Mike's Super Thoughts

That Can't Be Right

admin — Sun, 27 May 2007 06:10:00 GMT

Was it really 9 months ago that I last blogged? I mean, I never promised to be an active blogger, but wow. I could blame it all on Evan keeping us busy, but there should have been ways to take a few minutes here and there to write a little something. I just stink. OK, so ... fast forward to now. Evan is just short of 15 months old, and he's going through what we hope is a phase of sorts. First and foremost, he's become a mostly cranky kid, and he is the king of the tantrum and he's not even two yet. Ooo boy, what are we in for! Whereas it used to be really easy to hang out with him, it's become a lot more difficult because he becomes frustrated very easily. I'm always trying to put myself in his shoes, and I know it's mostly because there are a lot of things in his life that he can't control, so we're trying to be as understanding as we can without letting him think that tantrums are an effective form of communication. A difficult line to walk, to be sure. Part two: he's really clingy. Daddy gets drop off duty in the mornings, and it's getting tougher by the day. I've read the books where they tell you not to sneak out and try to teach your kid that there is object permanence - i.e. daddy's going away, but he'll be back soon. But it's a tough go. Always tougher to put stuff into practice.

Rice Cereal Everywhere

admin — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 16:56:00 GMT

In the last couple of weeks, we've been trying to transition Evan to solids. Experienced parents out there know how this goes ... messy. I suppose if sucking is the only way you've known to get food, the introduction of a spoon can be quite a shock to the system. We're doing okay, I think - he is definitely putting a reasonable amount away (before the crying starts, that is).

Of course, it seems that we've arrived at the teething phase, too. Just when we'd figured out the whole sleep thing. Rats!

Now I've Done It

admin — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 19:20:00 GMT

Now Evan is having the evening crying sessions and he is spitting up. The days of "low maintenance" Evan are over. Now I guess we'll actually have to do some real parenting. Imagine that!

How I Long For The Spit-Up Days

admin — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 06:00:00 GMT

OK, Evan has stopped spitting up (except for small amounts to be expected). Now I find myself wishing for those days, now that he has a new trick.

His new thing is that between 6:00 and 7:30, he is now good for one intense 30-minute crying session, and I mean INTENSE. It sure looks like he's in some real pain. He'll cry so hard that he completely runs out of breath. During these stretches he is inconsolable - he just has to cry it out apparently.

I know this is nothing compared to people who have to deal with colicky babies (and maybe this is a preview and that's what we're in for), but I would gladly clean up all the spit-up he could muster if it meant he would be his normal happy self.

You Get What You Pay For

admin — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 03:39:00 GMT

For Evan's first Fourth of July, I figured I'd get a handful of quiet fireworks so he could be dazzled by the lights and not frightened by the sounds. I popped into one of those strip-mall firework stands to make myself a collection. I grabbed a mess of sparklers and a couple of those "shower of sparks" things you put on the ground and light.

I'm now here (post-show) to report that it was all pretty underwhelming. The spark showers were short lived. The special trick of the Sidewinder wasn't all that special - after shooting sparks upward for 4 seconds, they started shooting at a slight angle before disappearing 4 seconds later. When sparklers are the highlight of your show, you know you're in trouble.

As we were heading inside, I pondered where fireworks manufacturers had gone wrong since I was a kid. Then, I remembered that I had gotten the whole bangless she-bang for about $8. In retrospect, I guess the excitement of the occasional spark and the peril of picking up supposedly-spent fireworks was worth about that much. So, shame on me for not splurging on one of those expensive pre-selected package deals.

Mann, She's Good

admin — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 06:50:00 GMT

Just got back from seeing Aimee Mann at The Birchmere (with a tip of the cap to our friends the Fillios for pulling emergency last-minute babysitting duty).

Sure, I would have preferred it be the full band thing with a drummer, like we saw 05/24/05. At 90 minutes total (inclusive of a 4 song encore), it was also kind of a short show for the money. Still, the woman knows how to rock a room. She's got a real natural style and she's tremendously genuine. It doesn't hurt that she was playing with some outrageously great musicians (keys and bass mostly).

The last song of her real set involved taking roughly eight volunteers from the crowd to play various percussion instruments to back her version of "Frankenstein" (no relation to the Edgar Winter song of the same name). If we had gotten to the general-admission show about 30 minutes earlier, I'd have been up there. Getting there late means you sit all the way in the back, and that's a hard connection to make.

I'm sure I'd have been stuck playing the guiro anyway.

The Rain Falls Mainly In My Backyard

admin — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 04:00:00 GMT

I just got a rain gauge by Oregon Scientific for Father's Day. It matches our Oregon Scientific thermometer. The rain gauge has a nine-day memory. Since I finally got around to installing the collector piece roughly 9 days ago, I thought I would post the first daily readings for posterity:

THU 6/22: 0.16 (inches)
FRI 6/23: 0.16
SAT 6/24: 0.35
SUN 6/25: 4.02
MON 6/26: 1.65
TUE 6/27: 1.61
WED 6/28: 0.16
THU 6/29: 0.12
FRI 6/30: 0.0
SAT 7/1: 0.0

Needless to say, I'm not gonna worry about watering the lawn for a few days.

The Spit-Up Game

admin — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 18:55:00 GMT

For the first 3 months of his life, our son Evan has been amazingly good about keeping his formula down. I think the score was Spit Up On Daddy - 1, Spit Up On Mommy - 1. For three solid months. I thought we were gonna have it easy. There was the time in early June where he started crying when presented with the bottle because something funny was going on in his tummy, but a trip to the pediatrician and a bottle full of kiddie Zantac and all seemed well.

Well, the times they are a changin'.

He's kicked into a new throw up gear. It accompanied an illness, so we were initially thinking it might be related. Still, the more I read, the more I believe the kid's got a touch of the GER (Gastroesophageal Reflux).

As soon as I became aware that the spitting-up was becoming more regular, I started to take precautions. Instead of hanging out with him on the couch on a comfy pillow, I was feeding him while sitting on the floor with a bowl nearby (just in case).

After a while, I determined this was lunacy. Not only would it be pretty difficult to get the timing and direction just so in order to "hit the target", I also found that feeding and hang out time was just no fun any more. I certainly didn't like it - having to always wonder where I left the bowl and do way too much pre-planning and maneuvering. I know Evan didn't like it - being held and moved in unusual ways.

Just today, I gave up. I mean sure, I'm going to be a little careful (not going to feed him next to my computer) ... but if it happens, it happens. I'd rather we both be happy. I'll just be sure to keep a bottle of water with baking soda handy.

Go, Daddy!

admin — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 05:06:00 GMT

You know, I don't have enough thoughts in the day (of interest to anyone other than myself anyway) to actually support a blog. Still, if you wanna have a proper presence in cyberspace, you have to get busy bloggin' or get busy ... uh ...

So, OK ... I'll start with this very site. I am very pleased to be creating this web space and sharing aspects of my life with you. I owe a small debt of gratitude to a fella who goes by the nick drakonis. This nickname exists on a pretty cool website called MacJams. I won't get into it here (suffice it to say I will have more about it on my page about me being an "Internet Drummer", when that page actually comes to be).

I have to thank him because he's the one that led me (however indirectly) to GoDaddy for my hosting. How could this be so grand an accomplishment? Let me tell ya ... coming off of my experience with my last host that shall remain nameless, GoDaddy is the only way to fly. They give you an amazing amount of space for a very small fee. On top of this, they get you up and running in a flash, and that includes the domain registration bit. The cherry on top: they include a version of Community Server which runs this blog, the photos, the file sharing and all that jazz. The only limitation to having my website up is the number of hours in the day.

I'm sure as time goes by, it won't all be as perfect as it seems right now. Plenty of people have said some pretty awful stuff about GoDaddy. But for now, it's all good by me.