Future Poltergeist

Last night was not a good one on the sleeping front. I've had a cold coming on for the last few days and it choose yesterday to erupt. It's one of those head things where I feel stuffed up and stupid/dizzy. Good times! We put Relia to bed about 9p and ourselves about 10p. It was my night and before we turned out the lights the FP Gal said a little prayer that we would get some easy sleep. Sadly that wasn't the case. First time up was about 11p. I tried rocking her and putting her back in her crib. Not popular! There was screaming and howling and under the breath cursing. Relia was unhappy, too. We tried a bottle and that didn't work. Well, she ate a good 6 oz. but it didn't make her sleepy. Finally I brought her downstairs and let her sleep on my chest while I watched TV. About 1230a back to bed. Next time I woke was about 3a, she was crying again and the FP Gal was getting up to help her. We caved and she came to bed with us. Shortly after that it bec...

Found here . Just in case someone you know has a rather large library.

If you're ever going to go on the show, spend some time learning the wives of Henry VIII .

"That's because I'm 10% duck...and 20% cat. The rest is all human. You wouldn't understand."

We eventually got to sleep on Saturday night so don't worry. Last night was a little better and we passed a minor milestone. 'We' meaning the FP Gal and I, not Relia. Now that she's standing up, she has become a bit more difficult to calm back to sleep. It used to be that we were just calming her as she lay there. Now we go into her room and she's standing at the rail of the crib, usually yelling. If you try and lay her down she screams bloody murder. The easiest path is that of least resistance. What we've been doing is bringing her to bed with us. She lays down next to a warm body and a beating heart and she sleeps. Relia is big enough now that she's not really in danger of being crushed and she lays between us so she's not going over the side either. The real problem is that we're training her to only sleep on those terms. (The other problem is that she's becoming a bed hog. All 18 lbs of her.) It's our fault of course, probabl...

And the crying has stopped. Maybe. Let's just say that we've had easier nights of putting her to bed. St Josephs doesn't make a tranquilizer dart, do they?

Woke up this morning with a dusting of snow on the roofs and cars. We were the luck ones as some spots in Minnesota got more than 10 inches of snow. Today is April 26th in case you forgot. I-94 was closed in some spots because of the snow. The snow wasn't all that was going on, today was extremely cold. According to the news we were about 25 degrees colder than usual. Add in some very strong winds and it was pretty ugly. This was a pretty cold winter. Also longer than usual. And it doesn't seem to want to leave. Wonder what the weather was like in Kauai today?

Only five picks left until the Vikes (finally) pick. Both of the QBs that I want are still available. Dare I hope for Brohm? Update: Nope, they took a safety.

As the FP Gal mentioned , today is the first day of the NFL draft. She is so excited that she felt the need to wake up early this morning and write about it. (Relia was so excited that she couldn't help but standing up in her crib at 1a!) I was excited about it until the Vikes traded away most of their first day draft picks for Jared Allen. I'm thrilled about the trade but one (small) negative is that it takes away their drama today. When they had the 17th pick, I was hoping that they'd pick up a QB or a DE. Now that their first pick is in the second round, 47th overall, the emphasis changes. They have some definite needs (QB, WR, DE O-line depth), they can afford to take a best-player-available approach. It wouldn't bother me if they traded up a bit and got Brian Brohm or Chad Henne. Other than that, I probably won't know the names at all. In the end, I'll have to trust that the Vikes have some idea of what they're doing. After last year, I think I...

Monastery of the Caves, Kiev Ukraine

Well, actually it was yesterday but I missed it. This is probably my favorite piece of Shakespeare, Sonnet 130 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare. I've got Sting to thank for leading me to this. It's a beautiful poem that talks about how conventional beauty isn't everything. Or at least the habit of grouping beauty into certain small categories is a bad idea. A universal and timeless lesson.

This would be my nominee right here. The FP Gal disagrees but doesn't know exactly what she'd pick. Anyone else?

Babies don't come with a snooze alarm. If you try and politely explain that you'd like nine more minutes of sleep they don't understand. Believe me. Imagine you're feeding a baby some sweet potatoes. You've got some on a spoon and it's heading towards her mouth. Then she starts to make a sneezy face. Pull the spoon away quickly, trust me. Relia doesn't care to bounce to INXS. She needs a band with a more reliable driving beat. Oingo Boingo works fine for this. So does Adam Ant. One should never underestimate the number of hands that a baby suddenly has when you're trying to change a blowout diaper. I'm convinced that Vishnu was present for some brief time earlier. For five years I've gotten by with sight in just one eye and haven't found a single limitation. Until now. Feeding a baby is kind of tough. She's firmly in that area where my depth perception is ruined and she acts unpredictably. Doesn't mean that I can't d...

Story here . Basically they got a very good defensive end, still in his prime and all they had to give up were three draft picks. I like it a bunch! Patrick Reusse talks about the past 30 years of Viking DEs . In this decade, the combinations that made the most starts at defensive end have been as follows: 2001-Stalin Colinet and Talance Sawyer. 2002-Kenny Mixon and Lance Johnstone. 2003-Kevin Williams (out of position) and Mixon. 2004-Mixon and Kenechi Udeze. 2005-Darrion Scott and Erasmus James. 2006-Scott and Udeze. 2007-Ray Edwards and Udeze. Wow, that's cover-your-eyes awful. Let's hope this works out for the best.

For those who read our harrowing story of last night's events , I thought I'd just let you know that the car is still there. I looked around to find some zombie precautions and found this spot . Anything on cars? 7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike. Gun is to machete as car is to bike. Cars are noisy and consume resources you can't always count on having. They're large and can't maneuver easily through blocked roadways . Most only work well where there are roads. Pack an air pump with your machete and you have permanent transportation. So there you have it. A fun little tip for everyone.

I've probably told this story before I started rooting for the White Sox by accident. I literally picked them out of a newspaper without any idea of who they were or what they represented. I knew they were a Chicago team (which I have a small birth tie to), that they weren't the Cubs (who my brother cheered for) and they played against the Twins (because I'm a little contrarian at heart). Started following their scores in the paper and eventually got to see them on NBC's Game of the Week some Saturday. That was the first time I saw their logos or colors or stadium. Obviously I fell in love. Sometime the next year few years I saw 'Field of Dreams' and found out that my team had thrown a World Series. It hurt. Even though it happened some 70 years earlier, I felt bad that my team had ever done something so disgraceful. (For those of you non-sports fans still reading this post, that is a real live honest peek into a sports fan's mind. Laugh at us if yo...