OMG - It's Casper the Friendly Ghost

rice grain/blueberry is HUGE! 3.2 cm!!!! I couln't believe my eyes tonight when I saw little arms!! I was expecting another "blob-like" picture, but was pleasantly surprised. Heart is beating nicely and I could see the spine - so cool! Hello little one!

sweet new panda shirt!

check it out... for those of you lucky enough to be in Madison, you will be seeing the debut of the new panda T-shirt soon... Bunny is as usual unamused.
and slightly confused.

damn you gout!

to us!!!

These last 2 years have gone too fast.

baby update

One gets bored during overnights at the vet clinic. Fortunately there is an ultrasound to pass the time. Can you spot the blueberry (it has graduated from rice grain)? I took this image last week. That pic is kind of blurry.. I zoomed in and was able to get a higher resolution image (see below)

Lazy Lou

Louie has reached a new height of laziness... laying down to eat...

As these photos will show, he probably learned his lazy ways from the master, Bunny..

Or maybe Priscilla, she is pretty lazy too sometimes..

Pace Bend

We hung out at Pace Bend Park this weekend with our friends Chris and Gabby. It was fun. We found an awesome little cave under the cliffs to hang out and beat the 100 degree heat and sun. We swam and grilled hot dogs. Louie is a little tuckered from all the swimming. Good times.. We forgot our camera so I GISed (google image searched) these pics for Pace Bend. I didnt cliff dive, but there was a lot of that going on where we were. I actually climbed up to the top, but then chickened out. Rx said I needed to up my life insurance before I did anything crazy.

update...

No new baby news... everything seems to be going along pretty well. Rx is feeling a little queasy at times, but it comes and it goes. She is sleeping a lot too, which I guess is to be expected when one is expecting...

In completely unrelated news...when I got home yesterday I saw a green anole on my stairwell.. I took these 2 pics...

It was posturing to me with its neck flap... I think I could take him though..

Fearmongering

Holy Crap! Read this Newt Gingrich quote on Face the Nation concerning the Supreme Court's decision to allow Guantanamo Detainees to have the right to a trial....to hear and refute charges brought against you by our faceless government, one of the most basic and fundamental rights in our nation.

"On the other hand, I will say, the recent Supreme Court decision to turn over to a local district judge decisions of national security and life and death that should be made by the president and the Congress is the most extraordinarily arrogant and destructive decision the Supreme Court has made in its history. . . . . Worse than Dred Scott, worse than–because–for this following reason: . . .
This court decision is a disaster which could cost us a city. And the debate ought to be over whether or not you're prepared to risk losing an American city on behalf of five lawyers . . "

I haven't seen fearmongering like that since this ad. Yes that's right Newt.. Either put people in prison without a trial for life with only the excellent intelligence data of the Bush administration as evidence...evidence that no one can see (including the accused) or we "lose a city." Its a simple equation...Due Process+Habeas Corpus = 1 City Loss. Am I in Crazyville?... how do these 2 things add up or make any sense. If we do lose a city ... God, I hope it is Washington DC cause we could do without all those assclowns.

names...

I just found this awesome website from the Social Security Administration. I am glad to know it is good for something as it probably wont be around when it comes time for me to get my money back from it.

Using the data there I was able to create some interesting charts illustrating name popularity over the years. If you are thinking that this must have taken a long time, you are wrong, I basically do this for a living (although data is in short supply these days) and I am fast at it. I consider this practice for when I get some new data... First lets take a look at my name:
For some reason Jack was very popular at the turn of the century and took a nose dive right around the year I was born. But fear not, it is now on the upswing! Why? Who knows... All I know is my parents are trendsetters...

The name Roxanne displays almost the opposite pattern (sorry my wife).The popularity of Roxanne (the name not the person) peaked in the fifties and declined slightly thereafter and then sharply dropped off in the 90s.

I wanted to illustrate with this one how one popular person could really make a name live or die... Take Elvis for example. His name was on the decline for 50 years, sliding into obscurity and then in 1956 it shot up due of course to the Elvis Presley's breakthrough performances and album early that year. This peak was unsustainable and decline set in until Elvis Presley's death in 1977 and it shot up again! Almost as much as the first bump... in 1999 there was another spike (I cant really explain this one (the fat vs thin stamp? .. a rerelease of some album?). Any guesses?...
Some names come and some names go... Here are some of the hot up and coming names....Kayla, Jayden, Dakota, Madison, Addison. As an interesting side note other Madisons making the top 1000 include....Maddison, Madisyn, and Madyson....(another side note: Dear Lord, bless these poor children with crazy parents).

Also Addison? What the hell? I realize that this is not exactly common knowledge, but Addison's disease is a hereditary adrenal gland malady that can be fatal. Way to name your kid after a disease... "Hey, get over here Polio... your friends Rubella and Mumps came over to take you to soccer practice."

Anyway, here are some rising stars....
Here are some falling stars... Elmer, Bertha, Gertrude, Mary and Fern. Mary is on the list and is still in the top 100, but considering Mary was at #1 for almost 80 years, she is droppin pretty fast. The others have pretty much gone by the wayside...
I am thinking Elmer if a boy and Maddysyn if a girl.

What do you think?

I just thought of this in the shower...Martin Jack if a boy... Martina Jaqueline if a girl?





just kidding... maybe...