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.

Ellie's song and dance number

Bridget filmed this Thanksgiving night.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that it was spent in good company, be it friends, family, or both.

Do want...

I know I'm a much bigger Trek fan than Star Wars fan, but this is awesome.

The new job is going well. I get up at 430am to be at work for 530am, and get off of work at 215pm, and am usually very tired when I do. That'll change once we're done with the classroom training period, which ends next week. Then eight weeks of hands-on training, a week of specialty training, and they'll let us loose.

Wee!

Ellie Loves Pasta

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Ellie In The Pool

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Ellie's First Doll

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Job's Done

So, I lost my job a couple of weeks ago. I'd been pretty stressed out for quite a while, both work and home related, and it made me practically useless. So I fell behind on stuff at work, and was fired for it. Right decision, really; I'd have fired me too.

I've taken one of the Louisiana state civil service exams, and did pretty well on it (though not as well as Bridget or her sister). I've applied for a few positions, a couple in Natchitoches, one in Shreveport, and one in the Lafayette area. Yesterday I took an assessment exam at a call center in Lafayette, and they seem excited to hire me.

We're looking around at other possibilities, too. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

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The case

Since none of the jury ended up being sick or anything, they sent us two alternates home when the jury retired for deliberation, so I don't know how the case ended.

It was drug case, defendant charged with "Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance, Schedule II, namely crack cocaine, With Intent to Distribute." Seems that in early 2007 he had the unfortunate chance to be driving around with 1) a guy who was the subject of an arrest warrant the local drug task force was attempting to effect; 2) another guy carrying 40 rocks of crack cocaine; and 3) $1121 in his wallet, mostly in $20s.

When the vehicle they were in was stopped by law enforcement, he and the crack-carrying guy jumped out and ran into the house they'd pulled in to. An officer followed them to the house, which was full of people, and asked them to step back out. He located the homeowner, asked if he could search the house, and then searched the area where the two had been seen, and found the bag of crack. He then searched the two and found the money on the defendant.

The state alleged that the two were involved in a "major drug organization operating in Natchitoches Parish." They put on the stand the state trooper who had followed them in to the house, the sheriff's officer who was in charge of the operation, the officer who pulled over the vehicle, and another sheriff's officer who was allowed as an expert witness in drug trafficking and distribution. The expert testified about the general operations of low- to mid-level drug dealer's - namely, that usually the one with the drugs didn't carry the cash. He just accepted it, and then carried it to his boss. He also explained that usually rocks of crack were sold for $20 or $40; in his experience, finding someone with a lot of $20s with someone with drugs meant a connection between the drugs and the money.

The defense said that the money had come from winnings at the casino a few nights prior. The defendant's fiancee stated that they had won about $1800, and he had given it to her to hold for him. The night before his arrest, he came to her for some of the money to help bail a friend out of jail. The man who had been holding the crack had plead guilty to possession with intent to distribute, and testified the drugs were his, and his alone, and that neither of the other occupants of the vehicle had any knowledge of his carrying it.

There was some conflicting testimony over where the defendant was in the house when he was arrested, and over the location of a cooler he may or may not have been sitting on. None of that, in my opinion, really mattered, because where he was didn't matter in relation to his actual possession of the drug. None of the testimony had him ever in actual contact with the drug; what the state was actually trying to prove was something called "constructive possession," which is, essentially, when you have power or control over someone who possesses drugs, or can control what they do with it.

The case came down to where the money came from: was it drug money, or gambling money? The defendant and his fiancee testified that they went to the casino about 3 times a month. The state wanted to know how a man with no car, who cut hair in his carport, and cut lawns on the side, could afford to go to the casino 3 times a month - obviously, it was drug money. The defense argued that it was a lifestyle choice of young men in the black community. The state argued that the defendant was a repeat offender - previously he plead guilty to distribution of marijuana, distribution of cocaine, and possession of cocaine. The defense argued that previously, he had plead because he had been guilty, but that now he was fighting because he was innocent.

The case only took one day; kind of wish I'd been able to stick around for the deliberation and verdict.

Jury Duty

I got a letter about a month ago telling me I was being subpoenaed for jury duty. My reaction to this was actually "Yay!" as I've been wanting to serve on a jury for some time now.

Lots and lots of waiting. That's what happened the first day. The jury selection took ALL day. I ended up as an alternate. Bah. It's like the black sheep of the jury. They have to hear all of the evidence, but don't get. Real vote. How lame.

Anyway, we're on a break right now, waiting to be called back in for closing arguments. Then we get to deliberate. Then, finally, I'll be able to talk about the trial itself.

Court, btw, is just like ok TV. Sarcasm, glares, and drama, oh my!

New versions, new features

A couple of pieces of software I use recently released new versions, so I thought I'd talk a bit about a couple of the little touches added to them that, in my opinion, just make life a little bit easier.

Firefox 3

One of Firefox's new features is an updated location bar, aptly named the AwesomeBar. Firefox searches bookmarks, tags, and history as you type in the location bar.



This feature actually ties very strongly in to FF's completely redesigned bookmarking system, which fully supports tags and "smart bookmark folders," which are based on customizable database queries to the bookmark engine.

Bookmarking has also been made extraordinarily simple, for such a robust system. At the end of the location bar is a small star icon.



Click this icon, and the page is bookmarked - as simple as that. Click it again, and a dialog will pop up that allows the bookmark to be saved into a different folder, to add tags, etc. It makes bookmarking that much simpler. In my experience, it has also made sorting bookmarks easier, with the combination of tags and the AwesomeBar. Rather than having to manually add every martial arts page I have bookmarked to my MA folder, I can tag it with martial arts much more quickly, and find it with a quick search.



Another FF feature I've used extensively in previous versions is keyword searches. Save a search on, say, snopes.com, add a keyword, and I can search directly from the location bar. This involved bookmarking a search, and editing the saved URL, though - not always a fun proposition. Now, FF has added a context menu item when right-clicking on a search text field.



Makes setting these searches up SO much easier.

iPhone

This is a feature I was actually surprised wasn't implemented earlier on this device. On previous versions, when using the software keyboard, holding down a key will give options for that key - holding down the A key, for example, presents options of A with various accents.



When typing in web addresses into MobileSafari, there is a quick button for adding .com to the end of an address.



Holding down this button did nothing, despite how intuitive it would be for it to offere the options of .net, .org, .edu, etc. Finally, Apple added this little helper.



Simple little thing, nothing ground breaking... but I like it.

Of course, there's still no copy/paste.

Oh - and I can type in Korean now, too. Shows up as boxes when I send texts to people though. :/

My princess

Every morning, Bridget gets up and leaves for work before I do. She shuffles out of bed, fetches the baby, feeds her, and sits her on the bed next to me while she finishes getting ready for work. Sometimes Eleanor wakes up as Bridget is moving around, sometimes she needs to be woken up.

This morning, when Bridget sat her next to me, she looked like this:



Poor thing was so sleepy!

Inanity

Einstein vs. Ninjas

With trusty sidekick Richard Feynman. For awesome.

Our new kitchen floor

Landlady finished staining and varnishing our kitchen floors. Very nice dark brown/red stain. Unfortunately, meant we had to stay at the resort all week while it dried, but we survived. She'll be painting the trim this week, and we can move the table and chairs back in Tuesday night.

All clear

Bad gas, that's what the doctor said. Or maybe constipation. But she's doing much better now, and we bought suppositories in case it happens again.

Worst case of gas I've ever seen.