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The boring details…
Battery wasn’t holding a charge and was about 2 years old and sat for 1.5 of that.
Yanked it out for replacement and discovered the lovely corrosion of a rusted and disappearing battery box.
Do I replace it or let it hold the battery’s weight and accept that it is hidden?
This is where that “too ambitious” stuff comes in.
It doesn’t need to be perfect, but it could be.
Also bought some cleaning stuff for the chrome, engine, and carbs.
I use new in the loosest since of the word. By “new” I mean 30 years old and super-affordable. We’ll see what it turns into. I have dreams for it, but I don’t want to get out of the magical super-affordable range by being too ambitious. First glances here. I’ll update once anything noticeable happens to it.
I have all but forgotten most of the stuff I put out on this site. It has turned into an email address and nothing more. I won’t lie to anyone and pledge diligence in updates or creative use of this space. I just don’t have the time any more.
Ellie is almost 2. We’re planning her birthday party now. It’s amazing how much she has learned and still learns every day. She takes up a ton of time and most of it spent following her around to see what she’s getting into or being lead around to see what she wants to show. She’s amazing. I’m enjoying almost every minute of it. We still play the new tooth game every now and then so there are parts that aren’t fun.
The new job is going well. I’m feeling comfortable and about to finish out a project that has kept me slowed down almost since I walked in their door. It’ll be nice to start making some changes and feeling like I’ve accomplished something finally.
Music stuff may be springing back to life. I’ve recorded 5 songs for some friends of mine. They’d like to record more. I’m going to try to record one of my favorite bands ever in May. I need to talk to them and see if they are interested or not. They rarely play, but it is always a great experience when they do. We’ll see what comes of it.
I’ll try to get some more pics or video of that baby (turning little girl) sometime soon.
I haven’t posted pictures or videos or anything for a long time. Here’s a bit of what has happened on the Ellie front.
Not only do they make great music, but evidently they are comedians as well. Check out the brilliant post here. I thought I was feeling better this morning. It must be the hole in the ozone closing up or maybe the extra oxygen from all of those new trees.
Mogwai, thanks for doing your part to make the environment better through music.
Guess who I’ve been listening to lately.
Check out the reasons over here http://thelivecast.com/2007/04/29/hey-friends-name/.
To help, click here http://freemacbookpro.com/index.php?referral=641714 and sign up.
It’s dark instrumental hip-hop, but smart hip-hop like the Gorillaz have made. You know it is hip-hop, but you aren’t sure how they came up with that combination of sounds and why it sounds so accessible even to people that don’t like the rest of the genre. It sometimes gets grouped with Portishead, but it is much more modern sounding and diverse. It can have a bit of a DJ Shadow vibe yet not as consistent in looping, but occasionally it will go absolutely nowhere for long periods of time. It’s sometimes jazzy and indie sounding like Tortoise or Sea and Cake.
It has old keyboards and organs, drums, either a second set of drums or a percussionist, bass (maybe 2 at a time), guitar (for effect in some songs and as a legitimate instrument in others), a small horn section panned to one side, a small string section panned to the other (both sections through dark sounding old-school ribbon mics), a sampler, and a scratch DJ.
It rarely plays out because everybody that’s involved is grown up and doing real-life, but when it does play, it is an event. It’s a full stage and varied set. Recorded material is mostly for the band to listen to, but about 12 other people will love it. Then some guest appearance requests get turned down and it never blows up like we all secretly hoped it would.
That’s kinda what it sounds like in my head.
This time it isn’t for me. It is for Ellie. No toys for dad.
We have a 529 account for Ellie and rather than get a ton of toys (as fun as they are), I’d like to get as many contributions to her college savings account as we possibly can.
A value comparison:
- $25 toy - in 3-12 months will have fully depreciated to $0 in value
- $25 donation to 529 plan - at a 12% annual increase will be worth $172 by the time she goes to college
- if that were 20 donations of $25 they would be worth $3433
So how do we ask for that without sounding like jerks? Luckily, the same people that would give her presents are the ones that will read this so I not only got the thought out of my head, I’ve done a small sales pitch to the concerned parties.
Would this be too much of a request?
There was an upgrade on my web server this Sunday that broke the gallery. I’m going to work with the web host and see if I can bring everything back. I don’t think I lost anything. It just needs different permissions and we’ll have to find some workaround.
So, if you were here for Ellie’s picture of the day, check back later, but for now, bye-bye gallery.
Grace would have been 2 yesterday. It was a good day, but dreary and cold weather helped maintain the tone that we already had in our hearts. We ran off to Cincy just to keep ourselves occupied. It is hard to be overwhelmingly sad when you’re toting around Ellie, but it is also hard to imagine her with a big sister celebrating a birthday.
Chris went out to lunch with someone the day before that had a 2 year old born just a month or so away from Gracie. It was a weird lunch meeting because she just lost a baby that was a month away from Ellie’s age. She was there seeing Ellie and wishing her daughter was there, and I don’t know if Chris thought about it, but when she told me the stories about the 2 year old interacting with Ellie, I immediately realized that she should be doing that every day. What a strange lunch.
For anyone out there that remembered, but didn’t call…next year, you should call. There isn’t any right thing to say, but just let us know you were thinking of us.
I’ve started a new project and it seems to be gaining momentum. It doesn’t have anything to do with Ellie. Now that 2 people will read on…here we go.
I’ve been talking about recording bands forever. I did it with a “friend” a few years back, but not very frequently and with limited resources and some anomosity making the whole thing way less fun than it should have been. I’ve resurrected the idea of doing recording about 500 times since stopping and selling all of the stuff. It seems like I might have something pulling together that will allow it to happen again.
IÂ started a website for the project at theLiveCast.com. The idea is to record bands playing live shows with no charge to the band, and distribute them through podcasts (iTunes or the website) to everyone that might be interested (also for free). Since so much free is involved, I’ve been looking for help with equipment purchases (I still haven’t made it to independently wealthy). I’ve got an artist endorsement deal with Presonus for the recording interfaces nobody got me for my birthday. I’m pretty close to donated cabling for microphones from a company I don’t want to disclose (I’d hate for them to have to give free stuff to everyone). And I’m working on a couple of companies to give me some microphones.
It all seems to have come together pretty well over just the last couple of weeks. I’m hoping the momentum continues and I can get some good bands to agree to it and get this thing off the ground. Keep watching, and pull some strings if you know anybody that could help with gear or getting bands to agree.
I’ve been meaning to post this forever, but I’ve been pretty lazy. This is one of Ellie’s first out-loud laughs. We’ve seen some more sense, but it is still worth sharing.
So we had a little bit of rain last night. They’re saying it is the worst flood since ‘97. I live on an emergency route, so when snow or ice happens we’ll be one of the first routes cleared. It doesn’t seem like we’d have any problems during a little rain, but as you can see in this video, last night we got quite a bit really quick. Some of the smart people stopped driving through it or used the median. Then there are other people that you can see trying to destroy their cars.
So…who wants to get me a birthday present? I want one of these and the other one of them. It’s some recording stuff to hook up to my computer, and everybody knows how much I would like to have it. So instead of beating your head against the wall trying to figure out what you want to get me, just send some money to paypal@no-reason.net and I’ll get it when I get enough money from everybody. It’ll be fun and I’ll be really grateful.
It’ll only take about 150 of you at $10 a pop. Down to 75 if you give $20. Those approximations are with an inflation to full retail prices, so don’t feel intimidated. The Birthday Donations link can be found in the sidebar under the Random Image. Thanks.
I got to thinking this morning about my life and where it has been, where it looks like it might be going, and where I though it would be. I guess it’s because I’m bordering one of those milestone birthdays (the big three-O), but I’m in one of those self-assesment moods. I’m certainly not where I though I would be 15 years ago, but I’ve exceeded even my own expectations from just 10 years ago.
People that wake up happy freak me out. I know maybe three people that either have no idea that the majority of us are going through challenges and battling demons of differing severities, or really don’t have anything bad in their life even though they see it around them. I can’t see that view on life as a persistent state though I wish them the best at staying there. For the rest of us however, what is your birds-eye view of life looking like?
Chris and I have been through some horrible states. After losing Grace the world could not get any darker. Granted, time has moved more and more daily struggles in between to cloud the immediacy of that anger and grief, but we are still impacted by it during each of our days. Beyond that, I have my college career that has certainly been completed, but in 2003 rather than the 1998 that I should have seen under traditional methodologies. That will always stick with me. Where would I be if I would have just powered through that section of life rather than succombing to the “I don’t like this” urges?
There are certainly things that are part of who I am today that I would have preferred to leave out, but is that the reason that I actually appreciate where I am now? I wish I was making more money, or had some fancy title with lots of letters in it, but I’m only (fast-approaching) 30 years old. I have some extraordinarily deep coronary scars from the loss of Grace, but I appreciate Elliot that much more because of our loss. Chris and I have been through some horrible times, but I can’t imagine making it through without each other. So, overall, yes. I am happy with my life. It isn’t the life that I would have picked off of the shelf, and there are still pieces that I would prefer to see differently, but I still like where I am. I want to continue to grow and hopefully start getting some more of the fun activities squeezed into my days, but I’m still pretty happy. You usually wouldn’t know it by talking with me, but I’m doing ok.
How about you? Are you happy with your life? Have you bothered to try to figure it out? What would you change? Can you change those things? Do you even care to?
When Elliot was born she knew my voice right away. I had talked to her through the belly every night and every morning since I knew she was in there. It obviously had an impact because the moment she came out (after a bit of freaking out) she settled and, with a look of recognition, settled on Chris and I as the familiar voices.
Now since she’s learned to smile it is even more fun. I usually get a pretty good smile out of her in the morning before I leave for work. But I’m there in front of her in those cases. This short video clip shows her getting a phone call from dad and reacting the same way she does in the morning without even being able to see me. It makes perfect sense for an older child to react, but it was special to see that Chris had captured this while she was only 2 months old.
Nothing new from Radiohead, but an album from Thom Yorke and his laptop will definitely do as a filler while I wait. Yet again, I’m left envying the abilities of the gents from Radiohead. Yet again, I’m left envying those who have a life of music performance or writing. If only I could hang out with my laptop and make music in between sold out concerts. Maybe one day I’ll have the time to invest in my music.
Today Elliot turned 5 weeks old. She’s grown to 9lb 9oz as of her doctor visit the other day. She’s an inch and a half taller than when she was born and average all over the place. She had some poopy problems for about a week, but that seems to be clearing up. She’s been sleeping for longer periods at night and going to sleep earlier. All of that stuff is great, but she’s doing something new that was supposed to have started between weeks 4 and 6 (read as right on time)…
She now shows emotions on purpose. Her smile has always made us light up, but knowing that she means it is a whole new experience. I thought I had caught a few times where she seemed to mean a smile or scowl, but today, for sure, I saw her making faces in response to us. Who knew that a baby’s smile could be so magical?
At least 4 Japanese people rock. I saw Mono last night and they were great. It wasn’t the show that I expected to see, but that wasn’t their fault. Russian Circles and Pelican were both extremely predictable from song to song. Mono still has their style of swelling into a wall of noise built into most of their songs, but the songs are beautifully orchestrated and varied. They also had 2 or 3 songs last night that didn’t come off like “traditional” Mono at all (one beginning with keys and the other with 3 guitars vs their usual 2 guitars 1 bass setup).
I really wish the live recording would have worked out, but it wasn’t meant to be. They have just released a new album so I can’t claim to not understand, but it would have been fun to do. I’m a bit worried that if I ever do pull it off, Headliners will be a difficult place to record and one of the places that I would end up at often. Everything comes off sounding very simlar regardless of the style of music. The sound man is so set in his ways. It isn’t necesarrily bad, just his voice rather than the band’s voice.
I was able to get quite a few pictures of the evening. Not many of them are worth looking at. Mostly low light blurred movement kind of stuff. There are a few that came out a bit dark but still, and a few more that came out well all around. You can find them in the Gallery under “wasn’t at work” for yesterday.
As mentioned a few days ago, I’m trying to come up with a mobile recording rig. I’m doing a ton of research lately and trying to figure out what is worth the money and what can be replaced with lesser products without too much sacrifice in quality. A lot of this research is around microphones. Recently I received a demo CD from Earthworks. They have a drum mic kit containing 2 SR25’s for overheads and 1 on kick. I’m thinking about going with the SR25’s for overheads and adding an Audix D6 for kick (maybe an i5 on snare when warranted). The cost isn’t that much different than most 7-8 microphone drum kits that are considered usable. The sound is amazing (according to that demo CD). And it leaves more channels open for simultaneous recording. Hmmm…I’ll keep hunting.
I’m not going to claim to be the greatest parent ever, but I think this is one of the most profound and useful parenting tips you can ever get. A lot of people struggle and I’ve got it figured out. Here you go, how to wake up a baby. I hope it helps you.
On the baby front…Elliot is still sleeping more long periods during the day than at night. We have had a few good nights, but more often than not, we’re staying awake between feedings at least once during the night. Basically, what would be 1 hour of being awake turns into 3-4 hours since she stays awake until she’s hungry again. The majority of the time you can tell she’s trying to fight off sleep. She stays fairly aggravated at being awake, but won’t let herself fall asleep. We’ve tried the crib, crib plus musical toys, crib plus glow-worm, the swing, the pacifier, sleeping in our bed (which terrifies us), and anything else that seems possible (begging and pleading to her compassion for her parents’ mental well-being). None of it works, until she’s ready.
On the work front…I’m only a few days away from returning to work. I’ve got 3 weeks plus a little bit off because of Memorial Day. It has went by so quick though. I know I’m needed there, but I really have enjoyed spending all of this time with the girls. Hopefully, I’ll be able to stay a bit more family focused than in the past. I’ll try to keep the long days to a minimum.
On the entrepreneurial front…I’m working on an idea that I’ve been pondering for several years now. I (in traditional Brian style) have continually dreamed about it but lacked any true follow-through. I finally made a move, and I’m waiting for another nail in the coffin. I reached out to both Lucero and Mono to see if they would be interested in a live recording of their upcoming Louisville shows followed up by a limited edition CD release. Today, Mono’s manager replied with a “not right nowâ€, but I’ll continue to wait for Lucero, and brainstorm other early bands to get involved in this. If I can get a few good releases under my belt and prove some talent in the mixes and movement in the product, I know it could work. I just can’t start with smaller names, or it could stay that way. However, I can’t start off too big because I haven’t proven myself yet. I need a break…one break makes it work. I’m not in it for the money. I just want to be able to have one of my hobbies offset its own cost a bit. And, damn it, this would be fun. I really love recording and the whole process. I want it to be part of my life again. Wish me luck. Let me know if you have some hook up that could get a decent name in for an early release and create some momentum and buzz. “Live from Louisville†really should exist.
After about 5 minutes of intense facial exercises running the gammut of smiley, happy, content faces into bloated, gasious, and painful faces, Ellie stopped doing anything interesting just in time for the video camera. Here are the sweet looks she gave us after the facial exercises.
Today was Ellie’s first doctor’s appointment. It went very well. They didn’t do a lot, but she the couple of things that they checked went as they should have. She is back up to her birth weight and all signs of jaundice are gone. We’re just waiting on some burst blood vessels in her eye to heal and her cord to fall off. The eye should be normal anywhere from a week to a month. Her cord will probably last another week or so. All in all, it was a very good visit. Ellie’s healthy and we still like Dr Valentine (of course).
On the sleep topic…2 nights went well and last night went pretty poorly. We woke up at 1am and stayed that way until 5am. We’re trying to keep her awake tonight so she can sleep through the night. I hope it works. We really need the sleep. She’ll figure it out soon though; we’re more fun when we have slept more than 5 hours.
We were awake and starting the day at 9:15 this morning. She did great last night. We didn’t even have to trick her into any weird active periods to pull it off.
She woke up for feedings 3 times throughout the night, but that was all that was involved each time (beyond diaper changes). She didn’t feel the need to hang out and scream or do the crazy bike-riding legs thing. She just ate, got changed, and settled back down.
It seems like she may be figuring out night and day finally. It seems to coincide with mom and dad getting out of the house and staying busy throughout the day. The first few days were spent in the bedroom both day and night. Now that we’re out during the days it seems to place sleeping for long periods in the bedroom and waking up and being bothered by starngers as the primary activity for the daytime.
I hope it sticks.
The girls are doing wonderful. Chris is recovering well and settling into being a mother very well. Elliot is doing great and losing the little bit of yellow in her eyes. She had a tiny bit of jaundice when we brought her home, but they’re planning on that going away with exposure to sunlight and pooping.
While they’re doing great, I’m limping around and stealing Chris’s pain medication. Yesterday I slammed my knee into a wall and twisted it before landing on one of the steps. All that for trying to close a door with my leg while I held something in each hand (neither object was Ellie). So I’m struggling to get out of bed, but my job is to get out of bed and help anytime either of them need anything. Hopefully, this will all subside and I can be useful again.
I’m starting a new album for only Chris and I to really care about. I’m going to try to take a picture of Elliot everyday for the next year. I fully understand that those pictures will be boring and overly informative for anyone but us. It will be neat to go through them and watch her grow though.
After labor starting around that last post. We got into the exciting part around 1:00am. After 5-6 pushes and Dr Stokes not missing because of her 5am flight, we delivered at 1:35am. She weighed 7lb 14oz and was 19.5 inches tall (since the traditional “long” description sounds more like a fish measurement than that of a baby.) No trauma with baby and no trauma with momma. Everything was absolutely perfect with no surprirses and no freak out moments.
After what we had been through with Gracie and several friends and family members experiencing losses at various stages of pregnancy or early infant life, it seemed impossible to bring her home. With the babies that have made it around us, there has always been some sort of complication that involved the NICU or longer hospital stays. However, we have made it through a textbook example. It is indescribable how unattainable that felt. But we did it.
Thank you all for your support throughout the pregnancy.
Check out some pictures of Labor & Delivery in the gallery here.
So we made it into the hospital a couple of hours ago. Our 11am call got us in here around noon and into a room a little before 1. Chris and Ellie are both doing well. She’s hooked up to the IV fluids and Pitocin. Contractions are happening and we’re waiting. Dr Stokes should be back in this afternoon/evening to break the water if it hasn’t happened already by then. Everything seems like we’re on course for her to get here late tonight or early in the morning. Hopefully we’ll keep making progress and get her here quickly.
After months of waiting, we get to wait again. Today is the day that Chris should be induced and we’re getting off to a slow start. We woke up at 5am to call and see if we should go in or not, and were asked to call back at 8am. 8am has now turned into 11am. We’re approaching that time with increasing anxiety.
Even having an idea of when it will all happen, I struggle with when it will actually start and what it will all be like. Everything has been explained in great detail and I still have no idea what to expect. How do people do this without an induction. Maybe my regimented, scheduled out worklife and a heavy dependence on the Outlook calendar has ruined my sense of spontenaity. Maybe everybody else just needs to figure out how to schedule their babies. I think I might be on to something. We really need to work this out several months ago, but if all of the babies could follow schedules, then I wouldn’t be behind in my schedule today. How hard could it be to schedule all of the babies??
I’ve been trying to hear my friend Mike Seymour’s band for about a year, and just tried using the all-knowingness of the internet to help me out. I’ve found them and some mp3’s, so I finally understand Siberia. It was very much what I imagined and as Mike had told me before, I’m probably the only one in our groups of friends that would actually dig the stuff they’re doing. Here they are at MySpace, followed by an audio track found at team:abunai.
In a toy update, the Numark turntable is coming over a week early. It was originally supposed to ship on the 16th, and then the 27th. turns out it shipped on the 15th and I should have it tomorrow. YAY!!! TOYS!!!
And in other toy news, but much more practical than usual… I’m considering getting a camcorder for when Elliot arrives. I went to Circuit City today and checked out the Panasonic PV-GS300. I’ve read quite a bit about it, and was kind of on the fence about the whole thing, but after comparing it side-by-side to some of the options around that price point, I don’t really have any doubts. Goodbye to the Roland JP-8000, thank you to e-Bay and a super-lengthy transaction, hello to capturing Ellie on video.
I’ve got nowhere near as many vinyl records as cd’s or mp3’s, but it is a relatively substantial collection. I started buying 7″ records in the early 90’s from local artists. I then discovered the pride of having elusive full lengths on vinyl, and started adding LP’s to my collection. In the late 90’s I started getting into dark drum and bass and went into DJing for a while, amassing a collection of d-n-b and darker techno albums. Everything has been sitting unused for several years now.
I’ve been picking up random records with the intention of being able to sample from them and bring interesting patterns or sounds from various styles of music into the stuff that I’m making. That has proven to be a difficult proposition since I haven’t had a working turntable to use or evaluate any of the records I have picked up since I got engaged and sold off the DJ rig. Finally, I’ve put a little money into it and will be able to hear all of the old records, and the new old records. I’ll even be able to get them into all of the software samplers I’ve been playing with lately, and have 1 less excuse to be under-productive musically.
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Introducing the newest piece…Numark’s PT-01. It’s a very affordable alternative to the DJ turntables I last played, but brings portability into the mix. I’ll be able to go to scary places like the flea market, or yard sales to find records, and know what I’m buying instead of guessing by cover art or song titles. I have to wait until the 27th to get through a backorder line at Musicians Friend, but I’ve waited this long already. I’ll be ok.
A little background first…a few years ago Chris’s grandmother passed away. Without getting into all of the details about the trauma that ensued afterwards, both emotionally and legally, I’ll move into a description of the least favorite thing that has been left behind for us. A fluffy ass pomeranian named Cuddles, was left in our care.
There is a lot of sentimental attachment from Chris because Cuddles belonged to her grandparents, but she’ll be the second to admit (me being the first) that he is spawned from hell. He has an incessant barking habit with absolutely no valid reasons for the barks when they come. He has a justifiable fear of me that causes him to take about 5 minutes to come in the door when I am the one encouraging him to do so. He humps other dogs even though he has been neutered. He whines to request release from the dungeon. Etc., etc….
So Chris is 30 weeks pregnant today. She decided to wash Cuddles since the weather had let up this afternoon. He had aggregated quite a bit of fecal matter in the long hairs around his ass. It was really to the point of nearing sickness any time he was walking away from you and you made the mistake of looking. So at 30 weeks pregnant she ties him up, straps on a dish-towel facemask, fastens her yardwork safety goggles, and pulls his tail towards her to attack with laundry detergent and a water hose. How is she deciding to do this and actually following through???
I’m writing this from WordPressDash a dashboard widget on my PowerBook. I’ve recently added all kinds of new toys to the site.
My last host (milescape.com) crapped out and stayed that way for 3 weeks before I decided to move. Since the site has done nothing beyond providing consistent e-mail addresses for me and Chris, I decided not to bring over the old pages. I’m trying to put a little energy into this and make it somewhat useful as I had once intended.
So far I have added this blog (WordPress), the gallery (Gallery2), and over the past couple of days a news feed aggregator (Lilina). I’ve been playing with all kinds of plug-ins to make it interesting for myself (even if no one else cares).
Again, we’ll see how long any of this stuff gets kept up.
I expected nothing to happen worth mentioning and the night I said it, we ended up in the hospital. Around 12:30am, we went to Norton’s Suburban with contractions about 2 minutes apart. This wouldn’t be that big of a deal 7-8 weeks from now, but at 29 weeks, we were potentially delivering a very unprepared Elliot out into the world. We would have had weeks or months of incubation and waiting to see if her lungs developed properly. That isn’t the start I want her to get, especially after having lost Gracie. I can’t imagine going through that stress.
Thankfully, the contractions slowed after getting a shot of Terbutaline, but as we waited they started up again. A second shot finally calmed everything down and we had to wait for an hour before she could be released. I’m grateful for the shot, but hated what it did to Chris. Her heart was racing and it caused tremors. Put those on top of the stress that was already happening simply from being in the hospital and fearing the worst (as we always will after Gracie), and it was an extraordinarily nerve-racking situation for all of us….except Ellie. Through the whole thing she was kicking at the monitors strapped onto the belly, and trying her hardest to avoid being pushed on by those things. Her heart rate was great the whole time, except when she got really excited and determined to kick off whatever was pressing on her from out there.
Everything is fine though. Momma and baby are doing wonderful, beyond the nerves for Chris. We’re getting closer though, and still anxiously awaiting her arrival. She just better wait until she’s ready to come, instead of coming early like she threatened last night.
BTW…no mention of cause for the contractions. It was on purpose. Use your imagination.
Another BTW…4:00am when we got back home. I’m too old for that.
I’ve created this WordPress blog and a Gallery image gallery. We’ll see how much posting happens here as we wait for Ellie to arrive. I have a feeling she’ll give us more to talk about.
