Hope everyone is doing well. Good outlook, Asta! At least things are green! :)

I commend you for going to meetings, Spryte...and the fact that you're up there putting it all out there is really something. You should be really proud of yourself. I like your M&M plan! Let us know what you think about meditation. Maybe I should try it. I need something..have not yet gotten that kick in the hiney I need. I'm tired...and disappointed in myself..and sad. Yuck.
:abce:
This is sorta how I feel.

Congratulations Tytan!! :a122:

I'm so glad to hear everything went well:)

Three thousand cheers for Tytan and his entire family!! (You'll have to pretend, cuz there is a limit on smilies here.) I couldn't be happier for you Tytan. Love and hugs to your whole family!! :scoregood :c011:

Day 86.
Mirage, his name is Gilliam and he is pretty chill compared to our first. Our first wanted to nurse 24/7 and my wife would be up for days at a time… although, he was also our first, so I am sure she smothered him more. Anyway, Gilly likes to nurse and sleep… he slept five hours straight the first night… so wifey is getting more rest. There are so many benefits to breastfeeding… but sharing nighttime responsibilities with your loving husband isn’t one of them… although she woke me up last night… I was like, “what, what… I’m awake! Do you need something? What can I do?” She was sitting up in bed nursing… she looked at me and said, “I just wanted to tell you I love you.” It was a really nice bleary eyed moment.
Anyway, due to the breastfeeding I tend to get more rest, but I channel that into taking responsibility over the house. With our first I took over all the meals, laundry, shopping, all that…now, in addition, I’m on 4-year old entertainment, so I gotta run!
Talk to you all tomorrow!

Congratulations Tytan - best wishes to you, your wife, your family and little Gilliam :D

D

Tytan...yeah, my husband would want to get up in the night to bring the baby to me..and after awhile I was like, 'hon..there's no point for both of us to be up!' It's nice that you pick up the slack in other areas. Gilliam...what a great name. Fun times!

Hope you're all having a great day!! :)

Tytan, Nice name. I like it. You've got quite a job ahead of you, but just think about how much harder, if not impossible, it would be if you were still drinking. Kiss the baby for me.

Aw, Tytan...such sweetness with your family...it's nice to hear about it.

Day 87.

Mirage, my wife came to the same conclusion, after a while with our first. At first she resented being the only on waking up and she started waking me up when she would nurse and I would handle diaper changes. But then she noticed the fact that neither of us were sleeping and that someone needed to have the energy to get the family through its normal day to day. And honestly, it makes the most sense… not to propagate gender roles, but men by nature want to provide… for a mom and newborn it is to provide the best environment for my wife to nurture. As the natural milk producer she needs to me on the babies schedule and I need to be on the families schedule. Anyway… life is good… except for my thesis.

My professor sent me edits for my first chapter and deems some of my sources “un-scholarly” asking me to remove them from the paper. These sources included Gallup, CNN Exit Polls, and a couple web based publications. I challenged her assessment. But she says we can only use “scholarly” sources published in “scholarly” journals… Maybe I am over practical, but I am having a hard time listening to her argument. She seems to be judging sources based on their method of publication rather than their contribution to the subject… but seems very odd to me. And besides, I am the researcher, should I get to decided what sources are pertinent to my argument?

Anyway, my own personal soap opera, “As The Tytan Turns” continues.

Tytan, "Play the game." You'll be doing it most of your career anyway so might as well get used to it. At least that was the case with me.

Arguing with your thesis supervisor is never very productive tho is it? LOL.

Like it or not, they have a major input into how the paper is presented, and rightly or not it's a handy training ground for the way things are in much of academia, like Asta said.

I think you either have to learn to compromise, or find a new supe.
Or add some appendices ;)

D

Day 88.
Ah yes... playing the game... which is what I am doing. My wife reminded me that this injustice actually simplifies my paper... now it's pretty much a book report rather than a real exploration of a theory. "Easy peasy" as my son is know to say. The four year old... not the four day old.
Although, I got my frustrations out... one well placed facebook rant has started a dialogue among friends… so my professor is spared.
Oh! My son just walked in… got to go!


Although, I got my frustrations out... one well placed facebook rant has started a diologe

Just make sure no "undesirables" have access to your facebook page. I strictly limit access to my page, although there is nothing really there. But you never know who is poking around.:brick

Day 89,
Yes, facebook security is very important... I have pretty strict permissions in place. Only friends can see what I post... and I have different levels of friendship... and only friends of my friends can even find me on facebook... to the rest of the world I am Keyser Söze.
Anyway, enough about me… I’ve been raving for days… how is everyone else doing?

Tytan-Raving for days about a new baby isn't "raving." It's sharing joyful news! There is so much crap in the news about all the bad things happening, that it is so nice to hear that healthy new life is still coming into this world without baggage.

My tax clients are making appointments earlier this year so I've actually got a backlog already. I'm still trying to make time for a workout, albeit not as long most likely most days. Rain continues here but the forecast is for it to stop this afternoon and actually have a few days of partly sunny weather. That would be a nice change. Give me a chance for at least a small walk on the beach.

Not much else new. The moles don't seem to be as active this year as last, so that is good news. We had new sod and sprinkler system put in a small area of the yard last year and so far we haven't had to repair mole hills there. Lots of other areas, but at least not in the new grass.

How's everyone else doing?

Hey all! Doing well here! Going to a superbowl party tomorrow at our friends' house. Big partiers...but I'll be dd. My friend will be disappointed probably, but oh well. Making a 7 layer taco dip type thing and hot crab dip. The food is the best part really, isn't it?

I've been thinking about facebook lately. I wonder if there would be any interest here at SR in having a thread or sticky or something where people could go if they wanted to friend others here, on fb. Not sure cuz a lot of people enjoy the anonymity, but I just thought it might be cool to have that chat feature there, too. (I'm there more often than I am here.) Sometimes I wanna know what people look like, too! :) And I feel like a lot of you folks are friends now..in ways you know me better than a lot of real life friends. Just thinking out loud.

Have a great weekend, Vembertines!! (just made that up) Go Colts!

Day 90! New Milestone... if only may paper would hit a milestone. Chapter two is due today and I am about halfway through (only 17 pages... erg)... i worked my normal 2 hours this morning and feel like I only completely one page... I'm going to have to put in some time after everyone goes to bed.
My four year old is being very sweet with the baby, but we’ve hit some behavior issues… especially when we tell him tv time is over, dinner time, and bedtime. We tried to limit his number of shows, but he has no concept for what 2 morning shows and 2 afternoon shows mean… so in sheer desperation… on the fly I made up “Bucks”. LOL! While writing the sentence my kid just ran in to give me a “Buck” to watch a show. Anyway, I have him ten pennies and told him the rules:
1. He can spend his bucks on the following things:
a. 30 minute tv show = 1 buck
b. Movie (any length) = 2 bucks
c. Trip to McDonalds = 2 bucks
d. 30 minutes of computer games = 1 buck
e. Treat = 1 buck
f. And when we are at a store, if he wants to buy something he has to pay for it with his bucks (I roughly estimate 1 “buck” = 2 or 3 dollars.
2. Mom and Dad can NOT take away the bucks he has earned, they are his.
3. BUT, mom and dad CAN close the bank if his behavior becomes less than desirable, which means he can’t spend any of his “bucks” on anything.
4. And finally, he can earn “bucks” throughout the day by being kind, cooperative, etc… there are only a few set things… like he can earn 2 bucks for eating dinner at the table and asking to be excused… and three bucks for a cooperative bedtime (brush teeth, pee-pee and books without fighting).
5. If he runs out of bucks… he can’t do anything.
This was established 100% on the fly… and for the last two days it have worked. I am dumbfounded. It’s like we have a new boy! Yesterday I took him to the movies (which cost him 2 bucks and 1 buck for the ice cream afterwards)… when we got home he took his remaining 5 bucks and gave them to me as a gift for being a “great dad for taking me to the movies”. I was so touched that I took his 5 bucks and doubled them, awarding him 10 bucks for his generosity. Man, having a 4 year old you can reason with is amazing!
BTW: Mirage, I thought I liked you… Go Saints! I grew up in a Baltimore Colts household… when they moved to Indianapolis my father was so hurt he forbid pro-football in the house. Lol. I’m now a die-hard Falcons (and whoever plays the Colts) fan… I have to support our division champs!

Wow Tytan...that's a pretty impressive reward system for on the fly! Glad it's workin for ya. SOO sweet he gave you bucks..love that. We used to call 30 minute tv shows "Scooby Doos" so they'd understand 30 minutes. "ie. dinner is in one scooby doo...etc. In their elem school the teachers have "bucks"..they call em "Miller bucks" for example. Same type thing..behavior based..and then they can cash em in for stuff.
Sounds great...(let's hope in a few weeks he's not thinkin "screw the bucks.") Ha.

Yeah, the only reason I'm goin with the Colts is that I go down to Indy with my brother, for a weekend every summer, to visit friends. I have no real tie to New Orleans...other than the rockin time I had on Bourbon Street one New Years Eve. Plus, I like their uniforms better. (I'm a chick..I had to throw that in.)

Enjoy the game folks! (Lookin forward to The Who at halftime.)

Wow..the Saints pulled it out! Happy for em..I love me an underdog.

The superbowl party went well. No drinking (yay me). Still wish I had more time under my belt to feel more established, but only time can help that. It's like I don't wanna quit drinking, I just wanna be a non-drinker. Yeah, I know.

Day 91.

Tytan is very happy about the Super Bowl out come!!!

Mirage! Great job dodging the booze!

Okay folks... wish me luck... my mother in law arrives tomorrow... erg.