Pluggin' Away
Two quick things I want to plug here. First off is a new webcomic I've come across called "No Pink Ponies". It's only recently started, and you can find it here:

http://www.nopinkponies.com/

The other pluggable item is a new single from "Weird Al" Yankovic entitled Don't Download This Song! You can listen to it (and catch a snazzy little animated video for it) here:

http://www.dontdownloadthissong.com/

According to the site, the new album Straight Outta Lynnwood is out September 26.

That is all. Carry on.
- posted by Josh @ 11:09 PM (0) comments

 
The week that was...
Sorry. I realize it's been about three weeks since my last post. Let's pick up where we left off...

After "Adventures in Cell Phone Buying", Monday was a quiet (if dull) workday. It was the third week of my training class -- which means that I was more or less sitting there watching my one remaining student do his job. (*Yawn*)

Tuesday... things got interesting again. As I'm getting ready to leave the house I get a call from work. Brenda -- who was teaching the training class after mine -- had a family emergency and couldn't be in that day. So I was tapped to take over the class for the day.

Oy. One of the three students was just not getting it. She seemed to understand the concepts just fine, but when it came to transfer those concepts to practical application on the computer... it just wasn't happening. We were about half-a-day behind schedule by mid-afternoon, and it was obvious that the other two students were getting a little frustrated with the third student's lack of comprehension.

It was a tough to manage... we had management come in and observe, and they made the call that the third student was just not suited to the job, and she was cut loose.

As Tuesday wrapped, the plan for the class was still up in the air. I had just taught a class, and they wanted to offer it to the other trainers. Turns out none of them wanted it, so it came back around to me (again). Fine by me -- it meant I didn't have to sit around and die of boredom watching Rob (my previous student) do his job. Slight problem -- I was on vacation the next week.

But that got sorted out in the end -- one of the other trainers, given sufficient advance notice, didn't mind taking over the class for the second week.

On to Wednesday... get up a little early, head into work for more training. Everything is going well (my toe by this point had more-or-less stopped hurting and the bruise had faded to just a slight blush of blueish red).

Then, at about 8:30 or so, Kara (one of the supervisors at work) comes in to tell me that Mary was on the phone with some news for me. A little concerned, I excused myself from the class and headed out to the central desk. I picked up the phone and said, "Hello?"

Her reply, "Josh, I'm pregnant."

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

We've been trying to get pregnant now for a couple of months. Mary's been taking a drug called Clomid to help us conceive. Because of the treatments, she's been having regular blood work to see if the drug is working as it should (there's no guarantee of conception, but it does force the ovulation cycle, which can be measured with lab tests). Before starting a new cycle of Clomid, a pregnancy test is done -- if you're pregnant, there's no need to do another round of the drug after all (that, and Clomid can cause all sorts of complications to the pregnancy).

Mary had had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday (the day before). The standard pregnancy test (pretty much like the one you get at the grocery store -- urine based) done in the office had come back negative.

But the blood work, when it came back from the lab the next morning... was positive.

They caught the pregnancy amazingly early -- so early that the standard test was negative. Now, it wasn't 100% confirmed at that point -- it was still early, and there was a chance (however slim) of a false positive. They wanted another round of blood work to see if things were progressing as they should.

Long story short, they were, and we were (suddenly) expecting a new addition to the family.

Looking back on it now, it shouldn't have been too surprising. That weekend (the weekend that kicked off this whole saga), Mary had been sick to her stomach quite a bit -- moreso than usual (she's somewhat easily nauseated). Considering her pregnancy had just started... it was "morning sickness".

Fast forward a couple of weeks. Regular lab work during this time indicates the pregnancy is progressing normally. Wednesday morning, we had the first ultrasound, our first "baby pictures", and the first estimation of due date. First off, the pictures (thumbnailed here, click on them for a full-size version).



Given how small the "raisin" (as we've taken to calling him or her for now) is, I've added a bit of enhancement to help out. In the first picture (top right), there's a mouse arrow inside that circle pointing to little Aiden or Titania (Aiden Malcom for a boy, Titania Lynn for a girl). In the second and third pictures (top left and bottom right) you might be able to see a couple of cross-hairs used by Dr. Hughes (the OB) to measure how large our "raisin with a heartbeat" is.

Dr. Hughes says we're about six weeks along, and gave us a due date of April 16th -- right around our anniversary (on the 14th), and in the same ballpark as my brother's and sister's birthdays (the 3rd and 10th of April respectively).

It's very cool, and Mary has been after me to post about it. I have, so now she can go off and obsess about something else with regard to this whole thing.

(Just kidding honey. I know you're going to read this, and I love you. It's very cool, exciting, and scary all at the same time.)

That was the week that was. Whew. I'm beat.
- posted by Josh @ 12:08 PM (0) comments

 
The week thus far...
So... what a week it has been. Perhaps I should start back this past weekend, when Mary and I went down to the lake to have dinner and visit with my parents for one last time before they start their trek back south to get ready for the upcoming school year (they teach at a private school in Maryland).

Anyhow, before dinner I went for a swim -- an activity that I enjoy, but don't get to do very often because I'm often stuck up here in Bangor instead of being able to spend time down at the lake.

There's a large, flat rock partially buried in the lake bed a couple feet beyond the end of the dock (it sticks up out of the bottom about an inch or two), and it serves as a great place to step when getting into (or out of) the water.

I forgot it was there, and I kicked it. I whacked my foot a good one, and my toe (not my big toe, the "index toe"), was in quite a bit of pain. I stifled a coupel of choice vulgarities (my cousin was visiting, and her two kids -- ages 5 and 3 or thereabouts -- were down there on the shore), clambered out of the water, and limped up the hill.

My toe was sore for the rest of the evening. When I got home (around 9:30pm or so), I took my shoes and socks off, and found a lovely sight. I'd describe it... but a picture is so much more descriptive in this instance.



Ain't that a beaut? That was actually taken first thing Sunday morning. The swelling has gone down by now, and that lovely blood-clot red has faded to a dull purple bruise, and it doesn't really hurt (unless I'm not paying attention and bang my tow on something). Based on the recovery time it wasn't broken or anything (not that I could have done anything about it, even if it were).

So that was one adventure. The next one wasn't as physically painful... but it was a bit more annoying.

Okay... on Friday afternoon, after I got out of work, I headed over to the comic shop where I get my bi-weekly (more or less) fix. While getting out of the car, my cell phon e fell out of my pocket onto the pavement. The back popped off and the battery fell out. I scopped it up, popped it back together, and everything appeared to be just fine.

Come Saturday (the day I smacked my toe), I noticed I was having some trouble. The phone kept dropping signal, occasionally displaying the message "Please Insert SIM card" (for those of you without cell phones, the SIM card is basically what makes a cell phone work).

We called customer service, and learned that we had two choices -- we could try to get the phone fixed (and pay for the repairs out of pocket), or submit an insurance claim (since we were paying an extra $4 a month for that option). The only cost for the insurance claim would be the deductible, so we decided to take advantage of that. We were transferred over to the caim office, and found out that the deductible was $110.

To hell with this, we thought. We can probably buy a compeltely new phone for not much more than that.

So when we got back into town (about 8:30 that evening), we headed out to the mall, where an outlet of our cell phone provider is located (we usually go their downtown store, but it wasn't open on Saturday night).

The guy there took a look, and determined that the problem was in the little flap that holds the SIM card in place. It had gotten loosened by the fall (apparently), and as a result the SIM card was loosing connection with the phone circuitry. Fixable? Possibly. Worth it? Given that the phone is about 2 years old... not so much.

So, in order to get a deal on the new phone, we upped our contract. Not a problem -- we've been very happy with our T-Mobile service (even if their insurance program is a bit of a scam). The choices for noew phone come down to the Motorola SLVR for $140 or the RAZR for $200 (with a $50 mail-in rebate).

Not wanting to spend $200 on a new phone (even with the rebate), I opted for the SLVR.Signed the paperwork, put down the money... no problem.

Well... slight problem. After we got out of the store, I tried to go to download ring tones and such. No dice. The network didn't recognize the phone. We call customer service (for the second time that day).

Turns out... T-Mobile doesn't support the SLVR. While I can use it to place calls, I can't access any of the extra or enhanced services provided. So, more or less, the guy sold me a worthless piece of hardware.

So, the next morning, Mary heads back to the store, intent on getting satisfaction for the problem (by getting the RAZR for free). The owner happens to be working, and is extremely apologetic. It's policy that they disclose the fact that T-Mobile doesn't support the SLVR, and the fact that the sales guy last night didn't... well, it doesn't bode well for his contrinued employment.

Unfortunately he can't just give us the RAZR. He does, however, take back the phone from the previous night at full value and sells us a RAZR at a slight discount. Problem solved, the new phone works (and looks) great, and in the end (after the mail-in rebate) will cost us only slightly more than the SLVR did.

Another successful adventure... even if it was a convoluted and annoying process.

Well... this has been a long post already, and I need to write some checks to go out in the mail tonight. I'll catch up with even more of the adventures of the past few days a bit later. Ciao!
- posted by Josh @ 5:42 PM (0) comments