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This was the first time I've been to St. Louis since the mid-1980's. The cab ride from the airport was depressing. This is a hardcore looking town, which was confirmed when I read in the paper yesterday that it was America's most dangerous city in 2006 (bumped down to number 2 this year by Detroit). The baseball stadium looks pretty cool though. You can see right onto the field from the street as you drive by. Hotel was pretty nice, with this view from the lobby of Busch Stadium and the Gateway Arch.
A few hotels I've stayed at you had to nail down the furniture to keep the roaches from moving it. Then there's the other side of the coin. When you've got a toilet phone, you know you're in a good hotel.
My phone camera really sucks, so I apologize for the picture quality. I'm in St. Louis for the Anheuser-Busch licensing summit. We went to the Clydesdale stable for a group photo when this little guy came up and said hi to me. You may have seen him on tv, riding in the horse-drawn beer wagon in those commercials they run during the holidays. Pretty friendly dog.
Went to Beer School this afternoon. Perhaps the most important thing I learned is that AB is more than Bud Light. I had unlimited Stella Artois after class and during dinner. Also learned that Amber Bock pairs well with chocolate cake. Made it through the first leg of the post-dinner pub crawl, but after getting 2 hours of sleep last night and my travel delays this morning, I was too tired to soldier on. My room at the Westin is too nice to ignore, so I'm hanging here and hitting the hay early. Tomorrow I get a VIP tour of the AB design archives. Over 150 years of advertising and marketing design at my disposal for product design. Sweet. I've only been here half a day, but man do they take care of you here.
Got up at 5:00am, hauled ass to the airport only to find my 7:20 flight is delayed at least 2 hours for "unscheduled maintenance". At least I'm not stuck on the plane on the tarmac like we were in January in Seattle. We sat on the plane for close to 2 hours before being allowed to go back to the gate. When I was a kid I thought air travel was glamorous. Turns out it's worse than riding the bus.
Where am I?
For a free app, this is pretty kick ass. Google Earth Flight Simulator. It's an Easter Egg hidden in the latest version of Google Earth. To access it for the first time on your Mac, open Google Earth (make sure you have latest version) and then hit option+apple+a or shift+apple+a (can't remember 100% which it is right now). You have your choice of an F-16 or a single-engine prop. You have a list of airports to choose from, or, before entering the flight simulator, select an area in Google Earth and when you enter the flight sim you will be flying over that position. Cities with 3D buildings are cool to fly over (Manhattan is pretty cool). Controls are pretty touchy and I have yet to land without crashing, but it's pretty fun. Update: Actually, I've managed to land 3 times in a row now without crashing. Not really sure it was on the runway or not, but hey, I didn't crash. It helps to place some push pins that mark the runways on the Google Earth map before entering the simulator mode. It makes finding the airport much easier, especially without any radio or GPS navigation aids. You can also use the line tool to create a glide path.
B race start, Grumpy's CX at the Velodrome.
Sleep Intervals: On a couch or chair, curl up into a ball and drift off. While asleep, wake up to the crying of your baby every 2-3 minutes. Do 6-10 of these starting a new one every 3-5 minutes after warming up. Heart rate will vary from resting rate to Zone 4. Cool down by watching Italian soccer highlights, stretch.
Things change when you have a baby. I haven't ridden for 3 weeks. I'm gonna try to run and ride a bit next week. Sleep would be great too.
First hard-freeze of the year overnight. The leaves are dropping so fast it sounds like it's raining.
It's time for a new camera. The batteries last about 10 minutes and then die. Managed a couple of shots before the shutdown.
Jen wants to take his picture with the gorilla to see how much he grows. So, here's the first one, at 1 week old.
Zoe is really into Owen. She can't see into the bassinet but her nose comes right to the edge. Anytime Owen makes a sound, Zoe goes over to check him out, then she comes to get me to let me know he's doing something. She's snuck in a few face licks when Owen's been on my lap. She's a good big sister.
We finally got to bring Owen home last night. If felt so good to not have to go back to the hospital today (especially not having to walk through the cloud of cigarette smoke to get in the main entrance). I will miss the nurses who took great care of us, but not the chairs I had to sleep on. Thanks to the doctors, too, but we all know the nurses do the gruntwork.
Saturday was a little better for Owen. He's been feeding better and a little more alert. We are staying at the hospital tonight to do feedings. I'll update tomorrow after we have a chance to talk with the pediatrician.
Little guy is still a sleep machine. He did wake up this morning and tried eating for 10 minutes. Then around 11:30 he was a little more active and ate for about 20 minutes, so that was encouraging. His glucose levels are now in the 80's and his breathing is better so they took off the pulse oxymeter. Still has the IV and is on the monitor, but he's improving. Jen's being discharged tomorrow, but we will still be at the hospital quite a bit until we can bring Owen home (which will probably not be for a few more days).
Thanks for the phone calls, emails and visits. Jen will try to catch up on emails in the next few days. I will try to post some more photos tonight, depending on what time I get home and how tired I am.
Things are still about the same with Owen: sleeping constantly and still not eating. He did try a bit, but promptly fell back asleep. Hopefully he'll wake up a bit tomorrow. Mom's okay. Pretty sore from the surgery and pretty tired, but gradually getting back to normal. She says thanks to everyone who has commented or emailed.
30+ hours of labor, 2-1/2 hours of pushing with no luck, so Jen had a c-section. Found out the umbilical cord was wrapped around him several times and kept him from coming out the natural way. Everyone's a bit tired. Jen and Owen are doing well now, recovering.
8 pounds, 1 ounce
20" long
The stork appears to be in a holding pattern. Today is the due-date, and so far no signs of delivery. We have an appointment tomorrow and will schedule a day to induce if necessary. So, he's coming out one way or the other in the next few days. Stay tuned...
Still no action on the delivery front. Today the doctor said if he's not here by Tuesday it's time to induce. Monday is the due date, so we're still on schedule, but Jen wouldn't mind getting the pregnancy part over with asap.
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