baseball card obsession

ESPN’s Eric Neel of Page 2 ran a story today about the memories of collecting baseball cards and had a little link to send a sound off to tell your own story about the hobby. I doubt mine will get printed, but below is what I sent in.

I should mention that I still have my baseball cards. Additionally, my father-in-law started buying complete Topps sets since his first son was born in 1985. Neither of his sons were interested much in baseball or baseball cards (turns out he should have been collecting comic books) but I think I convinced him not to sell them and to save them for his grandkids. Here’s hoping that Ethan gets a crap load of cards that he can pass off to his grandkids.

My baseball card obsession began on two fronts in 1986. I, like Kieran
Darcy, acquired a Mattingly card, but it wasn't his '86 card, it was his 1984
Topps rookie. And I didn't get it in a trade; I got it “flipping” doubles
with a junior-high friend. I was a huge Yankees fan and when I landed my
card (a double of some nobody, I’m sure) face-up on his Mattingly, I knew I had a card of value. I later told him what Beckett's had it priced at ($30
then), and told him I'd give it back. He told me to keep it—I’d won it
fair and square.

My other obsession in 1986 was obtaining every Pirate in the Topps set. I have lived in Pittsburgh my whole life and the Pirates were my second favorite team. I got the entire team and eventually had doubles and triples of most of the team. I traded the duplicates to a friend who was moving away. Or so I thought. Later, after his family moved, I discovered I had given him my complete Pirates team set.

the pain of porting (or, there and back again)

I made a mistake. Thankfully, I was able to correct it without causing too much damage. I recently tried changing cell phone providers. I ported our cell phone numbers from Verizon to Cingular. And then I ported them back. That’s the short story. Here’s the long version.

Back in April, I was contemplating switching from Verizon to another cell phone company. My 2-year contract had expired, and I was looking for a better deal. I logged onto Cingular’s website at work and there was a message on the screen stating something like “Welcome Company X employee” and all of the pricing was discounted because of who I work for. The savings was significant and my wife’s family is all on Cingular, so I thought, why not.

I ordered two Nokia phones (one for me and one for my wife). With the 2-year agreement, they were free. I even got a car power adapter for free. I didn’t even pay shipping. The phones shipped out and I received them three days later. In the packaging was a form letter explaining that the service could be cancelled without paying the activation fee within 3 days of ship date. Since I received them 3 days after ship date that was out the window, but since I was saving all kinds of money, who cared? I had 30 days to cancel and return the phones to not have to pay the outrageous cancellation fees.

The phones were pretty nice. They were camera flip phones. The camera wasn’t going to replace my Canon Digital Elph, but it was neat. I downloaded some Penn State wallpaper, loaded in all my phone numbers, and even found a new ring tone. Then Friday came and the shit hit the fan. I’d had the phones less than 2 weeks.

Riding the T home from work, I had almost zero coverage. Only at major stops could I even get a signal. My Verizon phone always drops out in two places, but this was horrible. I couldn’t get a hold of my wife and I was trying unsuccessfully to order a pizza to pick up on the way home from the park and ride lot. I was pissed.

I immediately called Verizon. I wanted them to let me back in. They obliged, but I had to sign up for a different plan. No problem. The new one is more, but I don’t have to worry about roaming anymore and we get more minutes each month. They even waived the activation fee since I’d been gone less than 30 days. I’m back and wish I had never left.

That’s when the real problems started. Since I ordered the Cingular phones on-line, I wasn’t sure how to return them. I called their 1-800 number and was told I could return them at any Cingular store. By the time I was able to get to a store, it had been about 35 days since I had first switched to Cingular. I had also received a $511.36 bill which included early termination fees.

I went to the one at South Hills Village mall on a Monday evening, and the store was surprisingly crowed for 7pm. I had come to the mall with my wife and the kids, but she said she’s do some shopping while I waited. I waited. And waited. As I waited, the two clerks had helped exactly 3 customers. Finally, an hour and a half later I got my turn. I explained that I was trying to return the phones and that they were bought on-line. She said they wouldn’t take them. I told her someone from their 1-800 number told me to bring them to a store. We argued. I got upset and made a scene about how I had waited patiently, FOERVER, for shitty customer service. I left and called the 1-800 umber as soon as I got home.

I got the runaround. The first person told me I needed to talk to This department. This department told me I needed to That department. That department sent me back to the first department (the ones who said to talk to This department). Finally, someone gave me an address for Cingular’s returns department in Fort Worth, Texas.

I sent the phones back, insured, with delivery confirmation. Then I got a bill last week. Still for $511.36. I called, fuming. I talked with a woman who said they had indeed received the phones and she put me on hold. After a little while, she got back on and said she not noticed I had called a number of times trying to return the phones (apparently the customer service folks were actually logging my calls and not just giving me lip service). She said they would waive the early termination fees and that I only owed for the unpaid service used. I thanked her for being the only person I had dealt with who was any help.

So, I’m happily back with Verizon. And, as it turns out, they too give a discount to employees of my company. Go figure.

we've been busy

I haven’t posted in a while. Some people think it’s funny that my daughter’s blog hasn’t been updated in over a year. We’ll see how well he manages two kids. Anyway, the past couple of weeks, Beth and I have been redding-up the outside of our home in preparation for Natasha’s second birthday party. Or parties. We had one for our friends and their kids on Saturday and another for our family on Sunday. We tore down the old awning frame, planted and mulched the front yard, built a swing set/play house and rebuilt the stairs that lead up to said swing set. This was done primarily in either 90 degree heat or the pouring rain.

We got it all done. The parties were a success and the yard looks nice. Now we can relax in the backyard for the rest of the summer and have picnics on the back patio. Bring on the burgers.

it's a boy!!

We were instructed to arrive at Magee at 4:30. AM. Traffic is pretty light at 4:30 in the morning. We parked the car and walked into the ER entrance. They directed us to the second floor. After Beth registered, we were taken down the hall (ahead of a couple who was there before us, YES!) and shown into delivery room 3.

Beth’s OB/GYN stopped by around 6:30 to break her water. Things got pretty speedy from that point on. By 8:00 she had received her epidural and by about 9:45, she started preparing to push the baby out. At 10:12 AM on 04/05/06, 9lb 2 oz Ethan James came into the world. Dad nearly passed out.

lap top

No, I didn’t purchase a new computer. Wish I could though. No, my new computer arrangement is far from portable. After I finished the floors in the old master bedroom (or new playroom/ den/office), I had to clear out the old office (or new nursery) so that I could finish the floors in there. I’m now done with the floors in both rooms. However, I still need to get the baseboards, doors, and trim installed.

This has led to a problem in the old master bedroom (or new playroom/den/office). All the stuff from the former office is piled up in there in the middle of the room so that the baseboards can be installed. Then, I will put the shelves and desk against the walls and fill them with the rest of the stuff. Since all this stuff is piled up on the floor and the desk had to be taken apart to get it out of the old office, the computer is on the floor too.

So I have a “lap top”. I sit on the floor and lean against the wall. The monitor is in front of me with the CPU behind it. The keyboard sits on my lap. The DSL modem is connected to the phone jack on the other side of the room. It’s pretty much a ghetto set-up, but it is working fine for now. I’m just happy to have the floors all done before the baby arrives. My list of things to do is still a mile long, but the part that makes the most toxic fumes is complete. And I can still get on-line.

working hard

Way back in October, I wrote about how we needed to get some work done around the house before the new baby made his or her arrival. Well, I finally got that ball rolling. I’ve been busy the last week and a half.

The weekend before last, I started to clean out the old master bedroom (our bedroom is an addition on the first floor). There was a lot of stuff that we threw out (we actually packed a lot of this stuff up when we moved two years ago—why didn’t we just toss it out then?) and some stuff we gave back (my mom had given us a antique tea cart that we had in our dining room in the old house but had no where for it in this house). Some stuff was set aside for a yard sale we hope to have this summer. The rest of the stuff had to be moved out of the way until the project is complete.

Out of the way is a misnomer. There is furniture in Natasha’s room that doesn’t belong (an antique rocking chair and table, a small Ikea couch, and some framed paintings. In the office is a leaf to our dinning room table, an area rug, and a TV. In the basement is just about everything else.

Anyway, the room was cleared of all furniture and miscellaneous crap. Next I had carpeting to remove. The carpet was in pretty nasty shape, but not as bad as what we took out of the office (soon to be the new nursery) or Natasha’s bedroom. The carpet padding went out next. Then, about 10,000 staples. Apparently, the jackass who installed the carpet A) was using the power stapler for the first time and B) didn’t care about the hardwood floors he was being paid to cover.
By this point, I was in “destructo-mode” so I tore out the carpet tack, the baseboards, and the trim around the doors. The only thing left was the ceiling fan and the door. I even got out the power saw to cut down all the wood so I could box it for pick-up.

Friday night I went to Home Depot to rent the drum sander. A drum sander is kinda like a $4,000 lawn mower. Except that it sands instead of cuts. You walk behind it and use a lever to drop and raise the drum onto the floor. After three hour of sanding the white oak was looking quite nice. Sunday, I rented an edger sander and cleaned up the edges that the drum sander can’t reach. After an hour and a half, I had what looked like brand-new hardwood floors.

Tonight I have to stain them and Friday I’m taking the day off to add the polyurethane. By next week, I hope to have the furniture moved back in so I can start on the room that will become the nursery.

The floors look awesome right now though. I said something to Beth about how glad I am to be done and she asked, “Done?” I seem to have forgotten that there is still another room to sand and stain, rooms to be painted, baseboards and doors to purchase and install, and a bathroom that needs to be remodeled too. Looks like I have the longest “honey-do” list ever.

here we go

I live in Pittsburgh. In case you are not from Pittsburgh or have just been living under a rock lately, the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl. Super Bowl XL (Roman numerals for 40, not an abbreviation for extra large) is in Detroit. Detroit, coincidentally, is the hometown of Pittsburgh’s beloved Jerome Bettis. Jerome is very likely playing the final season of his illustrious career and is hoping to finally capture a ring in his hometown.

I’m a pretty big fan of the Steelers. I have to be...it’s practically a requirement to being born in Southwestern Pennsylvania. I’m not as big a fan as say, John Kelly. Mr. Kelly teaches an honors course on ethnic relations in the Big Beaver Falls Area Senior High School in Beaver, PA. Last Friday, a student in his class named Joshua Vannoy came to school wearing a Denver Broncos jersey. Last Sunday, the Steelers played the Broncos in the AFC Championship game (and won in an overwhelming fashion).

Mr. Kelly’s class was taking their midterm last Friday. Allegedly, Mr. Kelly told Josh to get out of the chair he was sitting in and instructed him to sit on the floor to take his exam. He also (allegedly) instructed the other students to move their desks into a circle around where josh had been asked to sit. Mr. Kelly then allegedly passed out paper to the students and encouraged them to toss wadded up paper balls at Josh.

WOW. Talk about taking your team pride seriously. It seems that some of the students insist this was all a joke. Some students have even said that Josh was laughing through most of this. However, Josh has stated that he went to the Principal about the matter and that he told his parents who have (surprise!) hired a lawyer.

Mr. Kelly doesn’t seem to think this is a serious matter. He was quoted as having said on Monday, “We won the game [Sunday] night, didn't we?" That's all I was worried about.” The Principal and Superintendent do think it is a serious matter, however.

That all aside, I have a question. Did the young Mr. Vannoy really think it was a good idea to wear the Broncos jersey in Steelers Country the Friday before the biggest game (to that point of the season anyway)? On a day that most in Southwest PA had officially declared as Black-and-Gold Day? If his skin isn’t thick enough to deal with the taunting that would obviously come to such actions, maybe he should have kept the Broncos jersey in his closet.

That said I am not condoning Mr. Kelly’s actions, if they are true. No teacher should ever take entertainment (and yes, the NFL IS entertainment) more seriously than his or her students.

My guess is that come next Friday, Josh won’t be wearing a Seahawks jersey to school. I doubt there’s a store in the tri-state area that would sell him one anyway.

post update I

I have a friend who does this and I like the idea, so I am shamelessly stealing it.

monkey see, monkey do

I still haven’t totally cleaned up my mouth, but I am watching what I say. Thankfully, Natasha isn’t walking around the house swearing although “sit” really sounds a lot like “shit” sometimes, but we know it’s just “sit”.

food fight

Natasha now tries just about anything. She loves cherry tomatoes, black olives, and most any fruit. She doesn’t usually like chicken, except the nuggets from Chick-fil-A. Meatballs are a favorite, but not hamburger or meatloaf. Pancakes, hot cereal (instant oatmeal), and sausage are her favorite breakfast foods. She still doesn’t eat a lot of sweets, but Eat-N-Park Smiley Cookies are a favorite.

highway robbery

The car *DID* need new brakes. Unfortunately, I didn’t find that out until it needed new rotors too. And new tires. I still hate mechanics and cars.

what’s your name, little girl, what’s your name?

Katrina Rita is still our girl name. We have no boy name (although James will definitely be the middle name if we have a boy). Beth likes Gavin (I don’t) and I like Ethan (Beth doesn’t). We went through this with Natasha, so it’s our thinking that this child will be a boy. We don’t know for sure; it’s just a hunch

changing spaces

We’ve done zero work getting rooms ready for baby number two. In fact, we actually started destroying other parts of the house instead. We stripped wallpaper in the hall leading to our bedroom and Beth’s uncle took out a bulkhead. The bulkhead tied in above our front door and he didn’t want to have to cut a notch into the oak door trim because of the bulkhead. The bulkhead is gone and we now have an overhead light in our entryway. April 11 is coming fast.

snack attack

I got ripped off again by the snack machine last week. I really wanted some BBQ potato chips. I paid for them, but the bag got stuck in the mechanism. I then paid again thinking the second bag (and last one in the machine) would push the first bag out and I’d have a bag for later. Instead, the first bag blocked the second. The second bag then exploded. Later on, someone else somehow managed to get my first bag to drop. They got a freebie.

Also, they replaced the machines on our floor today. There are two brand new machines: a snack machine and a bottle pop machine. No can pop machine. I don’t like bottles of pop. 20 oz. is more than I usually want. It’s also 50¢ more than a 12 oz. can. Also, the cans always seem colder. I hope a can machine is on the way, but I doubt it.

daddy? work.

These are words Natasha has learned to say. Mommy has been off this past week as school is closed for the holidays. Daddy on the other hand, has been at work. He even had to go on a vacation day because one of his staff members had a family emergency. While Daddy has been at work, Natasha has been asking Mommy where he is. Mommy told Natasha that Daddy was at work. So now, she goes around the house asking “Daddy?” and responding to herself, “Work”. Cute stuff.

can i take your order please?

One of the things my parents bought for Natasha was a small, wooden table and chairs set. It is currently set up in our living room right beside the new kitchen. Natasha likes to set the table and cook food on the stove. She also is pretty demanding that we have a seat and let her serve us.

She will point to the chair and say “sit”. If that doesn’t work she will pull our arm, point to the chair, and say “sit”. If that still doesn’t work, she will pick up the chair, carry it over to one of us, point to it, and say “sit”. You get the idea. Once you are seated at the table, she will hand out silverware, put food on the plates, and pour tea. There have already been days when I get home from work and she serves me food before we actually eat dinner. It’s very cute and quite fun. I will remember this stuff forever.

simply having a wonderful Christmas time

I knew Natasha would have a lot of fun on Christmas morning, but I didn’t realize how much fun I would have watching her. At first however, she didn’t even notice the large, odd-shaped bulk covered in wrapping paper across the room. She opened a small package that contained plastic food that Velcros together so that it can be “cut” apart. She was so excited with it that she ignored everything else for about 10 minutes.

Eventually, we were able to get her to open other gifts (plastic spoons, forks, knives, cups, plates, utensils and more fake food). Then she finally did notice the large, odd-shaped bulk covered in wrapping paper. It was a toy kitchen (apparently Santa went with a theme this year). It was out of the box and already assembled (Santa must have been at work late into the night at our house). It even had all of the batteries installed (Santa’s helpers should be thanked for having batteries handy...I think Santa forgot to bring enough).

Our families came over for brunch and not only did she open her gifts, but she passed out all of the gifts to everyone else. Later at GG’s, Natasha got some more toys. She was also enjoying helping everyone else open their gifts. She did this again at Nanny’s house. She opened every one of Pop’s gifts for him.

It was pretty magical watching her have so much fun giving. It was also fun watcher her opening stuff. She wasn’t greedy about it, but unlike her birthday, she opened her presents and seemed to understand that they were presents.

sparkle season

I say sparkle, not because I am trying to be PC but because I seriously see a sparkle in Natasha’s eyes when she’s looking at snow globes, or a Christmas tree, or our new lighted lawn deer. This is going to be the Best. Christmas. Ever.

She may only be 18-months-old and still not talking much, but Christmas is going to be so much fun. I am so excited about her opening her new toy kitchen on Christmas morning. She plays make-believe a lot already and I know she’s going to love the kitchen.

I’m also excited that Beth’s Uncle Ken has gotten some more work done around the house. Last night he stopped over to put up the mantle shelf above the fireplace that he made. Beth and I are so happy to have one again so we can put out our Nativity display. Our house even feels more “homey” with it.

Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of the year. How could it not be? I had my favorite decorations that my mom would put out around the house. I loved winding up the music boxes and plugging in the lights. I hope that the Christmas season is just as magical for her and sparkles as brightly as ever.

you give me fever

I got sick last week. It was mostly the stuffy, runny nose and itchy, burning throat type of cold. I’ve been through about an entire box of Kleenex and an entire Chap Stick. I’ve been doing shots of DayQuil in the AM and NyQuil in the PM. I blame it on the folks at the office. They spread germs like wildfire.

Since I was sick the latter half of the week, I wasn’t surprised that Natasha got sick as well. What scared me and Beth however, was the fact that she developed a fever Sunday night. Before that, we didn’t know she was sick. Afterward, it was blatantly obvious that she was.

It all began yesterday evening. We let Natasha nap as long as possible. We were heading to Benihana to celebrate her Pappy’s birthday. When Beth woke her up, she noticed Natasha felt warm. Since she was covered with her blanket, we hoped she was just warm from it. When we did take her temperature, we accepted the truth. 100.8 = fever.

We gave her some Tylenol and went to dinner...we are horrible parent, no? She was fine. She ate what we brought her (we didn’t expect her to eat hibachi-style food) and she sat in her high chair through dinner like always. We went back to my in-laws for dessert and it became apparent that the drugs were wearing off.

We got home and got Natasha ready for bed. We also learned an important lesson – don’t give a toddler with a fever a bath. She ended up shivering even though the water was at a normal temperature for her. While Beth got her dressed, she only cried. We gave her another does of the Tylenol and she cuddled with Beth on the couch for about 20 minutes. Let me be clear to say that she is never a cuddle-bug.

She slept for the next 4-½ hours, but woke up around 2:30am screaming. We gave her another does of Tylenol and she almost immediately went back to sleep. However, around 4:00 she woke up screaming again. We gave her some white grape juice to drink and she downed it faster than you can say “fever”. When she finished it, she wanted to play with her farm toys. We thought she should try to sleep instead. She did.

I feel like crap about all of this since I am most likely the source of our daughter’s first major illness. It’s hard not to panic too, but everything I read on-line today regarding fevers in small children has me a bit reassured. As long as it doesn’t last too long, I know it’s her body’s way of fighting the germs. Still, I can’t help but feel guilty for making her ill.

Matt said he wanted to see some new photos. Here are two we took today. I didn't want to post these on Tasha's blog because I know if I skip some time, I'll never go back and fill in. I'm not sure if these will stay here or not, but I'll leave them up for a little while at least.

The pumpkin patch at Trax Farms

Some leaves at a grove in the park.

snack attack

I usually don’t mind the vending machines here on my floor at work. Sure, they are overpriced compared to Wal-Mart of Giant Eagle, but it’s convenient. Besides, the prices are better than the “rip-off store” in the upper lobby of the building.

I’ve had a few lucky encounters with the machines. On a few occasions I’ve place change in the Pepsi machine (which mysteriously stocks Diet Coke...that has to be a violation of PepsiCo policy) only to have it returned to me. However, when I pressed the Pepsi button, I received a can of Pepsi; free of charge!

Also, the snack machine shows that the snack in B-9 is 80¢. However, if you press B-9, the digital display is only 50¢. Lately I’ve been getting Potato Skins for a 37.5% discount. Yes, I am a cheap bastard.

Today however, the machine turned the tables on me. It ripped me off. I wanted a Snickers bar in the worst way. It wasn’t that I trying to put out a fire in the office. I just wanted some chocolate. The candy bars in the machine are 70¢. I fed the machine a dollar. It was a fairly crisp bill, so the machine took it, no problem. No problem, that is until I tried to make a selection. The machine beeped at me and indicated that I needed to deposit 70¢. It should have dropped a quarter and a nickel into the change slot and spit out my Snickers bar. I tried another selection. Same result. A third selection; no food, no change. Then I pushed the coin return button. What a useless button. No change. My dollar didn’t come back out and four quarters did not drop into the change return.

Did I throw in the towel? Not me. I wasn’t yet ready to quit. I really wanted a candy bar, dammit. I tried to feed the blasted machine another dollar. Do you believe the nerve of the machine? It wouldn’t take it. I would have kicked it, but someone else had come into the vending area and I didn’t want to make a scene. I ended up walking down to the “rip-off store” in the lobby. The stupid candy bar ended up costing me 85¢.

cheap games

I have a Playstation. The old original one. I have about 8 games for it, but none that were bought in the past 3 or 4 years. I still have my Sega Genesis hooked up to the same TV the Playstation is connected to as well. I have less games for that. A couple of years ago I got a Nintendo Gameboy Advance. It came with a Zelda game and I bought Metroid. I have a handful of games for my PC including SimCity and Warcraft. What do I play? Free online games.

Right now, my favorite is the 8-Ball Pool game from Orbitz. It’s a flash animation game of standard 8-ball. I love it. I wish I could save it to my computer to play anytime and not just when I get the pop-up when I check out the weather on-line. So far, my record is barely over .500. I hate it when the computer nearly runs the table on me, but I still enjoy playing.

My other current favorite is more a puzzle than a game. It’s a numbers puzzle called su doku. Basically it’s a 9-row by 9-column grid. Additionally, these rows and columns make nine 3x3 blocks. The object is to get the digits 1 through 9 in each row, column, and block without repeating. The difficulty of the puzzles gets harder each day of the week. Usually, I find the ones at USAToday.com to be quite easy. The ones from the London Times are more difficult. I’ve never been very good at crossword puzzles (my vocabulary skills suck), but these puzzles keep me on my toes.

The best thing is these games are free. The web is full of free games. I played a Myst-like game on line the other day that I really enjoyed. It wasn’t all that difficult, but I still enjoyed it. I honestly don’t have the time to play an entire season on Madden ’06 let alone an entire baseball season on a PSP. At least this way, I can tap into my inner child without paying $39.99.

out of material

Good material is hard to find. No, I haven’t been looking for silk at Hancock Fabrics. I mean material for this blog. I should re-state that. My daughter gives me tons of good material, but I’m a first time father, remember. Just because I find something she does cute, humorous, or amazing doesn’t mean my two readers (or am I up to four) are going to think the same. I find my daughter’s animals sounds quite cute, but others may find them boring. How am I to know?

Also, this blog wasn’t supposed to just be about being a first time father. Still, as of late my social commentary has been fewer and further between than my reflections on being a new dad. I just haven’t found anything all that exciting to put pen to paper (or fingers to keys).

I’ve had writer’s block before. I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily the case here. I feel I am just having a hard time finding anything exciting to write about. Pittsburgh sports? Don’t care, after all it’s just entertainment. World affairs? Too boring. Local news? Either too grim or just uninspiring.

Hopefully, something will develop soon. Until then, I’ll keep searching for some new material.

changing spaces

There’s a lot that will need to be done around the house before April 11. It might not sound like much at first, but since we completed some similar projects while my wife was pregnant the first time, I know it will take a lot to “get ‘er done”. And having a toddler around this time doesn’t make it any easier.

First up is going to be redoing the largest upstairs bedroom. This one was the master bedroom before the previous owners added what is now the master bedroom. I need to clean out the furniture, rip up the carpet, refinish the hardwood floors, install new baseboards and install new doors.

I’ve done some of this work before. I refinished the floors in Natasha’s room. Using a drum sander isn’t difficult. It is noisy and it makes a dusty mess, but it was easy enough to do. Edging was more difficult, but even that wasn’t so bad. Staining the floors was simple too. Applying the polyurethane was the difficult part. The floors are supposed to be free of dust (they weren’t) and the coats are to be applied evenly (I missed a few small spots). The floors still turned out fine. I stained all of the woodwork, but we had my wife’s uncle install the closet door (I added Closet Maid shelving in there as well) and baseboards. He never installed the bedroom door though. It’s still in my garage.

This process will be repeated in the old master bedroom, which will become the new office/guest/playroom. Then it will be re-repeated in the current office, which will become the new nursery. This is going to be a busy fall.

The other project is refinishing the bathroom. The tub leaks and it is directly above the kitchen. We spent too much time and money helping her uncle remodel the kitchen to have the tub leak through and destroy it, so it will have to be replaced. The rest will get remodeled too, especially since the walls are fuchsia, the tile is pink, and the floor is cracked. The room needs to be brought out of the 1950’s.

My guess is that by the time these home projects are complete, the folks at Home Depot will know me by name.

what's your name, little girl, what's your name?

The day I wrote my last post, a major hurricane hit the Gulf Coast and subsequent flooding put most of the city of New Orleans underwater and into chaos. The disaster caused by the hurricane could be the mostly costly ever in United States history. It cost many people their lives and even more people lost everything they had. I don’t mean to make light of the events of that weather occurrence and its resulting destruction, but it may have cost my wife and I something as well.

Ever since we were pregnant with our first child we had some girl names that we liked. We had a boy name picked out (Nathan; Nate for short) that we were surely going to name the baby if it was a boy. Our boy name is no longer one we like and if this child is a boy, we may have a hard time naming him.

When our daughter was born, we hadn’t yet settled on a girl name. We liked Guinevere, Julia, and Daphne, but none were “for-sure” the name we wanted. When the nurse asked if she should put “Baby Girl” on the birth certificate, we said no and chose Natasha. Natasha was a name we liked and it’s the one we decided was right.

The other name we liked a lot went right along with Natasha, so if we had a second daughter, we had a name ready to go. The nicknames even sounded good together... Tasha and Trina. If you haven’t guessed it yet, our second girl name is Katrina. Yes, the name of the worst hurricane in U.S history. We aren’t so sure we want to name our child (if it turns out to be a girl again) Katrina. I imagine that for quite some time, people will question the choice of name.

This sucks. We already can’t find a single boy name that we like. Now, the girl name that we decided over a year ago might be taken from us as well. Arlene, Cindy, Emily, Gert, Irene, Maria, and even Ophelia. I bet that no one remembers these storms by April, but I have a feeling people will remember Katrina for a long time. I think we’ll keep it anyway. Who knows, maybe Ivan can be our boy name.

juice and gyros

The return of a pregnancy to our home has also brought the return of the cravings. Beth didn’t have the “peanut butter and pickles” type of strange cravings while pregnant with Natasha, but she did crave two things a bit more than normal. Those two things were fruit juice and gyros. Fruit juice was a hot commodity in our house during the first pregnancy and it has returned.

This time around, Beth was hoping to find some light fruit juices (as in fewer calories). Her doctor has asked her to steer clear of NutraSweet, but has said that as long as she limits her intake, Splenda is okay. The first light juice she tried was a white grape and peach juice cocktail. She couldn’t drink it. The peach juice was too much for her to stomach. I loved it. I usually hate artificially sweetened drinks, but it tasted great.

She has since discovered the Ocean Spray has some light cranberry juice cocktails. Right now we have light cran-grape and light cran-raspberry. I hate both of these, but I think it’s the cranberry that turns me off. I always enjoyed cran-apple, but these two taste bad to me. What really matters though is that Beth likes both.

The other craving is one I enjoy as much as Beth. Gyros are an interesting craving, but I love a good pita sandwich, so I won’t complain. This past Saturday we drove to the South Side to Mike and Tony’s gyro shop. Personally, I think they have the best in town. As we approached the store, we noticed that in the block next door (about 3 doors down) a new gyro shop had opened up. Mike and Tony’s isn’t the nicest place as far as looks are concerned, but the gyros taste good. This new place was bright and clean, but empty inside. Mike and Tony’s was as busy as ever (and mind you, it was about 2:30 when we stopped in; hardly lunchtime). Best part, it was as tasty as ever too. Here’s looking forward to more trips to the South Side.

big sister

Short post, but the subject says it all. We’ve been pregnant for about a month. Beth went to the OB/GYN today. Because of the eptopic pregnancy around New Year’s, she’s considered high risk. Our families have known since we took the home pregnancy test, but I thought my readers (all 2 of them) would like to know. By the way you two; when are you getting started on your family? Natasha’s little sibling is going to need a play friend.

surfer girl

Okay, so she can’t really surf. But Natasha LOVED the beach. She did ride a boogie board. Granted, she only rode it in the super shallow water along the shore and she rode it sitting instead of on her belly. But she’s only 14 months old. Nitpicking aside, the girl loved the ocean.

We went to the beach everyday. She got knocked over by the waves and would scream for a couple of minutes afterward, but she would go running back to the ocean once she was over it. She would sit in the shallow water and just let the waves crash on her.

[Let me make a disclaimer here for anyone who has not been to Hilton Head Island. The waves are very gentle and the surf is not rough.]

She loved the sand too. She didn’t mind it on her hands and legs. She seemed to like the feel of it in between her toes. She let people bury her feet and she loved wrecking the sand castles I made. She didn’t even cry when she got some in her mouth.

We know she loved it because when we got home and watched the video we shot of her on the beach, she went and put on her hat. We wouldn’t let her go to the beach if she took it off and I know she understood that. She also cried a little while we watched—she knew the beach wasn’t just across the street from out house like it was when we were there.

Next year ought to be even better. She will be a year older and will be able to do even more. I’m going to start looking into places to stay right now.

highway robbery

I took my car to the dealer last week. Before you scream, “you eediot!!”, read on. The air conditioner was not working (it hadn’t worked all summer actually) and it was still (barely) under warrantee. We dropped it off and the next morning they called and said that a rock must have put a hole in the condenser and that the Freon had leaked out. It was covered by the warrantee so we only owed the $50 deductible.

Then they tell me that since the car is near 50,000 miles, the transaxle and transmission fluids should be changed. We own a Jeep Liberty, so both suggestions make sense. I ask how much. They say (are you ready?) “$319 plus tax.” I politely declined their offer to complete the work.

A week later, I took the SUV to the local Firestone shop for the inspection and emission tests. The Liberty passed, but the guy told me the brakes are close to failing. He told me they could replace the brakes for about $250 for parts and labor. Again, I declined. After I declined, he warned me that they should be changed in about 2,500 miles or I may damage the rotors.

We leave for vacation on August 12th. I wanted to get the transmission fluid changed along with flushing the coolant since I am looking at a 1,400+ mile round trip to Hilton Head Island. My dad uses a car shop on the South Side and I gave them a call. I asked only for what the dealership had told me I needed: transmission and transaxle fluid changes. He told me about $120 for both including tax. That’s $200 cheaper than the dealer. Freaking criminals.

Wait, because it gets better. I took it to these guys today. Not only did I have them change the transmission fluid and the transaxle fluid, but I also asked that they rotate the tires, flush and fill the coolant, and check the brakes.

They did it all. Turns out the brakes were only halfway through their useful life. No danger to the rotors like the guy at Firestone had told me. More freaking criminals.

Total charge for all of these services? Are you ready?? $203.37. That’s still over $100 cheaper than the dealer’s quote on the transmission and transaxle fluid changes. That’s about $50 less than the brakes I didn’t need. Screw the chains. I’m going back to R&R K’s on 10th Street in the South Side next time the car needs to be repaired.

We’ve known for some time now that Natasha loves water. She has never really gotten upset over getting a bath and she likes swimming pools. Grandma has an above-ground pool that she’s been in a couple of times and for her first birthday, Uncle Billy and his girlfriend Jackie bought Natasha a wading pool and about 50 pool toys.

This is not your run-of-the-mill wading pool. This behemoth is about 5’ X 8’ and has a rainbow sunshade, 2 flower ball toss games, and a slide that is kept wet (and slide-able) by two dolphins that spray water all over the place. It’s a pain in the butt to keep it clean, it needs to be dumped every time it is used, and it takes forever to fill it up again, but Natasha loves it.

All of this positive water experience still left us as unsure about how Natasha would take to a large body of water. We’ll be heading to Hilton Head Island in about two weeks, so our trip last weekend to Deep Creek Lake was our feeler. If her reaction to the lake is any indication, the trip to Hilton Head should be tons of fun.

She loved it. I had her in the water off of the dock where the cabin we stayed at was located. At first, I had a float vest on her and I held her as we floated around the dock. Later, I put her in an inflatable ring and pushed her around. She kicked and screamed when I took her out.

The next day, we went to the “beach”. Again, she had a blast. We had her jumping the waves on the shore caused by passing boats. I held her out in the deep and she laughed and kicked the whole time. Once again, she kicked and screamed when we took her out. We’re pretty sure she loved the “beach”. At Deep Creek the sand is rockier than it will be in Hilton Head, but she still had fun digging in the sand and playing with her toys. The only problem was that she tried to eat it. Thankfully, she never got any in her eyes.

When we go to Hilton Head next later this month, we will have the best of both worlds. The house we are staying at has its own private pool and the beach is just a short walk from our front door. We will probably spend more time at the pool than at the beach, but I’m fairly certain Natasha won’t mind. As long as she’s in the water, I’m sure she’ll be happy.

field trip

Yesterday, I took the day off and we went to the Children’s Museum. Mom got a tour during a class she took there last week. We decided that before the summer ended, we would have to make a trip there. After realizing how busy the rest of the summer would be, we decided that yesterday was the best day for us to make a visit.

The building itself is actually three buildings. The original building was once a post office and has been home to the museum since 1983. The nearby Buhl Planetarium sat vacant for some time after the Carnegie Science Center opened. The building in between that connects the other two is all new and brought the expansion of the museum to its current size.

The museum is completely hands-on. This guarantees a fun experience for children of all ages. Myself included. Visitors are encouraged to touch nearly everything. Natasha seemed to like the waterplay area the best (no surprise there for Mom or Dad). There are two water pools. Once is for playing with water toys like ducks and toy boats. The other is a “river” that the kids can float a boat the build. There are locks, whirlpools, and a fan to blow sailboats around the river.

Where she had the most fun was in a section where water comes up from fountains in the floor. Bigger kids were attaching pipes and sprinklers to the fountains and Natasha had fun getting wet. Fortunately, the museum provides raincoats and rubber boots to keep kids dry.

We also painted, played in mud, shaped clay, sat in a Cooper Mini, and launched a parachute. Natasha played with a sand table, rode a see-saw, and played with a giant Lite-Brite. We rode a musical swing set, made umbrella flowers grow, and made styrofoam balls float in the air.

The Children’s Museum is a terrific facility in a terrific city. There was so much there to do and we will certainly visit again when our daughter is a little older and can interact with the exhibits on her own.

field of dreams

I finally got to the place I’ve always dreamed of visiting. You see, since about the fifth grade, I have been a Yankees fan. It all started with a Don Mattingly Topps rookie card that was worth about $27. It was about the most expensive card I ever had, and I won it trading cards with a friend by “flipping”. My card landed face-up on a pile of cards and one of those in the pile was the Mattingly rookie card. When I found out the value of the card, I asked him if he wanted it back. He said he already had one and that I won it fair-and-square. So began my love affair with Don Mattingly and the New York Yankees.

I know the Yankees are a tough team for a lot of people to love. Steinbrenner is a jerk and most people hate a team that has dominated the baseball world. The Yanks had an awesome stretch in the late 90’s into the early 21st century, and they had many championships in the 40’s-50’s too. But during Donnie Baseball’s stint at first base, the Yankees were not all that good. I remember walking down the beach at Ocean City wearing my Yankee cap and some guy asking “What, you’re still a Yankees fan?” Mattingly retired in 1995 and the next year, the Yankees won their first World Series since 1978.

Earlier this week, I finally made it to the House That Ruth Built. My roommate from college got married on Sunday in New Jersey and on Monday we made the trip into NYC. It was a trip decades in the making. I’ve been to NYC twice before, but the closest I had ever come to Yankee Stadium was seeing it at night from the Empire State Building.

We rode the D train Uptown to the Bronx. When we arrived at the 161st Street station I was excited. I was practically running. We stepped out into the sun and there it was....and from outside it looked like crap. It was hardly distinguishable as a stadium. We entered Gate 2 and I thought it would get better.

Not at first. The stadium is over 80 years old and it shows. I had heard many people complain that Yankee Stadium is not that great a ballpark, and I now know why. The concourses are narrow, the concession stands are few and far between, and the lines are long. We began to make it toward our seats. The stands are not great either. It reminded me of old Three Rivers Stadium... steep stairs, narrow rows, and small seats.

Once I got seated and was able to really take a look around, all these detractions were blown aside. Seeing the expanse of green in person was so worth it all. This is, after all, YANKEE STADIUM. What the stadium lacks in facilities is more than redeemed in its personality. This is quite possibly the best place to watch a baseball game. There is so much electricity in the air and the fans are so into the game. These people are here to support their team, or criticize them at any miscue.

(For a Pittsburgher, I compare this to a Steelers game. Everyone is totally behind the team, but as soon as the QB throws an INT or two, the boo-birds come out. Same concept here.)

Overall, I wasn’t disappointed. It wasn’t exactly what I expected, but I finally made a dream come true. I saw the Yankees play a game at Yankee stadium (I thought I was in heaven two summers ago when I saw the Yankees beat the Indians at the Jake in Cleveland). Better yet, I went to a game they won.

food fight

The eating habits of a 13-month-old are nothing if they are unpredictable. What Natasha eats one day, she might just spit out the next. Ravioli might be tasty today, but it could end up on the floor where it becomes cat food tomorrow. Chicken is okay some days and not so much on others. Only Cheerios and cheese seem to be the exceptions to this. And switching from formula to whole milk is not going too smoothly.

Don’t get me wrong. There are foods she likes. We just don’t count them as foods since they are junk. Cookies (Smiley cookies are a favorite), hulless popcorn, freeze pops, and Teddy Grahams have all been a big hit, but Mom and I aren’t ready to make these a major component of our daughter’s diet.

Part of the problem may be her teeth. Or lack there of. She only has two bottom, front teeth (although, one is coming in on the top). So, she either has to bite with her two teeth or mash food with her gums. I’m sure she finds either pretty frustrating.

The good news is that the past couple of days have been an eating boon. Either she’s hitting another growth spurt or she’s realized that she’s only going to get what we serve her until she can fend for herself. She’s been eating Spaghettios, mac and cheese, apple sauce, pita bread, and yogurt. She even like the Citrus Blast ice from Rita’s the other night. Like I said, unpredictable.

That said, she might go into “Operation: Shutdown” tomorrow. I hope she doesn’t though. It’s been nice having her eating real food.

daddy you can push my car (beep-beep beep-beep yeah)

Favorite birthday present, hands down? Her new pink push car. At her party, Natasha spent the better part of four hours letting anyone who was willing push her anywhere they wanted to push her (except Uncle Bri and Aunt Steppy—they were busy trying to get their car started). When she woke up the next morning, it was the first thing she wanted. Fortunately, she found her new Little People playset interesting, or we would have been pushing her around the first floor of our house.

That night, we took her out in the neighborhood on it. Hard molded plastic tires on blacktop are loud. The noise didn't even faze her. She didn't mind the noise and just bounced and giggled the whole time. She even realized the horn beeped when she pushed it. She tired out toward the end, but Mom had her out on it again yesterday. The threat of rain today has kept her off of it so far, but my guess is she’ll have ridden it once before day’s end. She loves it and Mom and Dad are getting some much needed exercise at the same time.

heartbreaking update

The premature baby I blogged about last time passed away yesterday. The mom and dad are having a private service and no viewing. I have no idea what they are going through and I keep them in my prayers.

count your blessings

There’s a guy that I know with who is a little older than I am. His wife is a little older than mine. I always thought they were the type of couple who didn’t want or couldn’t have children. He would ask about my daughter and I would relay stories of my daughter's latest “tricks”. About a month ago, he told me he and his wife were expecting a baby girl in late September.

He was pretty excited. I asked him if he was readying a nursery and he said they were indeed. He joked that he’d probably have some first time father and father-daughter questions for me as time went on.

Then, around Memorial Day, I heard some unpleasant news. His wife had developed pre-eclampsia and the only way to save her would be to deliver the baby. The baby was only about 24 weeks along. She had to be delivered via Ceasarian. The baby is touch and go, one day at a time. Her Mom and Dad have been practically living at the NICU of the hospital. So far, she’s fighting and I can only pray that she continues to do so.


Another couple I know is expecting their second baby. Their first is about 7, and they’ve been trying for a second for a while now, but they’ve had a couple of miscarriages. The last couple of days, Mom had been experiencing some severe lower back pain and today, she had some cramping.

She got herself to her doctor’s and the baby is fine. Mom might have kidney stones, but the test results for that won’t be in until early next week. I’ve been praying for them since I found out she’s been trying and kept miscarrying. I think her nerves are shot about now, but a little rest should be a big help.

When you are expecting a baby, you have all of these fears that you never had before. Will the baby be okay? Will she have 10 fingers and toes? Do we need to worry about Down’s? Did her ears develop okay or will she be deaf?

It doesn’t get any better after they are born healthy. Autism doesn’t start to show signs until around age 2. I constantly worry she might choke on food. Most bumps and bruises are minor, but I’m still fearful she might really fall and really get hurt.

The odds are greater for a healthy baby than one that’s not, but that never eases my mind. Everyday I thank God she’s healthy. In 377 days, I’ve never once taken my daughter for granted.

365 days

My daughter turned one today. Technically, she turns one tonight at 10:57pm, but for all intensive purposes, she’s one as I write this.

It’s been the fastest year of my life. She is so big already and there are no signs of slowing. She took her first steps on Memorial Day. It will certainly be an even more memorable Memorial Day now.

Last night, my wife and I read her Happy Birthday Moon before we put her to bed for the night and I started to cry. It’s all just happening too damned fast. People say that all the time, but it is true. I don’t wish anything away. I hate catching my wife or myself say “I can’t wait until she can....” because it makes it seem as though we want her to grow up faster.

Her big party is in a week and a half. There are nearly 100 people coming. It’s going to be a zoo. We’re having a picnic in the park. I just hope she doesn’t feel too overwhelmed. She usually does well at parties and the like (she’s been to two weddings and several other parties), so we aren’t too worried about that. It will probably be more stressful for her mom and me than her.

Having a daughter has been great. The last 365 days have had a huge impact on me. I’m still trying not to freak out over the little things. I’m still trying to figure out how I’ll help her pay for college. I love reading her new books and trying to learn the words to new songs (current favorite: “The Wheels on the Bus”, which I didn’t have to learn).

I wish we had been able to do more. I wish we had videotaped more, wrote more in her baby book, took more pictures. Nonetheless, my little girl has finished her first of many trips around the sun.

time suckage

I wish I could freeze time. It goes by too fast and it seems to be worsened by having a(n) infant? toddler? baby? in the house.

Which brings me to an aside. What, officially, is a nearly one-year-old considered? She’ll be one in 10 days (10 DAYS?!?!?) Where’d the time go?!? That question segues me right back to the topic at hand.

So much has gone undone. My wife and I just finished thank you cards last weekend. They were from the baby’s Christening. In August. It took us nine months to finally thank everyone for their generosity. We suck. I hope people understand. Our daughter’s baby photo album is stalled at documenting the delivery and my online version is only up to Christmas.

Here’s a look at a normal day. We get up, and while my wife showers, puts on her make-up, and fixes her hair, I make lunches, feed our three cats, get the baby’s bottles and food together, and iron our work clothes. Then, I shower, dress and load up the car while my wife picks our daughter’s clothes, stocks the diaper bag and wakes her up. From there it’s off to Grandma’s to drop Natasha off. Then we speed to the T station. From there I sleep on the trolley while my wife drives to work.

At the end of the day, my commute is more sleeping. When we get home, we make dinner and feed the baby and then play with her on the floor or take a walk. Some nights, I do work like cutting the grass. Then Natasha gets a bath, a bottle, a good night story, and then we put her down for the night.

By then it’s about 9:30 or 10:00. We try to do some things around the house (dishes, laundry, cleaning) or my wife works on stuff for work (she’s a teacher). Some nights I try to get on the computer to blog or just check my fantasy baseball team, and I feel especially guilty doing that if she’s downstairs grading papers.

It’s never-ending and it whizzes by so fast. I wish I could take a week-long vacation to spend time with our daughter, but I know there’d be a gazillion other things that would also need done. I have so much wood in my garage waiting to be stained. The unfinished maple toy box my folks bought the baby for Christmas is still not done either.

I cherish every second with my daughter though. I sometimes wish I had the video camera handy, but I know in the time it would take me to get it ready, she’s be done doing whatever cute thing she was doing. I hope that I remember all the cute little things. Hopefully, I’ll figure out a way to get a chance to write about more of them here soon.

music for the masses

Music is important to me. Let me make it clear that I have no musical talent. I couldn’t even play a flutophone in grade school and when my wife and I took Ballroom Dancing lessons, I couldn’t find the beat. I guess saying that music appreciation is important to me is a better statement, but it’s not like I enjoy classical music. I just want my kids to be interested in music and I’m praying they like something other than bubble-gum pop or rap.

I realize that my daughter is more likely going to be interested in the Brittanys and Jessicas of her time than she is the Wilcos and the Jack Johnsons. But I’m doing what I can to keep that from happening.

I’m sure most parents go out and buy all sorts of Disney sing-a-longs and Wiggles CDs for their babies, and while we bought a few of these, we play them infrequently. The three discs we play the most for our daughter are compilations of songs by bands we like. Two of them are For the Kids and For the Kids II. Both are packed with artists my wife and I enjoy (Guster, Barenaked Ladies, Matthew Sweet) singing children’s songs. The third disc is actually a mix CD I created and burned myself. This disc includes songs by the Smashing Pumpkins, Phish, the Beatles, and the Sundays (there’s actually a fourth disc she listens to every night at bedtime. The songs are all-instrumental lullaby versions of Beatles songs).

Listening to “our” music does create a problem. Language is the problem. We probably should be censoring what our daughter hears, but it is also important to me that she grow up actually having some taste in music. I love Ben Folds Five, but the other day when “Kate” was playing, I cringed when Ben sang “Everyday she wears the same thing / I think she smokes pot”. And “Battle of Who Could Care Less”....I love the bit about the Franklin Mint in that song, but see yesterday’s post for information on that subject.

I know some people who get so upset if a CD they buy has words like “hell” or “suck” in them. I’m not that extreme. I realize my daughter shouldn’t be learning swear words or lyrics about pot, but I know she’s going to hear about these things sometime. I’m also not a fan of censorship, so clean versions of songs aren't going to replace the ones with explicit lyrics. I’ll just have to try to skip those songs when she’s around. No matter what, there’s no way I’m switching out my Whatever and Ever Amen CD for a copy of ...Baby One More Time.

monkey see, monkee do

Sometimes I fear that I may be inadvertently creating a monster. Or, at the very least, a toddler with a trash-mouth. I’m discovering that a 10-month-old is really a lot like a sponge. She picks up on things quite fast, and if I don’t change my vocabulary, I’m going to be one embarrassed dad on a future visit to the local Giant Eagle.

The speed with which she learns new things is astonishing. She did the “So Big” thing (arms raised above her head) after very little demonstration from Mom and me. She claps when someone says “Yea!”, and we’re working on getting her to show people she’s one by using her pointer finger. Her First Birthday is quickly approaching. Which brings me to the possibility of needing to hide behind the cookie display at the local grocery store.

See, I have a potty-mouth. Actually, what I have is far beyond a potty-mouth. I think I would make truck drivers blush. I drop the F-Bomb like it is an ordinary word in ordinary conversation. And I don’t stop there, oh no. I use a lot of words that any child should have her mouth washed out with soap for using. Our daughter hasn’t really started to talk, but if I don’t learn to watch it, her first word isn’t going to be something cute like “kitty” or “ma-ma”. It’s going to be “sh*t” or worse.

What I really need to do is find a replacement word. I know, I know, that’s only a temporary fix and if I’m not careful, she’ll go around saying that instead. But it’s a start. Besides, it’s an understatement to say that going cold turkey is going would be difficult. I know I have to stop using my gutter mouth or die freaking trying.

blocked

So for the past 2 weeks or so I haven’t made a post. Sure, I have been busy. I had the taxes to do, which I had put off. Again. I’ve been posting for my daughter on her blog, so I haven’t done much on mine. I’ve also been doing some minor things around the house and yard. None of those things have kept me away though. It’s been writer’s block. I’ve been searching for the perfect situation to come up for me to write about how it relates to raising a daughter, but nothing seems to spur creativity. Instead, I have had a last post of April 8th staring me in the face.

Our daughter hasn’t had any major milestones either. Sure, she’s walking around if you hold her hands or if she’s pushing her cart-toy, but she hasn’t taken any steps. She’s still only got two teeth, which keeps us from feeding her much table food. Her vocabulary isn’t expanding, much to Mom’s disappointment (no “Ma-ma’s yet, and Mother’s Day is getting near).

I just can’t find any good material. There’s a new Pope, the Pirates are horrible, and last Friday was Earth Day, but none of this can be used for material. One of our cats has been peeing in our basement, our bathroom still needs to be updated and it snowed this weekend, but these subjects also don’t relate well to the theme of my writings.

There should be some good material on the horizon. At 10+ months, her first true steps have to be close. Her first true word can’t be far behind. June 2nd is quickly approaching and her Birthday Bash is just after that. I just didn’t want it to seem that I’ve been neglecting this blog or that I had given up completely. I just need to get past my writer’s block.

I'm the older sibling

Our daughter has three Uncles, and, for the foreseeable future, no Aunts. Two of the three are my wife’s brothers and until June, both are still teenagers. The third Uncle is my brother Mark who is 3-¾ years my junior. I don’t want to apply any undo pressure on him, but he is our daughter’s best chance at an Aunt out of the three by the end of this decade.

My daughter will grow up in a similar situation as mine. She will be the oldest sibling. She will be the one responsible for looking after the littler ones. She will be looked up to by them. They will be following in her footsteps for most of their childhood.

My brother and I got along as well as two brothers with nearly four years between them could. I would stick up for him when my friends started to pick on him, then beat the crap out of him if he ate the last Soft Batch chocolate chip cookie. He once chucked a Hot Wheels car at my mouth and chipped my tooth, and I once smacked him upside the head with a King Kong Wiffle bat. Still, we played around-the-world on our backyard hoop together and we played Name That Tune by humming songs to each other at night until Mom or Dad heard us carrying on and told us, for the last time, that it was time for bed.

During my High School years, we did less and less together. It’s an inevitable part of growing up as siblings. We still did things together: we played street hockey with the neighborhood kids or snuck onto the local golf course; but we didn’t do all the same things we used to either. It wasn’t until my last semester of college that we really spent a lot of time together as young men.

Mark got accepted our university’s main campus as a freshman by trading his summer vacation for a summer semester. That was my last semester at school. I lived off campus in an apartment and the school required him to live on campus. Still, we hung out quite a bit that summer, biking and playing tennis a lot. I haven’t really played tennis much since then, and I miss playing with him.

While he was still going to school, my girlfriend (and future wife) and I would visit him from time to time. Unfortunately when he had an internship in Philadelphia, we never got a chance to visit him and he has never let us forget that. Since graduating, Mark has transplanted himself in Washington D.C. We try to visit him there each summer, but with the pregnancy and then our daughter’s birth last year, we didn’t get down there.

When our daughter was born, we asked him to be her Godfather. Mark graciously accepted, although he’s still trying to get used to the duties of an Uncle/Godfather. He hasn’t seen her all that many times since she was born, but it surprises me how good he is with her. Mark wasn’t around babies much, but he seems quite at ease with her. He’s even asked to change her diaper!

My brother is a complex guy sometimes. He can be a little overly-sensitive and he can be downright obnoxious too. But, he is my brother. I wouldn’t trade him for anything (although, if you’d have asked me that at age 12, I’d probably have traded him for an Atari 2600). I hope my daughter will be able to say the same when she’s the big sister.

the joys of home ownership

We’ve been our house for a little over a year now. It’s our second house. The first one was an older three-bedroom, brick house. It had lots of charm: hardwood floors, old wood windows, six-panel solid-wood doors, and radiator heat. The kitchen and bathroom had been remodeled before we moved in. We lived there happily for nearly five years.

When my wife got pregnant, we knew the house was going to quickly become too small. The driveway barely allowed enough space for us to get in and out of our Liberty, so we knew getting a baby in and out would be nearly impossible. The yard was small. The street was busy and sloped and cobblestone. And we hated our neighbors.

Additionally, the old wood windows were drafty. It was impossible to pull a car into the garage. The basement was unfinished and we knew that eventually, having only three bedrooms and one bath was going to be tough on our future family. We also wanted to move closer to our parents so that they’d be closer to the baby. We only lived 5 miles from where we grew up, but the drive could take as much as 30 minutes.

We searched for and found the perfect house. It was a four-bedroom, 2 ½ bath brick house on a cul-de-sac. The driveway was two cars wide and the garage was useable. It needed some updates (we knew we would miss our more modernized kitchen and bath), but it had a lot going for it. Or so we thought.

We moved in on December 30, 2003. Because I work for a financial institution, I had to work on Saturday, January 3, 2004. On that day, Pittsburgh received an unusual amount of rain. Had it snowed, we might have been okay. But it didn’t. It rained. Buckets.

My wife and I were in the finished basement of our new home unpacking photographs. I looked down at the box I was unpacking and the carpet around it looked darker. I thought maybe the shadows were playing tricks on me at first. Then I stood up from the couch I had been sitting on. Instantly, my feet we soaked. I grabbed the box and moved it to higher ground. Then we moved the couch away from the wall and noticed that the carpet was floating. The basement began flooding.

The previous owners had lived in the house for 46 years. The basement had never flooded in that time. Or so they say. Since that day in early 2004, we’ve had water in our basement 7 or 8 times. In the last year and three months. Pretty incredible odds. I should play the lottery. Or maybe not. I didn’t win anything in Vegas.

Our flooding has never been all that bad. I’ve seen people on the news who have water on their first floor. We usually only get water about an inch deep and it eventually makes its way down the drain in the laundry room. It still sucks. Now that spring is coming, the basement stinks. You can smell it when you come in the front door. We keep candles burning to remedy that issue.

I went through a phase where I hated the house and just wanted to move. However, in that same year and three months, we have remodeled the kitchen (it is beautiful), removed carpeting in four rooms to reveal the hardwood floors (five if you include the basement, which isn’t really finished anymore and is concrete under the carpet), and painted those four rooms.

Our daughter’s nursery is one of the rooms we repainted. My wife’s aunt painted the most beautiful mural of a meadow and a pond for the room, with clouds on the ceiling and a tree in the corner. The tree’s trunk is actually a small shelf my wife’s uncle made. And I refinished the hardwood floor in there. The floor looks great and I want to redo the floors in the other two upstairs bedrooms too. Next on the list though is the bathroom upstairs. It is the ugliest shade of pink I’ve ever seen, complete with a pink bathtub.

I’ve learned a lot in that time too. I’ve learned that although we were honest on our disclosure, the previous owners (a seemingly sweet older couple) were not. I’ve also learned that homeowner’s insurance will cover a stopped up toilet, but not groundwater that leaks through the foundation (stupid people are rewarded, but acts of God are your responsibility). I’ve also learned you can’t get flood insurance if you aren’t in a flood plain.
More importantly though, I’ve learned that you can’t stop Mother Nature. This spring, I want to dig down to the foundation to see if I can’t do something to stop the water from coming in. I have also learned that there are more important things in life than a leaky basement. I’ve been learning that for nearly ten months now.

flowers in the Valley

We got up pretty early that Saturday morning and left the Luxor for the Rio to hit the breakfast buffet. From there, we took off for Death Valley. Myself and 8 of my college buddies made a trip to Las Vegas on March 17-21 to celebrate two of them who won’t be bachelors much longer. I didn’t go to any nudie bars and I didn’t see any shows; topless or otherwise. I did lose about $60 on slots and split my bets (lost 2, won 2) on the second day of the Final Four Tournament. But had Kevin, Wolfe, and I not gone to Death Valley, I think I would have been disappointed in my first trip west of the Mississippi.

The drive from Vegas to Death Valley was quite long and it was further extended because of flash floods last August that washed out a good portion of California Highway 190. The detour brought us to the town of Beatty, NV and the Beatty Visitors Center. Beatty isn’t the smallest town I’ve ever been in, but it seemed almost as much of a ghost town as Rhyolite, our first stop in Death Valley National Park. It was an interesting little historical side trek on our daytrip in the park, but not the reason we had driven over 2 ½ hours.

Rhyolite ghost town

I consider myself an outdoorsy-type. I don’t hunt or fish, but I like to hike and camp. I’ve never gone backpacking, but I really want to and before I die, I’d like to bike the GAP Trail from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. However, nothing I’ve ever seen could have prepared me for the beauty of Death Valley.

When we stopped at Hell’s Gate, the view of the valley below reminded me of something from a Hollywood movie. It almost looked fake; like a backdrop. The day had been pretty much overcast with a mist of rain and temperatures at Rhyolite were in the lower 40’s. Down in the valley, however, it looked as though the sun was trying to poke its rays through the blanket of clouds. The basin had water in it and along with the salt deposits, it looked as if there was snow on the valley floor.

The View into Death Valley from Hell's Gate

And then there were the wildflowers. We had heard reports in the news back home in Pittsburgh that wildflower growth not seen in over 50 years had sprung up in Death Valley. To see it in person, it looked as though there were seas of yellow and green in an area not known to support so much life. We took a couple of other side treks... we stopped at the Harmony Borax Works, had a beer and chicken fingers at the saloon at Furnace Creek, we hiked Golden Canyon, and we stopped at Badwater, the lowest point in North America. If we had more time, we all would have like to have seen more of the park, but given that the park is over 5,200 square miles and we only had about 8 hours, we got to see quite a lot.

A sea of flowers

The aroma of the flowers was like walking into a floral shop

Vegas is an interesting town and I’m glad I went, but I actually wish I had spent three days in Death Valley and only one day in Vegas instead of the reverse. I had a great time seeing all of those guys, but the best of it was the 12 hours or so that Kevin, Wolfe and I spent in the rented red Camry seeing a beautiful part of America.

Play Ball!!

The Pittsburgh Pirates open the 2005 season on April 4 at home against the Milwaukee Brewers. Being a Pittsburgher, I have been a Pirates fan my whole life (note: I am also a big Yankees fan. Call me a front-runner if you like, but I became a Yankee fan at about age 10 when Don Mattingly played first base and the Yankees never won a World Series. I too think Steinbrenner is a big jerk, but until the owners can all make a decision to level the playing field, that’s not going to change. The Yankees are my second favorite team (I have a cat named Jeter) and since the Pirates suck (but I still love them), the Yankees give me something to root for in October).

I’ve never been to a home opener, and this year will likely be no different. There is an early season game I want to attend, however. On April 15th, the Buccos play the Cubbies. I’m not going in the hopes of seeing Mark Prior pitch (he’s out with an elbow injury anyway) and the steroid-pumped Sammy Sosa was traded to the Orioles. The reason I want to go is plain and simple: the Pirates are giving away a Jason Bay bobblehead.

I collect bobbles. Specifically, I have every Pirates player bobblehead that was given away at PNC Park. I have a few other bobbles (a Nittany Lion standing in Beaver Stadium, the first Penguins Mario Lemieux giveaway), but I collect the ones they give out at PNC Park. Some of them are “Players Who Don’t Play for Pittsburgh Anymore” (Brian Giles, Jason Kendall) and some are Hall of Famers (Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell). Some fit the “What?” category (Manny Sanguillen). Regardless, I have one of each of them. I even have both Josh Gibson dolls (they gave away both the same night and I actually traded one of my two Pittsburgh Crawfords Gibson bobbles and $20 for a Homestead Grays bobble).

I am hoping my daughter ends up a fan of baseball. My wife is, so there’s a good chance. Last month, I bought her a pink Pirates onesie and shorts outfit at Wal-Mart for her to wear to some games this summer. We took her to her first game last September 24th. She mostly just slept, even through the post game fireworks, but it was sort of magical to me. I hope it was the start of a summer family tradition. I won’t bog my daughter down with how to box score a game (I can’t even do it well myself) or a lot of game theory, but I hope she learns to love the game.

In addition to the Bay giveaway, there are three other bobblehead nights this year. There were no player bobbleheads given away at PNC Park in 2004 and it didn’t matter much anyway. My wife and I only made it to two games last summer: the night before my daughter was born and that night in September.

As for the Pirates themselves.... I am guessing this will be their 13th consecutive losing season. I’ll still go see them play though, and I’ll root against the visiting team. I’d love to see the Pirates in it into October, but I think that’s still a few seasons down the road. Maybe if they are better by 2010, my daughter will have a greater love for the game.

Her first Pirates game

just my $0.02

While I’m thinking about it, I’m going to make my first political/religious opinion posting. I may get some negative comments on this (that is, assuming anyone ever reads this), but too bad.

I think Terri Schiavo has a right to die and I think the media and the politicians should stop making her life a circus. I’ve been saying for a long time. First, let me address the politicians.

I don’t think Jeb Bush is a bad guy. I think his heart is in the right place. I can’t imagine the pain that Terri’s husband and Terri’s parents have been going through for the last 15 years, and I don’t think Jeb does either. I think he was trying to do what he thought was right. However, I still think his motives are somewhat political. I think George W. is basically being the flip-flop artist he accused Senator Kerry of being however. While Governor of Texas, G.W. allowed legislation to pass that allows terminally ill patients have their support pulled if the family can’t pay for the medical care. So, as I see it, it is okay to keep someone alive in G.W.’s eyes, but only if the money is there. This is the same man who allowed the congressional ban on assault rifles to expire (I’m still waiting for the news report on the bear that was so big that the hunter needed an uzi to kill it). How can someone who supports assault rifles and pulling the plug on economically challenge terminally ill patients stand up and say he’s pro life?

Now for the religious side of the argument. Let me start by stating that I am a Catholic and that I attend church every week. This morning I read an interesting interview on MSNBC.com with a Jesuit priest. He basically said what I’ve been saying (although he had the right background to back his statements up. He basically stated that while a breathing tube may not be an extraordinary way of sustaining life, keeping someone alive with the aid of one is disproportionately burdensome. Therefore, she’s really is being kept alive in an extraordinary way. He also pointed out that in the Catholic faith, death is not ‘bad’. If she hasn’t sinned (or if she has and those sins have forgiven) then Terri is on her way to heaven.
I’d also like to note that she’s not suffering, at least according to the doctors who have actually examined her to make their assessment of her condition. They have stated that she is in a vegetative state (for every expert on one side, there is another expert who will argue for the other side) and that she isn’t really sensing pain or truly reacting to her surroundings. Also, when the body is starved, it begins to shut down different processes. Starving isn’t painful like a bleeding stomach or pancreatic cancer. Terri is being a humanly terminated at U.S. law allows (see: Kevorkian, Dr.)

In my opinion, which is not really important at all, Terri should be allowed to die. In all honesty, she was heading that way herself in 1991 when she suffered the heart attack that caused the lack of oxygen to her brain that put her in this state. And what caused the heart attack? Terri was bulimic. It could be argued that she was trying to kill herself, which is also against Catholic teaching.

My last point is a little scary too. It seems there are about 30,000 cases of people in a vegetative state in the U.S. Why aren’t any of these cases in the spotlight? What makes Terri’s case so special? Is it that her husband and her parents stand on opposite sides? I also read that the parents’ claims that Mr. Schiavo neglected Terri are unfounded. In 15 years, Terri has never had a single bedsore. In 15 years!! The home she is being cared for in wanted to have a restraining order on him. Not because he was abusing her, but because his demands that the home was not providing the best care for Terri was burdening them. Her parents need to accept the fact that in all aspects but the physical, Terri is already gone. God rest her soul.

long time, no blog

So I haven’t done this in a while and I guess it’s a combination of being too busy and knowing that there is no (known) audience. But would Hawthorne have stopped writing if he knew no one would read House of the Seven Gables? I doubt it. So after a long hiatus, I’ve decided to pick up the pen (or keyboard; don’t get technical on me) and start this blog back up.

So my daughter, who is the original inspiration for this blog, is now nearly 10 months old and is crawling all over the house and can pull herself up as well. Having a child is the greatest thing ever. I know that is so cliché, but it’s the honest to goodness truth. Work has been pure hell lately, but by the time I get home and see her smiling face (and my wife’s; she’s as great as ever too), I am so happy to know I have her and work is just a memory.

I can also admit, it’s amusing to me that she started making a “da-da-da-da” sound before “ma-ma-ma-ma”. I know she is only babbling at this point, and my wife would be pretty pissed if I gloated in front of her, but I think it is pretty neat. I need to enjoy these things, because I know by the time she’s 14 or so, things are going to start to be different between us. She is, for now (and for some time), Daddy’s Little Girl. I will spoil her until the cows come home.

Some other things I want to note, more for my sake. I’d hate to think I’d forget this stuff, but everyone says you do. First, she’s an angel. Yesterday, after having a play date with Jake, Emma, and Paige, she hadn’t napped and seemed exhausted. Yet, when we went to dinner at Eat-n-Park with “Uncky Bri” and “Aunt Steppy” she was incredibly pleasant. She’s a hog too... last night she downed a jar of sweet potatoes and turkey and chased it with a large container of apple sauce and still drank most of a bottle. My daughter can eat!! J Also, she’s a lot stronger than I thought a 9½-month-old could be. She kicks hard and she’s able to pull and lift more than I would have expected. Maybe it’s normal, but how am I to know. I’m a first time dad, remember?

i'm how old?

On September 6th, I turned 30. It wasn’t any big deal. Really. I only wanted to things by the time I turned 30: my first child and a full head of hair. Going bald is one of my biggest fears. Fortunately, when I turned 30, I had both of these. My daughter was born a little over 3 months before I made it to that milestone and my hair, although graying, is still all there.

By age 30 I don’t know what I thought I might accomplish, be in addition to my daughter and the flowing mane of hair, my career has taken a turn for the better. I had also landed my own office in a Fortune 500 company. I have a real office with a door and a window with a nice view. I’m managing a team of five people right now and I must say it feels pretty good. It’s been an interesting experience so far and I hope to learn a lot while it continues.

What do I expect out of life? I don’t know. Life is what you make of it. So far I think that I’ve made mine pretty enjoyable. I have regrets; who doesn’t? But I hope that the next 30 years grant me the chance to do things I may have passed on in the past. I’m not talking about jumping out of airplanes or climbing El Capitan. I just hope that when an opportunity to do something different, I take it. Life’s to short to pass up pie.