slight pain in the tranny

You know, the transmission in cars is so expensive, it makes me wonder why they even use them in the first place...

Maybe its just my over heated brain talking. I skated to the car place in 100 degree heat...twice. Woo!

I also started doing some slight attic prep work. I was rolling up the insulation that was laid down on the attic floor and even started stapling some of it up to the roof beams. Well I think I just about cooked myself doing that, so I decided to stop until it cools off. And this was at 10 in the morning when the temp was only 91 outside...

Anyone who still thinks global warming is imaginary needs to wake up and smell the freon!

like sharks!

If you ever want to see a feeding frenzy, offer free kitty litter on Freecycle. You'd think I was giving away gold bullion.

i am not dead

Just busy changing diapers.
Oddly enough, this has been one of the best vacations I've had in a long time. I sorta don't want to go back to work. But on the other hand, I won't mind getting back to the routine at work. Felix has been sleeping longer and waking fewer times at night the past few days, which I think helps all around. On the flip side, he's awake a lot more during the day and its not exactly clear what to do with him all the time.

lucky and happy

Yes, Felix is from the Latin root felix, which means, among other things, lucky, happy, and prosperous.

Not sure what the etymology of the name Scott is. I think it has something to do with tape and plaid.

first night

I now understand.

itsaboy, of course

yep.
Felix Scott. Born at 9:02am today after about 6 hours of labor, without the aid of any drugs (momma progressed to 10cm before they could even say the word "anesthesiologist."
7lbs. 11oz. 20.5 inches. curly brown hair and deep blue eyes.
he's just about perfect. ok, I'm wrong. he IS perfect.

carseat inspector or doorframe of doom

Yesterdya after work i toork our carseat down to the police department to have it and its installation inspected. Passed. BUT as i was leaving our house to go to the inspection I managed to slam our inside front door on my right index finger, tearing away a good hunk-o-flesh down to the nailbed and generally inflicting a lot-o-pain. That is, once feeling returned. Initially you have sort of a dull sort of "pain message" that lets you know "Uh oh, that was some dmage" but doesn't let you know whether or not your finger has just been cut or cut off. And it looked a lot worse than i think it runed out to be. Don't get me wrong, we're talking some deep hurting here, but I first though that maybe my finger had been skinned down to the bone/nail from the first knucle down. After switching the bandaid last night, I saw that it was a scapre from the first knuckled down, but it only got deep a millimeter or two up from the cuticle, so I don't think my nail is going to fall off. I think the worst part is that the end of my finger was smashed, and I'm cultivating a nice big purple fingernail. So now my finger just throbs all day and only sends sharp pain when I accidentally bump my nail against something hard straight on.

In other news, when googling for gunshots in powderhorn, I found myself on the first page of results! I also found out that Minneapolis is installing gunshot detectors this summer, which supposedly are pretty accurate and can drastically improve police response time and likelihood of them locating a victim or perpetrator. That's A-OK with me. I also found that the Pioneer Press had a better article than the Trib on the 4th of July shooting at Toni's Market.

busy busy busy

Today is filled with mind-numbingly repetitive tasks. Ugh. It is times like this that I am glad I found Pandora. Here's my own radio station I'm listening to. about 75% of the tunes it serves up I really like, or at least don't hate. The station is based off of the song "Plug Me In" by Add N to (X). Here's the station for those who want to see what powers me though the day today: Plug Me In radio
Some of my recent favorites: Take me to Your Leader, pretty much anything by LCD Soundsystem, etc. Its a good station.

wowsers

I actually completed everything on my to-do list yesterday, including installing the carseat base.

Just as well. We spent the entire evening (after 10:00pm) on a Kinko's Odyssey on par with Andrea's MCAD days. It was glorious.

goes to eleven, again

So, I take the dog for a walk or a skate around the park almost every morning, sometimes once or twice in the evening as well. I feel like I've actually been spending a lot more time outside than I usually do, which is sort of impressive considering that I have almost no yard to speak of so barely any yard work. I have a push mower that I use for about 30 minutes a week...or every two weeks depending on the rain. So, I've been getting a lot more fresh air time, lots of walking, etc, which is good since I haven't been sticking to a consistent aikido schedule in the past two months. Well, today I went. Of course, the last intro series ended a couple weeks ago, so Saturdays are now all-student classes, which are both longer and harder than the regular classes. Needless to say, I over did it. About 3/4 of the way through I had to take a break and leave the mat, get some water, start breathing again...

Yeah, it can be a pretty tough activity not because you are getting thrown around, but because you keep doing it over and over and over and over. It is the repetition that really gets me. I'm sorry to say that all of that great work I did during the early part of last year when i first started aikido might have been undone by my 2nd and 3rd trimester inactivity, especially having missed so many classes. I might have tested for pre-sixth kyu, but I just hadn't gone enough and I didn't want to rush it. The next test is in August or September, then in December. I'm not trying to fast track it anyway. I'd rather be much better at my technique when I test than just working my ass off to get good enough to pass. I'd like to pass with a wide margin. Granted, my next test is a pre-kyu test, but still...

In other fitness news, since the basement is somewhat my domain, Andrea has finally allowed me to put up a chin-up bar. You may not know or remember this, but when I was finishing up college and was living on my own, I had put up a chin-up bar in the bathroom doorway of my studio apartment. It was a great diversion for whenever i was bored or waiting for something. I think chin-ups are a great exercise for building strength and toning your entire upper body. Well, it is something i have missed for years. Now i have my chin-up bar again and I'm baby stepping back to beter shape. I used to be able to do 20 chin-ups! Right now I can only do 6. I'm sure that my arms are weaker and it also doesn't help that I'm about 15-20lbs more than I was back then. Yep. I had a regular physical a couple weeks ago and i weighed in at 192lbs. Yes. I may be stocky, but I really shouldn't be pushing two bills that closely. I'm sure my ideal weight is something like 172 (or if you go by height alone it would be 160 according to most BMI calculators).

So, here's to getting healthier, and being able to push it to eleven without passing out.

the got god better

Can you tell my mother is dyslexic? That was supposed to read, "The Dog Got Better", as in, I didn't take him to the vet because.

Am I dyslexic? Only when I type.

sick as a dog

I'm not sure where this saying comes from, but my Ash is currently sick. Starting yesterday he has had constipation and diarrhea. He hasn't been eating or drinking as much as usual and he wants to go outside to go to the bathroom frequently, though he never gets out more than a squirt or two of a slimy brown/green substance. Well, he ate sometime yesterday and at some other time dumped a big poo-puddle on the new rug that is under the baby's crib. Very unlike him. he also was constantly waking Andrea and I all last night to take him out so he could try to poo (unsuccessfully). The only thing I can think of is that maybe the pork bone he ate at the park on the 4th might have created some sort of blockage or just not agreed with him. or maybe he ate something else off the ground that his tummy didn't like. He has been eating grass every chance he gets, it seems. Consensus on the internet is: Dogs eat grass but no one knows why.
Andrea checked him a while ago and his nose was hot and dry (dog fever indicator). He seemed to be plenty energetic when we went for our morning skate around the park, but Andrea says that he's done nothing by lie around all day. Well, he has an appointment tomorrow morning. We'll see what the verdict it.

hate the smoke, love the smoker

Since the smoking ban in restaurants and bars went into effect last year something interesting has happened. The second hand smoke has been pushed out of the confines of the bar and grill and out into the general public. Every bar and eatery scrambled to set up "patio seating" which in some cases meant as little as putting a rope or chain up around the group of smokers outside the front or side door all the way to constructing elaborately themes open air patios on annexed sections of the parking lot for food and beverage service. The Onion did a whole section on smoking around the twin cities last week. It had maps and everything.

Here's what I have noticed, though. We have effectively moved the smoking section (which was a flawed notion to begin with) from the inside where it affected the patrons and employees of said establishments to the outside where it affects mostly non-patrons and those patrons who may have been silly enough to prefer eating in the "fresh" open air. Whats better, down town where the bars only have frontage on sections of sidewalk, they have turned every available space into "outdoor patio seating" to accomodate smokers. In many cases, this means putting tables and chairs full of smokers on the very same sidewalks that anyone who is a pedestrian must use if they want to get from point A to point B. So now you don't have to wade through smokers to get from the bathroom to the bar but you do have to wade through the smokers if you want to get from the bookstore to the bus stop. As if bus stops weren't bad enough with their own smokers (why does everyone who rides the bus smoke???).

Some might say, "Exactly! Let the people smoke in the bars!" but to that I say, "No no no, we just haven't gone far enough. If we're going to ban smoking, lets do it right and ban smoking in public completely." After all, if all smoking in public is illegal it is more easily policed and enforced. No more effing butts all over the place, no more homeless people bumming smokes off you while you're trying to eat your lunch outside (in the new smoking section, apparently), no jerk-off Trump wannabe walking down wind with his stench-ass cigar.

We don't allow shitting in public and that doesn't even cause cancer or really have any affect on bystanders (other than the unpleasant odor) provided it is cleaned up within a reasonable amount of time. There's no shitting in public lobby, though, so I don't think we'll see it happen anytime soon.

Love the smoker but hate the smoke? No, I say where there's smoke, there's smokers. Can't exactly have one without the other. It's not my fault they got their stupid ass hooked on something that's legal. They don't have any right to smoke any more than I have a right to eat cheese curls. If you want to let people smoke then you have to let them get suicide assistance, euthanasia, and abortions at every mall. You also have to let them shoot people and spread disease without repercussions.

I say enough coddling the smokers. Where there's smoke, there's fire. It is utterly hypocritical to legalize tobacco smoking and alcohol but outlaw nacotics, hallucinogens, barbituates, abortion, gay marriage, prayer in schools, any of it. Splitting hairs.

july 5th - new holiday

Hey, I would like to propose that July 5th be made national pick up all of your fucking fireworks garbage day (PUYFFGD!). When I took the dog out this morning I expected to see a lot of litter in the park from all of the cook-out activity from yesterday. Actually, almost all of the garbage in the street, on the sidewalks, everywhere, was the remnant of exploded store bought fireworks. So, as every law-breaking god-given-right exercising American patriot enjoyed the splendor of their own personal and amateur tribute to Old Glory, it is only right that said public disturbance in the name of freedom, liberty, and high gas prices has to put on an orange vest and comb the neighborhood with a plastic glad bag and clean their own shit up.

As a tax paying home owner, I now feel justified in getting all hot and bothered about people leaving their trash every where, especially in my neighborhood and park. It's bad enough that they have to be killing eachother. I want clean streets and neighborhood, in every sense. Grrr. Get some effing respect you douchebags.

On a lighter note, I take some small comfort in the fact that the shooting that happened yesterday was not some random robbery, but more likely a falling out between acquaintances or possibly a gang-related killing. I know, no shooting is good shooting, but it is better that this was a directed assault on one person rather than a more indiscriminate crime like robbery which could happen to anybody.

Also, I don't think it really connects on an emotional level that I actually HEARD someone get killed. Intellectually, I know what happened, but on a gut level...I just try not to think about it too much. Especially since we just took our infant CPR class (which also covered Child and Adult CPR) last week and I'm wondering if I had been closer/on the scene I might have somehow helped. The man/kid that was killed was shot and then made his way into Toni's Market to ask for help before he died. I wonder if anyone tried CPR on him before the cops arrived and I wonder if I might have made a difference, even if I had just looked out the window when we heard the shots. It's confusing and a little embarrassing that my instinct was to look but my logical/common-sense dictated "Keep your butt in your chair and keep reading the paper, don't get involved, you live here." Even with the goings on of the drug dealer/prostitution/whatever shady business across the street, it seems like my neighborhood isn't THAT bad...but there are no walls between my block and the next. The guys who did the shooting had a 1 in 4 chance of running down my street. Freaky people wander past our house all the time. I'm glad we have Ash, while he's a bit of a pain to get adjusted to new operating circumstance, seems to make a good deterrent. I let him bark at people in front of our house just a little. I WANT people to know that there is a dog at the house, a dog who is protective of his territory and his pack. He has a deterrent bark. A very deterrent bark. And I know that he will follow through if he has to. I find it oddly comforting to know that this dog bites on occasion.

not with a bang but a whimper

We went down to the park around 7:30ish to see what the entertainment and food offerings were like. Asaseya was there (Ghanaian) so Andrea and Glen were happy. I got me a porkchop on a stick and gave Ash the bone. Andrea's dad got tacos from the mexican food trailer. We all had mini-donuts. The music was...well...that gets an entry all its own.

Anyway, we ate, hung out for a bit, then went home so everyone else could go their seperate ways. Andrea and I headed back to the park after dark for the big show. I was on a mission to get mini-donuts for Andrea but the mini-donut machine was broken. I had to return empty handed. It is not a good feeling to return to a pregnant woman empty handed.

The fireworks were pretty good and our spot was really good. They were right in front of us, above the tree line (or not quite in some cases). Ash didn't appear to be scared by the fireworks at all, though he would stand up and look alert whenever a really big one went off. On the other side of a big pine tree from us someone had their dog and it was whimpering and whining the whole time, which did distress Ash quite a bit. Eventually Ash seemed to even ignore that other dog. We walked home amidst the throngs of people and instead of getting into our car and joining the motoized masses, we took a left turn up our front step and into our house, a mere 3 blocks from the fireworks.

Of course, after a fatal shooting and then a big fireworks display, I'm sure the neighborhood will be in utter disarray tomorrow. Probably more garbage everywhere than usual, too.

Signing out.

those aren't fireworks

And a happy 4th to everyone out there in blogreaderland. As it is the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, all patriotic Americans are practicing their God given (because in most places it is actually illegal) right to engage in the use of small explosive charges. So, you get used to hearing the cherrybombs and what not going off sporadically throughout the day.

Around 10-10:30 Andrea and I were eating breakfast at the dining room table and reading our respective reading materials when we heard "pap-pap-pap-pap". Andrea looked at me. "That didn't sound like fireworks." "No," I said, "those were gunshots." It sounded like they were just down the street. I fought the urge to run to the window and look around and see what I could see. Never know when there might be more gunshots. Besides, they sounded close, but not THAT close. So we went about our business. Several several hours later Andrea went out. She and Glen decided that today they were GOING to go to a beach and go swimming. Andrea calls me from her cellphone, "Uh, they have the streets all blocked off...I don't know if I can even get through to the other side of the highway." Well, ok, so now its hours later and i go outside and there's the police circus with the flashing lights and crime scene tape and everything blocking off the intersection of Chicago and 35th street.

Oh, the real reason I went outside was to set up a barricade over our parking spot in front of the house. Whenever something major happens at Powderhorn (I'm talking about fireworks and music at that park, not the shooting) it becomes hellish to park. SO I'm blocking off the parking spot for Andrea so she has somewhere to park when the yget back from their beach trip.

So setting out some metal chairs with "No Parking" signs and rope and whatnot and some crackety cracker says something like "That's a good idea!" and I asked him what happened, if that was from the gunshots this morning. Well, this guy was a wealth of information. Like right out of a movie. I asked him if it was a robbery or a gang shooting and he said, "Oh this was a gang shooting all the way. That guy ratted on somebody for something that happened in North Minneapolis last week so they came down here to get him. He sure didn't live through that. He ran into Toni's [Market] to try and get away." So, whever all thisbackground came from, I don't know. The guy had scabs on his arms and was missing teeth. One of those guys who just loves to talk to anyone who will listen. A lot of times the best way to disengage that type of guy is to just stop talking and walk away.

Here's the first article on the shooting.

one more

Oh yeah, and I mailed in our first mortgage payment. Woo. Somehow, it feels nothing like paying rent. Weird.

ready

Regardless of how prepared Andrea and I might feel, the baby is this week considered to be full-term (37 weeks). Andrea is of course ready to have this over with. The novelty wore off months ago when her waistline disappeared and her back started hurting. Add to that the loving abuse she gets in the form if kicks to her diaphragm, ribs, and other major organs, and yeah, she wants the little guy out. For whatever reason, though, she seems to think that he will probably hang out until his due date (the later one, of course) at least.

I was let in on a somewhat natural tradition in her family; both she and her brother were born on the full moon, or at least their mother did not go into labor until the full moon. Andrea was 3 weeks late. The very next day they were going to induce, but that night (the full moon) her mother went into labor. I don't know if her brother was very late either, but it sounds like the same thing. So she's already checked the calendar and that means either being born soon (July 11th) or late (August 9th). We shall see. Of course we'd like to see him sooner rather than later, but you know, whatever happens happens. Aug 9th isn't late enough that they would have induced by then. July 11 is early, but not so early that there should be anything to worry about. Like the doc said a couple weeks ago, "Take any opportunity you have to go into labor." Whatever that means. Like Andrea is going to chekc her planner and say, "Oh, I have a block of free time between the 7th and the 9th. I think I'll pencil the labor in there."

weekend warrior

So this weekend I built a chest of drawers and installed hundreds of dollars worth of roll-up shades. Laid out in one sentence like that makes it seem like so little. Oh well.

I also unpacked about 4 boxes of books and did what felt like 20 loads of laundry.

Crimeny, I know I did just a ton of stuff this weekend but when it comes to listing it all out it seems like so little.

Granted, building the chest of drawers was preceded by what seemed like a twelve hour trip to IKEA (though it really was maybe 2 hours at the most).

Ok I guess I have taken the dog on about seven walks, went to Trader Joe's, the dog park, Target, and the Wedge. And on top of that it's been 80 degrees in the house for the past couple days. Well, it gets up into the 80s starting at around 11am, depending on what we're doing. So, as I write this, hopefully the house is cooling. I, of course, am in the basement. I just finished shelving books, and it is nice and cool in the basement. If i had my way, I'd get a couch down here and just sleep down here during the summer.

Oh, and we stopped at a yard sale that was being held by a bunch of latinas that was like a baby-supersale. We picked up a Graco storller for $25 that should probably work with our Graco car seat. And Andrea put all the baby clothes and diapers and such away in the chest of drawers...

well, regardless of how little it looks like in print, I did a lot this weekend and now I need to break...which is oddly, going to bed and then going to work. woo.

Having spent plenty of time walking the dog this weekend, I will say that I really like Powderhorn Park. On Tuesday they do an annual 4th of July shindig at powderhorn that we plan on going to. should be cool.