February 2006

The Archives

Baby Stuff
No real melody, but it’s got a beat you can dance to…
February 28th, 2006 by Jeff | Permalink | Dump Core

Yes, it’s obnoxious expectant parent time again. My wife had her second doctor’s appointment this morning, and his word to describe how things are going was “perfect.” We actually got to hear the baby’s heartbeat this time, and being the utter geek that I am, I had my Palm out with the microphone ready and waiting. I edited it down to just 15 seconds of heartbeats, but that’s plenty, I think.

Babys_First_Heartbeats.mp3 (74kb, 15 sec.)

My wife has already fussed at me for playing it repeatedly, but I keep insisting that I’m double-checking the file to make sure that the compression encoding isn’t ruining the sound quality. No really, I am. MP3 encoding can be so tricky at times. Anyway, each time she fusses at me, though, she keeps smiling. I can’t for the life of me figure out why….

Toward the end March is the next ultrasound. That’s when we expect to (hopefully) found out the baby’s gender. Like I’m going to tell you people what that’s going to be… [evil grin]
GPF, Webcomics
Turn your (Internet) radio on…
February 6th, 2006 by Jeff | Permalink | Dump Core

As far as I know, it isn’t taboo to announce this, but if it is, this post may disappear suddenly. 😉 I’m currently scheduled to appear as the guest in the next (February 13th) KeenCAST, Keenspot’s new weekly podcast. I’ll make sure to make an announcement in the GPF News Monday once it goes live, but here’s a heads-up for those who pay attention.

For those who don’t know what a podcast is (and yes, there are people who don’t), not to worry. You don’t need an iPod to listen to it. A podcast is just an MP3 with a catchy name and a (hopefully) regular update schedule. Check out the previous episodes of the KeenCAST to get an idea of what to expect.

UPDATE: Well, it’s official now. The hosts are currently phishing for questions, so if you have any, make sure to go to the KeenCAST forum and let them know.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, my appearance on KeenCAST has been somewhat delayed. I’m tentatively re-scheduled to appear on February 27th. You may continue to post questions to the forum thread if you want.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Aaaand… it’s up.
Baby Stuff
First Sonogram
February 6th, 2006 by Jeff | Permalink | 2 Core Dumps

Sorry I didn’t have anything up earlier this morning. I wrote today’s GPF News post all the way back on Friday with the intention of also writing a blog post here that would eventually go live this morning (or yesterday night) in concert with the News post. Ah, the best laid plans of Moose and Min….

Anyhoo, here’s a quick picture of our first sonogram (ultrasound, whatever you want to call it). This was taken back on January 24, when the baby was about eight weeks old. (You can see this in the light gray box in the lower left corner; you’ll also that the baby was 1.95 cm long at that point.) This was our first official doctor’s visit of the pregnancy. There was some confusion about how far along the baby really was; our estimates didn’t match the OB nurse’s estimate, and neither of those matched the doctor’s official word. So while we went in hoping to hear the baby’s heartbeat, it was far too early to do so. However, we were able to see the heartbeat in the ultrasound, which was both exciting and bizarre. We have a second picture that I’ve also scanned and shared with friends and family, but it’s much less clear. The left “bulb” on the “fuzzy peanut” is the baby’s head, the second “bulb” is its body, and the weird little circle after that is the yolk sac (like in a chicken egg) that eventually disappears when the placenta is formed.

At this point, we have no idea what sex the child is. While we have some baby names in mind, those are a closely guarded secret that not even our family knows yet. I’ve placed one of those Baby Gaga pregnancy tickers on the main index, because I’m now a proud, obnoxious expectant parent and because I can.

Sorry there isn’t much to this post. I promise more will come. Right now, I’ve got a bunch of day job work to do, as well as comics to work on. Hopefully I’ll have something more detailed by the end of the week.
Miscellaneous
Sewage lines unclogged
February 1st, 2006 by Jeff | Permalink | Comments Off on Sewage lines unclogged

Disregard the bit in my last post about the “Raw Sewage” subsite. After much discussion with my wife, we felt that the user management angle was going to become too cumbersome. So the current plan is to publicly announce next week the big news I’ve been sitting on for a few months, just open up all that stuff into the public blog, and completely get rid of the private “Raw Sewage” part. So, I suppose the most important part of this would be to come back Sunday or Monday, as that’s when I’ll make the big announcement. I will also make the same announcement Monday in the GPF News, but that will be a general statement with any and all GPF ramifications. The more personal details will be chronicles here.