tfl: The Flatiron Life

8:45: we are with Jonah now. He is very drowsy but doing fine.

7:35: he has been taken back. We are stress eating breakfast 2.

7:05:: we are in the hospital and Jonah is in his gown.

By the time most of you are reading this tomorrow morning we will already be at Children’s. Jonah adenoidectomy is scheduled for 8am and we have to be at the hospital at 6:45.

He is unable to eat anything after midnight and can only have clear liquids until 5am. These restrictions will be easy to achieve because he will be asleep. However after 5 and until surgery he can not have anything. I am anxious to see how this goes. When Jonah wakes up he wants his milk and breakfast, now. I am hoping he flls back to sleep in the car and short stroller ride to the hospital. I am sure the staff have little trips for soothing monkeys who are too young to be reasoned with.

I will update this post when I have more information.

Have I ever stayed the night at your house and the next morning you thought, “did Jacob ferment this pillow in vinegar?” Have you ever been with me on a nice 70° day with a breeze and my head breaks into soaking sweat? Have you ever been Jos and nearly thrown up by turning the wrong direction in the middle of the night?

If any of those things are true, you have experienced my sweaty smelly head. I don’t know what is wrong with it. I think I have always had it. I know my pillows have always had that only-smells-good-to-me smell. I also have been in need of a second shirt due to soak-around-the-collar for a long time. Other than these embarrassing social consequences, this does not cause me any trouble.

I may not know what causes it, but sadly it is hereditary. Poor Jonah’s Boppy smells awful and needs to be washed often. We also need to undress him a little if he is going to be in the car long. It can be nice and cool in the car, but if he falls asleep he is going to be drenched. Jonah’s head has started to smell even after a bath!

I am curious to see if any of this changes for Jonah after his surgery on Wednesday. I am probably a lost cause. I have fruitlessly searched online for a cause. Do any of our fine readers have a similar affliction? Have you ever stumbled upon a cause?

I am a big fan of sites/rss feeds that have a single focus and are simple and declarative.

Is it Christmas?
Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the earth yet?

Now Zach passes along Do I have Pig Flu?

Now how can a site that does not ask for any personal information know if you have Swine Flu Mexican Flu Democrat Flu H1N1 Influenza A? MATH! The site has this very reasonable postscript and recommendation “(Well maybe, but statistically speaking you probably don’t so chill out and eat some bacon)”.

However as a porkinarian, I kind of hope you all do freak out and leave more pork for those of us that need it. All this swine talk has me thinking a Cuban for lunch.

This Sunday was Earth Day Sunday (or something like that). There was some unqualified promotion of eating organic during children’s indoctrination time. The message was thought provoking, but honestly I cannot remember what it was about and the tittle “The Queen of Heaven” does not jog my memory.

But the Hymns! I find I am drawn to the message of hymns more each Sunday.

The middle hymn was “All Things Bright and Beautiful” This is a lovely little song, originally for children I believe, stating the power of God in creation. It is so simple one can really sing out. Not much message, but a nice song to sing.

The closing hymn was a another simple hymn of creation, “For the Beauty of the Earth”. Just a little bit of theology in there about being united with friends and family in heaven. Also, there are some lines implying the church and grace being a furthering of God creation.

These two lightweights can be forgiven though. We started the day with a hymn that was new to me, but is a new favorite. “God, Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens” Generally my rule is hymns from the 19-hundreds are to be met with skepticism, but this is a true gift from our passed century. However being so new, it is under copyright and thus there are not very many resources for it online. Here you can find the music, played as MIDI, and the words of three verses (UMC Hymnal’s 1, 2, & 4), but you will need to go here for the fourth, but it is incomplete compared to what is in the UMC Hymnal as verse 2.

I enjoyed the whole thing, but the final verse is my highlight:

As each far horizon beckons,
may it challenge us anew,
children of creative purpose
serving others, honoring you.
May our dreams prove rich with promise,
each endeavor well begun.
Great Creator, give us guidance
till our goals and yours are one.

I have been thinking a lot about stewardship versus consumption lately. This verse acknowledges that we are created as in the image of the Creator. We could not stop ourselves from changing things if we tried. What we must strive for is using creation in a way that fulfills God’s Will.

You need yet another social networking site, right?

Well, I have another one for you. Josh Claybourn, who passionately hates twitter, shared this post about a new eternally-beta service from Google’s that might be the beginning of their foray into social networking.

Check out my Google Profile.

If you were interested in buying Connie, you are too late. After only a day on Craigslist she has found a new home.

Right Front, originally uploaded by flatiron32.

After 8 years, the time has come for Contique and I to part ways. She is a great little car and I will miss her.

I hope to find a good family for her, please share this ad if you know someone looking for a car.

There are more pictures here.

So the story goes: I was almost born on Christmas 1980, in which case I was to be named Angela Noel (can you imagine?). In late December, I would have been over two months pre-term and so my mother’s labor was stopped and she spent the next several weeks on bed rest in the hospital until I was born on January 13th, 1981. Since the name Angela Noel no longer made sense, the search was on for a new name. My father was an avid Jeopardy viewer and one evening a contestant named Jocelyn (sp?) appeared on the show. Dad took a liking to the name, Mom tweaked the spelling, and the rest is history!

LIE! (I know, Mom, probably not a deliberate one.)

Today it occurred to me that the great oracle of the internet might reveal late 1980 Jeopardy contestant, Jocelyn, to me. I’d like to see a picture. Find out if she was any good. However, in my research, I find that the modern Jeopardy was not on the air until 1984. Yes, there is a chance he was watching a re-run of the older Art Flemming version, but I’m doubtful.

Not cool, parents.

Tomaw Men are Ready, originally uploaded by flatiron32.

Finally!

This very moment I have tagged every photo in my Flickr stream. It is very rewarding to know I can find any picture of Jonah, Joscelynn, Mom, George, or anyone or thing I have captured on bits.

Tagged also means i have put real titles on all the images.

Now I feel more free to tae more pictures because I know I am not adding to the back log. I am going to try hard to keep ahead of the tagging, setting, and titling.

Hmm, should I start geo-tagging everything?

The Department of Homeland Security is worried about “groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority“.

I think we used to call these people patriots, statesmen, Mr. President, Father of the Constitution, or mores recently conservatives and libertarians.

DoHS protecting the Federal Government from threats, foreign and domestic, real and imagined, and in a way both bureaucratically and illiberally.