Travis is feeling better now. I got some priceless grins from him yesterday morning after two days of not seeing any. His mood has improved even more today. It looks like his bout with this nastiness won’t last long at all.

We’ve got one of the cheapest, most useless dishwashers in our house. It didn’t even work properly when we closed, but functioned well enough for our home inspector to approve it. Putting a new timer dial on it probably cost more than the thing is worth. Even with that repair, the dishes constantly come out unwashed. Glasses have streaks, and food remains on the silverware and plates.

Today, we finally sealed its fate. A new, quiet, self-emptying Kenmore will be installed on Thursday. Yay!

I’ve been doing so much grumbling lately that I forgot to mention we’re going to Italy in May! Kelly’s family put the trip together and we can’t be more excited. It’s been a while since we’ve taken a vacation outside the borders of our Fatherland, er, Homeland, and Italy sounds like a great place to go next.

We’ll be visiting Siena, which has been called the worlds’ most beautiful city. Oh, and for you crooks out there, our neighbors’ Rottweilers will be holding down the fort while we’re gone.

Ciao!

I felt like I should write something important. So I did (see last sentence). I don’t really feel any better now. Strange.

Travis has had a fever the past day or so and has not been his usual (mostly) smiley self. His temp was 101 yesterday before we got the greenlight for Tylenol. He’s seemed to be in less pain today but looked worn out all day. Right now he’s with Kelly nursing.

I’ve been in a melancholy mood today, for whatever reason. Work was pretty busy this morning, with the phone seemingly ringing off the hook. Fortunately, it was a very understanding customer, if a needy one, and could have been worse. I felt like I had to get a break, so I ate my lunch in my car, sitting in the parking lot.

It may be just post-sickness delirium. I slept on the sofabed last night in an effort to give Kelly and Travis some room to rest, but wound up sleeping poorly. The cat kept crowding me and waking me up. Bah.

I may also be tiring of cube life. There’s this great cartoon I saved from a few years back. It shows two sides of society. The “loser” is locked in a small cell. The “winner” is locked in a small cubicle. The only difference is the uniform.

On the other hand, I formed a goal tonight on the way home. The goal is to put a million bucks into our back account. I figure its a good start, and within the realm of possibility depending on what I do.

Set a goal and work backwards. The rest will take care of itself.

I came across this challenging music quiz yesterday. It comes from Tom Danehy’s Music Grill, Tucson Weekly, Oct. 1996. Some answers are surprising.

Let’s see how good you are!

1. Name the best-selling album of all time which had no hit singles.

2. Name three No. 1 singles whose entire lyrics were in a foreign language. (Title and artist.)

3. What song are they singing about in “Killing Me Softly With His Song”?
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I just took a look at the stats page for MT.Net for the month of December. The site closed out the year with an impressive 48,344 hits for the month. A year prior, the December count was 18,024 hits. That’s a boost of 268%, for those keeping score at home. Pretty impressive.

I don’t have the yearly totals since my stat database got corrupted sometime in late summer, but maybe “One Day I’ll Fix It (TM).”

Listening to Dan Zanes Parades And Panoramas nonstop for the past few days has gotten me thinking ahead to Merlefest. The past two years I’ve talked about going, yet found myself still here. I guess the camping stuff doesn’t appeal to me much. If I only knew someone who has an RV I could borrow…

So what about it, Merlefesters? Do you camp or do the RV thing? How is the camping? Get any sleep?

1. Travis James Turner arrives. Big surprise, huh. The newest member of our family was born October 25th and has been bringing us joy ever since.

Kelly’s pregnancy was as routine as they come. We actually had a name picked out ahead of time. And I thought it a bit funny to have a birthday picked, too. Travis had a different birthday in mind, however. Kelly actually went into labor and Travis showed up two days early.

My friends gave me blogging props for posting from right outside the delivery room an hour before his birth. I was amused at being the only one around aware of all the HIPAA rules I was breaking. It was fun, though.

Travis is over two months old now. He’s looking nicely chubby and is getting better at sleeping. Every day before breakfast, the big guy gives me the most dynamite smiles. I tell you, he’s got charm like I’ve never seen. But boy, when he wants attention (in other words, when he doesn’t want to sleep in his bed), buddy, he can holler like there’s no tomorrow!

We’ve also noticed a social streak in him. Put him around new people and he’ll entertain himself by watching faces and offering those million-watt smiles. You can tell he truly likes that interaction, just like his sister.

Speaking of which, Hallie is such a wonderful big sister. She plays with Travis whenever he’s awake. Her favorite things are to show him her toys, and to “read” him her books. We’ve also recruited her to help with his baths, a role she loves to take on. I’m certain that they’ll have a great time growing up together.

We knew it would be a handful raising an infant and a toddler at the same time, and it has been. But its also been hugely rewarding. I feel like I’m becoming a father all over again, learning to parent in ways I never had to consider before.

It’s a shame time can’t slow down at this stage. I’m having too much fun!

My love don’t give me presents
I know that she’s no peasant
Only ever has to give me, love forever and forever
My love don’t give me presents

Turn me on when I get lonely
People tell me that she’s only foolin’, I know she isn’t
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