snow piled up in a silver bowl

TV Meme! Borrowed from avengangle.

TV Meme
Okay, so one of my flist posts the answer to one of these each day, but I totally can't wait that long, so you're getting all of mine at once. Also, I don't watch that much sitcom/fictional TV anymore so that made this a lot harder.

Day 1: A show that never should have been canceled:  Who Do You Think You Are? They aired like two episodes and then it went away. I was very sad.

Day 2: A show you wish more people were watching:  The Rachel Maddow Show, because she's brilliant.

Day 3: Your favorite new show (aired this TV season):  LOST. I am distraught that it's over.

Day 4: Your favorite show ever:  Uh, too many.

Day 5: A show you hate:  Jersey Shore and/or Toddlers & Tiaras.

Day 6: Favorite episode of your favorite TV show:  See answer above.

Day 7: Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show:  See answer above.

Day 8: A show everyone should watch:  Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex because it is awesome.

Day 9: Best scene ever:  At the moment, probably the Sawyer/Juliet reunion during the series finale of LOST.

Day 10: A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving: LOST. I blame anthogna.

Day 11: A show that disappointed you: House - I loved the first two seasons, and then it started to go downhill during the third season and by the end I just stopped watching it entirely.

Day 12: An episode you've watched more than 5 times: "To Love and Die in Dixie", Family Guy.

Day 13: Favorite childhood show: Sadly, Full House

Day 14: Favorite male character: Benjamin Linus, LOST. He's just so interesting and complicated. I would totally watch the "Hurley & Ben Run the Island" Spin-Off.

Day 15: Favorite female character:  Katara, Avatar:  The  Last Airbender. She's just so awesome.

Day 16: Your guilty pleasure show:  Inuyasha. Shut up. Also, Family Guy.

Day 17: Favorite mini series:  I can't actually recall that I've seen a mini-series that I've liked.

Day 18: Favorite title sequence:  Cowboy Bebop.

Day 19: Best TV show cast:  Mythbusters.

Day 20: Favorite kiss:  Sawyer/Juliet during the reunion scene in the series finale of LOST. I could watch that scene a million times.

Day 21: Favorite 'ship: Miroku/Kagome from Inuyasha or Katara/Zuko from Avatar:  The Last Airbender. Shut up.

Day 22: Favorite series finale: "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", Futurama. It was just perfect. I'm not sure I want to watch the new episodes now that they've brought it back it was so perfect.

Day 23: Most annoying character:  Barry the Chopper, Full Metal Alchemist.

Day 24: Best quote:  There are so many, but the only one coming to mind at the moment is "I reject your reality, and substitute my own!"

Day 25: A show you plan on watching (old or new): Debating about Glee.

Day 26: OMG WTF? Season finale:  Full Metal Alchemist, Season 1.

Day 27: Best pilot episode: House.

Day 28: First TV show obsession:  I can't actually remember, there have been so many.

Day 29: Current TV show obsession:  Sadly, I am lost at sea and require a new television show to bear the burden of my interest. :o) 

Day 30: Saddest character death:  I cried pretty hard during Jack's death at the end of LOST. Also Fry's dog in Futurama ("Jurassic Bark"). And Hughes from FMA.

While reading my RSS feeds on my lunch break, I found this quote in a Mark Bittman editorial in the New York Times about a possible soda tax:

“What you want,” says Kelly Brownell, director of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, “is to reverse the fact that healthy food is too expensive and unhealthy food is too cheap, and the soda tax is a start..."

Uh... so the correct choice is to make all food expensive? How about we stop subsidizing cheap corn and start subsidizing fresh fruits and vegetables in urban areas instead?

I agree with snowmentality, I would also like to see this ad from Dodge:

“I will get up at 5:30 and go to the gym. I will lose the baby weight in a month. I will shave my legs. I will put lotion on my legs. I will put on foundation and lipstick and eyeshadow and powder so you can’t tell I’ve put it on at all. I will cook your dinner. I will wash your plate. I will keep track of your doctor’s appointments. I will fold your laundry. I will wipe your pee splashes from the toilet. I will wear a push-up bra. And because of this, I will drive the car I want to drive.”

Borrowed from avengangle.

( Year End Survey )

Shelby arrived at 11:14 am on Friday, November 20, 2009. She was 10 lbs, 4 oz and 21" long. Labor was only 6.5 hours, and drug free. :o)



Mom and baby are both doing great. Birth story to follow.

Baby is getting big! And not so much a baby anymore.

At 15 months:

your child is 22.8 pounds, and that is
at the 23th percentile for weight.

your child is 32 inches, and that is
at the 72th percentile for height.

So I'm working on a project (one of many) that has been held up by contract negotiations in customer legal hell for over a year. It finally looks like it's going to be done soon, though, so on our weekly "Is the contract done yet? No? Okay, see you next week" call, our Customer Project Manager asked me to ask my Project Manager (who was at the dentist and not on the call) for a timeline to see how long it would take to do the project once the contracts were finalized as soon as possible.

I sent my PM a text saying "[Customer PM] wants a timeline for [Project]. Can you call me this evening to discuss?"

She writes back: "Did you tell him I said I have been attending calls for over a year waiting for [Dude giving us contract updates] that he can wait until next week and if that's an issue he can kiss my ass?"

I LOLd.

...that you don't hear very often, and unless you know to ask, your OB might not tell you.

1) You *will* feel some pain. There is no getting around this. You will potentially be in early labor for up to 24 hours prior to even setting foot in the hospital.

2) Inductions and/or labor augmentation are more painful than natural labor, and are harder on the baby.

3) Epidurals can slow labor and cause a drop in maternal blood pressure, leading to fetal heart tone decelerations and fetal distress. If the doctor/nurse cannot correct your blood pressure with a large influx of IV fluids, you will end up with an emergency c-section.

4) Epidurals will fail in 20% of laboring mothers. Plan for this possibility and research other pain management strategies.

5) The standard "on your back" position for pushing is the *worst* position for you to be in. You're essentially pushing the baby uphill, and it makes your pelvis smaller, thus a) making you more likely to tear and b) makes the pushing take longer. It's only standard because it's easier for the doctor to catch the baby in that position.

6) If you have not had an epidural, push when *you* feel the urge to do so. Purple-faced nurse/OB-directed pushing does not make the baby come out any faster, it just makes you more tired.

7) Episiotomies are not standard practice anymore. Neither are enemas or shaving. If your OB practices any of these with any regularity, find a new doctor if possible.

8) The required eye drops are ridiculous. They are treating your baby for a chlamydia or gonorrhea infection it may or may not have picked up in the birth canal. THEY PROBABLY TESTED YOU FOR THIS DURING ONE OF YOUR FIRST PRENATAL APPOINTMENTS. And, it makes the baby unable to see you for the first 48 hours. Assuming you were negative on the initial test and you haven't been cheating on your partner, I recommend declining this procedure.

9) Ultrasounds in late pregnancy can be up to to 2 lbs off. Do not get talked into a c-section for a "big baby". C-sections are a *major* abdominal surgery and have all the risks associated with a major abdominal surgery. No way to know if the baby is too big until you try.

10) The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology have just released that their recommendation is that women should be allowed to have clear liquids to drink during labor. Personally, I do not understand why they did not realize that ice chips (which is still standard practice) melts to water in your stomach, but wouldn't let you have a glass of water. Either way, you should be allowed to drink something during labor if you want it. Link here.

Anybody else with more tips to add?

Edit: How could I forget my favorite fact? Epidurals are not shots. They are catheters in your back that are put in by a hollow needle. Yes, you will have to stay perfectly still during one or more contractions while the anesthesiologist places it. And yes, it will add nearly $4000 t o your hospital bill.