Kelly's Weblog

It's a sunny Sunday morning, and Jamie's been up for an hour doing what small people do in the mornings: talking a lot, eating, playing...all very energetically. Nothing like a good night's sleep, or so I'm told...

Paul has been discovering the pros and cons of Blackberry-land; I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the unit for a half-hour sometime to figure out how it differs from the Palm interface, as it performs many of the same functions. Yesterday Paul also took our CD player in for repairs; it was skipping in the first few tracks of most CDs. Listening to a CD that skips randomly is like watching TV when someone else has the remote and is inclined to surf: no sooner do you commit to what you're watching/hearing than it's violently torn away!

Friday night's MRI was an interesting experience and not particularly traumatic. I wasn't fond of the IV for the contrast medium, but that's just because it was a BIG needle. There was nothing really painful about the process. Wonder if they'll show me the pictures? (Wonder if they would mean anything even if I did see them?) I have an appointment Wednesday to see if they've picked up anything.

I put up a weblog for Jamie the other day, just for fun. He's not big on words yet, so I'm helping him. It's here.

Hot! It's very very hot here in Brooklyn again. One of our window air conditioners works fine, and the other will put out cool air but makes a dreadful grinding noise while doing so. In this heat we have the option of being too warm with only one unit running, or being cool but deaf with both going. So which have I chosen, you ask? Huh? What did you say? Could you repeat that?

Paul just called to say that his Blackberry has arrived. Between that and his beautiful bike, I'm feeling out-gadgeted. As Molly suggested at the last Suspects' Dinner, it may be time to pick up an older-model iPod now that the new line is out. Then I'll have a gadget too. And doesn't everyone need an iPod?

Yesterday's trip back from Toronto was more eventful than usual. Jamie and I got to the airport at 7:10 am for a 9:00 am flight. We had to renew our NAFTA visas on the way across, but it's never taken more than 15 extra minutes to do that before, so I figured we'd have lots of time. I was mistaken. Instead of renewing the visas over the counter, the agent pulled us aside for an interview. An hour and 40 minutes later, we were still waiting for our interview. The 9:00 La Guardia flight went without us, as did the 10:00 flight. By the time we were interviewed by an agent who apologized for holding us up, confirmed that the original guy could have issued the visas over the counter, issued our visas and helped us back out into the departure area, the 1:00 flight was oversold, so we had to wait for the next one, which wasn't until 3:00. Jamie was very good, but it was a long day and he's not feeling 100% (I suspect teeth are the culprits yet again), so we were really really glad to get to the Kane St. apartment at 5:30 or so. And this was supposed to be a short-haul flight! The only real almost-problem was that I had been expecting to be in transit for no more than 5 hours, so I had only brought a small number of diapers. Could have been tense...

Tonight I'm in for a little adventure. Nothing urgently serious, but I'm having a few tests done, and tonight I'm scheduled for an MRI. Paul will get home to play with Jamie (if we can pry him away from his new toy!), and I'll be off to mid-town to be shut in a noisy tin can for an hour or so. I'm not too concerned; in a funny way I'm even sort of looking forward to it. It's non-intrusive for the most part and not supposed to be painful, and I'm tired enough that I might even sleep through it.

I'm working on preparing a whole lot of new Jamie pictures, many from his sailing trip, for posting to his site, and I also have some Sammy-cat photos to go up on our family page. Probably I'll get to that tonight when I'm back from my scan.

Another busy day done! Exultate is well on the way to being prepared for the choir's three appearances in P.E.I. at the Indian River Festival at the end of July. The board had its final meeting of the season this evening, and Michael Rowland resigned as board president, turning the position over to longstanding board member Tom Leslie. It ought to be an exciting year! John also asked the choir if anyone had a recommendation for an alto to replace me for the coming season while I'm on leave as a singer and am just managing the choir. I hope he doesn't find someone he'd sooner keep than me!

Jamie played with our wonderful babysitter Sylvia while I was out, and I got him back utterly exhausted. He's not sleeping too well just now, though; he seems a bit congested. I wonder if he's getting a cold.

One more busy day ahead...and then we're back to Brooklyn. I, for one, am looking forward to it.

My dining room table is going down for the third time under a sea of papers, but I think I have the Exultate books to the appropriate point for the auditor to begin his work as soon as the June statements arrive. It was very hot today; Jamie doesn't know how to handle the heat and just melts down if I let him get too warm. He's sleeping on the well-cooled main floor again now; I'll take him upstairs shortly.

We brought Sammy-cat home from the Humane Society last Thursday, and I have trouble believing he hasn't always lived here. He's a lovely short-haired black neutered male, between 6 and 8 years old and in need of a bit of slimming up. He loves people, and is happiest sitting on a lap, though if that's not offered he'll take a corner of the sofa and be companionable. We wonder how he ended up as a stray; he obviously had a home not too long ago... At any rate, he has one again now. Jamie is fascinated by him, and keeps interrupting himself mid-bite/gesture/noise to watch Sammy-cat crossing the room. It will be interesting to see how Sam handles it when Jamie starts to crawl (which may not be that far off!).

Jamie had a great time on Grandpa's boat, although the lack of anything resembling wind meant that our first sailing outing was really a boating outing; the sail was never raised. It was, nevertheless, extremely stimulating for a small boy, and he was pretty keyed up when we got home this afternoon. He's now sound asleep, and I'm hoping he'll go for a long deep sleep and wake up sunny tomorrow. It was hot up on the third floor again - the problem with tall houses with older ductwork! - so I've cranked the air conditioning in hopes that it will cool down up there before the ground floor reaches sub-zero temperatures.

It's going to be a very busy week for me, at least until I fly out on Thursday morning, so I'm being very restrained and not starting the new Harry Potter book that was delivered Saturday in my absence - a birthday present from my mother - until I get back to Brooklyn. I just know that if I crack the cover at all, I'll have to read it until it's finished, and the rose bushes will die for lack of water and poor Sammy-cat will languish unloved in a corner. More on Sammy-cat later; he's settled in remarkably well.

I've got to finish a few things for work now, and then it's bedtime.

The weblog is pretty well ready to go, but after four days I'm still having irregular difficulties in publishing. Am staying up waaaaayyyyy too late trying to sort things out - tomorrow we leave for a sailing weekend on my father's boat, to introduce Jamie to the concept, and I may sleep through the whole thing...