It’s been an interesting year and a half since I last wrote. Nora is growing like a weed- it still amazes me. Seems like every time I blink the little cutie has grown again! I’m sure that every parent makes this comment, but it’s my prerogative to say it again.

Nora’s moved into toddler-hood with a vengeance full of will and curiosity and boundless energy. This presents us with a challenge- the girl will climb EVERYTHING. About two months after starting walking we had to take her off the ladder that I was using to put things in the attic- she was on the top step and peeking into the attic!

She’s full of words, some of them spoken (most of them now) but many are still in ASL that was patiently and laboriously taught to us by Joanne Woolley of Sign 4 Baby. (If you’re in San Diego county, I highly recommend her.) I think that teaching Nora sign has really helped her and minimized the frustrations that C and I would have faced as we were trying to learn what she needed. Our conversations with Nora have turned into a patois of spoken and signed English but we can understand what she wants (most of the time) and that helps a great deal.

Well, we’re off to the county fair with my brother Rob for the day. It should be fun!

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!

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.

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

Rest well Dad. I miss you.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.