I’ve been able to play with some new stuff lately, and I thought I might share.
- A Baby - She was ‘playful’ last night. I don’t think she likes the heat. We may need to move into the basement till Friday, or I guess we could turn on the central air. 1stDadDay.jpg
- Wize.com - A page that lets you compare products. It’s kinda neat. I only wish it had better ways compare things (i.e. TV screen size and resolution).
- Google Reader - A pretty cool way to view RSS feeds. You can even share what you find interesting (here’s mine, send me yours if you like). Here’s a video on how to use it (or not… that’s just too many feeds). Kinda wish it had a search… which is weird since this is a google thing.
- AutoHotKey - Used this at work today to cut out hours of tedious data entry. It can learn your keystroke and mouse clicks and turn that into a script (kinda like the macro builder in excel). Going to try and see what else you can do with this but it looks pretty powerful.
- GoodReads - Many of you probably got spamed from all the people joining this. I haven’t given it a try but it looks like everyone else has. I’ll add what I’m reading. Got this from Dan.
- Jeff’s old golf clubs - I went golfing for father’s day (my first my dad’s 27th). It was fun, now I need to move the clubs into my trunk so I can occasionally hit the driving range.
On an interesting aside, I have found that I need beer. This has nothing to do with the alcohol but everything to do with the empty calories. When the scientist was pregnant I lost 5 pounds (like 3.7% of my normal body weight) just because I gave up (read limited) my intake of beer. So if you see me without a beer please think of my health and give me one.
As all of you probably know I am now changing diapers. Addie is now 13 days old and I’ve already forgotten what life was like without her. I haven’t written anything in a while because I have felt a lot of conflicting emotions. Not about being a dad, I’m quite alright with that, but about my new job which I start in 2 weeks. I’ve told some people about it but not many. It just seems anti-climatic. You know,
Me: “Here. Meet our baby. Her name is Addison. And I just got a new job.”
Them: “Ahh… she’s so cute.”
Me: “Yes she is.”
Anyway, I feel guilty about leaving my current job, as I’ve worked there (in one position or another) for more than a quarter of my life. That’s a scary thought. I’ve also never had any other “professional” job, so I’m not completely confident in succeeding at my new position. It can’t be that hard, right? So basically, I’m feeling excited, worried, confident, guilty, and extremely relieved.
As for what I’ll be doing at the new job… I’m not entirely sure. I was given a very thorough job description which looks like I could end up doing anything or everything related to (1) the university Help Desk for 25% of my time, and (2) system accounts management for 75% of my time. The organization seems much more structured and relaxed, which after the “do whatever the fuck you want” and “do more with less” mentality of my current job, is very welcome. We’ll see.
P.S. If there are grammar snafus, please blame Addison who is squirming away on my lap.
P.P.S. Professional is in quotes, because work feels more like a circus than an office. And after seeing how many “adults” work together, I’m starting to believe that professional is a label (or compliment) you can give to a person and not a profession.
A lot of things may be about to happen in our lives but, right now, there is just a lot of waiting. Here is what has not happened:
- We have not had a baby.
- I have not gotten a new job.
Both of these things will be really cool when they happen, but in both cases (more so in the first) I am waiting on someone else! Silly babies. Silly me not applying for more jobs! I just had an interview, which I think went well and which I am interested in taking, but I’m trying to keep myself from getting too excited. It’s probably not going to happen.
In the last post I mentioned a beer tasting extravaganza. I’m thinking that the beginning of June will be the best time, as it will give the Scientist and the baby a chance to recover. I’ll try to keep everyone informed.
Also, feel free to notice that Dan has a new blog. Apparently, he needs to keep making new ones.
So I took a test today. And I learned the following:
Now, this raises a few questions in my brain: (1) do I really want to know this? (2) what if I am unable to answer these questions truthfully? (3) Will the R’s have succeeded in their scheme to destroy social security? (4) Will I be able to live above the poverty line once I retire? (5) Am I only interested in this because we are about to have a kid?
Hopefully, the money we are putting away now will allow us to retire comfortably in 45 years or so. We did just open up an ING Direct Orange Savings account, the 4.5% interest rate they offer is a little better than the 0.2% our bank offers. Heck that’s even better than the inflation rate (~3%)!
P.S. Less than a month to go on the baby front. I expect our blogs will become like Xumbi’s shortly, so if you don’t like babies… too bad. Speaking of Xumbi, there should be a beer tasting thing again soon… maybe a “babies and beer” party?
It looks like Boby is coming to town! Yeah! And just in time to celebrate half way (20 weeks to go)! The Scientist wants me to throw a party but I don’t really know how to do that. So instead we’ll get some pizza, like we do most Fridays, and then have some virgin mixed drinks someplace (probably at home).
I’ve finished up my class this semester and now I have a lot more free time in the evenings. I’m going to layout the potential built-in bookcase this week sometime…
I scored a goal last night. It was a good one. Most of the goals I’ve scored since I’ve started playing hockey have been less than pretty. There have been a few wide open nets, a few hacks, a couple of ricochets, some tricklers and one that I really don’t know how got it… the goal claimed it went through the side of the net. Anyway, this goal was not like that. It started with a bad pass that I picked off at the blue line, I then stepped around the pass’s intended recipient, between two D and then put the puck in the net high stick side. I felt like I actually earned the goal and didn’t just get lucky. It’s a nice feeling. Oh, and we won the game 4-3. Which was also nice.
Still no Wii. Though I think Sunday maybe the day I get up really early and stand (sit) in line. This thing tells me when stores are expecting shipments of Wiis, which is nice because the people who work at the stores tend to be clueless.
Lastly, I have been drinking too much coffee lately. Not because I tired and need a pick-me-up, but because it is fucking cold at my work. Any job I get better heat the place to something higher than 66 degrees.
So our thanksgiving dinner went well. We had 8 other people over including my parents, my brother and his wife, the scientist’s parents and grandmother, and our friend Grue. My cousins and aunt from the socialist state could not come not make it over as postmen and nurses do not get a 5 day weekend like some of us. I was looking forward to getting to see them… maybe next month.
Things have been pretty relaxed since everyone left. We’ve pretty much just hung out doing not much of anything (only a little bit of house work and some shopping). I can’t remember the last time I had this much time off in one go. It is amazing how much more motivated one is to do non-sitting-on-one’s-ass things, when one has been sitting on one’s ass for a couple of days. With that focus, I will do some looking around for employment opportunities (not sure what I am looking for…) and maybe plan the built in bookshelves/cabinet/drawers for our loft. The scientist is planning on using the space for an office where she can do work and have space for the baby, which means I need to try and get it done by May (though I’m hoping to get it done in by the end of January). I’ll probably need to recruit some help as I’ve never done any framing… I’ll post the plans when I have them done. What I’d give to have a drafting table. Anyone know of a good open source drafting program?
The scientist and I caught the end of this 20/20 segment on Friday. It questions why women in America do not get more maternity leave, and why child care costs so much (upwards of $10,000 per year per child).
For example, of 168 countries surveyed in the world, only four offer no national maternity-leave program: Lesotho, Swaziland, Papua New Guinea, and the United States of America.
Not getting more time off could possibly make things a little difficult for us this coming May. I’ll probably end up working a 4 day week, but that means we have a kid in day care for 10 hours. Is that good for a two month old? Hell, why don’t I get paternity leave! We’re both going to probably use up a sizable chunk, if not all, of our vacation time. Anyway, it’s an interesting story (though I don’t think there is enough outrage… it seems like tired acceptance) and you can watch it if you don’t feel like reading.
I’m in the middle of reading through an article entitled, “How to steal an election by hacking the vote“. It’s pretty long but its purpose is to explain to everyday people how simple it is to mess with the electronic voting systems that are in place today and why it is important to have a paper trail. It’s a good read so far and I would recommend checking it out. Update: It looks like Quebec may throw out the electronic voting systems because they are not cheaper than manual systems and not as accurate or reliable.
You may be wondering why I haven’t commented about the big news more. Well, part of it has to do with being used to keeping it a secret and part of it is that I don’t know what to say. I’m excited and worried; happy and a little sad; e&c. I think that this will be a great thing but I’m sad that it will make everything change (expect for my job situation but I did just sign my PDQ so maybe I’ll actually get that raise I was told I’d get 3 or 4 months ago). Also, I think that I have become more interested in politics lately because I think I need to be now. I need to make sure that other people don’t fuck everything up for our kid… though maybe it is already too late.
Okay, so the election is coming up shortly (when is that? November 7th!) and it looks like there are more ballot issues in NH. This time its the absentee ballots, so if you are from Dover, Lebanon, Nashua, Gilford, Newington, Fremont or Canterbury make sure you get an updated ballot. Also, while you are thinking about who you should vote for, check out how much the War on Terror in Iraq is costing us.
I know I can’t pay this, I have a little one on the way.
Note: There is a debate Tuesday 24th of October at 7pm (i.e. Tomorrow) between Jeb and Carol. If you live in NH-01 it might be good to check it out.
Update: There was actually a poll taken in NH! This is the first one I’ve seen. The margin of error is 5%, which makes both races neck-and-neck.
1st CD
Bradley (R) 49
Shea-Porter (D) 37
2nd CD
Bass (R) 39
Hodes (D) 48
Fun with stuff, or, lists are lame
