Tragic Romances: A Movie Marathon

I don't know if it was because I helped paint the nursery or what, but Megan agreed to see two movies with me in two days. Those of you who know Megan know that it is rare when she gets inspired to go to the theater, much less twice in one weekend. Coincidentally, we went to two movies that featured doomed love affairs. One couple was kept apart by societal and ...er... biological reasons. As for the other couple, their society certainly opposed them, but one lover's choices added to the tragedy too.

I'm speaking, of course, of King Kong and Brokeback Mountain. I liked King Kong. Megan wasn't impressed. We both agreed that it was way too long. For me, the best part of the movie occurred during the middle third... fights with insects, dinosaurs etc... and the character Anne interacting with Kong. Speaking with which, Naomi Watts was quite good in the movie. The central relationship pretty much depended on a combination of her performance and CGI, and without a doubt, the Kong/Anne moments were the most effective ones in the movie. Peter Jackson did what he did best... action and melodrama.

On the other hand, Brokeback Mountain was amazing. I have never seen Megan shed one tear after a movie, so imagine my surprise when I noticed her crying during the credits . We both agreed that the movie was so profoundly sad, yet at the same time we never felt more inspired to live life to the fullest...Carpe Diem, seize the day, and all that good stuff. Both main actors were perfect and Ang Lee, already an amazing director, really outdid himself. If you ask me, I think this movie is a shoe-in for the best picture oscar and a heavy contender for best director. Definitely, my favorite-directed movie of the year (although I haven't seen too many movies this year.)

So, I've had all the tragic romances I could take for one weekend. Maybe, I'll watch some horror or comedy tonight.

Look What Daddy (and Grandma) Did

Today we began work on Paige's nursery and what will eventually be her bedroom. Usually Megan enjoys painting, but considering the fumes, the job ended up on me. Luckily, my mom painted too. The colors Megan picked were, for a lack of a better word, baby-girl-ish. But of course, we both love it.


There's still a lot more work ahead. We're going to add a chair rail and a border to separate the two colors. Also, we're getting furniture delivere this week. Megan is trying to match this bedding set.

Quite Princess-like, isn't it?

Well after all the drama Paige has put us through, I don't think we can avoid spoiling her. Speaking of which, I should give you guys an update. The high level ultrasound on Paige turned out alright. She does have a single umbilical artery (most babies have two), so her chance of having a chromosomal abnormality is about 1%. We declined the amniocentesis, basically because of the risks of the procedure and well, finding out her genetic code at this time doesn't change our approach to this pregnancy.

We do have to have more surveillance during pregnancy because of single umbilical artery. The problem predisposes Paige to having a cardiac condition, so she's getting an echocardiogram next month. Megan's also going to get weekly biophysical profiles for the later half of the second trimester and then twice-weekly non-stress tests during third trimester. When she gets each of these tests, a decision will be made on whether or not to do an emergent C-section.

So, it looks like we're going to be pretty busy and there's a chance we may have an early baby. We're definitely still excited for her arrival, so wish us luck.

What The Heck Is A HID Unit?

Three visits... three visits in over three weeks was how long it took for me to get my front passenger-side headlight replaced on my car. It all started when I came home one evening and Megan noticed that the headlight was out. I thought there was something funny because for a while it seemed like everything was so much harder to see at night.

So, to avoid legal ramifications, I took my car to the dealer to hopefully get the bulb replaced. I should have noticed that something was wrong because I waited over three hours for them to do the job. When the service guy finally came to me with the keys, he informed me that the problem was not the bulb, but the entire HID unit. The part had to be ordered from another site AND it was going to cost about $320 doctors. So I would have to schedule an additional whole day of service to get it replaced. Disappointed I drove my one headlighted car home.

About two weeks later, the HID unit was available and it fit my work schedule to bring the car in. I dropped it off in the morning, and later that afternoon dropped Megan off to wait (I had to work that evening). She waited there for over two hours, only to find out the installed unit was defective. Therefore, they needed to order ANOTHER unit and schedule another service date.

Well, everything was done today and i finally have two working headlights again. I can visualize the road a lot better now. The best surprise was that the repair cost only about half what they estimated.

I've been listening to a lot of Broken Social Scene these days. The refrain for this song "Major Label Debut (Fast)" is either "I'm all f**ked up" or "I'm all hooked up" both of which, I think, are appropriate for this entry.

Happy Birthday, Alexander

On Saturday, we celebrated my nephew's birthday. (even though his birthday is on Sunday the eighth.) He's two years old now and it showed; especially during an improvised game of "Monkey See, Monkey Do" him and I played at the dinner table. The guy displayed remarkable creativity.

In the honor of this future skier/snowboarder his grandfather and I took a trip with Bill (Megan and Erica came, too) to Seven Springs Ski Resort in western Pennsylvania. It's actually one of my favorite ski resorts in that state, because the trail and lift system encourage liberal use of cutting through the woods between trails. It's the closest you can get to a big mountain experience here in the east. Unfortunately, it has the infamous Pennsylvania snow: the manmade variety.

The biggest news is that Paige Elizabeth clearly kicks now. Megan grabbed my hand and placed it on her belly and I felt an unmistakable push. Megan says that Paige seems to move the most when Mozart is playing (maybe this Mozart phenomenon IS real.)

Well, in honor of our kicking baby, lets listen to Tribe Called Quest

Great Fall

Just came back from a ski/snowboarding trip in Utah with Hue and Carl. All three of us had digital cameras so we took as many pictures as we could. Because powder was in abundance, there was ample opportunity for jumps (and soft landings.) My friends spotted a great jump by which they could both easily position themselves for photo ops, so of course, i f***ed it up. Here are the pictures for multi-angle viewing. Hue's the photographer in red. Kanye West's "Touch the Sky" was stuck in my head as I went over the jump.

For those of you having trouble with the above .mov file, try this.