Well, today was more productive than yesterday. There were things I wanted to get done but didn't, but I did hit the biggies.
I made quite an improvement in the yard, which was one of the things Amy dared challenged me to accomplish. Lawn mowed, weed-wackered, partly edged out. I hacked down the trees that were growing where there weren't supposed to be trees (oh, like the flower beds right along the house, and the gap between the garage and the neighbor's fence...).
I ran some light errands, one of which needs to be completed later in the week (ideally tomorrow).
Jareth was very cute, and has been sleeping for an hour or so now. Amy is now in wind-down mode before bed. I'll follow an hour later.
We talk. Most of the time that's a very good thing. It's not so much a good thing when we're supposed to be falling asleep. So we tend to take turns. Normally that's not a problem. Normally she's up a few hours past me anyway. But these few weeks are anything but normal. So she goes to bed between 10 and 11. It feels weird being up past her. A lot feels weird right now.
Change. It's all good, right? :-)
Well, my first day as the at-home husband went okay. I did manage to get some stuff done. Not as much as I had intended, but it was a decent getting-accustomed-with-it day.
I'm hoping for better today.
Jareth learned recently that he can play peek-a-boo too. We've been doing it with him, but he's learned that he can hide, and come out, and we'll say "boo!" when he does. He'll bring his blanket to hide his face, and yesterday he stood so that he could hide behind my computer monitor and peek out from behind it for the boo part.
That may change the kinds of productivity that can happen sitting at the computers when he's down here. His play corral is between our computers, so when Amy is back staying home she's going to get to play that same game at her computer...
Well, the panic has been delayed a few weeks. Pat at Salem Services, the agency that got me my last job, found one for Amy. It's a four-week temp job. The client is looking for someone who knows HTML. While that's not me, Amy knows the basics. We're not sure what the job entails, but it pays well for a temp assignment.
And it's four weeks for me to keep searching. Which is good, because so far the searching has been going slowly. In truth, Amy has been applying herself to it quite a bit more than I have. I am actually rather looking forward to some time of her working. Part of me feels bad for admitting it, and part of me feels even worse that she has to do it. I really hope she enjoys it.
Okay, there is this tiny part that wants her to hate it, to remind her that despite her own complaints about being stuck at home, that she hasn't had it all bad. But that really is just a tiny part.
It's also going to be interesting being the stay-home dad for a few weeks by my self. It'll give me a much better insight into what her days have been like. I'm suspecting that the month of role-reversal will actually do us both a world of good for understanding and appreciating the other's day. I'm sure it'll be, if nothing else, a learning experience for me.
Wish me luck? :-)
I generally only think to check the stats on my blog about once a month. I do get a little bit of traffic, which is always nice to see. Averaging 20 unique visits and 150 hits per day.
There is one bit of stat trivia about which I'm not entirely sure what to think.
Every single month, since I first posted about it back in March, there has been at least one person who found me by searching for "Lambuel." I'd almost be tempted to go see if the site has been updated with more stuff to react to, but I'm almost afraid to look. I don't need that kind of disturbing stuff right now.
Then again, maybe I should, since it's a traffic draw.
Who knows. Just mentioning it again probably puts me one listing higher on Google. I am the 71st listing.
That also, however, implies that at least once a month someone is doing that search, and actually scrolling down that far looking for links to click.
I think that just maybe I should be vaguely concerned about that...
I left a message with our insurance company. Some things have changed, and I wanted our agent to come talk it over with us. He was really cool about that.
But I got a call from one of his partners. It turns out that our agent...
Well...
Um...
Died. About two weeks ago. He fought cancer for eight months. He didn't win.
We liked him. He was cool.
/sigh.
Found via Jennirhiow:
http://www.sydes.net/jokes/flash/mr_otto_olympics.swf
It takes a minute to load, but if you have that kind of sense of humor... :-)
In case you haven't read this ESPN article about Elizabeth Tweddle, please do so now. I'll wait.
Now, Amy has already posted her thoughts. Some of them are similar to my own, but I'm going to share mine anyway. Hey, it's my blog, right?
To me, the consistent theme of the Olympic gymnastics this time about was determination. There were a lot of problems, but people pushed on. Fairly high-end athletes fell off their equipment and had to get back on. For the most part they managed to keep focus after that and finish without major problems. Determination.
But of all of them I saw that determination in two in particular.
Paul Hamm is being talked about aplenty, no doubt. Coming back from 12th! In a word: awesome. He shone, and more than that he showed determination, he showed how badly he wanted it. It was a passion that burned within him. He SO deserved that medal. And when he was told he won? Stunned disbelief. It was one of the most...human moments of TV I've ever seen.
And I saw that determination in Svetlana Khorkina. On one hand, she struck me as cold. But she was honest about herself, and I can appreciate that. I can also appreciate the weight of heritage, and the circumstances she came from. Look at the facilities she came from, and then look at where Carly Patterson came from. Svetlana didn't have the hand guards that so many others had. I saw brief scenes of both training areas, and my what a difference.
And my view on Carly? Spoiled brat. She strikes me as someone who has never not gotten what she wanted. And she got it again. It would have meant so much more to Svetlana, but her age caught up with her. So Carly got it. Not because she was the best athlete. She's not. She's just the highest scoring.
And we're not done hearing about her. Her life will be defined by that one moment. America's new princess will not be defined as the one who got the gold, but as the "next Mary Lou." That's a shadow she'll never be able to tumble or vault out of. Years from now there's an after school special in it, or she'll write the book. Living in the shadow of greatness.
For Carly, it'll still never be good enough. For Svetlana, it would have been the perfect end to a career. It's a shame. But who said life's fair?
So I've put together a birthday list for passing around to family and such. There's one to-do list item down.
Another round of resume revision is nearly finished, and that'll help. Part of the serverance package included some services though a career management company. They made some suggestions, which I'm taking further. I'm making additions to their work and sending it back to them. Then I can update my online resumes to match.
Not feeling well, Amy and I are sick with something. I seem to be fighting it better than she is, but I'm still feeling...weathered.
Amy offered to let me do Jareth's night-time bottle, which is very cool. Now I get some specific snuggling bonding time, rather than all the nurturing coming from Mommy. I would never have asked her, because I know how deeply she cherishes every moment of that. But (after some apparently prodding from her therapist) she offered it up. I think I've managed to tell her how cool I think that is.
So, anyway, the last couple of days have not been terribly productive. I'm already coming up on the end of my productivity for today. We're taping the Olympic Gymnastics, so I suspect we'll curl up on the couch and watch more soon.
Okay, so I said it better than that. I had a job interview today. I think it went well, but it may also be only about the third job interview of my life, so I only have so much to compare it to.
The job sounds good enough and the atmosphere far better than before. Their initial pay suggestion was a bit low, but that will be at least somewhat negotiable. Whether it's negotiable enough or not becomes the next question.
Well, that and whether they want me or not. I should keep that in mind. Maybe they really want some underskilled entry-level twerp who won't really work out.
We'll see how long it takes to find out. They admitted they've seen one other applicant, but that they're wanting to get the position filled quickly.
Going through the junk around my desk I found an old joke. Maybe it's a true story, maybe not, but I laughed either way.
A Gift For His SweetheartA young man wished to buy a pair of gloves for his sweetheart's birthday, so he went to an expensive boutique, bought the finest gloves available, and asked the saleswoman to have them delivered with a note. While wrapping the gloves, a clerk accidentally mixed up the order and sent a pair of panties instead. Here's the note:
Darling,
I chose these because I notice that you are not in the habit of wearing any when we go out in the evening. I would have chosen the long ones with buttons, but because your sister wears short ones that are so easy to remove, I decided to get the same style for you.
Although these are a delicate shade, the lady I bought them from showed me a pair she had been wearing for three weeks, and they were hardly soiled. I had the sales girl try them on for me and she really looked sharp.
I wish I could be there to put them on for you for the first time. No doubt many other hands will touch them before I see you again.
When you take them off, remember to blow in them before putting them away as they will naturally be a little damp from wearing. And be sure to keep them on while cleaning them so they don't shrink.
Just think how many times I will kiss them during the coming year! I hope you like them and will wear them for me on Friday night.
P.S. - The latest style is to wear them folded down with a little fur showing.
Amy Recently posted about getting her 100th comment.
By contrast, this is post 101 for me. My comment count is considerably lower than that, but I never did take the time to import them by hand from Blogger.
Today is day 249 of my blog, so I'm averaging a post every two and a half days...
Quite a to-do list today, including a trip to Wal-Mart. Amy needs new clothes for temp agency interviews and such. On the down side, well, it's Wal-Mart and shopping. On the plus side, I'll have someone to play with (and show off, yeah...) while she's trying things on.
He's not even a year and a half and I've already been away too much. I'm not a part of his daily routine like that.
Amy's sleeping upstairs. He ate his breakfast fine. But he normally drinks at least part of a bottle on Amy's lap at her computer, and then the two play for maybe an hour before he goes in his corral to play on his own for a while.
But he won't take a bottle from me. Nope. I'm not Mommy. He didn't even want to play on my lap, and is already playing in his corral. He didn't cry when I put him there this time, because it's where he wanted to be. Until Amy comes down. Then he'll want Mommy time.
Then again, nobody ever said being a Daddy would be easy. At least I know that he misses me when I'm not around.
Some days I'm reminded of a sign I saw:
Any man can be a father.
It takes someone special to be a daddy.
Every day Mommy makes a pair of sandwiches, or something similar for lunch. One for her, and one cut up into bites for Jareth. His lunch happens sitting on her lap, and they eat together.
Today Amy is napping. I made the sandwich, grabbed a can of Mandarin Oranges, and we sat down at my computer for lunchtime.
Maybe he's just tired. It looked like he took a nap, but maybe not.
But it seems he'll only eat lunch for Mommy. I know it's not the sandwich—I've made the sandwiches for them before. But curled up with Mommy is just cooler.
I did get the opportunity to think back to the last time I can remember having him on my lap at my computer, singing to him with the MP3 running. Back when my desk was where Amy's is now. Back when he was getting bottles only. I think he was about six or nine months at the time. The favorite song of the time even came in the rotation, and I sang it to him. Well, I tried to. It's one thing when he's looking up at you, around a bottle or not. It's not the same when halfway through the song he starts squirming because what he really wants is to play on the floor.
Oh, well. It's almost time to wake Mommy up anyway.
Iguanas are strange critters.
Once or twice a year female iguanas develop eggs—in batches of about 20, each about the size of a large grape. First the yolks develop, and then if she thinks she'll get a chance to lay them they'll develop shells. If she's too stressed, and can't find a place to lay them, she'll reabsorb the yolks instead of letting shells develop.
So, G'Quan the iguana is gravid (in other words, with eggs). She has been for some time, so shells might be developing already.
"Next time, when it looks like she's just starting, you'll want to stress her out so she can just reabsorb them."
Now there's one you don't hear every day...
Troubleshot just sounds like an odd word to put on a resume. But I have to say that troubleshooted would look worse.
Just one of those things...
I wanted to leave a comment for Brain Crayons on her post The Uncomfortable Truth, but for some reason I get an error message every time. In the past I've had to have Amy post them for me, but she's asleep.
Here's what I wanted to say. Maybe she'll see it here.
Life is not too short. It's exactly the right length. It goes all the way to the end.I have to say that I think you need to reconsider your definitions of both making it and success.
There are no bad experiences. There are lessons in all of them. There are uncomfortable experiences, but that does not make them bad.
Job searching. Saw this for an administrative assistant position:
AA degree and/or Certified Professional Secretary designation preferred plus 3 or more years of related experience.
- Knowledge of technical and business vocabulary.
- Detailed knowledge of company operations, organizational procedures, and personnel.
- Ability to employ basic reasoning skills.
- Working knowledge of Microsoft Office software.
- Must have experience in a professional, multi-tasked, high-paced, confidential environment.
Now, which one of those jumps out??
"Ability to employ basic reasoning skills."
Apparently they felt the need to spell this out. Which leads me to wonder...