Voicemail

I've been using Google Voice for my voicemails for a while now, mostly for the transcription service. It's useful receiving text messages of a voicemail when I can't call and listen to the voicemail myself. For some reason, though, the service is never any good at transcribing Bridget. I don't know if she mumbles, or if the speaker on her phone is just bad, but I get the most hilarious transcriptions from her messages.

Today, she decided to stop by my office and say hi during what is normally my lunch period. Unfortunately, my lunch was moved up an hour and a half, so we weren't able to connect. Not that I had any idea she was coming when what I get as a voicemail transcription is this:

Hey Nathan, it's Bridget, we are circumstances have brought me to the waffle house on the menu and 0 E. It's 438 so you should be going to lunch since you're not ready at lunch and i wanna send send money but I'm only out here. I thought maybe we could you give me a bank card, yes and Hey Nat, it's Heather something else. So I'm gonna head in that direction. Give me a call when you get up for lunch and hopefully we will be leaked we can actually see each other. Okay love you yahoo to talk to you soon. Bye.

Words in bold are words Google Voice is pretty sure it has the correct transcription for. Now, when I get this message, this is one of 6 missed calls I have from her. Also greeting me, left from 4:41PM to 5:03PM:

Or you could use. He had your gumbo and hot site and let you know we get home with no way that I am. That them stuff. He may yes so so please please please call. Please, please be out for lunch in please please please don't have your phone turned off for debtor's from. I love you and Mike at 18 Tina, I'm just turning into the parking lot, so please please please call me and it bye.

Hey Nathan, it's 453. I was just gonna run the entire parking lot and I don't see your car anywhere. Bleached Dennis praised me, but I guess maybe you forgot your lunch. She's going to go get something somewhere. I don't know, but hey. Nat, I need to see if maybe I can ask somebody is a no, you know if they come out and Hello, this is a much longer. I'm gonna go ahead and ill and don't worry about it. If you get this, and I've made. Ohh and suck if you will see you tonight and I love you and and looking forward to T, PA stuff so i love you, Sorry I missed this incident and I'm gonna go. I love you.

Hey Nathan, it's Bridget again I. D. N. S. Somebody and she said she didn't know you, but she said she would ask security, if you were there, so I'm still waiting to see if she told me that or if you come outer nobody comes out or what. 459. Now you know. I just part of a half over. If you go out for lunch at 94 30. Missing you and having lunch with it doesn't change and you know hey hey and Women Center. I'm just a little bit longer. You know I don't have high hopes that they said I couldn't find your card I talk to you can see how you left for work. You need to work right. Nat, it's a where a I'm not gonna do a on that now the okay. I'm sure I'll be leaving at least one more message for you. So I was. Bye.

Hey Nathan, it's Bridget, I'm going in leaving now, because nobody ever came out so if you came up and I don't know where you were none of them are so 8506 now clearing my car. And yeah, yes this message and area calling to grab that cup island and give me a call and I'll be happy to come home. If I missed in with you, then you know. Like I said only about it because I'll see you tonight and I will get together for lunch. Another time. I love you so much. I hope you're having a great day it and yes this is tell me where cars night here so it seems awfully suspect for someone to exploit dot, com bro, yes, so I. I love you. Okay bye.

Big weekend

We bought a house! It looks like this:

Eleanor turned 2! To celebrate, we threw her a party in the new house. It looked like this:

We hid our present in a closet, because we're lazy and didn't feel like wrapping, but mostly to hide the big surprise. It looked like this:

The Other Half

Thanks, Gizmodo.

It's the little things

There's a small knock on the bedroom door this morning. Bridget gets up and opens the door. I hear a high pitched "Hi mommy!"

And then "Daddy sleep?"

Yep, the little things.

Of Books

I recently picked up my library card at the public library here in town, and have set about reading as many books as I can. I haven't really read in quite some time, so it was quite refreshing. The third book I picked up, and the main reason I got the library card, actually, was Foundling by D.M. Cornish, and is the most engaging book I've read in some time. It was recommended by a friend, who spoke very highly of it and its sequel, which I plan on picking up tomorrow.

The book takes place in a steampunk-ish fantasy setting, filled with alchemists, monsters, and ship engines powered by muscle tissue. The author presents the world to us in a way that makes the connection to this world easy to grasp, and provides fantastic character illustrations to go along (he studied illustration in college), as well as a lengthy glossary. I highly recommend picking it up from the local library, at least.

Any other recommendations anyone can offer?

Work, and things

The new job is going pretty well - I've been doing it long enough now that I suppose calling it "the new job" is even a little out of place. I've actually been out of all phases of training for about 3 months now, moved fully into my role as last line of defense before a customer leaves the company. Not doing too shabby, either, for the most part. I manage to keep a majority of my customers; some of my other stats, like length of call, could use some work though. Working on my QA scores, as well - would love to get those back into the green. Was doing fine until we moved into save.

My desk:



The view from my desk when I turn around:



Oustide of work, things have been going pretty well, too. Got a new (to us) car, as the old Tercel was on its last leg, a '94 Honda Prelude. Has its issues, of course, being old and used, but I like it. If I could fix the whine one of the generators gives off, it'd be near perfect.

Spent the weekend in Jackson earlier this month for the big hapkido seminar we usually attend. Had a great time, as usual, learning some great techniques, and some fantastic applications. Have to share with Charlie once I can head back up north for class.

Speaking of class, I really need to start working out again. I feel kind of like I've turned into a lazy bum. I've lost 20 pounds since moving down here, which I chalk up to the lack of exercise and a change to my eating habits - I eat smaller meals now, it feels like. There's a hapkido class that meets on Saturdays that I may look into joining, as they know a friend of Charlie's. Tough to give up that time though, as it's some of the only real time I get to spend with Bridget and Eleanor.

My baby girl is doing wonderfully, as well - mostly. She's crying right now, and Bridget believes she may have a sinus infection. Had a great time playing with her cousins today though. She's really starting to communicate now, and her vocabulary grows every day; she picked up "cow" today while we were out shopping. Daycare is apparently teaching some sign language, too, as she now uses the sign for "more" and says "mo-mo" when she wants some milk - she actually uses it to mean "milk" rather than "more", really.

We have a vacation planned for April 18-25, visiting my relatives in the northeast. Flying to DC to visit my paternal grandmother for a few days, and then on up to Massachusetts to visit my maternal grandfather, aunts, and friends for a few days. Very much looking forward to it, but worried about Eleanor on planes of course. All of the flights are short, thankfully, and we have layovers in between most of them, which we hope will make things better.

Typecasting

Don't know why I'm posting this, as it's very random...

Moon Bloodgood is an actress I first saw in the great but short-lived tv show Day Break, which centered on a cop (played by Taye Diggs) who relived the same day over and over again - think Groundhog Day, but drama rather than comedy.

The following season, she shows up on Journeyman, which was about a journalist who would randomly travel back in time to fix something in someone's life - very similar to Quantum Leap, except every episode of Journeyman involved several leaps to different periods of the person's life, and he would always return to the present in between.

She is now working on Terminator: Salvation, the upcoming prequel/sequel in the Terminator franchise.

Apparently, Moon Bloodgood only takes roles in projects that somehow involve time travel.