First, it’s far too cold for May 3. I hate that one last cold snap that just ruins some weekend in the spring. Not sure how cold it actually got here last night, but we flipped the heat on at 5:00 yesterday afternoon. So much for thinking the gas bills wouldn’t be something we had to worry about until November. Friday night, we watched a birthing video. I can’t claim I learned much because I was busy ridiculing the fashion of the people in the video, which was filmed in 1987.
Putting some assorted thoughts down while watching Keith Olbermann’s Countdown Wednesday night. The #5 story was about a backlash against the wildly popular novel The DaVinci Code. I don’t know much about the book, other than I may be the only person to fly American Airlines in the past year who hasn’t read it. Anyway, there are several “rebuttal” books coming out that argue against some of author Dan Brown’s plot developments, especially those regarding the life of Jesus.
The perfect adult weekend: ideal weather (sunny, highs in the low 80s, just a hint of humidity but not enough to make it truly sticky), an entire day in the yard, another day spent out on the back deck listening to baseball, and the wife has been in Florida the whole time. Wait, that last part isn’t ideal, don’t quote that line ever. But pretty much everything else about the weekend was perfect.
I bought my first outfit for my daughter last night. I got her a Safari themed bodysuit from Baby Gap. Lions, crocs, elephants, monkeys. How will she not be happy wearing this? In a nursery update, we made the final major additions to her room this week. We had a chair rail put around the top of the wall to serve as a border for the animal alphabet cards we got.
There’s nothing like logging in on a Monday morning and finding out someone has been trying to get you to take their place, without your knowledge, at a meeting that would require you to book and get on a place Monday night. Sometimes people are just far too generous. As if ripped from the comments box, we had the proverbial big weekend. Three trips to Lowe’s! That brings us to a total of seven trips in the past seven days.
Scene: Interior, couple sitting on couch drinking coffee in the morning. Wife: How did you sleep? Husband: Pretty good, you? Wife: Good, Little Girlfriend had to wake up early and play, though. Husband (Leaning over and speaking to wife’s stomach): Your daddy doesn’t like to wake up in the morning. We can work on that once you’re born, ok? This kid is moving around like crazy. Last night, I noticed S’s shirt jumping.
If you’re not listening to the Royals-White Sox game today, you should be. Ryan Lefebvre is really on a roll. I’m shocked, SHOCKED, that the Royals lead the American League in home runs. I was perusing the roster of Your Indianapolis Indians and saw that former Royal Dan Reichert is on the staff. It’ll be fun to see one of the Arms of the Future of the Royals from a few years back toiling in AAA.
Heartburn. Or reflux I guess. I’ve got something going on with my stomach that I don’t like. For about a month, shortly after I eat, I’ve been getting these waves of mild nausea. The kind where you think you’re going to throw up in, say, five minutes, but you never get all the way there. I hadn’t had any real feelings of indigestion or heartburn with it until today. I’m pushing four hours of suffering today and the good doctor has the cheery opinion it could be reflux or an ulcer.
I’m in the process of uploading my pictures from the weekend in KC. I’ll share them here later today. To tide you over, a conversation overheard last night between a pregnant couple. (Not your typical prego couple conversation, but worth sharing anyway.) (Scene: Interior, pregnant couple sits on a couch watching the Nick & Jessica Variety Show.) Wife: Really, what’s the point? All anyone can do is stare at her boobs.
(Scene: Interior, wife is getting dressed for work, holding top under her chin so she can look at her 23 week stomach in the mirror. Husband enters room, laughs.) Wife: Shit! Husband: What? Wife: Look how big it’s getting! (Husband places hand on stomach.) It’s like a basketball. Husband: Can we paint lines on it?
More catching up thoughts, including the occasional comment added during Monday’s game. Portland is by far my favorite place to visit for work. It’s a tremendous city, full of gorgeous views, brewpubs, a college town vibe, clients I actually enjoy visiting, and most importantly, a group of people I know from previous lives that I can visit with. Unlike most other business trips, I don’t retreat to my hotel room each night with the sum of my excitement being checking e-mail and hoping something interesting is on HBO.
Trying to organize my thoughts from recent trips while watching the national championship game. I think it’s safe so say I’m one million times less tense tonight than I was a year ago tonight (or April 7 I guess). I don’t recall a time when I was wound as tightly as I was leading up to the KU-Syracuse game. Even if we had won, I don’t know if I could have enjoyed it as tense as I was that night.
Big day. Huge day. Important day. Opening Day in baseball. As should always be the case, the NCAA championship game is tonight as well. You may recall my suggested sports calendar last fall required baseball beginning the day college basketball ended. And just for the cultural reference freaks out there, it’s the 10th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death. I’ve got a lot to work through here, without even touching what I’ve compiled over the last two weeks.
The Jayhawks lost, I am sad. I felt my daughter move, I am glad! The downside to getting so much joy and satisfaction out of your team’s successes is you generally crash with them when their season ends. You spend five months planning your life around when the next game is and suddenly there’s no next game. I’m pleased to say I was able to get out of bed this morning, unlike April 8 of last year when I used the excuse of getting my truck serviced to stay in bed staring at the ceiling for about three hours.
It’s currently 12:43 AM EST. My alarm went off almost 23 hours ago after a night in which I got about two and a half hours of sleep (following two nights when I probably slept a combined seven hours). Consider yourselves lucky I’m so wiped, as I’m sitting about two miles from the house I lived in for 11 months during our great, California experience in 1986-7. I’m sure I would wax poetic from the Hilton Garden Inn if I had any wits left.
(Interior. Couple sitting on the couch, watching NCAA tournament. Husband’s alma mater is playing. They’ve just blown an 11 point lead.) Husband: GOD DAMMIT! WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO STOP PLAYING SO FUCKING STUPID?!?! JESUS! Wife: You’re going to have to put the earmuffs on Little Girlfriend if you want to talk like that this time next year. Husband: (Patting wife’s stomach) Sorry. (Apologies to those who are offended by above blasphemy.
If that wasn’t the craziest weekend in the history of the NCAAs, I’d like to know what was. In the opening 32 games, there were three upsets. I picked two of the upsets correctly, but lost three games overall in the first round. Not a bad way to set up your bracket. Now, sitting here on Sunday night, I have one Final Four team left. Tear up your brackets! Two number one seeds gone!
Some quick thoughts from day one of the NCAA tournament (with minimal editing), a day in which I managed to pick 14 of 16 games correctly. Damn you Michigan State and Arizona for blowing those second half leads! Here comes the Wolfpack!!! I don’t like Jim Nantz much to begin with. Sure, his voice is associated with the Final Four and so many other big games in March over the past 14 years.
Here are my Final Four picks. I have no idea this year; I don’t feel strongly about anyone. Unlike Tulsa in ‘00 or Creighton two years ago, I don’t have a feel for any cinderellas that can make a run to the second weekend. Other than some crazy early round choices, most of the “expert” picks I’ve seen, I can’t disagree with because things are so open this year. Anyway, here goes:
You want my NCAA picks right? A lengthy ode to the first day of the tournament? 3500 words about how March is a perfect metaphor for life? Wait, you’d rather hear about our trip to the doctor yesterday? OK, OK, I’ll find away to not think about basketball for a few minutes. As many of you know, we went in for the 20 week ultrasound yesterday. I’ve seen plenty of still shots from ultrasounds, and seen video of scans on TV before, but it’s a whole different thing being in the room.
Some NCAA dominated thoughts while wondering if this Winter Storm Watch we’re sitting under is really going to drop 4-6" by noon tomorrow as one TV station is saying. Since the NCAA encompasses more than just the Big 8+4, I’ll post my thoughts here. First, most importantly, I was extremely pleased by KU’s #4 seed. There’s no doubt the desire to sell tickets at Kemper played into this. So what? The committee has been making such arrangements for years, and screwed KC three years ago by shipping Iowa State, KU, and MU all the other locales.
Despite the fact the Big 10+1 tournament is here in Indy, it doesn’t feel like conference tournament season. When you work alone in an office at home, there’s no buzz. I forgot to even check the TV yesterday until I heard St. Joe’s was down by 30. I’ll have to block off my calendar next Thursday and Friday so I don’t have the same problem then. Another strange thing about working in the office is I don’t always know what day it is.
There are times when I doubt the world, when I think it’s full of cynicism and selfishness. Moments when I believe people are more concerned with getting ahead than the common good. Then there’s a moment like last night, when my faith in man is reaffirmed. Yes, I subjected myself to ten minutes of Jay Leno so I could watch Vince Vaughn in action. The man is a Golden God, to quote his friend Will Ferrell.
I’ve been completely derelict in my Listening Post entries over the last few months. I have a folder full of partial entries. Seems I get inspired when on a plane and listening to my MP3 player, start an entry, then lose focus. I’ve got ten projects in some state of progress, and I hope to begin knocking some out again soon. Or maybe start ten others and ignore the backlog. (Hopefully I’ll do better once the basketball season ends and I’m focusing on this blog more.
Scene: Interior, basement, a man and his pregnant wife sit on the couch, watching TV. A commercial for a mini-van is on. Husband: How long do kids have to ride in car seats? Wife: Usually until they’re around 60 pounds. H: At what age do most kids weigh that much? W: 6 or 7. H thinking: (We want to have three kids, probably within the next six years.) H: We are soooo getting a minivan.
Three days, three time zones. And I’m doing it backwards (going from Pacific to Mountain in day three) which makes the adjustment even more difficult. Is it 10:00 (physical time zone) 12:00 (home time zone) or 9:00 (where I spent the previous 24 hours)? Strange. I was in LA Monday night, today, then flew into Phoenix Tuesday. No time for fun in LA, although I did drive by Dodgers’ Stadium, the Staples Center, and the LA Coliseum on the way to the airport Tuesday afternoon.
It’s all come to an end. Not only has the snow finally melted, bringing millions of birds to our yard, but my hair was trimmed by a Caucasian person today. It was disappointing to walk in and not see anyone of color perched smiling behind their chair, motioning me over. The people who were working seemed almost apologetic to service me, as if they knew there was something wrong with the situation.
I’ve got a week in the office to get caught up before I head west for my first business trip of the year. That means cleaning out the in-box, and getting a few things posted to the blog. I’m writing this while watching the NBA All-Star game on Sunday night. Bill Simmons had a great point a couple weeks back. He talked about how great mid-February was if you were a boy growing up in the 1980s.
It’s fair to say I feel ambivalent about Miracle. The previews are certainly exciting and interesting (and the early reviews are glowing) but in many ways, this seems like one of those moments that should be left alone. I remember a thoroughly horrible TV movie shortly after the fact. Maybe as a member of the generation that has ownership of this moment (at least the childhood perspective of it) I’m worried that a movie will replace the actual moment and people’s memories will be of the cinema and not where they were that Friday night in 1980.
We were having a great winter, all things considered, until last Sunday. Only one small snowstorm, no super cold weather, no ice. Right now, it’s snowing for the fourth time this week and we’re supposed to get sub-zero temps tonight. Working from home kind of eliminates the snow day option, unfortunately. It doesn’t stop my hands from turning into blocks of ice after about 3:00 when the shade covers my side of the house, though.