Category: General
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Happy New Year: it’s 2014!
Here’s to hoping this will be an excellent year for everyone.
Happy new year to all my friends, family, and especially Kelly and Mighty Max. Love you all. May this year be better than the last.
It’s been a while since my last post. It’s been since we brought Max home from the hospital a little over 5 months ago. That’s a long time. And yet it’s gone by very quickly. Now be prepared, this is going to be a heavily Max-focused post. Sorry. It’s kind of a big deal.
Max is now (or will be on the 26th) 6 months old. Crazy right? He’s doing really well. It already seems like another life ago that he was in the NICU at Legacy Emanuel. Over the past 5 months he’s grown a lot, is weighing in at about 16 pounds, has some teeth starting to poke through (making him extra cranky), has been rolling over onto his stomach, and is on the verge of crawling. He’s smiling and laughing and is generally a very calm and happy infant. And he’s (if I do say so myself) a very handsome little man (clearly he gets his good looks from his mom).
Best of all has been the transition from the somewhat confusing and stunned period of him first being in our lives to where we are now. It now seems weird and somewhat foreign to think of a time when Max wasn’t here with us. It’s strange how that happens. I’d been told it happens, but it really is amazing the way it does. I know that he wasn’t in the world a year ago. But it just seems weird that he wasn’t.
Other news:
I’ve been at SuperSweetCo (aka Jive Software) for 5 years as of this month, and things continue to grow, change, and challenge me every day. When I started the company had just shy of 30 employees and it’s now pushing 400, with offices in Palo Alto, Boulder, New York, and now overseas. Crazy times. Just Crazy.
Kelly has retired from the Oregon Symphony to do the most important job ever, raising Max, and amazes me every day. She’s a fantastic Mom. Not that anyone would be surprised.
I’ve discovered another favorite spot in town: Prost. It’s a German-focused spot that serves sausages, sauerkraut, big soft pretzels, and one of my favorite German beers (Hofbrau lager).
My kegerator has Stella Artois on tap.
It’s my first Father’s Day today.
I redesigned my blog a bit over the weekend. I’m still such a nerd. Who blogs anymore anyway?
Portland’s crappy weather has continued to be crappy. It’s June. Sheesh!
That’s it for now. Will try to write again before Christmas. We’ll see.
The past month and (almost) a half, quick style:
March 17th (St Patty’s Day): Spent the evening at Moon & Sixpence with friends. First time there for St. Patty’s Day and it was a lot of fun. Live Irish music played in one corner, and loads of friendly people, all in good spirits despite how crowded it was.
March 27th: Got a lot of yard work done, and was able to break out the BBQ and do my first grill of the season. Great day ’round the house.
April 8th: Went in for some oral surgery to fix up some gum disease I’d developed over the years of not seeing a dentist (brush your teeth kids, and go in for your regular cleanings!). This led to a week of stitches, and about two weeks of discomfort. I’m only now starting to feel back to normal. I have a photo of the stitches I took with my MacBook’s camera, but I won’t show it since it might make you feel a bit ill.
April 17th: Did some more yard work including my first lawn mowing of the season. The work I’d been doing over the previous few weeks, coupled with some unusually warm spring weather has resulted in fast lawn growth. I also picked up a keg of the delicious Irish ale Kilkenny (which has only been available in the States for about a year). This means Guinness has been supplanted. Mmm, beer.
Today: I managed to tackle some of my chore list: repaired my busted up front fence gate (which involved replacing a slat, some sanding, painting, re-hanging, etc), installed some much needed shelving in the utility room, replaced some burnt-out light bulbs both on the front porch and the kitchen, cleaned some windows, and cleaned up the garage. Good, productive day.
Other stuff: I continue watching Lost, Fringe, FlashForward, Stargate Universe, and Doctor Who, and have seen a few decent films including Empire, Up In The Air, and Franklyn.
I also learned of a blog that’s worth adding to your RSS reader: Sleep Talkin’ Man. It’s about this English man who talks in his sleep, and his wife records / jots down some of the nonsense he mutters, leading to some awesome quotes such as:
- “I’m gonna have a great day…. Don’t you fuck it up.”
- “Headstands are for girls only. When they wear skirts.”
- “If I’m gonna be in charge, I need a cape. You can’t do the job without a cape. Take me to the cape tailor.”