First, a couple of updates from my last [url=http://don.oninohana.com/blog/?postid=231]Reading List entry[/url]:
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[*][url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553804715/bujinkanmartia0b/]Baltimore[/url] turned out to be a great book. It was right in keeping with the theme of Mike Mignola’s better Hellboy stories. This quirky tale of post-WWI era horror is told in a series of flashbacks so it’s really a series of related short stories. The illustrations peppered throughout the text do a great job of adding atmosphere and drama. This was the first book in a while that I did not want to put down. I would highly recommend this one!
[*][url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0307279464/bujinkanmartia0b/]A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail[/url] – Since I read a National Geographic article about it in 8th grad, I have wanted to hike the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail]Appalachian Trail[/url], or at least some length of it. I guess I could drive 45 minutes north of my house, hop on the trail and walk for a while to say that I’ve done this, but I think what interests me most is the idea of being out on my own, away from civilization with no source of rations except what I can carry. This book serves to provide both a down-to-earth view of the not-so-glamorous adventure of hiking the AT from beginning to end as well as communicating what a monumental task this really is. In addition, it’s all told with a healthy sense of humor. I’m about a quarter of the way through the book but really enjoying it so far.
[*][url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060852550/bujinkanmartia0b/]Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life[/url] – For some reason, this book piqued my interest after picking it up at Borders some time ago. I didn’t know that it would have such an impact on the way that I thought about the food that my family and I eat. I really need to write a whole blog entry about this, because I find that I feel very strongly about a lot of what this book is about as well as food in general. I’ll get around to it at some point…but in the meantime, do yourself a favor and pick up this book. Read it and then go to [url=http://www.localharvest.org/]Local Harvest[/url] and find a CSA near you.
[*][url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767927427/bujinkanmartia0b/]Screamfree Parenting[/url] – I didn’t ever think that I would be the kind of parent to read “parenting” books. But I guess I find myself wanting to be as good a parent as I can be to my kids and some of the stuff I’ve read about author Hal Runkel’s take on parenting rang true with a lot of the things I thought about being a parent and having children even before we had kids. I should probably write a separate post for this one as well, but I just want to mention the idea that [b][i]you can be a great parent without your life completely revolving around your children[/i][/b]. I’ve said for years that this is the reason that there are so many screwed up kids and young adults today. What is interesting (and a bit scary) is that I can very easily see how parents let themselves get into this mindset due to the deluge of media that is telling us that our kids are and should be the centers of our universes. Now that I’m a father, I see my own household moving in this direction and it’s not somewhere I want to go. I’ve just begun reading the book and I’m finding it a little “self-helpy” and cheerleader-ish, but I am interested to read more of the Runkel has to say.
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Yes, that’s right, the temperature almost hit the mid-70s today. Walking outside and catching a whiff of the warm spring-like air, I was reminded that we had unseasonably warm weather almost exactly a year ago for the New Year party at the dojo. That was one of the first times the babies were out of the house for anything other than an appointment with their doctor.

This also got me thinking about how much they have changed in the last 365 days. Getting thrown up on was one of our main concerns back then because both Gabriel and Chloe were doing that at least once a day. I’m hesitant to type it for fear of ruining out streak of luck, but we haven’t had anyone vomit for some time now. In fact, I can’t really remember the last time…this is a good thing! I guess all those people who were trying to be helpful and reassuring (but were really annoying and upsetting) by telling us that “it’s a phase” and “they’ll get over it” were right after all.

I am simply amazed at how they have grown and all they have learned. As Gabriel played with his toy car and parking garage set and Chloe sat on her little chair with plastic rings on each arm (“Pretty! Pretty!”, she repeated) I sat and watched them tonight wondering how these two little people could be so smart and adorble and still share my genes.

Since I work from home most of the time, I sometimes miss my commute. That used to be my time to catch up on the news via NPR on [url=http://www.wnyc.org]WNYC[/url]. There was a good mix of local, national and international stories with real journalists who did real reporting on stories of consequence. When I’m at home, I tend to go to CNN.com for most of my news. Why? It’s easy. The headlines are there and the stories are easy to read. Sometimes, like today where the [url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/01/04/spears/index.html]news about Britney’s latest breakdwon[/url] is the most popular story, I feel like I’m missing out on the REAL news.

If you sometimes feel the same, check out [url=http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19845/]”You Don’t Understand Our Audience” – What I learned about network television at Dateline NBC by John Hockenberry[/url]. Great stuff. While you’re there, check out the rest of MIT’s Technology Review, too.

Our washing machine is fixed! I had called Sears’ Customer Service a day or two after our last cancellation and got an appointment for last Friday, the 28th. The tech came, determined that the problem was simply a clogged drain pump and took care of the issue in about 30 minutes. We’re almost caught up on our laundry now! Today, someone from Sears called us to talk about our Better Business Bureau complaint. However, I was on the phone with my company’s benefits department because our new insurance cards didn’t list Chloe as a covered dependant, so I wasn’t able to talk to the Sears person. I got her name and number and we tried to call her back after I was done with my other call. Of course, we didn’t get any answer at the number she gave us, so I’m not sure what that’s about. I plan on flooding that number with calls on Wednesday, though!

This speaks for itself….

I love that the kid’s parents include the toilet in the whole experience like he’s part of the family. I’m not sure if my kids will enjoy this when it’s time to start working on potty training, but I found the vocabulary to be helpful:
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[*]おしっこ – wee wee; pee pee;
[*]うんち – poo; poop;
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I love [url=http://www.youtube.com]YouTube[/url]!!

I didn’t write anything about this earlier because I just didn’t have the time, but Gabriel had his follow-up surgery on December 21st. Things went well. In fact, I’m just going to use the text from Robyn’s email to give the details for posterity:

Gabriel is home and doing well. I fed him a bottle at 3:00a.m. to get him through and he was actually taken in to surgery about 30 minutes early (around 9:40a.m.), so that was kind of nice, so we weren’t hanging around all day. Don got to be with him when they put the mask on his face to put him to sleep. Then they took Don out and did the IV and started surgery. It took a little over an hour and went very smoothly. He didn’t bleed as badly this time and she said she would be VERY surprised if he ever needed another surgery for this again. They tested it by forcing water at a high pressure through the catheter and there were no leaks, so it looks promising. After the surgery, they let me go in first to be with him and he was totally inconsolable. He still had the IV, electrodes on his chest and the oxygen thingie on his toe. He was crying so hard. He took his bottle for me like a champ and they gave him some good drugs, but he still cried hard. They then brought Don in and he went to Don and calmed down a little. They went to flush his IV and it was blocked, so they took it out, at which point he calmed down a bit more. They gave him some bladder spasm meds and that probably helped a bit too. Now he’s on an antibiotic, bladder spasm med and tylenol with codeine. He also has a catheter for at least 12 days. Ugh. He’s behaving pretty normally and was playing earlier, so that is a good sign. He just fell asleep in Don’s arms after screaming like a crazy person. I think he had a bladder spasm and he can’t have the meds again until 8p.m. 🙁 I hope the pains pass soon.

He’s still doing well. He doesn’t seem to be experiencing any pain for the last couple of days, but he [b]has[/b] been really, really needy – always wanting to be held and in touching distance. It’s very sad as we can’t hold him all the time, obvisouly.

More of the Sears debacle: After the problems we had last week with [url=http://don.oninohana.com/blog/?postid=245]our repair visit being “cancelled”[/url], I managed to get an appointment set up for earlier than the December 28th date that the morons at customer service said was the first available. The new appointment was for today, December 24th.

Well, this morning around 9AM, we got a call from Sears. I was hopeful that they were going to tell me that the service technician was on the way over but to my great dismay and amazement, they actually told us that today’s appointment was being cancelled because the tech had called in sick. I couldn’t believe this and I told the guy on the phone as much, but he was as robotic as ever; his only response was to offer me the next available date – January 3rd! I was about to scream, but I managed to hold it in and shoot off just a quick rant. I knew there was nothing I could do or say to get them to make anything happen before then, so I was resigned to my fate…. This sounds so melodramatic, but my blood is just boiling again as I write this and relive the conversation in my mind.

Sears sucks! I’m really, really going to reconsider before purchasing anything from Sears in the future due to this experience. This HAS to be the worst customer service experience of my life. This system of Sears’ is completely [b]customer-UNfriendly[/b]. Robyn has, of course, reported this issue to the Better Business Bureau and I opened a formal complaint through Sears customer service. I doubt that a huge company like Sears will respond to either of these, but it’s worth a try.

I have no idea what the title of this post means, but it does contain the word “bread” which is what this is all about.

I’ve decided that we’re no longer going to buy bread from the store. Instead, I will make all of our loaves at home, from scratch. That’s right, just flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt, butter and eggs. Mix, knead, rise, knead, rise again and bake.

Here is my first attempt.