Genji’s Butler

So, I’m back in the harness at work. It was difficult to come back- having quite a few people come to my desk to express their condolences made it difficult to really get started for the day, and then end of the day was a meeting, so it wasn’t very productive. The weekend saw our first Lamaze class- I’m not sure how usefull it will be, but it moved quickly  and was somewhat entertaining if only to look at the other (fathers|mothers)-to-be. The travel system that my mom ordered for us also arrived- that was a big stressor for Candice so it’s good to have it. Now we’re just waiting for the football so to speak.

Candice is VERY uncomfortable  right now- with an injured pelvis, sore ribs, and a baby pressing on her diaphram which makes it hard to breathe. She’ll be full term in on about the 18th, so anytime after that could be the time … when people ask me when she’s due I’ve been saying anytime between 9/18 – 10/18 (her  due date is 10/12). Candice wants Nora to hold out until October but I’m not sure that’s gonna happen. Until then, she’s got me in: Infant CPR, Child Care Basics, Lamaze… I think she thinks that I need some education on this sort of thing.

I do, I suppose.

In other news, It seems that Nora is a pre-natal football fan- she gets really active when Candice is cheering during football games. I like this idea very much.

Edit: Happy Birthday, Mom!

One Week.

My father passed away one week ago today. His full military honors were granted yesterday at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Higginsville, Mo. by a combined American Legion and Air Force honor guard. It was a fitting and heartbreaking goodbye. My dad was a good man and I miss him.

Many people have written to ask how I am doing. I’m fine; my heart hurts, but I will move forward- there is no other option. I’ve spent the last week with my family and even though it’s been a somber occasion there have been some good times. I’ll be able to take those memories home with me as well as the memories of our final goodbye.

Now I can turn my focus to my pregnant wife- we will have our new addition in a little more than a month (on the VERY outside) and I need to prepare. Dad’s illness took a great deal of my focus without my even knowing. It wasn’t until it was gone that I realized how much I really was worrying. Now I should be able to devote some of those freed brain cycles on helping C. prepare.

My Father, whom I have often written about in this blog, passed away yesterday afternoon after a protracted battle with cancer.

In the end it happened quickly, more so than anyone had expected.

Rest well Dad. I miss you.

It’s been a little bit since I posted so I thought I would provide may adoring public (all 3 of you) with an update about what’s going on chez nous.

The end of last month brought on Candice’s 2o-something week ultrasound… for the uninitiated, this is when you can (optionally) discover the sex of the expected child. It turns out that … drum roll please… we’re expecting a girl! I am very excited and nervous at the same time. From what I’ve observed, boys are a lot of effort and energy, but hey, I’m a guy so I know how to handle that… but girls are different. Different is scary! Anyways, if you’re remotely interested in gifting anything in our direction you can follow these links to our registries:

• Babies-R-Us
• Target
• Amazon

The registries are in a bit of flux right now; but they’re there.

On the non-baby related front, not a whole lot is going on- I’ve been busy doing some freelance audio engineering and a little freelance development. I want to get out into the shop but haven’t really made any progress that direction- the freelance work ties up a good bit of time and I need to work around the house a goodly bit. The weekend’s been fairly warm, so I haven’t really gone far from my fan.

Last weekend I received the results of the MRI that was done on my right knee- basically there was some small damage to the ligaments and cartilidge but it is healing and so the primary cause of the pain I’m feeling is swelling- that will recede in time so I don’t need surgery. The surgeon also cleared me for returning to my martial arts and climbing so I can start getting physical again which really helps my mood and energy levels. Not to mention my waistline.

Tim O’Reilly was interviewed about a the benefits of a classical education; to augment the published interview, he posted the complete transcript on O’Reilly Radar. I think he makes some important points about the values of understanding the classics and the role that classical education plays in personal development. I urge all of you to take a look: here

Tomorrow C and I take off on a tedious journey to the midwest- my youngest brother is receiving his masters degree and we are going back to see him walk (or stand or sit) and to spend some time with my family. It’s not going to be a long trip, but it should be just enough time.

I’ve decided to take these things aside from the essentials:

• My Kindle
• A 5 weight fly rod
• My iPod.

You’ll probably notice that I don’t plan on taking a laptop- I’m sure that we’ll take the Mac which C and I will share – I doubt that I’ll really need to use it as between the kindle and the iPod everything I usually require – connectivity-wise – will be available.. besides, it’s the midwest, not Central Africa. There are computers there.

Last week I received my birthday gift, an Amazon Kindle2. My family had all gone in to give me enough to cover about 2/3rds of the cost so I ordered it. The first decision (prior to ordering) was if I wanted to get a Kindle DX or if I wanted the Kindle 2. I decided on getting the kindle 2 – while the form factor of the DX would be good for a textbook I didn’t think it would work well for my casual reading.

I received it on Friday – the box for the sleeve which I ordered for it was larger than the kindle itself. After charging the kindle for the recommended time, I powered it on and went shopping for a book. My first kindle reading was  Use of Weapons by Ian M. Banks. I was able to lose myself in the text just as if it were a paper book- by that measure alone the Kindle meets Amazon’s stated goals. The ability to change font size as my eyes get fatigued is probably the single best thing about the ebooks in general and the kindle specifically. It’s sleekness makes it a bit difficult for my large hands to hold sometimes, but resting it on the sleeve that I use as a case takes care of that problem admirably.

The experimental features- particularly browsing the web aren’t perfect, however being able to hit Wikipedia from anywhere with cell coverage does move this closer to The Hitchhikers Guide. (I do think that Douglas Adam’s description of THHTG’s editorial practices as being the model for Wikipedia.)

All in all, it’s a great tool for me.

This past Saturday was my 32nd birthday. I can’t say that I really did anything spectacular- we went out for lunch and generally I just lazed around. My family all chipped in and gave me gift cards / cash towards an Amazon Kindle, which should arrive by Friday of this week- I’m really anticipating being able to have much of my library in my hand as well as the reduced pricing for the books… it might actually save me money. I didn’t order the Kindle DX- I thought seriously about it, but the form factor is not quite in line with my requirements- also with it being a new product, I would prefer to wait for a while and see how the technical book publishers respond. 

I’ve been reading The Classical World by Robin Lane Fox. It’s a nice general overview of Classical history from Homeric Greece to Hadrian’s Rome. It’s the first book in my classical history reading list. Once I’ve worked through this one, I’ll delve into more depth with texts on various topics. A friend of mine asked if I was on a real History kick lately- I wouldn’t say that this is a new thing, but last year was a good year for new scholarship in the field and my booklist is pretty deep.

Well, now we know for certain that the holidays are over… my company laid off about 10% of its workforce. I wasn’t laid off- but 2 of the people with whom I worked closely were.  It’s surprising how ’survivors guilt’ effects the people who are not laid off (it’s a pretty well documented phenomenon in the labor force). Thankfully, my company doesn’t believe in the million bites of the apple theory of staff reduction, so there is only expected to be this round. 

It is my feverent hope that the economy improves over the next year- I don’t think that many companies can really survive a more protracted downturn.

Well, it’s a few days into the new year and I find that I haven’t made the required “new year” post. I don’t plan on posting my resolutions here- I’ve made a list of things that need to get done in the next year (along with when, if there was one) and put it in remember the milk. This is good enough for me (and it’ll ensure that at least SOME of it will get done).

I will, however, share some of the highlights with you. This year I will:

• Travel back to KC to see my family in March
• Travel back to KC/Columbia to attend my brother’s wedding in August
• Try to keep my home office cleaner
• be better about updating this blog.

Not so exciting, is it? 

Now, I could bore you with what we did for NYE (nothing) and talk about how we shouted and cheered at the Chargers game, but that’s all that I’d have to mention.