So desu ne

So I've been here in Japan for a week, working my butt off. Since I now have a few hours to kill before my flight takes off, I thought I'd post to this long neglected blog.

For the past five days I have been working with my Japanese counterparts on a major project. (Yes, it's the same one I've been on for the last 3 years.) Most people here speak good english, enough to get the point across when you need to buy something or order some lunch. I haven't had a good conversation with anyone outside of work topics since I've been here though. It reminds me of the scenes in "Lost in Translation" where Bill Murray or Scarlett Johansson are standing there in silence for what seams like an eternity. I never completely understood the long periods in that film where there's no dialog until now. The sense of isolation is something that is easy to get lost in here.

I will say that the people are very friendly, even if they don't understand what I'm saying, and I have all the comforts of home. The plaza where my hotel and office building are located is a bit like the Houston Galleria. In fact most of the shops are well known western brand stores like Levis, LL Bean, Banana Republic, J Crew, etc. I actually had to hunt to find some Japanese food in the area I was in. By the way, Japanese green tea sounds good, but it's really fishy smelling. Tastes okay, but smells horrible.

Outside my hotel room sits what was the worlds largest clock at the time it was built. It's also a ferris wheel. I will post some pictures when I return to Houston.

That's all for now. I'm going to get another beer. First class lounges are very cool. Free internet access, beer, and refreshments.

I almost forgot, the title of this post means "That's how it is. Isn't it." (So dess nee).

Painting fun

David's family came up for the weekend to visit...Dave's brother was in town as well, so we all hung out, played cards, and ate way too much (as happens with most family gatherings). David and his Dad painted the nursery (yea!) and I thought I'd share a few pics:






It's nice to have boys around to do the heavy lifting! :) I'll post more when we start buying furniture.

It's not just a beer belly!

I can empathize with Melissa's belly woes. I've just started to "show" within the last week or two myself. Before then, I just looked like I ate too much at the Chinese buffet. But I do feel a bit leberated in that I can forget about even trying to suck in my gut and just let it all hang out, so they say. :) But always under a T-shirt...bellies are cute and all, but not in your face all the time.

About the only thing I really miss is a nice, juicy, medium-rare steak. It's torture when we go to the gym in the evening b/c it's right by a Saltgrass Steakhouse (evil!)...I can smell a steak/hamburger from a mile away it seems. I think that'll be my fist meal post delivery: a huge hunk of cow with a side or two of something tasty. Heck, I could really forgoe the sides and just eat more steak. But for now, I'll just have to drool.

We went last Tuesday to the doc to have our "halfway" anatomy scan. For those of you not on the "baby spam" email list, we're having a girl. Yea, us! So now David and I have the lovely task of finding baby clothes that don't make us want to puke...sure, a little cute is okay, but spare me the TV cartoon characters and too many sickly-sweet sayings. I've done a little (okay, a LOT) of internet surfing, and here are some of my faves so far:










So I admit I can have a little cuteness in my life...but not too much. :) But don't get me STARTED about trying to find nursery furniture that doesn't suck (for less than $1000). That's a whole other post.

A Teddy Graham in the oven

Last week, one of my co-workers brought Teddy Grahams to the office. But she didn't realize they were mini-teddys until she opened the bag.
She said, "These are tiny. How many are in a serving? Wow, 46!"
Then something compelled me to say, "You know what's bigger than those teddy grahams?"
"What?"
"My FETUS!"
Instead of laughing like I expected, all my childless co-workers went "eewwwww" which made me laugh even harder.


On another note, here's something I've been wondering for all of you Indian food lovers: When referring to pregnancy, do they ever say they've got a naan in the oven?
Probably not.
But I would.

Beer for a baby? Not sure how I feel about this trade.

I miss drinking.
I won't lie. I'm sure once summer gets here I won't care anymore. But right now it's tough to watch people drink my favorite winter lagers and porters and know I can't even stomach caffeinated tea.
Yay.
I also love champagne. Nathan and I will celebrate our anniversary on Tuesday in a romantic cabin in Devil's Den and I'll be saying, "Fancy flute of sparkling grape juice anyone?"
How lame is that?

I realize this post is sounding pretty bitter. But as far as the champagne goes, there was a nice bit of that last week. Because we did this story for the paper about different champagnes and is the most expensive one the best and yadda yadda. But this one liquor store owner offered to host our champagne tasting the fancy way where we spit it out and don't swallow. So, at least I got to have some nice champagne in my mouth, if not in my belly.
We tried one really expensive French one, about $150, and let me tell you it was awful. It smelled of peas and gym socks and tasted just as bad. If you want to know what it was, I'll tell you. It wasn't a brand I'd never heard of though (so not Cristal or Dom).

Last night I managed to stomach Indian food for the first time in months, which made Nathan very happy. He's had to suffer a bit in that arena because I couldn't stand the smell of it. And I've just about decided Mexican food is out. The salsa and I have had a falling out and are no longer friends. Oh well.

Overall, I'm quite happy -- mostly because I can't remember what it's like to feel normal. I've got this little baby bump, that looks just like the beer belly bump I used to have. So, for now, most of my clothes still fit just barely, but I don't forsee that happening much longer. I can't wear any of my jeans though.
Um... I guess that's good for now. If I tell you much more I'll start to feel like Herman Melville or something.
Hope you all have a happy valentine's day if you're celebrating.

Dude...first post of 2008?

It's sad that Stevie the non-poster is the person posting for the first time this year. And even though we talked about creating a new blog for the preggos, I'm too lazy to do that. So I'm posting here.


The radiologist puts me at 11.5 weeks, which was further along than the doc estimated last week (at 7.5 weeks). The ultrasound was realy cool...the little dude** was moving around and waving at the camera for a bit. Got to see limbs, the spinal nerves (no bones yet), the umbilical cord, and the heartbeat. Couldn't hear it yet, but it was going strong...163 bpm said the doc. New due date is August 1st (yea for me...preggers in the Houston summer).

Here are the other three pis from today; they're a bit better b/c you can see that it really is a little human in there. :)




So coming to the end of the first trimester, still haven't had any morning sickness or crazy mood swings (lucky me). I am though still cold and still fatigued, but that's getting a bit better. I went without a nap yesterday and was fine (though I did take at least one on the days before). Gained about 3 pounds since Thanksgiving, which is right on track. Now the real fun (and the belly) begins. If the next time we all get together is in July, I'll be as big as a house...or a large cruise ship or something like that. :)

That's all folks.


**Getting back to the fact that I'm lazy, I refuse to type dude/dudette or him/her everytime I reference the kiddo, so I'm adpoting the standard of "dude" until we know the sex. As soon as we find that out, I'll be sure to let you know so Nich can start thinking of the appropriate middle initial to assign.