Snow, lies and Japanese girls...

So last week we had the 7th worst blizzard in Colorado history. No exageration. And now, less than one week later, we're getting hit again. It's crazy snowy out there, and the highway to Denver is a suicide run...

Sarah and Kiah spent the night with me at the hotel, and when we woke up this morning we decided to make the trip home. Partially to get Kiah back in his normal surroundings, and partially because our cell phones were to be delivered today. Well, we missed the Fed Ex person by a few minutes, so we'll have to wait till tomorrow for the phones. :(

Erina Kamata's little sister Mami has been planning on visiting us for some time. She flies in today. Yeah. Today. In the middle of a blizzard. Strangely enough, Denver International, where she was scheduled to fly into, is still open. Her travel arrangements are non-refundable, so she flew into Dallas this morning and was getting ready to fly to Denver when she called us. I stressed just how bad the roads were, and said I'd do everything I could to get to Denver to pick her up, but I might not be able to, and she might be stuck there. She was worried, but I said that she should try getting a flight to Colorado Springs from Dallas. She tried and called back to say that they wouldn't let her. I told her I'd start out right away for Denver, and we bundled up and went home. When we arrived, I was ready to jump back in the car and head up to Denver when we got a call from Erina. She said that Mami had gotten a flight to Colorado Springs, and that we could pick her up there! That was awesome news, as suicide missions don't appeal to me. Erina told me to check my email where she would catch me up on the whole story.

It turns out, that after I emailed Erina this morning with the suggestion for Mami, she called Mami and found out that they had told her "no." Mami was in tears by that point, and Erina told her to tell the American Airlines people that her grandma was in a coma, and that she needed to get to CS right away! I can't believe this girl! Anyway, Mami was too embarrased, and said she couldn't, but Erina insisted, she did, and they put her on the next flight to Colorado Springs! What an unbelievable morning!

So thanks to Erina's coniving, I won't be spending the night in our civic, half way to Denver buried in a snow drift on the side of the road... Mami won't spend the night in Denver International Airport... and Mami's grandma just might come out of that coma.

Peace,
Jim

Merry Christmas!

Blizzards and babies.

I just got home from work this morning. My first overnight at the hotel. We've fallen victim to one of the worst blizzards in recent memory. The winds have been the worst part here in the springs, with the drifts they produce. Highway 25 (the highway) has been closed from Denver to New Mexico, and the governor has declared a state of emergency in several areas.

I worked until 11 last night, and then went to my room. I stayed in our most humble room, known as a shower queen. Our queen rooms only have a shower, and do not have the bathtub. While 2 people might be cramped in the room, I found it to be perfect for me. I had a city view, and with the snowstorm, it was beautiful. It was hard to be away from the family for the night, but Sarah and I both felt that it was safest. About 25 of us stayed over, and were able to be up and at 'em this morning. I sent myself home this morning, and after talking to my boss who is working tonight, I probably won't have to come in tonight. The rest is welcome.

This morning, Kiah opened his first gift of the holiday season.


He really enjoyed the paper. Here's a picture of him wearing it as a hat. The gift was a present from one of our good friends Evan Wolfe who gave him a crunchy, squishy ball. Kiah likes it very much, and especially likes the tag.

Well, that's it for now. Peace out.

Favorite songs

Well. About 5 years ago, Ryan, my best friend, and I were having a discussion regarding our favorite songs. I was hard pressed to come up with a list of fav. songs... albums are easy for me, but songs... there's just too many!

Well, anyway. 5 years in the making. I finally have my top 15. 10 wasn't enough, and 20 is too many. So 15 it is.

I'm going to start at 15 and go up to 1, giving my reasons. Please consider these songs required listening. I encourage you to purchase or pirate these, depending on your feelings regarding the record industry.

------------------------

Number 15. "Make you feel that way" by Blackalicious
This song is a fantastic feel good song, and that's not normally something you can say about rap. It has a great instrumental background with a soft trumpet and crackling record sounds, layered with a totally soothing vocal discussing things that make you feel good in life. From promotions at your job to winning your first fight. It's a song that seems truly made for driving down the road with the windows down in the summer. It's awesome, and it's my number 15 favorite song of all time.

Number 14. "Dynamite walls" by Hayden
Dynamite walls is a quinticential Hayden song. Gravelly, but not Tom Waits-y. Moving, but not weak. Slow but never boring... It's a classic, and should be highly revered by any who value this style of musicianship. It deserves my number 14 because of its excellent construction, seamless flow, and touching lyrics.

Number 13. "Let down" by Radiohead
This is a totally depressing song if you listen to the words. If not, you may find it to be wonderfully uplifting. Either way, the opening guitar is totally and completely unique. (Not to mention a fantastic ringtone for your cell...) Radiohead at their best in my opinion, and #13 on my list.

Number 12. "Sleeping in" by the Postal Service
Deathcab for Cutie has some incredible music, but as the Postal Service, they totally carved out a niche. There is no single band out there that plays this music. Sleeping in is never boring, always a great sing-a-long, and has a lyrical depth that completely catches the listener by surprise. It's a great tune, and my #12.

Number 11. "Inertiatic E.S.P." by the Mars Volta
The Mars Volta have what I consider to be the best drumming in rock music today. This song encapsulates their drum style. It is deep and flowing, with bursts of pure energy and passion. Sweeping melodies, and soaring vocals carry the intensity of this song to the edge. It is a must have. A must abso-freakin-lutely have for every drummer, and rock fan on the planet!

Number 10. "Ball & biscuit" by the White Stripes
I'll stop at #10 today. There are so many songs by the White Stripes that could easily be on my top 10, but I simply don't want any band having too prominent a place in the list. I respect their music so much, and feel that Jack White is everything that is right in rock today. His music is classic and new, aggressive and penetrating, with honesty, flair and a rock-n-roll spirit, the White Stripes' Elephant album was what I believe to be the best album of the new millenium. One song off the album that solidified it for me was Ball and Biscuit. It's so bluesy and real. The lyrics are unparalleled in modern rock. His swinging machismo is such a refreshing slap in the face to all of the superficial money/girls/fame rockers of the radio set. Here's to the White Stripes becoming a commercial success despite their awesomeness.

Music game

My friend Adam posted this on myspace. It's a game where you try to find all of the bands alluded to in this picture. I'm gonna give it my best shot, but if you see any I missed, let me know. (Click on the picture to see it bigger...)



1. Led Zepplin (in the air)
2. The B52's (in the air)
3. The Eagles (in the air)
4. The Pixies (in the air)
5. White Zombie (on the sidewalk)
6. The Postal Service (on the sidewalk)
7. Madonna (store window)
8. 50 Cent (sidewalk)
9. Guns and Roses (foreground left)
10. Alice in Chains (right side)
11. Queen (foreground)
12. Prince (foreground)
13. Sex Pistols (Queen holding)
14. The Eels (on street)
15. Gorillas (around buildings)
16. The Rolling Stones (on street)
17. Smashing Pumpkins (on street)
18. Matchbox 20 (on street)
19. Scissor Sisters (on street)
20. White snake (on pole)
21. The Police (background street)
22. Lemonheads (fruit stand)
23. Blind melon (fruit stand)
24. Blur (right side)
25. Beach boys (ride side w/ surfboards)
26. Garbage (on street)
27. The Cars (on street)
28. Television (In right storefront)
29. Radiohead (on street)
30. Red Hot Chili Peppers (fruit stand)
31. The Byrds (on street sign)
32. Black Flag (on corner)
33. Blues Brothers (with guitars in street)
34. Queens of the Stone Age (behind blues brothers)
35. Seal (in poster)
36. Korn (fruit stand)
37. Dead Kennedys (on left store)

...ok, I'm stopping for now. There are supposed to be like seventy-something.

Flu shots and shot glasses...

So I'm sick. Every muscle, and in actuality, every joint in my body aches. I did not want to call in sick today, but I did, and it was the right decision, but I'm still kind of ticked. Wednesdays have several important meetings, all of which I wanted to be present for. Not to mention that last week I got a new dress shirt. (violet) that goes with my latest tie. (purple) and I was going to look good for aforementioned meetings.

I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but we've started Kiah in on solid foods, and he's loving it. He's eaten a bunch of different foods, and is drinking water and apple juice now. We've discovered that the perfect size drinking glass for him is a little shot glass souvenier of capitol hill (fitting...) that we got from a friend last year. Aww. He's just like uncle Ryan!

Well. Hopefully I'll feel up to snuff tomorrow. There's a ton of snow outside, but it's beautiful here as usual. Have a good one, and comment if you like!

Peace.

Thanks given.

Today is Thanksgiving, and I'm at work. I'm currently giving the operator a lunch break, and I have an opportunity to go over what's been going on lately.

Work has been slow this week. The hotel is pretty empty.

I saw the latest Bond movie last night. It was excellent. They removed all of the cheese, and all the puns, and made a spy movie. It was realistic, tough and gritty. The best acting I've seen from any Bond actor (Pierce who?) and very good dialog. They removed the entry music for the most part, Bond starts the movie with a lowly Ford rental car, no absurdly named badguys, and every fight scene was good. There weren't any pathetic henchmen. All the fights were good.

I gotta go for now, I like this black look better than the grey, but if it's hard on any eyes, let me know.

Hang on sloopy, sloopy hang on...

Well folks, it's been awhile. If you're still checking in, I admire your pluck.

Kiah's been growing like a weed. This last week he's been really cranky, but that probably means that he's teething. Sarah and I thought we saw one this morning... we're not sure yet. He's started in on solid food, rice cereal, so he's pretty proud of himself. We started him later than most people, but we've heard that if you wait till 6 months, it's better for their digestive system.

He'll be 6 months old on the 25th... it's gone by really fast, but it's hard to remember a time when he wasn't a part of our lives. We can count the dates we've had in the last 6 months on one hand, and at times, we feel alone. We've made some good friends out here, but everyone's so busy, and asking folks to babysit makes you feel guilty. Especially if they already have kids. One of those things that will be alot easier when we're near family again.

In other news, veteran member of my blog Jim V. has recently lost his wife. She was a beautiful woman, a wonderful person, and the fastest wit on the block. We will miss her... She only occasionally wrote here, and then only to mock my fake deejaying skills. Please keep Jim and her family in your prayers.

Sarah's week in Chicago went fairly uneventfully for me. I worked a great deal, and watched some old Japanese movies. I also watched the Magnificent Seven, which was a bit of a disappointment, but remakes generally are. King Kong was dreadful. So was Solaris. Ugh... but then again, some remakes are better than the original. The Italian Job leaps to mind. I haven't seen the first Gone in 60 seconds, but I'm betting that the new one was better. Anyway, Sarah came back last Monday, and I can't even express how happy I was to see her. In the 5 years we've been married, we haven't been apart a week. It was really quiet, and lonely, and by Sunday, I was cranky with everyone... Everybody at work is happy she's back too.

Saturday, we watched what will probably be the best Michigan/Ohio State matchup of my lifetime. The teams have never met before as Number one and two. Bo Shembeckler died the day before the game, so emotions were running high. The Bucks tore through Michigan's number one running defense and ran two touchdowns in that were over 50 yards each. It was incredible. The one player who I thought would really break the game open, Gonzales, went almost unused and only had one touchdown. The only thing that kept me from being completely satisfied with the game was that the guy snapping the ball for OSU had broken his hand earlier in the year, and had it in a cast. It healed several weeks ago, but for superstitious reasons, was told to keep it on. Well, it cost us two horrible snaps that resulted in fumbles, and two scores for Michigan. Other than that, I was pretty much happy with the game which was a true battle of excellent offensive crews. Despite the fact that Ohio State won, nearly every sportscaster I saw said that the two best teams in College ball are still OSU and Michigan. It's just a matter of whether the voters will make the National championship game a rematch, or have Michigan go to the Rose Bowl and pick another team to play Ohio State for the title. Needless to say, it felt really good to get the Big Ten title, and to be simply undisputed as the best team in college football. There aren't any thugs on the team, they have a great deal of class, and they won the game by just beating the living daylights out of the Michigan defense. The Bucks scored more points in the first half against Michigan than the Wolverines have allowed in any game this season. Not to mention the 500+ yards that the Buckeyes were able to put up against one of the toughest defenses in the nation. I'm not proud or anything. It was a great game, and I don't expect to see it's match anytime soon.


Well. I'm done for now.

Peacywease.

Time to throw some tea in the harbor.

Well, my mom, giving me the benefit of the doubt, assumed that there browser was broken in some way because it had no updates in the last month. I love her.

In reality, I have been meaning to write for the past few weeks. Like anything else in my life, writing is more a result of a phase than anything. I read like crazy, or play video games, or write, or draw. All of these things phase in or out. Lately, I just haven't felt like writing. Hopefully you haven't felt like reading.

Work has been good. I am still at the front desk. I started getting concerned about being forgotten in one area of the hotel, and having too much time pass, thus limiting the time spent in other areas, so I spoke to my GM who is getting promoted in January to Senior VP. He is the last of the folks who hired me for the position, and is leaving for Boston at the turn of the year. The rest of the people who approached me about the position have left for other opportunities, and I've been feeling a bit that their successors have felt like they were stuck with me. Because I've stuck in the one department, my ability to impress people as a hotel manager is hampered by the fact that they just see me as a good assistant front office manager.

The good news is that the GM got me back on track, and I will be moving to another department soon. I would prefer housekeeping, but restaurants is another good option. The other day something exciting happened, I was approached by the hotel manager to see if I'd fly to Chicago to cover our Doubletree in OakBrook. They're a union hotel, and the workers were threatening to strike. Our director of housekeeping and I were going to fly out to help the hotel in case of a strike, but the union and the hotel ended up working things out. Either way, I was told it was a positive mark for me just to be available, and that they'll think of me in the future if anything like that comes up again. I would've liked to go, as it would've been a great learning experience, and I would have gotten free meals and hotel stay, with some spending money. Not to mention seeing some of my friends and family in Chicago.

Things at home have been great. Kiah is growing so fast, and is holding things on his own. He can sit with his back to the couch and can even sit a little on his own. Not much, but it's a start. We're having so much fun teaching him things every day. He's laughing so much more. He's such a happy baby... I got this really fun video of him sitting on the couch laughing, being a parent is even more rewarding than I thought it would be.

Sarah is a bit bored, but has been handling parenthood wonderfully. She's such a great mom. She just turned 27, and some of our friends took her out for dinner. I had to work, which sucked, but we had a nice little dinner here the next night with the same friends and had a cake and everything. I blew it literally though. After we finished singing, I BLEW OUT HER CANDLE. I don't know what posessed me, I just saw something on fire, and blew it out. I'm retarded.

I saw the Departed a few weeks ago. Really good movie. Alot of people got shot in the head, but it was a good movie. Sarah and I watched Lucky Number Slevin last night. Similar. Good, but alot of people get shot. Netflix is really cool for parents who work and take care of a baby 24/7. It is so nice to just have a stream of movies coming in.

We're looking to get cell phones at the turn of the year. So I'll get the numbers to you when we do.

That's it for now. I'll write more later.

Nicknames and re-released albums...

A few weeks ago, Made in Mexico records announced the re-release of Damien Jurado's most sought after album "Gathered in Song." A live performance in a friend's living room in 1998, it is easily one of his most touching albums. The re-release includes the original 5 songs, and 5 demos for "Rehearsals for Departure", his 1999 album. The first several hundred copies were autographed, so that added to the appeal as well. "Simple hello" is my favorite song so far, but the entire deal is very very good.

On another note, Sarah and I were discussing the approximately 3 million nicknames that we have for Hezekiah. Kiah... Helmet... Monkey... Dookie... Zeke... Manny... Tax Deduction...

In fact, his name has sparked so many conversations in our friends and family that we thought we'd finally reveal the REAL reason that we named him (HE)zekiah im(MAN)uel. That's right. We named him after the Master of the Universe himself. He-man.

Here is a picture of Kiah in his appropriate outfit.

Kiah

Just an update.
After one day of taking his medicine, Kiah is all better.
I don't know what it was, any more than the doctors did, but we're happy he's ok.

Thanks for your prayers.

Jim's 9-11 poem that he wrote today...

Today I saw a patriot
standing on the corner of a busy downtown street
waving a flag in the rain
and I thought to myself how beautiful
it would be to see impaled upon that glittering flagpole
all the ugliness of the hatriots who stood
on that same corner waving similar flags
just five years ago.

True patriotism isn't popular.
And something from the heart can't be mass produced.
If you want to do something
that truly matters...

do it alone.

Ohio State

Tonight, the two highest ranked teams in college football faced off against each other in the regular season. (The last time that happened was 10 yrs. ago.) And I must say, the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes went down to Austin and messed with Texas.

Wow! What a great game. For those of you who know, when any team wins a championship, there are going to be people who question its legitimacy. Folks who say that there were too many close calls... the schedule was too easy... blah blah blah. My best friend would slap them and say a win is a win, but in college football, a win isn't necessarily a win. (See Cal's first game of the season) Needless to say, when OSU went 18-0 and won the national championship against the somewhat unstoppable Florida Gators who at that point had not lost a game in several seasons, people still griped. Well. OSU is back, and has one of the toughest teams I've seen in years. Tonight they blew away the defending champs with their weaker side. Their defense. It was alot of fun for us to watch, and if you find college football boring, I suggest watching the Buckeyes this year. They're going to be the NFL stars you watch a few years from now.

One last thing about the game. Now that Texas is Young-less, they've been forced to replace him with a young man with the most "Texas" name of all time. Colt McCoy. To be ANY MORE TEXAN he would have to be named "Wyatt Eastwood" or change his middle initial to "W." I will say this for him. He hopped right back up after getting knocked down all those times.

Oh, on to the home front. Kiah has contracted what Sarah and I are calling "The mange."
It's some sort of rash that the doctor told us is named Erythema Multiforme which means ugly rash that takes alot of forms and is caused by something we don't know. It's treated by using benedril or minor steroids. We opted for the roids as his penis is already as small as it's going to ever be, and the risk of negative side-effects is negligable. Just kidding, but we did go with the steroid because it won't make him sleepy, and it mainly will keep away a more dangerous rash that he might have but probably doesn't have because gosh! We're doctors and we really don't know, and I don't see any of this when I researched it on google in the back room, and please don't look upset! That hospital bill is mainly for malpractice suits.

Just kidding again. They actually don't know what it is, but he's happy and eating and sleeping and pooping. So we've identified that other than the hideous rash covering his body, he's in perfect health.

Here's a picture of what Mange, and Texas' season looks like.

Confusable

So it's that time. They announced the winners of the "Team Champion of the month." Therefore, I've been preparing to put them in the next newsletter. I received the pictures today, and I must say that July's winner for the heart of the house has a somewhat inappropriate picture. Before I go on, I should mention that her nomination and winning were confusing to everyone, as they announced her name as "Maria... I can't pronounce the last name..." Which led over half of our housekeeping staff to believe that they had indeed won the award. Amongst the hysteria they were able to identify which Maria was the best Maria. The "really short" one. Half of the girls already excited jumped about ecstatically while the others sat down. (It should be noted that this entire episode has been completely fictional, and that I concocted it based around the idea of how funny it was that a "Maria" of many Marias had won the team champion award. However, it does not take away from the fact that her picture is inappropriate.) Maria Campos, the winner of the award is incredibly small. So much so that they had to enter her nomination on an index card as opposed to the normal 8.5"x 11" form.

In her picture, which is taken by a human resources employee hiding in a niche in the hallway to the cafeteria, who springs out on the day that you've dressed your worst, and have had the least amount of time to put into doing your hair, who snaps your picture and runs... we see that she has not only been caught on a bad day, but apparently on a day she wasn't even working. She is completely out of uniform, and not necessarily "appropriately" dressed for a company picture. The second reason the photo is inappropriate actually serves a purpose for our humble blog. It demonstrates just HOW small she is. Here is her picture with her faithful cat, Esmerelda, as you can see below.

10 hours of bliss.

Well, this has been an interesting week. I worked Monday thru Saturday last week. 60 hour weeks stink, and even more confusing, I had to work Monday of this week, so I had Sunday and Tuesday off. This has completely thrown me for a loop, as it has felt like Monday three days this week.

On the good side, my boss Peter has been in, so it's not all on my head all the time. Another bonus is that several of my favourite guests are in house, thus enabling me to use their names without working at it and making me seem more like the concierge/hotel manager guy from "Pretty Woman". (Who is my current hero. The dude is so smooth, it's not even funny.)

I've been working on my class lately. Trying more and more to be elegant. Refined. Upscale. I know that I work for a hotel that wants to be the same things and I want to be a good representation of that. Sarah an determining now whether it is possible, and whether we are willing to move into a rented house, as opposed to our apartment. We currently have a very nice deal where we are, but it is feeling awful small, especially when someone comes to visit, so we are looking.

Kiah has been really developing alot lately, and has started laughing.

Well, I need to get back to work. My break is over. Peace.

Toys.

Now most of you may not know this, but the average church nursery, or any nursery mind you (with the exception of plant nurseries...) is a life and death struggle between the babies inhabiting said nursery. A gladiator pit of sorts, the babies do what they can to kill eachother.

Watch a group of infants and toddlers in the pit (as we will be calling it) for any amount of time, and you will see attempts to shove others into sharp objects, the throwing of blocks, and most prominently, the gouging of eyes. This is especially popular in the toddler set. Place them near an infant, and watch their fingers go straight for the eyes.

In it's infinite wisdom, our generation has taken away the only true defense that children have had up until this point. That's right. Toys.

When I was little, I was given a set of weapons with which to defend myself. Hard plastic. Sharp edges. Pointy noses on dolls... All for my own safety. To protect me from the three year old with the metal jack in the box that at a whopping 9 ounces made a decent bludgeoning weapon.

But not today. Today, all the toys are soft and mushy. Rubber coated. Wimpy. They can't take an eye out! They can't gouge! The only legitimate violent use for most of these toys is suffocation, and that takes time! Before you know it the pit lord, er, nursery attendant is going to see you, and stop you. Because, no matter how dangerous your toy, you probably can't stop her.

Well. My parents, being the loving grandparents that they are, sent us a box with some of my old clothes and toys. Among which, was my weapon of choice... namely, the "Fisher Price Deathmonger Babybasher 5000."


Ha ha. My son is going to RULE!!!

Yes. This monster of a rattle sports hard plastic petals, and a terrifying google-y eyed face to strike fear in the heart of your oponent and a bright red throttling ball at the base which is just the right size to fit down a baby's throat or eye socket. Coincidence? I think not. Here is the Deathmonger Babybasher 5000 pictured below with Kiah, so that you can see its approximate size. This thing is the biggest rattle possible. A weaker baby wouldn't even be able to lift it. This is like those celtic broadswords of Ireland and Scotland that terrified enemy armies. This is epic. It even has a mirror mounted on the back with which to mock your enemies with their pitiful appearance after you've made them pee themselves. If they hadn't already... but that's beside the point.


So if you've seen a nursery lately, and wondered about Kiah's safety... fear not. The boy is well equipped, and prepared to be the terror of the pit! Hmmm. We'll need a gladiator name for him. Perhaps "Helmet."

Mawwaige... Mawwaige is what bwings us togevva today...

So our good friends Daniel and Lara got married today...
I'll post pictures soon.

But that got me thinking about my friend Kristen from Starbucks back in Illinois, and how she got married to this nice bloke named Roy a ways back, so I looked up her myspace and found this picture which is just beautiful, and I needed to post it.

Love ya Kristen! Glad to see you found your rainbow connection.

So things were bad there for a couple minutes...

I got home from work the other day, to find this...

Needless to say, I was bothered. The computer would begin startup, but stalled on the "Starting OSX" screen. (Which, by the way, is one of the silliest screens in the operating system, as it now just a hoax. In the past, when macs were starting up, they would give you a progress bar of your start up. Well, now they've improved the speed of startup so dramatically, that the progress bar is unneeded. However, people would apparently freak without it, or feel that their computer was taking too long to start up, or something... so Apple kept the progress bar at startup, but get this, IT'S JUST AN ANIMATED GIF! Nothing more. It just makes you think that it's kicking butt. That's all.) Anyway, it froze at that screen.

I couldn't boot in safe mode, but I was able to boot from the install disc (By holding down on the C key with the install cd in the drive, for the mac users out there) and run disk utility. No luck. It let me know that there was an error on my hard drive, but couldn't fix it. Well, I remembered that a long time ago, I heard about a way to repair your hd even if you didn't have the install disk, but I couldn't remember the name of the mode that you had to boot into, or the way to do it. So I humbled myself, and did some research online. Unfortunately, I had to do the research at work. On a PC of all things. It was so humiliating. It looked something like this.

Well, the mode is called "Single user mode" and you get there by holding the command and s keys while booting. It comes up with a black screen white type that looks a little like dos, but it's just the unix underpinnings of OSX. Anyway, I ran a script that looked like: /sbin/fsck -fy.

It came up with some "errors" and I ran a script to correct them, and it came back clean!

It wouldn't work right away, so archived and installed the OS, and it booted back like a charm! I was so happy. It's really disconcerting when I think about how much music, how many photos and other things I have that are not backed up. But everything worked out, and it's as good as new again.

Woot.

Well then...

Ok, so the family was out here for the larger part of last week and into this week. Sarah's grandma Marge, her parents Jeff & Linda, and her sisters Kaitlin and Jessica. Here are some pictures from Glen Eyrie, the castle outside of town.







It's just been a very busy past few weeks. Thanks to everyone for your patience, and for even coming back to check the site. We'll get things going again, now that they've quieted down.

Kiah is smiling alot now, and mimicking our voices. He's 14 lbs. now... The nurse giving him his vacines the other day couldn't hold his little legs down without help. I'm so proud.

We had Kiah dedicated to the Lord at church last Sunday. Dedications are a vow to raise him in a way that's pleasing to God. I was dedicated in Sarasota, Florida at a little church called Grace Fellowship, and Sarah was dedicated at Moraine Valley Church in Palos Heights, IL. We've been waiting till Sarah's family was out before we had it done.

This next week, I am not at the front desk, but back in the Reservations department. It will be alot of fun, and hopefully a great learning experience. Yesterday, I was in there for 8 hours, and it was well spent.

Sarah's back to tutoring and Halie has been playing alot of catch up on work that's been missed due to the olympics.

My good friend Jim V. (the guy that always keeps me in check here on the blog) and his wife Paula have been going through some terrible medical struggles over the last few months. Please join Sarah and I in praying for a swift and complete recovery for Paula, and peace for Jim as he holds her hand through this season.

Kiah's gettin big.

13 pounds, 6 ounces... 7 weeks old. Kid's a monster.

Don Rickles

Ryan commented on my myspace that Kiah looked like Don Rickles, which inspired this comparrison.



And at nearly two months old, we have determined that Sigur Ròs is Kiah's favorite band, because he can sing along, and he knows all the words...

Garden of the Gods... and Kaitlin

Sarah's sister Kaitlin has been visiting us this past week or so. She'll be here for another couple weeks, which is cool... we're stoked to have family around.

Things have been good. Busy, but good. Work has been fun, and a good learning experience. I will be moving partially to reservations for the next few weeks, but I'll still keep my momentum at the front desk.

I'm staying home today because Kiah didn't sleep much last night and Sarah was beat this morninng. I didn't get July 4th off, but I got the PTO day, so I took it today. I took a few pics out of our buiding collection to share with you, so here we are...
Here's Kiah and me. We look like some goofy sort of gang.


Here's Sarah and Kaitlin at the Garden of the Gods. Kiah's in the stroller, and the mexican lady posing in the background has such a happy look on her face, I didn't want to crop her out...


Here's a pic of Kait, Kiah and I. We're so happy from a distance, but zoom in and...


Here's a pic of Kiah and I at the visitors center. I like the way it turned out.



And finally, here's a pic of Kait and Kiah. They're so cute!

My brain is hanging upside down...

Last week, Cheney and Rumsfeld go into the oval office to brief the president on the day's affairs. Upon entering, and after the normal niceties, Bush turns to Rumsfeld and asks "So what happened yesterday in Iraq?"

"Well Mr. President" Rumsfeld says while looking down at his feet "Three Brazilian officers were killed in heavy combat yesterday."

The president clutches his heart. Reels for a second and then plops into his chair, obviously shaken with the news and says "Oh my God Donald... Just how many is a Brazillion?"

So it's been awhile.

Even as I write this, I do so with one hand. I'm currently feeding the son his "brazillionth" bottle today. He's a pooping, eating, pooping machine. With a side of sleep.

I have been wanting to write more, and I keep trying, I just have so much on my plate right now. But I promise to find the time in this next week. It's amazing how fast time flies. Kiah is a month old today! How crazy is that? In his four short weeks of life, he has been to my hotel twice, church three times, a shower, the mall, a bunch of stores, and the highest suspension bridge in the world! He's gonna be so cool, we won't know what to do with him. He fell asleep during the Cubs beating today. Too bad they can only lose once today, otherwise, we'd appreciate the other nap.

Sarah's been sleeping for awhile. She's needed the rest so badly, and when I can be home, I want to make sure I relieve her of her baby duties. It's nice that he's partially bottle-fed, which means that I can wake up with him at night, and babysit for extended periods. I did two nights ago, and Sarah went for a haircut. It's adorable. Real short. I'll post some pics of her soon.

Oh! Kaitlin, Sarah's youngest sister, is coming out on Wednesday to stay for a couple weeks! We're real excited about it, and are looking forward to Kiah spending some quality time with his aunt. There's still no word on when anyone from my family will be able to come, but Sarah's parents and sister Jessica will be coming out to pick Kait up and drive back home. Its so nice to have family around.

In other family news, my sister Tammy had her baby, Eowyn Jeane. She's pretty cute, for a girl... just kidding, she's adorable. Kid has a ton of dark hair... My mom went out to be with her for a week or so, and my brothers are going to stay with her while my parents go to Africa for a few weeks. They are specing out the city in Tanzania they are going to, and will get to see Tammy, Josh and the baby before they head out. Wish we could go, but it's not to be. At least not now.

Well, I gotta go. Looks like he's going to sleep, and I don't want to wake him.

Peace

Olympic baby sitter

Here's a pic from today of Sarah's Olympic student, Halie Kim. It'll be neat for him to see that he was held by an Olympic speed skater when he was little... pretty cool.

Tired but happy...

Well I've been wiped lately. The schedule is nice, but I am at work ALL THE TIME. It's hard to get up and leave the baby and my baby every morning, but I am so happy to have a job that's paying off, I know it's the right thing.

In more pressing news, my sister Tammy had her baby yesterday morning. Her name is Eowyn Jeanne. I think I spelled that right. She was only 7 pounds 11 ounces, but she was 20.75" long. Pretty nice sized baby. I'm sure she's adorable, but we haven't been able to see her yet. If you read Tammy's blog, or know her... be sure to send congratulations. Her husbands name is Josh.

The family is pretty excited. My mom is headed out to NY to be with them during the first few weeks, much like Sarah's mom has done with us.

Oh! In other news, I was awarded "Team champion of the month" for May. It's basically "Employee of the month", but has a different name. It's still an honor, and can't hurt my reputation. I've been doing much better with the employees under me lately. I try not to think of them as "under"... I know that came out wrong. But in this case, you really have to assert yourself, or they'll run all over you. I had to confront someone the other day for the way she spoke to me. I did it privately of course, but since then, she's been friendlier and much more comfortable in our relationship. I just needed to tell her where I stood, and that was that.

I've really put my nose to the grindstone, especially in the area of valet/bellmen. I care about them, and I want to make things better. Now I'm in the position to do just that. We have a department meeting for them on Friday, and I'll lay out our new gameplan that I've developed then.

Pardon the dullness of my writing if it has been. I feel as though my artistic, interesting side has really been under strain lately. Probably due to lack of sleep. I will close with this adorable pic of our son. In true colors.

Double up

Sarah posted these pictures to her site, so you're not seeing anything new... Unless you haven't checked hers... But I wanted them here on this site for memories-sake.

Enjoy.








By the way... Kiah latched on yesterday, and really started breastfeeding. It's about time. I joked in the hospital that we're going to have to get him a little shirt that says "I suck at sucking." Now that he's gotten the hang of eating this way, it'll be alot less work for Sarah, and he won't have to wait for the bottle to warm up. It's a win-win.

Work is going great, but the long days are kind of getting to me this week.

Thanks to all the people who have called, or sent cards/flowers, or cooked meals. We're really thankful for the care you've shown us.

Life with a baby.

Well, I haven't really had a chance to write much this week. I hope the pictures have sufficed to a degree. I will continue to post those... so you shouldn't have to worry about a complete lack of content from the Jim camp.

Hezekiah has been incredible. He is such a good baby. At this point, he really doesn't know what to do if he's awake other than eat, so he can be frustrated, and root around for food even if he isn't hungry. But this morning, he seemed to get that he can just lay there and look around. And that's what he did. It was great. He's been laying and looking for like an hour now. He has such big beautiful eyes. He's very lively, and very strong. He flipped himself over at 4 days old, which is almost unheard of, and he can do it whenever, so it wasn't just a fluke. The good thing is that I got it on video, so I can prove it. I've burned cds with pics and videos for our parents. I'd like to do more, but I ran out of cds. Things always go that way. I want to manipulate the video files into smaller sizes so I can send them via email, but we don't have the upgraded version of quicktime, which would be the best way to do that. So if you want videos, and want to buy the baby a present... just kidding. We'll get the upgrade as soon as we can, and then it will be video heaven.

Work went well this week. I haven't gotten any flack, with the exception of a few front desk agents that feel for some reason that I should inherently know how the front desk software works before I'm a manager in their department. They apparently missed the "Trainee" memo. And even if I wasn't, often times, you are called to manage the people who do a job, without knowing how to do it yourself yet. That's why you learn. Everyone else has been awesome. I got to go to a couple meetings this week, and that was incredible. Such a fun group of people. Javier, my favorite manager, was in a meeting with me, and the subject of conversation among the other managers was mice. Night audit said that they saw something little and brown running from the restaurant to the Summit ballroom. Javier looked up with a guilty look and said "Was it me?" I love these people.

Sarah's healing steadily, and apparently winning the breastfeeding battle. Everyone's emails and myspace comments have really been encouraging her, so thank you. She's droppin weight pretty quickly, despite the fact that Kiah hasn't been breastfeeding from the get-go.

Oh, music. I really gave alot of thought to what Kiah should hear first. What kind of music would be best? Should it be something that matters to Sarah and I? Should it be something slow or fast? Well, I decided that something timeless and high quality. So I decided on Beethoven. I know, it seems so blasé. Tons of people listen to Beethoven, especially with a baby, because "It makes their brains develop faster..." blah blah blah. But I really felt that if one is going to be introduced to music, it should be a moment of unique beauty. One that encapsulates why music matters so much. Why it is what it is. All hard and soft music alike relies on music's amazing ability to stir the soul. And Ludwig Van stirs the soul. In every piece of music he touched... nearly deaf... he felt the essence of music so personally that he can reach into my soul every single time. I decided that the first piece of music by Beethoven that touched me, the moonlight sonata, would be an appropriate place to start. Something subtle, something beautiful... something perfect. I sat in the rocking chair I bought Sarah for our upcoming 5th anniversary. (It's the wooden anniversary, and I couldn't think of a more suiting present for the wooden anniversary. I have to thank Sarah's mom for the idea...) Anyway. He was laying in my arms, and had been grunting around. When the music started, he just stopped moving, tilted his head back, and stared into space. Listening. It was perfect. I had his bottle, and started to feed him, but every now and then, he'd do the same move. Stop eating, lean back, and stare off. It was so touching. I know that many people wouldn't even give a second thought to what their child's first exposure to music was... but I am not those people, and I know the effect it has had on my entire life. My world view. My loves and hates... My being. And I desperately want my son to share that with me, as Sarah has.

Well, we're off to a baby shower today. I need to go, but I love you all and am so thankful for all your wonderful comments.

Peace and thank you.

More pictures of the baby

I'm so proud. So very... very proud.

Pictures of Kiah...

The pics aren't all I'm postin'!

See the detailed account of Kiah's delivery below!

Here are the pics.

This one is a compilation of some the best pictures from Friday...


Here's one of my favourite pictures of Kiah so far.


Here's our beautiful blossom... and some flowers.


And finally, pics from the nursery. Jaundice stinks!

Updates on Kiah and Sarah

Hi everyone. Thanks for being patient. We've had a crazy couple days, and I'll go over in part, what's going on now, and a bit of what the delivery was like.

Sarah had some contractions last Wednesday night. We went to the mall, and walked around a little bit, and after we got home, I went to take a nap in case we were going to go into labor that night. I woke up around 10:30 and Sarah was pretty serious about the contractions. I updated the blog, and did a few other things and slept for another hour. She tried to sleep, but didn't, and woke me up at 1:30 with the news that we needed to leave NOW. We did, and we arrived at the hospital around 2:00. We walked to the check in, and at her first checkup, Sarah was 5cm dialated already. She was 10cm by 6am, so 5cm in 4 hours was pretty impressive. The nurses wheeled a baby warmer in, and Sarah started pushing. Her doctor arrived about an hour later and after taking a look at Sarah, let us know that she shouldn't be pushing yet. That there was still some cervix left to dialate, and that we were just bruising the baby. So we did some more contraction handling, and were soon at the pushing stage officially. Now for the uninitiated, dialation of the cervix requires breathing through contractions. You're not pushing, you're simply surviving. Once they let you push, as I understand it, it is alot more gratifying. And shorter. Generally. According to a book we have, the pushing phase of childbirth should last 1 push to 2 hours. Sarah pushed for 3. With no pain medication. No local anisthetic, no epideral. Nothing. She's like a legend now. Doctors were gathering outside the room to see the girl with no pain medication. One of them told me it's one in a hundred, but probably more than a hundred...

Anyway, during the labor, our doctor, a very smart lady, tried to use a vaccuum to help extract the baby while Sarah pushed. But, it was unsuccessful. They only try 3-4 times, because there's just too much risk of hurting the baby. I forgot to mention, that for the doctor to even attempt to use the vaccuum (the modern alternative to forceps) she would have to be able to see Kiah's head. Which we could! Sarah had been pushing so hard, that he was crowning. Almost there. But stuck. It was so hard to see him so close, only to go through contraction after contraction, pushing and pushing, with no forward movement. I asked doctor Schwietzer what she thought, and she said that after a few more pushes, we might have to move to a c-section. She gave Sarah the benefit of the doubt, and waited until even Sarah had given up hope of pushing him out. She said it later, but I'll say it now, the doctor believed that it was the right decision because it was made at a point when Kiah still had a strong heartbeat, and wasn't in too much distress. If we had kept trying, the results could have been very bad.

We moved Sarah to the operating room, while she tried to control her contractions. Go back to breathing... try not to push... It was really hard on her. They had me get into operating clothes, and let me bring my camera. I had to wait outside the room for 10-15 minutes while they prepped her, and got her epideral in place. They called me in, and I sat next to her head while Dr. Schwietzer and another doctor operated. Several nurses, and a pediatrician for Kiah assisted. After a little while of talking to eachother quietly, Sarah heard a squeek over at the pediatrician's table. Then a cry. She said "Is that him?" and I looked to see, and yes it was. They had extracted him a few moments before, and were cleaning him off and giving him oxygen. He was blue, and squished, and looked bruised all over. It turned out that the worst of his bruising was on his face. He had been sunny side up, or facing the wrong way, and would never have come out. We made the right decision and just in time.

The hard part was then going with the baby to the Infant ward where they treat distressed babies, and leaving Sarah behind. But they had to stitch her up and get her to recovery. While I waited with Kiah, they got some saleen going through his system to boost his circulation, and gave him a little oxygen. I took pictures and a video or two, so that Sarah could see him, and when I was comfortable with how he was doing, I went to find her. I found her recovering, and I changed clothes back to my street clothes after showing her the pics and video. She was happy to see him doing well, but wanted to be with him. I ran back and forth between them for awhile, until we all got to be up in the mother/baby ward, where she still is now.

Sarah got to hold the baby for about 20 minutes before I had to take him back to the nursery for them to check his vitals. It was fast though, and I got him back to her in minutes. Her mom arrived soon after that from her flight and shuttle ride from Chicago. That's where most of the pics that you've seen have come from. That period of time.

--------------

Since then, Kiah has been trying to nurse, but hasn't done real well yet. He'll have to get it, and hasn't been peaceful enough to. The first deal was his blood sugar level, so they poked and prodded, and fed him formula. Now he has jaundice, so the poke and prod him and make us feed him formula. We chose a soy formula so that he won't have any bad reactions. Sarah couldn't eat formula as a baby, and we don't want to chance it. The jaundice is pretty bad, so they have him under this crazy blue light. He has to wear these little eye covers, and is away from us all the time. They bring Sarah to him so that she can try and feed him, but he's so comforted by her holding him that he falls asleep instantly when she holds him. He's so stressed and worn. So is she. She misses him, and so do I for that matter, but I've been in the nursery with him alot, making sure that they don't neglect him, or let him scream, or forget to feed him... Every time we just "trust" them, it hasn't worked out, so I ride them like a bull. Every nurse has a different opinion, different info, different levels of interest in our well being. One will say that the baby should never have water, the other will list it has her first suggestion. One will say that she'll wake Sarah up to feed and forget, while another will bust into the room, give Sarah a time limit, and demand she feed him that instant. They're really not bad as a hospital goes, but they try our patience.

At this point, Kiah is still under the lights. Sarah tries to breastfeed every few hours, I feed him soy after she's done. She doesn't want Kiah associating her smell with bottle feeding. It gives us both bonding time, but we miss him. I hope he'll come back to the room with us tomorrow.

Sarah's mom has been awesome. We've gotten to spend some fun time together, and with Sarah. Trying to be supportive.

Well, I am bushed. I'm off to bed. Love you all, hope the update was good. More pics to come!

Hezekiah Immanuel Miller

Hezekiah Immanuel Miller
Born: May 25, 2006 @ 10:53 am
Weight: 8 pounds, 13 ounces
Length: 21 inches
He was delivered emergency c-section after a ton of natural labor.

Here's an early picture of me and the boy after the surgery.

Another early pic.


The new mommy.


Kiah and his giant red hat. He was happier than he looks... really.


Sarah's mom flew out to help out in our early weeks with the baby.


Giving eachother funny looks...



Well. That's it for now. I just wanted to run home for a couple minutes to update you all.
I'll write about the whole labor later.

Distractions, contractions and contraptions.

Well. Here we are. Once again in the middle of the night. Obviously things aren't too crazy, or I'd be in the hospital, not blogging, but if we're reading the signs right, and there are a ton of them, we're heading into labor within the next few hours.

Sarah's contractions are about 10-15 minutes apart. Some less than that, but on an average, 10-15. They've been that way for a few hours. Seemingly getting a bit stronger. She's had every sign in the book, short of her water breaking, so we're pretty excited. I got about 3 hours sleep, and woke up around 10:30. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a few more minutes rest before we need to leave for the hospital. Sarah's been resting as best as possible, and drinking more water than Robin Williams on broadway.

We've been trying to remember everything. Charge the camera battery. Remember the iPod and cds... Pack our toiletries... We have changes of clothes in our bags, and snacks for me.

We ended up in the hospital for a few hours on Tuesday. Sarah went in for her checkup, and the baby's heartbeat was a bit fast, so the doctor sent us over to Memorial to have Sarah monitered for awhile. It gave us a chance to see the facilities a bit better. We've been on two tours, but I got to see the little kitchen area, where I can get water, juice or popsicles for Sarah, and coffee for me. We weren't sure what was going to happen, but we had brought our bags, so just in case they needed to induce her or anything... we were ready. But after two hours, they let us go home, and told Sarah to drink as much water as possible. That his heartbeat was fast, but still acceptable. He's just active they said. Which is funny. He seems like a quiet baby for the most part, with active moments.

He's probably just getting ready.

I got an email from a dear friend, and while I think he was joking, I can see how some people would actually think that the name "Kiah" is somehow tied to a certain Korean car company of a similar name. I then realized that I don't believe I've ever explained the reasons behind the name in the blog, and if there were ever a time, I guess it's now.

If indeed we are having a boy, and not just an incredibly devious girl with athletic sonogram abilities, we are naming our baby Hezekiah Immanuel. We'll call him Kiah for short, but the name Hezekiah is one that I've grown up loving, and that Sarah has fallen for as well.

Hezekiah was the name of a king of Judah in the old testament. His father was an evil man, but despite that fact, when Hezekiah took over at the age of 25, he didn't waste a day turning the country around. Within 3 weeks he had instigated a complete turnaround. He brought the people back to God. Back to where they should be. Under his kingship, the nation of Israel withstood some of it's heaviest attacks and continued to prosper. In his entire reign, he only made one serious mistake, the consequences of which, he'd never even see. When we think of the things we want for our son, we think of leadership. Wisdom. A heart for the needs of others. And the name Hezekiah is a fitting one for someone with those qualities. Kiah seems like the best shortening of the name, and is kind of fun to say.

Immanuel means "God with us." If there's been one all encompassing statement that's surrounded us this year, it's that God has not, and will not forsake us. No matter the circumstances of life. We've been so encouraged by all He's seen us through. Plus, a short name after Hezekiah would sound stupid. "Hi, I'm Hezekiah Joe!" Sounds like a forty niner or something... "Hi, I'm stinky Pete!"

Well, I'll keep you updated. Hopefully we'll have a picture post soon that won't consist of internet humor, but will instead having a healthy baby boy. Not to mention, that if we have him today, my brother Ezra will be insanely happy. I mean, insanely happy. He turns 11 today, and has been pushing us to have the baby on his birthday since he found out the due date.

P.S. Sarah and I went to the mall yesterday and saw baseball caps on sale. 2 for $14... so Sarah got her Cubbies hat, and I got a Sox hat. So now we can represent! Nice. Jim, don't give her too hard a time. Her grandmother was a fan, and Sarah's love of her grandma clouded her judgement growing up. We can't all be St. Louis fans...

The day Joey had enough of Frank's stupid comments...

So Proud

Ryan is on iTunes. Finally. Awesome.