10/30/08

It's almost Halloween.  

Tonight I carved two pumpkins.  Logan wanted to be involved, but he wasn't quite able to carve.  Next year, he'll be ready to rumble.  

Logan's able to close doors, open doors, turn on lights and the TV.  

Brandon and Shanna just had a baby!  He was born almost a week ago.  The brit is tomorrow, and Heidi and I are invited.  We're going to have a full day.  The twins will have their four month checkup, while I have to work a bit.

The election is next Tuesday.  I'm feeling extremely nervous about it.  I can't believe that Obama will really win.  My mind says that he will pull it off - a small popular vote win with a larger electoral collage win.  But my gut tells me this will be very close.  In fact, my gut is telling me McCain may win by a hair.

Photos of Pumpkin Prowl

Photos from the Pumpkin Prowl:

10/26/08

Today we tried to have a brunch party.  I invited many of our friends from Soccer - but nobody showed up.  Actually, that's not entirely true.  John and Carol Methot showed up late in the day for about half and hour.  It was sort of frustrating.  I'm beginning to get the idea that our friends from the pre-kid era are gone for good.

We went on the Pumpkin Prowl at the Zoo tonight.  Logan didn't want to wear his monster costume.  He kept crying that he didn't want to be a monster, that he wanted to be a big boy.  He was fairly frantic about it, in fact.  Emma and Fina were dressed in little costumes.  Sophie and Ezra came, as did Carol and Bryan.  The zoo was amazingly crowded, but we had a fun time.  Logan seemed to enjoy it.

9/16/08

These days the news is full of politics and the economy.

The economy is almost certainly entering a recession that will be  fairly deep and fairly long.  Maybe two or three years of recession, followed by a slow recovery.  The recession was triggered by the decline of housing prices and increased mortgage defaults be people unable to pay higher rates on adjustable rate mortgages.  It was exaggerated by Credit Default Swaps - people buying "insurance" on mortgage backed securities.  It seems that a lot of people don't understand how the crisis was created, and many people who should be more rational can't help but think of the crisis in terms of political blame.  

Politics is unavoidable right now - there's a presidential election in three weeks.  Barack Obama is ahead in the polls now, but I think that the election will tighten in the last week.  My hope is that IF Obama wins, he wins convincingly.  The country could be torn apart by another very close election.  I don't think people are in the mood to accept an election result that goes against their philosophy.

Logan has a really good imagination, and he constantly makes up stories full of the same characters.  It's a little like Christopher Robin creating an imaginary world for Pooh Bear.  Except that Logan's characters are ... stranger.

There's the Monster, a green dinosaur like toy.  He likes French Fries.  There's the Space Cow, who has a space ship, can fix anything and lives at the UW.  There's the Raccoons, who live in a tree house and get lost often.  There's the Ostrich, who lives in the woods and spins around while crashing into the trees.  There's Eddie the Eagle who eats salmon.  There is the Helicopter Pilot.  He lives on Columbia Tower.  There is Maggie and Chazz, the dogs.  There is the Dinosaur, who is scary but only eats plants.  

Emma and Fina act like they want to sit up.  Fina is more interactive right now - she smiles readily.  Emma smiles, but she's a bit more selective about when she does it.

10/5/08

I'm typing on the computer, and Heidi and Logan are in the bathroom.  Heidi's giving Logan a bath.  The twins are both sitting on their bouncy chairs.  Fina's asleep, Emma is awake.

Logan has a big cast of imaginary characters who he makes up stories about all the time.  He imagines they're following him around the house as well.  There's Maggie and Chazz, of course.  There is also the Monster and the Space Cow, who are based on toys that Logan plays with.  There are also "The Raccoons" and the "Space Ostrich" who are only in bedtime stories.

Emma and Fina are making cooing and gooing noises.  They are smiling quite a bit.  Emma seems to be calming down, while Fina is getting a little more touchy about things.  Both Fina and Emma are grasping and hitting at things.

9/26/08

Last night Washington Mutual was taken over by the Federal Government.  The banking portion of the business was sold to JP Morgan.  I have no idea what this will mean for the local economy, but you have to guess it will raise the unemployment rate in the city substantially.

John McCain has been flailing around trying to look important and presidential.  I think he has failed to appear presidential, and I think he has actually managed to look impetuous and erratic.  He said he was "suspending his campaign" though he has not really stopped fundraising or advertising.  He tried to beg out of the presidential debate tonight, saying he needed to be in Washington DC to help congress reach a bail out agreement for lending institutions.  Now it sounds like he'll be at the debate tonight.  

I have always predicted that Obama would win the popular vote, lose the electoral college.  I hope he will  win, and I just donated $300 to his campaign last night.

I am afraid for the debate.  I hope it goes well for Obama, but I hate watching these things when the stakes are so high.

Emma and Fina are sick.  They have slight fevers - around 100.5 to 101.5.  They had trouble sleeping.  I think they got this from Logan, who may have gotten it from me.  I hope they get over this quickly.

9/16/08

Over the past few days the economy has been in turmoil due to some high profile failures of financial companies.  The government took over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and the Federal Reserve has purchased AIG.  Lehman Brothers collapsed, and the stock market has collapsed.  All of this was triggered by the mortgage financing crisis - too many subprime loans have gone bad, causing a chain reaction throughout the economy.

I'm a little worried about my brokerage account at Wells Fargo.  Wells Fargo is supposedly relatively insulated from the mortgage crisis, but the brokerage account is not FDIC insured.  Therefore I'm a bit nervous.  I feel like I should move the money to a safer account, but I also feel that I shouldn't panic.

Logan's imagination is growing quite a bit.  He likes to imagine that the bed is a spaceship, and that the lights in the ceiling are stars.  Alternately, the bed can be a boat, and then he dives into the water on the floor.  The rug in the basement is snow.  A pile of pillows is a house.

Fina and Emma are starting to interact with objects.  They are grabbing shirts and batting at hanging objects.  They are using the "baby gym" - a blanket with two fabric covered arches over it from which you can hang toys - more often.

9/11/08

Today on the way to work I saw some harbor seals!  They were eating salmon in Elliott bay.  Seagulls were hovering nearby to try and scoop up some scraps.  I think I counted about five or six seals.

I took these photos off of pier 66 - the large pier where they used to have the concerts.

9/9/08

Fina and Emma are smiling and looking at things.  They know who mommy is by sight - when we go for our evening walk Emma gets upset when we're walking in a shaded area because she can't see mom's face.

Emma is kicking and trying to hit objects.  Fina is making some sort of cooing noises.  They're starting to react to the world around them, which is pretty neat.

Logan and Hieid were in the zoo yesterday.  Logan ran under a chain with a sign hanging from it that read "Do not enter."  Heidi grabbed Logan and brought him back to the sign.  She pointed to the sign and said "Logan, this spells Do Not Enter."  Logan disagreed, saying "No, mommy, it spells go this way!"

9/4/08

Yesterday we were looking at a catalog of expensive children's Halloween costumes.  They had all of the usual costumes: princess, pirates, and sesame street characters.  Heidi was showing Logan a picture of a child in a cookie monster suit, and asked "who is this?"  Logan looked at the picture closely and muttered quietly "cookie monster."  Then, after a short pause, he asked "why is cookie monster eating that baby?"  Sure enough, the costume was designed to have the kids face look out from cookie monsters house.  If you thought about it, the outfit did look like a cookie monster with a kid head in it's mouth.  Yikes!

Fina and Emma had their two month checkup yesterday.  They're growing like weeds!  They seem to be healthy!  And they had their first vaccinations.

8/28/08

Logan needs ice!  

Logan has a few things that he absolutely needs to make him happy.  For example, on every evening walk we need to provide "milk and juice!"  In the mornings Logan wants Lucky Charms.  And when Logan gets a bump he needs ice.  Usually we don't give him ice cubes, but cold packs from the Freezer.  He holds the cold pack over the spot where he had his bump for a few moments.

He used to need a kiss on his bumps.  Then he had an actual hard fall on the porch.  We were worried he would get a bruise, so we held an ice pack against his head.  Ever sense then he has wanted ice every time he gets a bump.  It's gotten to the point where I take ice packs upstairs with me when I put Logan to bed.

Last night Logan got up in the middle of the night.  I sat with him on the trundle bed for a while - I went to sleep and I don't know how long it really was.  All I know is I awoke at around 5:15 am and crawled back to bed.

The twins slept the whole night through.

8/18/08

Karen and her companion Andrew came to Seattle this weekend.  They stayed at the Edgewater hotel.  On Sunday morning we went to the Edgewater to have brunch.  When we got down to Alaska Way the sidewalk was thronged with people walking to Hemp Fest in Myrtle Edwards park.  The crowd was pretty young and more middle class looking than I would have expected.  It seemed like the majority of the attendees were below 25 years old and wearing black t-shirts and baseball caps.  Not at all the hippie stereotype of the hempfest attendee.

The Edgewater was full of wealthy hippies - baby boomers and their children - who were getting ready to walk over to hempfest.  When we arrived in the restaurant Logan ran right over to the floor to ceiling windows and yelled "look at the water!  I can see boats!  There's cranes!"  He was terribly excited, and loved breakfast.  The host desk was behind a giant fish tank, which Logan visited many times.  On the way out I showed Logan the fancy fur covered pillows in the bar area - which he petted like chazz.

On Saturday we went on a boat cruse of Lake Union.  We sat on the roof in the sweltering heat and took in the sights while eating ice cream.

Sunday night Fina threw up on Karen.  She got her good....

8/14/08

It's a hot, sunny day in Seattle.  The weather service has sent out smog warnings - the air is supposed to get pretty stale over the next couple of days.  I'll have to see if things look hazy on the ride home.

I've been bicycling to work almost every day, and I'm starting to get pretty strong on the hills.  I have the nagging feeling that I should try to fix up the bike - maybe change out the break pads or change the chain.  I also think that the tires are a bit worn.  I would love to do it myself, but I can't seem to find the time!

Biking on Dexter Street in nice weather is pretty interesting.  There's always a crowd of cyclists.  It gets to the point where I feel like I'm in the peloton.  I find that I pass the weak cyclists on the hill, and get passed by the strong cyclists.  There's a definite step up between the easy going commuter and the super cyclists.  I'm one of the few in the middle. 

Logan woke up in the middle of the night last night.  He was scared, but he went back to sleep pretty quickly.  I hope he's not sick - it's often the case when he wakes in the night.

Karen's visiting tomorrow!

8/13/08

Last night was pretty rough.  The kids were asleep and so was I until around 2:00.  Fina and I were sleeping upstairs, and Fina woke up.  I took her downstairs and tried to wake Heidi.  She was asleep on the couch with Emma, while the TV was on playing Olympic beach volleyball.   When she woke up she took Emma upstairs, put her on the bed and went back downstairs alone.

I figured she must have low blood sugar.  I went back downstairs with the twins, sat on the couch and badgered her into testing her blood sugar.  Then  I badgered her into drinking some juice and eating skittles.  Finally she did, and she began to improve in about half an hour. 

After that the twins sort of alternated wakefulness for the next two hours.  Heidi nursed Emma and I fed Fina until they both were sound asleep upstairs, and I slept downstairs until 7:30 or so.  Today I'm tired.

8/6/08

The Beijing Olympics are set to start in two days.  I haven't been following the preparations, and I don't thing I'm very interested in watching the athletic events.  However, the Chinese government is determined to put on a huge spectacle.  That should be interesting.

We're getting to know our two little girls.

Fina is bigger, and sleeps longer at night.  She cries more in the car seat.  She is otherwise less needy - she can sit on her own while she's awake without being held.

Emma is smaller, and wakes up more often.  She does not cry in the car seat.  She is more needy - she usually wants to be held.

They both seem to feel hot all the time.  I think I remember that babies just feel warm.

We strongly believe that the twins are not identical.  They don't really look alike.  However, they both have blue eyes, which seems unlikely.  We'll have to see how they turn out.

Last night I went out to Heidi's parents house for dinner.  Heidi and the kids were already out there.  Heidi's cousin Jason is visiting Seattle with his family, and they were there as well.  Logan was having a fun time, and people were holding Emma and Fina.  It was a good time until we had to leave.  The girls both started to cry for the walk, and Fina continued to cry through the whole walk until I gave in and picked her up.  Then she cried on the car ride home.  She's been crying in the car quite a bit, and she has quite the lung power!

7/16/08

TWINS!

The twins are Emma Margaret Starr and Fina Corday Starr.  They were born on June 27th at 10:03 and 10:04 a.m.  Fina was first, and she was the larger of the two at 7 pounds 10 ounces.  Emma weighed 6 pounds 1/2 ounce.  

I'll have to write down the birth story later.

First impressions - after two weeks - of the girls is that they are not identical.  They do not have the same personality.  Fina is more easy going.  She sleeps more, and is less likely to get aggravated.  Emma is awake more often, and seems more aware of her surroundings.  She takes longer to eat, and is a bit more demanding of our attention.

6/27/08

Today Emma Starr and Fina Starr were born, at 10:03 and 10:04 A.M.

Of course, I'm writing this a good five and a half weeks later, late at night.  I didn't exactly have time to write it all down while it was happening.

Here's some of what I remember of the day they were born:

The cesarean section was scheduled, so there was no uncertainty about the date or time of the delivery.  We spent the night before at Heidi's parent's house.  That morning we woke early, and left Logan there while we got ready and left.  I ate breakfast, but Heidi was on a no food "diet" until delivery.  We drove over to Seattle in the pre-rush hour morning.  It was already light out - it was nearly the longest day of the year!  

We arrived at Swedish, and I immediately went the wrong way down into the parking garage.  I had to back up the ramp.  We parked and then went up to the delivery ward.  A rather excitable nurse took us into the "delivery" room, which was really more of a preparation room since we were going to have an operation rather than a natural birth.  The nurse spent her time putting IVs into Heidi, producing paperwork for us to sign, and explaining how she normally didn't work in this area.

Like clockwork we left for the operating room at 9:30.  By 9:50 doctor Gopaloni was operating on Heidi.   It was the same set up as last time, with twice as many nurses.  The delivery was quick and seemingly uneventful.  Heidi, the anesthesiologist and I talked while two doctors operated on the other side of the blue fabric screen.  When the babies were about to be delivered I stood aside and watched them both get pulled out of the incision.  They hustled me over to first one table and then the other to cut the umbilical cord.  I remember Fina came out first, and was very "clean" for a newborn.  Emma was second, and was covered in blood.  After they were out and cleaned up I got to hold both of them to show to Heidi.  The anesthesiologist took a picture for me!

After the delivery we spent a while in the "delivery room."  Heidi was hooked up to a bunch of monitors that continually beeped when her heart rate or blood pressure were out of the ordinary.  They made me nervous for no reason.  

Eventually we moved down to the post delivery ward.  I remember Heidi had a running battle with the nurses there over her insulin.  They wanted to control insulin, and they did a very poor job of controlling it.  Her blood sugar was all over the place.  It didn't help that it took them a long time to give her the doses she requested, or that the kitchen was impossible to predict.

My parents, Heidi's parents and Kimmies family all visited while we were in the hospital.  Logan's visits were hard for me, because I wanted him to stay with us!  

We left after three days, and went home with two new babies.  

6/7/08

Heidi's sick today.  She threw up twice this morning, and has been sleeping the rest of the day.  Logan and I have been having fun and playing around, but it's been fairly exhausting.  I'm worried about Heidi and the twins, who are going to be born in about 19 days barring any early arrival.

Logan and I went down to the skate park.  Today was the grand opening for the skate park - there were maybe one hundred people in and around the park, and a DJ.  It was a pretty fun scene - Logan was entertained for quite a while watching the skaters.

Obama has just clinched the democratic nomination.  My prediction - electoral college defeat with popular vote victory.

5/25/08

I'm building at treehouse for Logan and the twins.  It's coming along pretty well - I've got both floors done, and now just need to finish the railings.

Logan and Heidi went to folk life today.  Tomorrow we're going to go up to Alpental to ski.  It's the latest the ski area has ever been open, as far as I know.  I'm going to take Logan on a ski lift with me.  Should be fun!

Logan has discovered bugs.  Actually, I sort of jump started his desire to see bugs in the backyard.  I pulled up some rocks and some of the plant pots and showed him the worms, the pill bugs (which he pronounces pillow bug) and the snails.  He loves to find snails, especially ones that are moving.

5/21/08

Heidi had another prenatal appointment today.  I didn't go to the appointment, but evedently everything was fine.  

Stacie and Pierre visited last weekend.  Logan had a grand time with Hayden and Ethan and Ezra.  He also likes Sophie Mac and Zelda, but the boys are closest to him in age.  He loves running around with them, even if he can't really understand their games quite yet.  Actually, I don't think they understand each other's games quite yet.

5/7/08

Today Logan and Heidi came down to the office for Lunch.  They came on the number 16 bus, and walked up to the office.  Actually, I met them on the stairs.  Logan walked into the office and started to demand toy trains and cars - "I want to play with cars."  John gave him a couple of plastic range rovers to play with, and Logan happily sat on the ground and crashed them into walls.

We went to the mexican restaurant in the alley.  Logan ate lots of rice, and some beans.  He didn't care for the cheese quesadilla we ordered for him.  He wanted french fries, as usual.  I think he'd be happy on a diet of french fries and veggie booty.  And milk and juice, of course!

Logan often asks for both milk and juice at the same time.  It's a stock phrase for him - "milk and juice."  It must have started with our nightly walks.  We've always given him a bottle of milk for the evening walk, and he started to request juice several months ago.  Now "I want milk and juice" has almost become shorthand for "I'm tired, it's time for my walk."

Bernie is starting to work on our basement room.  We'll have to see how this turns out.

4/28/08

We went to a Mariner's baseball game on Saturday night.  The game started at 6:00, and we had a late start leaving home because Logan woke up from his nap in a poor mood.  We woke him up to get to the game on time.  As usual when we wake him up, he was pretty cranky.  He was feeling good by the time we got to the game.  He was excited by the crowds.  When he saw a baseball image in the concrete floor of the stadium he danced around it for a couple of minutes.

Logan was pretty happy throughout the game.  It was the end of passover, so we went a little crazy on the food.  We ate hot dogs, fries, dippin dots and Logan munched on cotton candy.

The highlight of the game - for Logan - was a visit by the Mariner Moose in the 8th inning.  The Moose walked right over to our seat and gave Logan a high five.  Logan looked a little scared while the Moose was standing next to us, but after the Moose walked away he was fascinated by the Moose.  He watched the Moose dance on the dugout, and when the Moose sat down during the at-bats Logan said that the Moose was hiding.

After the game we walked back to the SMR garage.  Pioneer square was hopping - the sidewalks were full of drunks, fans and other folks.  We went into three places to get milk for Logan, with no luck.  I got mad at a Falafel place where they took my money and then forgot about the order - and were rude to me as well.  Finally we got milk at Starbucks.

4/24/08

Logan is starting to get very excited about doing things for himself.  Whenever he accomplishes something - like climbing into his car seat or putting on his own shoes - he says "I did it!"  Logan also enjoys "dumping it out."  He fills cups with water and dumps it into the sink or - preferably - into another cup.  He also loves dumping water into Chazz's water dish, or dumping sand into a bucket.  Logan also loves to jump into bean bags and jump on his bed.  

Logan's favorite toys include his little Gumby figure, a little fire truck, a little backhoe, and his various balls.  His stuffed dog from build a bear - woofie dog - is a good friend but it's not one of his favorites.  

4/22/08

I've biked to work the past two days.  I'm hoping I'll start exercising again, because I feel tired fat and bloated far too often lately.  

It's passover.  We had the seder at Carol and Bryans house on Sunday night.  Logan was impatient during the seder - I think he wanted to get down to eating.  We let him run around the house while we finished, and he came back to the table to eat.  Logan had a wonderful time at his grandparents house this weekend - he played with Ezra and Sophie,  he jumped on their couches, and he begged for chocolate.

I went skied at Alpental with Greg and Roy on Saturday morning.  It's the latest in the year I've ever skied.  We had snow storms on Friday night, and the fresh snow was amazing.  We got to ski on new snow on a couple of runs, but there was a tremendous crowd at the ski area.  There were 30 minute lines on lift 1, and even longer lines on lift 2.  On our last run we went out of bounds and went down elevator - a spooky little chute run!

4/17/08

Logan seems to be getting taller.  We haven't measured him recently, but he seems to be growing.  His stomach is getting smaller - usually a sign that he's undergoing a growth spurt.

Logan's birthday is tomorrow!  We have to start wrapping presents, but at least we've bought them all.  Logan's getting lots of little cars, and an easel.  He should be pretty happy with the presents!

Passover also starts pretty soon.  I'm going to be cleaning out the fridge and oven tonight.  Last night Heidi purchased the passover food from QFC.  I've decided I have to complain less about passover food - especially the breakfast options.

4/13/08

We just got back from our third annual Palm Springs vacation.  It was a wonderful time - the weather was sunny and warm, and there were no big fights or problems.  The cousins got along wonderfully.

Some highlights I'll remember for a long time include:

Logan chasing the birds around the pools.  Logan would run after the birds, chasing them away from the lounge chairs around the pools.  Sometimes he would run up, wave his fist and yell "bird!"  When the birds flew off he would ask "where the bird go?"  He loved telling us "I chase the birds!"

Logan going down the slide!  Logan loved going down the water slide.  I always took him down the slide.  We would go over and over again until we decided Logan was too cold.  He would shiver after a while - the water in the small slide pool was colder than the other pools.  Every time we went down Logan was excited.  Often he would say "water coming!"  When we splashed into the pool he would say "splash!"  When we got out of the pool he would look for someone to tell "I went down the slide" before asking me "again?"

Logan seeing the fire trucks.  We saw fire trucks and ambulances nearly every time we drove around.  Logan really looked forward to seeing them.  One fire truck came to the hotel the next to last day we were there and Logan got to see it up close.

Logan "dumping it out."  Logan created a "game" where he took water and ice from a cup and dumped it into an empty cup.  He would dump back and forth happily as long as he had some water and ice.  He would say "I dumped it out!"

The cousins playing together.  They played with balls, they played with matchbox cars, they played with cups of water, and they hunted rabbits.  They had a blast together.

Of course, not everything was perfect.  I had a queasy stomach for a while, and Logan threw up on the last night there.  He wasn't sick - he could have been dehydrated.  We also had a massive 5 hour delay on the flight home. 

4/4/08

I went skiing with Greg, Brant, Russ and Mathus this Wednesday at Crystal Mountain.  It was a fantastic day, clear and sunny and warm.  The snow was fairly good at higher elevations, and fairly bad at lower elevations.  We skied on the new Northway lift that was installed last summer.  The lift opens up an amazing amount of steep and difficult terrain.  We had six runs off of Northway Peak.  Most of the time we hiked up to the summit of Northway - about 100 yards of hiking - and skied down the steep north facing slopes.  

We ate breakfast at a little diner called Charlie's in Enumclaw, and lunch at the new lodge by the High Campbell lift.  Russ and Mathus ditched us before lunch, and eventually we had to find them by the end of the day.

My foot is still numb from the day of skiing.  I don't know if it was my new boot, or if it was the snap button on my ski pants, but something must have pinched a nerve.  I hope this goes away on it's own!

Anyway, it was a lovely day.  I'm still recovering!

We're getting ready for our trip to Palm Springs.  We leave tomorrow, and I haven't even started to pack.  Heidi is obviously looking forward to the trip, and I think it will be nice to get a bit of rest.  Logan seems happy to get on an airplane again, and we're hoping he's going to be as good as he was on our last flight.  

3/28/08

Nothing very important has happened over the past week. Last weekend, however, was pretty harrowing. Logan, Heidi and I went up to Vancouver to visit Bill and Karen. This was not a normal visit, however. Karen and Bill are having difficulty with their marriage. I didn't know until Karen called me during the week before we went up. She said they were close to splitting up, and that we shouldn't come to visit. Then she changed her mind - she decided everything would be easier if we did come up. We would be the emotional buffer between her and Bill, between her and the situation.

It was a tense visit. Karen was basically moving out. You could tell she felt terrible - she was frequently crying. Bill, on the other hand, was very calm. You would have never known anything was going on from Bills expression. I think he was also very understanding with Karen.

The night we got there Bill and Karen weren't home. Logan woke up while we waited for them to show up, and then it took two hours of crying to get him to go to sleep. The next day we went to the aquarium - which was overflowing with people.

I felt sort of used. But I had promised Karen that I would do anything to help. Really, it was the least I could do. The only real problem I had with it was the nagging suspicion that our presence wasn't helping the situation at all. I really feel like Karen should stay with Bill, but on the other hand I have no real idea what she and Bill are going through. I hope everything works out for the best - I know I can't really know what is best for them.

At least the ride home was easy!

3/19/08

I went to the Seismic retrofit class tonight. The class was at the Phinney Neighborhood Center. It was interesting, though I knew quite a bit of the material that was covered already. I wonder when I'll actually do the retrofit? It could be quite a job.

3/17/08

We went to San Francisco this weekend. Heidi, Logan and I flew down on Saturday morning, and came back last night fairly late. We all had a fun time - especially Logan. Logan is really fond of his cousins - especially Ezra and Ethan. They form a little gang of three boys. Logan loves roughhousing with Ethan, and they seem to get along fairly well.

I was pretty miserable on Saturday morning when we left. I don't like plane flights, and I was exhausted. I was in a testy mood. But the flights were pretty easy, and we all had fun visiting Stacie and Pierre.

We were there for the Bris for Asher, Stacie and Pierre's new baby. So far Asher seems like a very relaxed and sleepy little kid. He slept nearly the entire time we were back. He doesn't cry or fuss very much. I think he looks a little like Ethan.

3/14/08

Logan enjoys putting coins into his soccer ball piggy bank. The bank is a clear plastic globe (the soccer ball) on the end of a wooden "leg"shape. The coins go in the top of the "leg" shape and bounce down a curving slot to land with a plink in the clear globe. Logan will happily put coin after coin into the bank, and then ask for more money when he runs out of coins. He calls the coins money, and he actually says "more money."

3/10/08

I only worked a half day today. Spent half at home napping and walking the dog. I feel tired, but fairly healthy.

I'm working, working, working on my St. Margaret's project. I feel like (and I believe that I really am) far behind on this project. I'm going to have to work really hard on this.

Bill and Karen are moving to a new place. It's near Granville Island, near a place Heidi's uncle used to live. I'm pretty psyched about it, and I'm excited to see it when we visit in two weeks.

I took those Myer's Briggs personality test, and I came up as a ENTJ. That's the personality nicknamed the "field marshal." Karen's personality is INFP, which is nicknamed "the healer."

3/9/08

My pneumonia is slowly receding. I wouldn't say overconfidently that it's "on the run" or "gone." It's fading slowly. I finished the antibiotics yesterday, and today is my first day to go back to work - part time. I think that I'll be better, but I'm worried about some sort of relapse.

Yesterday was the first day of daylights savings time. Now I feel doubly tired - I have to go back to work and "spring ahead" on the same day.

We had lunch yesterday with Chris and Kelly at the Ram in University Village, and they went on to the aquarium with Heidi and Logan. They told us some sad news - evidently Zeshan and Jada are getting a divorce. This troubled me a lot - I don't exactly know why (outside of the obvious pain that two of my friends are going through.)

3/6/08

I have pneumonia now! I had a cold that started off like Logan's cold. It seemed to get better, then go away, then come back. Two days ago it seemed much worse. Finally I saw Doctor Friedman. He listened to my lungs and heard the tell tale gurgle of pneumonia. So now I'm at home with some antibiotics (Azithromycin) and some codeine laced cough syrup.

I'm trying to make sure I don't cough on Logan or Heidi. I really don't want them to get sick. I hope they stay clear of infection.

I'm trying to keep up with work from home. I think this has been a problem. It takes energy, and I don't have any right now.

2/28/08

Tomorrow I have the big Charrette for the St. Andrew's housing project in Bellevue. This should be a long meeting - but hopefully it will clarify the program and massing of the building.

I met Heidi and Logan at Red Robin's for lunch. Logan seemed very happy. Heidi said he'd had a sort of on again, off again morning. He tantrumed from time to time, but was otherwise happy. He had fun at Red Robins - he ate some french fries, some apple slices and a little bit of grilled cheese. Mostly he hopped around on his booth seat and had fun.

This morning he woke up very early - around 5:30 - crying. I think he had a nightmare. He's not sick, and he wasn't wet or cold. I went in to comfort him, but he wouldn't have it. He wanted mom. He looked up at me and said "mommie!" Then he got worked up to the point I thought he could throw up. I realize now that I panicked a bit, based on previous experience. Heidi had to sit with him for about half an hour before he went back to sleep.

2/23/08

Logan threw up again last night. I'm feeling like this isn't a big deal, but it's somewhat worrying. I guess kids throw up a lot. Logan's been throwing up about once every other week. From reading other parent's comments on the web that's not entirely uncommon for normal, healthy kids.

Logan loves looking at my moles. He points at them on my neck. I have a "big mole" and a "little mole."

2/21/07

Heidi, Logan, Chazz and I just got back from our trip to the Scottish Lakes High Camp yesterday. We spent most of three days up at the camp, a collection of cabins at 5,000 feet in the Cascade Mountains. It's located off of highway 2, about a mile from the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

To get to the camp we parked our car at a parking lot just off of Highway 2 and road a Suburban up a one lane private road to a "parking lot" where we unloaded the truck and got onto snowmobiles. Then we traveled up a narrow cat track to the camp. The entire route was covered in snow, except the first quarter mile. On the trip up I held Chazz, who struggled a bit right when the snowmobile started, and Heidi held Logan, who went to sleep pretty quickly.

The cabins were all very small. They had no electricity or running water. Water was brought in from the spring at the main lodge. Heat was from wood stoves. Light was from gas lamps. It was all very primitive, but it wasn't a problem. Except for the heat. We put too much wood into the stove on several occasions, making the cabin unbearably hot. We also had to keep adding wood to the stove throughout the night.

The cabins are in a treed valley surrounded by ridges on three sides. It's right at the tree line - above the valley most of the hillsides are lightly treed. Cross country ski trails radiate out from the cabins, through the surprisingly gentle surrounding hills.

While we were there I was slightly nervous. I worried that Logan or Heidi would get sick, miles away from access to an ambulance. Logan did get a cold on the third day, but nothing serious.

Logan had fun. He loved the snowman diorama in the Main Lodge. He liked playing with balloons in our cabin. He said that our bunk bed was a "metro bus" and he pretended to drive it. He got used to the Chariot sled, and seemed to enjoy our hikes.

On the second day we had a long snowshoe hike. I hauled the Chariot sled behind me while I walked. It worked well as long as there was no cross slope, but on the upper part of the trail there was a significant cross slope. It sucked - I kept running into trees. When we finally got to the high ridge overlooking the camp the view was wonderful. Logan woke up in a good mood - he had slept most of the hike - and we played with the shovel a bit.

On the last day we didn't do much. Logan wanted to "ride" the snowmobiles. When we left Chazz and I skied down after the snowmobiles. It was pretty amazing - lovely open slopes with good spring snow conditions. Chazz was a bit slow, and skeptical of following down the steeper slopes. But we made it just fine - if a bit late!

2/14/08

Happy Valentine's Day.

I got a call early today from Jerome Burns at Common Ground. He let me know that we had been selected for the project. NOW we have a lot of work to do.

I'm really excited to get started on the project, and I think we'll be able to make something that's pretty amazing for St. Andrews.

Logan threw up again last night. I was going to put him to bed, and I noticed that he was sticking his tongue out and looking unhappy while I took his shoes off. I knew something was coming. He threw up while I was carrying him out of the kitchen. He emptied his stomach. No fever. He wasn't sad or mad. And the next day he was fine in the morning.

Hmph.

On the bright side they had an avalanche into Alpental's parking lot. 36" slab. Yeep.

2/10/08

Gotta make a presentation tomorrow. If we do well, we get a new project. I hope we get the project - I've worked pretty hard on it.

2/9/08

We went to the caucus today.

Our caucuses were held in a high school near our house - it was within walking distance for us, but we left late enough that we had to drive to make it on time. The reason we were waiting was that the state web site that showed the caucus locations was down - the web traffic was too high. The Obama site had a caucus locator as well, and it was also down. Finally we took the chance that we would go to the same place as last election. We should have walked - there was a major traffic jam down by the school.

I had the impression that there were more people at this caucus than four years ago, but not twice as many. Our precinct had about 80 people. We were in one corner of the small high school gym. When we separated by candidates there were 67 Obama, 12 Clinton and 1 Kucinich. I didn't know Dennis was still in it. Perhaps he's not. Kucinich people are cranky that way.

Logan ran around the gym kicking his ball and playing with his garbage truck. He loves the garbage trucks. There was a knot of kids who played in the exact center of the gym - away from the crowds at the four corners.

It seemed that Obama had lopsided victories in all of the nearby precincts. I can't say what that means for the whole state. The Clinton supporters had more signs and buttons. The Obama supporters were better speakers, by and large. We desperately needed a PA system or a bullhorn.

2/5/07

Yesterday Logan vomited an enormous quantity of food and milk all over his blue coat after our evening walk. He was not upset - not nearly as upset as Heidi and I! Actually, he took it pretty well, and was cheerful as Heidi put him to bed and I cleaned up his stroller.

We don't know why he's sick. Or even if he's sick. He doesn't have a fever. He's pretty happy. He seems fine - other than the fact he threw up twice in a day.

Today he was fine. No vomit. No fever.

I'm working on the interview questions for the St. Andrew's Housing RFQ. It's a bit stressful. We don't have much time to do a thorough job.

I may go skiing tomorrow.

1/31/08

We didn't go to Alpental. The pass was closed for 24 hours due to heavy snow and an avalanche that buried two cars on I-90.

I met Logan and Heidi at the aquarium. Logan was in a pretty goofy mood - he wanted to play where's Logan throughout lunch. He would hide his face behind a red plastic french fry basket and tell me that Logan was hiding outside, or on the stairs. I would have to walk off to "look" for Logan.

This morning we had an early meeting to start going over the business of running an architecture partnership. We studies the ins and outs of scheduling for a bit.

Jan 30 2008

I'm trying to go skiing early tomorrow. A huge snowstorm has been pounding the Cascades. Hopefully I can leave Seattle around 1:00 or 2:00. We'll see what's possible tomorrow.

An avalanche buried two cars on I-90 today. This snowstorm is not playing around.

1/27/07

Logan loves Octopi. He also loves otters. He has a book about Octopi he has me read over and over again. He seems so happy when he says "octopus!"

We had a low key weekend, with not much to do. I shoul d have gone skiing, but I'm too tired and too sick feeling to go. Also, Brandon couldn't go - he had to be with his wife for the invitro fertilization process.

1/22/08

We went to Mount Baker this weekend. It's a mostly annual trip we take with our friends from our old soccer team, comedy of errors. This year we stayed in the "dogs and kids" cabin. There were four couples and four dogs and one kid. We stayed with Thea and Adam, Jonah and Aviva, and Andrea and Aaron. It was the dumpy old cabin #20. Not the nicest place, but then again Jonah's dog Oscar did pee on the carpet twice....

We had a good time, and went snowshoeing on two days with Logan. I skied one day with Blake and Eric. There were parties late into the night on Friday and Saturday. All in all a very nice - if hectic - weekend.

1/14/07

This weekend Bill and Karen came down to visit.

We went up to Snoqualmie Pass on Saturday. The avalanche danger was high, so we stuck to snowshoeing on the Iron Horse Trail. It's a safe, groomed and well traveled trail - nearly level and fairly dull. Perfect for carrying a great big Logan around!

We had a pretty good time up until the last half hour. We walked until I became exhausted carrying Logan. Then we stopped to have lunch. By then Logan had been asleep for a while, and he slept through lunch. After lunch we started walking again. We heard avalanche bombs going off on the shed by Lake Keechalus, which spooked Chazz. Eventually Logan woke up. He wanted to walk, but he was far too slow. Eventually we bundled him back into the backpack. He wanted to walk, and cried up a storm. By the time we got back he was near hysterical, but he calmed down once we got into the car. We think he got cold, and then cranky.

Bill and Karen may leave Vancouver. Both of their jobs are coming to an end, and they don't really know what their next jobs will be. I hope they can stay on the west coast - and Seattle would be a bonus!

1/10/08

I went night skiing at Alpental last night. I pretty much go every night while ski season is still in progress. I meet Greg, Brandon, Roy, Brandt and Chris Libby at Greg's house near I-90, and we drive up to the pass at 6:00.

Tonight was strange. There was tons of new snow, and it was snowing hard the whole time we were there. It was warm - just barely below freezing. The hill was divided into two halves - The upper half had light snow that was fun to ski. The lower half had treacherous, slushy snow. Every one of us had a hard wipe out - I lost both my skis and broke my binding strap in my crash!

1-07-08

The project I'm working on in the office is on hold. It's been sort of awkward there lately - I've been trying to find stuff to work on. I want to keep working on my project, but the funding delay could be as much as one full year. Yikes.

Today the bus rides to and from work were really crowded. I had to stand on the way to work - which is the usual when I get on the bus at the Park and Ride.

I've started skiing. This past weekend I went to Hyak, and the Thursday before that I was skiing with Greg and Roy. On Sunday Hyak was really crowded - a big wait for the double lift. I had fun, but I skied alone. I talked with a father with children in racing lessons, and the owner of Red Mountain Coffee.

Tonight we ate at Tangletown. Logan had a great time of it - he was happy and hungry. After dinner he got pretty tired - he had no nap today, and he went to sleep on our evening walk. That's pretty unusual for us now.

Tonight Barak Obama lost the Democratic New Hampshire primary to Hillary Clinton. I felt bad. I'm surprised I cared as much as I did - I haven't really been following the primaries or the debates at all.