But here I am at 5:30 on a Tuesday morning and have a free couple of minutes and so I [...]]]> Yes. I’m still here. I always want to write every day and then all of a sudden all of the hours are gone and I’m like, Big Sigh. Blog will have to wait yet another day.

But here I am at 5:30 on a Tuesday morning and have a free couple of minutes and so I was like, WRITING! THAT’S WHAT I’LL DO!!! And at 5:30 I said it with that much gusto. Really. I like the mornings.

So I am loving my new job. I had to give a talk yesterday because Northwestern was having their DOE review and it’s been awhile since I have given a physics talk. I got a little bit of the Leah nerves on. You know those ones that make me talk about 900 miles an hour and trip over the words I’m saying. But I did include a picture of Lucy for fun and so I think I won cute points. Maybe it wasn’t that bad. It felt bad, but at least I can only go up from here.

So the job is great. I really enjoy the people I’m working with and my supervisor is great. Last week my graduate advisor was at the lab and so I was able to meet him for lunch. It’s great that I’m in a position where that can happen more often because I’m pretty sure that he’s batman and so, well, yeah.  Who wouldn’t want to go to lunch with batman?   He’s still driving around an old Honda Accord. I think it has 250K miles on it and the bumper is about to rust off. So…well yeah, don’t know the point of that, but he’s not driving the batmobile.

So what else do I do. Oh knitting. That’s going well. After working on only one project for so long, I have 6 projects on needles right now. That’s right 6. One of which is another giant project, but the rest are little and fun. I’m trying to mix it up a little bit. The big project this time isn’t as difficult as the blanket I made for my cousin’s baby Ramona so it’s going faster than I thought it would. You only increases the stitches like once, so I don’t really understand how it’s going to be a blanket and not a tube….but I’m moving forward.

What else what else what else…oh yeah, the Fermilab Photowalk. That was super cool! Here are a few pictures I took and if you are interested in seeing the full set you can get it here.

Sorry if those look terrible if your browser, I forgot I usually copy over the medium size and those are large…so they might overlap the column on the right. Good thing I’m not a front end developer anymore as this would make me crazy. It’s not making me crazy. Ok it is….but I don’t want to fix it. Just enlarge your browser and it should be fine.

And how’s the Lucy girl? She’s great. We think the top teeth are coming in because there has been some fevers and some general fussiness….which isn’t fun for anyone. Her poor gums look so sore, I swear it looks like she has little pimples on her gums. That has to be so painful.

I keep thinking of great things I want to write about and then I forget. See how I’m forgetting to talk about running. Grr.

I’m still breastfeeding Lucy which is a bit of the pain in the ass. Ok a lot pain in the ass. But I’m getting through it. I have it to where I only have to pump once when I’m at work. My plan is to continue for the first year, and only 3 more months to that point. I can do it. At this point it would be weird to stop unless something happens to my milk supply because it really isn’t keeping me from doing anything I want to do. So yes. 3 more months.

Ok. This post has taken me way too long to write and I have to pump and get ready for work. Man I had a really funny post in my head. I guess it’s like the talk I gave it was good in my head and then I vomited out the information.

There is a street fair happening right outside my window.

I’m listening to a great cover band playing at said street fair.

I’m drinking a cold Magic Hat #9.

Shot [...]]]> I’m sitting here at my computer doing some physics work for a meeting tomorrow and developing pictures from the Fermilab photo walk I went on a few weeks ago.

There is a street fair happening right outside my window.

I’m listening to a great cover band playing at said street fair.

I’m drinking a cold Magic Hat #9.

Shot Through the Heart.

FTW.

The Fermilab campus is beautiful.

So is the equipment. Some of it looks like it’s from the 50s. Probably because it is. Stay tuned for the pictures from this coming hopefully throughout the next week.

I would love to take pictures of physics detectors all over the world.

Someone has to do that right?

Final Countdown. Hello Arrested Development Magic Show.

My cousin had a baby girl.

Named her Ramona Elaine.

With her name I think she could be a rock star.

She’s beautiful and amazing. I can’t wait for her and Lucy to be friends as they grow up.

We went to my Dads for dinner he said that he had to go to the Library to get a book out about sailing routes “around the world”. I got a little snap on and said, “Oh really. Around the world huh? Perfect.”

I sat in a snit for a couple hours.

Jason was envisioning me walking home. Rather stomping home.

Before we left they told us the actual plan.

That plan is them being in Chicago for most of the time and keeping their boat in Nova Scotia in the winter.

I’m so happy about that I could spit. Or cry. If I was a crier.

They are going to be around to help with baby watching for the foreseeable future.

This is a big relief. Day care is a pain.

Family is good.

Here I go Again.

Seriously. Best. Cover Band Ever. They are rocking their shit out.

I really just wanted to mention the cover band when I started writing this.

But. Yeah. This is better.

Also. Magic Hat #9 is fucking delicious.

6 years ago today Jason and I got married. In fact 6 years [...]]]> As much as I would like this to be a nice lost post with pictures and stories and laughs and the Remember Whens…I just don’t have the time. So it will be short and sweet and thus making it even sweeter.Or lame. Whatever.

6 years ago today Jason and I got married. In fact 6 years ago the 13th also landed on a Friday. We don’t have the superstition. I don’t think I could have married anyone else and been this happy. As I say all the time, Jason is my best friend and I cannot imagine my life without him.

God that was a lame paragraph.

Let me make it better with a picture of what we made :

Lucy vs The Beets. Beets 1. Lucy 0.

]]> http://www.jasonleahrun.com/2010/08/13/six/feed/ 4 http://www.jasonleahrun.com/2010/08/06/ass-barf-and-more/ http://www.jasonleahrun.com/2010/08/06/ass-barf-and-more/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:57:47 +0000 JasonR http://www.jasonleahrun.com/?p=1372 No, I’m absolutely thrilled for Lu that she’s growing up and trying new things.  Really, I couldn’t be happier. The crawling and the laughing and the Matrix-style wave (“I know Kung Fu”) are all just delightful and she’s always so excited and happy.

I mean, it’s all great.  Except the solid food…I’m not 100% sure it’s [...]]]> No, I’m absolutely thrilled for Lu that she’s growing up and trying new things.  Really, I couldn’t be happier. The crawling and the laughing and the Matrix-style wave (“I know Kung Fu”) are all just delightful and she’s always so excited and happy.

I mean, it’s all great.  Except the solid food…I’m not 100% sure it’s a good thing.  The thing is, her diapers are getting a bit stinky.  Or to put it another way, HOLY MOTHER OF GOD her ass smells like death.  Up until we’d started solid food, it’d gotten to the point where half the diapers were nearly scentless (and 4% of diapers smelled like lavender).  But now that she’s on the solids, it’s all so vile.  She wakes up; her diaper is filled with a strange mishmash of half-digested carrot bits, pea mush, and evil.  And since I’ve never had a vegetarian throw up on me, this is all a new experience.

You know, it really is just like vomit.  Every morning we get to relive the previous night’s dinner…just like the night after a party!  But this is ass barf, which is far worse.  Either she needs to learn to digest her food or we need to get her potty trained because I can’t take too many more beet-filled diapers.

In other news, Lu continues to be the strong, silent type.  She’s a champion crawler and today she nearly stood up in the bath tub, but she still lives her life in permanent Marcel Marceau mode.  I’m pretty sure she’s a jock.   I guess we’ll know if her first word is “poindexter” and then she shoves me in a locker.  Incidentally, I’m still holding out hope that she’s British.  Little girls with British accents are the cutest.  I guess we’ll just wait for her first words and see.

Fingers crossed!

…

So, we were at the park today and we noticed that all the parents were following their toddlers around, walking about 2-3 feet behind them, repeatedly calling their names.  It was like they were parents spurned, desperately appealing to their kids to reconsider while enduring the silent treatment from their little ones.  At least, that’s what it looked like. I guess it could be that the kids were just born leaders, leaving the parents to fall into their rolls as followers.  But be careful, parents!  “I was just following orders” doesn’t hold up in court.

Alright, time to sign off as it’s time to see who gets voted off So You Think You Can Dance.  I really couldn’t care less as their all solid

…although if Lauren doesn’t win I’m going to kill myself.

However. [...]]]> So Fermilab is cool right? It’s also about an hour away from my apartment. And so part of the deal of this new jobs is I get to work at Northwestern some days a week which is a very nice commute for me. No more shoving myself onto the el like a sardine! Yay! Win!

However. Sometimes there are shutdows at my experiment. And all the computers are turned off. And I cannot log into my computers and thus cannot access any of my work.Source control you say? No.Although the physics nerds do rock the world of CVS pretty hard I think.

Anyways. I am writing this as I’m waiting for the power outage to be over and someone down the hall has said they can turn my mahine back on (Thanks Penny!).I thought I could get to a different machine…but turns out I was wrong about that and so…yes. I wait.

Aside from these annoyances I love working remotely. I have a nice space at Northwestern and if you follow me on the twitter you would have noticed me mentioned Fraiche. Might be the most delicious place on the planet. Good coffee, good treats, and just a few blocks from the door. I want to ask them if they would give me a carafe of their coffee bcause it is by far the most awesomest coffee I have ever had. Anyways. If you are in Evanston go to Fraiche. Trust me.

In other LeahC news, I finished a very very large knitting project. It’s the Honey Baby Blanket by Anne Hanson It turned out amazing, and I’m just really proud of it. I was very excited to give it to my cousin Lisa who’s baby is due any day now. Here are some photos:

So that’s done. And as it was all consuming for the last many months I’ve decided to keep 4-5 projects going instead of just one big one. So I’m working on, a baby sweater for Lucy (which I have already screwed up and need to start over on), finsihing a pair of socks for me, a lacy scarf for someone, and then I’m just going to keep a constant dishcloth on some needles as I would like to give everyone in my family a couple for Christmas. More pictures of those as they become available. I should take pictures of the process as well. I have a hard time taking pictures of knitting things, so it’s something I need to work on.

Running/biking? Eh. Ran on Sunday didn’t feel so hot. Was going to run yesterday, decided not to. My plan if I can ever get it going is going to be bike on Tuesdays and Fridays and run the other five days. Well that’s already shot for this week. But it was raining this morning so biking was out (not ready for that kind of commitment).

And Lucy? She’s great! Crawling and pulling herself up. Trying new foods. She did fall yesterday and slammed her head into her dresser. So she had a little bump on her head. Already gone today. And if she’s anything like her mother, she should probably just get used to that. Here she is in all her cuteness:

So there you go. She’s still cute I’m realizing from these pictures that she has a really big mouth. Just like her mom! Also really big eyes. Just like her dad.

Alright, well that is all from the Land of the Leah. Time to find more coffee!

]]> http://www.jasonleahrun.com/2010/08/03/working-remotely-knitting-and-other-stuff/feed/ 2 http://www.jasonleahrun.com/2010/08/02/surprise/ http://www.jasonleahrun.com/2010/08/02/surprise/#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:02:26 +0000 JasonR http://www.jasonleahrun.com/?p=1359 A couple weeks ago, our very own LeahC decide to revive the Seminary-Sheridan Super Club, a club where Leah, the Chicago Grandparents and I try out new and interesting restaurants in Chicago.  Last week we visited the original Connie’s Pizza down on Archer (at least, I think it’s the original), this week it was Southport [...]]]> A couple weeks ago, our very own LeahC decide to revive the Seminary-Sheridan Super Club, a club where Leah, the Chicago Grandparents and I try out new and interesting restaurants in Chicago.  Last week we visited the original Connie’s Pizza down on Archer (at least, I think it’s the original), this week it was Southport Lanes, and next week it will be Charlie Trotters.  Of course, because dinners now include a little baby named Lu, they would have to be a bit earlier.  Brunches and early dinners were the plan.

Or at least, we thought that was the plan.  But, in fact, the plan involved much more trickery.  Trickery and deception and chicanery and flimflam and codswallop.  Well, not codswallop…Leah hates cod.

and swallop.

But yeah, there was much trickery yesterday as Leah and I arrived at Southport lanes after a day of Wiggleworms (read: hippie music with babies) and a visit to The Book Cellar in Lincoln Square.  It was a great day and a bit of bowling would only make it better.   Yep, can’t wait to bowl.  And a cheeseburger!  Cheeseburgers are good!  Just going to walk into the bowling area with my wife and…hey, there’s Jake and Laura.  And they have balloons on their heads.  Leah didn’t mention they were coming…maybe Scott and Sue invited them?  Huh.

(Note: nothing about the balloons on the head seemed weird.  We’re talking about Jake and Laura here)

And so an unsuspecting me walked into the bowling area to meet Scott and Sue and (apparently) Jake and Laura when…Surprise!  Holy crap!  It’s a surprise party!  There are bunches of people I know here and they’re all here to celebrate my birthday…which was two weeks ago!  Hence the surprise!

So yeah, I walked in and was most surprised.  I don’t think I actually said a word as my brain was working very slowly in processing all this.  I’ve been on the other side of the surprise and always wondered what the surprised were thinking.  Now I know.  They’re surprised.  Surprising, huh?

In addition to friends from work and friends from out of town (very surprised/impressed that Bridgette and Chad came all the way from Indianapolis to help celebrate), there were people that Scott used to teach with.  Huh.  But ah yes, it was also Scott’s birthday and he was still to arrive, for the second surprise of the day.  And so after a few rounds of hellos, the suprisee became the suprisor and I waited for Scott to arrive.

And he did.  And he was surprised.  We were both so completely shocked as Leah and Sue had done a magnificent job planning all this in secret.  The concept of the revived super club and Leah saying “hey, we should go to Southport Lanes” every time we walked by for the last two months was all just setup for today.  Most impressive.

And so the rest of the afternoon was spent bowling and drinking and cheeseburger eating and it was good.  Leah and I tied for the win in bowling (because we’re winners) and presents were given and it was a good time.  Hey, I like the way birthdays have been going recently.  Everyone gives beer or booze!  It’s the perfect gift because it’s tasty and, when it’s done, it’s recycled keeping our apartment free of clutter.

The drinkables included:

• Jake and Laura donating rum to my liquor cabinet collection.  He recently tweeted about the Rum saying he wasn’t sure if it was good or just weird.  I’m going to assume good.  Given the many Rum and Cokes we’ve drank together over the years, a very appropriate gift.
• A Saki collection from the Teyema’s in from Indiana.  Saki it to me, baby!
• A collection of beer from Kay and Sam which, appropriately enough, were held in a case for Newton’s Folly, an homage to Newton’s misguided belief in the Theory of Gravity which, as we now know, was just a theory.
• And, of course, the beer from Andrea.  Sure, she insists that I shouldn’t read anything into the beers she chose for me and Scott.  Yeah, no, nothing to read into.  Except that she gets me a beer named “Slim Chance” and Scott’s was something like “ManHammer” or “Big Hammer” or “Thunder Hammer” or “Thor, God or Thunder”* or…something like that.  I don’t know, something that’s the opposite of Slim Chance.  Sheesh.

(* Fans of the Josh Whedon project Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog** can insert their own “the hammer is my penis” joke here)

(** NERDS!)

So yeah, a great birthday surprise and a great time at Southport Lanes.  Nice work by Grandma Sue and LeahC on the surprise and a big thanks to everyone who came out to wish me and Scott a happy birthday.

I did not sleep well last night. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on the couch at like 9 (yes. I got to bed around 9pm…it’s because that’s what all the cool kids do…who needs to stay up for fun things like Letterman and The Daily Show?) for about 45 minutes, then went [...]]]> Wow.

I did not sleep well last night. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on the couch at like 9 (yes. I got to bed around 9pm…it’s because that’s what all the cool kids do…who needs to stay up for fun things like Letterman and The Daily Show?) for about 45 minutes, then went to bed and fell asleep with all the lights on. Then at 11:30 I think the baby was crying? Or maybe just squeaked. She squeaked again at 3:30. And my alarm went off at 5. The squeaking in the middle of the night is nothing new, but aren’t there like sleep cycles? I woke up in the cycle that is “YOU SHOULD STILL BE SLEEPING”.

So why was I so tired last night? In usual Leah fashion we were non-stop yesterday. Up at 6, read the New York Times. Lu-Dog up at 7, walked to the grocery store. Then homes. Then Lucy took a nap and we became a baby food making factory. We made beets, sweet potatoes, a berry cherry puree (frozen blueberries + cherries chopped in the blender then heated on the stove for 4 minutes or so), pear and peaches. We still have some zucchini, apples and carrots to make up.

Speaking of Lucy eating. She’s trying all kinds of new things. She can do some finger food eating and last night we cut up some avocado into pieces and let her have at it. We also crushed up some cheerios and put them on top to help her grab them. She got some in her mouth and some on her lap, but I think she really enjoyed feeding herself. We have only given her fruits, veggies and cereals but I think we might start with some little pieces of turkey this week. I’m really afraid to give her eggs because Jason was *very* allergic to eggs when he was a kid. I mean he was allergic to everything, but I think he was hospitalized for an egg incident. I know. I know. The allergen is in the egg white. But even if you just get the yolk out, there is still going to be some egg white on there, it’s not like you can rinse the egg off.  So I’m going to wait on that until I talk to my peditrician at our 9 month appointment.

So yes. Exciting world of baby food. Seriously, Jason and I barely cook for ourselves. We have Homemade Pizza company on our speed dial as well as on our evening walk route..you know…we just happened to be walking by. But we love cooking the baby food, I don’t know why. It kinda makes a mess….but I don’t know. We got all this fancy stuff for our wedding many years back and we are finally using some of it.

Ok. Where was I. Right, so after her nap we took her to her swim class at the YMCA. Stopped in at Be By Baby to get some detergent as well as a few more fuzzibunz one sized diapers (those of you looking to do cloth diapers, these are great). Then we came home. Lucy napped, we napped. Then after the napping was all over, we got her up and walked over to the Lincoln Avenue Street Fair where we met up with my dad, saw some great music (Black Betty (Molly) was awesome…covers of awesome songs and just would do these crazy medleys. Fun.), ate a giant elephant ear…seriously powder sugar was everywhere. We walked back home and then went straight back out with the running stroller for a 5.5 mile run and 1 mile walk home cool down.

Whew.

I also read a ton yesterday. Which brings me to my final Random Things point.

I was reading the New York Times yesterday and there was an article about the heat (Did you know? It’s hot!) and there was mention of a guy in the article about how he and his wife haven’t turned on their air conditioner since 1977 or something. And in the article the guy said, “Maybe if we all did that we would go outside and meet people”. I love Free Range Kids and I wonder if part of the problem of people letting their kids go outside is that no one is outside. Why is no one outside? Are people just sitting inside in their air conditioning? Watching TV? It poured rain on Friday and Saturday morning here and so yesterday it was very comfortable. Jason and I were reading on our porch in long pants and I looked around and there wasn’t another person out, and all I could hear was the hum of air conditioning units. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve lived in many shitty apartments with no air and we had some miserable nights. But Jason and I tend to just go out in the heat. My mom’s air conditioning broke the other weekend and I know they had a rough weekend given that she lives in Florida so you are talking about a new dimension of heat. But I’m just wondering if the air conditioning went out on her entire block how many more people would she have talked to?

I don’t know. We opened our windows and maybe will just try putting the air on at night.

In short. GO OUTSIDE. MEET PEOPLE.

Alright, there is word that the baby is awake. Now I just have to decide if I’m awake enough to ride my bike to work….

“Can you hear me?”

“I can’t see you”

“I can’t hear you”

“The picture. It’s all weird. Like little boxes. It’s weird. Honey? Can you see us?”

Jason goes to get coffee, getting as far away from the situation as possible

“Mom. I know what the problem is. Something is wrong with [...]]]> (Note to Mom: We are teasing )

“Can you hear me?”

“I can’t see you”

“I can’t hear you”

“The picture. It’s all weird. Like little boxes. It’s weird. Honey? Can you see us?”

Jason goes to get coffee, getting as far away from the situation as possible

“Mom. I know what the problem is. Something is wrong with the signal”

“It’s weird. It’s just like little boxes”

Jason searches for handgun

“I KNOW. I’m working on it”

“Honey? Can you see us. The picture, it’s weird. Like little boxes.”

BANG

We just ended our Saturday morning video chat with my Mom and her husband down in Florida (side note: isn’t it weird that I refer to my mom’s husband as my mom’s husband and not my stepdad? I think it’s because they got married when I was in my late 20s…..anyways. yes.). We try and video with them via “the skype” over “the internet” at least every week so that they can see the Lu-Dog do all of her new tricks.

There is something wrong with the volume, first of all, that has been happening for the past month or two. It’s like they have the sensitivity up to super high on their end, and my mom’s voice is in some other dimension in terms of tone and volume and so it comes all “EEEEEEEEEEE” with some words thrown in there. So then our conversation is something like:

“Hey mom. Don’t talk so loud because your voice is all distorted. Like maybe move back from the computer a little bit”

“Ok. Is this better?”

“Yep. Ok here is Lucy!”

“EEEEEE HI LUEEEEEECYEEEEEEEEEE”

“MOM! YOU HAVE TO TALK QUIETER”

Jason under his breath: Oh my god…

“OEEEKEEEE. LUCEEEEYEEEEEEEE”

Me: big sigh.

Today I happened to be uploading some pictures to the smugmug and so our bandwith was being used up by that and hence the “little boxes”. Once I switched that off everything was fine and it was totally my fault, but woof.

I love videoing with her because I don’t get to see her live very often and I love for Lucy to get to see her, but it’s always a very funny experience.