Month: May 2004

When the dust bunnies are large enough to stop your CPU fan it’s time to clean. Bytes too because I had some windows open from which I wanted to save information!

Diapers are impressive. Amy’s diaper this morning must have weighed two pounds (1 kilogram)!

Wife is up. I need to get my head screwed on straight.

Here’s the latest update on the job scene:

Through placement agencies–

Apparently still in the running for 3 possible positions at a larger media company in town. One of the positions has had my resume solicited to them by two different placement companies.

Apparently there is still a possibly with a company that fulfills software needs for military contracts.

Yesterday I received a call regarding an actual ColdFusion job with a pretty serious company that primarily does government contracts.

My person efforts–

Have continued to fail to get marketing information to other developers in town for contract work.

Have a product as a reseller that I could be marketing and have failed to cold call businesses with the opportunity.

Have a list of new businesses and business license renewals and have failed to send letters to these companies informing them of my services to them (those services can be web design, the product from above, or resell of MS solutions through the MS Partner’s program which could include hardware resell if I would file the correct paperwork).

Have a lead with a 135 person company that is growing in town which needs a dba and some developers. Have failed to get a resume and cover letter to them.

Amy wanted the squeeze peanut butter so I made her a peanut butter sandwich. She watched as I made it then we put it in her house so she could eat. She’s playing with it so I said “eat it” and made the “num num num” noise while pantomiming with my hand. She smiled and said “num num num” while holding the sandwich to her lips but never took a bite. How funny!

“Dada, help!” Help has a slight “heh” sound followed mostly by “ELP” so the word is almost there. Amy was climbing into her “house” and became stuck. She wasn’t really stuck but looking for interaction I think. Now she sits in my lap and eats her poptart while watching me type. She is such a good baby! Very happy!

I left Amy playing in the room she shares with Sarah while I drove Tommy to school. I returned to find she is still in there playing. I assume Cathy is still asleep. I bet Amy has no diaper on. I had hoped to come home and get straight to work on my computer. Of course, other desires included a run around the neighborhood and a workout with the dumbbells but that exercise with stretches included would eat an hour of my day.

I’m ordering my vibrating alarm clock today. My day has to start at 4am from now on!

I think I hear the baby but I am not sure. I have to take Tommy to school but I am not sure when I can have him there. It only takes 15 minutes to get to the school. Naturally I cannot start anything so I am enjoying my blogging and blog reading. Tommy says he typically gets there at 8am. I thought it was 8:15 that he arrived.

Do I take Amy with me or leave her in the room to play?

This day is going to be very stressful.

A New Day!

Let’s start the day off with a PayPal donation link:

This Morning

Had no desire to get up this morning. Was having an incredibly bizarre post-apocolyptic type dream and wanted it to continue. I woke just before 5am and waited for the alarm to go off then I turned off Paul Simon and returned to a deep sleep for that bizarre dream. Woke again at 6 and had the kids up at 6:08. Tommy got medicine at 6:25.

Noah stands in front of the door behind which Amy is sleeping and in that voice with no volume control starts asking me questions. I cringe.

Tommy makes no effort to get up. It is now 6:45. I removed his covers and tell him to get up. He grunts. I give a slap to the calf and he yells “Ow! What was that for?” to which I reply “you are smarter than that, you know what that was for” and he says “ok.” He remains in bed.

7:04. Carpool is late. Tommy is still in bed undressed. His bus will be here any minute.

Yesterday

A terrible waste of a day. No preparation for the performance this Saturday. DAMN! The Juggling Club met last night and I meant to go and solicit a partner to join me for the routine.

The morning spent getting the kids off to school then playing with Amy until Cathy got up. Not long after that I had to go check Tommy out from school for his psychologist appointment. Doctors schedule their appointments back to back which is unrealistic it; I find it comparable to airlines double booking. Doctors are always behind schedule because someone is going to run over, or a phone call is going to cause a delay, or a bathroom break, or other reason. We typically start 15 minutes late. If doctors padded their schedule in anticipation of these delays perhaps they would have fewer late starts. I don’t really mind of course because Tommy’s psychologist is very good and has helped Tommy along greatly. During the appointment I moved everything in both Cathy’s phone and mine onto the sim cards in anticipation on trading up from the motorola v400 to the v600.

After Tommy’s appointment I had intended to run by the bank then drop Tommy off at school but he needed lunch. I still could have done the bank but forgot and brought Tommy home. I checked email then got hot pockets cooked for Tommy, Cathy and I. I did the final phone to sim card transfers at the house then took Tommy back to school.

From the school I drove to Cingular to find out that to trade the phones I needed a few more parts (the books, the power supplies and preferrably the boxes – which I threw away because Cingular had told me “we aren’t getting the v600s”). Next I went to the bank which is always stressful in these no income times.

From the bank I went back to the psychologist to pick up the forgotten doctor’s note for the school.

I then returned home with frustration building. As I sat on the computer and checked email, my frustrations grew to the point of being debilitating. As 5:30 approaches I’m finally getting into gear and in the “resume/programming/work” mindset and Tommy runs out of gas in the mower and complaining that the gas container is empty. I explain that there is another gas container in the driveway but that I want to be the one to pour from that one (It’s easy to make a mess with it). I am also trying to plan and cook dinner so that it is ready at 6pm tonight and I’ve just come from the freezer having read the instructions on the Cashew Chicken and Stir Fry Vegetables that will be our dinner. As I start out the door to fix Tommy’s problem Cathy asks “Why don’t you take that invitation and deliver it?” She is referring to the last birthday invitation for Noah’s party which I had planned on dropping off tomorrow morning in conjunction with car pool since the boy’s house is right near the school. The source of our miscommunication: I felt we had discussed this multiple times and had made a decision that was now being changed at a critical time in my day. Cathy innocently felt she was making the most of my trip to the store to buy gasoline which is what Tommy told her I was doing. Rather than discussing it with her, I stomped out of the house and delivered the card. On the return I bought milk. Overall the unplanned trip wasn’t a bad thing.

Dinner (rice, cashew chicken and stir fry) was prepared and enjoyed with minor complaints from the Picky Eatter Club. Kids bathed and put to sleep. Cathy and I lounged in bed.

Did not get resume and cover letter sent. Did not do any programming.

Last night Amy brings me the box to the “FindingNemo” DVD which has a picture of a big sea turtle on it. I ask her “what is this?” and she replies “Crush!” Crush is the name of the turtle in the movie!

This is one of those mornings I can feel myself burning out quick. I should wake my wife but I can’t bring myself to do that.

Amy pulled her folded stroller all the way down the hall to where I now sit. She says “Baby’s chair” and I unfold it for her and unlatch the tray that goes across the front. She climbs in and says “Baby buckle” to which I reply “Amy’s buckle” (she had stopped calling herself baby after seeing a new born). I help her get buckled then she wants the tray closed. Finally, the expected request, “Oootside” I rolled her to the window and told her “too cold” which she repeated and gave her a new breakfast in her chair. Both bowls of cereal now coat the floor.

Amy is up.

A New Day!

Let’s start the day off with a PayPal donation link:

This Morning

Woke at 2:30am to a screaming baby. She was sitting on the floor near her sisters bed; obviously trying to get to her and couldn’t. She had lost her pacifier and “night night” (blankie) and her juice was empty. I held her and recovered her “bop” (pacifier) and “night night” then held her until she calmed. It’s a wonderful feeling to have a baby squeeze you and press her head into your shoulder while she falls asleep.

My mind was wide awake and alert. I almost convinced myself to stay up for the rest of the night and work on the computer.

Woke again at 5 to Paul Simon but silenced him and went back to sleep. At 6am I got up and roused the kids then went straight to the couch to hide under the down comforter and slip back into sleep. At 6:20 I medicated Tommy and went back to sleep until 6:35 when we began the “Tommy get up” game.

Now? Lay back down or get to work?

Yesterday

I was wiped out from the weekend. I couldn’t pull myself together. Kept racing 10 different things through my mind that I needed to be doing at that exact moment so nothing got accomplished.

Help! I’ve been kidnapped by 5th graders!

We are going to The Hermitage and after lunch there will return to Knoxville.