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On Thursday evening at 8:29 PM, Sadie Evelyn Ashlock was born and Jen and Jason became parents. Congratulations ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) he11o_sunshine and stubiebrother !
 Jen is 7 years younger than me and definitely falls into the category of "baby sister". When she was born, we lived in a small house in Somerset, New Jersey (see picture to the right). I clearly recall visiting her in the hospital a day or two after she arrived. She was in the nursery along with rows of other babies and Dad pointed her out to me. When I got home that night, I threw up. I'm told the two events are not related.
I remember the day Jen came home pretty clearly. There was a crib or playpen of some kind set up in the family room and I recall watching her lay there, squirming around, making all kinds of faces. Naturally I thought that she was making faces at me, something that I took personally for a while. I made faces right back at her. Funny thing is, to this day, she still makes those faces. (See picture below).
 When Jen was about six months old, we moved from the little house in Somerset to a bigger house in Warwick, Rhode Island. It was at that house, when Jen was two or three years old, that we had our first significant bonding moment. Mom and Dad had gone out somewhere and I was left in charge to babysit. Like any big brother, I thought it wise to teach my sister the kind of things that she would find useful in making her way in the world.
I decided, in this case, to teach her to do spinning jumps off the railroad ties by the driveway. The railroad ties were about 3 or 4 feet above the surface of the driveway. A spinning jump, for those of you unfamiliar with this vital skill, is where you jump into the air while performing a 360 turn. I demonstrated the jump for Jen several times, and then asked her to perform it, to ensure that she'd understood the instructions.
 Poised at the edge of the precipice, I recall watching Jen as if in slow motion, bend her knees and then gracefully leap forth into the air, applying just the right amount of torque to spin her counterclockwise. I watched as her legs seemed to continue to rise into the air, while the rest of her body began to descent. I watched as she cracked her chin into the railroad tie on the way down--which, incidentally, was not part the instruction I gave her; but this is why we perform tests. When she pulled herself up from the pavement she was actually very composed, a kind of weird smile on her face.
It was I who lost my composure. Her face was bloodied--so much so that I couldn't even tell where the blood was coming from. I panicked, and of course, Jen panicked, too. (I never failed to miss the irony that she could imitate my panic, but not my smooth, spinning jump.) I rushed her across the street to our neighbors, Debbie and Dave. Debbie, I knew, was a nurse, and a nurse could fix things right up. Mostly, I just wanted her to stop crying. Naturally, I felt terrible about the whole thing.
For some reason, I was never able to keep my composure around my baby sister, although she was very composed around me. Years later, after we moved to L.A., we flew together, just the two of us, back to New York. We had a stop in Chicago, but we given strict instructions not to get off the plane. When the plane arrived in Chicago, there was some mechanical problem and all passengers were told to get off the plane. I must have been thirteen years old by then, and standing in O'Hare airport, uncertain of what to do, I panicked. It was by six year old sister who put her hand on my back and said, "It'll be okay." And of course, it was.
 My favorite picture of Jen has always been one of the two of us that I took back in April 2003 while we rode a trolley together in San Francisco. By then we were both grown up, but she was still my baby sister. Now, my baby sister is also a mother! It's a strange phenomenon, but one that I imagine most people experience, particularly in siblings with whom they have a 7 year advantage. As I said, I can remember when Jen was still in the nursery at the hospital. I can remember when she came home, squirming and crying, and making faces. I can still see her in mid-air, suspended above the pavement in Rhode Island. Years pass. There are graduations, weddings, moves across the country, trips up to New York to visit her in Astoria and Manhattan. All the while she was my little sister, and now my little sister is a mommy.
So while I still love the picture of the two of us on the trolley in San Francisco, I think I have a new "favorite" picture of Jen. It's one that was taken yesterday by Mom or Dad in Jen's hospital room in New York.
When you see the picture below, I think you'll understand why.
So congratulations, lil' sis. Congratulations, Jason! Kelly and I can't wait to come meet Sadie. And while we are not yet parents, we offer some humble parenting advice:
Keep your eyes open when Sadie is near railroad ties. If she's inherited any of Jen's sense of coordination, it could spell trouble.
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Up and into work this morning. It was one of those days that seemed to grow steadily more hectic as the day progressed. I kept an eye on Doug's flights, and I headed home around lunchtime to wait for him to arrive. They got here shortly after noon, and it was really good to see them. The kids had gotten sleep on the plane but Doug and Rachel hadn't gotten much sleep. I gave them a quick tour of the house and then showed them their room. Doug was very happy to see that the kids had their own place to sleep and that he wouldn't have to sleep on the floor.
I headed back to work for a couple more hours and then around 3 PM, after my last meetings were over, I headed home. I stopped at the library to return my "overdue" book, but as it turns out, I had my dates mixed up and the book was not overdue after all. I also found out that I could return the book to my local branch, which is very convenient.
Kelly's parents were out most of the day but were back before 4 PM. Doug, Rachel and the kids were up shortly after 4 PM. And were the kids ever hyper! It was a lot of fun. We gave them the gifts we got them. Doug and I picked up Kelly from the metro station, stopped at Starbucks, and then headed back home. We all walked up to Shirlington for dinner, where Kelly's parents treated us to a nice meal at Capital City Brewery. Both Carson and Ruby fell asleep at dinner. I carried Carson back home the entire mile-plus walk.
I got an invitation to join Will's writer's group today, which I accepted happily. I can't do much there until I get back from vacation, but I'm looking forward to working with the group.
I got a card from a bunch of people at work today. It was very nice and included an extremely generous gift.
We're on vacation! I still feel so busy with wedding stuff that it hasn't sunk in yet.
stubiebrother arrived tonight, as scheduled. We picked him up around 10:15 PM. Stopped at the grocery store on the way home.
Mom and Dad get into town tomorrow.
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| 2008-08-17 21:30 |
| Hurricanes, Annapolis, car trouble, thai food |
| Public |
| Arlington, Virginia |
 tired |
| car problems, food and drink, jason, jen, kelly, mom, road trips, visitors |
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Roughly in that order.
We were up around 8:30 AM. I didn't sleep too well, I think because we were just sleeping on the floor. But I survived. Mom was already up and everyone else was up shortly after us. Kelly's parents were going to stay until Monday, but decided to leave first thing this morning. They had driven up from south-western Florida and with the tropical storm headed their way, they wanted to get back in time to avoid the rain and get their house battened down. They were on the road by 9:30 AM.
Mom, Jen and Jason headed out for coffee and bagels while Kelly and I got ready. When they got back, we all piled into the car and drove out to Annapolis. Everyone got to see the Inn where we are having the wedding. We walked through the Naval Academy campus and found a shady spot to sit for a while. We headed to Buddy's for lunch. By the time lunch was over, it was time to head home. On the way, we dropped Jen and Jason off at Union Station so that they could catch their train home.
Back at the house, we debated taking a nap, but Kelly decided that she needed to go to Whole Foods first, so off she went. Mom and I sat around talked. A short while later, Kelly called. Her car was "broken". I headed out to meet her. The exhaust had rusted through at the base and fallen off on one end. We called AAA and the tow truck was there in 10 minutes. Since the exhaust had rusted through, we had the car towed to nearby Honda deliver and used the after hours service drop to drop off the keys. Meanwhile, Mom fed our hungry cats.
We were back home by 6 PM. We sat around talking and chatting for a while, and then headed over to Pentagon Row for some Thai food. It was Mom's first time having Thai food. It was my first time having duck, which I really liked. We hung out for a while longer and then we all decided to call it an early night. Kelly and I headed off to bed around 10 PM.
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Headed home from work at 4 PM. Kelly had her first flex-day today and so she was home. Around 6:30 or so, her parents arrived. We had moved Kelly's car onto the street so that they could park in our driveway. Shortly thereafter, I heard from he11o_sunshine: their train was delayed a few hours and they were going to try and get on another train. They called back later; they managed to get on the 8 PM regional train and would be in D.C. around 11:30 PM. Kelly and I and her parents walked over to Shirlington for dinner at Capital City Brewery. We walked home through a light rain afterward. Sat around talking, watched some Olympics, and finally shortly after 11 PM, Kelly and I headed out to Union Station to pick up Mom, Jen, and Jason.
We timed it perfectly. They were just getting off the train and we didn't have to wait for them at all. We headed back to the house, introduced people all around. Kelly's parents headed up to bed. The rest of us sat around chatting for a while, and finally, around 1:30 AM, headed off to bed. I'd been wired so around 1 AM, I took 2 Tylenol PMs to help ensure that I would sleep. Kelly and I slept on an inflatable mattress in the family room. Apparently, around 3:30 AM or so, the mattress had collapsed in around us. I was dead to the world and didn't notice, but Kelly, who found it uncomfortable to sleep in a collapsed mattress, had moved to the couch.
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A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY goes out to stubiebrother, who celebrates a milestone birthday today. Propriety prevents me from saying just how old Jason is turning. In any case:
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
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| 2008-04-05 23:58 |
| Rainbow Room Birthday Bash 2008 |
| Public |
| Manhattan, New York |
 ecstatic |
| aj, denisse, doug, eric, food and drink, jason, jen, kelly, kevin, lisa, norm, rachel, rainbowroom.2008, ryane, special occasions, vicky |
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Saturday began early for I was anxious to see everyone and wanted to get an early start. Kelly and I had gone to bed around midnight and I was up at 6:40 AM. I showered and then headed downstairs to sit on the couch and read until everyone else woke up. Kelly was up early too, and so we waited for vickyandnorm (Norm and Vicky) and kruppenheimer (Lisa) to awaken and get ready. It didn't take too long but it seemed as though it took forever. However, we were ready to go by 9 AM, which is what I was hoping for, and at that point, we hit the road.
( How's this for a great day... )
To be continued...
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First, Saturday afternoon: sometime after noon, Jen, Jason, Kelly and I headed over to Central Park to walk around the reservoir. It was cold. We made it about 2/3rds of the way around when Jen simply couldn't stand the cold anymore and insisted we more to someplace warmer. Initially, "someplace warmer" was Central Park West, but eventually we made our way down to 81st street, cut over to Columbus (passing right by the Galaxy, where Jon and Hollie live), and into Patagonia, where we spent some time browsing around the store and warming up. Afterward, we walked two doors down to Pizzaria Uno to get something into our stomachs. I'd only been to this particular place once before, four years ago, with kevnyc. We then caught a cab back to Jen and Jason's place. We crowded into the living room, Kelly and I mashed-up on the couch, Jen and Jason on the floor. They put on an episode of the BBC miniseries Planet Earth, and we all promptly fell asleep. Hours later, we got ready to head to Manhattan Center for an evening of jazz on 34th street. Specifically: "A Tribute to Thelonious Monk: 90th Birthday Celebration", hosted by Bill Cosby. We left around 7 PM and caught a cab. The show didn't start until 8 PM, but there is only 1 elevator and or 7 flights of stairs and on the advice of kevnyc; (who has been to every venue in NYC, and quite possibly North America), we arrived a little early. It worked out well. It was not crowded when we got there, we got upstairs to the ballroom in a jiff, and we had second-row seats, left of center which presented us with a good view of everything. ( 'Round Midnight... )We made our way down the stairs and were out on the street five minutes later. It was after 10:30 PM and we'd planned to go to the Spotted Pig for dinner. Jen, Jason and I had been there once before, three or four years ago, and loved it. We had tried to go one other time, but the place is always crowded and doesn't take reservations. We got there around 11 PM and put in our names--only to find there was a 2 hour wait! We wouldn't be seated for dinner until 1 AM. So we made alternate plans. Jason guided us hither and yon until we reached a place called Diner. There, I indulged in a traditional grilled cheese sandwich (with tomato soup, which just doesn't work for me), and a chocolate malt. It was a good dinner, and a good evening. We had a lot of fun. We had some trouble flagging down a taxi for the ride home, but after 10 minutes or so, thanks to Kelly's sharp eyes, we finally got one. We were back to Jen and Jason's around 1:30 AM.
I took Kelly to breakfast at IHOP. Afterwards, we ran up to Michael's and PetSmart to do some errands.
I did a couple of loads of laundry.
I read Connie Willis' "All Seated on the Ground" in the December ASIMOV'S. I napped. I finished Connie Willis' novella.
I ran some more errands. I made dinner. I packed my lunch for tomorrow.
I nearly finished my holiday shopping (two more gifts to get).
I completed 6 of my holiday cards.
I spoke to Dad, he11o_sunshine and stubiebrother on the phone.
And now I'm off to bed so that I can get up at 4:20 AM for my Monday morning strength training workout.
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I had a few items waiting for me in the mail when I got home from work last night. First, there was the book I ordered from Amazon over the weekend, The Year's Best Science Fiction, 24th Annual Collection (ed. Gardner Dozois). There was also a book from he11o_sunshine and stubiebrother on something like 50 different recipes for grilled cheese. It's a very cute book and will certainly add some variety to my grilled-cheese-preparation. Thanks guys!
I spent the evening working on revisions to my story. I'm hoping to send it off tomorrow or Saturday at the latest.
Paid a couple of bills, the electric bill and the gas bill, which topped $165 because I like to keep my house cozy and it's been cooler lately. But that's okay. I've been saving money by bringing my meals to work every day and I haven't spent a dime in the Mall downstairs in nearly 2 weeks now.
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Yesterday, while the girls went to their fancy spa to get their fancy facials and whatever else people get in spas, the boy went scuba-diving.
Mom arranged it with a friend of hers who teaches scuba diving. Doug, stubiebrother and I headed to Thousand Oaks to the Sports Chalet, where at about 10 AM, we signed our lives away and proceeded to learn how to scuba dive in the 13 foot-deep pool that they had on site. The pool was kept very warm so that we didn't need wet suits.
We learned how to wear the gear. We learned how to clear out our masks. We learned how to breath through the regulator. We learned to different ways for clearing the regulator while underwater. We even learned how to recover the regulator underwater if we lost it. We learned some basic hand signals as well. Once we'd done a few practice runs, we headed for the deep end. We spent a total of about 40 minutes underwater, and might have spent a little longer if Doug hadn't come close to running out of air. (When we finally surfaced, me and Jason's tanks were at about the 1,000 PSI mark. Doug's was almost at 0 PSI.)
It was an interesting experience. For the first few minutes, I found myself much more conscious of my breathing than normal. I made sure to practice removing the regulator from my mouth, clearing it, and getting it back in. It was easy. We tossed around underwater frisbees. We swam through hoops. We laid down on the bottom of the pool (making sure to equalize the pressure in our ears). It was a lot of fun.
After it was all over, Doug, Jason and I headed to a nearby T.G.I. Friday's for lunch.
We spent the afternoon hanging around the house. Then, in the evening, we headed to Wood Ranch grill for dinner. Almost everyone had tri-tip and it was excellent! We celebrated Ruby's birthday after dinner, with a birthday cake from Coldstone, and a bunch of presents (Ruby turns 4 on December 1). By the time that was over, I was exhausted. Mom, Jen and Jason put on a movie but I was out cold. When I next woke up, the lights were out and everyone had done to sleep.
I head back home tonight. My flight departs LAX at 10:20 PM. I've used some more upgrade credits to upgrade to first class. The airplane is a 767 on the flight home so First Class may be a little bit nicer than on a 757. There are fires in Malibu, so we'll probably have to take the freeways to LAX this evening, and miss the pretty ride along the coast. I get into Dulles at 6 AM, and if everything goes well, I hope to be home (and in bed for a little while) at 7 AM.
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We had a great Thanksgiving dinner last night. First, we had everyone over at Mom and Dad's: me, he110_sunshine, stubiebrother, Doug, Rachel, Ruby and Carson. This year was a non-traditional year for dinner. We had excellent crab legs, delicious prime rib, rice, and broccoli. There was plenty of food and it was all delicious. Doug and Rachel made dessert. We sipped drinks after dinner, it was a lot of fun.
I was exhausted soon after dinner, but we stayed up so that Mom, Jen and Jason could watch Gray's Anatomy. Jen, Jason and I slept on air mattresses down in the living room. Lights were out by 10:30 PM and I slept really well.
We were up at around 7:30 this morning. I was hungry as soon as I woke up. Mom made me chocolate chip pancakes. I ate 6 of them and they hit the spot. Doug, Jason and I head off to our Scuba lesson in about half an hour. Meanwhile, Jen and Rachel are going to their spa treatments soon. I think they are going shopping later. Today is black Friday. But if you ask me, you've got to be crazy to go shopping today.
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[Written on November 13, 2007]
I was up early, 5 AM, and couldn't really sleep thereafter. Norm and Vicky had some early errands to run and so I was up to see them off and say goodbye. I'd said goodbye to them the night before, and I would say goodbye to them one more time, as they returned sooner than expected.
( A day in New York City )
After dinner (which Jen and Jason were kind enough to treat us to), we got back on the train and parted ways at 42nd street. Kelly and I headed up to our mini-suite (on the 23rd floor) to find still no champagne or strawberries (but that's okay because I had already reached my drinking limit). We did discover that The Wizard of Oz was on TV. It had already started but we watched some of it. I hadn't seen it in years and my memory of it was pretty fuzzy.
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Yes, today is the two-year wedding anniversary of he11o_sunshine and stubiebrother and writing those words makes me realize just how quickly time is flying by. Two years already? Jen and Jason spent a romantic weekend in Mystic, Connecticut to celebrate their anniversary.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, GUYS!
Hope you had a great weekend, and a great day today. Looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks.
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Posted at about 9:27 PM local time
When we last saw our Fearless Hero, he was about to kill a few hours after making his last post and before going to dinner. And so he did. I grabbed my book, ordered up an Ultimate Mai-Tai from one of the bars, and then headed out onto Deck 7, starboard side. It was quiet and warm outside and I quickly found a comfortably cushioned seat on which to relax. Drinking my Mai-tai, I tried to read my book, but the view of the islands in the harbor and the light blue water was pretty distracting, to say nothing of the approaching planes (of which I took several pictures). Eventually, I dozed off out there and by the time I woke up, it was nearly dinner time.
( Read all about it )
Tomorrow is a big day: Mom and Dad are having their vow-renewal ceremony at 5:45 PM. Just us, them and then Captain of the ship in the ship's chapel. We have reservations for a late dinner at the specialty restaurant, Sabatini's at 9:30 PM tomorrow as well. Jen and Jason have their couples massage; and of course, I have my sports massage first thing tomorrow morning.
Stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel...
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This morning, Jen, Jason and I headed to Plato's Diner for breakfast. I'd never been there before, although I'd past by it many times. After breakfast, we headed up to Baltimore for the ballgame.
Jen headed to the Inner Harbor and Jason and I went to the game. We stayed for 6 full innings before we had to leave so that I could take them to the bus stop in downtown Baltimore for their ride back to New York. Jen managed to get some shopping done for our big trip, which is only about 3 weeks away.
The Orioles were losing 3-1 to Colorado when we left the game. The ended up losing 6-1.
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We were all up by about 8:30 AM and headed to IHOP for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed back to the house and then across the street to the park. Jason and I threw a ball around while Jen sat on a bench and read. It wasn't too long before my right arm was aching and I needed to call it quits.
We walked around the neighborhood and through the gardens at the Riversdale Mansion, and then finally back to the house, where we watched TV for a while, while Jen took a nap.
Eventually, we headed downtown to Austin Grill, and sat outside, having some drinks and appetizers. The weather was perfect, especially in the shade, with a very nice breeze blowing and we sat around for a while soaking it all up. We had 5:30 PM tickets to see Ocean's 13 and so after leaving the restaurant, we took a leisurely walk along the Mall, heading toward Foggy Bottom, and finally, Georgetown, where we saw the movie.
After the movie, we walked to the waterfront and eventually ended up a Sequoia, where we waited at the bar for about 45 minutes until our table was ready. We got an outdoor table, and had a leisurely, late dinner. I had the steak filet and it was delicious, as was the chocolate cake I had for dessert. By the time dinner was over, I think we were all pretty tired and we walked back to the Foggy Bottom metro station, and lucked out: we didn't have to wait long for either of the trains we took back home. It was a fun day, but a long one.
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Jason left before 5 AM this morning to head to a NASCAR-thing that one of his client's was sponsoring. Still, Jen and I were up pretty early and headed out for a walk in the park. We stopped to watch a few innings of a little league game, and then meandered through the park until we reached the Boathouse Restaurant, where we stopped for brunch. As usual, the Boathouse brunch was delicious. I had the steak and eggs, and it was the first time I can recall ever ordering steak and eggs off of a menu.
We continued through the park, finally relaxing on a bench for a while. Jen had called Jon and Hollie to see if they were around and they called us back while we were sitting, and we headed over to their place to visit. I got to meet William for the first time, who is a very cute, extremely well-behaved baby. And I got to see their place now that their kitchen remodeling was complete. We spent a few hours there and then headed back across to the park toward home.
We decided to stop at Mustang, and sat outside next to a large street fair on Second Ave. We had some drinks, and went through plenty of appetizers and desserts, spending a couple of hours sitting, talking, people watching. It was a lot of fun.
Jason got home later in the evening and we headed to a local Italian place for dinner and by that time, I was pretty beat. We watched some TV after we got back to their place, but it wasn't long before we were getting ready for bed.
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When I got to Jen and Jason's the apartment was already filled with the smell of cooking. Jen was making dinner and it was worth the wait (we watched the Yankees game while we waited. When dinner was served, it was delicious. he11o_sunshine will have to describe exactly what she did, but she made a pork dish of some kind with an outstanding sauce, and a spicy broccoli side, both of which had me digging for seconds.
For dessert, we took the train to Union Square and headed into Max Brenner's. If you've never been there before, and you love chocolate, then you must make a pilgrimage. Almost everything on the menu is chocolate (Jason even had a chocolate beer!) and delicious!
The evening air was almost Hawaiian in it's quality and we decided to see if we could walk from Union Square back to Jen and Jason's place on 85th, and only stopped because Jason has to get up very early in the morning and needed to go to bed.
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nostalgic
exhausted
calm
full
sleepy
relaxed