Main | March 2005 »

February 28, 2005

Weekend Blues

Saturday was kinda rough. There were medication issues on my part, and general stir craziness issues. I had another irritating series of phone encounters with one of my relatives who shall remain nameless, but suffice it to say that I have a phone number that corresponds to my cell phone, which I give to my relatives. The relative in question will call that number and then call the house if I don't immediately answer.

What if I happen to be in the shower when this person calls? What if I'm not in the mood to talk? What if my wife and I are otherwise engaged in marital activities?(Yes, Virginia, I was just talking about Kim and I getting busy.) When the impatient relative calls the house, then Susan will answer the phone and start trying to hand it off to me. Not a good situation, natch. So do us all a favor, okay? When someone gives you a number to reach them at, don't go all private detective if you have to leave a voice mail once in a while, okay?

Sunday was kinda weird. By about 2:30, I was going a little bit nuts. So I decided to get some food and wound up at Yangkee Noodle, an oriental noodle place at the Oxmoor Mall. Kim didn't like the place the one time we'd eaten there, so since I was on my own I figured that this would be a good time to try it out again.

I was right-- I got chicken with soba noodles and some veggies, along with a Thai pesto sauce. The bowl was huge and I really enjoyed the hell out of it, even if my mouth was on fire by the time I was done.

The other reason I had gone to Oxmoor was the Willis Music caddy-corner to the noodle shop. I walked in this small little
store and just about fell down when I saw the number of guitars they had crammed in there. I walked around in there for a good fifteen minutes, aching to pick up on of the Flying V's or Strats. I couldn't bring myself to do it since I haven't played in something like five years or so. I finally bought some strings for my guitar along with a couple of picks (I'm a pick fiend. I will buy picks every time I go into a music store if I'm not careful).

While I wouldn't pick up one of the guitars, I did ask the guy at the counter to demo the electronic drum kits. He brought a set of sticks and some headphones over and sat me down. Two minutes later, I was playing drums for the first time. Now, I'm a rhythm head, I'm always bouncing my feet or tapping along with music. Sometimes at work I'll have my headphones on and a good song will come on. Before I know it, I'm playing drums on my keyboard, thumping along like the village idiot.

I actually wanted to play the drums before I ever picked up a guitar, but they were just too expensive. So I've always been interested but I've never had the chance to goof around. I was in heaven. This kit was incredible. Everything was touch sensitive, including the cymbals, and since it's digital, you can change the sound of the kit with the touch of a button. These things have come a long way from the techno-only drum pads that were prevalent in the 80's.

I eventually gave it up, though, and headed back home. I mostly restrung my guitar (aside from breaking one of the new strings right off), and played around until my fingers got sore, which took all of about five minutes. I've played again today and I've mostly gotten the setup straightened out, but I'm still not happy with the way the bridge is floating right now.. it's like the strings are too tight and they're shifting the bridge forward. I'm going to take it up to Mom's music on Frankfort Avenue tomorrow and see what they can do for it.

But the weekend was kinda shaky, although it turned out okay. I've got to remember to keep something like my regular schedule so that my meds don't get screwed up. I spend too much time at work, and going to and from, to have the weekends screwed up by my inherently screwed up brain chemistry.

Posted by john at 08:21 PM | Comments (0)

February 27, 2005

Oscars: Terminated

The 77th Oscar Awards are now finished. I didn't see hardly any of the films involved, so I can't really complain about the winners or the losers, except to say this:

Natalie Portman deserves an Oscar. Give that girl an Oscar, please?

Oh, and Martin Scorsesee? Never saw Raging Bull, or Gangs of New York or anything else by him, but isn't he about due?

And for the love of humanity, when oh when will John Williams win another fucking Oscar? C'mon, the man has written some of the most memorable music ever paired with celluloid, and he's only won three of them? Jaws, Star Wars and E.T., that's it?!? The man has been nominated 43 times already, give it up to Johnny already!

One flick I did catch and feel qualified to comment on was the Best Animated film. I saw The Incredibles and Shrek 2, and I think the right film won that award.

Oh, and did you catch the snazzy music they played at the beginning and end of the ceremony, and at various points when going to or from a commercial? The one with the pounding drums at the beginning? The one that sounded like the theme to The Terminator? Man, Arnold is really starting to flex his muscles now that's he the governor :-)

Posted by john at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2005

Updated Vision...

So I'm currently working on a new design for the site. Given that I've done nothing more to the current design than change a couple of backgrounds from the default Moveable Type install, it's high time this site started developing a personality of its own.

Darian had her two week checkup today. She's grown a half-inch and is up to 7 pounds 3 ounces after the normal weight loss following birth. She's thriving, in other words.

I hit the doctor's office myself yesterday and as soon as I walked in the door, everybody in the office was telling me one of two things:

  1. My daughter is the cutest baby ever.
  2. She poops all over the place.

Now her doctor just gave birth to a daughter about three months ago, and even she was going on about how cute Darian is. And as a warning to anyone who might ever attempt to check her temperature, as soon as that thermometer gets anywhere near her rear end, she's liable to fire off several defense shots in rapid succession. Just so you know.

Posted by john at 08:45 PM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2005

Corrections and Retractions

In an earlier entry from February 20th, I described watching William playing a video game as frustrating, since he couldn't tell left from right and was hard to direct when he needed help.

Tonight at dinner, he decisively showed me that he does in fact know his right from his left.

Why the previous confusion? Because I ASSUMED he couldn't tell left and right. Boy was I wrong.

This all started when he was showing off a painting he had done at school and brought home. It was the letter C, and when Kim asked him what letter it was, he knew it was a C with no hesitation. He went on during the meal and afterwords to point out the letters N, O and Z. He probably could have rattled off more, but handy teaching materials aren't terribly available at our dinner table.

Seeing his recognition of several letters, I decided that it was perfectly feasable to start teaching him left and right. So I asked him to raise his left hand, and he shook his head at me. "Because you don't know how?" I asked him. He stopped chewing his PB&J sandwich and thrust his left hand into the air, straight up.

That's a Wicker for you, tell him he can't do something and he'll go right off and do it.

I asked him about the right hand, and he threw it up as well. I let it slide for a bit, thinking that he had a 50/50 shot, right? So I asked him for his right hand later, and then his left. He still got them right. Kim and I looked at each other, both of us a little surprised. We quizzed him even later, and he still nailed it. He even knew how to turn to his left or right.

By now, Kim and I were both grinning ear to ear. Our kid had yet again proven how smart he was. We've never even broached the topic with him and he's already mastered it.

Oh, and after dinner he was able to point out all the Z's in several words. So feel free to go be jealous now, all of you other parents. My kid has inherited his daddy's brains and his mommy's good looks. Or something like that :-)

Posted by john at 07:35 PM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2005

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream...

I am a new father. I can totally understand that I won't be getting a lot of sleep from time to time.

I only got about four hours of sleep last night, but it had nothing to do with a new baby having arrived last week.

I was getting ready for bed last night when Kim and I had a minor disagreement. What about? Hell, I don't remember, but it was probably my fault. So I went upstairs until about 10:15 or so.

So when I get downstairs, William needs to be put down since he's still asleep. Kim went upstairs to feed Darian. I got William down, got up, and he woke up. After I got him down the second time, I headed for bed and Kim came down at about the same time.

We had a long talk about our previous disagreement, and the various issues we'd been piling up for a couple of weeks. Married couples really need to talk every once in a while, and with everything going on, that's been quite the luxury for us.

It was probably about 12 by the time we had finished talking, and sleep was approaching at a fast clip. It was then that my legs started twitching. This is not new, and twitchy legs bug me every so often. I was annoyed but it wasn't too big of a deal. And that's when my arm started freaking out.

Now, I have had dreams where I'm falling and I wake up with adrenaline pumping, my heart racing, and my legs feeling the phantom impact. I've fought attackers in my dreams and kicked at them, only to wake up and realize I had just wailed on poor Kim in my sleep.

Last night was not one of these occasions. Instead, I would be almost to the point of sleep and my left arm would suddenly leap into the air, unbidden. I'd look around as if to see who had yanked my arm into the air, but no hooligan was to be found. I'd try sleeping again only to have my arm yanking through the air once again as if to pull the emergency cable on the train, but I'm just trying to sleep here, what gives?

I finally got up and watched some tv. By around 2:30 I was back in bed, and fell asleep. Oh man, what a night.

I muddled my way though the day today. I yawned a lot. And I don't think I'll have any problems sleeping tonight.

Posted by john at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2005

Grand Theft Auto

I'm a gamer. My wife is a gamer, too, when she has the time. My console of choice is the PS2, and along with my PC I spend a fair amount of time playing.

My favorite games on the PS2, without a doubt, have been the Grand Theft Auto series. Starting with GTA III, I've played all of them and loved most every minute of it. I have downloaded and printed out strategy guides from the web. I've bought books that show where all the hidden packages or tags are hidden. I've spent a lot of time working towards 100% completion of the games. I've bought the last two games (GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas) on the day they came out.

Now William wasn't even a year old when Vice City came out (October 29th, 2002-- what a birthday present!), so he's seen me play this game for 2/3 of his life. During the last six months, in the lead up to the release of San Andreas, I spent a lot of time in Vice City, and William has been old enough to understand more of the game. He quickly became afraid of "cops" (something I've worked hard to correct) and whenever he sees a motorcycle parked anywhere, he always points at it and says "Daddy, you get that bike?" insinuating that I should appropriate the bike and jump over the nearest bridge. Because for a long time, William's favorite thing was to watch me get a motorcycle or a fast car, and perform some of the "unique stunt jumps" sprinkled thoughout the game. For those of you who've never seen the game before, imagine a stray piece of plywood leaning up against a building, a huge concrete utility station with an inclined side, or a pile of sand near a waterway. Imagine approaching this item at high speed and going over it, and as you watch, the camera cuts away from the usual over the shoulder location to a stationary vantage point perfectly suited to watching you and your vehicle sail through the air, in glorious slow motion. Sometimes you're perfet and land just right. Sometimes you come up short. And sometimes you hit a lamp post or clip a building, and your car spins madly as pieces fly off, the windshield shatters, and you laugh maniacally.

Ahem. Well, when William asked me to play Vice City by saying "I want you jump the water," you understand, right? I didn't do a whole lot of missions or anything more dangerous than jacking the occasional car after my last ride went into the drink or otherwise blew up. To this day, William still freaks out if someone attacks the main character in the game.

Now, with the release of San Andreas, there is a tension between William and I. Tommy, the star of Vice City, was William's first character, and therefore his favorite. CJ, the star of San Andreas, is my favorite. Not so much because of the character but because of the game that he lives in. It looks better, there's more to do, there's a bigger area to roam, and so on. When we play, William wants to play Tommy and I want to play CJ. Because where William originally couldn't make Tommy do anything at all, he's now grown quite good at getting into and out of cars, driving them around (although usually in a circle), and even taking vehicles away from their unlucky owners. William and I take turns playing, but lately I haven't been playing at all. He's playing right now as I type this out. If I'm not surfing, I might be reading a book or even just watching him play.

Now watching a three year old play a video game can be trying. He tends to drive in circles, and he can't usually drive or run in a straight line. I try to tell him how to do things that he wants to do, like find a helicopter or get a fire engine. but he tends to not follow directions too well. That comes with not knowing right from left, I know, but it can be trying. And when he gets really scared or frustrated, he thrusts the controller at me and demands "Get me away!" or "Get me big one" (a fire engine or ambulance, depending on what he's just seen).

The real question that comes to mind, though, is just how much of this is rubbing off on him. I'm an adult, and I understand that this game is tongue-in-cheek, completely over the top in a great many ways, and otherwise morally repulsive. I've already mentioned that he went through a phase of being afraid of police officers. Still, I wonder if I should worry when, while playing the game, he hands over the controller and says "Get me a gun."

Worry? Who, me?

Posted by john at 09:02 PM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2005

Synchronicity..

We're sitting in the living room, watching Hidalgo, a movie about Frank Thompson and his horse, Hidalgo. Hidalgo and Frank are challenged to take part in a 3000 mile race across Arabia.

Susan is in here watching it with us, and although Kim and I have seen the movie before, this is her first time. There's a lot of different accents running around in this movie, and Susan is asking us what folks have said here and there.

Partway through the movie, Frank is giving Hidalgo a drink of water when he sees one of the other riders at full tilt. Then they spot another rider at full stride.

"Slow down boys," Franks says, "it's a long way to Damascus."

Now Susan didn't quite catch that line, and asked us about it. We repeated it to her, but she asked us if Frank had meant the way the horse was drinking the water. Hidalgo is a horse, and they tend to be a little messy. Frank had been talking about the riders, who by now we see are riding away from a massive sandstorm.

"No, he was talking about the other guys in the race," I told her.

Susan had missed the other racers along with the line, so she says "Why was he talking about the other guys in the race?"

"Because they were hauling ass," Kim and I both said at once.

It was one of those moments of synchronicity, a perfect alignment of two minds. They happen quite often between myself and my wife.

You gotta love a woman who can say "hauling ass" to her mother without stopping to think about it.

Posted by john at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)

Notes from the Field...

Posted by john at 07:05 PM | Comments (0)

February 17, 2005

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes...

So there was a little tidbit yesterday about the smokiest cities in the United States, and guess who ranked #1? You got it, Louisville was the hands-down loser. I believe little ol' Lexington was in second place. Coincidence?

Yes, this is a tobacco state. For now. And yes, we have the absolute lowest cigarette taxes in the country. For now. But c'mon people, do we have to live up to the stereotypes??

Posted by john at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2005

They're Here...

The contractors, that is.

Well actually, they've been here and gone already. But that's alright by me. Cuz you know, it's after 11 PM.

The dishwasher is installed, but that's going to have to be replaced because Lowes gave us one that had been dropped. The front legs were all bent up on it, and the top rack's cleaning arm doesn't actually turn. I guess I should have investigated the box more closely after I noticed the crushed part.

The new countertop is installed, and it looks awesome. The new stove is installed, and it looks freaking huge! There's still some stuff that needs to be done on the countertop and backsplash around the stove, but they'll be back on Monday to finish all that up. To be honest, I felt funny about how they were supposed to cut down doors and create matching filler pieces all in one day, but that was my misunderstanding.

So it's all good now. Nice.

Posted by john at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2005

We're finally home...


After about 20 hours of doing her best impersonation of a box of french fries, Darian is out from underneath the heat lamp, and we've taken her home!

The poor kid has had her heel poked three or four times to test her bilirubin, and it's not as simple as just getting a spot of blood or an entire vial-- It's a small little tube's worth of blood, which means a full-fledged needle stick is too much and a pin prick isn't enough. So what they wind up doing is a pin prick after which they milk blood out of it for the next five or ten minutes, pushing and pressing on her foot and wiping alcohol swabs over the hole to keep it from clotting up. It's kinda painful to watch, or even hear it being done, but she should only have one more of those to go through again at her follow-up tomorrow.


William is going to be ecastatic that Mommy and Baby Sister are home. He has been super with Darian and wants to hold her. I think the picture says it all about him and her right now. He wanted me to stay with him at school today but I told him that I had to go to the hospital and hopefully pick up Mommy and Darian. "I want them!" he pronounced, and promptly went over to play with his friends after I told him that I'd see what I could do.


So Darian is now home, sitting in a bouncy seat with her back to a sunny window, soaking up UV rays. Susan and Kim are both taking a nap, which they have both more than earned. And I get a couple of hours at home to chill before I return to the grind tomorrow. But at least I'm working from home.

Oh, and the contractors are supposed to show up again tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

Posted by john at 03:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Duty...

There's been a lot of news coverage about the guy with eleven kids who's being shipped off to Iraq.

Kim and I have watched all this with a mixture of awe and utter terror. The thought of either one of us being far away is especially horrendous right now with the recent addition to our family. But of course, this guys wife is now expecting their 12th child (I wonder if those two know what causes that...).

This guy has said that he felt that he needed to do something after September 11th. He needed to do his duty and support our country. It was something he felt like he had to do.

Kim told me yesterday that she felt like our generation was brought up to feel that patriotism is corny, and I think she's right. That's a shame, really, because we do have a pretty good deal here for all that there are massive problems. I don't think our system is perfect by any stretch, but I haven't come up with anything better yet.

Still, I'm left wondering about duty. For this guy, what duty should be. You see, if I went back to work and gave two weeks notice so that I could move to California and get a record deal with my Polka band, that would be totally irresponsible of me. I have a wife and a family to support. Even if Polka was something I felt like I had to do, my duty is to my family. To run off like that would be purely selfish.

Duty is a funny thing. It calls for you to do the thing that needs doing even if you don't want to do it. For me, a guy with 11 kids and one on the way? His duty is to NOT go to a combat zone and get killed.

I wish him luck. If I heard correcly, he'll be with a group of SeaBees (construction engineers from the Navy), so hopefully he'll be safe enough. I'd hate to be the officer who would go to his house and tell his family that he wouldn't be coming home, should something happen to him. But if I were, I guess I'd just be doing my duty.

Posted by john at 12:08 AM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2005

Pa-Paw John...

Pa-Paw John came up to the hospital tonight on his sixtieth birthday so that he could meet his first grand-daughter (Happy Birthday Dad!!).

Darian was being kept in the nursery under the heat lamps, but I think a good impression was made. My stepmother even accused him of tearing up at one point. I don't know about that, but it was good to get the introductions out of the way.

After the visit, we sat around our former hospital room and discussed the whole process while I showed my stepmother and then Dad photos of the big day on Kim's iPod. My dad was very impressed, and even listened to some classical music after the photos were done.

"You're a father twice now," my stepmother told me, "but you'll still always be that little kid who was standing in my doorway with a snake in his hand."

Yeah. That one made me scratch my head, too. I don't know what she was talking about either. :-)

Posted by john at 11:57 PM | Comments (0)

Close to Home...

We were packed up and ready to go, with the van waiting downstairs and Darian loaded into her car seat. The wheelchair that would carry Kim downstairs to the van was set to arrive any minute.

That's when they came and took our baby.

Darian has a slighly elevated bilirubin level, which means that's she's a bit jaundiced in regular-speak. Now this fact isn't overly astounding in and of itself, nor is her condition life-threatening or even overly worrisome. She was supposed to go home with a photo therapy setup and all was right with the world.

Except that the attending pediatrician told us her biliruben levels were fine. And except for the fact that our chosen pediatrician had never been called to come see our daughter because the hospital hadn't bothered to update the nursery's information about her for the last five years.

And all this as we were literally packed up, discharged, and headed out the door. We've had the nurses from the floor, the charge nurse and even the nurse manager up there, kissing our ass and trying to explain just how badly they managed to screw this up.

So yes, she does need photo therapy, and yes, she could have done it at home, but they didn't have any of the lights set up for us and then couldn't find any for us once we were discharged.

Kim's staying at the hospital again tonight, in what's called "boarding" (which is where they let parents stay in a room the hospital doesn't need, free of charge, and the nurses and staff treat said parents like ostracized Amish people caught using a zipper). She'll be feeding the baby throughout the evening, and then sending her back to spend some more time under the combination heat leamp/tanning bed thing. And maybe we'll come home tomorrow.

More pictures to follow soon.

Posted by john at 11:46 PM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2005

The New Road

Everyone at Baptist East has been incredibly nice. Have all your kids there if you can help it.

What to say? It's been an eventful couple of days here. The operation went off without a hitch. The anesthesiologist was hilarious. The doctors were great, the nurses were incredibly helpful, everything was just good.

Kim was kinda out of it for a large part of the first day, but nothing at all like last time when she was passed out and in ICU for the first 24 hours. She's much more with it today, and has gotten to take a shower and is now up and moving around.

Wi;;iam has been interested in "baby sister" from the start, and he wants to hold her whenever he's at the hospital. He's too young to understand that he can't carry her around, but he's been doing a great job of being a big brother so far. He's been most fascinated while watching Darian eat, but he can't believe he was breast-fed, too.

William is three years old, and the hospital isn't a great place for him to spend a long period of time. I need to remember that. I was a little hard on him today and I feel terrible about it.

Kim's dad visited again today. Unfortunately, he had to fly back to Houston this afternoon. Still, he was here for the big day and that was very cool.

My mom has been up several times, bringing us snacks and drinks, taking Will out for a while and watching him, and offering medical advice to boot.

Susan has been up there a little bit but she's been hanging back just a tad. I suspect Kim's dad being there was part of it, and part of it is in trying not to tire Kim out too badly.

Darian? She's wonderful. She makes little noises but doesn't cry much at all. She has the same maniacal look in her eyes that William did, which comes from being a baby and not from being my offspring, although she's not peeking out at the world too much just yet. She's eating well, she's pooping well, and she's sleeping well. That's the three things a baby has to do, and she's passing with flying colors.


I've compared this time out to the last time, and things are going very smoothly. No one rushing around trying to save Kim's life, no potential issues with the kiddo. It's nice that everything is going well, but I still wouldn't trade the first time out for anything. I've done it all before so I expect it to be a familiar road, but it isn't. It's all brand new, and I'm glad.

Posted by john at 11:36 PM | Comments (0)

The first day...






























Posted by john at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)

February 11, 2005

Everyone Survived...

Darian came into the world at 9:51 AM, February 11th, 2005. She was 7 pounds, 4 ounces, and she was 19 and a half inches long.

We're all fine, but exhausted. William is currently throwing a fit because I'm going to fall over if I don't go to bed.

Lots of pictures will follow :-)

Posted by john at 09:53 PM | Comments (0)

And they're off...

...to the hospital, that is :-)

Posted by john at 06:48 AM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2005

D minus 11 hours, and counting...

Accomplished today:

* Worked from home and got several things accomplished, even though OAA keeps changing their mind on what they want but not changing the deadline

* Called Lowes and extracted guarantees of satisfaction for an install on Wednesday

* Charged up the batteries on the video camera and found a blank tape

* Got everyone's hair cut (grooming is so important you know)

* Picked up Papa Steve at the airport and delivered him to his cousin's house for the evening

* Arranged transportation for Papa Steve so that he could get to the hospital tomorrow (okay, I hinted to his cousin that he needed a ride and she said he could use her car)

* Added OAA personnel to my "People who will not leave a dark alley if I find myself there alone with them" list

* Wrote an e-mail detailing my project status so that my partner can hopefully make some sense of the mess my current project is in

* Figured out what time to get up in the morning

* Went to bed. Oh wait, I'm still awake. Scratch that.


To Do Tomorrow:

* Get up on time

* Drop William off at school

* Get to the hospital without forgetting the camera(s)

* Make sure my wife is in the van when we arrive at the hospital

* Meet Darian

Posted by john at 10:25 PM | Comments (1)

Grandparents update...

As of a few minutes ago, the following grandparents should be in attendance tomorrow morning:

Grandma Susan (driving to the hospital with us)
Mama Jo (arriving separately)
Papaw Steve (flying in from Houston tonight)

Papa John will be out of town at a conference, but will be standing by his cell phone.

Posted by john at 03:51 PM | Comments (0)

February 09, 2005

Oh Contractor, Where Art Thou?

The house that we live in is over fifty years old. And everything in the kitchen, except for the refrigerator, is original. Including the oven.

After 50 years of faithful service, it died last year during the summer time. We tried getting it fixed, but parts for a 50 year old oven whose manufacturer is no longer in existence are hard to come by.

We'll just get a new oven, we thought. But it wasn't so easy. Modern ovens start out at least 24 inches wide on the outside. Our oven wasn't quite 22 inches wide. And it wasn't as deep as modenr ovens, either (meaning how far it fit into the wall). And there's a stone fireplace directly behind the oven, meaning there wouldn't be an easy way to make it fit even if it weren't too narrow to begin with.

So in October, we went to Lowes to see about getting a new cabinet to put the oven in. To make a long story short, they talked us into having a guy come out and look the whole thing over. Maybe they could fit an oven into that cabinet.

So he made an appointment, and didn't show up. We called, and he apologized and made another appointment. The contractor showed up for this one, and he seemed knowledgeable, and very competent. He measured and computed and before he left, we'd decided to remodel the kitchen. He just needed to get his counter-top guy over there to figure out some stuff.

That was the last we heard for a little while. We're talking weeks here. I finally started calling every couple of days, and left messages (the guy never actually answered his phone). We eventually heard back from him and set up another appointment for both of the contractors to come out. And at the last minute, the contractor called and cancelled the appointment.

Sigh.

We made another appointment, and this time they made it. Again, we were impressed. The time frame here was about ten days before Thanksgiving. Again, we marveled at the possibilities. And then began another wait. We hoped in vain that we might have an oven in time to cook a turkey.

Fast forward to January 2005, the guy finally had the required paperwork sent to Lowes. But something was missing. After another week, they had it all together and we went to the store to order all of our countertops and appliances and the like, along with the final price.

Tracey H at Lowes rocked. Everyone else in the store was kind of stupid. Tracey guided us through the process like a pro, and by the time we were finished, Kim and I both wanted to marry her. The parts were ordered, the faucets and fixtures were picked out, and everything went forward.

Lowes got all of the parts ordered and they arrived. A range, a dishwasher, a new sink and faucet, laminate for the countertops, various pieces of plumbing and lumber. And it came in quickly. We set up a day to get it all installed, and we were lucky enough to schedule it for the day before Darian would be delivered.

Sure, it would be noisy and a bit of a mess, not to mention ever so slightly stressful. But it was better to get it done before Kim and Darian were there, Darian trying to sleep through the noise, and Kim trying to breast-feed with two strange contractors in the house.

Kim's mother started emptying cabinets and moving items off of the counter tops. Yesterday, Lowes arrived at our house with all of the wonderful goodies, including two monstrous boxes that held the range and dishwasher. Should I point out that we don't have a dishwasher now? That dishwasher might just be the most important part of this whole deal.

And then today, one day before these guys are coming, someone from Lowes calls me at around 6 PM. They're super sorry, they say, but the laminate that they sent to the countertop builder was wrong. And when he went to get new laminate today, there was a mix-up with the paperwork, and he couldn't pick it up. So they won't be coming to install it tomorrow. Oh, and once the countertop is built, it'll take a couple of days for it all to dry out and for the glue to set, so it'll have to be next week sometime.

Catch the problem there? The laminate arrived last Friday. There was a problem with it, so they tried to pick it up today, five days later. They can't install it for a couple of days after it's built just to be sure all the glue is dried or whatever. So here's the $64,000 dollar question:

Why didn't they notice a problem before today, and why the hell where they going to install it tomorrow if it takes two days to dry, assuming they had been able to get it straight today?

Could it be because the countertop builder, and by extension the contractor in general, are AssHats?

You bet. Oh sure, the supplier screwed up too, but it took the contractors five days to figure it out.

There is no joy in PoppeWickerville this night. And there won't be very much at Lowes tomorrow once I reach the management of this store. And if there's one more problem, we're going to tell them to come pick up all their magical boxes, cancel our newly established account with them, and pack it in their pooper.

Anybody ever gotten anything done through Home Depot?

Posted by john at 08:12 PM | Comments (0)

February 08, 2005

Darian

Darian is scheduled to arrive in this world on Friday, February 11th, at or around 9:30 am.

We are all very excited about the impending kiddo, and looking forward to it with much anticipation.

That's just father-speak for "we're so damned excited and nervous we can't stand it". Just so you know.

Posted by john at 07:52 PM | Comments (0)

Welcome to Version 4

So this is the forth version of PoppeWicker.com, for those of you who are keeping score at home.

Four? I only remember the previous one.

Well, that's because I've built two major upgrades that never saw the light of day. Or at least, they were never seen by the public. But that's okay, because I still used them.

But enough silliness. What is this site? Who is it about? Good questions, all.

This site will act as the means of public dissemination for our updates to the world. Simple, right?

The PoppeWicker clan is made of up myself (John), my wife (Kim), my son William, my soon-to-be-born daughter Darian, and our dog, Cody.

Other people are likely to show up here. So there you have it.

Posted by john at 07:30 PM | Comments (0)