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Flying Solo With The Girls

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Today our babysitter was sick.  MC had a deadline at work so I took off.  I was already going to work from home because I was taking Teagan to her 2 year checkup but I wasn’t planning on getting no work done.  I have taken care of both kids alone before but it is always a challenge.

Today thankfully Teagan had a class in the morning.  I also had a class with Amelia but she was napping in the stroller so I made the command decision for us not to go.  Instead i got a civilized walk in with her sleeping.  The highlight was my Starbucks Cappuccino.  I miss my walks when Teagan was a baby were I could go for coffee.  With both kids it is a challenge so i was grateful for the chance today.

After Teagan’s doctor appointment and attempted nap time I got in some really good play time with them. That was followed by the challenging yet not as bad as it could have been bathing Amelia, feeding Teagan, then bathing Teagan juggling act.

All day I was craving Sushi, so i ordered delivery for when MC got home.  We hadn’t had in a while and it was delicious.  I was tired but it was a generally great day with my girls!

Day Two Alone in London

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It is day two of me by myself in London. Technically day 7 of my trip. It is Sunday of a bank holiday here in the UK and the weather was fantastic.

After realizing Covent Gardens was a 5 minute walk from my hotel and that area had tons of stuff to do I went there for breakfast. I went to Bill’s. it was good but only after i went did i realize it was a chain. I was aiming for somewhere unique but apparently didn’t find it. The food was still good.

After breakfast I walked around Covent Gardens some more. It is a great area and everyone who recommended to stay at the hotel i am in was spot on.

After a little walking I headed back over to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. I wanted to see it and since i had less planned today i was ok to wait on line. It turned out to be about an hour wait. The museum was fun but not really worth the hour wait or the 10 pounds it cost to get in. As a Sherlock Holmes fan however I probably would have done it again if i had more information so no regrets.

After the Museum and gift shop (I didn’t buy anything honest) I headed over to Regent street for some shopping. I was looking for a replacement jacket for my North Face Jacket. I like the jacket but it is just a bit big on me. I got it when i was loosing weight and had no clue i would move into a size small. Now a Medium is really big on me. I ended up not finding anything I liked but got a pull over base layer to wear under a jacket like the North Face with a tea shirt.

After shopping I was back at Covent Gardens for the Transit Museum. It was interesting but not worth the 15 pounds. Unlike the Sherlock Holmes Museum I wouldn’t do this Museum again without kids.

After the transit museum I got some Gelato since i skipped lunch. It was good. I ate it on my walk back to my hotel.

At the hotel I unwound from the day of walking around and texted with my friend Tony trying to get dinner ideas. I selected Burger & Lobster as my dinner destination. It is in Soho and a 5 minute tube ride from my hotel. There was an hour and a half wait for a table but since i was alone i was able to get a seat at the bar with only little effort. I got the Lobster Roll. It was one of only 3 options on the menu. I could have had the Lobster Roll, a Burger, or Lobster. The Lobster Roll was fantastic and the food came pretty quick. Tony is now two for two on resteraunt picks.

After dinner I walked back from SoHo to my hotel. I didn’t find anywhere that looked good for desert so I ended up at the same chain cafe (not Starbucks) were i had desert and coffee yesterday. After that I turned into the hotel early. Since I was in the UK I did some light reading and then watched a Doctor Who episode on my computer!

Five Year Work Anniversary

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In some ways it is hard to believe I have been at Thomson Reuters for 5 years.  So much has changed in my life in five years and so much seems not to have changed at all.  I love that I still get excited for things I am working for and changes in my group keep things new and interesting.  I have been in the same position for a year and a half but after 11 months the responsibilities changed enough that it is half like a new position again.  Working with great people on interesting technology helps also!  Here is to another 5 years if the future is as interesting as the last five!

As always when I mention work I would like to note that anything written on this blog are my own opinions and thoughts and are not those of Thomson Reuters.

A New Media Center Unit

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Today I put together furniture for the media center.  When we found out we were haivng a baby we knew that part of baby proofing would require us to replace my old media center.  What I had was open and had glass shelves.  We bought a new unit with drawers.  I was able to put the power strips and everything inside the unit so only a few wires go out of it into the outlets.  We can also get baby proofing stuff to lock the doors on the front of it.

We hoped to have this built sooner but when we got it the base piece was broken.  Crate and Barrel was really cool and sent us the replacement part with little hassle.  We spent most of Teagan’s nap assembling it.  MC then played with Teagan as I moved all our electronic gear to the new enclosure.  I am very pleased with the results!

Now all I need to do is finally order my new TV so I can get it mounted on the wall above this unit.

Rocking Horse Ranch

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This weekend MC, Teagan, & I went away to the Rocking Horse Ranch with my parents, sister and her family to celebrate my dad’s upcoming 70th birthday.  It was the first trip away together since my mom’s 65th birthday in Wildwood.  I worked a half a day at home Friday so we could head up in the afternoon.  I am glad I did.  the rid up took almost 3 hours with traffic.  We ended up changing our route a few times and we stopped for 45 minutes at a diner to be able to feed Teagan.

It was raining most of the day and we were just glad to get to the place.  Carrie and the kids didn’t arrive till later than us so MC, Teagan and I ate dinner with my dad and my mom waited to have dinner with Carrie.  Nothing else really eventful happened Friday.

Saturday it was rainy all day.  We got up and went to breakfast after Teagan had her morning bottle.  The food was pretty good.  We loved the honey butter on our english muffin’s.  It blew my diet but very tasty.

We took Teagan into the pool for the first time today.  She really loved it.  We got a bunch of photo’s and video.  MC, my mom and I took Teagan on a horse drawn carriage ride.  Teagan liked seeing all the people but was a bit sleepy.

Saturday night dinner we ate as a family for my dad’s birthday.  It was nice.  Carrie arranged to have a cake.  Morgan and Zack gave little speeches.  It was very cute.  After dinner we got to get a few rare family photos with everyone.

Sunday the weather was a bit nicer.  We were able to get outside for a good part of the day.  MC took Teagan on another horse drawn carriage ride while I went with Carrie, Michael, the kids and my dad to play mini golf.  Zack declared himself winner but everyone contested at least privately and some publicly the fact that mathematically there was no way he could have won.

For lunch there was a big BBQ.  We ended up getting food and eating indoors because it was a bit cold but it was a decent BBQ.  MC took Teagan back into the pool.  I got some more photos but decided to stay out of the water this time.

We got to see some horses up close and Teagan got to pet them.  We also saw a few other animals.  Teagan also got to play on the swings for a little while and I was able to feed her outside in the afternoon even though by then it got a bit chilly.

Monday was the nicest day we were there, but we unfortunately only got to be there in the morning.  Everyone else stayed a bit later and got to goto the outdoor pool since it was finally nice enough.  We decided to take off at Teagan’s mid day nap to get home before all the anticipated traffic.  We avoided all of it and were pretty happy we got out when we did.  We probably could have stayed a bit later but we were glad to get home early.  We ended up going to the grassy area behind out building and sat out on the grass and played with Teagan.  It was nice.

Overall it was a great weekend.  One take away from the weekend was we realized the reason Teagan hasn’t been sleeping through the night recently and has been getting up early is because the sun comes into her room and wakes her.  With the hotel privacy curtains she slept till 7 2 out of the 3 nights and for the 3rd night slept pretty close to it.  We realized she wasn’t getting up because she went into a phase in March.  it was because the time zone change in early March made it lighter earlier.  That revelation will get us to buy black out curtains for her room.

The Story Why I Can’t Watch The News

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I am not a fan of TV or radio news.  I used to be as my mom likes to say.  She is right.  I used to love the news and current events and would soak it up on TV.  I have been quoted at 5 years old giving opinions of who I thought would presidential race at the time.  Reagan vs Carter if you are wondering.  By the time I was in my 20’s In the 90’s I started watching less regular news and more financial news like CNBC.  After a while I couldn’t even watch that.  Back then I am not sure what made me stop.  I think it was just that news was depressing and repetitive on TV.

 

It turns out that if you blog long enough you will cover the same or similar topics again.  I found a post I wrote in August 2005 about another reason why I don’t watch the news.  For the record that post confirms I was reading the news from Reuters long before I worked there so I think its ok for me to say I think they are a great news source even though I work in there.  As always the opinions expressed on this blog are my own and not those of my employer.

Surviving Hurricane Sandy

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Like most people in NY & NJ this week has been a bit unreal.  I heard about a possible storm as early as last Wednesday.  It wasn’t until Thursday or Friday when I realized that this wasn’t just any old storm.  My mom was planning a trip to Europe and was going to depart Monday night.  On Friday she was concerned she wouldn’t be able to get out in time.  By Saturday she had canceled her plans.

Saturday afternoon I got brought into my first disaster planning call from work.  Saturday we got a walk in with Teagan and we also went and did some grocery shopping.  We typically order Fresh Direct but when we tried all slots were sold out.

Sunday the weather wasn’t horrible yet but it wasn’t too great.  I only got out to get some formula since we weren’t sure how long the storm would be.  I got lucky at Walgreens and the guy who unlocked the case were the formula was locked up (yes formula in NYC is behind lock and key) pointed out that there was a check out person at the cosmetic counter.  i rushed over there and avoided the 20 or so people at the front check out.  Others quickly found out that trick and I dodged the line.  Most of Sunday was taken up with disaster prep calls.  I had calls every two or three hours all day from 9AM on.

I was going to take a day off Monday to watch Teagan while MC had an appointment.  By Saturday I realized that the appointment would probably be canceled and I would need to be working to make sure we had no issues with the storm.  I was right, the appointment was canceled and I ended up working from home all day.  It was my first day working from home with MC and the baby being home.

Monday night was interesting with the storm hitting.  It was odd that there was no cars on the road.  It was super windy but in this apartment we didn’t really hear it that much. We watched the news briefly but I got most of my news from Twitter feeds.  For real time information durring an incident like this it actually was helpful.  I was following the NYC Mayors office, FEMA, MTA, National Weather Service, Reuters and teh BBC.  I was pretty well informed and didn’t have to watch allot of the sensationalism, fluff or people standing in dangerous stormy areas for no reason.

We were extremely lucky and had no damage at all.  We never lost power and up and down my street I didn’t see any downed trees.  I know there was some damage south of Austin St but nothing near me we could see.  Very lucky is an understatement when my sister is without power, and a cousin’s apartment is totally destroyed.

Tuesday at work was part listing to updates on any affected systems from the storm to trying to find out what was happening with the rest of my team in the NY region.  On top of that I was trying to get normal work done.

Wednsday was a little bit more normal, but half my team in NY/NJ were not working.  No one else on my team had power, but 2 of them were able to get to an office in NJ.  My mom came over to help watch the baby, and MC and I went food shopping since my in laws were coming over.  They lost power Monday and we asked them to come over.  They finally took us up on the offer Wednesday when they still didn’t have power.  Her dad cooked dinner for us all, and they both got to play with the baby.

Thursday I was able to continue to work from home and I tried to get back into a normal routine.  Overall I was able to.  I had several calls in the morning, and then a one on one with my boss in the afternoon.  After that I took off the rest of the day since I wanted to help MC out with Teagan a bit since I had to work Sunday.  My dad called the night before to offer for all of us to come over Thursday night for dinner.  It’s his cooking night and he knew we were hosting MC’s parents.  We all headed over after Teagan’s 4ish feeding.  It was the first time we used the car seat without the base.  It worked generally well.  It was also the first time I used Siri for navigation.  I didn’t really need it since i know how to get to my parents place but I always like having the navigation running.  MC’s dad drove us all over.  We had fish for dinner.  It was a good meal.  Teagan didn’t sleep at all when over there.  I think it may be because of all the grandparents over stimulating her, but what do I know.

When we got home MC’s parents watched the baby as I made formula for the coming day, and MC tried to nap.   I then feed Teagan and just got her down for a nap.  I write this post Thursday night as everyone else sleeps.  I have Teagan up on the Dropcam on my Nexus 7 making sure she still is napping.  MC is in our room trying to nap and her parents are in the living room sleeping.  I am in my office area (aka what should be the dinning room) hoping that this light typing isn’t annoying to anyone.  Watching Teagan on the monitor all warm in her crib sitting in front of a computer with power it reminds me that not everyone was so lucky.  I have friends and colleges without power.  A cousin whose apartment is ruined and doesn’t know when she can move back in, and there are countless other horror stories to go around.  I am glad we came out of this ok, and hope for a speedy recovery or else I will be working from home for a while until they fix the train tunnels.

The Due Date

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Today is not typically a day I like to think about. I try to go most of the day without hearing people referencing the date. Today also happens to be the projected due date for our baby. We’ve thought about this a lot, and ideally just want a happy and healthy baby. That being said I’ll be perfectly happy if she’s slightly late to avoid this birthday. that last statement is pretty moot at this point because it’s 6 o’clock and so far no labor signs. I don’t want to jinx myself, but it’s already pretty late in the day and labor takes a while.

Now we wait. If the baby doesn’t come on her own I believe they will induce next Tuesday. Let’s hope she decides to show up sometime soon, there are plenty of people that want to meet her.

With today being 9/11 and the due date I really can’t remember much else from work today. I am usually pretty good about remembering high points, but not today.

Wednesday 8-10-2011

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Wednsday was a pretty good day.  I was really busy, but nothing massive happened at work so that was a nice change.  Well on retrospect i did get word that some system was getting a last mintue redesign but it honestly didn’t phase me to much so that was good.

For dinner we made sandwiches.  I had peanut butter.  I know so glamorous.  I also donated to the Colbert SuperPAC.  The email and photo I got back was so funny it was totally worth the money I donated.  Now I must wait to see when I get my name on the air!

We didn’t do that much wedding planning tonight.  We were just tired and hung out.  Tomorrow is engagement photo day so we are going to be off to Central Park with the photographers.

Security Overkill

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I love reading articles from Bruce Schneier. I have read Secrets & Lies, and I am in the process of reading Beyond Fear on my Kindle now. He explains security and security concepts for computers and in the real world in a fascinating way. He also points out the absurity of some of the security practices that we see today. I love this article he pointed to that I read tonight. This isn’t the first time I have read articles about some of the absurd rules regarding calling in suspicious activity or banning taking of photos. My personal favorite was the news regarding Amtrak Police arresting a contestant in their own photo taking contest! As someone who a) deals with real world security and b) someone who likes taking photos of trains and planes this is really disturbing.