Obligatory New Father Post

On Tuesday, April 14th at 3:54pm, Nola Mercy En-Ai Fisher was born. She was 6 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches. I have participated in the creation of another human being. Holy Crap.

I've heard numerous new fathers talking about how life-changing an experience, how unutterably wonderful it is, and I never understood it. I'm still getting there. When huge, monstrous events happen that have such intense amounts of emotion tied to them, I tend to process the information for many days (or weeks). I'm still processing, I think. Only just today have I been able to hold her and think of her in any way beyond just intellectual acknowledgement that she is actually my daughter. But I'm still chugging through the huge emotional impact. Over the past few days I noticed that when I'm not there, I couldn't wait to hear her plaintive little whiny cry/whimper again. Now (and I doubt this is going to last), crying is not an annoyance to me, but rather a signal of life. For the first time in my life, I've started singing little spontaneous songs as I'm holding her. I've also noticed that I'm much more open and accepting of other people, as if the world is a better place.

Let me tell you how everything happened:
WARNING: FROM HERE, THERE IS TOO MUCH INFORMATION. IF YOU'RE UNINTERESTED IN THE SOMEWHAT GRUESOME DETAILS, STOP READING NOW.
I had been up too late, playing a free trial of Age of Conan (which I recommend, by the way), so I got up a bit late that morning. As such, I was rushing around to get myself ready in time for work. Heidi had gone to the bathroom and taken a shower after I got done, and when she came out, she told me she thought her water might have broken. She lay down on the bed for a bit and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so I decided to head to work. As I was walking to the bus stop, I saw the far-too-familiar sight of the bus driving by as I was two blocks away. I've gotten used to that, so I wasn't a huge deal to me. However, just before I got to the bus stop, Heidi calls me and said, "Yep, my water broke." I turned right around and headed back home as she called her doctor.

What followed next was a pretty quick labor. I should state right now that Prentice Women's Hospital is a very nice hospital in which there is one patient per delivery room and one patient per room in recovery. It's one of the few hospitals I've been in that wasn't depressing and scary. In any case, the hospital staff kept a pretty close eye on Heidi's blood pressure and the baby's heart rate during the labor. At each contraction, the baby's heart rate dipped a little bit, which is fairly common. However, at one point, the baby's heart rate dropped from it's usual 140 to the mid 50's, and didn't come back up. Immediately, there were a dozen people in the room and Heidi was rushed out to an operating room. They left me in the normal delivery room, alone and clueless. This was a pretty rough time for me. It was as if I walked off a cliff and fell into the sea, and didn't know when or if I would rise back to the surface. I called people to pray, and then sat there alone, praying on my own. After about 10 minutes, someone came in and told me that the baby's heart rate came back up and both mother and baby looked like they were doing OK. Then she left, asking me to stay where I was, and I was sitting there alone for another 20 minutes. Eventually, our nurse came into the delivery room and took me back to the OR. This wasn't something that any of the medical professionals thought of, but Heidi had asked them to go get me, as she knew I'd be panicked. I married a good woman.

When I got in the OR, Heidi was on a table, surrounded by a few doctors and nurses, who were discussing whether or not she should go back to the delivery room to finish up delivering normally. Heidi had dilated from 5 cm to 9 cm (10 cm is fully dilated) in the space of an hour, and the kid had had a hard time tolerating that. Evidently the motion of rushing her to the OR had worked it's magic, and the kid was in much better shape. They waited for two hours to see if she should go back to the delivery room and finish up. After that, the doctors realized that Heidi was not dilating any more despite some pretty intense contractions, and determined that the baby should come out via Caesarian. Since this wasn't an emergency C-Section, I was able to stay in the room with Heidi; they put a sheet up between us and the operation, so we could avoid the nastiness. Before I knew it (but what seemed like 30 years), the baby was out and shrieking her tiny little lungs out.

She tested almost perfectly on the Apgar test (a scale that measures the health of a newborn), but since she was still considered a preemie (she was 36 weeks, 6 days; 37 weeks is acceptably "full term"), they wanted to run some tests on her, and the test that measures her ability to regulate the glucose level in her blood came back a little weak. So they took her to the NICU, where she still is.

For a NICU, Prentice's is very nice. We're able to have an alcove to ourselves, and we have 24/7 visiting. They have a solid once-every-three-hours feeding schedule, which is convenient, because we know when to go down and be with her, and then at night we actually can get an adequate night's sleep. Still, Nola had to have a Dextrose IV for the first couple days of her life. she soon established her ability to maintain a good glucose level, but then the staff doctor noticed she was a little jaundiced. Jaundice is really common for Asian kids (Heidi had it much worse when she was freshly out of the oven), so this was nothing unusual, but still a bit annoying. Tomorrow, if all goes well (which the doctor is confident it will), she will be here in the room with us, as Heidi finishes up her recuperation.

So yeah, I am responisble for creating another human being. That human being is partially me. Blows my mind.

Stardust

I heard nothing about the movie Stardust prior to it coming out. I saw the placard in the movie theatre, and thought it looked interesting, but nothing beyond that. When I mentioned it to Heidi as looking interesting, she was thinking the same thing. To take a break from the car panic and the packing frenzy, we chose to go see a fun little happy movie. Indeed, it was fun, happy and a movie. Not so much on the little.

This is one of the grander adventures I've seen in a while. I loved Lord of the Rings, but it was an epic quest, not really an adventure. It's a story of a young English man by the name of Tristran (Charlie Cox) living in the 19th century from the village of Wall. Aptly named, the town is near a very long wall with one gap in it. Not many people know of it, but the wall separates England from Stormhold, a magical, mythical fantasy realm, ruled by a monarchy based almost entirely on fratricide. The king of Stormhold (Peter O'Toole) lies dying, somewhat passive aggressively chastising his four remaining living sons that they haven't killed one another off yet. Meanwhile, the dead sons' ghosts are providing a hilarious commentary on various situations as they follow the action along, waiting for the next king to be crowned before they can pass on to their actual afterlife. The king decrees that the next king will not only be the last living male heir of the line, but the one who restores his diadem/amulet/necklace. As he dies, the ruby flies from his castle into the sky. Menawhile, Tristram is trying to win Victoria's (his female obsession) heart by spending his entire savings on a champagne picnic under the stars. She mentions that his rival will return in a week with a ring for her, they see a star falling from the sky and Tristram promises he will bring that star back for her before the week is out, in return for her hand in marriage (and yes, it's even more pathetic in the movie). The star is on the other side of the wall, and Tristram makes it across. As it happens, the star is a lovely young woman named Yvaine (Claire Danes), who was knocked out of the sky by the king's diadem. Michelle Pfeiffer plays a hideous old witch who stays young and beautiful through easting the heart of a star. When she sees the falling star, she heads out to get her and her sisters Yvaine's heart. Sounds like a complex setup, doesn't it? It is, and it makes for a fantastic experience.

The princes are simultaneously trying to off their siblings while racing to find and restore the ruby. Lamia is desperately trying to find the star so she can cut out her heart. Tristram is, somewhat ineptly at first, trying to get Yvaine back across the wall to Victoria. Eventually the one remaining prince realizes that if he eats the star's heart, then he will live forever and establish a kingdom eternally under his rule. Through the various travels and misadventures, we meet fun and quirky characters (particularly Robert De Niro playing a sky pirate trying to hide his flamboyantly gay side from his rough-and-tumble priate crew) , see amazing sights, and are along for a great ride.

This is a wonderful movie. It's akin to The Princess Bride in that it's a fun and dynamic adventure, with a quirky sense of humor, but it's more complex and smarter than The Princess Bride. It inspires me to be a man, to be noble, to be an adventurer. It inspires me to love my wife and to be truthful to my heart. It makes me feel like a big kid again. It actually makes me beleive that a story can actually end "Happily Ever After." It's almost as if it's a two hour advertisement for an exciting life.

I'm not sure if this is going to be an all-time favorite (although it'll be in the short list for 2007), but it will be one of those films that I can see once a month for the rest of my life and have as much fun the 157th time as I did the first. Highly recommended.

Did you see me waving?

Hey, you know that Metra train that derailed? I was on that.

It was just the back two cars. Nobody was hurt, just a few people were annoyed, and we all got to work an hour later than anticipated. Here's what I know happened: we stopped, we started again, and we stopped again. The conductor got on the PA and told us we'd derailed the back two cars. Here's what I think happened. We stopped with the front five cars on one end of a switch, and the back two on another end. Somebody turned the switch, and we started moving, pulling the two back cars off.

Yay for an adventure on a Monday morning commute!

On being a hero

I saved two kittens last night. Heidi's mother saw some kittens in their storm window (a window in the basement that looks out at the bottom of a four-foot pit). They had only recently gotten there, probably in the late afternoon. Heidi's mom saw an adult cat (presumably their mother) in the window, presumably attempting to save them, but couldn't, and jumped out on its own. The window doesn't open (or at least hasn't in Heidi's lifetime), so it was up to someone going into the storm window on the outside to go get them. I stepped up to that challenge. There was a bush in front of the storm window pit, one that had some pretty sizeable branches right up next to the house. It took me about five minutes to be able to squeeze past it. I lowered a foot down into the pit, and the kittens were well and truly terrified, trying to find a way to avoid me in their little square foot of space. As most kittens are, these were impossibly cute. I nabbed the tabby one first, but it squirmed out of my hand, and I had to go back for it. The second (calico?) was a lot easier, because I picked it up from the back of the neck, like a mother cat would. It tried to squirm, but that didn't do much. Both were set down on the ground just out of the stormwindow, and ran off, but not out of the bushes. I'm guessing that their mother was somewhere in there, and they ran to her safety.

Now, I realize I'm building this up a lot more than it should be. I pulled two cats out of a stormwindow, not two children out of a well. But I don't care.I'm proud of my accomplishment. It makes me feel as though I accomplished something great in a week of relative mediocrity. I'm a hero!

Vegas, Baby!

We're in Vegas right now. Heidi has a conference for work, and I decided to tag along. We're staying at The Belaggio, and it's pretty nice. We're on the 26th floor, so we have a lovely view. From high up, however, the city of Las Vegas looks a bit like a giant strip-mall-cum-trailer-park with a few giant neon buildings scattered around, all of which is in a scenic desert valley. Our room is lovely, however we miss our bed at home; this one is comfortable, but not as much as ours (we have a really nice bed at home). Also, the elevators are the fastest and smoothest I think I've ever ridden on. We get to the 26th floor in just under 20 seconds, and you barely feel like you're moving.

So far, there hasn't been a lot to note. Walking up and down the strip has been the bulk of our time here, although I'm taking a lot of opportunities to relax, because I can. Today, we're taking more advantage of what Vegas has to offer; tonight, we're seeing Penn & Teller, and might do a buffet if we have the time, inclination and stomach capacity.

Yes, I've gambled a little bit. I had earmarked $40 for gambling, and I've only had a net loss of $30. I've only done slots, because I don't know much about the table games. Maybe I'll read up on those before I come out here next. I have had the challenge of changing some of my perspectives here; when I came here before (moderately frequently when I lived in LA), I was single. I could do pretty much as I pleased, within the bounds of my morals. Now I'm married, and I have to curtail a lot of my habits. When you're married, what happens in Vegas stays in your relationship. So I've been good. No late night carousing, and very limited gambling. We're going to be gluttons, though.

Today, I aslo went to a firing range and, for the first time (and possibly the last), I emptied a clip of an AK-47 into a target that looked like Saddam Hussein. If/when we come back here, I'll try other fully automatic weapons, as they have quite a few there. Really, firing an AK-47 is not much different than some of the more realistic video games. The only significant difference (other than the fact that I was holding a real, loaded assault rifle), was that a casing came up and hit me on the cheek, and those things are really hot! I have a small burn just below my eye from it.

Other observations: the strip is all about soaking as much money from you as they can. In the bigger casinos, most things are roughly twice as expensive as they should be. They're nice, but they're pricey. Also, I was on the bus on the way back from the firing range, and looking around at people. Admittedly, these are people who are taking the bus instead of a car, but I was shocked at the high percentage of people who appeared hopeless and desperate. Lastly, this place is an adult theme park. Nothing is real; it all appears kind of plastic. It's obscenely opulent, and there are a lot of opportunities you wouldn't have elsewhere, and a lot of very cool shows you couldn't see elsewhere, but it seems to be unreal. What it boils down to is that it's a nice place to visit, but not very often.

Brew #2: A Christmas Adventure!

Yesterday Mattox was over and we brewed a Christmas Ale. It was a good time to hang out and the first time we had seen Matt since the wedding. It was a bit of an adventure, though. This was the first time I brewed in the new place, and the brewing in the new environment thing seems to be an interesting experience. Schaumburg water tends to taste a bit like chlorine, so I had to buy a gallon of water and then fill that jug with filtered water, but that was a small matter. I think the biggest thing that made it an adventure was the fact that the kit was improperly packed, and didn't include hops or the right spices. The spices aren't much of an issue, the lack of hops is a pretty big one. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the hops thing until we were almost to boiling. Fortunately, there's a brew shop in Schaumburg, unfortunately they had just closed when I called. Here's where you rely on the kindness of strangers, at least strangers who brew. I explained that I was right in the middle of a brew and needed to get hops. They asked how soon I could get there, and we were off. Not only did I find the place, but it was a nice one. They had already won a new customer when they let me buy stuff after closing time, but they would have won a new customer just by being the shop that they are. Neato!

We also figured out a new heat transfer tool. I have a copper-coil "heat sink" (not sure what it's actually called) that goes into the pot for a quick heat transfer to cool the wort down after the boil, but it requires hooking it up to a nozzle, which I don't have in my kitchen (the sink doesn't have that kind of faucet). In my old place, we used this by holding the nozzle over the faucet, and that's what I expected to do for the 15-20 minute cooldown process this time. However, Matt, being the ever-resourceful guy that he is, looked around the immediate area and saw the right kind of nozzle coming off the washing machine. We managed to pull the pot over to the dryer, and started the flow, and the tube connecting to the copper coils promptly popped right off, spraying water all over the place. A little screw tightening later (combined with turning on the water a little slower), and we were transferring heat quickly, cleanly and with little fuss.

I have a good feeling about this brew. The last one was a hit with friends, and there's still plenty of it left, but I think this one is going to be even better. I'm not sure if I'll have enough bottles to do the third brew this year, but we'll see what-all comes of it.

And now, the details:
Extract:
8 lbs, Ultralight Malt

Grain:
8 oz, Crystal 120L
8 oz, Caravienne
4 oz, Honey Malt
2 oz, Special B
2 oz, Black Roasted

Hops:
1 oz, Northern Brewer Hops (bittering)
1 oz, Willamette (aroma)

Spices:
2 tsp, Cinnamon
2 tsp, Pumpkin
1 tsp, Ginger

Yeast:
White Labs California Ale yeast

And Whirfloc as a clarifier.

Original Gravity, approximately 1.068

Honeymoon Update 2: Driving in Italy

I don't have a great deal of time, and punctuation is difficult on an Italian keyboard, so I'll just discuss a facet of my time here: driving. I'll start with a brief summation: aw hell, it's fun!

Italy has much narrower roads, and Italians tend to drive quickly over windy mountain roads. I haven't had such an exciting experience driving since I left California, and even that has a tough battle to match this. Again, everywhere you look is a postcard, and it makes for an incredibly cool experience. In a lot of places, you can keep the car in neutral and just coast down the mountain roads (this is actually how we get to our place, most of the time). Street signs don't mention any road numbers or directions, just that you go this way, you get to this town. It makes it crazy easy to navigate, if you know what is on the way, and you really never have to look at a map unless you've made a mistake. Driving in a city is a crazy trip, because you have all those experiences, plus trying desperately to avoid other cars and the innumerable scooters around the way.

For this reason, cars tend to be in good shape. It's pretty rare to see a beater car, as you need great brakes and a smooth clutch in order to get anywhere safely. We rented a little Fiat Punto, which has both in spades.

More to come...

Air Power

There are fighter jets zooming around downtown in preparation for the air show this weekend. It's kinda cool. I can't see them, as the lab is stuck under a lot of buildings, but I can hear them roar by every now and then.

Flashback: 2002

I hadn't left California yet, but was steadily going broke on a combination of lack of work and... well, that was pretty much it. I decided to clear my mind and go for a long drive. At the time, my long drives were day-long experiences (which means that when I sold that car, it had 170,000 miles on it). I drove out to Death Valley, and just was perched on an outcropping overlooking the valley. Over the mountains on the other side of the valley, I saw two fighter jets flying around, almost as if they were playing. This was just after the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, so I assumed that they were flying from there back to Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave desert (at least that would have put them roughly on this course). I'm a guy, so seeing two jets flying around is really cool to me, so I thought I'd stick around and watch them. They seemed to be getting a little closer, which was cool, and I continued to watch. Before I knew it, however, one of them was bearing down on me. The guy must have flown by about 300 feet away from me. That was cool. Too late, I remembered I had my camera in my car, so I turned around to go back to my car, and there was the other guy, maybe 100 feet from me, just passing behind me. Practically blew me over with the shock of it. He was even tilted over a little, so I could see into his cockpit. I probably could have made out facial details if he hadn't been wearing his helmet. They went on, and kept flying, but that was cool to have been nearly strafed by two fighter jets.

Ah, memories.