blog – Page 17 – THOMnottom

Welcome back my friends…

So… um… hey. How’s it going? Geez, this is awkward. Yeah, I’ve been a tad busy. All those big time bloggers that suddenly disappeared for long periods once they had a kid? Sorry for making fun of you. It appears that having a baby takes up a lot of one’s time. I mean a LOT of one’s time. Alright, I mean ALL of one’s time.

But I’m not packing it in. I just need to relearn how to operate this blog and… type. Yeah, I gotta remember how to type words and stuff. Maybe even try to be coherent. Then again, that was probably never my strong suit so let’s just focus on get some semblance of the English language up on the web. That would put me one step ahead of a typical Youtube comment.

It’s about time that I get back on the proverbial horse, so here I am. And I’m trying to tidy things up while I’m at it. In case you hadn’t noticed (and why should you) I changed the color theme to a lighter, more friendly one. It’s still the same, lovely Fauna from Joen, but the dark version of it was making me a tad depressed so I switched.

You may have also notice that I joined the Twitter revolution… 2 years after the fact. I am incredibly difficult to find, unless you know my name or look at the sidebar 2 inches to your right (assuming you’re reading this on my website and not in a feed reader). I have no intentions of putting my witty and insightful Twitter comments in summary blog posts (or the bland and mundane ones for that matter), so you’ll either have to follow me or hit refresh on the main page every couple of days to get my instantaneous LOL response to someone else’s comments… ain’t Web 2.0 exciting?

The links on the sidebar are also slowly being updated. Two of my favorite blogs of late have finally been added – jonsonblog and Man vs. Clown! I have no idea how I came upon either of them and they both tend to fall on the crude or disturbing side of humor; yet jonson may have the most adorable daughter not to come from my own loins and Peter has left me wondering what to do when you end a sentence with a title that ends in an exclamation point…

Also I started reading Ken Jenning’s blog, because he’s witty, funny and won a lot of money on a real game show.

Believe it or not, I expect to post even more these days. That’s helped by the fact that I’m taking more vacation days and not accomplishing anything except learning the rest of the lyrics to “Beyond the Sea” in order to sing Kayleigh to sleep. Welcome back, indeed.

Cool

No, I’m not going to write some big post about how awesome I think this country is now that Obama has been elected. There’s a crapload going wrong right now, and I doubt that he can magically fix it all in 4-8 years. Regardless, I still think what went down this past Tuesday is pretty cool.

Let’s face it, I, like many others out there, was never convinced that a black man would ever be elected to the presidency. And even if this is really just a setup for failure, the fact that it happened does make me feel a little bit better about this country. Balk all you like at the silly, white college kids patting themselves on the back for voting for someone different, but don’t try to pretend this wasn’t an historic occasion. Think of it this way: out of the previous 43 presidents more than a third of them (16) could have owned Obama. And another 20 of them probably would have used a separate fountain or bathroom than him at some time. And the last 7 would have crossed the street if they saw him walking towards them…

Alright, I made that last part up. Just checking if you were paying attention.

But seriously, as cynical as I can be, I’m not going to complain if people are inspired by a politican’s talk of hope and change. Because, whether or not those words turn out to be nothing more than hollow catchphrases, they are a far better source of inspiration than the words of fear and hatred that have “guided” us for the past few year.

I am loathe to continue writing politics at this point (today I had the rather fun task of deleting political sites from my feed reader) but it still seems like I should at least comment on an event like this. So that’s what I have to say: cool.

And while I’m sure you’ve all had your fill of Obamamania, there are a few sites I hope no one missed:

All of the front pages after the election. And I’m serious when I say all of them. I don’t know how Palin has the time to read them all… ZING! (thanks to Electoral-vote.com)
A beautiful collection of photos from throughout Obama’s campaign. You’re all checking out The Big Picture regularly, right?
As wonderful as those photos are (almost every shot looks like it’s meant to be a poster or wallpaper), I prefer Callie Shell’s set over at Digital Journalist. A lot more candid photos – the way I like it…

And that’s that. Now I can go back to ignoring the government – just the way I like it…

Is this what winning feels like?

Wow… seriously… wow. I’m not sure where to even begin with this one. There’s a celebration going on. A big parade will be involved. And it’s in Philadelphia. Do you understand what I’m saying? Philadelphia, my home town, which has suffered through some of the worst moments in sports history, gets to throw a ticker tape parade for one of the oldest franchises in professional sports. The Philadelphia Phillies have broken the “Curse of Billy Penn” and become the 2008 World Series Champions.

Brad Lidge and Carlos Ruiz celebrate winning it all after the end of the ninth inning.

I’ve had a post about life as a Philly fan planned for awhile. Maybe I’ll still write it to give you guys some perspective. People will still try to convince me they understand the pain because one team they follow hasn’t done well in a while. But that’s nothing compared to growing up with an expectation that championships are for other teams and other towns because they never involve you. Suddenly that image has been shattered thanks to a rather unorthodox game that took over 48 hours to complete.

I’m serious about it being shattered. You want to know what 25 years of misery disappearing in an instant looks like? Watch this video from the Phillies club in Hoboken during the final pitch (courtesy of Furey):

Yeah, wish I could have at least been there. Immediately following the game there was a whirlwind of phone calls between myself, my mom, my dad, my friend Mark, and my sister Kathleen, who lives farthest from home of all of the siblings. While I may be a frustrating 2 hours away from the big celebration, the 15-20 hour drive from Alabama (depending on whose directions you take) is a far greater challenge for her. And thus we both lamented being away from the city at a time like this. The idea of taking off work tomorrow to drive down for the parade has been beaten back several times today.

At least I can revel in all of the highlights playing nonstop for the next few days, including this tremendous video of the great Harry Kalas finally getting to call that last out in a World Series victory (the MLB wouldn’t allow local announcers back in 1980):

Yeah, it’s totally lame that I haven’t posted in over a month and the first sign of life is some ramblings about sports (why don’t I just throw in some political discourse while I’m at it), but this post has been a quarter century in the waiting. And while I’m one of the first people to complain about the ridiculous salaries of ball players and the disconnect from the fans, this team was just filled with great stories to get behind (and watching them celebrate makes it hard to believe they don’t feel it, too):

Charlie Manuel managing his team to the championship while dealing with the loss of his mother.
45 year-old Jamie Moyer finally making it to the World Series with the team he cheered on as a kid (he was even at the parade in ’80).
On the opposite end, Cole Hamels absolutely dominating the playoffs (and winning 2 MVP awards) for a team that last won it all 3 years before he was born.
Brad Lidge achieving true perfection while clinching the championship and shook the monkey that was the 2005 playoffs off his back.
Ruiz’s infield RBI single in the bottom of the ninth against a stacked infield to win game 3.
Journeyman Matt Stairs with his pinch hit homer to win game 4 of the NLDS.
Memorable plate appearances by pitcher Brett Meyers in the NLDS and NLCS followed up by Joe Blanton home run in the WS.
Burrell doubling to start the bottom of the 8th in game 5 after not having a hit all series. That turned into the winning run.
Utley’s clutch throw to home in the top of the 8th to preserve the 3-3 tie.

Guys like Howard, Werth, Utley, Burrell, Feliz, Ruiz, etc. all took turns being the hero, it’s hard to mention everybody and I’m no sportwriter. Thankfully there’s guys like Phil Sheridan and Bill Lyon, writers who guided me through sports as a youngster, to put into far more eloquent words the thoughts and feelings I’m bumbling through. Then again, maybe it’s the simpler words of Lidge that sum it up best: “This is our time right now, and I don’t give a crap about all the rest.”

So yeah, I’m riding a bit of a high today because, for the first time since I became a sports fan, it’s my team.

P.S. Along with all of the furious Wikipedia edits that were made last night, the most important update was also made: the clock has been reset!

Where is my mind?

While The Woman was pregnant she would often make reference to “pregnancy brain” whenever she had some sort of gaff. Apparantly women become forgetful with all of those hormones and baby parts plowing around their insides. I guess their minds are just a tad distracted (you try getting kicked in the stomach from… well… in your stomach and maintain your concentration at the same time). What hasn’t been explained is how her hormones invaded MY mind and turned me into a complete dufus.

Normally I’m rather rational and collected, but over the past few months I’ve inched closer and closer to a full-on raging moron. It was never more evident than mere days after our kitchen was completed (oh yeah, I still have to post about that, don’t I?). While transporting leftover Chinese food to the fridge I managed to flip a HUGE container of fried rice all over our beautiful new tile floor.

Alright, I may not be the most coordinated guy, but (while sober) I’ve never really dropped anything more than the occasional crumb on the floor. This can actually be frustrating for The Woman as it tends to shine a spotlight on the fact that she is guaranteed to spill something on herself whenever wearing new clothes (that’s also when she’s most likely to let out some obscenities that are sooooo much cuter coming from her). Regardless, not only was I the first person to spill food in the new kitchen, but I managed to COAT the floor with the greasy remains of a full dinner – badly enough that the wet/dry vac made an appearance.

And now that she is recovering from 9 months of construction in her uterus, my brain is still on some sort of extended paternity leave. Last night (or was it the freakin’ night before? Damned if I know) I managed to pour myself a glass of water right after filling up the Brita pitcher. for those of you unaware of just how one of their pitchers works, rest assured that is not the correct usage and resulted in giving our dresser a sponge bath.

Even more annoying is never knowing WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK IT IS! I’m serious. Sure, I took Friday off which made it feel like Saturday and Saturday felt like Sunday and Sunday felt like a new day of the week not yet invented that gave us a third day off, but WHY DOES TODAY FEEL LIKE TUESDAY? Practically every week for the last couple of months I’ve found myself planning work on Tuesday and thinking there was only 2 days left in the week or walking in on Thursday morning looking forward to the weekend starting at the end of the day. WHERE IS MY MIND?!?!

Then again, maybe some of my friends will pop on here and say, “Dude, you were never clear-headed or rational”. But then I’ll be forced to point out that they are used to me drinking and playing video games – all bets are off then…

You have no idea

My attempt to reclaim a social life has once again been thwarted by fatherhood. Alright, that’s a lie. It was thwarted by the state of New Jersey – specifically Hoboken. In case you haven’t noticed, football season is upon us. And for those of you with short-term memories, I’m a crazy-ass Eagles fan (I know, is there any other kind?).

Being of that persuasion up here in North Jersey is not exactly a fun experience – especially with the results of last year’s Super Bowl (which even forced me to root for the enemy). Thus we cling to each other in small groups, usually at whatever bar will take us. In Hoboken the place to be for Eagles fans on Sundays is Mulligan’s – who has kindly played host to us for the past two seasons. Unfortunately, no matter how much I looked forward to meeting up with a few friends I haven’t seen in months, the craptacular parking and traffic situation in Hoboken finally pushed my to the edge 20 FREAKIN’ MINUTES AFTER THE GAME WAS SUPPOSED TO START. I turned the car around and headed home. Hey, I’d rather spend the first game with my baby girl anyway. And apparently she’d rather spend it with me, too.

That photo isn’t even close to the biggest smile she had while “wearing” my jersey. I asked what jersey she wanted for herself and she seemed most interested in DeSean Jackson. I explained that it’s never a good idea to go with a rookie, because you never know if they really are going to be as good as promised even after a full game and we shouldn’t get our hopes up. That didn’t seem to phase her. Honestly, there’s just no reasoning with this kid…

Thanks to the magic of DVR I didn’t even miss any of the awesome opener (a total destruction of St. Louis 38-3) and got to spend most of it with my beautiful baby girl smiling at me from my lap. She actually seemed to thoroughly enjoy watching my reactions to the game – maybe even more than when I try to interact with her directly. Thank god, because she has no idea the kind of fandom she was born into. This is a fandom of bad luck and depression that somehow keeps us coming back for more. Now I’ve got another generation to force it upon – at last, the circle is complete!

At least for her first real football action there was something to cheer about. Let’s see just how long that can last…

Farewell sweet birdie

With a brain that’s turned to mush lately, I started an entire entry only to find myself being way too melancholy. But it’s tough to avoid during a time of loss, especially when you are reminded on a regular basis through the absence of a constant presence. Geez, am I babbling already? Then let me just get straight to the point – after months of battling an undiagnosed condition, our little parakeet passed away on Friday.

Booboo Birdie (yes, that was his name) was always The Woman’s pet, just as the guinea pigs have always been considered mine. And, to be honest, we had a rough relationship early on. For those of you who don’t know the story, she did, in fact, find him on the streets of Hoboken. I wanted to find the original owners or give him to a good home, but The Woman was smitten quickly and I had no chance. When we moved in together it became difficult as he took to screeching anytime I did… well… anything.

But after a few threats about throwing him out a window or something else equally irrational, he finally learned that just warbling along with the world around him was far more endearing. And he certainly endeared himself to me after that.

Booboo was a sweet bird and, I dare say, one of a kind. You might think that a plain white parakeet with a blue streak on it’s back would be more common – but the more parakeets I saw the more I realized that there weren’t many, if any, like him. And any other parakeet owners would look in amazement as Booboo would allow us to reach in and simply pet his little belly. He developed a wonderful disposition, which made his silent suffering these final weeks so much more difficult.

This has been very difficult for Lisa, as she had little time or energy to take care of him with her new found motherly duties. She had saved him once and to let him go this time was very painful. Thankfully Kayleigh distracts us enough to keep our spirits up, but burying another pet dampened the mood of this holiday weekend.

Goodbye Booboo, we’ll miss you.

One month

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the actual 1 month mark for my baby girl. Although we are closer to 1 month and 12 hours at this point. Regardless, it’s just an excuse to post another wonderful photo of our bundle of joy.

That is probably the best shot out of a group we took featuring an adorable outfit provided by a co-worker. Next time I want to do some of these outside. Normally I am totally opposed to these overly cutesy photo ops, but now that she’s my baby glamor shots may become par for the course.

The swing of things

Tomorrow our little girl turns 1 month old. Wow. On one hand those days in the hospital feel like forever ago. I’ve been back at work for 3 weeks, so even my time at home feels like a distant memory. And yet, on the other, I can’t believe how fast everything has gone. Seriously, she’s a month old already!

And you’re probably asking, where the hell have I been that I can’t even update people with wonderful photos of Kayleigh. Actually, anybody who knows me is probably shocked at the few that I’ve already posted. But at the very least I’m sure people have expected more updates. Well, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?! I’ve got a freakin’ newborn at home. How much time do you think I have to play around on the computer?

Like I’ve said, I’m not here to complain. But when I get home from work in the evening, there’s about 2 hours during which I have to eat dinner, take care of any chores, and give The Woman a break from the little bundle before the night time ritual of trying to sleep in shifts begins. In other words, I’m lucky to have time to take photos let alone post them. And, at least for the first month, if I’m not posting about Kayleigh, I’m not posting. So maybe that’ll change tomorrow…

Of course the main question everybody has is how is the baby? And my answer is, “She’s great! She’s a baby. She doesn’t care if she’s eating and sleeping on our schedule or pooping in her pants. As long as she’s healthy and comfortable, everything is great for her.” And that’s the truth. Everybody says that it’s just gas or reflexes, but I think the look on her face shows that she really is happy with life.

And as for us? The funniest thing happened. I don’t really care about anything else that much. I’ve missed parties, concerts, movies, etc. and it doesn’t bother me in the least. All that matters to me is that our precious little girl is happy and healthy and that I get to spend time with her. Whether it’s a calm evening of watching her curled up on her own or an hour of rocking her to sleep at 3 AM – it’s all worth it. I don’t mean to gush, but it really is the most amazing experience and well worth the “minor” trade-offs in lifestyle.

I feel like I’m still getting my “writing legs” back. Not that I haven’t neglected this site even longer in the past, but my mind is all over the place these days. Kayleigh makes it difficult to concentrate on anything else. But that’s okay, she wouldn’t have it any other way…

Time sure does fly

Happy anniversary to… us!

That’s right, on this day way back in the year 2006 Lisa and I tied the knot. Last year at this time our first anniversary was a big deal and foremost in my thoughts. This year we had trouble even figuring out what we could do, and then delayed the dinner plans for a couple hours while we made sure the little one was full. Thankfully my mother-in-law is staying with us this week which meant there was no rush to find a sitter for the couple of hours it took us to enjoy some fancy comfort food. Even though our usual Hoboken spot was pretty much out of the question, there are plenty of good eats in the area and Raymond’s made for a lovely substitute.

I know you’re all just waiting with baited breath for another Kayleigh update (I’ve had one half written for over a week at this point) but it’s not yet ready. At this point my “free time” at home has dwindled down to almost none thanks to the bizarre and twisted sleeping schedules of new parents. And to be perfectly honest, when I have the time and energy I’d rather spend it holding her than trying to score some more page views on ye olde blogge…

Enough about that. Tonight I just wanted to make sure that The Woman understood how much I love and appreciate her. Nothing fancy, just a timeout from our current hectic schedule – a much needed timeout for her. And it certainly seemed to have had a relaxing effect even if no chocolate was involved.

For myself, this was a time to remind me that I’m a very lucky man – although I now have 2 beautiful girls to perform that task on a daily basis!

Vacation time is over

So… what’s up with you guys? Everyone out there sleeping well? You know, more than 30 minutes a day? That’s good. Real good. I miss that.

Mommy, daddy and baby girl get ready to head home

We’re back from the hospital – actually we’ve been back since Sunday. I meant to post right away but… holy crap I’ve got a kid! When did that happen?!?! Yeah, I’m slightly out of it. The joy of heading home was rather short-lived when I realized that there was no NURSE button that would rescue us in the event of an unknown situation. There would also be no nursery at which to deposit our little girl to help us catch up on some much needed sleep. Instead, we would be on our own.

I spends some quality time with the newborn

Parenthood is scary.

There's quite a set of lungs behind that mouth, too

Obviously I know that this is a huge responsibility, and it will leave me exhausted in more ways than just physically, but suddenly we are faced with the very strong realization that “alone time” is gone. Everybody knows that once you have a kid going out becomes a far more rare occasion – especially in the beginning. But at this point she needs so much attention that there is almost no “spare time” for anything else. At least next week I’ll have work to break up my day, but The Woman will be unable to escape the constant companionship.

Trust me, I’m not complaining. I’m not going to write “woe is me” posts on this site about the troubles of being a new parent. Sure, I’ve already collected my first sleepless night, funny poop, and scary hiccup stories to share, but no sympathy will be fished for here. Because even an hour of nonstop screaming with your last nerve just about to go is completely erased the moment she stares up at me with those beautiful eyes.

She already has me wrapped around her little finger

You all know when a sentimental fool I can be, so it should come as no surprise to you that I’m fawning all over my precious little girl. Every little look, every little noise, every little movement just grabs a hold of my heart.

There’s still plenty more to share, but that will probably wait until another late night feeding session…