Our Little Chicken Nugget

We went to the doctor's office yesterday for our first sonogram of the new baby. Since we are so early in the pregnancy, the purpose of this particular sonogram was to estimate the baby's size to pinpoint a due date and to check for a heartbeat. The little one, which I think looks like a chicken nugget at this stage, measured a whopping two centimeters long and clocked a heart rate of 190 beats per minute (within normal range). Although the resulting pictures are grainy, watching the live video during the sonogram you could see the little heart beating, and you could just barely make out the spinal cord and tiny little arms. I don't think I was expecting to see such development only eight weeks in. Anyway, I am happy to report that mother and baby are perfectly healthy at this point, and our due date stands at March 22, 2006. And in case you can't figure out the chicken nugget picture, the head is in the lower right of the shot, extending to the rump, as they call it, in the upper left.

A Carload of Burritos

If you were to look at my most recent credit card statement, you would think I had tried to recreate that old Tom Green sketch where he goes to a Taco Bell drive-thru and orders enough burritos to fill the convertible he's driving. I was shocked to find an erroneous charge of $96.30 from my local Taco Bell. Now that's a lot of tacos! There was a second (and accurate) charge on the date in question for $9.30, so I'm guessing the cashier punched in the incorrect total first, tried to cancel the transaction, but pressed the wrong key. I've already called the store and it looks like they will be posting a credit to my account tomorrow.

I've been a big supporter of all the places that let you pay by credit card these days. It's a lot more convenient than carrying cash around and fumbling for pocket change at the register. However, I've never accidentally forked over an extra hundred bucks when paying with cash. But, not to worry...I won't change my preferred payment method over this. I've been using credit cards for a long time, and I can't recall any other time I've had something like this happen. I'll just be a little extra vigilant in reading over my statements each month in the future.

Anyone else have a similar experience in the past?

No more LAN parties for me...

MSNBC headline: Man dies after 50 hours of computer games. (Feel free to insert a relevant World of Warcraft or general LAN party joke here.) Anyway, I feel a little better after reading this article about the comparative amount of time I spend playing computer games, and a little worse knowing that a guy younger than me actually dropped dead from said activity!

One of the big stories today is that Peter Jennings' death from lung cancer has inspired a number of people to quit smoking. Perhaps the passing of this obsessive gamer guy will shed some light on the epidemic of computer gaming addiction! :-)

Liquid Goodness

So today the Starbucks in the lobby of my office building finally opened. It's been looking like it could open any day for the past few weeks. In fact, one day last week they were calibrating the machines and a pleasing aroma of freshly-ground coffee filled the air. It was torture because the smell hit me as soon as I walked through the front door, and I thought they had opened. Anyway, I think having such a conveniently-located Starbucks could be dangerous. First off, you can't get by there without spending at least two dollars. Secondly, I really don't need all that extra caffeine. In fact, I've been cutting back on caffeine and soda in general lately, so after a half a cup I'm already feeling euphoric yet slightly anxious. It's just a matter of time before the vein in my neck starts throbbing...oooh, there it goes! I'm also a big fan of their crumb cake, which, thankfully for my waistline and wallet, they did not have this morning.

Has anyone noticed that they seem to be able to squeeze a Starbucks into just about any place? Every Target and Safeway around here has one. I used to tell people that we had a Starbucks in the basement of our house. At the rate they're going, maybe someday we will!

Beach Trip

Last month we spent a week with my wife's family in Ocean City, MD. Although we went to the beach last summer just a couple of months after Jack's birth, this year he was old enough to really start taking everything in. He thoroughly enjoyed the sand and surf, preferring to play just at the water's edge. His proud grandfather spent a good portion of our days on the beach capturing Jack's every move in both still and video imagery. The only problem we had was getting Jack to take his afternoon nap on the beach. There simply were always too many things going on for him to settle down in his Pack 'n Play SPORT and go to sleep, so we had to start taking him up to the condo for a few hours after lunch each day. However, nobody seemed to mind taking turns staying up there with him while he slept.

One of the evenings during our trip, we ventured out, just the three of us, for a night on the boardwalk. Jack loved walking around, taking in all the sights, sounds, and people. We had dinner at our favorite boardwalk pizza joint, Tony's. Afterward, we took Jack down to Trimper's Rides, a place near and dear to my heart. Things have changed very little there, especially the indoor rides for the younger children, since I used to be taken there by my parents almost thirty years ago. Jack and I rode the antique carousel and then he rode several of the kiddie rides. We finished off this perfect evening with a stop at Thrasher's Fries. The thing that always amazes me about Ocean City is that as much as it is constantly changing, so many things remain the same. My parents, sister, and I likely carried out the same itinerary one evening a quarter century ago. Perhaps a few decades from now, Jack will do the same with his children. I must admit, being able to share some of my favorite childhood memories with my own kids is one of the best things about being a dad.

Baby Mozart

I am very pleased to see Jack's musical abilities developing at such a young age. He is rather fascinated by the piano, and he loves to run his little fingers over the strings of my guitar. He's also becoming quite the dancer. Anytime music is playing on the radio or television (especially during the opening of one of his mother's favorite daytime programs, the Ellen DeGeneres Show), he bops up and down and waves his arms around. It is clear that he loves music. I believe that a lot of my musical ability stems from having started piano lessons at a rather young age (first grade). By the time we could start learning musical instruments in school, around fourth grade, I had already had years of experience reading and performing music. I hope I can pass my gift, talent, ability, or whatever you want to call it on to Jack, and I plan to start him out on the piano as soon as he shows signs of being ready (which at this point would be learning to sit still for more than two seconds). I have no doubt that, like me, he will harbor a lifetime love of music.

The End of the Innocence

I've never been a big professional sports fan. I have nothing against them or their multitude of fans; I just prefer to do other things with my time than watch other people play a game. Maybe had I been active in a particular sport growing up instead of being a band nerd I would feel differently, but that's another story... Today's big news in the world of sports was Rafael Palmeiro being suspended for alleged steroid use. I only use the word "alleged" here because that's the courteous thing to do--I'm convinced that there is no question as to whether he did, indeed, use steroids. It saddens me that this is the same person whose 3,000th hit was just celebrated as a major milestone. It saddens me that this is the same person who testified before a congressional panel earlier this year that he had never used steroids. It even saddens me that Raffy happens to be the Oriole that my wife's grandmother thinks is "very handsome."

It is irrefutable that steroids are not only unhealthy but downright dangerous. It is also clear that millions of children admire professional athletes. As a role model, Raffy has clearly failed his fans of all ages. As a father, he should be downright ashamed of himself. Would he want his own kids to fall for the lure of performance-enhancing drugs? I think not.

On another note, the other thing that cracks me up about the wild world of sports is the insane amount of money professional athletes are paid and the wrist slaps they are given for breaking the rules. I can guarantee you that if I were to fail a drug test, my employer would not suspend me for ten days. No, mine would be undoubtedly a permanent suspension...an early retirement, if you will. Would anyone else's employer handle the drug issue the same way as pro sports leagues? My lovely wife has a wonderful suggestion for Major League Baseball in light of the Raffy scandal: test every player in the league tomorrow for steroid use and ban for life all those that test positive. I'd support that plan, but then I wonder, would enough players remain to even keep the sport alive?