Like a Freight Train

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Today was Becky’s second prenatal exam, and I was able to go with her! The coolest part was getting to hear the baby’s heartbeat. Using a [Doppler device](http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,9851,00.html) which plays the sound on a speaker, we were able to listen in. The sound was like a tiny freight-train, chuggin’ away at a healthy 160 beats per minute. Awesome! Mom and baby are both doing fine, though Becky is still suffering from a cold that has been dragging on for about two months. The doctor says that it’s quite normal to have long colds during pregnancy, and that other than taking medicine to treat the symptoms, there’s not much we can do.

Becky has an ultrasound scheduled in about a month, which is very exciting!

p.s. Thanks to [Universal Hub](http://www.universalhub.com/) for the [mention](http://www.universalhub.com/node/2556)! I guess they’re not doing trackback pings any more…

Baby Catherine FAQ

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Baby-Related Frequently Asked Questions:

*Last Updated 06/14/2006*

Q. What is your baby’s name?
A. Catherine Elinor

Q. What are the other stats?
A.

* May 26, 2006 at 4:32 a.m.
* 7 pounds, 2 ounces
* 20 inches
* Full head of brown hair 🙂

Lilypie 1st Birthday Ticker

Q. Did Catherine have any problems when she was born?
A. Catherine had a fairly severe case of [Meconium Aspiration Syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meconium_aspiration_syndrome). She was taken to [Brigham and Women’s](http://www.brighamandwomens.org/) hospital in Boston about five hours after she was born. At B&W, she was given aggressive respiratory therapy. She was down there for the first six days of her life, then went back to Beverly Hospital for another week. Now she’s home, and doing great! 🙂

Q. Is this your first baby?
A. Yes!

Q. Is this the first grandchild for your parents?
A. Yes, for both sets of parents! To say they are excited would be an understatement. 🙂

Q. Are you excited?
A. Yes, of course!

Q. When did you find out that you would be having a baby?
A. We’ve known since the end of August, 2005.

Q. How is Becky feeling?
A. She’s feeling a little tired, but much relieved that Catherine is doing so much better.

Q. What hospitals have you used?
A. [Beverly Hospital](http://www.beverlyhospital.org/) (for delivery and Level 2 NICU) and [Brigham and Women’s Hospital](http://www.brighamandwomens.org/) (for her Level 3 NICU experience).

Q. Are there any pictures I can see?
A. Catherine has a whole photo gallery devoted to her photos. You can see it [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/).

Q. Where can I find out more about Catherine?
A. Any baby-related posts will be filed under the Baby category. You can see all of the posts currently in that category at the baby category archive.

Anybody got $250,000 we could borrow?

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According to [MSN Money](http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/Raisekids/P37245.asp), that’s the cost of raising a child these days.

Come May, we’re going to need it.

(and diapers and rattles and a crib and strained peas…. you get the idea!)

Line Sitters

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Howdy all from the floor of the Burlington Mall. Peter and I are sitting patiently in line for the opening of the Burlington [Apple Store](http://www.apple.com/retail/burlington/week/20051106.html). According to a preliminary count we are 34th and 35th in line. All of the usual suspects are here…The young guys next to us who are watching the Simpsons on their iBook, the twenty-somethings with their earbuds plugged in, the dads and moms with thier excited kids…AND the elderly mall walkers who, on each go round, question us as to why we’re in line…and what we’ll win for being here 🙂

Perhaps this is the time to refer you back to my essay [Why Steve Jobs is a Hottie](http://prwdot.org/archives/2005/07/a_shot_in_the_d.html). Enjoy.

We should also note that as of today we have been to the Apple Stores in BOTH BurlingTON (Ma) and BurlinGAME (Ca).

I guess that’s all the news for now…

Update From Peter at 5:30 p.m.

We have [pictures](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/geekiness/apple_store_burlington/)!

The store was pretty nice, with a slightly larger and newer layout than some of the other Mass Apple Stores. This store has “The Studio”, a bar area in the back which seems to be a replacement for the Theater I’ve seen in other stores. It’s basically a place where you can go to get help with creative projects… movies, graphics, music, etc. They have a bunch of PowerBooks setup, and they do periodic workshops on different topics. The store was very crowded, and lots of people seemed to be making purchases. iPods, iMacs, and PowerBooks seemed to be brisk sellers.

Exciting Store Openings!

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The Boston area has two very exciting store openings coming up!

First, we have the [Apple Store Burlington Mall](http://www.apple.com/retail/burlington/) opening on Saturday, November 5 at 10 a.m.. Becky and I will be waiting in line early in the morning for the grand opening. The first 1,000 people through the door get free t-shirts! We probably won’t have much reason to visit the Burlington location on a regular basis, since the [Northshore](http://www.apple.com/retail/northshore/) location is just minutes away from our house. But it will be cool to attend the opening day festivities. For an example of what those festivities might entail, check out the photos from the [Chestnut Hill](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/geekiness/apple_store_chestnut_hill/) opening day event.

Next, we have the [IKEA Stoughton](http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/IkeaNearYouView?storeId=12&StoreName=stoughton) opening on Wednesday, November 9 at 10 a.m. This will be the first IKEA in Massachusetts! Up until now, the closest one was in New Haven, CT. Sadly, we both have to work on the day of the grand opening, but we do plan on taking a trip out there sometime soon to check it out!

Gordon College Web Nexus = Gordonexus!

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I have revitalized and reorganized [Gordonexus](http://prwdot.org/gordonexus.html), the page where I keep track of the webpages of various folks who have attended [Gordon College](http://www.gordon.edu/) (in Wenham, MA – not that annoying, bane of my Google searching existence, Gordon College in Barnesville, GA… curse you!). Mainly, I have now organized the listings first by year of graduation, then alphabetical by last name. I had a few difficult cases where I had to split up married couples since they graduated from different classes, and also some people who are married, but whose spouses did not graduate from Gordon.

The Gordonexus has a permanent link on the left side of our site under the ‘Site Content’ heading. As always, if you would like to recommend a new site to link to, or correct/update/remove information, please let me know!

Best Catalog Ever

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If you’re a geek like me, then you’ll love [CyberGuys](http://www.cyberguys.com/). They sell all sorts of special-purpose, hard-to-find, and custom computer equipment. Looking through their 180-page catalog, you’ll find all sorts of interesting things, like a hand-cranked universal remote control (never needs batteries!), a portable power center that can jumpstart your car or power your laptop on the road, the best waterproof tent review, or even an external USB 2.0 hard drive enclosure that also accepts CompactFlash cards AND has a built-in fingerprint reader! This catalog is great for hours of fun, reading and dreaming of all of the great junk you’d love to buy (even if you never buy it). The website is okay, but you really need to order the catalog. While you’re at it, also order the catalog from their sister company, [X-Treme Geek](http://www.x-tremegeek.com/). X-Treme geek is more oriented towards entertaining toys than actual useful computer gear, but I think you’ll find both of them equally wonderful in their own ways.

Two thumbs up for two catalogs I actually *like* to read!

P.S. If you’re not as much into geeky stuff, but you are into the outdoors, then you owe it to yourself to order the [Campmor](http://www.campmor.com/) catalog. It is to outdoorsy folk what the CyberGuys catalog is to geeks… tons of cool and useful stuff for camping such as cool camper accessories, canoeing, hiking, etc…

A week of movies

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So, we’ve seen a few movies since we’ve been back, we check the netflix us comparison so we have more options wth the new vpn. I thought you’d like to hear about them!

[Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns](http://www.giganticfilm.com/): It is a docu/movie about that fabulous band [They Might Be Giants](http://www.tmbg.com). Through the film you are walked down the same road that John and John took…from performing in small clubs in New York’s East Villiage to signing with a ‘big’ agency to filming music videos. We found it to be very entertaining. I suppose you’d have to like TMBG to begin with to really get into it, though.

[Italian for Beginners](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006ADFP/102-4822033-1478514?v=glance&n=130&v=glance) : a flick recommended by my coworker, Jane. She thought I’d enjoy it and she didn’t disappoint. An extreemly low budget (looking) film, “Italian for Beginners” was a delight to watch. It told the stories of 6 or 7 Danes and eventually wove those stories into one: they all take a beginners Italian class. It is sad and sweet and funny…and in Danish. Love those subtitles! It was a fun, quirky movie.

[Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Ware-Rabbit](http://www.wandg.com/): our afternoon outing today. Knowing that we loved the original W and G series we were looking forward to seeing this full length movie. It was a ton of fun. Lots of puns and jokes and a surprise vocal apperance of one of my favorite actors, [Ralph Finnes](http://imdb.com/name/nm0000146/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9cmFscGggZmlubmVzfGZ0PTF8bXg9MjB8bG09NTAwfGNvPTF8aHRtbD0xfG5tPTE_;fc=1;ft=21;fm=1). We loved it, and so did all the kids at the 12pm matinee showing we were at 🙂

That’s all for now. We’re waiting on [Bride and Prejudice](http://imdb.com/title/tt0361411/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9YnJpZGUgYW5kIFByZWp1ZGljZXxmdD0xfG14PTIwfGxtPTUwMHxjbz0xfGh0bWw9MXxubT0x;fc=3;ft=17;fm=1) to come via Netflix. We’ve seen it already, but are looking forward to singing “No life….without Wife” again!

ps. It’s Snowing like crazy! We’ve got at least an inch out there. Never fear, Peter is taking [pictures](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2005/first_snow_2005/) 🙂

Three

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Today, Becky and I celebrate three years of marriage!

ggg|rt2005_day5/P1050377|At The Arch|ggg

Last night while we were watching [Gilmore Girls](http://thewb.warnerbros.com/web/show.jsp?id=GG), Becky said that I was like [Luke](http://thewb.warnerbros.com/web/show_bio.jsp?id=GG-H-SPatterson), only with shorter hair. If I had to pick a character on that show to be compared to, it would definitely be Luke, because he’s pretty darn cool. So thanks for the compliment, and thanks for three wonderful years. 🙂

P.S. I would also like to wish a happy anniversary to [Marc](http://acesoneights.blogspot.com/) and Vanessa, whose wedding was the day before ours, and an apparently not-so-happy anniversary to [Nick and Jessica](http://www.mtv.com/onair/newlyweds/nick_and_jessica/), whose wedding was on the same day as ours.

We’re Back!

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We’re back in Beverly after a long, tiring, but fun road trip. We would like to thank Kevin, Susie, Mom, Dad, Kirsten, Mark, and Melanie for being wonderful hosts and hostesses, and the Ramada Limited of Collinsville, IL for being so inexpensive.

All photos from the trip are now [online](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2005/road_trip_2005/). Enjoy!