Zeigen

Talk about a spooky Halloween’s eve. Sammy, Sophie, Kimi and I were sitting on the couch and enjoying a fire at 8:04 when everything started shaking. It seemed to last a long time, but wasn’t too violent: Some clanking pots, but nothing fell down. Kimi thought it was cats on the roof. I had everyone stand under the door frame.

Looks to be a 5.6 near Alum Rock in San Jose (about 25 miles from here).

Normally (when there’s not an infant in the house), tonight would be a poker night. Glad that I wasn’t away from home.

My brother Phil, my sister-in-law Erin, and my niece Sarah visited today for lunch and to meet Sophie; and later Erin sent me these pictures that she took.

If you like cars, we’ve now got an even wider selection of weekly programming for you, free on TiVoCast.

Vette Dogs is the newest addition — every Thursday a new episode about Corvettes.

Which reminds me of a story from an old friend of mine, Minh L., a car salesman. Two young guys showed up at his dealership and said to him, “Got any Vettes? We both want to buy a Vette.” So he takes them out to the back lot and says, “There you go! Widest selection of Vettes in the county!” And the guys roll their eyes and say to him, “No, we mean Corvettes, not Chevettes.”

Anyway, enjoy Vette Dogs. To subscribe, head to TiVoCast online, or on your DVR go to TiVo Central -> Find Programs -> Download TV & Movies.

The other day I read an item about Radiohead’s upcoming new album, In Rainbows. The interesting thing is that they let you buy the download (in DRM-free MP3 format) for “whatever amount you want to pay.”

I checked it out and saw that they were also selling a collector’s edition CD and LP (with free download included), for 40 pounds.

Here comes the bad math part. I knew that it’s currently 2 dollars for every pound. But instead of doing the normal sane math, of 40 times 2 makes $80, I went with dividing. 40 divided by 2 is $20, that’s a great price! So I ordered one.

(I blame fatigue.)

Then I took a nap. While napping, the fraud detection unit of the bank calls me. “Did you really spend $80 in the UK just now?”

“What? Huh?” — waking up — “no, I spent $20.”

“Well, check with the vendor. They might have overcharged you by accident.”

“Well the web site was acting funky. Maybe they did the transaction multiple times.” (And it’s true, their web site was giving all kinds of weird errors while I was buying the album. I read online it was due to crushing server load.)

But of course there was no web site error. I figured out my mistake, read their FAQ on how to cancel, which said send them an e-mail. So I did, explained my mistake, and politely requested to cancel my order. And I sent another one when I didn’t get a reply. Still no reply.

So I guess I just bought an $80 CD — to be precise $81.52 plus a $2.45 “foreign country fee.”

On the plus side, the album came out yesterday, and I downloaded it. And I’m listening to it now. And it’s insanely good. This may be my favorite Radiohead album ever.

(A little bit late, but better late than never, right?)

While I was out on paternity leave, we launched Nickelodeon on TiVoCast — go behind the scenes of your favorite Nickelodeon shows to get exclusive interviews, set tours, pranks, and much more.

TV Junkies has also returned, with analysis and commentary on “Dancing With The Stars.”

To subscribe to either or both, head over to TiVoCast on TCO, or use your DVR and go to TiVo Central -> Find Programs -> Download TV & Movies.

This is the end of my paternity leave. Back to work tomorrow. Don’t really feel ready; very tired. Making silly fatigue-related mistakes, like not noticing there was a diaper mixed in with some dirty blankets when I threw in a load of laundry. That crystallized diaper stuff is nasty and gets everywhere. Best to avoid!

Sammy’s doing a bit better with naps and bedtime, so hopefully we’re all getting back to normal. Sophie continues to be an angel; very easy baby and a great sleeper.

Been watching a bit of TV (since it’s easy to do that while feeding or burping a baby, especially with TiVo; couldn’t imagine it otherwise) and of the new shows so far I like Journeyman, am neutral on Bionic Woman, and pretty sure I won’t keep Moonlight but spared it for now. Kid Nation I’m still watching. Love the new season of Survivor. Have Pushing Daisies recorded and will check that out. The new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm is especially cringe-worthy in a way that only that show can manage. The new season of Always Sunny in Philadelphia cracks Kimi up a lot. Plus there’s Robot Chicken and CSI.

Did see Resident Evil 3 last night — and for me, zombie movies are like pizza: even when they’re bad they’re good. Was just what I needed.

We had a pretty good day today; Kimi let me sleep through the night (since Sophie’s still getting up every few hours for feedings) so I felt non-exhausted for the first time in days. I took Sammy for bagels first thing in the morning. Yesterday Kimi took him out shoe shopping (since he’s outgrown most of his shoes) and he was very pleased with the Cars shoes she got him; he’s happy to go out and show them off. He had a great nap, with no battling. We all four went to out to the Stanford mall to check out the John Lennon art exhibit they have there, and picked up some pizza from California Pizza Kitchen. And I thought he’d be fine with bedtime, but even after him talking through the rules about big boy bedtime and agreeing to them (close eyes, no more talking), he’s currently screaming and pounding on his door. Poor kid. His “open the door” cries are heart-wrenching.

He just stopped, and since that was less than 15 minutes of screaming, with no throwing up, he’s improving. Hopefully the ferberizing continues to make this easier over the next few days.

I can’t believe Sophie is 13 days old already. But then I can’t believe I’m 40 or that Sammy is 2 either.

Kimi’s giving me a movie night tonight (in return for me watching the kids earlier while she got a massage). There’s not much playing, but I do believe I will go see the third Resident Evil movie just to clear my brain.

Today was picture day at school, and even though Friday isn’t a day we normally take Sammy in, I dropped by so he could get his picture taken with his class. He’s having real attachment issues lately, and so predictably he wasn’t so happy with the idea of being separated from daddy long enough to sit with his class and smile. But they managed somehow, and later for his solo picture (when I was right there to make him smile) he was fine.

This evening we went out to sushi dinner in San Carlos to catch up with Kimi’s scrapbooking crew; Sammy was a great eater. If only his bedtime wasn’t such a battle right now.

Much better night for Sammy last night; he went to bed gracefully (with a lot more coddling than normal), and slept straight through again. He’s in a great mood, and had a fun time at Hot Shots at school, learning how to play with hoops.

In contrast, Sophie needed feeding at 3am, 5am, 6am and 7am. So Kimi didn’t get much sleep.

Sophie’s sleeping calmly now, and Kimi’s napping (I napped earlier). Having Jen relieve us for naps is great. Jen’s on vacation Thursday and Friday, however, so the next four days it’s just the four of us.

Sammy had the worst night ever last night; screaming and crying tantrums most of the night, crying so hard that he threw up everywhere. After I failed to get him to calm down using every trick in the book, Kimi finally got him to sleep at 3:30am. He slept in until 9:30, making him very late for school, but he definitely needed the rest. He seems in good spirits this morning. We’ll try some different techniques tonight when bedtime rolls around.

I’m going to go take a nap.

Today, Monday, October 1, begins the second week of my paternity leave, and Sophie is now eight days old. She’s starting to fill out a bit. The bruising around her eye (from her quick entrance into the world) is starting to fade. She’s been a great sleeper. In the photo here, Natalia (Talia) is holding her. Talia is our nanny Jen’s daughter, and she and Sammy are great friends. Having a nanny has made things a lot easier on us than when Sammy was born; Jen is a lifesaver.

Sammy has been very resistant to napping and has been throwing fits at bedtime. We’re trying to spend as much time with him as we did before Sophie arrived, but I know it’s a very confusing transition for him to welcome someone new into the home.

Tonight we’re going to have Tom, Jennifer and Miranda (Kimi’s uncle’s family) over for dinner, and Kimi’s cooking now. She wasn’t able to cook much in the last few months of her pregnancy, and I think she really missed it. It smells delicious!

Auntie Jojo paid a visit this morning.