Wife and I spent our Saturday attending a series of theology seminars here in Midtown Manhattan. It was very good. The presenters were highly educated, intelligent and prepared (a great combination) with a theological perspective similar to mine. While I won't rehash the five hours, here are a couple of simple, yet thoughtful, quotes that I appreciated enough to write down:
"A human being is a glorious ruin, a beautiful mess."
"You are more flawed and lost than you ever dared believe, yet you can be more accepted and loved than you ever dared to hope."
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Our Complete Update
"Baby A" Update
According to our Baby Calendar, this week Baby A's hands and feet are just about finished forming. At this point the hands and feet look something like paddles with thumbs/big toes. All internal organs are now formed as well.
Wife Update
She's still sick. Other than the almost constant nausea, she is doing great.
Husband Update
I am now an official member of the New York Bar. Here in NY, the Bar admission process is particularly arduous. In most states, the Bar application process looks like this: first, fill out an application during law school; second, wait for the results of the background check; third, take the Bar; forth, get sworn in soon after passing the Bar. That's how I did it in my last state.
In new York, the process is reversed and a bit more complex. First, an applicant must pass the Bar Exam. In NY, this is just the first step, not the completion of the process. After passing the Bar Exam, he must fill out the long, excruciating application (which includes getting sworn affidavits from employers, professors, and friends as to moral character). Once the background check is completed, a personal interview is scheduled. After suffering through an interview in which everything the personal applicant has ever done is scrutinized, then a class entitled "Introduction to the Practice of Law" is required. Finally, the applicant will be invited to the courthouse to take an oath to uphold the Constitution and be admitted to practice law in New York. All that to simply say, the process is finally done and I am an official New York attorney.
Our Celebration
My law firm gave us two tickets to the Rangers game last night (they also provided the proding to leave the office at 6:40 so that we could get to the 7:00 game). We had a wonderful evening at Madison Square Garden. Our tickets were absolutely fabulous. Unfortunately, we had to waste such great seats on hockey. Just kidding. Miraculously, Wife felt great the entire night.
According to our Baby Calendar, this week Baby A's hands and feet are just about finished forming. At this point the hands and feet look something like paddles with thumbs/big toes. All internal organs are now formed as well.
Wife Update
She's still sick. Other than the almost constant nausea, she is doing great.
Husband Update
I am now an official member of the New York Bar. Here in NY, the Bar admission process is particularly arduous. In most states, the Bar application process looks like this: first, fill out an application during law school; second, wait for the results of the background check; third, take the Bar; forth, get sworn in soon after passing the Bar. That's how I did it in my last state.
In new York, the process is reversed and a bit more complex. First, an applicant must pass the Bar Exam. In NY, this is just the first step, not the completion of the process. After passing the Bar Exam, he must fill out the long, excruciating application (which includes getting sworn affidavits from employers, professors, and friends as to moral character). Once the background check is completed, a personal interview is scheduled. After suffering through an interview in which everything the personal applicant has ever done is scrutinized, then a class entitled "Introduction to the Practice of Law" is required. Finally, the applicant will be invited to the courthouse to take an oath to uphold the Constitution and be admitted to practice law in New York. All that to simply say, the process is finally done and I am an official New York attorney.
Our Celebration
My law firm gave us two tickets to the Rangers game last night (they also provided the proding to leave the office at 6:40 so that we could get to the 7:00 game). We had a wonderful evening at Madison Square Garden. Our tickets were absolutely fabulous. Unfortunately, we had to waste such great seats on hockey. Just kidding. Miraculously, Wife felt great the entire night.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Newest Addition to Our Blogging Team
Yes, our lives are about to change a bit. A little BABY bit. Come September, there will be a little screaming and pooping bundle of joy in our lives. Yes, we are very excited. The doctor tells us that at this point, everything looks excellent. After years of looking at poorly behaved children and turning to each other and saying, "Our kids will never get away with that," we will finally have the opportunity to be proven wrong.
Wife is currently suffering from "morning sickness." I've realized that the name is extremely misleading since she is nauseous and sick in the morning, afternoon, evening and especially at night.
We don't want to get to far ahead of ourselves, but I have already begun researching Greek and Hebrew curriculum for infants. Wife is preparing to teach the poor kid French, voice, and piano. Is two weeks about the right age to start preparing for the SAT Exam? Hey, at least we don't have the kid signed up for preschool yet. Shockingly, many of the people we work with get their kids on the waiting lists of exclusive preschools just hours after learning of the pregnancy. But who wants to spend $35,000 a year on preschool?
The first thing I purchased for the pregnancy was a Countdown to Birth Calendar. Every morning before work we read together the newest tidbit about little Baby A (yeah, keeping with our creative style, Wife and I have code named the little person "Baby A"). Here are a few tidbits:
* Little bumps that will become Baby A's lungs are beginning to appear.
* Baby A is growing at approximately 1 millimeter each day.
* Baby A's tongue is now formed (ready to join wife in licking an ice cream cone in the years to come)
* Each of Baby A's arms are small, but the elbows should have just begun forming.
I anticipate that the blog will begin to be updated very frequently with updates. I'm currently beating Wife in this blogging competition approximately 200 to 6. Maybe she can catch up with frequent updates on the anticipated development of Baby A.
Wife is currently suffering from "morning sickness." I've realized that the name is extremely misleading since she is nauseous and sick in the morning, afternoon, evening and especially at night.
We don't want to get to far ahead of ourselves, but I have already begun researching Greek and Hebrew curriculum for infants. Wife is preparing to teach the poor kid French, voice, and piano. Is two weeks about the right age to start preparing for the SAT Exam? Hey, at least we don't have the kid signed up for preschool yet. Shockingly, many of the people we work with get their kids on the waiting lists of exclusive preschools just hours after learning of the pregnancy. But who wants to spend $35,000 a year on preschool?
The first thing I purchased for the pregnancy was a Countdown to Birth Calendar. Every morning before work we read together the newest tidbit about little Baby A (yeah, keeping with our creative style, Wife and I have code named the little person "Baby A"). Here are a few tidbits:
* Little bumps that will become Baby A's lungs are beginning to appear.
* Baby A is growing at approximately 1 millimeter each day.
* Baby A's tongue is now formed (ready to join wife in licking an ice cream cone in the years to come)
* Each of Baby A's arms are small, but the elbows should have just begun forming.
I anticipate that the blog will begin to be updated very frequently with updates. I'm currently beating Wife in this blogging competition approximately 200 to 6. Maybe she can catch up with frequent updates on the anticipated development of Baby A.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Not Your Usual Plane Landing
Our knack for being within a short proximity of the bizarre continues (for those following our blog, this includes an underground explosion, a collapsing sidewalk, a falling crane, a window jumping model, and an overdosing joker).
Last week, we were close enough to have a perfect view of US Airways Flight 1549 landing in the Hudson River. From my office window I could see the entire landing. I could see it, but I didn't see it. Soon after it occurred I was told to look out my window - I turned around and saw a great deal of emergency crews, but I didn't see the plane. Wife was even closer to the action than I was, but didn't see it either.
Along with the rest of the world, my hat is off to the pilot, crew, and emergency crews.
If I had turned around, I would have had a better view than this:
Last week, we were close enough to have a perfect view of US Airways Flight 1549 landing in the Hudson River. From my office window I could see the entire landing. I could see it, but I didn't see it. Soon after it occurred I was told to look out my window - I turned around and saw a great deal of emergency crews, but I didn't see the plane. Wife was even closer to the action than I was, but didn't see it either.
Along with the rest of the world, my hat is off to the pilot, crew, and emergency crews.
If I had turned around, I would have had a better view than this:
Monday, January 12, 2009
Bad News
The reports were wrong. It didn't snow last night. You would think that would really upset Wife, but she seems to be unusually happy.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
More Big News!
Wow. Wife is excited. The weather report says it will snow tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Big News!
It's snowing here in NYC. According to the weather reports, we could be in for a lot of snow this weekend.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Thanks for the 15 Minutes of Fame
For a short period of time, our blog was popular. Very popular. Since we started this blog, we have had a very small, but steady stream of readers (generally about 20-30 unique readers a day). A week ago tonight, somehow the link to our recent funny cake blog entry was posted on a popular humor website - and the visits started to flow in. Last Sundays we were ranked as one of the most visited blogs on the internet. Since last Sunday, each successive day has brought about half as may visitors as the day before. Within a couple days, I expect that we will be back down to our normal number of loyal visitors. On the bright side, we finally got visitors from each of the 50 states (I was beginning to wonder if you folk have internet access in Wyoming). We now have had visitors from over 75 countries and 1400 different cities.
For those who stumbled upon this blog and can't figure out the theme, don't worry, it's not you - there isn't one. My wife and I started this blog when we moved to NYC from a slower part of the country so that family and friends could keep up with our culture shock. What was intended to be a nine-month adventure has developed into an indefinite stay as we transformed from tourists into busy working professionals. As our lives changed, so did our blog. Our new and exciting experiences are no longer new and exciting - it's just life. So, the blog is now an eclectic combination of whatever I feel like posting. Surprisingly, Wife - who was the one who insisted on starting the blog - lets me do most of the posting.
For those who stumbled upon this blog and can't figure out the theme, don't worry, it's not you - there isn't one. My wife and I started this blog when we moved to NYC from a slower part of the country so that family and friends could keep up with our culture shock. What was intended to be a nine-month adventure has developed into an indefinite stay as we transformed from tourists into busy working professionals. As our lives changed, so did our blog. Our new and exciting experiences are no longer new and exciting - it's just life. So, the blog is now an eclectic combination of whatever I feel like posting. Surprisingly, Wife - who was the one who insisted on starting the blog - lets me do most of the posting.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Want to Take a Picture in Times Square
Here's a quick tip for all the tourists visiting Times Square: think before you take pictures with somebody.
As you walk through Times Square, you will see lots of fun people who want to be in your pictures. You'll probably see Elmo, Dora the Explorer, Mickie and Minnie Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and some great renditions of the Statue of Liberty. All of these will be motioning you to come take a picture with them.
When they see their favorite character, kids frequently get worked up into a frenzy and run over to their hero while the parents snap pictures. Parents even get the kids worked up ("Look, it's Mickie. Do you want to say 'hello' to Mickie? Run over there and I'll take your picture"). What tourists don't seem to grasp is that these photo ops are not free. As soon as the photo is shot, Elmo will be holding out a bag with the explanation that their fee is $5 per shot.
Sometimes tourists realize what that picture will cost them, but frequently they are completely oblivious. I've seen countless arguments between the Statue of Liberty and a
shocked tourist who didn't realize that Lady Liberty didn't pose with the kids, and then with mom, and then with mom and dad out of the goodness of her heart. The stunned tourist never expected the statue to demand payment.
I'll be honest, some of the characters really do look cute. Maybe the pictures are worth five bucks each to you. If that's the case, shoot away. But just remember, if you want to take a picture with Tigger, be ready to pull out your cash. Even Tigger needs to feed his family.
As you walk through Times Square, you will see lots of fun people who want to be in your pictures. You'll probably see Elmo, Dora the Explorer, Mickie and Minnie Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and some great renditions of the Statue of Liberty. All of these will be motioning you to come take a picture with them.
When they see their favorite character, kids frequently get worked up into a frenzy and run over to their hero while the parents snap pictures. Parents even get the kids worked up ("Look, it's Mickie. Do you want to say 'hello' to Mickie? Run over there and I'll take your picture"). What tourists don't seem to grasp is that these photo ops are not free. As soon as the photo is shot, Elmo will be holding out a bag with the explanation that their fee is $5 per shot.
Sometimes tourists realize what that picture will cost them, but frequently they are completely oblivious. I've seen countless arguments between the Statue of Liberty and a
shocked tourist who didn't realize that Lady Liberty didn't pose with the kids, and then with mom, and then with mom and dad out of the goodness of her heart. The stunned tourist never expected the statue to demand payment.I'll be honest, some of the characters really do look cute. Maybe the pictures are worth five bucks each to you. If that's the case, shoot away. But just remember, if you want to take a picture with Tigger, be ready to pull out your cash. Even Tigger needs to feed his family.
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