enthusiastic about.
i get to read well-written pieces intended for folks who know their way around nature and the gear to enjoy it. (which is why i also like seeing the firearms magazines, as well.)
sort of by osmosis, i get to learn what's important to a demographic that isn't my own. it's a neat window into another world.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
paw paw
got my first taste of the paw paw -- also known as the west virginia banana -- right off the tree this weekend.
(i'd had them processed in ice cream, a seasonal treat from ellen's on capitol street, but that doesn't really count.)
kristina's dad brought them down from parkersburg, where they'd been growing off the woods near their home on the little kanawha river.
folk wisdom says they're not ripe until after the first frost, but the fruits that dad brought were already softening.
the skin and meat were not unlike that of a really ripe mango. the center was a core of large, brown seeds, not unlike those of pumpkins, so you had to cut off thin slabs of the stuff to get a taste.
kris' mom said the indians would just squeeze the skin and suck down the yummy fruit inside. i don't think ours were quite that ripe.
but finally, the taste ...
it was very mild, kind of a cross between a banana and a mango without too much tang. it wasn't too bad.
we have a few more here that we'll let sit a while. maybe they'll ripen enough that i can squeeze out the fruit and eat them indian-style.
(i'd had them processed in ice cream, a seasonal treat from ellen's on capitol street, but that doesn't really count.)
kristina's dad brought them down from parkersburg, where they'd been growing off the woods near their home on the little kanawha river.
folk wisdom says they're not ripe until after the first frost, but the fruits that dad brought were already softening.
the skin and meat were not unlike that of a really ripe mango. the center was a core of large, brown seeds, not unlike those of pumpkins, so you had to cut off thin slabs of the stuff to get a taste.
kris' mom said the indians would just squeeze the skin and suck down the yummy fruit inside. i don't think ours were quite that ripe.
but finally, the taste ...
it was very mild, kind of a cross between a banana and a mango without too much tang. it wasn't too bad.
we have a few more here that we'll let sit a while. maybe they'll ripen enough that i can squeeze out the fruit and eat them indian-style.
distractions
if i've learned nothing this weekend, it's being reminded that i can only do one thing at a time.two weeks of home renovations coincided with the arrival of cable internet after a most final divorce from the soon-to-be-departed verizon. (which literally began with a pulled plug -- this one by a passing cement truck that the global telecommunications company took its sweet time to repair.)
a mere hour after the scheduled installation, a man from the window company was headed our way to price a new, more energy efficient front window.
this was to be followed by a day of painting and the arrival of our cat from her "grandparents" in parkersburg.
needless to say, it didn't exactly work out as planned.
after half an hour of no signal, the cable guy had to replace a splicer in the basement, which made the modem work fine -- when plugged in to the desktop pc.
a simple switch of the ethernet cable to the wireless router gave us ... no internet on either the desktop or the laptop.
i was confident a few clicks on the laptop would solve the problem, but by then, the window man arrived.
he was deliberate, frank and helpful. he was also, he feared, possibly infected with the swine flu, which made the missus totally forget about his other qualities.
we doused half the house with lysol products within minutes of his departure.
(meantime, we're still eager for the window estimate.)
kris then went into preparations for her mom and dad's arrival, while i was of no help at all as i grew obsessed with the problem of the non-internet sharing wireless network.
i punted two hours later, when she came back from the grocery store and i was still futzing with the computer.
i figured it was in my best interest to become more involved in the pressing concern of hosting her parents instead of having internet i wouldn't be using for at least a day.
(the curtness of responses and silent focus on cleaning sort of clued me into that.)
the rest of the evening worked out fine with a smart steak and shrimp stir fry with garlic fried brown rice. (it helped that her dad and i got to share a couple of beverages and antagonize our respective spouses. it certainly helped lighten the mood.)
a good night's sleep followed.
the morning dawned cold and rainy and i was determined to make good with a trip to the home improvement store for paint and supplies.
(side trips to the target store for paper goods and a pet placemat and staples for a new printer and usb cable for a possible wiring fix for the router was included.)
this also took longer than anticipated.
by the time i was breaking out tarps for the painting, it was time to head out for a memorial service for a retired colleague from the paper.
it was late afternoon/early evening before the first slash of paint crossed our new closet shelves. by the time they were all covered with primer, it was time for dinner.
the initial thought was after dinner, given it took five hours from the start of the project on the top shelves, i could put a coat of paint on the shelves and reach the end long enough for all the paint to have set for the recommended four-hour drying time.
of course, i discover not only a long bead of paint where i started that was not brushed down and, in fact, still wet, but also on the shelf beneath, there were corners and edges that were unpainted.
i gave up.
i brushed down the bead and filled in the trim areas and figured i'd resume in the morning.
which left me awake and staring at the computer with its own puzzle left unsolved.after fighting logic and wiring for half an hour, i decided to start from scratch, re-set the router to its factory settings and create a whole new wireless network.
i'll be damned if it didn't work.
so after two good days spent trying to cram a fourth, unexpected project into a simple schedule of painting, dinner with in-laws and paying respects to a friend, i learn yet again -- keep first things first.
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