I know not everyone can get this and I am not trying to make you jealous. This really is the best thing since....well probably high speed internet :)

Last night we had a minor fire on our street. It was interesting to watch but a little scary as well.

So today I tell you all to check your dryer vents. It just might prevent a fire.

I know this is very geeky but today my hopes have been answered. I have been a huge Picasa fan for years now. What is Picasa you ask? It is a picture management application developed by Google. It does everything I want it to and more. Since switching to OS X I was very disappointed in iPhoto. Not because of features but because of the folder structure. iPhoto makes many copies and thumbnails of the same image where Picasa leaves the folder structure in place. That means you can have a folder called NewYears 2009 and it does not touch it. It makes backing up and organizing so much easier. So today Google announced in Beta....Picasa for OS X.




Get it!!

This past weekend we purchased a gas fireplace insert from Black Hat Chimney. I can't believe I waited so long to get one of these. I have been thinking about doing this the past two years but decided to put it off. We have a fireplace downstairs but it is warm down there most of the time. The problem was our bedroom. The vaulted ceilings and the lack of ducts made this a problem. The temp in the winter would hover around 59 to 61. I have poor circulation in my hands and feet so I get cold easily. Most nights I would sleep with the hoodie over my head.

The solution was to put the insert right in our bedroom. Since our house used to be an upper/lower there was a gas line already in place. Most likely our bedroom used to be the kitchen. Here is the almost final product.





There used to be some hidious shelving that took up the whole corner. You can see where the previous owner did not paint under the shelves. The carpet is also missing on the floor where the shelves stood. I am going to put some nice tile around the fireplace itself and then on the floor so we don't have to put down more carpet. It should look nice in the end. Now we just have to pick a color to paint the bedroom once we get the tile in place. Anyone want to recommend a tile and wall paint combo?

Monday morning my wife got a call from our pediatrician saying that our 2.5 week old son may have Cystic Fibrosis. I have heard of CF but I did not know what the disease was all about. So my wife called Children's Hospital (Obviously upset) and demanded that we get an appointment on Tuesday morning. For some reason Children's does the CF test once a week!!!! So we would have had to wait over a week. Googling the disease I see a lot of information about chances and the possibility of a lung transplant later in life.

This morning we went to Children's and got the test done. It was the first test he had to go through and it was tough. We had to hold each arm straight while they hooked up an electrode. That on top of him being hungary it was not a pleasant experience.

While we were waiting for the results the gene counselor sat down with use and explained a little bit more about this process and answered any questions we had. The first words out of her mouth were "Did your doctor explain how slim the chances are that Jack has CF?" WTF, I mean really you call use and tell us all this news and we are sick all night just to find out that the chances are slim. We spoke with a woman in the waiting room and she said they have done 700 tests at Children's for CF and only one has been positive.

The results came back negative for Jack. We were so relieved.

This does let us know however that Jack is a carrier of this gene that causes CF. Which means that my wife or I or both are a carrier as well. When asked why the OB did not test us for this the answer was simply that some do and some don't. Knowing ahead of time how simple the process is for adults I would recommend everyone ask their doctor to get tested before trying to have any children. It might save you from some scary experience like this. At least down the road Jack will be able to let his partner know that he is a carrier and they may be able to do the same. This is assuming that there is no cure.

He is here. He was born at 9:39 PM on October 16th. He came after almost 3 hours of pushing. Mary did great and he is beautiful. I love his pose in this one. We are now at home and getting used to him being at home. It is so good to be home after a few nights in the hospital. There is only so many magazines you can read and things you can do to pass the time

The October 14th due date is really closing in fast. It is hard to believe that 9 months has gone by so quickly. I am not very good at judging time when it comes to years but this past few as life changes I have come to learn how people keep everything straight. With a wedding, house and baby in the last three you start having big events to compare time with.

The crib finally came in though. The hurricane held up the shipment and there seemed to be some confusion on the order as well. I was pleased that we got to support a local business (White's Furniture on Kenmore Ave.). I can finally now say that the nursery is finished!

My wife made this split up tree art:

behind estrip.org

So for the past few days I have had some lower back pain. I think this actually started a week or so ago but has been off and on. I can't tell you when I have ever had any back pain for more then a day. Usually it was due to working hard the day before or something but this is different. I have been on the couch with a heating pad tonight to try and alleviate some of the pain. I am worried that if I go to the doctor they will just tell me to take some pain meds or something. I have put on a few pounds since my wife got pregnant which I know is normal but I don't really think that is the cause. Perhaps when you turn 30 everything does start to fall apart.

Today we went to the factory outlets near Rochester. I was looking around the Gap baby clothes and thinking it all looked soooo cute. I can't wait to dress my son in some manly baby clothes. Then it got me thinking. What would it be like if we only grew to be like 10 pounds? Now granted our offspring would come out even smaller but so many things started flying around in my head. A kitchen built for a 2 foot person. Would all of our houses be really small? Maybe we would not be in such a huge energy crisis because of smaller homes and cars. I probably would not be lugging around a 15.4" widescreen laptop :) I know this is totally random but thought that thinking about it might be fun.