What they don't share in "A Baby Story."

Two quick birth related stories.

1. While we were in the hospital, my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law were kind enough to help us around the house. She had our house key, but not our garage key.  I gave her my copy of the key and returned to the hospital.  A few hours later, she called to let me know that she had thrown away our house key and locked herself out of our house. She asked, very apologetically, if I could come back to let her in the house. Unfortunately, that would have required me to face Boston rush-hour traffic out of the city, and Fenway World Series traffic coming back. Say, 6 hours of hell on wheels.  Since nobody else with the key were available, she had to go to the local hardware store to get a referral for a locksmith, who was able to break-in to our house in about 15 minutes.

2. My wonderful father, who is helping me put together the baby's room, needed to borrow

bgweil's

car. The morning he was supposed to drive in from my brother's house, he called to inform me that the car had been stolen. I had to drive into Jamaica Plain to the police station to make a report. Boy was I surprised when they told me that the car had been towed because it had been blocking a driveway. Three hours and a trip to a tow yard later, we had the car.

Nobody told us that parenting would be like this

We had a baby today...

 Seriously. A baby. http://flickersblog.blogspot.com/.

He is adorable, and mommy and baby are well.  Tired, but well.

Traffic Deaths

Last week a car driven by an elderly women crashed into the façade of a medical building, killing two people. One of these victims, Dr. Mark Vasa, was a alumnus of the Zamir Chorale of Boston, of which I am a current member. Although I did not know him personally, many of my fellow Zamirniks did.

This is the third time that such an event has occurred at the periphery of my  life.  When I was in high school, a driver crashed his car into the façade of a bank, killing people waiting for a bus to New York City right outside the doors. The mother of a friend worked at that bank, and the reports of the death were terribly gruesome.  In graduate school, a maintenance worker was killed in the parking lot behind my building when an older driver confused the gas and brake pedals. The victim was sitting outside having his breakfast, 10 feet from the edge of the parking lot. 

 

As a human factors professional, I know about the factors that lead to confusing the pedals. Spatial awareness, propriosensory confusion, post-event trauma, etc. As a human being, I wonder if this type of accident is common enough to have happened within my local networks three times in 20 years. Statistically uninteresting but unnerving nevertheless.

Third Party Guestbook Script?

 Folks-

I am slowly updating the family website (http://tangerinecrafts.com/Personal/), and would like to replace our guestbook.  I had to remove the old one because it was getting too much spam.  I think I'd like to go third-party this time. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Which [Insert Beloved Childhood Character Set Here] Are You?

You can't take 10 steps in the internet, it seems, without running into a poll promising it can tell you which Peanuts character, Smurf, or Beatle you are most like.

spiralshell 

recently sent Muppet version, and I wanted so badly to be Rowlf the Dog (a fact that

bgweil

, sitting next to me, instantly recognized). Instead, Scooter was the decision of the all-knowing quiz.  Relegated to gopher again. Go for this, go for that.  Anyway, it got me thinking...

When I was in high school trying to fill massive amounts of idle time with friends, we used to play this game pretty often. Same sets of characters as the current electronic versions. The major difference was that we would do it as part of discussion, noting the character traits that were most like our friends and adversaries. Personality, physical appearance, and salient history were all fair game. I could self-identify with Rowlf and provide my arguments for why I wasn't like Scooter. I play the piano, I give advice (sometimes unsolicited), I'm rather furry, etc.

The problem with the on-line versions is that you have no control over the algorithms used to make the "decisions."  What variables were used, how are values on those variables determined from answers to questions, and what is the mapping between values on those variables and the ultimate outcome? In the off-line versions, the participants in the conversation tacitly choose and weigh the variables based on perceived saliency; in the on-line versions, those choices are made for you and are mostly invisible. 

I like the off-line versions better.

Deathly Oxford Commas

I'm a strong believer in the Oxford or serial comma. It seems more balanced than the alternatives, and leaves less room for ambiguity. So, when I had the unfortunate opportunity to attend the unveilings of my father-in-law and grandfather-in-law, I was disappointed to find that the terminal comma was absent! Something like, "Beloved husband, father and brother." It also said "Paul [last-name] Esq." There should have been a comma there too. We figured the commas must have cost extra. 

Never-mind that my father-in-law's Hebrew name had a weird mix of of Hebrew and Yiddish.  Yankel instead of Yakov for his father's name.  I'm probably the only one who will ever notice... 

Flashes of Geography

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve experienced a few rather odd flashes of geography.  No better way to explain it.  I’ll be sitting in the back of a cab, walking down a hallway at work, or in bed falling asleep. All of a sudden, I’ll have a vivid picture in my mind of a stretch of road—accompanied by knowledge of where that stretch of road is and when I was there. I’m not talking about conscious rememberings, but unsuppressible impressions of places I may only have been to once in my life years ago. Sometimes, if it occurs while I’m driving or in a taxi, there will be some visual similarity between my surroundings and the mental image. But not always.

 

This phenomenon has been happening 2 – 3 times a week for the past several weeks. It lasts a few seconds at most, and it usually conjures up both memories of the road systems and trip happenings. I’m not sure why it has been happening, or why it has come on so suddenly. Not that I mind it, as long as it isn’t a sign of neurological misfirings to come.

I'm curious to hear about other's experiences with unexpected geographical flashes...

Did I mention I was hit by a motorcycle?

I was stopped at a traffic light, and a 21-year-old barely permitted driver without insurance rear ended me on an expensive Japanese motorcycle. Broken tail light, very broken motorcycle, cracked bumper. But no broken people.  

The driver of the motorcycle felt pretty bad, but wanted to make it up to me by taking me out on the town and showing me a good time.  He had to settle for a police report and a call from my insurance company.

Wedding Singers

I had the good pleasure of singing - with a quartet - at the wedding of a friend of a friend. In addition to a few Jewish songs for the processional and recessional, we sang (1) Conjunction Junction and (2) Spider Pig. There were a few others too.  We did pretty well, and I think the guests enjoyed it. Don't know if there will be other gigs with this as yet unnamed a cappella group, but I'd do it again. Wedding gigs and Flag Day parades makes me a professional musician, right?

The War

The War is a multi-part documentary on PBS chronocling World War II from the perspective of troops on the ground from four particular U.S. towns. It has been riviting to me, although I can't articulate just why.  I've never been a military history afficianado, but time working for the military has given me an appreciation for the physically and mentally demanding work that soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines have to do. Still, that appreciation alone is not enough to support the viewing of ~15 hours of graphic, gut-wrenching  footage. 

My impression of WWII has been heavily influenced by romaticized versions in the media, fractured rememberings of friends and relatives, and anonomous names on town square monuments. Often, these stories and names represent the experiences of individuals dissociated from the larger military or histroric context. The War presents these stories with that context still intact. 

Perhaps this is where my interest comes from. All too often, people get focused on the strategic and operational levels of warfare. The tactical, the pointy end of the spear is appropriately pushed aside so the overarching goals can be clearly seen. Unfortunately, that serves to depersonalize. As a counterpoint, The War's personalization is a welcome reminder that war is fought by people, not by politicians. 

Airport Adventures (1 of N)

I'm in BWI right now.  I arrived at 2:50 PM for a 9 PM flight.  They wouldn't let me check in - it has to be within 6 hours of the scheduled departure, and I was there 6 hours and 10 minutes before the scheduled flight.  That 10 minutes made all the difference.  Never mind that I could have checked in 24 hours before the flight at home. No explanation from the check-in agent.

Why was I here so early? Just in case I could make dinner plans with a friend, relative, or business contact, I wanted that flexibility.  But typically I'm able to get on an earlier flight.  Not this time - three earlier flights all booked solid.  And no Crown Club to keep me occupied. Just a dearth of electrical outlets, a dead cellphone battery (sorry, honey), and a poorly laid carpeting. 

On the positive side, I was able to spend a few hours with a colleague who was heading to Florida.  Other than that, this will be a pretty long couple of hours.  Humph...

Avoiding Blogs

 I didn't avoid my first e-mail address.  During my first week of college in 1994, I logged in for the first time and never stopped. I'm a bit of an e-mail addict now, going through withdrawal if away for more than a few hours.

I never avoided a webpage, but probably should have. I have a website which is pretty nice looking, but years out of date.  My wife and I don't have the time or inclination to update it. So we have 4 year old pictures of our neice and nephew as well as personal information that should probably be removed in a world of increased identity theft.

I avoided cell phones. I worried that I would become preoccupied--or obsessed--about voice mail and text messages. I was right to worry; I am constitutionally unable to leave voice mails un-listened to for more than a few minutes. Not too many text messages, though.  I'm simply at the wrong side of the digital divide.

I'm addicted to social network sites.  First Friendster, then MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Why not keep in touch with everyone you've ever met, even if that "touch" is rather passive?

I've avoided blogs until this hour. I have things to say, but worry about relevance and appropriateness.  But nobody else worries, so why should I?  If people are interested in the mundanities of my life, I'm glad to have the company!

I hope to avoid twitter.