Brandon, Barb & Maya too!

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.