Why are options scary?

April 19, 2006[Job] - Which I will choose, nobody knows

I have received an offer from TRW, but they were unable to let me start in fall.  Basically, I have to choose to work for Oak Ridge for the summer or for TRW for about a year.  I wanted to do both, but that's no longer an issue.  Here's what I've been thinking:

    Oakridge                     TRW
    far away                 sorta close
    neat work             pretty neat work
 not pursuing longterm   am pursuing longterm
  only for summer        a year, which I want
     low pay               unknown pay

I'm waiting for some more information from TRW before I choose, but I think I'll end up choosing them.  I kinda feel bad, though, because the Oak Ridge guy is really nice and is excited about me working for them, and Liz's aunt did the leg work to get me that offer.  Still, those aren't good reasons to pick, so I'll let you know the final result.

ABC

April 17, 2006[Baby] - Foresight is 20/20

Last night I dreamt that I was carrying Daniel on my shoulders and singing the ABC's, when he suddenly jumped on the letter 'H' and sang up through 'V' for me.  I, of course, finished the song astonished since I had never heard him utter a coherent word or sound.  Shocked, I just looked at him and said "You just sang the ABCs!"  Calmly, he looked back and said "No, daddy, you finished it" in clear babyspeak.  Then he kissed me on the cheek and we started walking again.

Obviously, I awoke this morning to hear galahaaaaayayaboodadadada, which is a far cry from "you finished it."  Nevertheless, the sounds coming out of his mouth are much more complex than last month.  It's both scary and exhilarating to think of what's coming up.  If he stays on track, he'll be walking by July 4th and talking by this time next year, he has grown about 6 inches already and has much more than doubled his birth weight.  Wasn't he born last weekend?

[Yard] - Plucking and Poisoning

We are now into phase three of dandelion removal, the first two phases being largely ineffective.  We are not pulling up as much of each plant as possible and spraying whatever is left with Weed-B-Gone.  So far it seems to be working, but it takes about an hour to do 250sqft, so we'll need to spend a couple more hours out there to finish the job.  I don't want to mow the lawn until we finish, so we'll have to knock it out relatively soon, as the grass is getting a little unruly.  At this point, the neighbors think we're nuts, which will probably not be cured by the green lawn.  Alas, the things we do for love.  Someday I'll post a picture of a green lawn and not of dandelions.  Liz and I have filled two buckets with the things and we're only about 1/3 done.  But our struggle is relentless and we will overcome.  Their numbers continue to dwindle, and we press forward.

What will he think of next?

April 15, 2006Well, Liz and I are spending the Easter Holiday with Liz's family.  Daniel is having the best time, with 5x the people to pay attention to him.  He's currently crawling from person to person showing them his new trick: he can now clap.  Yep.  About an hour ago he learned how to clap, and has been doing it non-stop since then.  He's very proud of himself.  He's currently teaching Aunt Jennifer how to clap, who seems to be picking it up quite easily.  We've broken out the baby fence, but Daniel can't quite figure out to use it to stand up yet.  He'll crawl up to it and roll back on his bottom, but the rolling back puts him just out of reach of the gate.  So he'll roll forward again, grab the fence, pull up a little, and roll back to sitting... eventually he'll manage to sit within reach of the gate, and we'll look over to see him standing, pouting at us through the plastic bars.  :)

First, short family tree on Liz's side--
Liz's sister: Sarah
Sarah's husband: Todd

Key characters likely to return in this blog.  So... Todd has offered Liz and me a plum tree for our front lawn.  The yard is kinda plain right now, so it'll be great.  Apparently the grow really quickly.  Unfortunately, Liz and I will be moving from that house in 2 years-ish, so it probably won't look much like a tree yet.  Still, one of these days it'll be a nice addition.  We're trying to figure out how much work to put in to the lawn, since we won't be there much longer.  It'll help resale value, of course, and it will be nice in the mean time, but it's not worth a lot of money or time, so we'll see.

Phusebox, I have missed thee

April 13, 2006Well, I haven't posted since Monday.  Mostly because nothing interesting has been happening and a slew of noninteresting things have been keeping me tied up.  I'll do a quick recap of items of interest.

The yellow hand of the the dandelion king and his crazy mutant dandelion army gathers strength in the west.  Even now they begin their march.  The ground trembles as their roots stretch forth, ever growing, ever growing.  When last did we cut them down?  A week?  A day?  Still they come.  Their proud heads erect.  Their green backs strong and straight.  I see the fear in the eyes of my comrades.  Biological weapons?  Useless.  Chemical weapons?  It only makes them stronger, twisting their nature.  We cut them to the white-bleeding root.  Yet still they return.  We shall fight.  Until the last yellow head shrivels and the last green shaft bends, we shall fight.  Until the grass blankets our ground in perfect green, we shall fight.  Until the white heads of the dandelion high-priests no longer spread their floating filth, we shall fight.  Or until we fall, we shall fight.

...

...
Well, I feel better.  I was called by Hennessey to interview for a co-op position.  I wrote down the information on an envelope, which was accidentally discarded during a frantic housecleaning session.  In my naivete, I believed the interview was at least marginally important to them, so I expected either an inquiring email or phone call to illicit a reponse, but to no avail.  Today, I sit wondering when my interview is... or was.

Oh, and Daniel is still cute.

Little Giant

April 10, 2006April 1st:
I would have laughed if you told me that two weeks would be enough time
for Daniel to learn to crawl, cut two teeth, and develop the ability to
sit himself up and hold his own cup.

So what has happened since then?  What could 10 days bring, right?  Well, apparently sitting himself up isn't enough.  Today I went in to get him out of bed and found him standing there grinning at me.  STANDING.  He was clutching to the railing, wearing a smile that said "I have conquered my last obstacle!"  But he couldn't sit himself up last month!  Or crawl!  My little baby is so big.  What happened to the little snuggly guy that just wanted to be wrapped up tightly in a blanket and pressed against me?  The guy that could entertain himself by looking at his feet?  Of course, that was also the guy that couldn't smile at me out of happiness, or say DA-DA or MA.  It's so sad and exhilarating.  I suppose it's all a matter of focus.  I'm so proud of him.  STANDING!!!  My little guy...