Setting sail on another journey into the unknown

There's an old cliche about life being a journey. It isn't really. It's multiple journeys undertaken simultaneously. This week I started a new journey into unknown territory. My son, baby J, was born. I have two daughters, so I have no experience with sons. In fact I had grown comfortable with having daughters. And I was convinced this one would be another girl.* That was going to be my fate - me in a house full of women.** Don't get me wrong - it's not something I was unhappy about. I have never had this pressing need for a son. So I was surprised when out came this perfect little boy. And he is perfect. It was an amazing moment. I cried. With joy. Joy from having witnessed this miracle. Joy from having another wonderful child. Joy from having the most incredible, beautiful woman as my wife and mother of my children.

So now I have a son. This poses a few issues, some of which are dealt with by our wonderful friend ThatGirlyGirl. Another is circumcision (WINCE). And then there's sports. I grew up in Australia. I know cricket, Australian Rules football and soccer. I guess baby J is going to learn soccer - the former two sports aren't much use here. I'm sure DocStymie, a great friend and husband of ThatGirlyGirl, will be able to give me some advice on all things sport.

I'm not how I'm going to explain my older brother JollyRgr, the pirate policeman, but I'm sure baby J will be delighted to have a piratical uncle. And a musical aunt who tends to speak with her Mouthfulofpancake. And a scientific geek uncle (my younger brother who does not have a blog as yet so I can't link to any pithy posts by him). And those are just my siblings. He has wonderful aunts and uncles (from both my side and my wifes) and cousins who can't wait to meet him. And two older sisters who fight over who gets to hold him. And doting grandparents. And good friends. And the world's greatest Mom. So you're going to be alright, baby J, despite a clueless Dad.

Welcome to this journey baby J. This one we take together. With lots of good company. L'chaim.




* We had decided not to find out the gender prior to the birth.
** My wonderful wife knew better. She believed it was going to be a boy.

Note that these are just for the 2nd quarter of 2006...

Ya gotta laugh. Unless you have money invested in the offending companies. In which case, might I suggest having a box of tissues handy?

Killer kangaroo and the demon ducks of doom

Sounds like a good name for a bad band... Instead, they're a part of Australia's distant past. What a weird world we live in.

Weekend blatherings

1) World Cup:

I didn't watch it - as I said in my last post, it held no interest for me. I must say though, Italy deserved the win after the French captain's head butt...

2) Library:

My wife and I went to the public library this weekend. They have a second-hand book store in the basement that sells used CD's for $3 each. I was browsing through the offerings and noticed rather a large number of Spice Girls CD's... I guess some teeny-bopper has grown up. Then I found something that almost made me lose my lunch - the CD that goes with THIS!

I did escape with Midnight Oil's "Blue Sky Mining."

3) Bookstore:

We went to a great bookstore here called Joseph Beth Booksellers. While hanging out with the kids in the children's department I spotted "The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen." All I could think of was the sweating and chafing.... Ugh!

World Cup Final

I'm having a hard time getting excited about the upcoming Italy-France game. I suspect it's going to be one big flopfest. Both teams boast world class actors. Every time an Italian player gets close to a French one they're going to fall over clutching their ankles and writhing in (pretend) agony... Even if there's been no contact.

My bet is the game will be decided by one or more penalties rewarded to the "best" floppers by an exasperated referee...

Bracing myself

I got the ceiling fan installed without electrocuting myself, or anyone else for that matter. It was a bugger though. You need to install a ceiling fan brace to hold up the fan. It's basically a metal bar that spans two joists in the ceiling. They are expandable, generally from 16 inches to 24 inches. Old houses in the US tend to have joists 16 inches apart and new houses 24 inches (I'm guessing to save money). We have an old house, so the joists are 16 inches apart. With one exception. The two joists either side of the ceiling fan site? 13.5 inches apart... Fortunately, I found a brace that started at 13 inches and could be expanded to 24. Of course it took a trip to two large home improvement stores, opening the boxes to about six different braces and measuring them. And I forgot to take a tape measure, so I had to wander the aisles looking for one, or a ruler, carrying boxes of various braces... Still, I got it done. And it works. Doesn't even wobble when on high speed. Much.