[ P H E N Y L A L A N I N E |:. ------- .:|:. Stage 3.5 .:|00000011.00000101|:. -------- ]

Saturday, November 14, 2009

post://1716793609455492187/

I woke early this morning, a cold rainy November day. It wasn't out of preference, there's a big change to the phone system at work today. It was still very dark, cold, and I could hear the rain pouring down outside. I didn't have to go into the office, which is great, a much better way to do work on the Saturday. Besides, making important business decisions in pajamas and disheveled hair always makes me feel good.

I'm scheduled to stop by Bryans to assist with the brew today and hoping we can resolve this issue in enough time to get there somewhat early. I often miss the first stages and really want to practice so I can do it on my own. Nicole always enjoys the social time and I'm pretty sure the guys like her around as well, so Nicole and the baby are coming along as well. They're actually still in the process of getting up but based on how things are going so far, I don't expect we'll be leaving on time.

I realized the other day I hadn't written anything much about the baby. It's a completely new experience and I'm probobly set to forget the idiosyncracies soon enough, and certainly before he gets around to asking me what it was like when he was a baby. I'd like to be able to tell him, and even later on, have him see for himself. I started this blog long ago for the purpose of being able to review my own life, and remember things previously forgot, but it has evolved into stories and their lessons learned. One is much more apt to learn from example then by simple advice. I am planning on trusting my child to make the right decisions on his own, and providing him sufficient information to make an educated choice is my goal. There's quite a few things that could be misconstrued until he's old enough, it probobly won't be for a long time. Time to backup the site, now that I think of it ;)

It's been interesting, and I don't think I could do it alone. Nicole's home right now, at least until January, and I've been working regularly and even longer lately. Things should level off once the year end projects are wrapped up, it will take some time for things to ramp up for next year. That means I often get home late and exhausted. It's still great to see him smiling, he just recently started doing that at things he sees. It's a great feeling to see him excited to see me.

We haven't been doing too much out on our own but that's more of a consideration for money rather then baby. We've gone out to dinner a few times in fact and he's been great. He is normally asleep from the ride over so he just sleeps all snug in his bucket. We said we wouldn't be bucket parents, but the alternative is a screamy baby in public, and in almost all cases we take him out and bundle him in the wrap if we're going into a store. So it's taken some getting used to, but it comes naturally. You get the jiggle, you understand the coos, and if all else fails: change, feed, or burp :)

Lately at work I've been working on phone skilling, routing, and strategy inbetween day to day operations in preparation for today and among all the other things that needed to be done by today, I've been very very busy.

It's not the best time for it, but I took on some extra computer work on top of everything. At the time I set it up I had this on the horizon but was pretty sure we had a good head start on everything. I hadn't anticipated changing everything at the last minute and spending hours in meetings for managers to mull over simple changes and attempting to make them as complex as possible. All in all the complex changes were too complex to do last minute so they weren't entered afterall. It may do well to run on a simplified design first "due to technical limitations". I'm hoping they'll find it's actually much simpler then they made it out to be and will work quite well how it was originally designed.

So back to the computer work. There is a guy at work who started his own business a while back. He's got a generic "computer fixing company" website, ticketing system, and a surprising volume of business. I never went the professional route with my website, pushing traffic, embedding items to maximize my search potential. I had see site, call me. I don't think I've ever gotten a lead off it, but don't really need it, it was more of a reference for someone who met me in person. There's so much overhead in dealing with customers - questions, time, coordinating, pick up, drop off. It's hard to charge for questions, and if they're a customer I have no problem answering questions to maintain loyalty and knowing they'll go with me, but it always eventually ends up where they go to me for my knowledge and pay someone new to do their computer work. I don't do a bad job, I'm actually very thorough, which can delay a machine from being returned. I'm not going to replace a blown cpu fan without regreasing it and burning it in with a heavy 3D test for at least 24 hours.

That's what makes this situation so great - he deals with all the customers, face to face or on the phone. I may update a ticket with a necessary part number here and there but otherwise I'm just receiving, fixing, and returning. None of the headaches that he has to endure. It also helps supplement the income until Nicole heads back to work.

Labels: 2009, baby, update, work

posted @ 07:36

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Saturday, August 15, 2009

post://563346954539740788/

Those 4 days went by slowly. I went to work on Monday but that night had Nicole feeling very anxious about the baby's arrival. I worked from home on Tuesday expecting we'd be going in at any time but I worked through the entire day without much incident. Nicole was tired, very pregnant and a couple days past her due date so anything seemed like it could be the time. We went food shopping because we finally had to. We had been avoiding because we didn't want things to spoil if we had the baby and didn't get back to the house right away. We made dinner, sat down to watch some TV afterwards and sure enough her water broke.

We went to the hospital about 9:30 or so, got into an admission room about 10:15. We sat there for some time waiting, heard a few other expectant mothers be told they should go back home and wait, but after a few double and triple checks they were able to admit us. I was glad, I didn't want it to all be for naught. Nicole was having very minor contractions at this point - possibly one every 10 minutes or so. We finally were admitted to a room about 1:30am. The contractions still weren't all that severe so they advised us to get a good night's rest for the full day ahead. We had sent texts or called the major people to relay the message and we settled in for the night.

The next morning I woke roughly 8:30. They had already woken Nicole up, gotten her breakfast and started her on a steady drip of Pitosin. Eventually family started trickling in, Nicole's mom and step father, my mother, and her sister. Nothing much was happening, they visited for a while and left for some lunch. The contractions had started ramping up at that point and it was mainly me in the room. Her mom and sister popped in once or twice after but once the contractions really started hitting her, there wasn't much visiting to be done. Nicole had wanted to try it for as long as she could without an epidural and she did very well, but it was really starting to hurt. She tried the birthing ball, but it took so long for them to get it to her she was a bit out of sorts for it by the the time it arrived. She was going to try the shower as well, but considering how long it took them to get the ball, we were both concerned with how long it would take someone qualified to inject something into her spine to get there so we ordered it.

It took them another good 30 to 45 minutes but they arrived, an anesthesiologist and a medical student I gathered because she was so young and full of inquiry to the seasoned one. They placed it and Nicole began to feel the numbing. There was one key misunderstanding though. They had the tube in and they asked where Nicole felt it, she understood the question to relate to their finger, not to the tube. The finger was right in the middle, the tube, as it turned out - was a bit to the left.

Nicole felt into an instant calm, a little too calm. She relaxed, smiled and laid back as they asked her questions about how she felt. She said she felt good, but her chest was a little tight... right before the pulse monitor measured a severe drop. Her heart rate plummeted and she was breathing very slow. They immediately stopped the epidural drip and let it ease off. She continued to have minor contractions during this time unbeknownst to her. Family came in again for a quick conversation, she was very upbeat, and a tad loopy but happy. She had decided to forgo any narcotics for fear it would interfere with the baby's health and her ability to participate in the experience, I attributed it to relief and fatigue. She recalled a very amusing story about her young nephew having a blast with his Massachusetts accent and one particular phrase.

The relaxation went by the wayside once the epidural was started back up, as the large initial dose they had provided her subsided she began to feel a "window" were the contractions were hitting with full force. They kept asking her to give it time, moved her around a little to try and move the numbing to the area to no avail when the anesthesiologist was called again to assist. The original two had left for the day but a new one was on. He made an adjustment, pulling it out a little bit but that too proved to be too little. After about 2 hours or so of resumed full pain he came back yet again to redo the epidural. Thankfully, as he was very careful and sure about where the needle was placed, it did what it was supposed to do and the pain subsided.

About 7pm or so Nicole was finally able to get some rest, I went down for a nap as well since I had been helping the entire time. I kept thinking how I knew this was going to be difficult for Nicole but never imagined it would be so much work for me. Little did I know that was just the tip of the iceberg. I woke up about 9pm and she was still sleeping. I went out to the waiting room to reconnect with family while she got a little more sleep. I hung out there for about an hour or so and I must say that was probably one of the longest hours of my life. America's Got Talent was on the TV, we weren't really watching it but no one was in too good a shape for real conversation so once I had relayed the major information - that was what I focused on.

About 10pm a nurse came to get me, Nicole was up and asking for me. I went in to see how she was doing. The contractions were closer, more regular, and it seemed like it was going to happen. We were really shooting for the 29th because that was our friend Heather's birthday and it looked like it just might happen. She went through the contractions much better with the epidural, she could still feel them, but they wasn't the pain she had before it. Nicole kept wanting to converse, but based on the feedback from the machine measuring her pulse it was best when we were both quiet. Whenever she would start talking her pulse would drop and the alarm would go off, I advised her to stay calm and relax, but our short purposeful conversation continued as she kept working through the contractions. In hindsight, Nicole had a somewhat low nominal blood pressure anyhow, the machine was just picking up a slight drop so overall it wasn't something to be concerned about but I couldn't help feeling concerned watching the readings dip into the red whenever she'd start talking. I just tried to keep us both calm and working through the contractions.

Finally around 11pm the midwife decided she should start pushing. The average was 1 to 2 hours, I was hoping for less - that didn't happen. A good hour... then close to 2 and the baby was finally starting to show. Nicole was tired, I was tired but just trying to keep her going. The midwife was great, kept her counting and pushing and finally we were making headway (ha!). About 2 hours and Nicole was really feeling it. Finally, the midwife told her to feel the head - she did and realized it was almost there. A few more minutes and finally the baby came out.

The head was very long, oblong and alien like in it's shape. All purple and bloody, wrinkled like he had been in the bath for 9 months or so. The baby was lifted up and I looked on in anticipation, I didn't even see the cord around his neck because the midwife was so good. As she was lifting him out she had already begun unwrapping so by the time he was all the way out, it was off. I then saw it was a boy and made the announcement! They put him right down on Nicole as they cleaned him up. He was crying by this point after they cleared his mouth. He looked so small and just as tired as his mother. It really was beautiful, my new son.

They brought him over to the corner of the room to examine him, weigh him, and we hoped to have him back shortly. He was crying a bit more anxiously now, with short quips of breath. The doctors started conferring with each other in hushed tones. I was concerned, but they spoke to us as soon as they determined what they were going to do. Since they had concerns with his breathing he needed to go up to NICU (newborn intensive care unit) but we could come see him within an hour.

I had minor concerns because I wanted our baby to be with us, and have as much skin to skin contact in the first few hours as possible, but knew that I had a brief period in the ICU as a newborn as well so knew it could still be alright. It was alright after all - he was wonderfully healthy, and I will continue in pt 2.

Labels: 2009, baby, update

posted @ 16:48

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Thursday, March 26, 2009

post://6837641428007151744/

This year's birthday spoils:
- iPod Nano
- Novint Falcon
- NFS Undercover
- BF2142 Deluxe (for the living room PC)

I ended up working half a day today, spent the 2nd half being productive and hanging out with the dog.

I went and got my winter tires off the car, I think we're safe for snow. If it comes now I just won't go anywhere :)
I spent that time waiting listening to my iPod - I was totally that guy in the store with the iPod on. I meandered around Home Depot, looking at some bathroom stuff, and I found a fence I liked. I picked up a rake, and walked back to pick up my car. I didn't really think that much of it, but people look at you funny when you walk into a waiting area with a rake.

It wasn't too long, though I noticed something odd about the iPod touch. Even if you have video in your audio playlist it won't make it to your iPod unless you add the playlist under the video section. I have this thing about rating. I love rating my music, and now that I've perfected moving my whole Library (album art, comments, ratings, along with all the files themselves) I've gotten more serious about it.

1 star - don't like it, don't like it at all - I'll probably delete later
2 star - I appreciate it, but I don't like it enough to have it be played in my background music
3 star - background music
4 star - really good
5 star - makes me stammer when attempting to describe, tear up, or jump up and down
Armin Van Buuren - Shivers (Rising Star Mix) is a good example of what I'd give a 5.

I set up a running playlist of only non-rated files listing the newest out of whatever size, or number of files I restrict it to - but never put much of a dent in it, at least not until I got Jamie's old iPod. It was kinda broken, had synching issues - but she gave it to me for helping with her computer and I got it to mostly work. Doing things very patiently I could reload it ever 5 synchs or so and I'd get about 4 days worth of ratings at a time before I'd have to reload the firmware on it. With an iPod I could now rate the music during the day in the car or at work - I got a lot done.

It eventually frustrated me to the point of crushing it, so of course I took it apart to check it out. I've been non-rating MP3 playering since, at least I had a backup. Now I'm back in the groove. I also had to get a new case because the neoprene DLO case I had for the 1st gen nano covered the bottom 40% of the wheel on the new model - bastards, change it juuuuuust enough.

So I got BF2142 all working for the weekend - coupld of the guys are coming out and we'll have a multi-computery dethmatch of deth, so wanted to make sure all was in tip top shape. I also just installed NFS - I know it's going to be corny, but lets go see what they did with the graphics and this new "Heroic driving engine".

Labels: 2009, birthday, games for windows, hardware, music, technology, update

posted @ 10:09

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Friday, March 13, 2009

post://3876978030638891391/

I start school on Monday - already hopped online to get a peek at the workload. I stuck with 1 major class and 1 short class this semester to start out. I would like to have an idea of the workload so I can plan for the following semesters.

I'm taking Science and Technology in Western Culture as well as Planning and Finalizing the Degree. I can also get college credit for real world experience which ought to start me off with about 16 credits + the 12 from the bit of college I started. I really can't say how long it might take to get my degree this way but that puts me a little ahead of the game.

I'm nervous about the obligatory math class. I can program a computer to do many complicated things and can wrap my head around writing an application that considers what our work load would have looked like last week and speculates future need but give me a basic trig or calculus problem and I get a little overwealmed. I get the concept, but it needs to be tied to something tangible for me to understand.

Of course History has never been my strong suit either, I'm interested by it, but I can't remember it - and they test you by asking really specific information. I get the general concepts but can't remeber the names and dates very well. I also never saw the purpose in memorizing those things just for the test. I always felt the point was to get the idea, know where we came from and learn from the past.

There's a fair ammount of reading, quite a few DVDs to watch, and a lot of discussion with this history class. You're also supposed to post everything online in the forums and respond to at least 2 other posts by other people. Maybe being able to write out my answers will work better then vocalizing my thoughts. I was never very good at speaking in front of the rest of the class.

Labels: 2009, history, science, technology, update

posted @ 11:42

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Sunday, March 08, 2009

post://3051153165600884304/

We've been cleaning the house this weekend, and as I was vacuuming I wondered if I was nesting. I don't think so, I think it's cooincidental with spring cleaning time. I tend to hoard over the winter and then do an overhaul in the spring. I try not to stay inside in the summer, so less likely to dirty it up again and it stays relatively neat until the fall / winter when the whole process can start over again.

It feels good to have things picked up though. We finally got around to hanging a lot of artwork / prints / photos that have just been leaning up against things, and it makes it look nice and tied together. All just in time to probably have to rip apart the wall in the dining room.

We noticed some water spots on the blinds, but I assumed it was from the plants hanging next to it... paying no mind to the fact that they're at least 2 feet higher then the highest hanging plant. In any case it appears that either the roof is going or they damaged that part of the roof when they put the gutters on about 2 years ago. It lasted through 1 winter so there's not much I can do by going back to them about it.

The paint started peeling and we noticed the wall looked a bit soggy, there was also a water spot on the ceiling next to the wall... so the roof is leaking up there and dribbling down the wall. Add that to the leaking roof in the side porch (roundabout the same issue except it's coming right in the ceiling, and then some water where the radiator was leaking in the TV room.

We had a couple contractors come out to see about redoing the bathroom but not it seems we'll have to do these items first. No hope of a home equity loan either - though it couldn't hurt to try. I've kept relatively good credit so far so maybe the bank will be wanting to give out some safe loans.

With what they were quoting us we wouldn't be able to do all that mcuh to the bathroom and we both feel if we're going to re-do it, might as well make it look nice rather then an updated version of what it was.

Labels: 2009, house, update

posted @ 15:30

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Saturday, September 29, 2007

post://8859348375139180415/

BioShock - EtchASketch Style

Sooooo much to blog:
weddings
So first there was my own wedding... then then Justin's... and now Jon's on Saturday.

baby
Not mine, Matt and Jenn had a baby - Charlotte is the baby's name and she's my new niece!
Of course everyone wants to talk about the young recently married couple's plans for children... undoubtedly comes up in any conversation within a given square footage of any given newborn, but for the moment (most of) the spotlight has shifted...
"Before we're 30" is the basic mantra, but who knows. I was amazed at how small the baby was, about 6.9 oz and barely had her eyes open the last time I saw her. There're pictures out there -- comment a link?

big e
The Big E was kind of lame this year, possibly due to the lateness at which we arrived. We took advantage of the last week before the end to get $5 entry after 5... unfortunately it was about 7 before we got there. Everything starts to close at 9 and by 10 they're pushing you out the door. Good thing we left when we did as we were only soaked to the skin in the last 10 secconds of the (by then) run to the car.

car
~ this is to remind me.

Labels: games, games for windows, ramble, update

posted @ 14:43

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Monday, May 07, 2007

post://8024153020850409123/

So the opposite of not much happening has been happening - I'm wishing now I kept up on the posting. I'm going to have a hole in the whole "just got my first house" period. Most of the reason I keep a blog is for my own recollection. It's not very good on it's own, so throw a couple pictures and paragraphs together and I have a much better recollection.

Just this weekend:
- friday ~ I had off to get a tooth pulled. I actually had the gas/IV and it was awesome. It was considered "a luxery" by my insurance, and even at $225 for this "luxery" I don't think I'd recommend going without. I floated out of the office, but by the time we got back home, the novicain had worn off and it really began to hurt. I'm still a bit swolen a couple of days later but the 5mg of oxy are keeping me fine in the interim.
Later on we went furniture shopping, I was nice and fuzzy and feeling a bit stir crazy so figured why not... we went to a few local places to check out couches, chairs, and china cabinets. We've got our table and bar already picked out so we're looking for items to match. I think we found a china cabinet, but not buying just yet. We finally went to go look at matresses. We've got a bedroom picked out at Ikea, but still need a mattress. I heard about a sale at Sleepys so we looked there.
We were the only ones in the place so we got a lot of attention. They have a special bed you lay on and it gets your exact spine shape and determines the best mattress for you (and your sleep partner in our case). We found a good one, and as it turns out the sales girl was from Quaboag - so got employee pricing w/ free delivery and such to boot!

- saturday ~ Nicole's mom came out to visit for the shower on Sunday, I spent a bit of time hanging out and then headed out to Jay's to hang out for his b-day and Cinco de Mayo. It was fun, but interesting since I wasn't drinking. I had picked up Jay some XBox360 games as there was a sale on used games at EBGames. We had rented Rockstar table tennis a while back and it was awesome, when I saw it for $17 used I knew it was time. So we played that for most of the night. I also got him Prey and Tomb Raider. TR was just like the old ones - probably the best one yet. It played well and looked fabulous. I didn't get a chance to play Prey. It was ok when I played the demo for PC, and though I don't feel it would be worth full price, it was well worth it at <$20.
Mattress got delivered and dang... never knew what we were missing with a bunch of springs.

- sunday ~ Nicole's bridal shower, so now we've got lots of new stuff, appliances and such. No Wii yet, but we've got 4 controllers, at least 2 nunchucks, and Wii Play, so we'll at least have a lot of fun mini games to play with at least 4 people when we do get the Wii. The house is really coming together, and it was a great feeling to take all our old dingy towels, pans, and box everything up. Amazing what a bunch of new stuff will do ;)

We've finally got the invitations out, so you should be getting them shortly. Also we got a WAV of my nieces and nephews doing some practice for our wedding.
Take a listen!

Labels: music, update, wedding

posted @ 12:55

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