Sunday, May 11, 2008

Jay: Happy Birthday

To Zachary Beaupre, who is 2 today.


05:42 AM | Birthdays • (2) Comments • Permalink

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Jay: Happy Birthday

To Shanna Zannini, who if I did the calendar math right is 37 today.


10:25 AM | Birthdays • (0) Comments • Permalink

Jay: Happy Birthday

To blogger and author John Scalzi, who is 39 today.


09:40 AM | Birthdays • (0) Comments • Permalink

Friday, May 09, 2008

Jay: Like Flipping a Switch

Just a quick update before the baby finishes waking after going on a three hour nap.

Valerie had no milk this morning.

It’s been like flipping a switch and turning the bladder control issue off.

She still had less coffee in it that had been the case, but I gave her coffee the way we would if we were out of milk, using a bunch of dry creamer and then diluting most of the glass with cold water.

Its possible it’s also other food factors, which yesterday saw the beginning of reducing for her (I created a dish for supper that even the baby could eat, which was so delicious it needs a write-up… if only I had a food blog- oh wait!), but milk would seem to be the big thing.

Update:
Of course, the peetastic one having greater control means she can be far more spectacular at the angry house cat thing that she’d been exhibiting as well, from before she completely lost it.  In this case I suspect she was mad at Sadie for hogging my computer, but they’re both banished from sitting in my desk chair again.  I might be able to sit in it with the giant bath towel folded on it, after having used two other towels to sop it up first.  I’ve never seen her produce that kind of output other than in the potty.  She was clearly holding it and released on demand, which her smirk seemed to confirm.


12:21 PM | Food & Cooking • Kids • Medical • (0) Comments • Permalink

Jay: Happy Birthday

To my uncle Roger, who is 65 today.


05:34 AM | Birthdays • (0) Comments • Permalink

Jay: Happy Birthday

To blogger Ezra Klein, who also has an interesting post on household debt levels.


05:33 AM | Birthdays • Business • Money • (0) Comments • Permalink

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Jay: Happy Birthday

To Sue Johnson.


06:08 AM | Birthdays • (1) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Jay: Food Sensitivities

You all know that Henry has food sensitivities.  Those see to be multifaceted, depending how observationally off some of it may have been.

Milk is in a class of its own.  He appeared to get an immediate rash where milk touched his skin, and if he drinks milk - but it’s always in the form of coffee or strawberry milk his sisters have left where he can reach - he gets itchy and miserable to the point of needing Benadryl shortly after.

Bananas are in a class of their own, potentially related to latex allergies.

Everything else seems to relate to salicylates.  If you search for salicylate sensitivity, you can get an idea the foods involved, which can vary by person, variety, location where grown, and manner of processing.  Pears are about as safe as it gets, and he can demonstrably eat canned pear halves in heavy syrup without issue.  However, he just as demonstrably can’t drink pear juice, which is concentrated and isn’t carefully segregated from the peel in processing.  Pear was an expensive substitute for apple, which we’d been giving him as a safe food and juice nobody could ever be allergic to, and the absence of which for two days unintentionally made him heal as fully as he’s done since he started eating food.  Grape juice was a clear reaction.  Consume it, wait briefly, go crazed with rash and itching.

Foods he reacts to also seem not to digest well.

At this point, he can eat meat, rice, oatmeal, white sugar, water, butternut, potatoes, carrots and sweet potatoes, but those last two are relatively high and we may be setting him off if we give him too much at once.  Probably forgot something there.

He has no overt allergy, apparently, to peanut butter, eggs, corn, or wheat.  He did get especially itchy the other day after eating Play-Doh, but not sure it was that, and obviously that’s a big exception.

All of this is confused by the fact he scratches as if he’s itchy when he gets sleepy, and apparently when he’s in pain.  He also gets worst drool rash ever.

A lot of dried herbs/spices are a problem.  We noticed a possible correlation for the first time the other day when he got some of the outside of chicken that was heavy on black pepper, as well as having some other things on it.

So that’s him.  What was interesting is researching and realizing I may have the same sensitivity to some degree, and that it could be the answer to a range of symptoms over my life that include the mystery skin pigmentation and bladder urgency and, when I was little, bed wetting.  It’s made me curious about details of my diet when I was a kid in the bed wetting stage.

Which Valerie is in, and we might have chalked up to her age, except it’s gotten to be total loss of control at random.  In the last couple days, we seem to have proven a correlation between stuff that’s part of the same sensitivity, and Valerie’s issues.  She gets mysterious headaches, perhaps more of them than we realize, as well as having the bladder issues.  She also went from being the happiest baby to being rather somber, which made me wonder about the extent of the headaches or if there’s other pain.  It’s painful to hear here declare “I’m a happy girl” in a tone that sounds the opposite, like she’s trying to convince us and herself it’s not the end of the world.

This could also be completely unrelated, but I had her doing well for several hours the other day, with the change seemingly triggered by consumption of pear juice and Cran-Apple.  Ironically, in an effort to keep her more hydrated, to reduce the problems.

As far as we can tell, the closest Sadie has come to any of this is developing contact rashes from tomato-based products touching her face.  She seems to be able to eat or drink anything with impunity.

So.  We’re not necessarily going on a crash elimination diet for three of us, but we are going to start changing what Valerie in particular gets, monitoring specifically what happens.


06:46 AM | Food & Cooking • Kids • Medical • (5) Comments • Permalink

Jay: Idol

Jason Castro is finally going home, several weeks after he earned it.  Hallelujah!

Inaccurate as they’ve become, I think Dial Idol is spot on, with the contestants in exactly the right order, and for the first time I can recall seeing this year, an unambiguous “red” indicator of who’ll be gone.

David Cook was amazing, and I liked his version of Hungry Like The Wolf.  Baba O’Riley made us want to make our first ever iTunes purchase to get the full version.

Achoo-Bot was a bit more human, but still a bot.  I never noticed just how much Stand By Me resembled Spanish Harlem.  To me he was just adequate, and if he wins I am not sure he’ll sell as they’d like.

Syesha took her late bloom and overacted Proud Mary, of which I dislike the Turner version, while doing okay.  What I heard of the other song, the only unfamiliar one of the night, was fine.  She played the race card so overtly and shamelessly that she ought to get points off for it, and it’s not necessary with her talent.

To be fair, I hate hate hate Clapton’s I Shot The Sheriff.  Never knew it was a cover.  I thought Jason was vastly superior, making the song make sense to me.  For me, he did not lose the night on the first song, apart from it maybe not being what people expect of an Idol.

Everyone knows Mr. Tambourine Man.  Nobody missed his mangling of the words.  He couldn’t have done a better job if he was intentionally trying to be voted off the show.  Not a top four contender.

I’ve come to a realization about American Idol.  Most seasons aren’t that good.

I just happened to start watching partway through season 4, quickly rooting for Bo Bice, while appreciating Carrie Underwood and being happy for her win, despite not being her market.  There were WTF contestants outside the top two, but it mostly worked.

Season 5 had a different magic.  Taylor Hicks was an absurd winner, though his album was better than he gets credit for.  Katharine McPhee was kind of an absurd runner up.  The field was loaded with talent, though, so we have Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler, and Bucky Covington, all great.

Season 6 was a low talent or potential group, notwithstanding the placement of Melinda, who could sing circles around Archuletta, who is her more successful heir.  At least we got the uniqueness of Blake Lewis in second.

This appeared to be a better season, but it also appeared the show was trying to make it so by having planted already pseudo-established talent, to the point of most of the top ten being clear or allegedly handpicked plants.  The ways in which the producers and judges play the public to try to get outcomes they prefer, let alone the fact they can throw out votes and do whatever if they really want, has never been more obvious.

Yet it’s kind of boring.  Jason’s gotten some of the support he has because he’s so different.  Archuletta is boring.  Syesha is mostly boring.  Chikezie is… oh wait!  Amanda is… oh wait!  There were predictions of a Cook versus Castro finale just because you’d have it down to the two least boring contestants.

Plant or not, if David Cook wins, I’ll feel like it’s not a total loss.  Yet I could wish he doesn’t, so he can escape the machine sooner.

My impressions of the early seasons, having not watched them, are that season 1 had a decent cast but got incredibly lucky with Kelly Clarkson, who made Idol as much as Idol made her.  Season 2 had a great cast, but the Clay versus Ruben controversy, which I was aware of even as a non-viewer, lost a lot of people.  Again, though, Clay’s success made it look good and paved the way for non-winners to have big careers later.  Season 3 may have had some talent, but Fantasia was an absurd winner, despite being who the powers that be wanted.  Just my impressions from here.  I think it’s telling that my brother said “you still watch that?” in a way that sounded like he’d watched early seasons and gotten jaded, be it by season 2 or season 3.

If most seasons aren’t that good, heck, that means this one could be considered one of the better years, and that may hold even if Achoo-Bot wins.  They’ll get their desired Clay McMelinda, while we get to see what Cook, Johns, Chikezie, never thought I’d say it but Carly too, and maybe Amanda produce going forward.


05:47 AM | Business • Music • TV • (2) Comments • Permalink

Monday, May 05, 2008

Jay: Much to Say

But if I start typing, I risk the kids coming unglued.  In a way it’s gone fine, Deb being at work while I’m with the kids.  At least, if doing anything useful - at least in chunks longer than 3 minutes - is not desired.  Also, working on the house seems to go over better than working on work, even if that runs the risk of “help” or at least being a human moth magnet.

Henry fell asleep repeatedly over lunch, then refused to nap and revived completely by the time I had him cleaned up.  I cleverly put lunch on the table for the girls, so they’d be at the opposite end of the house while I put him to sleep, so instead they followed us into the bedroom.  Which didn’t matter, because he was openly amused with my antics, thought I was a funny guy, thinking he’d nap.

In a way this isn’t much different from normal, in that there are stretches of peace, but I never know when I will be interrupted or how long I have at once to write, think, code, design, plan, whatever.

I managed to keep them from letting him get any milk, and so far any juice, so that’s a plus.

The idea is for me to do this and that and piece together a living here, while Deb spends a lot of scheduled shifts out of the house, which also constitutes a mental health break.  Any running around or seeing clients in person would work around her schedule or get covered by brief, as-needed babysitting.

However, we also talked about the idea of having someone like my mother come here for extended times even while I am not scheduled to leave, so allow me to get things done, while not having the kids alone for long periods without backup.  That’s looking better and better.

Okay, gotta check on them…


12:31 PM | Blogging • Business • Kids • Money • (0) Comments • Permalink

Jay: Happy Birthday

To blogger La Shawn Barber, who is 41 today.


06:10 AM | Birthdays • (0) Comments • Permalink

Jay: Happy Birthday

To Stephanie Snyder.


06:07 AM | Birthdays • (1) Comments • Permalink

Jay: Happy Birthday

To attorney Holly Lemieux.


06:07 AM | Birthdays • (0) Comments • Permalink

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Jay: Happy Birthday

To attorney Walter Galas.


10:32 AM | Birthdays • (0) Comments • Permalink

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Jay: Farming

We have the option of planting stuff on a small patch out back.  We’re talking maybe 3 tomato plants of decent size and maybe a couple other odds and ends, depending how much of the false bamboo I want to try to eradicate.  I was thinking that we could throw some stuff in containers on top of where the bamboo grows, effectively quashing it, but that begs the question of what for containers.

So I’m trying to decide whether to buy seeds and such and start tomatoes inside, or if I should just buy some.  Trouble is, a flat typically has more plants than I think I can fit, so I’d probably want to share with someone.  That and trying to decide what else.  Tomatoes are obvious, and reasonably compact.  The neighbor has promoted the idea of cucumbers, but those take more space.  Though it could be fun to plant something that roams and encourage it to encroach on the bamboo.  Peppers are fussy, in my experience.  I don’t care for leaf lettuce.

Anyway, half the reason for this is the kids - teaching them how stuff is raised, and where things like tomatoes come from.  Sadie will think it’s cool.


06:55 AM | Food & Cooking • Kids • Totally Random • (2) Comments • Permalink
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