Awesomeness defined

Jim is a maker of awesome pancakes. I'm serious. You have to check out Jim's Pancakes to really appreciate what I'm talking about.

But as an avid eater of all things breakfast food, this is phenomenal....

Sneak preview:


A freakin' 3D Ferris Wheel of pancakes. BAM!

Happenings

Just a quick list:

• Got a new AC unit installed at the house yesterday - yeehaw!
• Still pregnant, with ~3 weeks to go.
• Getting a new computer at work...eventually.
• Planning to work for ~3 more weeks...
• Desperately need to bathe the dogs!!!
• The yard folks planted some cute flowers w/o me asking - good stuff!
• Baby laundry is done and ready for a little person to start wearing it.
• Heading to the lake this weekend, and will plan on sparing people the sight of me in a bathing suit.
• Car seat is installed - thanks Danielle!!
• Amar started a new job and is enjoying it - also yeehaw!

I think those are the main highlights. I know I need to post another picture...we'll try to get to that this weekend.

Facebook Privacy Settings: The Tangled Web

The New York Times has a good summary of the various ways to setup your Privacy settings on Facebook. I just went through and updated mine, because it seemed that most everything had defaulted to allow "everyone" to see things about me.

Take a few minutes to do the same, especially if you're concerned about what info is floating around on the web about you...

NYT Article: here

33 Weeks and growing

Squeamish...

Hooray for (hopefully) the last blood draw for quite awhile!

I had my 33 week check-up today (I will post another progress picture soon), and much to my surprise, I had to get my blood drawn again. Now, if you know me, then you likely know that not only do I not like medical things in general, but I have a specific aversion to needles.

So you can imagine my disappointment when the nurse told me that due to a new 2010 law, all pregnant women have to get an HIV test in the 3rd trimester. I asked her if I could just swear that I didn't have HIV, but she said no. They would just test the baby later if I refused to give blood today.

So my dear future daughter, I took one for the Rama team today. Be sure to thank me later ;)

Seriously though, I think this is the 4th or 5th blood draw since October and I'm glad to have it behind me. There is one phlebotomist in particular that I dread having take my blood. So I was specifically praying that I wouldn't get her today (had her the first time and don't want to re-live that). When Amar suggested that maybe that wasn't the best prayer, I switched to "please let me get someone who is compassionate" and gave that a spin.

Well, the first prayer was definitely answered: I didn't get the person I was dreading. However, the second prayer...not so much.

I typically explain to the nurse that "I'm not so good at the needles and blood thing" and they typically respond with "Awww, we'll make sure this isn't too bad." This is a dialogue I can support.

However, when I started my speech this morning, the guy barely acknowledged that I was speaking. Not a good sign.

After I closed my eyes, he then proceeded to jab the needle about halfway through my arm. Pain when shooting through my body. Then when he was done, he started wrapping the gauze and tape around the (still throbbing) wound. When he went to tear the tape off, he pressed (rather firmly) right where he had poked me. Yikes!!

I'm SO glad that Amar was there with me (even though friends/family are supposed to wait in the lobby). I got out of there as soon as I could, and then started to feel a little weak on the way back to the car. And, not surprisingly, I started crying.

Hormones!! Gotta love 'em.

To summarize:
All is well
I still don't like needles
I (still) know without a doubt that I was never meant to be a doctor

Keeping up with the Joneses

I read a few finance and money blogs (because I'm a nerd and find some of that interesting...hope you do too!), and today there was a post about "How do you know when you're *rich*"...

As in, everyone has some sort of number in the back of their mind as so what it would take for them to consider themselves wealthy, or well-off, or comfortable. It's a different number for everyone, but it's interesting to think about.

Anyhow, part of the article talked about global wealth and how you measure up. Check out this site: www.globalrichlist.com to see where you come in.

Kind of helps set perspective a bit...

Link to the original article: Get Rich Slowly - Are we there yet?

30 weeks and growing!

Off to a great start

So I've been buried in Microsoft Excel this week, which by itself, isn't that bad. I'm actually a bit of a nerd like that. I even dreamed about this one particular spreadsheet last night - oy!

However, upon getting into work this morning and starting the data mining again, I got this error:

"Excel cannot complete this task with available resources. Choose less data or close other applications."

Nice.

Does that officially make me a power user at this point?

Happy Friday!

Resolutions - an update

I think it was last year (or the year before?), that I noted some New Year's resolutions. Not being big on resolutions in general, I tried to keep it simple.

I think I did fairly well, if I recall. But I wanted to let you know that I'm still truckin'.

I'm still trying to read more, but I think I've broken my own personal record already this year. It's the end of March and I already have several titles under my belt.

Note: we have a LOT of books. So rather than going out and buying more stuff that looks interesting, I'm shopping our own bookshelves.

Here's what I've finished so far this year:

1) The last half of The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis
I started this (again) last year, and for some reason, came to a stop mid-way through Prince Caspian. So I picked it up in January and polished off not only Prince Caspian, but Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair and The Last Battle.

If you have not read this, then you seriously need to ask yourself what you are doing with your life. And please, don't consider the movies as substitutes. There is SO much richness to the way that Lewis writes about his characters, their adventures, and timeless truths. Oy!

2) Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, by Atul Gawande
This was a personal challenge for me, being someone who just about faints when driving by a hospital, much less when reading stories from inside the operating room. But I was immediately taken in by a "behind the scenes" look at the medical world.

I'm looking forward to reading some of Gawande's other works, also about practicing medicine: The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, and Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance. But since we don't own them, I'll be saving those for later.

3) The Last Templar, by Raymond Khoury
Very "DaVinci Code" like in it's plot, but a page-turner nonetheless. Though I will say that I identified the "bad guy" the moment he was introduced. It was still a quick read and better than wasting time in front of the TV, which I have a strong tendency to do.

4) Deception Point, by Dan Brown
And speaking of DaVinci Code....

Yes, this is by the same guy. Totally different plot context, as in, it has nothing to do with Italy or the Holy Grail. But it's still an action/adventure story, with more twists and turns than are necessary. A quick read, and fairly entertaining. Though it's just a bit far-fetched...though I'm not sure he knows how to do anything other than far-fetched....

5) The Preservationist, by David Maine
Very interesting indeed. Amar hadn't read this one yet, so I gave it a try. It's a completely different look at a story most of us grew up singing songs about: Noah's ark.

But Maine writes it as a compilation of several first-person accounts, with a lot of artistic liberty to elaborate on what daily life must have been like at that time, what it took to pull this massive project off, and how this family unit survived and interacted with each other.

Also, not a book for kiddos. It's not that kind of Noah's ark story. But, if you're looking to challenge the way that you read some of the "classic" stories in the Bible, this will definitely do it. If you do happen to pick it up, let me know what you think about it. I'd be curious to know.



So that, my friends, is my progress to date. I'm off to shop another bookshelf...if you have any suggestions, let me know!

28 weeks and counting

Here's a new picture: 28 weeks today...so I'm officially in the 3rd trimester. Yippee!

I know, I know...

Several of you have been asking for some updated pictures, so here you go:


This is me last Sunday, at 26 weeks (almost 6 months).

I'm going to try to post a picture every 2 weeks, since at this pace, my circumference is rapidly increasing ;)

The official due date is June 20, so starting next week, I'll be in the third trimester. It's gone by so fast, and has generally been pretty easy so far. Here's hoping that trend continues!

Innovation

I'm not one to take politics too seriously, so when candidates (or someone on their behalf) come up with something slightly interesting or amusing, I'm generally a fan.

For your consideration: Farouk Shami Rap

Mr. Shami is a very successful businessman, running in the Democratic primary for governor of Tx against current Houston Mayor Bill White. Too bad this rap didn't come out last week...could have gotten more folks to the polls.

Here's a teaser of the chorus:
Farouk, Farouk, Farouk is on fire
Servin' the community, his number 1 desire!

It's the little things...

I did something today that wound up making a huge difference with respect to my ability to enjoy our house.

Since we moved in (about 2 1/2 years ago), there has been 1 window in our bedroom that just didn't quite shut correctly. I never spent a lot of time looking into it and just figured that it was one of the quirks of having an older house.

But this morning, as I was working from home, it started bugging me. Mainly because I could hear the kids at the nursery a few houses down and I couldn't concentrate...but also because I just knew that I hadn't figured out the mystery window yet. And solving that mystery could result in lowering the noise level...

So I went over to the window and started poking around. The bottom pane was all the way down, but wouldn't line up with the top pane which meant that it wouldn't close and lock. Why wouldn't this shut!? I opened the bottom pane to see if there was anything obstructing it....nope.

I kept looking around the casing of the window and then voila - perhaps the easiest home fix that I've ever done: I realized that the top pane of the window was open about an inch. What!?!?!

To be completely honest, I didn't even know that the top panes of the windows opened in that room. So I pushed up on the top pane and was able to finally close the window.

That freakin' window has been open an inch for the past 2 1/2 years. Letting in noise and air and who knows what.

But the moment I closed that window - immediate relief. No more noise. No more drafts. Amazing.

Yes, I am bragging about my own stupidity. It's great.

Insight into Iraq

There are a lot of stories from the war in Iraq that get glossed over, since mainstream media tends to focus on what goes wrong vs. what goes right.

I saw this article on Slate today, a 5 part series on "Searching for Saddam". After reading the first installment today, I'll be tuning in to see what comes next.

Some interesting "behind the scenes" type info on how out military gathered intelligence, sorted through tribal social networks, and eventually came to find one of the most-wanted men in the world at the time.

Searching for Saddam: A five-part series on how the U.S. military used social networking to capture the Iraqi dictator

Enjoy!

Go Scotties!

We have 2 Scottish Terriers, so you can imagine how they were each beaming with pride as I told them today that their long lost relative Sadie just won Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club. They were overjoyed...and slightly envious of Sadie's dashing haircut.

The details, provdied by Good Morning America: Sadie Scores! Scottish Terrier Takes Best in Show at Westminster

Out of hibernation

I know it's been forever since I've posted anything, but I saw this on the news today and thought it was worth getting the word out:

Courtesy of USA Today:

Snowboarders have a reputation of being a bit flaky, so when U.S. snowboard cross racer Graham Watanabe told reporters Wednesday that his second Olympic appearance was like "Pegasus mating with a unicorn and the creature that they birth I somehow tame it and ride it to the sky and clouds and sunshine and rainbows," the quote seemed almost too good to be spontaneous.

Not so, Watanabe said later, "It came from my heart." -- Sal Ruibal

That is one excited snowboarder.

Conan

This article is just one more reason that I love Conan O'Brien....except that I'm not a huge fan of the Tonight Show...but other than that, awesomeness.

Glory Days

I have never been a fitness buff (right, I'm sure ALL of you are surprised by that).

Back in the days of high school sports, two-a-days, sports camps and the like, I could hold my own, to a certain extent....though there was that time that I almost died in the weight room from trying to lift just the bar (I blame that more on my spotter than on my chicken-wing arms, but I've moved on).

And sure, when I was living with a personal trainer, I took advantage of that as much as possible (by joining her gym and willingly giving her lots of my money). She got me in great shape (just in time for my wedding), and while I tried to maintain that routine....let's just say I fell short.

Most recently, we canceled our gym membership. It dawned on me that I hadn't been in about 60+ days, and that I wasn't likely to get any value out of continuing to pay them. It just wasn't fitting into my schedule, nor did I make any effort for it to. So we bit the bullet and dropped out.

I now find myself winded after climbing 3 flights of stairs to get to my desk every morning (cardio has never been my strong suit). But I know that it hasn't always been that way, and I am getting sick of my chicken wing arms (though I will admit, the other night at Bible study, the 9th grade girls were comparing muscles, and they were impressed with mine...ha!).

So, the plan of action:
Amar has tried the 100 push-ups program before and liked it. I just realized that they also have plans for squats and sit-ups. Yippee!!

100 Push ups
I will admit that this is THE MOST DAUNTING thing that I've ever tried to do. I hate push-ups. Can't stand 'em. Am repulsed by the idea of them. But what's more off-putting to me is the idea of being hit in the face with my own flabby triceps when waving to a friend. So onward we go.

200 Squats
Now this is more in my comfort zone. We did tons of these in volleyball. So this will be a bit of a reprieve from the torture of the push-ups that I have to endure.

200 Sit-ups
Ah, the sit-up. Abs of steel, right? I don't necessarily have a lot of belly flab that I'm trying to cut through, but it could be better. So, if this is what has to be done, then I must do it.

Want to join me? These are all 6 week programs. I'm going to try to do them simultaneously, but we'll see how far we get.

Television

As Amar and I were catching up on work email this afternoon, we were watching the 25 anniversary of the Cosby Show on WGN. After about an hour of the Cosby Show, they started running another old sitcom.

Kim: Aww, Family Ties!

Amar: What is this? The white Cosby Show?




Yes, yes of course it is.

Wow

Please tell me that these people have something better to do.

Politico is reporting that the House of Representatives is now outlining how exactly members can and cannot insult the President:

House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) has released a helpful, updated primer for members regarding their conduct on the floor and in committees.

Especially useful: The section on how to properly insult the executive branch in the in the chamber.

"Disgrace" and "nitwits" -- okay.

"Liar" or "sexual misconduct" -- ixnay.

Under section 370 of the House Rules and Manual it has been held that a Member could:

• refer to the government as “something hated, something oppressive.”
• refer to the President as “using legislative or judicial pork.”
• refer to a Presidential message as a “disgrace to the country.”
• refer to unnamed officials as “our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs.”

Likewise, it has been held that a member could not:

• call the President a “liar.”
• call the President a “hypocrite.”
• describe the President’s veto of a bill as “cowardly.”
• charge that the President has been “intellectually dishonest.”
• refer to the President as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”
• refer to alleged “sexual misconduct on the President’s part.”

Geez.