Posts (page 2)
In my life, things are busy. I have a huge new project that involves rebranding the Help Desk into an ITIL-esque Service Desk. It is going to take a lot of time and energy but unfortunately, Noah had me up at 2:30 this morning, so Smilin Joe is more of Draggin' Joe.
As a result, I have been poking around the internet trying to find images of old woodworking equipment. I came across a Cornell site that had some old articles online. One of the publications is called "The Manufacturer and Builder". It is an extremely odd combination of articles but one stuck out in my mind. Below is the text of the article:
Sowing Seed with Artillery
Alexander Nasmyth, the celebrated English landscape painter, was a man fruitful in expedients. The Duke of Athol consulted him as to some improvements which he desired to make in his woodland scenery near Dunkeld. Among other things, a certain rocky crag needed to be planted with trees, to relieve the grim barrenness of it appearance. The question was how to do it, as it was impossible for any man to climb the crag, in order to set seed or plants in the clefts of the rock. A happy idea occurred to Nasmyth. Having observed in front of the castle a pair of small cannons, it occurred to him to turn them to account. A number of tin canisters were filled with all sorts of suitable tree seeds. The cannons were loaded and the canisters were fired against the high face of the rock. They burst and scattered the seed in all directions. Some years after, Nasmyth was delighted to find that his scheme of planting by artillery had proved successful; the trees were flourishing in all the recesses of the cliff.
This falls under the category of utterly amazing. I can't help but imagine the conversation in which Nasmyth turned to the Duke of Athol and said "Hey, Athol. Let's fire up those cannons there and pummel your crag with some various seeds."
I love it when a unique situation has a unique resolution. I wish I had a cannon. Not because I have any crags that need seeding but because someday, I might need to fire something into the air. I am sure I can find something to do with it. Maybe my whole block would need grass seed or maybe there would be a need to spread candies along a parade route. Who knows...
Thanks to Irish Lucky Lass for turning me on to this site. I love it!!!
Well, at least if you type in "Things that need to be invented" Who knew????
J
I am sick. Well, I am actually at the end of being sick. Not just a "hey, I feel crummy" kind of thing but a "I may have pooped my pants while I was puking in the toilet" sick. To make things even better, guess who else is suffering from the first sickness of his extremely short life? That's right sports fans, Mr. N himself.
Being sick is hard. Holding your sobbing three month old on your chest while knowing that there is nothing you can do about his discomfort is ridiculously horrible. Noah and I have been home from daycare and work for two days now. I have been sick since Sunday and he got sick on Monday night. Thus, I have been home with my son for two days. Here are some things that have happened over the past two days.
It turns out that breast fed babies don't always go poop on a normal schedule. This is important to note so that you don't call the nurse at the Pediatrician's office in a panic because your son hasn't poo'd in 36 hours. Of course, the real reason you are in a panic is that he has a temp of 100.5 but nurses will always focus on the poo issue. According to our nurse, a breast fed baby can go 7+ days without pooing or a "BM" as they say in the biz. To be honest, I like to say "poo" but that is just how I roll as a daddy.
So you get off the phone with the nurse who recommends taking your son's temperature via his butt. In the annals (pun very much intended) of parenting history, putting something up a butt when nothing has come out of that butt for 36+ hours has been proven to be "pressing your luck". Just as I was about to take off his diaper, BAM! Explosive poo. Thank God for Noah's timing.
On the not so good part, Noah had a temp of 100.9. Off the doctor we went to find out that Noah has his first cold. Poor guy. All he does is sniffle and want to be on Daddy's chest. So I have spent the last two days trying to rest while taking care of the little guy. Luckily, G was able to work from home today, so she was able to take care of him for the majority of the day.
Being a parent is hard but rewarding. In the last 48 hours, all I have wanted to do is hold him and assure him that everything was going to be ok. Not that he understands my words, but I am pretty sure that when he startles himself awake and looks up at me, he knows that I am there for him.
It is late now, I am going to try to sleep. Hopefully, Noah will have a good night tonight. If not, I know a chest he can rest on...
Galactic. It sounds innocuous enough. That is until the FUNK falls all over your ears and turns them into little receptors of the awesome sound that comes from Galactic. I submit to you, my friends and neighbors, the funky cold rhythms of Galactic.
We are one week short of Noah's celebration of the first three months of his life. Time for a little progress report. Actually, I don't know how little it will be.
When I first found out that we were pregnant, I was ecstatic. When Noah was born, that gave way to worry and joy. Now, three months in, I pretty much just have joy. Of course there is the occasional worry. For example, "What is Noah doing at daycare?" or "Are they taking care of Noah at daycare?" or "Was that an explosive poo or just a fart?".
A word about explosive poo. Explosive poo seems to back up in little babies butts, until, BAM! explosions in the diaper. EP (as I am going to start calling it because typing explosive poo isn't as awesome as saying explosive poo (no really, say "explosive poo" outloud....go ahead, try it out....See I told you, awesome!)) isn't all that bad. Sure there is the required diaper and clothing change, but I really didn't need that t-shirt anymore anyways. Oh, and I have to change Noah's clothes too. Now EP combined with stinky poo is downright nasty.
Anyway, back to the three months of Noah. I can't believe the amount of change that he has gone through in three months. Below are three pictures of him from the day he was born through his months.
Not only has he changed but I have changed. I am amazed at how little sleep a person can get and still be able to operate heavy machinery. Of course, my heavy machinery includes a keyboard and mouse but hey for somebody as weak as I am, it is heavy! Most importantly, my heart has grown by at least two hundred heart sizes. When Noah smiles at me, the world stops and I become solely focused on appreciating and deserving that smile. I would and have done anything to make him smile. Make silly faces? Check. Make silly sounds? Check. Sing? Check (but to be fair, that makes almost anybody laugh). Use my shirt as a makeshift diaper? Check. (Don't ask, I will explain later)
So here we are, three months later and I still no almost nothing about being a Dad except the fact that I would do anything for my son. I appreciate every moment I have with him and I hope that I am doing a good job...
I don't know why I seem to struggle with titles but the "or" format seems to work for me. So, I have been hiding in the shadows. Mainly because I don't really know what to share and what to keep for myself. Thus my silence. But here is what I have come up with to share:
- I have been struggling with my weight. WW does me good but there seem to be some deep roots to stupid food decisions. I decided to see a therapist to help deal with whatever issues I seem to have. We have met twice and the "getting to know Joe" stage is complete. Now the real work begins. She uses process called Psych-k. I told her that I was a skeptic but then again, my logical brain isn't able to combat the cravings that I have. I try very hard to not eat the crap that I do, but something sub-conscious fails me. I can't explain it so I am open to a different tactic. More on this later
- At my therapists recommendation, I am doing the Beck diet solution to work on my conscious issues with my weight and eating. It is very enlightening and has helped me to identify thought patterns that sabotage my success. Today, I am supposed to skip lunch to really understand hunger. This scares the crap out of me. I feel light headed. But I am going to stick to it...
- Noah was baptized just over a week ago. That meant that his Godfather John was in town. I know that I write about him a lot but John has been a major force in my life. There is something to be said for a person who I haven't seen in a year and a half who can show up and we just pick up where we left off. He is the best person that I know and I can't say enough about him. Plus, who else could postulate that my relatives enjoy spitting on the floor therefore only like to stay at hotels?
- I have been sick. Noah has been sick. This means that the CP and I don't get a lot sleep. He is up every two hours or so. This is a major departure from his previous record of sleeping 5 or 6 hours at a time. Plus, we moved him in to his own room because he has gotten too big for his cradle. I am still a little sad each time I look at the cradle.
- Noah's first day of daycare is today. The CP and I are very upset by this. I am sure that it is much more traumatic for us than him but I don't like someone else caring for my son. I feel really bad for G because she had to drop him off. I can't imagine how hard that would have been.
- I really feel the need to get my spiritual life back on track.
- I started a new exercise routine which includes some weight lifting. I was paying a price on Saturday for not lifting weights since college.
- I am done with the snow. I want to play golf and get outside to work on my yard.
- I have officially closed down the technology support side business I was running. I am taking my extra curricular interests in a new direction. More to follow.
I was sent this by a friend. This is the short version that was on Oprah. I am watching the full version on YouTube now. I thought this was important enough for my friends to see.
