Posted by Patrick on November 6th, 2008
The employment front
Did I mention I changed jobs again? This is the last time for a while, I swear. I did really love what I was doing at the newspaper (and the cool people in the media group there) but I developed a feeling that someone was about to move my cheese, so adaptation was needed.
Per the Aftervictory Code of Secrecy, all I can say is that I’m still a web designer, but now working in the public sector. It’s quite a thing to change a job when you’re the sole source of income, but they made me a pretty outstanding offer. So far so good there.
Two years
Hard to believe but it’s been two years for us here in the northern of the two Carolinas. It’s gone by so fast! Still a little weird to write ‘NC’ on our return address labels. It’s still good though, and still tough to be away from our family and friends.
Cars
We now have three cars, which for those keeping score us one more car than licensed operators. Kate and Ted cruise around in the Versa while I take either of the remaining vehicles to work.
Keeping versus trading in came down to value. While we would have received some money for a trade in, we get much more value out of having an extra car. By equally spreading the mileage over the older vehicles, hopefully we can delay having to purchase a commuter car for me for a while.
Television
As new parents, our TV time is pretty limited. After Ted goes down for the night, there’s only maybe an hour before we’re both asleep. We have to choose our viewing wisely.
We watch almost all our TV from the internet. Sites like Hulu.com and the various network websites allow us to watch what we please whenever we like, without having to pay for cable tv.
Right now we watch The Daily Show, How I Met Your Mother, and the very dark comedy Its Always Sunny in Philidelphia.
If you haven’t checked out Hulu.com yet, you need to. It’s way easy to use, free, extremely well thought out in it’s design, and has a ton of shows, many from long ago.
Posted in Automotive, Employment, Homeownership, The South, family |
4 Comments »
Posted by Patrick on June 5th, 2008
A short list of things I would have written long blog posts if I wasn’t so into the whole parenting thing*.
1. The iPod Touch. I picked this up as one-last-toy-for-me before Ted was born and can’t seem to not have it with me, ever. It’s like the iPhone, but without the phone part (and without the $60/month fees). Music, movies, Gmail and wifi internet in a tiny little package. It’s awesome all around and has totally changed the way I think about the mobile internet and UI’s.
2. The new Portishead album called Third. I listen to it all the time now, it’s great at-work music. It’s been nearly a decade since they put out music, and the wait was well worth it.
3. The inevitable and long overdue demise of the giant SUV as daily driver. Unfortunate that it comes with the price of declining economy, soaring food prices and a certain sense of dread every time I fill up. It is exciting that the capitalism around it is spurring innovation and futurist thinking though. Ted will no doubt fly his jetpack over homes made from recycled Tahoe’s.
4. Web technologies I’m learning about. The past few months at work (and in freelance work) have filled my brain with new exciting knowledge about web design and the construction of websites. I’ve spent a bunch of time learning about Wordpress (the system that powers this blog), Drupal, and the jQuery javascript framework. Learning is good, and I feel more confident about my skills with each passing week.
5. Fatherhood as subject matter. I like writing and would like to write more about being a dad to Ted. It’s the new highlight of my day, coming home to a family and hanging out with Ted on the weekends. He’s high-maintenance, but every time he smiles at me I know what we’ve done is totally worth it. I also know that its probably also diaper-change time.
Hopefully going forward there will be lots more posts on fatherhood.
* Full Disclaimer: I took a two hour nap after coming home from work today. Clearly there’s some time out there, just not as much for blogging.
Posted in Automotive, Baby, Dadness, Employment, Music, Nerdery, Random, Ted, iTunes |
2 Comments »
Posted by Patrick on April 9th, 2008
Ted, with Kate and Grammie Cass in tow, took a trip to the capital city today to visit his old man at work, and have a little lunch.
Ted wanted to help me with my web design work. At first, he just couldn’t concentrate. He kept throwing pencils into the ceiling tiles. Not productive:
Then he told me about this really big idea he had for a website. Something about social networking or something, but for babies.
I was pretty happy that they all came to have lunch with me. I found that hanging with the family around lunch time is way, way better then working.
Posted in Baby, Employment, Nerdery, Ted |
3 Comments »
Posted by Katherine on March 8th, 2008
Can anyone else believe I am 36 weeks along? I sure can’t. 36 weeks out of 39 or 40 depending who you ask, with a due date ranging from March 28th to April 2nd also depending on who you ask. I am pretty sure that I am guaranteed to have the baby sometime outside that window of time.
My last day at work is this coming Friday. Good thing since I am past ready to be done there. Lately on Mondays by 9:00am I was having the exhaustion I usually feel on Fridays at 3:00pm.
I made a giant “to do before baby” list. I think I am stressing myself out about not knowing when he will arrive. Do I have two weeks left? Do I have six? I tend to tell myself that I should just think six, so I don’t drive myself crazy with the waiting… but then there is the whole -but we must get everything done before he gets here- angle and what if he comes tomorrow? Ack.
This morning I put together his stroller (thanks Chris!). And this weekend I will be packing my bag to bring to the hospital. Hopefully we will get a lot of cleaning and de-cluttering done too.
Zoe has been taking advantage of me lately. She knows how long it takes me to get off the couch and if I yell at her for getting on the kitchen counter or trying to steal my drink, she just kind of keeps at it and waits till I actually make it off the couch. She can be kind of cruel. Of course she knows she is easily forgiven and has been especially cuddly lately as well. Her new favorite spot is to climb right up into my armpit when I am laying on my side. Of course with all her weight on my stomach. Pat always asks me why I don’t make her move when she has me trapped in some uncomfortable position. What can I say? I am a sucker for a snuggly purry cat and willing to put up with a certain amount of uncomfortableness to keep her happy. She’s extremely good at getting me to relax, so its a trade off.
Posted in Baby, Cats, Employment |
2 Comments »
Posted by Katherine on February 22nd, 2008
Wow, here I am writing my first post on AfterVictory.com. Crazyness. I assume most people who read our site get the reference, but for those who don’t, Victory is the the supermarket where Pat and I first met. It no longer exists. Well the supermarket is still there, but different owners, different name.
So what’s new with me?
I am working less hours now. I told the store manager that I wouldn’t mind if he cut back my hours as long as I was still full-time. He decided to give me Fridays off! Now every weekend is a long weekend. It is super sweet.
On Sunday my co-workers threw me another baby shower. It was so nice. I couldn’t believe how many people came to celebrate with us! Its great to know that Ted has lots of local people who care about him! He got lots of handmade blankets, necessities, cute outfits, a diaper cake, and even another handmade sweater and cap set. Have I mentioned how lucky he is? And Pat and I too.
I haven’t decided when my last day at work will be. The idea of going into labor at work is as unappealing as going into labor home alone. I think I am leaning towards the home alone idea and therefore might leave work two weeks before my due date. I don’t know. Too many big decisions for me. Guess I am feeling overwhelmed in general these days.
Posted in Employment, Friends, Random |
3 Comments »
