Brandon, Barb & Maya too!

Well, mostly just 'hide'!

I know it's been a while since I posted on here, but we've been REALLY busy. Maya's been loving her finger foods lately and today she had her first taste of broccoli. It is probably her favorite so far (even more than an organic cheese doodle, which is a very good sign!)

Enjoy!

I'm in the first few seconds of the story. I'm also in several of the papers this morning and on two news stations. Here is the one from WMBF News (NBC).

I can't seem to be able to embed it for some odd reason, but here is the link:

I was reading Maya a Winnie the Pooh book today and remembered this video that I found online from, what, 12 years ago or so?

Absolute classic!

The ACC, arguably the most prestigious baseball conference in the nation, announced a few weeks ago that Myrtle Beach would host their conference championships from 2011 through 2013. While Myrtle Beach does not have any true ties to the ACC (Clemson is about 4+ hours away and UNC is about 3 1/2 hours away), it was going to be a nice treat to see such a high level of baseball played.

While Coastal plays some of the best baseball in the nation, they are the only team in their conference that is legitimate in any way. They are arguably a Top-15 team in the nation with a conference that belongs in Division III competition.

Soon after the announcement, the ACC decided to pull the tournament out of Myrtle Beach after pressure received from the NAACP. Why? Because the NAACP boycotts South Carolina due to the fact that we still fly the Confederate Flag.



Now, I think everyone is wrong in this situation. The ACC for pulling the event due to politics, the NAACP for playing the race card to weigh in on events...but most of all, the State of South Carolina for being so archaic in their ways that they insist on flying that damn confederate flag on the capital building. The toilet paper I wipe my ass with is worth more than the cloth that flag is sewn from.

I can understand the differences in ways down here. The "four wheelers," the loud motorcycles, the belief that you must fry everything from chicken down to broccoli...hell, I can even live with those damn mullets that somehow are worn to show off your "rebelness." But I can't live with the confederate flag being hoisted atop pickup trucks, accompanied by 8 other confederate flag bumper stickers claiming that "The South will rise again!" I can't live with confederate beach towels, with confederate bikinis (stop embarrassing yourself and just take them off! :-P ), with a confederate flag flying just six houses down the street from me on my quiet, quaint little cul-de-sac.

The argument I hear is that it is a sign of their heritage. Really? Just because you are from the South and just because something is of your heritage doesn't mean you should be proud of it. Should German families fly flags of the swastika to show their pride in their German heritage? The Confederate Flag embodies all things evil and wrong in humans -- to enslave other humans out of this disgusting perception that somehow they are lesser beings than you of a lesser mind and lesser "God given rights." I mean, that IS what this nation was founded on, wasn't it? It was founded on freedoms that our people weren't allowed by the King of England. It was founded on God Given Rights, as so stated in the Declaration of Independence.

The irony of it all is that these same people that are racist, that sport the Confederate Flag with pride are the same ones that are Bible thumping right-wing ultra evangelical conservatives. Talk about the hypocrisy. Why is it that these same people that 'praise the Lord' every week in Church, that scream at the top of their lungs for their rights while watching Fox News are the same ones that support the removal of those rights for anyone but people like them?

If there is a God, if there truly is someone at the end of our lives that judges us for what good we have done and how we have sinned, I am awfully confident that he will judge these same individuals rather harshly for twisting his word, his meaning and his name around into something that might as well have been crafted by the devil.

I just wish more people had the ability to be objective about their perspectives, their opinions and their lifestyles...to take a step back and honestly ask themselves, "Is how I live and how I act and how i feel truly making the world a better place?" Because in the end that is all that matters. I don't get paid a lot at Habitat and I often am asked why I don't move into the private sector where I'd make a silly amount more than what I do here at a non-profit. The answer is very easy -- I can't make a difference there. Here, on a daily basis, I am touching lives. I won't say I 'change' them because it takes more than one person and more than one mission to do that. But I do touch lives and make them better for whatever length of time possible. My fingerprints are on a lot of things here in this community and I like that. I can't have that effect elsewhere.

But people need to smarten up a bit and realize that THEIR way isn't ever the correct way. There is no correct way. We are human and fallible. But the biggest failure of all is when we don't recognize that damage we cause for such archaic beliefs such as those that support the confederate flag.

I hope that by the time my daughter gets old enough to ask what that funny other flag is, we will have smartened up by then and already buried it along with all the life perspectives associated with it.

But...I'm not holding my breath...

See that new 'ShareThis' icon at the bottom of each post? You can use that to share anything on here with friends and family via a multitude of services (actually, there are so many on that list that I don't recognize half of them!).

Try it out, see how it works.

Remember that lazy baby that I just made mention of the other day? Well, she decided to show us that she could sit up today...and not just for a few seconds, but literally keep herself up for pretty much as long as she needed to.

Barb said she did it while watching Mochi today (she LOVES Mochi, by the way). While we were at Barb's softball game tonight, Barb put her on the grass and she was just there sitting on her own. I had no idea she could do that! It was very cool to see.

Anyway -- so much for that worry from us and the doctor.

Played in that charity tournament this past week -- and played well, I did! (sorry for the Yoda-like entry there)

I got worried after my team didn't use any of my shots over the first three holes, but then come the fourth hole the driver kicked it into high gear, as did the three-wood on the very next shot coming just short of the green in two, and then my chip over a couple of humps in the green that ended up sitting just two feet short of the cup on a perfect line.

That hole started an excellent run of holes that netted several 'natural' birdies (i.e. holes where only my shots were played from beginning to end).

My driver was once again my biggest asset, as it has been most of the time I have played recently. Not sure what the difference is now, but I hit fairways probably 75% of the time and my average drive has to be in the 290 range at this point. The irons were a bit off (until I finally got a bit fed up with them and 'called' a 5-iron to be on the stick prior to stepping up to the ball...resulting in a shot that sat pin-high and two-feet to the left of the hole).

The putter was 'off' until the 18th hole when I drained a 30-footer for birdie ('off' as in not making any long putts, but always being right around the hole).

You can never tell what you would have shot in a Captain's Choice format since you are never playing your bad shots, but I'd have to imagine that 80 would have been the worst I could have shot out there with as solid as my driver and wedges were. Definitely a confidence booster.

We shot -10 under, 62 as a team, which was far far lower than my three teammates were used to scoring in these events (the other three play in these often), so it was nice to contribute.

Just got back from the Doctor. Our Doctor (Kennon Harris) is really cool. She's a young, caring pediatrician that I'm sure we will be with for quite some time.

So -- to refresh you memory, at 4-months Maya was at the 50th percentile in weight, the 20th in length and 65th in head size.

At 6-months she remains at the 50th percentile in weight (just a shade under 16 lbs), moved up to the 50th percentile in length (now just over 25 inches) and moved up to the 75th percentile in head size.

So, aside from her ginormous head, she's just you perfectly average baby (average = great in my book!).

The Doctor did agree with us that she's just a lazy little thing. Wants no business in sitting up, pulling herself up or anything else that might exert a bit of energy. Dr. Harris said it has nothing to do with her muscle structure, as her muscle tone is excellent...we just have a lazy little baby who rather play and laugh than do any work (should be a wonderful combination come school days...eesh!).

By the end of August, Dr. Harris wants her sitting up on her own. If she isn't, we'll have to bring her in to be checked out to see if there is some other reason. But I don't think it amounts to much more than her just being a lazy bum.

I will say this though -- she's tough! Got nailed with shots today at the pediatrician and toughed it out. Let out a quick whimper and that was it -- 10 seconds later she was looking at me, smiling and playing. DEFINITELY does not get that toughness from me, that is for sure!

Going to FreeStyle Music Park today as I took an early day off from work after that marathon of a fundraiser last night (I've never been so tan in my life as I am right now).

Golf tournament tomorrow. Playing with the Myrtle Beach Chief of Police and the Fire Chief...should be interesting. Captain's Choice format which is probably best for me. I might not be the most consistent, but I know I can pull off a spectacular drive / iron / chip / putt every so often. I've never actually played in a Captain's Choice format, so I'm looking forward to it. I'd like to think that I'd be pretty useful in that, especially if I were the last guy to chip & putt whenever needed. We'll see!

I like it. The new logo is the antheneum on the right with the wave. The old one was much more old fashioned. Nice job. For once our marketing department got it right in moving toward a current and hip look and feel, yet remaining with an academic sense.

Image by West Virginia Blue via Flickr

Had to take Mochi to the emergency vet this evening (just getting back right now). She was bit by a poisonous snake. Through deduction, it really could have only been a Copperhead. If it were one of our other poisonous snakes (we are lucky to be one of the few states in the country with ALL FIVE of the USA's poisonous snakes) she would have already been dead.

So, things could have been worse for sure. The vet techs said that a snake bite like this (especially from a Copperhead) is probably the best case scenario. She has to stay in the hospital overnight for monitoring, anti-venoms, anti-inflammatories, etc. but she should be fine in the morning to be picked up.

Copperheads, while the least venemous (in terms of being deadly), are one of the few snakes that will strike while being unprovoked (or even slightly provoked, as most will be too scared to do so). That said, if there was a snake in the vicinity, I know for damn well sure that it WAS provoked by Mochi. But any other kind would slither away ASAP upon seeing Mochi. Copperheads think they are the badasses of the reptile kingdom and wouldn't have a problem coming right up to Mochi (or anyone / anything else, which is what is scary when thinking about Maya).

Anyway -- death was obviously avoided here (at least, that seems to be true...we'll know for sure tomorrow). And a broken leg would have been much, much worse than this as well. As you can see in the x-ray to the right, he right front leg is very swollen compared to her left. There may very well be some permanent muscle damage from the venom, but it shouldn't be deadly.

I'm calling this day complete...been too long.

-BTC

Okay, well, for all the 'old people' that read this blog, that is a great song by the late Notorious B.I.G.

Anyway, booked my flight for LAX just now...gotta love air miles. Fly anywhere I want for free. A beautiful thing.

Itinerary:

Thursday, October 22nd
DEPART: MYR @ 4:10PM --> DEPART Charlotte (my favorite airport in the world!) @ 6:10PM --> ARRIVE LAX @ 8:38PM

Monday, October 26th
DEPART: LAX @ 1:20PM --> DEPART Charlotte @ 10:25PM --> ARRIVE MYR @ 11:15PM

At least for some part of Friday morning, I will be meeting with Habitat - Los Angeles. Partly to pick their brains (they are the largest affiliate in the country), partly to reduce the amount of vacation time I need to take. So, it is a small price to pay for flying out to LA while not having to take any time off from work.

Thomas and I will be staying together. That way he can have some sort of transportation when I rent a car. We'll probably stay toward LAX for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, then stay in Irvine on Sunday. We'll both be flying out around the same time on Monday so we can return the car on that date together.

Should be enjoyable.

Remember -- you can always find these on the Flickr link to the right of this page.

NPOHorizons.com

That is my new website (don't bother going there yet, it isn't created)

NPO is an acronym for Non-Profit Organization, by the way.

Why the website? Well, I'm going to try my hand at consulting for non-profit (FOR profit, of course, on my end). I finally decided to do this after a luncheon seminar last week where my CEO, me, and many other NPOs from our community met and listened to a seminar on how NPOs must be active online...

...I knew the seminar was going to be elementary for me, but hey, you can't beat a free lunch, right? (The freshly backed cookie was damn good!)

So I listened to this lecture and it was the same old, same old. The things this guy had been talking about were things that I already have accomplished at Habitat -- and now we were two steps beyond that! Basically, when I arrived at Habitat 18 months ago, I'd argue we were a minimum of 5-years behind the technological curve in terms of business and marketing. Today? Well, we are now one of the leading affiliates in the nation in those areas (if not the leader itself, as we have ventured into areas of technology that no other Habitat affiliate has broken into yet).

During the seminar I had a little bit of a conversation with the lecturer and I really start to believe that I should be up there giving this talk. Apparently so did everyone else, because after the seminar, nobody asked for the lecturer's card...but I ended up running dry of business cards due to everyone wanting one, asking if I could assist them.

So this is basically where that stems from. I knew I had something to offer Habitat, but didn't know how much it would be or how valuable it would be. Now I believe that it isn't just Habitat I can add value to, but local non-profits in general.

So, we'll see where this goes! I'll update it on here as I build this thing from scratch.

Phew! Never would have thought day care search was so intense. There are seemingly an infinite number of day cares in our local area (8 or so within 5 miles?), but most all are either booked or not up to the standard we are looking for.

Barb started off the search yesterday while hitting one of the bigger day cares, Gateway. Gateway is a national chain that is highly regarded, but with that lofty reputation comes a long waiting list. Maya can start there in December, but we really need something in place for August.

It is kind of funny how perceptions of day cares go. The next two stops for us gave us polar opposite perspectives. The first stop Barb hated but I really liked. The next one I thought was horrendous but Barb thought it was the best one yet...

...I'm not really sure what goes into picking a day care. While you try to make it 'scientific' (i.e. toys, play time, schedules, day care givers, etc.), I think it comes down to a gut feeling more than anything.

Today we went searching again for three different day cares (the final three in our immediate area). The first was located in one of the most 'rednecky' parts of Conway, so we didn't even bother with that.

The next one we couldn't even find, so we gave up on that.

The final was a day care center at St. James Catholic Church and we both really liked this one. They also only had one opening for August onward, which was convenient for us. Unlike all of the other day cares who operate at 6:1 and 5:1 ratios, St. James operates at a 4:1 ratio. It is a very modest day care. No real bells or whistles, but it was nice. So, barring an opening at Gateway, I believe Maya will be going to St. James. We will certainly have to talk more about it, but our 'gut feelings' about this location were pretty good from each of us which is a start.

Other than that, things are good on the Maya front. Her 6-month checkup is later this month. I'm going to guess she's venturing toward the 60th-plus percentile in weight at this point and probably getting toward the 50th-percentile in length. Absolutely amazing considering she was in the 5th percentile in length and 3rd in weight just 22-weeks ago!

I still owe some good Freestyle Park pictures from the other night, so I'll try and get them up while at work tomorrow (yes, back to working Saturdays again.......)

Last night (well, this morning around 1:30AM), Myrtle Beach was a giant dance club! The light show from the clouds was more chaotic than a strobe light over at Club Kryptonite at Broadway at the Beach.

A normal storm has about 100 bolts of lightning that touch ground. Last night's storm had 10,000 strikes! It was really pretty scary as they were making the entire house shake. Amazingly, despite somewhere around 3-6 inches of rain, 50MPH winds and 10,000 lightning bolts, there was never the threat of a tornado (something we get here at least a few times a month).

Luckily the weather held out for us earlier in the day as we went back to Freestyle Music Park to buy our annual passes. What a deal! For $65 they are good until June 2010. Amazing how different this management team is compared to Hard Rock's. Night and day.

I'll have some more pictures up of the park tomorrow.

Not a ton of the park itself as we were busy between one of us going on a ride and the other taking care of Maya, but it was a great time. We'll be getting annual passes next weekend.

Maya has had quite the busy weekend...And it isn't even over yet!

A couple of cute little updates about her -- it seems that she is beginning to teethe a bit. She's drooling like crazy (playing "Supergirl," where I lay on the bed and lift her up above me is getting increasingly dangerous -- I got slimed in the face the other day!). She's also doing this little thing when she sucks in her bottom lip. Not sure what that is about, but Barb says she read it is also a sign of teething.

The second new addition to Maya's world are kisses. Today was the first time she ever gave a kiss. When she woke up this morning, I brought her in from her nursery to our bedroom. She likes to cuddle in the morning, so I held her close to me. She pulled back, looked at me and gave me a huge kiss on the cheek. Barb and I started cracking up and then she did it two more times, so she apparently knew what she was doing.

But enough with that -- on to the busy weekend.

Yesterday (Friday) we went to Freestyle Music Park (formerly Hard Rock Park). It was really good. They ran a locals discount of $15 which was a great idea. Hard Rock screwed that up last year when they refused to offer anything to locals and the tickets were $70 across the board.

Now local tickets are $25 and non-locals are $40 (after this special just ended). In addition, annual passes are $65! That is less than a one-day pass was under Hard Rock's management. We will be purchasing an annual pass sometime this week. The park is interesting enough that we can definitely kill a few hours there every weekend if we don't have anything else going on.

I took some good pictures of the park and will upload them onto our Flickr account soon.

Maya really enjoyed the park. There are tons of kids rides (although, she was obviously too small to go on any of them), and there is a great water park-like playground. It is a very large playground that is completely water-based. Fountains, buckets, sprays, mist, etc. Kids were playing on it for hours on end and couldn't get enough of it. That definitely interested Maya the most.

Today we went over to Market Common where there was a free concert. Actually, a very large group was playing (Lifehouse) for free. I've never seen such a large concentration of people in Myrtle Beach before. My guess is there was nearly 5,000 people...and given that it had rained the last few days, the concert looked like a scaled down version of Woodstock. Vendors were everywhere and the place was really booming. Glad to see that someone effectively marketed MB after City Council did everything they could to this point to eliminate the tourist industry (our inepty government is an entirely different rant that I could go on for hours about...).

Not quite sure what tomorrow brings for Maya. We have a friend coming down from Virginia Commonwealth University this Tuesday, so we will probably just be cleaning and gardening tomorrow...not a bad way to end a busy weekend.

Okay, so this has nothing to do with anyone in the family, but this is damn impressive!

After looking at Conan's new backdrop on his set that was unveiled this week, a few people over at "Serious Lunch" realized it looked awfully, awfully familiar.

Like, visions of mustachioed plumbers and flying turtle bird looking things type familiar...

Have a look!



That is WAYYYYY too much of a coincidence to not be intentional.

I knew I loved Conan's sense of humor -- But this takes it to a whole new level!

...Here is a slideshow so you don't have to go to Flickr to see them.

Well, it was really her first day the beach. We had been there one time this past winter with her (February, I believe).

But it was her first day in the Ocean! And definitely her first day when she had some idea of what was going on around her.

To view photos, please check out our Flickr Page (click here, and bookmark!).

She certainly enjoyed it. She LOVED the sand, running her little toes through it, getting it all over her. She really enjoyed digging her feet into the beach.

The whole 'blue water crashing into you' thing though? Well, she wasn't as sure about that (as you can tell in the pictures).

It was definitely a fun day. The first of many trips to the beach with our little girl.

She's just getting cuter by the day.

A couple of days ago she was overly playful. Barb brought her into our office (it is in the front guest room now) where I was working. Maya just looks at me, gives a huge grin and screamed at me in a playful way. A simple AAAHHHHH! And then she smiled once again.

I smiled back and she screamed again -- AAAHHHHH! So, I figured she might want to play. I screamed back at her and she started laughing so hard! She screamed, smiled...I screamed back, she laughed. This went on for a few minutes until she was laughing so hard that she ended up with a horrible case of the hiccups!

Yesterday was Maya's first softball game...well, first one out of the womb that is. Mommy joined her old team (the Semper Fi Bulldogs -- the coach is a former Marine Sgt.) and did really well. Barb was a bit timid in the OF at first, but then really got into the groove. I'd argue she did better last night than at any game or practice at any point last season! She was sore though at the end of the night, as that was the most exercise she's had since sometime last September, I guess.

Things are going well here though. I'm all done with my MBA and was named Graduate Student of the Year (woohoo!). Work is still work. I love the challenge of taking an organization that was arguably 10 to 15 years behind the times and in just 18 months now I have them on the leading edge of all non-profits anywhere. We are far ahead of the times at this point in our operations, fundraising, etc....very rewarding and quite frankly, some amazing experience that I would not gain anywhere else at this point in this economy.

Barb was notified that due to her chairing the University assessment committee (basically a whole additional job!), she will only have to teach one summer class and be chairperson to receive full summer pay -- that is GREAT news!

And she has put in to teach in Europe next summer. It will either be Paris or Bonn, I believe. I'll take either one. I miss Europe badly :-( I got Barb to agree to spend at least one week's vacation in Europe every year from here on out. Nice!

Hope everyone reading this is doing well!

-BTC

I have to say, this is pretty damn funny. Nice job by the media department (it is a play on the CareerBuilder.com Super Bowl ad)

I have a permanent album of Maya up at Flickr.com

There will be a link that I keep on the right side of this page ("Maya Joy Photo Album"), so you can keep on looking for new pics there (or simply oooh and ahhh over the older ones once again).

Enjoy!

No, seriously. Go do it now. For months now I was unsure about Twitter. A mini-blog updater? A statement every now and then that can only be 160 characters long? What use could that be?

How wrong I was.

As a social tool for individuals it seems just fine. Easier to use than Facebook, which is a plus. No frills, no flair. Just comments. But it works.

As for Social Networking for businesses and non-profits go? Absolutely amazing. I would argue that I have grown Habitat's online presence larger in using 3-days of Twitter than I had in 6 months of the blog and Facebook.

I strongly suggest you check it out. Even if you don't use it long term, give it a try.

And once you are on, come and find me (/btcharpied) and Habitat (/habitatmb).

I've made mention how hectic work has been lately with Collegiate Challenge in full swing, but I figure most don't know what the CC Program truly is. So, here is a video that sums it up pretty well.

Finally have a new video of Maya up. Both Barb and I have been awfully busy lately. At work, I have the Collegiate Challenge Program going on, so that is taking up a great deal of my time (and energy!). Barb just started teaching her three classes (two Statistics courses online and one MBA course), so she's been crunched for time as well.

Luckily Barb was able to get a video of Maya today -- she was very cute, as she normally is in the morning. For whatever reason she gives the most smiles and 'coos' in the morning right after she wakes up. She's a happy camper in the morning (much unlike her Mommy, haha)!

I'm putting more still-pictures up on Facebook as well, so be sure to check over there too!

Enjoy!

Well, this past Tuesday (2/24/09) was the dreaded two-month immunization day. While we weren't looking forward to our little girl getting jabbed with big ol' mean needles, we were definitely looking forward to seeing whether she had moved up the growth charts.

At the two-week checkup, Maya Joy was in the 5th percentile in weight (5lbs, 10oz) and 3rd percentile in height (19 inches). Now, keep in mind that Maya at two-weeks old was technically negative-two-weeks old since she was born at 36-weeks and was deemed a "preemie." They still obviously had to chart her anyway.

At just over eight-weeks old now the Doctor was very pleased! Maya shot up the charts going from the 5th percentile in weight to the 25th percentile in weight (9lbs, 6oz)...and from the 3rd percentile in length to the 10th percentile in length (21 inches). She also is in the 50th percentile in head size, which when you compare that to the rest of her smaller body is pretty damn big (she does come from some brilliant stock, after all!).

So, things are really going well right now with her. Hopefully she keeps on growing beyond her slotted projection on the growth charts. She's on another growth binge right now when she eats for 30 minutes, takes a 30 minute nap and then eats for 30 minutes again...over and over and over again (these growth periods are rough days for Mommy!). But it is great to know that she is extremely healthy.

The next checkup is at four-months, when she'll get four more shots (yikes!). I'll post more pics and videos soon.