Almost Here

We're in the hospital right now. Amy was dilated between four and five centimeters when we arrived at about 10am. She had been experiencing regular contractions last night and when we timed them they were between four and six minutes from start to start. When we got up for work this morning, Amy took a shower, but was complaining of painful contractions, more so than the night before. So I went to work and she stayed home. At 9:30, I received a phone call. She said it was time.

So, it's about noon now and she's at seven centimeters. Things are quieter now that she has the epidural, although I was actually having a good time trying to keep her calm during the contractions prior to it. I felt like I was helping her somewhat with the experience that way. But she seems very comfortable right now despite a little nausea and I like the temporary quiet, I must admit.

Dragonforce

Just thought I'd post quickly to share a video. The band is Dragonforce. I'd never heard of them until yesterday. It's not exactly my favorite kind of metal, but after watching a few videos on YouTube, they play almost as accurately live as they they do with all the studio trickery. The guitar solos start at about 3:00 if you don't feel like listening to the whole song. Also, at 3:21, a picture in picture effect is added so that you can watch the fingers fly!

You Just Might Learn Something

I realize that this is old news, but I've neglected to record my thoughts on it until now. Did you know that Parker Brothers is ditching Monopoly's paper money and instead including debit cards with a little scanner to keep track of your earnings and losses in the game? I'm no Luddite, but I don't like the debit card idea. I understand that they want to make it more like reality so that us modern folks can understand such outdated concepts as paper money. But I don't like it because one of the best things that I ever learned from Monopoly was how to add and subtract quickly without using a calculator. It also taught me, with the help of my parents, how to make change. It also taught me how to calculate percentages and barter with other people successfully (by doing it many times unsuccessfully). I might sound like an old fart yelling at the kids on my lawn about this, but I think games of all kinds have a truly unique ability to teach all kinds of concepts without the people at the table even knowing that they're learning something. Additionally, I don't use the word 'kids' intentionally because adults have the capacity to learn new things, too!

I don't remember how or where we got it, but my parents had purchased a game called By Jove. It's basically a Monopoly knockoff, but Greek mythology replaces the original subject of real estate. So it wasn't really the most original of ideas, but I liked mythology and the game only helped me to learn the characters and stories a little better. The only problem was, my parents hated that game and I loved it so they never wanted to play it with me. To this day, I don't know why they hated it so much, but I loved the idea of having an army of Greek heroes running around the board fighting monsters and each other with a simple six-sided die. At different points in the game you would become Jason and go on a quest for the Golden Fleece or you could also become Theseus and battle the Minotaur while escaping from King Minos' labyrinth.

Now that board games are experiencing a resurgence of sorts here in the U.S., I can't help but get excited when I think about teaching my son to play them. Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, Bang!, Bohnanza, and whatever other games might appear in the next decade. Will they help him understand probability, civil engineering, simple logic and strategy, diplomacy? It really doesn't matter to me. As long as we're both having fun doing it!

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Now playing: Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat
via FoxyTunes

On Beauty

It started snowing yesterday around 11am. Twenty-two hours later, it is still snowing. Truth be told, I enjoy the snow. I like going for walks while it's still coming down. It mutes the noise of the world around me for a short time and everything slows down. Walks in a snowy wood are something I truly enjoy, perhaps due to my affinity for a certain Robert Frost poem, but rarely do I get the chance due to living in a well-populated area. Years ago, when we lived in McDonald, PA, I remember going for a walk with Amy during a snowstorm that swept through the area. The flakes were like cotton balls falling from the clouds. I remember standing in the middle of the main intersection in town, the snow up to my shins, completely undisturbed, as the traffic light above colored the clean white palette below a vibrant red, then green, followed by a short burst of yellow. The only sound heard besides our voices and muffled footsteps was the whipping of the wind through stark, barren trees while it flung power lines around like jump ropes. I have been reminded (yet again, I need to be reminded) that beauty is always just outside the realm of our perception at every single moment if we would only stop to notice it.