Hello city life

Iris enjoyed the view from our hotel room in Vancouver last weekend

Idiot ringtone

There are only 2 TV shows that we watch the same night it airs -- Amazing Race and Lost. Last night Jim and I finally watched The Office and 30 Rock from last week. Both shows were very funny. You can even download the new ringtone that Jim had on the episode.

Mothers Day gift ideas

As usual the marketing geniuses at MLB have come up with an assortment of great gift ideas for all the moms in your life. No pink bats this year though

Iris is taking a late nap today

First Moose Sighting of the Season

He was hanging out in the section just above us.

Iris wasn't sure what to think but she definitely was keeping an eye on him

(photos courtesy of Kris Chick)

Iris's first Mariners game of '09. No score after 3.

Iris's new 'do

Iris got her first haircut this weekend

I'll post more photos later this week

Goodbye Freddy

Very sadly, we had our cat Fred put to sleep tonight. After a long stretch of low-level chronic kidney failure, Freddy's kidneys failed this week, starting on Monday, I'd guess.

He'd been pretty gimpy for a year or two but it seemed to get much worse this week & he was pretty immobile for the past few days, though he did somehow manage to drag himself up the stairs & jump up into our bed one last time today--that was where I found him this afternoon. When the vet checked him out today, all of his kidney readings were about 4 times higher than the upper limit for healthy readings. He has had long term kidney issues so we've been monitoring the levels for a few years but these numbers were way worse than they were just back at the end of January, which the vet said indicated kidney failure.  Plus his blood glucose level was well into the elevated range for diabetes, which we had long worried about with Freddy. Rather than subject him to a lengthy hospital stay to try and get the kidney and diabetes under control temporarily, we decided that it was time to say goodbye to our beloved Freddy.

It was a very sad day for all of us. Iris said bye-bye to Freddy too :(

Here's one of my favorite Fred photos. It was take about 4 years ago with one of my old cell phones (which is why it's so low-res) but I think it captures Fred's personality perfectly, his whole, "this is how I am & you love me or you don't, whatev!" attitude.

Goodbye Freddy. You'll be in our thoughts for a long time to come.

Waiting for lunch

Out for a walk

My girls out & enjoying a beautiful sunny evening in Ballard

I love strawberries

Staying connected

Guess Iris sees her mom and dad at the laptop often that she likes to pretend she's on the computer too. Wonder if it's too soon to start her own Facebook account?





photo courtesy of Aunt Helen's iPhone

No More P-I

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its last print edition today (it'll continue to exist in an online only format). All copies were already gone when I got to my bus stop this morning. (that's the Seattle Times on the right)

My virtual stalker wall

On my new work computer's desktop. I had a real wall of photos at my last job but haven't had time to build one here yet

Sent from my unlocked iPhone.

View from the window near my new desk

My new desk

Iris in Kyle's hat

She's wearing it backwards but I think that's OK

Jimmy's new job

Lots of people have been asking me so I thought I'd do a blog post about my new job.

I was unemployed for about 3 weeks and found myself with 2 job offers a couple weeks ago. One was for a long-term contracting gig at Microsoft doing paid search mktg, thru the same consulting firm I worked for a few years ago, before I started at WaMu. The other was doing email marketing/customer segmentation and analysis with Big Fish Games, a fairly new company that sells downloadable computer games. Their slogan is 'a new game every day' and they really do intro a new one every day of the year.

I decided to go with the full-time position on this side of the lake with the smaller company. It seemed like a better fit for me, to be in the smaller place, and hopefully be able to make much more of an impact there.

I start at Big Fish next Monday, March 9, and am pretty excited to get started. As I told Irene the other day: it's the first time since I started at Amazon on St. Patrick's Day 1997 that I'll be starting a job someplace where I don't already know someone, so I'm a little nervous about that but they all seemed pretty cool when I interviewed, so I think it'll work out well. Watch this space for further updates.

In the meantime--go download a game here! (you can play the first hour of any game for free & only have to pay anything if you decide you want to keep it & buy the full version)

OMG - The Bachelor

Ha ha!!! The rumors were true -- the Bachelor dumped the girl he proposed to at the final rose ceremony and decided he wanted another shot at the one he rejected that day. I confess I've watched a few seasons of this show, but I've given up after they kept picking guys who could be contestants on VH1's Tool Academy. Give me Rock of Love any day over The Bachelor.

I'm not sleepy

...must...keep...eating...

Iris with Irises

Our friends Kris & Ben have some irises growing by their front walk. Kris took this photo this morning:

(We're still working at getting Iris to smile on demand)

TPIR

Now with Jim counting down his days before he's working again, he's been catching up with The Price Is Right now hosted by Drew Carey. He likes to recap big showcase winners, usually mocking the dumb ones who are so lucky to win. I figure he would enjoy this website.

Iris's new hats & art appreciation day

We received a request to post a picture of Iris in her personalized Mickey Mouse ears. Here are a couple of them--one from last summer when Iris got the ears from Helen & Martin, and one from tonight:But we had a hard time getting her to sit still with her Mickey ears on

& think she may like her U of Michigan hat better:We also went to the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park on Sunday--here's Iris enjoying Richard Serra's "Wake":and admiring Alexander Calder's "Eagle" and the view beyond:

Funny clip from Independent Spirit Awards

Yes, it was funny seeing Ben Stiller's impression of Joaquin Phoenix. Much to the surprise of no one there, they already made fun of him during another award show. The funniest part is Steve Coogan's impression of Christian Bale dressed as Batman, complete with profanity (watch with caution). Steven Coogan is a funny British actor who starred in 24 Hour Party People, I'm Alan Partridge and other British TV shows.

Guess who got new overalls?

Iris likes "Lump"

Daddy likes this song too. Looks like she's feeling a little better :)


Apologies for the shaky camera work--daddy was dancing too.

Laid Off & Iris has a cold

Yesterday was my last day at WaMu so I'm home today with Iris. She's had a cold this week so we decided to keep her home today in the hopes that she'll sleep more & feel better quicker.

She's been developing very quickly lately and can now push herself up from the floor into a standing position without needing to grab ahold of any furniture. She also knows the hand signs for please, eat and more. I taught her the drinky-drinky hand motion for when she wants a drink but not sure if its's the approved hand sign for babies.

If you don't know what the drinky-drinky move is, John Candy does it at the beginning of this Planes Trains & Automobiles clip:

Ways to fill up your Tivo

Sunday kicks off TCM's 31 Days of Oscars. Here's your chance to catch up with every Oscar-winning movie you've been meaning to watch. Here's a link to the entire schedule. This isn't a list of Best Movie, simply any movie that won an Oscar for an actor/acctress, director, etc.

Guy in town

Sometimes when watching the Food Network, I catch segments of "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives." I love watching the host, Guy Fiori, wax poetic, about a chili dog, chipped beef, a greasy burger, etc. He's in Seattle shooting segments but I only heard of one place he's been at, Georgia's Greek Deli (which is up a few blocks from our friends, Pat and Robin). Wonder if he's ever been to Beth's, the home of the 12-egg omelet?

Civic duty

A few weeks ago, much to our surprise, Jim and I received ballots in the mail. What/who are voting for now? Much to our disgust, it's a special election for the Director of Elections. A ballot for a single item?! The estimated cost for this mail-only ballot is $3 million. Now I've found out more about the candidates and the only person who hasn't been fired, reprimanded, or charged with crime is a 61-year-old former bank operations manager. Jim and I simply recylced our ballot, and hang our head low in shame that we're not bothering to vote. Read more in the Seattle PI and here.

Amazing Race - Season 14

Next month starts the 14th installment of the Amazing Race. The latest racers were just announced. I love it that Mike White is racing with his 68-year-old dad. Yes, the Mike White who's written Chuck and Buck, The Good Girl, School of Rock, Nacho Libre (to name just a few). The last celebrity racers were Robbie Fulk's son and father-in-law. I doubt the show will be around long enough for Jim or I to do with Iris.

Iris in the park

Iris is beginning to walk. She still prefers to crawl because she can get around faster that way.

Iris's Allergies

Iris went to the allergist for the first time and poor little girl had to get poked 20 times with diffeent substances. Then they come back 15 minutes later & measure the size of the welts produced and use the sizes to determine what she's allergic to.

First the good news. Iris is not allergic to:
Wheat (phew--we were worried about that one)
Salmon (living in Seattle this is very good news)
Hazelnuts
Walnuts
Pecans
Dust mites

Now the not so good. Iris is allergic to:
Cow's Milk (we already knew this--it was her strongest reaction)
Eggs (we knew this one too)
Tuna (slight reaction so she might still be able to eat)
Almonds
Brazil Nuts
Cashews
Sesame
Peanuts
Soybeans (Dr. thinks this may be a false positive due to her reaction to peanuts & said we can try her on a bit of soymilk to see how she takes it)
Cat dander (not too bad on this one so Freddy's still safe)
Dog dander (stronger reaction than to the cat dander)

I guess that explains why her skin was so red & irritated the whole time we were in Texas over July 4th--we stayed at my sister's house with her 2 longhaired cats & big fluffy dog. We blamed it on the heat & humidity but maybe it was the pet dander.

There's not much we can do about it for now other than avoid the things she's allergic to and have her re-tested in 6 months or a year and see if there's been any changes. Kind of a bummer that there's no better treatment available right now.

This is Irene giving her 2 cents: Mom was working today so it was only Dad who got to see the torture of Iris. I can't believe she has these allergies. I nursed her exclusively for her first 6 months, and have continued nursing her even now that she's 1 year old. I can't imagine what her allergies or skin condition would be like if I didn't bother. :(

Congrats Dad!

My dad won his Fantasy Football League this year (unlike me, who's never finished higher than 2nd). Here's a shot of the trophy awarding ceremony: Congratulations Dad!

Iris's first successful use of a straw

Mmmmmmm. Yummy apple juice!

Here's what Iris thinks of the snow

Hmmm...not really sure about this "sled" thing, but I'm willing to give it a try
OK- I've decided. I DON'T like it! Isn't this sled really just one of Fred's old litter boxes? YUCK! Get me out of here!

I guess this is OK as long as you don't put me down in that white stuff

I said DON'T put me down!!!

Seriously! Get me out of this stuff!

On another snow related note, I've been giving Irene crap for the past 8 years about the shovel she made us buy the first time it snowed at our new house. All this time, I've shoveled the driveway unlike our neighbors, who trusted that the snow would melt in the next day or two, and it pretty much always did.

Well, that shovel has gotten lots of use this week by us and a some of those shovel-less neighbors. I pledged to never bust her chops about that shovel again (or the 20-pound bag of salt she also made us buy--that's all used up now).

Trekking in the snow

Dressed for Scandinavian Christmas

Our back deck

I am officially sick of snow

Seattle = Winter Wonderland

Snowing today

I stayed home w/Iris and my sister Denise yesterday because it was supposed to snow but we didn't see a flake. To make up for that, I drove in this morning with Irene even though it's snowing pretty good: Iris's daycare is closed again today so she's home with Aunty Geeg & enjoying snack timeIs it too soon to start telling her to chew with her mouth closed?

Absolute Final Moustache Post

My sister Geegy arrived last night and shortly after getting home from the airport I shaved off my stache. And you know what, I kinda miss it. It may make a return appearance sometime soon.

moustacheno moustacheBig thanks again to everyone who donated. My moustache raised $445 to help in the fight against prostate cancer.

(note: these pics were taken with Geegy's iphone. Mine is still not back from the iphone hospital, which I am pretty PO'd about)

Thanksgiving in Oregon

One Year Check-up

Iris had her 1-year check up yesterday and toughed out a series of five shots--that's the most she's ever gotten and she was not so happy about it and didn't sleep through the night last night either.

Just as as we heard at her 9 month check up, she's developing well and everything looks good. I don't have any recent photos to post (my iphone is still in hospital) but we'll try to get some new ones posted this weekend.

Here are her stats:

1 year
Length 28.5" (25th percentile - 2 inches taller than 3 months ago - yay!)
Weight 18 lbs, 9.5 ozs. (10-25th - maybe down a little from being sick last week)
Cranium 48 cm (95th+) yep.

9 months
Length 26.5" (between 10th-25th percentile)
Weight 16 lbs, 15.5 ozs. (10-25th)
Cranium 47.5 cm (95th+)

Our baby girl is still among the league leaders in cranium size.

6 months
Length 24.75" (between 10th-25th percentile)
Weight 14 lbs, 12.5 ozs. (25th-50th)
Cranium 45.25 cm (95th+)

4 months
Length 23.75" (between 25th-50th percentile)
Weight 12 lbs, 5.5 ozs. (25th)
Cranium 42.75cm (90-95th)

2 months
Length 22.25" (50th percentile)
Weight 10 lbs, 8 ozs. (25th-50th)

Birth 11/21/2007 6:51 AM
Length 19.5" (50th percentile)
Weight 6 lbs, 15.4 ozs. (25th)

103 degrees

Now that Iris is finally 1, she's been transitioning out of the infant room to the young toddler room at her daycare. Being around other kids where she's the youngest has exposed her to all sorts of new things including more virulent crud. Iris has been sick with a fever, usually peaking at 102 degrees, since early Tuesday morning. Luckily Tylenol and Motrin work wonders for fevers. We hear that a few kids at the daycare have had this and it lasts 3-5 days.

Jim and I have been scrambling to figure out who gets to stay home with her. It's been tough. Fortunately there's a daycare at one of the hospitals in town that'll take moderately sick kids. It's been hard to get her in because a child as young as Iris limits the number of kids they can take for the day due to the lower adult to child ratio.

She's been good spirits overall but she gets fussy when it's time for her next dose of drugs. She hasn't been sleeping well either so she looks tired all time. The poor girl :(

Moustache Wrap Up

Movember is over but I'll be keeping the stache until at least December 15 when my sister Denise arrives in Seattle for her Christmas visit. She made that a condition of her donation to the cause, and I'm OK with it. maybe I'll keep it forever!

Unfortunately, I can't provide an up to date photo because I dropped my iphone the other day & it's on the way to the iphone hospital in Kansas to get looked at. Hopefuly they won't need to transfer it to the iphone morgue--I should know in a couple days how serious it is & have it back by the end of the week if it's not too bad (fingers crossed). Since I can't put a photo of my own awesome stache, here are some more of my moustache role models, from the movie Tombstone

How freakin' awesome are those moustaches??!!

Please make a donation if you can by clicking on the icon below.
Donations will be accepted thru December 9. Thanks!

Addendum: I found this site today - check out those crazy award winning moustaches and beards. I'm not quite ready for the big time yet.