Secular Confessions

[missychrissy]

I like Alexander Frances too...it sounds regal almost. I wasn't a fan of the name Ruth, but I'd gone into labor with Sydney 3 weeks early when Rich's paternal grandmother passed away. Her name was Ruth, so we named Sydney after her (Sydney Ruth). The name instantly grew on me and I love her name.

[Gwenn]

I like Alexander Frances too...it sounds regal almost. I wasn't a fan of the name Ruth, but I'd gone into labor with Sydney 3 weeks early when Rich's paternal grandmother passed away. Her name was Ruth, so we named Sydney after her (Sydney Ruth). The name instantly grew on me and I love her name.

Thanks.

[daylilies]

I think preconceptions of names change a lot when you name your own child that name...I mean you might think "Gertrude is an old lady name" but when you name your own child that, it just fits.

[The10Eels]

Kate, Thats exactly how I felt about Charlene... even though we call her Charlie.

[AmeriBrit]

Both my boys are named after musical acts that DH and I love Travis for the Scottish band of the same name and Cash for well, Johnny Cash!

[missychrissy]

Johnny Cash. I cried when his and June's house burned. What a shame.

[stash]

Oh my YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[3andMe]

Demigraf, you're welcome to come over on Thursday, too. I'm not doing anything special, but I don't want to leave you out if I'm having a bunch of local APAers and babies over. The trampoline is already packed, though.

Stacy, you should read Bridget's birth story in New Moms.

[Cosmosmom]

I like Alexander Francis myself. John Paul is cute but sounds like a pope. I really like Alex myself but than my aunt named my little cousin Alex (he actually came with the name alfredo so for the first year 10 months he was called Al or Big Al since he was a hefty baby but once the adoption went through he became Alex).

Our is Theodore Wilson (wilson is my maiden name). My MIL said it sounds presidential. LOL We have also thought about recently Theodore Thomas after my uncle Tom that passed away in October.
Our girl is Katherine Cleo. Katherine is DH's maternal great grandma and Cleo was my maternal great grandma. And since the initials are KC....I get to call her Kasey which I love.

We like long formal names like ours of Jennifer and Anthony....but with good nicknames.

And I like my middle name, it's Joe. My parents thought if I wanted to be a business person, I could go by Joe Wilson on my resume and would get more interviews than a Jennifer might....or least that was how the thinking was for them in the 70's.

We also thought about Sydney for a long time too but my sister really wanted it for her and it's a bit much with the last name we have. I have always loved Charlotte and Samantha too but again not with an Sch last name.

[Cosmosmom]

It's so quiet in here today....and of course it's been a slower day at work to.....

[missychrissy]

Sorry, the semester is just starting up and it seems there are issues all over the building. I have 2 all-in-ones in the English Dept office that without warning simply refuse to print or do anything for anybody. Stubborn cusses!! The computers (all Macs) think the print job went through, so there's no error code to research. Of course the admins are anxious to do their work and it's annoying them like crazy, so in turn they're getting annoyed with me for not being able to figure this out.

I'm hoping the Googles can help me!! lol

[demigraf]

Chrissy... of COURSE things go haywacky on a Friday, right? Isn't that the way it always seems to go? You go in and expect to coast all day long, and then the machine gods decide that's not the way your day's gonna go afterall.

Do you actually do desktop support too? When I first started in IT, I was that guy who walked around helping people, crawling under desks and unscrewing cases to add memory and such. This is gonna sound so lame, but I had this "toolbelt" I was so proud of - with my pager, walkie-talkie, screwdriver, flashlight, mini-can of compressed air. Oh, and the BIGGEST ring of keys I've ever had. My spine is probably permanently crooked from wearing those keys at my side for a year. I don't know why I loved that toolbelt. It kind of made me feel like John Wayne at High Noon or something. Maybe it's because it felt like my first "real" job (even though my first true job out of school was as a travel writer for The Berkeley Guides for 2 years). Guess it was actually a sign of my immaturity, how "mature" that belt made me feel.

And, oh, that feels so long ago...

It was! Good eye! We spent about 8 hours there in several trips over the past weekend, while it was nice and Justin was out of town. Soren got his first taste of sand and the twins came home tired and soggy and happy every day. Are you sure you want to move to the fog zone?

I love both of the pictures you shared. Claire looks like she's supposed to have the water sparkles all around her head, and I really like the solar flare your camera did with the picture of Ronin & Soren. Your kids are so beautiful.

I wish I could come on Thursday, but I definitely have a meeting to go to. Which reminds me that I stood up in front of a group and did a presentation earlier this week ... and my fly was unzipped the whole time.

Performance art.

That's what I tell myself anyway when I think back about embarrassing situations. I laugh and think, "yeah, I meant to do that for its artistic value." It helps control the shudder reflex or what DH calls "the stupid chills".

And no, we're not sure we want to move to the fog zone, because for Pacifica being next to such a great surfing beach, it has some of the most rough, densely packed and soul-suckingly ugly neighborhoods. I keep going back and forth about over there, maybe Montara/Half Moon Bay, maybe Marin. We spent last Sunday driving around Marin. And then there's a bunch we're viewing in the East Bay. What we do know is that we want to find the biggest house we can afford in the safest neighborhood we can find. The more rural and close to trails it is, the better. I fell in love with a house in a neighborhood in Pacifica - long, roads too skinny for big cars and up a canyon. We could give Bodhi a really nice life there.

Anyway, if we do move to Pacifica, I would love to do an APA mommy day on Linda Mar beach.

Or maybe even if we don't move to Pacifica.

[Cosmosmom]

I wish I was in CA right now. Most of the time I love my state but not this time of year. Haven't had much big snow but it's snowed pretty every day this month and once again I can barely see to turn the snow banks are too high. Been warm this week though...actually got into the 20's during the day. But warm means cloudy and it's been a bit since we have seen the sun.

Sorry to hear about the computers Chrissy!

Guess I was just hoping for a drama thread or two to get involved with or at least watch...still have a couple hours left this afternoon and the only thing I have that I can do from this location is a search on type 2 diabetes....for patient/consumer level info. Will take me all of 2 minutes as that is probably the easiest thing to get info on. The longest part will be stapling the pages of various handouts together.

I can't even research anything to buy....yesterday it was bad enough looking at entertainment centers (and having an idea in my head and realizing to get the style/finish/size we want, probably will have to do custom)......because I really can't be buying anymore stuff since we need the money to get started on the adoption.

But hey I can breathe out of my nose today! And tonight DH is going to open his birthday presents. So we can play Mario Kart for Wii and Dominion which hopefully I will like so I can play with him.
And it's Bill Maher night.

[stash]

Oh my, I heart Bridget's birth story. Home birth is so lovely.

[missychrissy]

Chrissy... of COURSE things go haywacky on a Friday, right? Isn't that the way it always seems to go? You go in and expect to coast all day long, and then the machine gods decide that's not the way your day's gonna go afterall.

Do you actually do desktop support too? When I first started in IT, I was that guy who walked around helping people, crawling under desks and unscrewing cases to add memory and such. This is gonna sound so lame, but I had this "toolbelt" I was so proud of - with my pager, walkie-talkie, screwdriver, flashlight, mini-can of compressed air. Oh, and the BIGGEST ring of keys I've ever had. My spine is probably permanently crooked from wearing those keys at my side for a year. I don't know why I loved that toolbelt. It kind of made me feel like John Wayne at High Noon or something. Maybe it's because it felt like my first "real" job (even though my first true job out of school was as a travel writer for The Berkeley Guides for 2 years). Guess it was actually a sign of my immaturity, how "mature" that belt made me feel.

And, oh, that feels so long ago...

Yeah, I do more desktop support than actual system administration. That's because our network has been so stable (knock on wood) that I really only use it to add/remove users and computers. Sometimes I peruse the Event log, but not as often as I should.

Jennifer, I don't know if you have time or if you're interested, but there's an article in my local paper about a gas well explosion that occurred in PA. http://www.theithacajournal.com/arti...e+forest+lands It touches on all the risks and fears that keep NY No-Frack...at least for now. If you peruse the comments from the peanut gallery at the end of the article, you'll see many are 'friends of gas' and just want to 'drill baby drill'

[Cosmosmom]

Ugg that is irritating. Tony had interviewed at a couple of environmental firms around Philly and in NJ. I was offered mine first (they called him back a week too late) and we really wanted to stay in WI anyway....but had we gone out there, sounds like something he might have possibly worked on. He would have wanted to be on the environmental clean up side of things, not the fracking side (same reason he didn't want to go to TX and work where the big money was...it was oil money).

The whole thing is so irritating. I don't understand at all why people would want to drill baby drill.....when cleaner sources could be used. Put solar panels in places that get a lot of sun, wind machine things in windy places....hydro in places that have a fast moving current.

I confess that sometimes I go and post on the boards for my local news. Of course there are more right wingers posting than left!

[missychrissy]

...The whole thing is so irritating. I don't understand at all why people would want to drill baby drill.....

It's actually really complex. Since the issue with our first choice house having a gas lease and having difficulty selecting a lender that may or may not issue a mortgage on it, I've done more research. I read about a farmer that's in his 70's. He was getting to old to carry on, and when the prices of feed recently went up he decided to stop farming. At some point he bought the promises of the gas company and had signed a lease agreement with them, thinking that would pay for his retirement. Well, there's no drilling going on and now he cannot even parcel off his land because the lease agreement specifically states he cannot. It's like the gas company has a lien on his property for the length of the lease.

Now he's stuck with a large parcel of land that he has to pay taxes on and no income. Of course he's on the 'drill baby drill' team. I can understand his reasoning.

A lot of it is sheer ignorance though. They don't believe what's going on in PA. They think Gasland (the documentary) was put out by the EPA or DEC just to mess with them and prevent land owners from making money. Some people just plain old don't care, but there are plenty of cases similar to the old farmer. He desperately needs money, or he's going to lose his family's generational farmland.

[stash]

I confess that Gus has the smelliest man farts. They're not like normal breastfed baby farts, but like greasy man farts! Ew. Why? And this isn't new and has nothing to do with my diet...

[Gwenn]

I confess today was my last day at my current job. Monday I'll be moving to the new position. I spent most of the day packing and then had a snack with the kids so I had some face time with them. And I'm out. I almost cried more than once. Particularly when one of my students (who never spoke last year) said "Bye, Miss Mandy."

Jennifer, if you're bored and aching to research something, you could research Sanfilippo Syndrome and Communication. And let me know what you find out! Thanks!

[missychrissy]

Awww, Gwenn that was so sweet!!

[daylilies]

Aww...

[3andMe]

Gwenn, it is always hard to leave a place where you've made such a difference, but what a send-off to your new life!

I'm really annoyed. One of our doctors, who is one of the only ones in the whole state who does this really specialized procedure, is going to be out on paternity leave next month, so we've been trying to squeeze in urgent cases wherever we can, overbooking or calling in extra staff, or doing nearly impossible things with the schedule. Today half of his patients didn't show up, and one of them said, when I called, "I just wasn't mentally prepared for the procedure, so I'll reschedule for later." They have no idea how many desperate people would have considered killing or bribing someone for that appointment spot, and I'm so frustrated that there wasn't even a thought of letting us know ahead of time that they weren't coming. GRRR!

[demigraf]

Gwenn - I can imagine how nice it must feel to move on to the next step, but sad to leave the relationships behind from your previous work. How are you feeling about starting your new gig? And congrats on this next big thing coming your way.

[demigraf]

Lydia - That IS really irritating. People can just be so unaware of their rudeness and the impact of their thoughtlessness. I'm grrrring with you in solidarity.

[Gwenn]

Gwenn, it is always hard to leave a place where you've made such a difference, but what a send-off to your new life!

I'm really annoyed. One of our doctors, who is one of the only ones in the whole state who does this really specialized procedure, is going to be out on paternity leave next month, so we've been trying to squeeze in urgent cases wherever we can, overbooking or calling in extra staff, or doing nearly impossible things with the schedule. Today half of his patients didn't show up, and one of them said, when I called, "I just wasn't mentally prepared for the procedure, so I'll reschedule for later." They have no idea how many desperate people would have considered killing or bribing someone for that appointment spot, and I'm so frustrated that there wasn't even a thought of letting us know ahead of time that they weren't coming. GRRR!

That is frustrating. Even more so since you implied the people you squeezed in were urgent cases.

Gwenn - I can imagine how nice it must feel to move on to the next step, but sad to leave the relationships behind from your previous work. How are you feeling about starting your new gig? And congrats on this next big thing coming your way.

Thanks. It's bittersweet leaving my babies but I'm looking forward to a new kind of challenge. Once I've made the change I think I will enjoy it very much.

[missychrissy]

Wow Lydia, 1/2? That's excessive. Do they realize he's going to be out on paternity leave?

When I scheduled appointments I'd get so annoyed with no-shows...they always seemed to be the same ones that would call the next day and demand to be seen today. Another irritant was people who would call and insist on an appointment today and they'd say, "My son has had a sore throat for 6 weeks! I am not waiting until Tuesday!!" Um...6 weeks? And it's just now an emergency why? Ugh. I don't miss that stuff at all.

[missychrissy]

I know a lot of you don't venture outside of this thread. I finally posted Bobbie's paper that I talked about a few weeks back. http://www.americanpregnancy.org/for...d.php?t=298432 I didn't want to eat up all our thread space with it though. If you have the time, it's worth checking out.

I'm just so proud of her open-minded, accepting personality. She's the real deal.

[Cosmosmom]

I confess today was my last day at my current job. Monday I'll be moving to the new position. I spent most of the day packing and then had a snack with the kids so I had some face time with them. And I'm out. I almost cried more than once. Particularly when one of my students (who never spoke last year) said "Bye, Miss Mandy."

Jennifer, if you're bored and aching to research something, you could research Sanfilippo Syndrome and Communication. And let me know what you find out! Thanks!

pm me an email address and I will see what i can find out on Monday...that sounds interesting..never heard of it before.

[Cosmosmom]

i confesss I'm having fun tonight and will have my fourth brandy pretty soon and than off to bed for me! no alarms tomorrow!!!! and DH liked his b-day presents so we have something new to play with!!!!

[Gwenn]

pm me an email address and I will see what i can find out on Monday...that sounds interesting..never heard of it before.

I've never heard of before either, until recently, and my professor from grad school (the one I posted about) was passionately interested in obscure syndromes. He had a big "syndrome symposium" every year where we had to research all kinds of rare conditions.

I'll PM you. I was kidding, but if you're interested, I'd love to know what you can find out! I have free access to the journals published by my professional organization, but that doesn't include international journals or medical journals. Of course the school district doesn't supply us with any real research database or medical journals and I don't have access to my university library anymore. So I'd love the help.