They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it; for it is money they have and peace they lack.
  -James Earl Jones "Field of Dreams"
and don't go mistaking paradise for that home across the road
  -Bob Dylan "Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest"

Thursday, August 24, 2006

What a weekend


Saturday was to be an eventful day. John found an apartment in Berkeley (a one month sub-let) that sounded reasonable and has a job interview (helping parolees readjust to society) on Wednesday. So he got his car checked out as road-worthy and we got him ready to leave on Sunday morning. He felt bad about leaving before Mike and Lori had their baby but she wasn't due for another week and a half and the way things go he could wait for a month. He wanted to see them before he left though so Susan planned a spaghetti dinner and proposed that we drive out to Maricopa with the food. A couple of days before, though, Mike said they would come to our house, that they needed to get out of the house... Anyway, just after 6 on Saturday they pulled up in front of the house. Lori needed to visit the bathroom somewhat urgently. When she came back out we found out that her water had just broken. They left for the hospital, which is in Chandler. So we had a very good meal without them. We kept in touch on the phone and things moved slowly. Lori's parents headed in from Yuma and got a hotel room. We last spoke at around 11:00 pm.

John was to leave early in the morning but didn't want to if Kaelyn was about to be born, although he had a fairly precise plan to get to Talia's in Hollywood in time to go out for the evening with her and then leave on Monday morning for Berkeley. When we got up early the next morning, things were moving along but there was no point on heading down there quite yet. At this point they had been at the hospital for about 12 hours. There was some discussion about the baby having an irregular heartbeat which was making them avoid giving Lori pitocin to induce labor. Finally around 11:00 we got a call that things were progressing and went to the hospital. Thus began the waiting room visit that would not end. Mike would come out every hour or so but nothing would have changed. We were beginning to become concerned. John decided that he would NOT attempt the drive that day. I was supposed to be doing the walkthrough on the old house at 4:30. About 3 Susan convinced me that I should stay at the hospital. My attendance at the walkthrough was not mandatory and more of a courtesy. I wanted to do it though because I appreciated the seller of our new house doing it for us. I called Connie the Realtor and she said not to worry, that here daughter would do the walkthrough and I could meet them another time. About 4:45 John and I went to In and Out Burger to pick up some food. As I pulled in Connie called to tell me that the buyers were upset and making noise about delaying the closing. Hard to believe what priorities people have. Not too long after getting back and eating the food, Mike popped out and said that they had decided to do a C section. Close to 7:00, Lori's dad couldn't contain himself, went through the doors, and announced that Kaelyn had been born.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Settled In

We have finally settled in. Susan had issues with her new job at Fowler ESD and managed to return to PVUSD in her old job, starting today. We went to Durant's for an anniversary dinner on Saturday (5 minutes from home) and took John to Pepe's Taco Villa (more like 12 minutes) on Sunday. Bought a new plasma TV that receives over the air HDTV broadcasts. We can now watch the HDTV Diamondbacks games on Channel 3 that Cox does not carry in HD. It took a little antenna that cost about $50 and hides behind the subwoofer. Got a new multi-zone receiver to drive all of the speakers in the house. We got rid of all the boxes, we can park both cars in the garage, the pool is once again usable, I have mowed the grass 3 times. Life is normal and we like it there.