"Vacation" in Dallas

Anderson's thoughts on how exciting Dallas is ...

About a month ago, Natalie proposed a "vacation" to me. This would involve flying to Boston, where she would go to a half-day training session for a company who will give her free medicine for some of her patients. This sounded great, as we could then travel to Vermont and see some friends in Burlington.

I quickly agreed.

Unfortunately, we were mistaken about where the meeting was and subsequently found out the meeting was in Dallas. Actually, not even in Dallas. Rather it was at the Dallas/Forth Worth Airport Hyatt in Grapevine, Texas. Not nearly as exciting. By a longshot.

Still, I agreed to the trip and up Interstate 35 we drove, passing all of the flat land and obnoxious billboards that Texas can provide. Arriving late, as we usually do, Natalie went off to her fancy reception dinner for a fine meal accentuated by a fine glass of chardonnay. I stayed in the hotel room with Anderson and had a cold "Sonic" chili cheese dog that we'd purchased about an hour away from the airport. Woo Hoo!!! VACATION. Anderson ate some banana granola, which he takes down like an addict does crack. Except I'd left his spoon in the car and attempted to feed him with the back end of my chili cheese dog fork. He got frustrated with this and grabbed at the food, getting it all over his hands and most of our room at The Hyatt. This mess forced me to bathe him, but since we didn't have his bathtub I plopped his naked butt into the Hyatt sink, which he promptly peed in.

Think about this the next time you're at a hotel. I can't be the only bad parent. You and your toothbrush are probably wallowing very close to pee and poop all of the time.

Continuing with the story, Natalie returned and we all slept as much as Anderson would let us. We woke up and left for her meeting with a fancy breakfast, while Anderson and I made a food run. I'd forgotten to pack any formula so we went to Target, where I bought the Human Eating Machine his breakfast, which he wolfed down in about 4 minutes.

Finally Natalie's meeting was done and we met up with Courtney and Haden, some old friends of mine from medical school. They just had a baby themselves, violating the Geneva Convention rules that limit Haden's procreating ability. Still, somehow their kid (Austin) turned out just fine and played a game of who can sleep the most with Anderson.

Think 10 years into the future and turn this into "bumper cars".

Courtney looks the same as she did in school as does Haden, unfortunately. 7 years since I see those guys and you'd think a visit to a cosmetic surgeon would have happened by now.

We caught up while Natalie did an admirable job feigning interest while we spoke of people she knew nothing of. Ah ... reminds me of visiting Boston and meeting up with about 8 of her old MIT friends.

Here are some other pictures ... the next day was a trip to the zoo and deserves its own blog entry ...

A shot of Anderson and me in the hotel room ... I've noticed that I'm not in many pictures with him in this blog ...

Hi. I'm lazy and Natalie did a blog of her own. So I'm stealing parts of it. She's much nicer than me and has no interest, it appears, in the stoned, weathered women of Gilligan's Island. Of note, Anderson looks like he's got a friggin' hairpiece in the first shot. Looks like he's ready to pick up women at "The Regal Beagle". Couldn't resist another 60s/70s TV reference.

Any guesses as to how long it is before Anderson destroys/eats the bunny?

Here's Natalie:

Happy Bunny Day to All...

Anderson & I have been playing today, waiting for Jason to coming home from his shift at the hospital. Luckily it's only a day shift and so we get him back for the evening...



In other news, Carol and her mom came by last weekend when I was at work. Carol graciously brought us sweets from Australia (which I promptly devoured in the next few days). She had her mom also brought Anderson an Easter bunny...which he has become very fond of...




(You're not REALLY thinking of taking Mr. Bunny away are you...??)

Anderson's new nickname

Mr. Anderson with his new Easter Bunny ... just prior to trying to eat it. Internally he's thinking "Thanks Carol and Grace!"

The other night I was attempting to achieve new levels in voluntary vegetative states. How is this done? Slumping into the couch with a hi-definition television airing of "The Matrix".

The Matrix is, for those of you who are unaware, a 1999 science fiction film starring Keanu Reeves. Mr. Reeves has had a long, financially lucrative career in Hollywood, bringing us notable films such as the following:

For some unknown reason, The Academy has robbed him repeatedly from Oscar awards he should have received for his gripping performances. Politics. That Meryl Streep's got nothing on Keanu. Probably slept with all of the voters. Keanu's got too much integrity for that.

So anyway, I'm watching his most famous film - The Matrix - which is known for it's special effects and odd storyline more than any acting ability. Besides Reeves, of course. Pretty cool movie for vegetative states. Many of you probably have seen the film. Reeves character is destined to be the person to save humanity from computers that have taken over the world ...blah, blah, blah.

So as I'm watching, subconsciously I'm thinking about Anderson's nickname. It's currently "Munchie", which is the short version of Munchkin. A fair enough nickname when you're 6 months old, but you don't want to be a small kid in class with the nickname "Munchie". Daily butt-kickings are sure to happen. We need a new nickname. Something new. Something fresh. "Obama" Fought? Nah ... too topical.

"Andy" is out. Only people over the age of 60 are named Andy. Not only that, but Natalie's sister dated an Andy in high school and he is viewed by her family as being just one step below the Antichrist.

Back to the nickname. Natalie and I have done what we never wanted to do, which was to regress into talking to our son in high-pitched baby talk. "Munchie" is followed by "Munchie, Munchie, Munchie" and "The Munch", which brings back memories of Arnold's nemesis in "Diff'rent Strokes" called "The Gooch". None of these names will keep his butt from being dragged all over the playground. But at times we call him "Mr. Anderson", however. The tie-in to The Matrix is that "Mr. Anderson" is the name of Keanu Reeves character. Reeve's character's nickname is "Neo", which is an anagram of the word 'one' and is also Greek for 'new'.

So here's"Neo" attempting avocados again...

Under the Knife

Anderson: "more happier than normal". Ugh.

Sometimes life gets busy. For example, I have a gift for a friend who had her 2nd child. Still sitting here ... not enough time to run to the post office. Just had the second part of the gift shipped to her so I have to get my butt to the post office. Part of this was caused by an incapacitating back injury. Nothing quite like lurching over at a 30 degree angle to give you a view of what life will be like 50 years from now. Funny ... I never had injuries like this when I was 20.

Some other updates. Most importantly, Anderson just had ear tubes placed today after having 4 unsuccessful courses of antibiotics. I guess our kid is defective. Surprisingly we weren't that worried about the surgery. I guess you feel that way when your kid is defective ... or because it seemed trivial compared to a circumcision. At least we had good evidence to justify the ear surgery. But it was his first experience with anesthesia, which he tolerated well. After crying for about 2 hours non-stop, he took a nap and was back to the typical smiling Anderson. I suppose life will be a lot different now that he can hear us.

Importantly for all of our friends, we finally got a new bed. This means little of itself ... except we now have a guest bed and people don't have to sleep on the hide-a-bed or the futon. We welcome everyone ... especially if you want to babysit Anderson.

Finally, I did receive an email wondering why I hadn't commented on the arrest of Dawn Wells. Sure ... you may be wondering who the hell Dawn Wells is, but I'm guessing you remember her by another name.

Why was Mary Ann busted? Marijuana and driving under the influence. I certainly hope the judge is lenient, as she did spend 3 years on a deserted island playing second fiddle to Ginger (Tina Louise). Surprisingly, Mary Ann is a former Miss Nevada. Not surprisingly, Ms. Wells website has links to just about every Gilligan's cast member except Tina Louise. Probably still thinks of her as a prima donna prostitute. On the bright side, at least Ms. Wells didn't have her butt fuse to a toilet seat like this lady:

http://discovermagazine.com/2008/mar/14-how-the-heck-did-a-woman-become-fused-to-a-toilet-seat

Want to get hammered like Mary Ann? Here's a link to her website where you can buy her booze recipes!
http://www.dawn-wells.com/Mary_Ann_s_Aloha/Mary_Ann_s_Malibu_Recipes/mary_ann_s_malibu_recipes.html

Next blog: Anderson's new nickname!

Here are some more pictures of Anderson "eating" an apple ...

6 months old!!!

It's Anderson's 1/2 birthday today and we have some pictures ...
Still a strong Obama supporter ... giving the thumbs up sign ...

Attempting to blow out candles and contemplating the candle's effect on global warming.

Anderson contemplates Super Tuesday II

In front of CNN's coverage ... a typical reaction to "Lou Dobbs"

"I can't bear to look at the election results!"

After a long night focusing on election results, Anderson takes a power nap.

For those of you who didn't know that I grew up in Ohio, I grew up in a suburb of Youngstown, an economically depressed area of the country with the lowest per capita income of any city in the US. Once a stronghold of the steel industry, the jobs all left in the late 1970s and all Youngstown can claim is that their citizens can punch other people hard, as witnessed by former boxing champion Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini and current champion Kelly Pavlik. And, of course, they keep hoping that the steel industry will come back to Youngstown.
Their delusions continued with the victory of Hillary Clinton in the Ohio primary. Somehow this former member of WalMart's board who lent her campaign $5 million dollars and refuses to release her tax returns convinced Ohio voters that she represents the working class blue collar worker. If they fall for this sort of gimmick, Ohio deserves all of the bad economy it's been getting. That and the fact that they never left behind the dream of a janitor getting paid $30 an hour in the 1980's because of union protection and wondered why industries left for Mexico. Maybe Hillary promised that she would be gettin' them those jobs back. In Texas she tells us what we want to hear too. Regardless, this was her last hurrah and it's nice to see her willing to take down the democratic party's chances in November to further her career. She doesn't have the delegates and can't win without stealing the election at the convention. If McCain squeaks out a win in November, remember how she went negative now and gave the Republicans ammunition ...
On a non-political note, Natalie's parents came to visit this past weekend. A good time was had by all and we quickly had them babysitting while we went to "Dave and Buster's" for an impromptu date. Nothing more entertaining than watching Natalie play the simulated boxing game.
Otherwise, Anderson will be 6 months old tomorrow. We'll be celebrating this with banana-orange baby food, which Anderson will probably spit up in celebration. Big day indeed. On Friday he'll go to the doctor for his height, head circumference and weight. Given that one of the 2 month olds is as big as Anderson, we're already teaching him the terms "giddy up" as his athletic future is that of a jockey ...