The night that almost wasn't

Tickets in hand, my wife and I enjoyed a day away from the baby on the Twin Cities, until we realized that we needed batteries about fifteen minutes before the showtime on the ticket. Otherwise we were going to have to go back to baby.

Luckily the batteries were found, and disaster averted.

The show was kind of like the radio part of the movie. There’s really no better way to put it. Go see the movie if you want (it’s only ok) to get a flavor of what being there is like.

We sat in the very back row of the Fitzgerald Theater, but it felt like we were among friends. Or at least people with whom we shared something in common.

The whole affair had the informality that can only be had after doing the show every week for years on end. It began with some warmups of the band and audience. Then all of a sudden, Garrison Keillor started talking about it being the Prairie Home Companion from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota. Two hours later, it ended almost as informally with a curtain call and the band playing some music as everyone left.

The night we went, Martin Sheen, BR549, Nick Lowe and Maria Jette were the guest performers. A fun night.

Almost surreal after hearing the show on the radio for years.

See more progress on: Attend a performance of "A Prairie Home Companion"

A story about "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (New Line Platinum Series)"

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (New Line Platinum Series)

by Troy Miller

Shame.

That’s all I can say. I felt a moderate degree of shame checking out Dumb and Dumberer at the library. I felt even more ashamed when I put it into the DVD player at home. I had sunk to the ninth circle of shame when I lauged out loud at the movie.

But that’s life.

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Fantasy goals

I’m adopting this goal on a lark. I don’t know that I’ll ever manage to do it, but it seems like a fun idea. For what it’s worth, I’m a little over 1/3 of the way there. I speak Latin reasonably well (with a barbarous accent, I’m sure, but no Romans will correct me), I speak Spanish well enough to not kill myself in a Spanish-speaking country, and well, ah, not so much for #3.

See more progress on: learn to fluently speak three other languages

A review of "Voices from the Street"

Voices from the Street

by Philip K. Dick

I really didn’t enjoy this book per se. As a look at Philip K. Dick’s other works, it’s quite interesting.

Written early in his career and long unpublished, it is apparent why it hadn’t been published earlier. I’m not sure I would have read this had it not been written by Dick. It certainly isn’t my taste—it’s a work of realistic fiction set in the real world of the 50s, nor did I particularly care for the main character.

Even so, for serious PKD fans, I would recommend this book.

So why bother with this book? It explores lots of themes that Dick writes about in his other books. Specifically the man on the run, the less-than-wonderful marriage, the TV/radio repair shop, religion and mental illness. I was surprised at each plot turn by the way these things echo in other books. You might be too.

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She's taking the bottle

So I’m calling this done.

Somehow I’ve managed to get her to take the bottle. Things I’ve noticed that help:

1. Make sure mama is nowhere to be seen
2. Make sure baby is hungry. She’ll suck my knuckle vigorously if she is.
3. Get the milk really warm. I can’t fathom that it’s good that way, but then again, my wife makes it all at body temperature. I’d say of the factors listed, this is the most difficult to manage consistently.
4. Put baby in the swing, not against me. Otherwise she goes rooting for a breast, which, obviously enough, I don’t have.

See more progress on: get my daughter to take a bottle

More than three weeks

I’ve not had any caffeine for over three weeks.

I’m not going to say that I feel better, but I do feel like I don’t have this beast-of-the-morning I’ve got to placate before starting the day.

I’m quite pleased with myself.

See more progress on: quit caffeine

Do or die

Well, maybe not that extreme, but my wife went to work.

So it’s me, the baby and a bottle. We’ll see what the practice sessions add up to today.

See more progress on: get my daughter to take a bottle

The car pulled out

And my wife went to work.

I am now officially a stay-at-home dad.

I’m kinda kicking it this afternoon, so that I can attend to baby as best I can. But tomorrow I’ll have to get some work done too.

Learning to split my attention, which isn’t something I’m very good at, is something I’ll have to learn.

In fact, she woke up just as I started writing this, so I had to run off and do baby duty. I think something I’ll have to get serious about is connecting the upstairs computer to the internet. Otherwise I’ll be running up and down and up and down to get work done.

I’ve got a feeling this will be a really intense time for me.

See more progress on: Be a stay-at-home dad