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My preggo wife

Carrie - 29 weeks

Carrie at 29 weeks. Which was last week, for the record.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any personal-type updates here. And it’s been even longer since I’ve shared anything with you, my loyal readers (you ARE loyal readers, aren’t you?) about the boys. In fact, last time I posted about the boys it was to announce that they WERE boys.

(On a slightly related note, I have the hardest time in the world coming up with beginnings for blog posts. Often times I just start writing in the middle and tack the beginning on later. Clearly, that is not what I did this time.)

The boys will be here soon. As you may recall, they are officially due on Jan 29, 2010. However, what with being twins and all, the revised due date is Jan 15. Except…a few days ago, Carrie was talking to her doctor, and made a comment about only having two months to go. The doc looked her in the eye and said:

“Honey, there’s no way you’re going to 38 weeks.”

So we’re now thinking that the boys will be making an appearance sometime around New Years. Naturally, with my luck, they’ll be born at 12:01 AM on January 1st – just to totally screw us from an insurance and tax perspective. Yes, I’m cynical. Want to make something of it?

(This is the kind of blog post you get when I don’t have anything actually concrete to write about. Stream of consciousness is a weird hat for me to wear)

Carrie - 27 weeks

Carrie at 27 weeks. Notice the awesome sign.

Everyone keeps asking us if we’re ready for the twins to arrive. I always have the same reply, which is “absolutely not.” Which is not true at all, but I think it’s funny. In all honesty, we’re pretty well prepared. Well, at least from a “stuff” perspective. We have all the various accoutrements that the new babies will need, and the boys’ room is almost finished (I just can’t bear to call it a “nursery” on my blog. It’s just not a butch enough word).

Naturally, their room is decorated in a vintage baseball theme. The crowning achievement is this custom-made Wrigley Field sign replica that we had commissioned. We also got some super-cool prints of photos of Cubs players from 1912 and 1913 that Lippy got from the Library of Congress.

(Carrie just snaked a sip of my soda and said “Sometimes Diet Coke tastes like liquid gold.” She’s not wrong.)

It’s kind of amusing to see how quickly Carrie got big “all of a sudden”. I feel like during the week that I was in Vegas, I came back and suddenly she actually truly looked pregnant. It’s okay for me to say things like “how big my wife is getting” because she says it too. And also because I am saying “big” and not “fat.” And also because she is so pretty and nice.

Ultimately, we’re both getting pretty charged up about being parents to these two little dudes. I’m not going to lie – we’re also both pretty much scared out of our minds. However, I’m counting on being so sleep deprived that I don’t notice that I’m scared. Also, I’m pretty sure that if I just Google “how to raise twins”, I’ll be okay.

Google solves every problem.

Posted in Personal.

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A new laptop? Don’t mind if I do!

rtfmMy good pal Jenn at Free and Flawed is having a super awesome contest. She’s giving away a new HP Pavilion dm3 laptop to one lucky commenter on her blog. I highly recommend you enter her contest, which simply entails commenting on this post and sharing your (hopefully) embarrassing “first screen name ever”.

Right now you’re probably saying to yourself “Self, Matt already has a bajillion computers. Why in the heck would he want ANOTHER computer?”

The answer is quite simple. As you most likely are aware, my lovely wife Carrie is pregnant with twins. She also is lacking in the laptop department. Once these boys come, it’s going to be pretty difficult for her to use her desktop computer, what with running around and chasing them. Plus, you know, all that breastfeeding. The solution to this is…new laptop! And a free laptop would be even better.

Were I to be the lucky recipient of this fancy-pants new lappy, it would have some pretty sweet usage in our house. Not only would Carrie be able to check Facebook, which is, of course, super important, but she’d be able to catch up on some quick emails no matter where in the house she was. Plus, once she’s mobile with her computing, maybe we’ll finally get her on the Twitter. I doubt it, but stranger things have happened.

I’m also hoping that Carrie will want to contribute to the upcoming blog for our boys (domain name acquired, but not set up yet…watch this space for updates). The less she has to trudge up the stairs to her computer to write a quick post, the more likely she is to actually post. And trust me, as her one guest post here proved, you want Carrie blogging. It would make you all very happy. And you like to be happy, don’t you?

In conclusion, I must stress that my desire to win this laptop is almost completely selfless. The only benefit I gain from winning it is not having to actually shell out the money to buy one for my wife. And then I could use that money to send my sons to college. So, ultimately, I am the most deserving person ever of winning a free laptop. True story.

Posted in Personal.

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Fussy Follow Friday – @doniree

donireeI haven’t posted a Fussy Follow Friday recommendation in quite some time (actually, the last one was back in July), but I feel that it’s time to start this up again. Not just because it’s easier to do these posts than actually write up the post I WANT to write, which will require a lot of pondering and thinking. No, no…it’s because I really, truly believe you should be following this person. Now.

This week I’m recommending you IMMEDIATELY click on this link and follow @doniree. In addition to being a super-inspirational blogger, she’s a genuine and often hilarious Tweeter. And, in the interests of disclosure, I am assuring you that I started writing this blog post BEFORE I saw that she had offered to donate $5 to the charity of my choice. I am totally telling the truth.

@doniree will improve your Twitter stream in ways that cannot be measured with current technology. You’ll laugh more. You’ll think more. And you’ll even pretend to understand Sanskrit.

Fussy Follow Friday is based upon the concept that instead of a glut of Twitter follow recommendations, I will make one, and ONLY ONE, follow recommendation per Friday. For more information, the Library of Congress recommends this blog post.

Posted in Follow Friday.

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The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to redesign/improvements to this fancy-pants blog here…and one area that I’ve always known to need improvement is my About page.

It’s pretty basic right now, as you can see.

about-page

Pretty sparse, right? And it certainly doesn’t tell you anything about me. Matt Cheuvront over at Life Without Pants has a GREAT post about improving your About page…and WHY you should put in the effort. Inspired by this, I am moving on with the process of making a truly rockin’ About page. But I need some help in figuring out exactly what direction to go.

What more do you want to know?

Content would be job one here – what more can I tell you about me? Should I include autobiographical information? Would a link to my résumé be interesting? Do you care about my family?

Format and presentation

It seems like having an introductory video on your About page is the new hotness. I suppose this is also way more popular if the person in question is a mondo-hot specimen, but I can see the value and engagement potential of adding video. What do you think? Do I need more pictures, maybe? What else can I do with the presentation of this page to really make it feel engaging and personal?

Speaking of engagement

I’ve got comments enabled on my About page. Does this make sense? Is this the kind of page people comment on? Or would I be better served just adding a link to my Contact page here?

I’m looking forward to any feedback you, my loyal readers, have on this topic. I really do want to open up this blog and make the experience more rewarding…and polishing up the About page seems like a great place to start. What do you think? What have you done with YOUR About pages? What do you like about other About pages you’ve seen?

Posted in Meta.


Monday Morning Flashback

Going to College...It’s been said before that history repeats itself. I’m going to prove that. Instead of coming up with some new, awesome content this morning, we’ll take a walk down memory lane and look back to some old-school blog posts of mine – one from each November going back as far as my blog goes. Enjoy the trip, and keep your hands and feet inside the web browser at all times. (Oh, and don’t forget to vote for Doniree! Vote every day until Nov 6, 2009!)

2008 – I expected this to happen, just not so quickly: Shortly after moving the suburbs, I went through a point when I felt completely disconnected from my friends. The good news is, looking back a year later, I can see I was totally over-reacting. My relationships with my city pals are just as good as they were before we moved – they’re different, don’t get me wrong, but they’re still strong. Lesson to be learned? Don’t be such a whiner.

2007 – eBay Annoyances: Actually, there were a bunch of blog posts in Nov 2007 about my new job, but I think that the eBay post is more interesting. Basically, I was going back and forth with an eBay seller who didn’t ship me some books…and decided to “out” them in my blog. This didn’t actually accomplish anything.

2006 – Gilmore Girls = downgrade: If I recall correctly, this was the beginning of the last season of Gilmore Girls…and clearly, I didn’t think it got off to a good start. And looking back three years later…I still agree. The last season of Gilmore Girls was full of fail.

2005 – I like taking pictures of things: This is not really an in-depth blog post (it’s mostly just a link to a Flickr set) but it’s an important one. It represents a trip that Carrie and I took together which ended up being the final catalyst for the two of us getting back together…which turned into getting married…and now we’re having twins.

2004 – Fine. Run away: Posted right after the 2004 Presidential election, it’s my response for everyone who was claiming they were going to move to Canada since George W. Bush had been re-elected President. Looking back, my predictions that everyone world-wide was going to be impacted when GWB started WWIII were a tad bit over-dramatic, but my core comment (which was “Don’t be such a cowardly wimp”), still stands.

2003 – Girly update: Carrie and I met in October of 2003. This post, from early November, is an “update” on how things were going. My favorite part is the last line: “I feel good about this, I think.”

2002 – Quickies: Some random update postings. I had just moved in with Sarah and Chris, and was out of work (but doing some side consulting). Also, there were a bunch of random girls I was involved with, but nothing really good. Nov 2002 was a pretty cruddy month for me.

And that’s as far back as my blog goes. Seven years worth of Novembers…and I have to say, things are sure looking up!

Posted in Meta, Personal.




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