Sunday reading

We've just watched the Packers dominate the Vikings and settled in for a cozy, November Sunday afternoon ...

Here are some of the stories and headlines that caught my eyes this week ...

TV ...
a In Sweeps, Will Green = Green?
a Are the corporate suits ruining TV?
a Alexander revisits 'Seinfeld' finale
a 'Survivor's' name truly says it all ... I've stopped watching this season's Survivor; the case wasn't appealing to me at all. And I wouldn't call myself a big Survivor fan, but the three or four seasons I have watched have been tremendously entertaining ...
a Viewers Have Growing Selection in Online Video
a Who needs writers? How television could break new ground during the strike
a Hey, did you hear the one about Jay Leno and his eco-friendly Burbank garage?

Politics ...
a America values marriage, but not a dual presidency
a At WTC site, souvenirs are big business
a Editorial: Ryan's gone. Who's next?
a Delusion lingers longer than freedom
a How to win elections, FDR style

The Internet & Media ...
a Fighting for members, MySpace tries to outcool Facebook ... I do both. And I've got to say Facebook is growing on me for exactly the reasons this article points out. I still looooooooove MySpace for its ease of finding new music and monitoring my favorite bands, as well as the ability to really personalize my page and stay in touch with old friends. But, I'll admit I'm finding Facebook to be a good means of staying in touch with people, too, not to mention all the fun applications that you can download on to your page. You have to admire Mark Zuckerberg for doing it his way ...
a Balancing Bottom Lines and Headlines
a Taking on the Talkers
a Nokia and Reuters develop an N95-based "Mobile Journalism Toolkit ... I want one.

Sports
a Baseball GMs Recommend Instant Replay
a Baseball's Jose Guillen, Matt Williams bought steroids from clinic ... my heart aches every time another player is named in the steroids probe, especially when it's one I really admired. In this case, it's Matt Williams.
a First active player volunteers to meet with Mitchell
a Dodgers introduce Torre in center field ... I watched the Torre press conference online. So cool! Though, seeing him being greeted so warmly by Dodger legends like Tommy Lasorda and Vin Scully was kind fo surreal ...
a Dodgers get a star, but will they get A-Rod?
a Cubs' sale crawling into '08
a The nation might be at a loss for words to explain Kansas ... I'm with the nation.
a For lots of reasons, Mets and A-Rod make sense

Life & other stuff ...
a You Can Hear Google Now
a To Mark 150 Years, History Will Go on Tour
a Atari 2600, Raggedy Andy, Kite Enshrined
a Lonely Planet: Satellite Pictures Drive Home The Fragility of Our Earth
a Soldier survives bizarre injury thanks to heroics and a bit of tech
a Katie Holmes runs and finishes NYC marathon
a 'Small World' rehab will keep the big kids afloat
a Amid ashes, neighbors rally and new life stirs
a Dream House or Nightmare?

Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity

WASHINGTON, DC—The groundbreaking research found that by simply sitting down and doing work, employees can dramatically increase their output of goods and services.

Fall Canceled After 3 Billion Seasons

WASHINGTON, DC—Autumn, which had been slotted between summer and winter, will be replaced by stifling humidity, constant sunshine, and little precipitation.

Peyton Manning Shows His Backup Proper Way To Hold Clipboard

TERRE HAUTE, IN—Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning interrupted an intrasquad scrimmage Tuesday for approximately 45 minutes in order to show backup quarterback Jim Sorgi how to properly hold his...

Yeah, baby!

There’s no use holding back any longer …

Kates and I are having a baby!

If you don’t want to read further, that’s fine. The answers are yes, it was planned. No, we’re not finding out the sex. And Kates -- other than a little bit of nausea in the beginning, wanting to tear apart her face because the acne is so bad and, well, looking pregnant -- is doing just fine.

As of this post, the pregnancy is at exactly 17 weeks, 5 days. April 10 has been circled on the calendar as the due date. And a piece of paper has been affixed to our kitchen table with the headline “names.” So far, the number of girls names is about three times as large as the list of boys names -- which is too bad because it appears Kates and I are almost sure of our girl’s name. A boy’s name is still being debated …

And tonight we‘ve come home with our first baby pictures …

But let’s start at the beginning.

We’d been talking about starting a family for awhile -- but it only made sense to wait until after Kates finished her masters degree in December. I hate to say we set such a definitive timeline, but it’s kind of the truth. For a couple years now, whether the subject came up during discussions about our jobs, finances, house projects or whatever, summer 2008 we figured was going to be our time …no matter how many family members and friends poked and prodded and pretty much begged us to have children almost immediately after we completed our walk down the aisle …

There were times, too, that we doubted whether it might never happen for us …

But it has happened. On the morning of the first Sunday in August Kates called me to the bathroom. I’m not sure if it was the sound of her voice, but there was something that told me this could be it. In the bathroom, there Kates sat, holding a pregnancy test. (Interestingly we had been at a gathering the night before where an acquaintance had learned she was pregnant; we had had a ton of fun that night talking about name possibilities and all the things that come with being pregnant … )

“Look,” Kates says as I met her in the bathroom.

It was positive. Dumbfounded, I asked, “What does that mean?”

“I’m pregnant,” she said with a huge smile on her face.

I was speechless. I wasn’t sure what to say, how to react, what to feel. I began laughing.

As usual, we went to church later that morning, but giddy as heaven can be. And yet we couldn’t say a word to anyone …

The next day, I went off to work, while Kates went to school to meet a friend who is partnering with her for their masters work. But we were prepared to drop everything if we needed because Priority No. 1 that day, we thought, was getting a doctor’s appointment to confirm the pregnancy … Or not. When Kates called her doctor’s office and said she might be pregnant, the nurse told her the doctor didn’t want anything to do with her until she reached the 10-week mark -- not in those words of course, but pretty much in those terms. This is all new to us, you’ll have to understand …

We had our first appointment with the doc during the second week of September, but even that offered nothing to feed our excitement. A nurse examined Kates and asked us several questions while she filled out paperwork. Then the doc came into the room to ask more questions and answer any questions we had. Still, almost everything they told us we’d figured out or learned on our own with a little research. They gave the baby’s due date as April 10, and we already had it pegged as April 9. So what’s one day …

So, with that first appointment out of the way, Kates and I agreed we could finally start letting our immediate family and closest friends in on the secret. We met Kates’ parents on a Friday night for dinner (As we arrived at the house, her father was just arriving himself, with a bouquet of flowers in tow. He already had us figured out … ), and we headed to my folks the next day (When I called them earlier that week to suggest we make the 90-minute trek to visit them, my mother actually tried to talk me out of it, saying “What’s going on!? Why do you guys need to come here?”) Needless to say, all of them were elated when we broke the news …

The first part of October brought another doctor’s appointment, and more to stifle our excitement. There were a couple more tests. The nurse tried to find a heartbeat but couldn’t do it. And then we had to see a different doctor because Kates’ usual doctor was off for the day. Even then, he didn’t give us a chance to ask any new questions we had …

After that second appointment, with Kates entering her second trimester, we let our extended family, co-workers, church family and more friends in on the news …

Finally, this week it’s started to sink in. It’s been a week filled with realizations that hey! this is really happening! and relief that everyone is healthy … I’m feeling like no matter how I write it here, no words can accurately describe the anxiety, the glee or the euphoria we’re feeling these days …

Kates’ belly is growing and our Wednesday appointment finally brought a chance to hear the baby’s heartbeat. It was healthy and strong. … And on Friday we were back at the hospital again, this time for our first ultrasound. By all accounts the baby is doing very well, it’s got two hands and two feet, each with a complete set of fingers and toes. We got our first look at its face, its tiny bones and some of its organs …

Simply, amazing.


Now we’re home. We’re watching “Bend It Like Beckham.” We’ve never seen it. I’m not liking it. Awful soundtrack. Not nearly as exciting as what we were doing a couple hours ago …

'This Earth is ruined; we gotta get a new one!'

All this week, Kates and I have been enjoying NBC's "green" push, right down to the little green peacock logo in the lower left corner of our screen ...

Among all the bad news lately -- bad stocks, increasing gas prices, a terrible market for homes, war -- it was a little fascinating to watch the NBC News crew this week and their reports about the environment, especially interesting was Monday's report about wind power ...

Why so many communities are up in arms about wind power and the aesthetics of the gigantic white turbines has always perplexed me ... "I think their kind of pretty," Kates said as we began to watch the segment. " I know!" I added. For me there's always been something sort of romantic about driving through a rural area and passing those turbines, peacefully churning in the air ... And hey, it's good for the environment! ...

Beyond the news though, NBC's crowning achievement (and the genesis for this post) was clearly tonight's "30 Rock." David Schwimmer, Meredith Viera and Al Gore made guest appearances and delivered some ha-larious lines ...

Jenna: The only reason men start taking care of themselves is if they're getting someone to have sex with them. If it wasn't for that, they'd just sit at home in their own filth.

Liz (while looking at a burning globe): This Earth is ruined! We gotta get a new one!

Al Gore: Shhh, do you hear that? A whale is in trouble. I gotta go!

Bathroom accomplished!

... You may remember Kates and I started remodeling our bathroom last winter ...

Yeah. You see when we moved into our house, four summers ago now, it was as if the previous owners were halfway through a bathroom remodel of their own and then decided to sell the place.

The trim work was left unfinished, and the walls were half-painted and streaky. And yet they'd done nothing about the boxy vanity that nearly blocked the narrow entryway, or the wood-framed window inside the tub that was rotting from what was probably decades of water damage.

Well ...

After many, many nights of cursing the previous owners. Fighting with a tile cutter. Scraping the old paint off the walls like a mad man. Debates about colors and decor. Gathering bids from contractors. Lots of paint coats. And spending more money than we'd like to acknowledge ...

Our bathroom is finished.

Here's a look back:

First, May 2004, on the day we moved in ... The picture really doesn't do it justice.

January. We tore out the vanity and the old floor and put down new tile ...

And there goes the tub tile ...

It all led to this finished project ...