One more cup of coffee

Best cat toy ever

Laser pointer + Pippin == hours of fun

The funniest part is that at some point, I turned it off while it was pointing into a corner of the living room that Pippin had chased it into. About 15 minutes later, I realized that Pippin hadn’t moved – he was still facing into the corner, looking around, trying to find it.

Sorry, you have lost a connection to something you never cared about anyway

For the last several days, AOL’s AIM client has decided that it needs to tell me that I’ve failed to connect to its Alerts Server.

I can sign on, and 10–20 minutes later, I suddenly get a dialog box popping up to tell me:

“Sorry, you have lost or were not able to obtain a connection to the Alerts Server, and AIM was not able to reconnect after several attempts. You will not receive Mail and AOL Alerts. All other AIM services will continue to function properly.”

That’s fascinating. It’s just that, you know, I don’t care. I don’t use AOL Alerts, I don’t have AOL Mail, and I don’t understand why I’m now doomed to get this message popping up all the time.

This never used to happen to me, and now it happens all the time. Arrgggh.

Forgetting how to sleep

Yesterday, Nathan forgot how to nap. He had a rough night with Meredith Friday night, got up with me about 6:30 AM Saturday, and then hardly slept the rest of the day. He fell asleep for long enough for us to eat brunch at Hobee’s, but that was basically it. He would fall asleep occasionally, then after about three or four minutes, startle himself back awake. By the end of the day, he was GRUMPY.

But the end of the day came for him at 9:30 when he finally fell asleep. And he stayed asleep – until 5:30 AM. That’s right, he slept eight hours, thus besting his previous record by two full hours.

So far today, he’s doing a lot better, although I’m still feeling worn out. So much so, that I think Nathan and I are going to take a walk downtown and get a lovely coffee beverage for me.

Mobile

Friday evening, Nathan’s mobile was still working fine.

Saturday morning, I got up with Nathan, turned it on, and nothing. Well, not nothing: the music played. But the mobile didn’t turn. Changing to new batteries didn’t help at all. Nor did reseating the connectors.

This did not especially please Nathan.

This went on all weekend, and then on Monday morning, I turned it on, and it started playing music – and turning. Nathan was very happy.

I think it just wanted the weekend off. This, of course, is unacceptable.

I explained to the mobile that, while there may be some sympathy for fair labor in this house, that sympathy does not extend to mobiles. There will be no fair labor for mobiles in this house, no attempts to unionize to press for better working conditions. This is a veritable sweatshop for mobiles here, and it will by God work 24 hours a day or I will kick it out and replace it with a mobile willing to work longer hours for less pay.

Hopefully this will clear things up with the mobile.

(Also, I could use some more sleep these days.)

Lots of pictures

See new pictures here.

Conversations on daily life

Me, as Nathan was babbling this morning: “What do you suppose his first word will be some day?”

Meredith: “‘Hello’, since we say that to him all the time. What do you think?”

Me: “‘PIPPIN!’, since we yell that around him all the time.”

Muscle boy

Most three-month old babies, when they are moving around, can lift a leg. Or the other leg.

Not Nathan. Since his feet are connected via a metal bar 24/7, he has to lift both legs at the same time.

Plus two shoes, each of which has a metal plate on the bottom.

Plus the bar.

He likes to lift his legs up and bang them down (on floors, on Daddy’s legs, whatever). He likes to pump his legs and listen to the noise the bar makes on whatever surface he’s on (especially the vinyl changing pad). And lately, he likes to lift his legs up in the air at an angle and hold them there for a few seconds before banging them down.

The result is that Nathan has far stronger leg muscles than your average three month old. I can hold him up in a standing position on my lap, and he’ll suddenly thrust with his legs and basically push his entire body weight up. He obviously doesn’t have the balance, but I think he almost has the strength to stand.

880 wins

Pat Summitt tonight won her 880th game as head coach of the UT Lady Vols, surpassing the record of 879 wins set by Dean Smith, former coach of the North Carolina men’s basketball team.

She hit that in just 31 seasons. With only 171 losses, she has an 83.7% winning average.

The Lady Vols have made the NCAA tournament every year since it started for women in 1982. For that matter, they’ve never once lost in the first two rounds of the tournament.

Of her players that have finished their eligibility at UT, 100% of them have graduated.

Pat is amazing. I’m proud to be a Tennessee alum. Go Vols!

Terri Schiavo and spousal rights

I cannot believe the political circus that the Terri Schiavo case has turned into. I cannot believe that congress and the President have decided to intervene in this case.

It is a slippery and dangerous slope to start down the path of letting parents overrule spouses in decisions concerning a married adult. I cannot believe the editorials I’ve read suggesting that because Michael Schiavo now has a girlfriend, we ought to treat his every word on his wife’s wishes as suspect. If ever I am out cold for 15 years, I would certainly hope that Meredith would find someone in that time. Life has to go on.

And let us be clear on my wishes: if something happens to me, Meredith gets to decide on my care. Not my father, not my siblings, and not the United States Government. Meredith does.

What a zoo.

Nissan's 'You Really Got Me' was better

So Chevy has a new commercial out featuring “You Really Got Me”. First of all, it’s not actually the Van Halen version (the song was originally written by the Kinks), even though it’s evidently trying very hard to sound like it. The cover isn’t that good, and the commercial is boring. And, in a twist that I doubt Chevy’s advertising department had in mind, every time I see the commercial, I think of Nissan.

Anyone remember the Nissan commercial sometime in the mid-90s that featured the real Van Halen version of You Really Got Me? It featured GI Joe hopping into a Nissan and driving off with Barbie ditching Ken. (They weren’t really those dolls, but they were clearly going for the similarity – so much so that Mattel later sued Nissan over the similarity to Barbie & Ken in the commercial.) That commercial was brilliant. I laughed every time I saw that ad.

So, Chevy: thanks for reminding me of Nissan.

Denis Brown split as blunt instrument

We decided a while back to co-sleep with Nathan. Every night when we go to bed, one of us carries Nathan back with us and he sleeps between us in our bed.

With newborn Nathan, this was fine. Even with mostly-newborn Nathan-in-casts, this worked well.

With three-month-old Nathan with a solid metal brace between his feet, this is working somewhat less well.

Last night, Nathan twice kicked his legs out to the side, thus jamming the end of the metal bar into the small of my back. Then, each time, he completed the movement by extending his legs, thus digging the bar into and down my back.

Ouch.

I bet most co-sleeping parents don’t have to deal with their kids assaulting them in the night with metal bars.

Good Ol' Rocky Top!

Certain people in my family, notably my wife and my father-in-law have been quite fond of giving me a hard time about Stanford being ranked ahead of Tennessee in the final regular season poll.

Ah, the last laugh is sweet.

The Final Four consists of LSU, Baylor, Michigan State, and Tennessee.

Hey, I’m sure that Stanford can catch the games on TV.

Go Vols! :)