A few months ago I was shipped video of a show called Primary to review for a survey. At least it was called Primary at the time. I gave a generally positive review, though I decided that I probably wouldn't go out of my way to see the show. Perhaps you remember my writeup.
For the last few weeks I have been seeing commercials for a show that looks a lot like what I saw, but it is called Standoff instead. When Golden saw that she got a little excited and decided that she would have to watch it (even though it is on Fox :)... ).
There are two things that stuck out to me about the commercials. First, the new name is much better than the original. Second, all the scenes in the commercial are from the one episode that I saw.
I hadn't thought through the fact that maybe this was the only episode that had been created. I guess I figured with the expense that would have gone into making that first episode, maybe they would have at least started the process on further episodes. I think it's amazing that the entire fortunes of a show--whether it will ever see the light of day--are tied up in the quality of one pilot episode. I wonder how many potentially good shows have been canned due to a lousy pilot. I'm glad my job doesn't rely on something like that.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Saturday, July 15, 2006
what are we running?
In taking care of NJ over the past couple of weeks I have noticed a couple of things.
First, we wrap NJ up so that he looks like he is in a straight jacket, then we place him in a padded bassinet to sleep. We also spend large percentages of the day consoling him to calm him down.
Second, NJ looks like an old man because he has no teeth and his hair in the front of his head is thinner, so it looks like he is balding. Also, he cannot perform any tasks on his own like eating, relieving himself, or moving from one room to the other.
I just have to ask myself, are we running an insane asylum or a retirement home? It has to be one or the other.
First, we wrap NJ up so that he looks like he is in a straight jacket, then we place him in a padded bassinet to sleep. We also spend large percentages of the day consoling him to calm him down.
Second, NJ looks like an old man because he has no teeth and his hair in the front of his head is thinner, so it looks like he is balding. Also, he cannot perform any tasks on his own like eating, relieving himself, or moving from one room to the other.
I just have to ask myself, are we running an insane asylum or a retirement home? It has to be one or the other.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
cold coffee
I have always liked coffee. I think that is because I was exposed to it as a kid by my dad and grandfather. I quickly became a kind of connoisseur of the coffee I liked. I say "kind of" because my tastes are much different from most people who call themselves coffee connoisseurs. I like regular Folgers and don't care for the stronger coffees that places like Starbucks tend to serve. In my experience, most people who claim to know anything about coffee frown on Folgers.
Like all coffee snobs one thing that I don't like is overheated coffee. Once it has been heated too long coffee tastes a bit too bitter. I used to think this taste caused my aversion to overly hot coffee. I have since determined that I simply like cold coffee more.
Just about every time I mention to someone else that I like cold coffee, I am informed that this sounds gross. Considering that coffee ice cream, frappuccinos, and some flavored drinks use a cold coffee flavor, though, I think I am not alone in my love for cold coffee.
I have been thinking lately about the fact that I like cold coffee, and it occurred to me that maybe I should prepare some for myself. So, I purchased two plastic containers and have been keeping chilled coffee in the refrigerator for the past couple of weeks. It is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Bean there. Doing that.
Like all coffee snobs one thing that I don't like is overheated coffee. Once it has been heated too long coffee tastes a bit too bitter. I used to think this taste caused my aversion to overly hot coffee. I have since determined that I simply like cold coffee more.
Just about every time I mention to someone else that I like cold coffee, I am informed that this sounds gross. Considering that coffee ice cream, frappuccinos, and some flavored drinks use a cold coffee flavor, though, I think I am not alone in my love for cold coffee.
I have been thinking lately about the fact that I like cold coffee, and it occurred to me that maybe I should prepare some for myself. So, I purchased two plastic containers and have been keeping chilled coffee in the refrigerator for the past couple of weeks. It is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Bean there. Doing that.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
scheduling conflicts
Golden and I have learned a lot about taking care of a newborn in the last ten days. We can change his diaper without a second thought, we can distinguish what some of his cries mean, and we can even usually come up with ways to stop him from crying if we need to. What we haven't successfully done, though, is get NJ on a schedule that doesn't rob me of significant sleep.
NJ goes through what I think of as waves of sleep. He will sleep for a few hours, then he will be awake for about two hours. If the awake time starts between midnight and 2AM, then this messes with my sleep because this is when I am responsible to take care of the baby. After I go to sleep NJ is not capable of waking me, so Golden has been taking care of any issues after that point.
I know that we should be manipulating his awake time in the evening, but that can backfire. On Monday evening NJ was awake for most of the evening, then slept until 1AM and was up until after 3AM. If that is what happens when I manipulate his schedule, I don't know that I will really be helping things by stepping in.
Two nights ago, NJ robbed me of a lot of sleep. Last night NJ kept Golden awake most of the night. I hear that this phase of childhood is rather short, so I think we can tough our way through it. Otherwise, we might be investing in Children's Tylenol PM shortly.
NJ goes through what I think of as waves of sleep. He will sleep for a few hours, then he will be awake for about two hours. If the awake time starts between midnight and 2AM, then this messes with my sleep because this is when I am responsible to take care of the baby. After I go to sleep NJ is not capable of waking me, so Golden has been taking care of any issues after that point.
I know that we should be manipulating his awake time in the evening, but that can backfire. On Monday evening NJ was awake for most of the evening, then slept until 1AM and was up until after 3AM. If that is what happens when I manipulate his schedule, I don't know that I will really be helping things by stepping in.
Two nights ago, NJ robbed me of a lot of sleep. Last night NJ kept Golden awake most of the night. I hear that this phase of childhood is rather short, so I think we can tough our way through it. Otherwise, we might be investing in Children's Tylenol PM shortly.
Monday, July 10, 2006
nj
Today I am back at work for the first time in what seems like a lifetime. Since NJ was born Golden and I have been trying to get a routine down with NJ, and while I think it is kind of working, we still have work to do.
Also, I have been picking out little quirks that are either from Golden or from me. He sleeps like I do (meaning he can sleep through anything and wakes up real groggy). He has Golden's face shape. He has my chin and he has Golden's toes. He is more stubborn than either of us (must be a recessive gene). I am looking forward to seeing him develop and pick out more subtleties as they appear.
If you did not receive an email with a link to pictures of NJ and you want one, let me know. I don't have everyone's email address. I have included a small sampling of the pictures here.
This is the normal picture.
This is proof that NJ isn't always a perfect angel.
I just thought this was a cool picture.
Also, I have been picking out little quirks that are either from Golden or from me. He sleeps like I do (meaning he can sleep through anything and wakes up real groggy). He has Golden's face shape. He has my chin and he has Golden's toes. He is more stubborn than either of us (must be a recessive gene). I am looking forward to seeing him develop and pick out more subtleties as they appear.
If you did not receive an email with a link to pictures of NJ and you want one, let me know. I don't have everyone's email address. I have included a small sampling of the pictures here.
This is the normal picture.
This is proof that NJ isn't always a perfect angel.
I just thought this was a cool picture.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
the super long baby post
There is a lot to write, and I know I won't get all of it, but a summary of the events of the past few days follows. Golden will probably post her thoughts as well a little later. Also, I have not had time to process any pictures that I have taken, so that is why no one has received any yet.
Saturday, July 1
Golden and I were both pretty frustrated on Saturday. She had already gone to the hospital twice, and her contractions were not very frequent on that day. We did receive a DVD-RW camcorder that we had ordered earlier in the week, but it was looking like that might be the only special delivery we would see in a while when we went to bed Saturday night.
Sunday, July 2
I should point out that only Golden really went to sleep on Saturday night. I dozed off Sunday morning around 2. At 4AM Golden woke me up and told me that her water had broke and she was having serious contractions.
We arrived at the hospital at 4:50, and had to go through the emergency room entrance for the second time in three days. Annoyingly, we had to call security to get into the main part of the hospital because the doors don't unlock until 5AM. If Golden's water had only broken ten minutes later... but I digress.
When we got to delivery room one of the nurses checked Golden and assessed that she was already dilated to ten centimeters. They paged the doctor on call (coincidentally, Golden's doctor) and she arrived to determine that Golden was actually only at four centimeters. Oops. This actually worked to our advantage as it gave Golden the opportunity to get an epidural and she progressed real fast to ten centimeters. It took maybe two and a half hours to get to that point.
The pushing labor was a little more difficult. At first, Golden progressed very quickly, and we saw the baby's head within twenty minutes (I say we because I was very actively involved in this process). For more than an hour after this Golden fought to get the baby out, and it took just about all she had, and NJ was born at 9:09 AM. He was six pounds, three ounces, and he was eighteen inches long.
Throughout the day I was struck by how well behaved little NJ was. He would cry, but only if something was truly wrong like his diaper needed to be changed or he wasn't properly swaddled.
BB and Wah Wah visited us later in the day and some comparisons were drawn between NJ and Woogy and Nibbles.
Monday, July 3
I slept in until 9AM. This was an accomplishment because I slept through countless visits from the pediatrician, nurses, someone to collect blood, the person bringing Golden her breakfast, etc. Golden was amazed at the vast numbers of people who came through our room throughout the day, even as early as 6AM. Someone came in to take her blood at that time, which caused her to be suspicious, because who would come through for blood at six in the morning?
I am convinced now that just about anyone could randomly walk into a maternity ward and do just about anything and the patients would assume that person is associated somehow with the hospital. The wide variety of people we saw over two days to discuss personal information or run very personal tests was amazing.
Dash and T visited us in the afternoon. T recalled being in labor with N and Dash recalled the seventeen fish he caught over the weekend.
Golden's parents arrived in town to see the baby and visited for about an hour and a half until Golden had to have some more personal tests run on her.
Tuesday, July 4
We spent the bulk of the morning getting ready to leave and waiting for the doctor to arrive to give the OK for Golden to be discharged.
There were two things that I had to do to make sure that we would be allowed to leave the hospital. First, I had to pay a deposit toward any extraneous expenses that insurance may not cover. Second, I had to make sure the base for the baby carrier was installed in my car. I would really like to know what the hospital does in situations where people genuinely do not have the means to afford either of these requirements. It is not like they can hold the babies there indefinitely.
We celebrated the fourth with Golden's parents and they went out and got us a bassinet for little NJ. We hadn't thought through the fact that he may not sleep in a crib in a different room from us very well.
Wednesday, July 5
Last night through this morning was a real challenge. NJ was either hungry or gassy for most of the night and cried more than he ever has in spurts until around 5:30AM. I got much more sleep than Golden, so I am feeling better than her today.
We've got years to figure out how to get NJ on a good sleep schedule, but I hope it doesn't really take that long.
Saturday, July 1
Golden and I were both pretty frustrated on Saturday. She had already gone to the hospital twice, and her contractions were not very frequent on that day. We did receive a DVD-RW camcorder that we had ordered earlier in the week, but it was looking like that might be the only special delivery we would see in a while when we went to bed Saturday night.
Sunday, July 2
I should point out that only Golden really went to sleep on Saturday night. I dozed off Sunday morning around 2. At 4AM Golden woke me up and told me that her water had broke and she was having serious contractions.
We arrived at the hospital at 4:50, and had to go through the emergency room entrance for the second time in three days. Annoyingly, we had to call security to get into the main part of the hospital because the doors don't unlock until 5AM. If Golden's water had only broken ten minutes later... but I digress.
When we got to delivery room one of the nurses checked Golden and assessed that she was already dilated to ten centimeters. They paged the doctor on call (coincidentally, Golden's doctor) and she arrived to determine that Golden was actually only at four centimeters. Oops. This actually worked to our advantage as it gave Golden the opportunity to get an epidural and she progressed real fast to ten centimeters. It took maybe two and a half hours to get to that point.
The pushing labor was a little more difficult. At first, Golden progressed very quickly, and we saw the baby's head within twenty minutes (I say we because I was very actively involved in this process). For more than an hour after this Golden fought to get the baby out, and it took just about all she had, and NJ was born at 9:09 AM. He was six pounds, three ounces, and he was eighteen inches long.
Throughout the day I was struck by how well behaved little NJ was. He would cry, but only if something was truly wrong like his diaper needed to be changed or he wasn't properly swaddled.
BB and Wah Wah visited us later in the day and some comparisons were drawn between NJ and Woogy and Nibbles.
Monday, July 3
I slept in until 9AM. This was an accomplishment because I slept through countless visits from the pediatrician, nurses, someone to collect blood, the person bringing Golden her breakfast, etc. Golden was amazed at the vast numbers of people who came through our room throughout the day, even as early as 6AM. Someone came in to take her blood at that time, which caused her to be suspicious, because who would come through for blood at six in the morning?
I am convinced now that just about anyone could randomly walk into a maternity ward and do just about anything and the patients would assume that person is associated somehow with the hospital. The wide variety of people we saw over two days to discuss personal information or run very personal tests was amazing.
Dash and T visited us in the afternoon. T recalled being in labor with N and Dash recalled the seventeen fish he caught over the weekend.
Golden's parents arrived in town to see the baby and visited for about an hour and a half until Golden had to have some more personal tests run on her.
Tuesday, July 4
We spent the bulk of the morning getting ready to leave and waiting for the doctor to arrive to give the OK for Golden to be discharged.
There were two things that I had to do to make sure that we would be allowed to leave the hospital. First, I had to pay a deposit toward any extraneous expenses that insurance may not cover. Second, I had to make sure the base for the baby carrier was installed in my car. I would really like to know what the hospital does in situations where people genuinely do not have the means to afford either of these requirements. It is not like they can hold the babies there indefinitely.
We celebrated the fourth with Golden's parents and they went out and got us a bassinet for little NJ. We hadn't thought through the fact that he may not sleep in a crib in a different room from us very well.
Wednesday, July 5
Last night through this morning was a real challenge. NJ was either hungry or gassy for most of the night and cried more than he ever has in spurts until around 5:30AM. I got much more sleep than Golden, so I am feeling better than her today.
We've got years to figure out how to get NJ on a good sleep schedule, but I hope it doesn't really take that long.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
ambivalent
One of the guys in my office has a word of the day tear-off calendar that contains a word, its definition, and its etymology. Some of the words I have heard of before, but not in relation to the definition provided. For example a mare is a dark area on the moon and lyric can be an adjective (and not just a noun) describing prose that is melodic. The most recent word that I thought I knew that came up was ambivalent.
I have always understood ambivalent to mean indifferent. I have two choices, but I am ambivalent about my options because I don't care all that much. This is inaccurate. To be ambivalent is to care strongly about both options or positions that are available. Ambivalent also describes my current condition pretty well.
Right now, Golden and I are in the middle of waiting for something to happen that will indicate that either she is in labor or she isn't. The signs have been strong in both directions for two days now. Throughout, I have been torn. If it is best for this process to go slowly, then that is what I want. However, I don't know how much more of this waiting game we can take.
As Golden pointed out, we were in the hospital for four to five hours Thursday night through Friday morning. Given the frequency and strength of her contractions, I figured that was proof that we were going to have June 30th baby. I was excited about the prospect, but bummed that I would be so very short on sleep when the event occurred. After they sent us home and I got some sleep I was still convinced the baby would arrive on the 30th because Golden still appeared to be in labor.
Now it is July 1, and no matter how much Golden walks or sits or sleeps or stays awake, we still don't have a clue when this is going to occur. She is having consistent contractions again like she had before which we are monitoring, but with as many false starts as we have had I just don't know what to think.
Hopefully, I will have better information the next time I update this site. The best news would be that we have a healthy baby boy. That is something that I am not ambivalent about.
I have always understood ambivalent to mean indifferent. I have two choices, but I am ambivalent about my options because I don't care all that much. This is inaccurate. To be ambivalent is to care strongly about both options or positions that are available. Ambivalent also describes my current condition pretty well.
Right now, Golden and I are in the middle of waiting for something to happen that will indicate that either she is in labor or she isn't. The signs have been strong in both directions for two days now. Throughout, I have been torn. If it is best for this process to go slowly, then that is what I want. However, I don't know how much more of this waiting game we can take.
As Golden pointed out, we were in the hospital for four to five hours Thursday night through Friday morning. Given the frequency and strength of her contractions, I figured that was proof that we were going to have June 30th baby. I was excited about the prospect, but bummed that I would be so very short on sleep when the event occurred. After they sent us home and I got some sleep I was still convinced the baby would arrive on the 30th because Golden still appeared to be in labor.
Now it is July 1, and no matter how much Golden walks or sits or sleeps or stays awake, we still don't have a clue when this is going to occur. She is having consistent contractions again like she had before which we are monitoring, but with as many false starts as we have had I just don't know what to think.
Hopefully, I will have better information the next time I update this site. The best news would be that we have a healthy baby boy. That is something that I am not ambivalent about.
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