I consider this tangentially degree-related. (FYI, daycare/school all day, and working at night, means I’b subsisting off of vending machine coffee and cereal for the next week, OMG, it sucks, but it’s only temporary.)

4ish AM, this morning, our bed:

Dave: oh, your sister called last night
Me: Yeah? what’d she need?
Dave: She wanted to know how to put a link in an email.
Me: Nuh uh.
Dave: I taught her copy and paste. She’d never done that before.
Me: Jesus christ. How’d that go?
Dave: Pretty good. She asked where it copied it to.
Me: Oh fuck, did you have to explain the concept of the virtual clipboard?
Dave: Nah, I kind of glazed over that. She did it though, and she was so excited to have learned a new trick, she clapped.

I was so excited to see what the hell the link was, and checked my email this am to find this message:

Subj: Check out this amazing website!!

Message:  http://www.yahoo.com/
HAHAHA  Just kidding Dave just taught me how to copy
and paste an email address so I thought I’d send you
the practice run….See you in 11 and 1/4 days!!!!
Love, Kate

Seriously. And I get shit for not being a skier.

Stroller Geekery & Me

(Updated with link to bag I saw today…)

Field Trip!

Ingrid and I moseyed on down to Epic Sports today, to check out the Timbuk2 (and other brands) and I’m now back to coveting the Metro. Some people warned that it might be too small, but alas, I am not a purse carrier! So, perspectives vary, because the Metro seemed positively HUGE to me. There was a young couple there, and the woman was carrying a Classic bag, and talking about how she wished she’d gotten an Extra Small, so I butted in and asked "why?" and then asked her how she liked it, and she said she’d had hers for a year, daily use as a purse, and it looked brand-new, so that’s nice. Anyway, I can see if you are a purse-carrier, and looking to fit in diapers+, it would be too small, but as a wallet&keys carrier, it’s more like I’m looking to fit that in with the ziploc of diapering supplies, not the other way around. If that makes sense.

I guess if money was no object, I’d design my own, as Robyn suggested, but when I add in the features I’d want, the price gets up around $100, which is way too much.  For a daily bag, I really like the Metro. I was also able to see the colors, which was nice, as well.

Not that I’m buying anything at this point, it’s mostly just a mission to see what I want when I notice a sale or whatever. I do that, often, hypershop, make a decision, and then wait to actually purchase. So far, it’s been a successful way of finding things that are Just Right.

(Also, Epic had the bag in Peacock blue/Chartreuse/Peacock Blue, which I was surprisingly taken by. When I saw Slate Blue and Burnt Orange in person, they looked rather blaaaah, which was part of the Metro-Love, Not Blah.)

So, apparently the Metro is smaller than it looks. I haven’t seen it yet in person, but the downtown sporting goods store allegedly carries them, and I do plan to check it (and others in the line) out. Dammit!  (I mean, I even looked it up on Flickr. I am that laaame.)

So, instead I’ve been spending Ingrid’s naptimes looking up bags. Yes. I know. Shut up. Lame.

What I’ve decided would make TPB for me, based on other bags I’ve used:

• Outside, easy access, pockets, like water bottle pockets. On my previous TPBs, these have held bottles or my keys or my sunglass case or whatever.
• Fairly easy to keep clean
• Waterproof or resistant (I imagine…)
• Not as big as a traditional messenger
• Not as small as a purse
• Not hideously ugly
• Not too boring
• Not too froufy
• A light colored liner — that’s one of the cons of my current bag, that it’s a black hole, and I loved the idea of a gray lining!
• One adjustable strap, preferably, and, of COURSE,
• nothing Pooh-Ass.

So, that would be my requirements. I don’t carry a checkbook wallet, just a bifold, but I would like to carry my camera more, which is fairly small but chunky (my Olympus, I can’t imagine fitting the D70 in anything that would meet my everyday needs, now that I think about it), and of course, traditional Ingrid supplies, with room to grow.

And, why do so few bag companies offer any sense of SCALE with their pictures? Sigh. (Actually, Timbuk2 does, but apparently it still skews for me, as the Metro seemed pretty big. But, then again, I usually just carry a wallet.)

I didn’t realize I needed The Perfect Bag, until I read Laura’s post on it.  For one, the post clarified a mystery that had been plaguing me for a few months; I’d seen a woman with a really cool bag in the grocery store, with only a logo showing and no brand-name, and didn’t have the guts to ask about it. Anyway, it turns out it was a Timbuk2 bag, of which I am now coveting the Metro version.

But, see, I’m 2 days away from a discount at a place that also sells bags. They just aren’t… as cool. Or something.  The closest would be a Heatwave bag, but well, meh.  They used to market a diaper bag, but it was just this bag with a changing pad thrown in, and I don’t really like the colors, and it kind of looks like a giant grandma purse.  The bag I got as a diaper bag was this one, which is so freakin’ huge. (My friend with twins +1 got it for me, which explains a lot.)  I do use it as Ingrid’s suitcase when we go away.

I don’t necessarily want a diaper bag, just something I can throw diapers in, you know? That’s what I do now, with a really small backpack, but throwing in just a little sweatshirt, even, overstuffs it. I just have some dipes, a wipe case, and for now, the free samples of a disposable changing pad and diaper cream that I got from CBE classes, in a ziploc bag, a one piece spare romper, and one of those little reels of diaper trash bags for diapering supplies. But, I’d like to be able to stick my camera in there, hat & mittens (or whatever) for both Ingrid and I, etc. And, according to Laura’s post, more stuff will be required soon, like cheerios and little toys. And, hmm, a sling would probably fit in the Metro as well.

So, anyway, I’m all drippy-drooling over the Timbuk2 bags, and it’s SO STUPID, because who DOES that, gets all greedy for shit like that when they are TWO DAYS from having a discount on a similar style bag? I mean, hell, would it even be LEGAL for me to cart my stuff around in a competitor’s bag? Sigh. So lame.

But, if I were to get a Metro, I’m just trying to decide between Slate Blue, LightGreen/Chartreuse/LightGreen, and, of course, Burnt Orange. They are just all so preeeeetttyyy. And not Mom Personified. Or super lame. Dammit.

Most women get all excited over shoes or clothes, but me? I want SOFTWARE. (I mean, I love my Danskos and Keens, but I don’t think that counts.)

Babysitter today, so that I could help out Marilyn with some stuff, which led to a brainstorm of epic proportions that might just serve my practicum project better than the conservation idea (although, I still want to do that, too) but the more I thought, the more I think Mozilla just won’t be able to handle what I want to do, so hmmm, I should get like, Dreamweaver. Only Studio is oh, about a THOUSAND US DOLLARS if you aren’t a student, which I’m technically NOT, but, Marilyn qualifies for the edu discount, which makes it $179. I’m going to email her, to barter my in-home services (which she’s using anyway, and WANTS to pay for, but that seems weird to me) for the software. And then I can learn Flash!

I know. It’s like the Jimmy Choos of NerdWorld.

In other news, sitter did fine, Ingrid blew through all my frozen breastmilk (which, granted, was only like 6 oz), so I need to pump like a mofo over the next few days, which SUCKS because as much as I LOVE nursing, I HATE pumping.  So odd how the same function can feel so totally different with different triggers. Anyway.

MMmmmm. Studio 8.

So, I keep a family-friendly blog on the side, and basically post for birthdays and when I have pictures, whatever. Most of my family is sort of new to the concept of The Blogging, so they think it’s just the coolest shit EVER. My mom constantly looks at the pics, shows the pics to others, etc. Just now, I got an email from my mom:

Who is Jeanne and should she be posting on your website?  Do we need to
password your lovely baby pictures?

Love, Mom

I guess that means my mom hasn’t found *this* blog, but I did notice that Jeanne had linked to her blog, which links to THIS blog, so I edited out her URL, JEANNE.

Now I must run and check my stats, in hopes that my mom hasn’t found my blog.

*SOB*, the D70’s summer vacation at my house is ending. It has been called back into service for school picture season, goddammit. I mean, I am really, really spoiled by having access to such great stuff, for FREE, and I know that, but, SOB! Noooo!!! Sigh.

* * * * * * * * * * *

My sister had called the other day to say she stopped into a kids’ consignment store, and found a few things for Ingrid, and she went straight to the PO to mail it, because if she hadn’t, the clothes would’ve been outgrown bythe next time she thought to go to the PO. She knows her weaknesses. ANyway, the package arrived today, with overalls, a red cord jumper, and a cream colored cardigan, all from baby gap, so, yay! But the absolute BEST PART was the note from Kate, written on the back of a receipt.

"Hi Gretchen! Sorry this is a pathetic card – found some cute things for Ingrid. Too big? She’ll grow! Love, Kate."

Run of the mill, really, until I turned over the receipt and read that it was for two greeting cards. Hahahaha.

* * * * * * * * * * *

I remember really clearly, three years ago in late July, meeting BG & Flynn in Austin for dinner, and Flynn being just this wee guy in a moses basket, and me saying "hopefully, in three more years, that’ll be me!" I mean, we discussed my timeline as part of the dinner conversation. Because of the way I got a job while finishing my undergrad, my timeline was able to be moved up, but because of the issues of thyroid and miscarriage and whatever, it got pushed back.  And two days shy of three years later, Ingrid was born.

I mention it for two reasons: one, I just saw recent pics of that little guy from the Moses basket, and can’t believe that in the same amount of time that’s passed, Ingrid will be that age in the future. Secondly, another friend and I had almost the same conversation that I had with BG three years ago, with the same timeframe, three years for my other friend, and I think of Ingrid being as big as Flynn when this other friend (lord willin & the crick don’t rise) enters the world of mamahood. It just feels very circular and fated and all of that.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

I did that myheritage.com celebrity face matching thing.
With my glasses ON, I’m a 70 year old man, like Larry King, or Richard Avedon or a hipster musician like Moby, Elvis Costello, or Sean Lennon.

With my glasses OFF, I’m an african-american model? or something? named ‘Ciara,’ with a hint of Maria Callas, which goes back to 70 year old man.

Ingrid? She’s Condoleezza Rice, of course.

(I was going to add pics, but they aren’t jpg so I can’t. Oh well. It’s late.)

THere’s a cereal ad that features a girl in a spelling bee, and her word is AARDVARK, and she starts by saying "A-R-D" and the cereal mascot appears on the mic stand and says something encouraging like "No, THINK!" and she stops and says "A-A-R-D-V-A-R-K" and every time that ad comes on my brain seizes, because that violates every regulated spelling bee rulebook EVER. You can retrace! But not correct! Even if the cereal encourages you!

Also, I am amazed at the number of seemingly really intelligent people that confuse lose and loose. You LOSE your virginity three times if you are a LOOSE girl. Or something. Sigh.

Just a PSA to say that my internet access is back home, where it belongs. Yee to the freakin’ ha.