Corridor 9

No new pictures today. I’ve been told that it was time to enjoy time with out baby and not take pictures. . Luckily, Dad’s taking a few pictures as I type so maybe I’ll update this post with a few new pictures sometime tomorrow.

Christian’s lung functions have improved a bit and he has been taken off the C-Pap machine. His O2 Saturation is still in the mid 90’s which is right where they want it. The are now doing 3 chest X-rays per day due to a problem that the found in his chest wall earlier this morning. He has a small pneumothorax; basically a small hole in his lung that allows air to escape into the chest cavity. The doctors don’t think that this is going to post any problem, but he’s still having a hard time blowing off his CO2.

The bruising on his face is looking better. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but since he’s been stuck in the same position with his head down for the last 7 weeks, his face was black and blue when he came out. It’s now a bit more pink, but they are anticipating him needing a light tent because bruised babies tend to develop jaundice easier.

His feet don’t look pretty, and I’m sure they hurt a lot. They both have numerous needle sticks for both veinous and arterial blood. While his feet are big, boy that kiddo has boats for feet, they’re even more swollen now.

Ok. So as we thought, baby Christian needed to go to the NICU based on some medications that he needed, his breathing pattern, and a bit too much CO2. Since he was put in there this afternoon, they’ve placed an IV, run a number of blood tests, hooked him up to a C-Pap machine, and kept him warm.

He seems to be doing well and has eaten at least once now. He still gets a bit stressed when touched, but that will calm down. Kristie and I attribute that to him being poked and prodded every time they took an Ultrasound. They were literally pushing him around today during the US to get proper measurements.

BTW. I changed my first diaper today. WOOT.

Christian Alex
Born 12:54 pm
5 lb 2 oz
18 in long

Welcome to Earth, Son.
Additional Pictures can be found here:http://www.corridor9.net/gallery/v/Being+Family/Baby+Christian/.

After putting together more baby items than I care to remember, I keep finding myself coming back to this same statement over and over. From the crib, to the stroller, from swing to pack-n-play, and even down to the simple mobile, I keep finding myself uttering the same mantra over and over.

It goes to show you that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Many times I’ve heard my Dad’s mantra when it comes to assembling item that are mass produced by “The Man”. Back when I was a kid, I thought he was just short tempered, but now I know exactly what it is. It’s not stress, naw that would be too simple to explain away. No, it’s something deeper, more sinister. I think I’ve finally found out what what makes us men so frustrated at instructions and assembling new items.

We’ve all been there, from Christmas toys, to baby stuff, to even working on automobiles. I think I can finally name it. Engineeritis. What is Engineeritis you say? Let me elaborate a bit.

Ever read the instructions on setting up a microwave? All that technical jargon. What about changing a spark plug on your car; your fingers never seem to be able to fit into those tight spaces. It’s everywhere. Thats Engineeitis. More simply, it’s that itchy, blood boiling, get out of my face feeling that overcomes us anytime we deal with the utter insanity of assembling store bought items. It’s just about the same feeling that we get right after we grittingly utter the words “I’m not lost Dear, I know exactly where I am. I just thought you might want to take the scenic view.”

But as I said, Engineeritis is more sinister. We may not hear the laughter, but it’s there. Every time some PhD Nothing engineer pens out the instructions to assembling a chair; he’s laughing. Laughing at us men out here in the world who have to decipher the instructions without looking like baboons in front of our families. Intertwining French, Spanish, and Japanese, all while thinking of the most scientific word he can to trip us up. Oh yea, he’s laughing all right; that evil maniacal laughter aimed at the “common man”.

So, In the spirit of all those real men out there who like to stick it to the man; let’s all chant together:

“Whoever designed this piece of {insert your own preferred explicative here} need to have it shoved so far up his {more explicatives; probably going to need two or three of them} that he needs a {mild explicative} technical manual, a {mild explicative} flashlight, a pair of {over the top explicative} pliers to get it out!”

I’ve installed a plugin on C9 that should make it easier for those of you who like to keep up with current events while on the go.

When viewing C9 from your mobile device you should see a text only version of the site that loads faster and looks cleaner.

Hope this helps those of you who are always on the move.

So I was browsing around the web the past few days looking for a cheap copy of some software and thought I’d search for a “deal-a-day” software site when I ran across one of the most extensive deal sites I’d ever been to.

Dealsucker.com

Dealsucker shows a whole plethora of deal-a-day sites. I used to manually check woot.com and steepandcheap.com, but now I can just check Dealsucker and get those, as well as many others out there!

Some other items that are listed on Dealsucker include REI Outlet gear, Backcountry.com deals, wine deals, software deals, and lots more.

Have a look and see if they have anything you want.

Well…. I’ve been out at Station 4 for about 3 months now, guess it’s time for me to move. I’ve moved more times in the past year and a half that I have in the entire 8+ years that I’ve been here. Heck, I’ve changed stations this past year more than I have houses since living in Madisonville.

Time to move again.

I was just notified this morning that I am going back out to Station 3 because my HAZMAT training would better serve the department out there. It seems like I keep going back there, but don’t stay for very long. I’ve gone from Station 2 to 3 when Hazmat training began, then back to 2 shortly after that. Once again I moved out to Station 3 for more Hazmat stuff, then back to 2 after promotions. Shortly after that I came out here to Station 4.

Anyway… long story short, back to Station 3.

Update: After talking to some coworkers, I realized that if I am required to go downtown to complete the mandatory 6 month probationary period, then I’ll be an Engineer 1 full year prior to being off probation. I don’t know that I want to be on probation that long. I’d like to get it over with so that I can make steps to move forward with my goals. Since another Engineer downtown has just finished his probation, there is an opening that I could occupy and therefore begin my probationary period. I’ll go wherever the department needs me still, but I really don’t want to to miss any opportunities by not completing my probation in a timely fashion.

Ok. So, you…. yes YOU. You know who you are. You come here and read about my life, laugh at my problems, get blank stares at my pitiful jokes, and cry when I get on my soapbox about things. Yes, you know who you are…

No, don’t run for the door, I’ve already logged your IP address, and there are quite a few of you out there who visit every day.

Ok, I understand parting with hard earned cash is a bit difficult; especially with the price of gas being as high as it is now (took me $65 to fill my Jeep up and I had a quarter tank)!!! I’ve been noticing that you don’t push the donation button on the left side.

However, thats OK! I do this because I want to. It gives me joy, lets me vent, and lets me raise social and work issues in an environment that keeps me from getting fired or beat to a pulp. But hook Rescue up a little bit man… just a little is kewl.

SO, with that in mind, I’ve gone about a new tactic. For those of you who know me well… you know that last year I dumped all my computers and removed the “borrowed software” off them all. I wanted to be able to say that I own everything that’s on my computers instead of having pirated stuff. So, it’s all clean, and it’s all mine now.

Because of this though, I lost a lot of very useful software and some killer tunes. So here’s the deal. If you’ve got an extra copy laying around that you want to donate, or you are at a yard sale and see a killer album for $.50, pick it up and contact me. I’ll get you the mailing address and we’ll go from there.

Some of the items I’m really looking for:

Music

• Seven Mary Three: American Standard
• Infected Mushroom: (any album, These guys Rock!!)
• U2: All That You Can’t Leave Behind
• Crystal Method: Tweekend
• The Almost: Southern Weather
• Underoath: Define the Great Line

Software

• Adobe Lightroom
• Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007
• Pocket Quicken for Windows Mobile
• Day of Defeat:Source

BTW… thanks for reading!