Lakers Win!

That was a stressful first game of the Western Conference Finals. Wife is way too big of a Laker fan and way, way too competitive to deal with these playoff Laker games in her pregnant state. We were watching the game in the bedroom, but for the final six minutes of the game, Wife paced back and forth in the living room. The first thing Wife said to me when the game was over was, "I think if I was any further along, these games would induce labor."

During these last few games, Wife has taken to rubbing her stomach and repeating, "Can you say, 'Gooo Lakers!'"

Wife is also trying to convince me that this baby onesie is appropriate (although she hasn't convinced me).

Our International Feast in New York City

This afternoon, Wife and I decided to go out and get some lunch. We left our apartment planning on getting something rather mundane (probably a hamburger). When we walked outside, we remembered that just down the street our community is holding an international food festival this weekend. As far as I could see (about 20 blocks), the streets were filled with food booths and thousands upon thousands of hungry people. The food booths were made up of not only the typical carnival type food, but also each of the local restaurants had their own booths where the masses could sample their culinary masterpieces (side rant: the street is filled with carnival booths selling fried oreos and other junk and the best restaurants selling plates of their best dishes for the same price. Why were the lines for the carnival junk huge while the lines for the excellent local restaurants much shorter? The good local cuisine was actually cheaper than the carnival junk).

Our initial plan to go out and grab a burger was kicked to the curb. Instead, we walked up the street and began our progressive lunch. We began up the street at a local Indonesian restaurant where we shared a plate full of assorted appetizers. Up about a fifteen blocks we stopped for some French cuisine where we shared a savory crepe (we learned that pregnant wife likes - really, really likes - crepes). We completed our feast with a plate of tandoori chicken with the best piece of naan that I have ever had. Our lunch was absolutely delicious. Shockingly, the grand total that we spent on our feast was a mere eight bucks.

Basketball Rambling

Wife and I are watching the Lakers get worked over by the Rockets. I'm a little concerned about letting Wife watch Laker playoff games because it gets her WAY too riled up in her pregnant state. However, watching her scream at the television is some of the best entertainment in my life. In the energetic way that only she can, over the years Wife has given each Laker player his own nickname:

* Kobe Bryant = Kobes
* Lamar Odem = Odie
* Pau Gasol = Gassy
* Derek Fisher = Fishy Fish
* Jordon Farmar = Mighty Mouse
* Luke Walton = "Luuuke...I am your father."
* Andrew Bynum = Byno or Drew or "The Kid"
* Trevor Ariza = Trev or Scrawny

Many woman refuse to watch sports, but not Wife. I don't think I've ever seen anyone, man or woman, get more passionate about basketball games than her (and that's really saying something given my passion).

Baby's First Book

If you know me, you know I love books. Generally, I think a love of books is healthy. However, in my case the addiction borders on alarming. If you've seen my library, you know what I mean (but nobody has seen my full library - only pieces). If I have anything to do with it, Baby Girl will love books too. After reading some of her pregnancy material, Wife mentioned that we should start reading to the Baby. She then hinted that we could use a children's book. Buy a book? No need to tell me twice. I picked out and ordered a "Baby's First Bible" earlier this week. It finally arrived today. This kid is definitively in for a treat. I just watched Wife read the Baby its first Bible story. I don't think I've ever seen such a dramatic reading. Unfortunately, I may have been the only one that enjoyed the story this evening- when Wife was done she looked at me and said, "I think the baby is asleep."

Work at the firm continues to go well, but the hours are frequently pretty long. Last night (Friday night), I was about to leave just after seven in the evening. I was thrilled about the notion of leaving that early, but before getting to the elevator I was handed an emergency project. That consumed my time until about two this morning. I then put in almost a full day of work today. Fortunately, Wife and I were able to spend some good quality time together this evening (I'll probably write a blog on that soon).

I'm Already an Overprotective Father

I'm not sure if this is a sign of things to come, but I'm already overprotective. It was a wet, wet weekend here in the Big Apple. Combine that with the Swine Flu hysteria, and I was able to convince Wife that we should have a lazy weekend (mostly in our apartment). I'm probably overprotective, but given all the reports of a pandemic here in the city, I just couldn't rationalize the risk a pregnant woman crammed into a packed subway (even if it really is a slight risk).

Wife and I did walk to a few stores this weekend to do some shopping, but other than that, it was a pretty lazy weekend.

Of course, who could possibly complain about a weekend at home when we're in the middle of the playoffs? As one commentator recently wrote, "I feel like Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith should be paying part of my rent since they spend so much time in my living room." I know most of our readers keep up with this blog for my basketball insight, so I will leave you with a few thoughts.

* The Celtics-Bulls series was a shockingly exciting series. I keep hearing phrases such as "One for the ages" and "most epic series of all time." As great as the series was, those kind of characterizations are ridiculous. This was a first round playoff series with two short handed teams. This isn't the championship; it's just the first round. Unfortunately, Evil prevailed. As much as I despise them, Evil consistently knocked down big shots. I am a bit puzzled as to why they struggled so badly against a team that is under 500. Yeah, yeah, I know, Kevin Garnett is out.

* I think the NBA needs to do a much better job in being consistent with flagrant fouls and suspensions. I really don't care if the NBA wants to be more or less stringent with these penalties, but I do care that the decisions need to be consistent. Dwight Howard was suspended but Rajon Rondo wasn't for nearly identical behavior. The Celtics need to send the NBA front office a thank card because otherwise, they would probably be going home.

* I keep hearing the experts picking the Lakers to beat Houston in either five or six games. I'm not sure I believe it. Houston is a really good team that should not be counted out. Kobe will need to perform against Artest and Battier. I can't think of two other players I think will consistently do a better job against him. I am also interested to see how the Lakers will try to defend Yao Ming. I'm a big Andrew Bynum fan, but I think I would try to play small-ball and force Yao to guard Gasol and Odom on the perimeter. I think we could pick up some quick fouls on him that way because he doesn't have the quickness. Once Yao is out, then put Bynum in the game to pound the ball in the paint. I doubt Phil Jackson will use my strategy.

* How is Curry still employed as the coach of the Detroit Pistons? I realize that the Pistons have a list of excuses, but I don't think anyone can argue with a straight face that this isn't the worst coaching performance by a Pistons coach in recent memory. And in this recent history coaches were on a very short leash. I don't understand how the last three Pistons were shown such little patience but Curry still has a job ("What, you only made the conference finals for the last three years in a row? We demand more. You're fired").

* Lebron may be the greatest player in the NBA, but I have no interest in watching the Hawks-Cavs series. I'll just assume that the Cavs will sweep this one.

* I'm looking forward to the two Western Conference series being some of the best coached games ever. I have a tremendous amount of respect for all four of those coaches (even if I don't like their teams - George Karl may be the the only guy I like on the Nuggets). I really laughed last year when Nugget fans were crying for Karl to be fired. I hoped he would because I don't think they would have made the playoffs this year if he wasn't there.

* I'm really curious to see how Evil plays against the Orlando Magic in this series. Evil needed some good luck to squeak by the Bulls. How will they play against a decent team? I won't be surprised if Evil does better against the Magic than they did against the Bulls.

Celebrity Sightings

Now that Wife has been feeling better (well, at least she feels better most of the time), we have been able to get out of the apartment to enjoy the city. As we walk around outside our apartment, we are beginning to see celebrities again.

On Friday night, as I was walking home from work, there were the typical annoying tourists blocking the sidewalks as they took pictures. I was pretty oblivious to it all since I was rushing home with my cell phone pressed against my ear while trying to balance work folders and our late night take-out dinner. As I tried to duck to get out of some tourist's photo, I realized that there were several people taking pictures of the same thing. I turned to see what I walked into the middle of - there, standing less than two feet from me, was Neil Patrick Harris. I stopped to gawk for a moment as strangers were walking up to shake his hand and take his picture. I could tell he was a little annoyed that he couldn't leave his Broadway show in peace; however, he was polite and respectful to all of his fans. He seemed like a nice guy. I was a little surprised that he is a smaller guy than thought from seeing him on television. Wife actually met him years ago (before I ever met Wife) when she was a teenage fan.

Yesterday morning, as Wife and I were preparing to enjoy our lazy Saturday morning (we stopped and got bagels and coffee and took it to a small park along the Hudson River), we ran into Constantine (the guy from American Idol who is now starring in the Broadway show Rock of Ages - which was, coincidentally, the show that Neil Patrick Harris was walking out of the night before). It was actually kind of funny, because I instantly recognized him, but it took Wife a minute. She looked at him. He looked her. She looked at him again, knowing she recognized him from somewhere. He smiled at her. She smiled back. She turned to me and said, "I think I work with him...I know him, but I can't place him." I replied, "Isn't that Constantine?" Her eyes lit up, "It is! Hang on, I need to go ask him to do a high kick." Yeah, I'm sure he never hears that.

If you don't get that joke, watch the video below.

Quick Baby Update and Legal Research Quote

Baby News:

The doctor called Wife today to share that after analyzing the sonogram images, Baby Girl looks "perfect."


Quote of the Day:

"I urge you, if only for frolic and detour, to look into the rates charged by Lexis and Westlaw. They are nothing short of breathtaking: the cost of few hours in the ALLFEDS database is not much different than the cost of renting a private jet for the same block of time."

We're Having a Girl!!!! (and other pregnancy ramblings)

Yes, I know, it has been a while since we posted on the blog. In the last month, probably fifty things have happened which I have thought would be worth blogging about, but...well...we're busy people. Here are some bullet point baby-related thoughts.

* The doctor has confirmed that we're having a baby girl.

* Wife's first response to the news of a baby girl, "So, I guess you go need to buy a gun?" That's not a bad idea, but I don't want a gun.

* I never realized sonograms are so powerful. I knew we would be able to say, "Oh, look, the head." I was shocked when the technician said such things as, "Here are her two kidneys. This is the left ventricle of the heart. Here are the different portions of the brain. Here are are her hands - let's count the fingers. Here are the eyes, nose and mouth."

* Wife cried during the sonogram. They were tears of happiness (I asked).

* Wife has been craving Chinese food recently, which is absolutely awesome since I'm always up for Chinese. We've enjoyed several meals from Chinatown this past month. Our local Chinese hot-spot is very glad to see that we still exist.

* Baby Girl is definitely an active little kid. The technician laughed at the nonstop waiving, kicking and wiggling. Wife has been telling me she feels the movement for a couple weeks now.

* In NYC, all fast food restaurants are required to post the basic nutritional information for everything on their menu. Through this, we've learned that McDonald's ice cream cones only have 150 calories. Wife has a new favorite food. Most of her meals are very healthy, so I think a couple ice cream cones a week are good for her (she eats a lot of oatmeal and cereal for breakfast, hard boiled egg whites for her morning snack, soup and steamed veggies for lunch, and a lot of variety for dinner).

* I suddenly have no absolutely idea how we even survived the NBA playoffs without having HDTV. Just thought I'd throw that comment in.

* Last week, we realized that working a few blocks from each other can be very nice. I don't generally leave the office for lunch, but meeting up for a quick bite is something we'll probably start doing on a regular basis.

* It's about time for us to start thinking of names for a baby girl. Don't even bother asking about it.

* Now that we know what flavor this kid will be, suddenly shopping feels more appropriate. I don't know if its because we know what colors we should buy or because the sonogram made this experience more real.

Tax News

Leslie Stephen Jones, counsel for the defense of Timothy McVeigh in the 1995 bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, donated his papers in the case to the University of Texas. There were hundreds of thousands of documents, stored in 171 boxes. Mr. Jones claimed a $300,000 charitable deduction for that donation (well, actually, he only claimed a $294,877 deduction if you want to be precise). The IRS didn’t approve. Neither did the tax court. Yesterday, in Jones v. Commissioner, the Tenth Circuit yesterday also refused to allow the deduction.

Here We Grow

Wife continues to proceed through the nine month journey of pregnancy. Wife continues to have frequent nausea. Fortunately, the spells are becoming less frequent (but when they come, they really come).

Over the last week, Wife has entered an excreting new phase. To use her words, "Before, I just felt sick. Now, I actually feel pregnant." Wife insists that she can occasionally feel the baby kicking. We've also learned why she frequently has a tough time sleeping. During the day, she's moving - which the baby apparently finds comforting. At night, the baby gets restless with all the quiet stillness of sleep. It's an interesting theory.

Update

Everyone is doing well here in the Big Apple. This past week, we had an appointment with Wife's doctor. I skipped out of work for a little while and joined them. The doctor says everyone is doing great. Baby is growing just like the kid should. The doctor was optimistic that we might discover whether we should start buying pink or blue stuff, but the kid had other ideas. As the doctor pressed on Wife's stomach, we watched the kid to a flip over and turn its back to us. Needless to say, the doctor did not get a good view of the genitalia region. The child's heartbeat continues to be strong.

Wife's health is slowly improving. Instead of constantly being sick, not it comes and goes. Her appetite is not really strong, but she is keeping her food down. She's also been more active. Yesterday, Wife insisted on going out to the farmer's market. She also insisted on walking the entire round trip of three miles.

Growing

According to our infallible calendar, Baby A is now about five inches long.

Beginning the Second Trimester

We find ourselves almost one week into the second trimester (and possibly further along, pending the results of the next visit with our medical professional). Wife is still feeling pretty queasy. We keep hearing that one day she will wake up feeling wonderful. That hasn't happened. Fortunately, it appears that she is slowly feeling a slightly better. She's now able to keep some of her meals down. Her appetite isn't great, but it is stronger. Of course, that might be the result of solely feeding her what she likes: french toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, soup, oatmeal and steamed vegetables (of course, not at the same time...that would be gross).

Baby A appears to continue its development:

• The nostrils, cheeks, lips, cheeks and chin are clearly defined.
  
• S/he is developing reflexes. Touching its palms or soles of feet would make its fingers or toes wiggle.
• Muscles are attaching to its face, so it can open its mouth, smile and frown.

12th Week of Pregnancy

Just by living with Wife over the past couple months, I'm learning to look at food a whole new way. Actually, I'm learning to look at food the way she does. Whenever she thinks about eating something, the same question goes through her mind, "How painful will this be when it comes back up?"

Last night Wife actually had a craving. She suddenly wanted Junior Mints. We don't have any...and haven't had any in years. To satisfy her craving, we found her a York Peppermint Patty. Wife learned an important lesson from that piece of candy: just eating half of a York Peppermint Patty make "stuff" much more pleasant when it comes back up. To quote her, "Minty and refreshing."

According to our calendar, Baby A is now 3 1/2 inches long and weighs about the same as a Magic Marker.

My Prediction for Baby A

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Wife!

Taste Buds

According to our calendar, Baby A's tongue should be developing taste buds now. Speaking of taste, there are several foods that the mere thought of makes Wife sick. The "big three" foods that cause nausea with their thought are pizza, chocolate, and ice cream. I find this strange since these foods have always been her weaknesses.

Union Square Has Lost an Icon

I stopped and watched Peddler Joe demonstrate his amazing peelers countless times as Wife and I shopped at the farmer's market in Union Square. I suddenly really wish I bought one.




Read his story HERE.

For those concerned with the progress of Baby A, the kid is starting to develop finger nails and toenails. Within hours of learning this fact, Wife insists she feels scratching.

How Do Women Have More Than One Kid?

Watching Wife go through the suffering of "morning" sickness, I've often wondered what possesses women to get pregnant a second time. As wife is curled up in a ball, unable to move or keep food down, she also ponders how a woman could possibly go through this again. Countless friends (including not only mothers, but also childless women and men) have explained that as soon as the baby is born, all the misery will be forgotten. Don't worry, Wife is taking notes. She's writing it all down, so she will never forget. If this kid is a girl, Wife is convinced that she'll keep a daughter chaste until she's forty by sharing tales of the last month.

Pregnancy Makes Women Emotional

Wife and I just saw a video clip of the Lakers center, Andrew Bynum, going down with a knee injury. Wife immediately began sobbing. Wife responded to my surprise that she was crying by turning to me, tears running down her face, and remarking, "I'm emotional. Get over it."

Wife would like me to point out that the video showed Drew screaming on the ground in pain, with Phil, Kobe, Lamar, Sasha, and Pau all looking extremely upset and concerned. I suppose all true Laker fans should be emotional.

And, yes, we are all on a first name basis.

Saturday Seminars

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."

Baby A's Countdown

This daily update on Baby A will be kept on the bottom of the page.

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.

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.

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:

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.

More Big News!

Wow. Wife is excited. The weather report says it will snow tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Big News!

It's snowing here in NYC. According to the weather reports, we could be in for a lot of snow this weekend.

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.

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.