Posts for Whatever

What Whatever is about:

Nov 22 2009

Don’t Call Me “Weaner” in Public

Are there frogs in those trees?

Are there frogs in those trees?

Leigh and I are in the process of night weaning Xander. That just means we’re trying to get him to stop breastfeeding at night. Leigh’s sleep has become a major issue with her health and happiness, which is of course a factor in the family’s health and happiness.

West just makes me think of Mormons, I guess.

West just makes me think of Mormons, I guess.

We’re thankful for the suggestion to night wean, because we’ve always tried to lean towards child-lead weaning. While night weaning might affect Xander’s overall desire to nurse, at least we’re not flat-out saying “enough is enough” and taking the choice completely away.

Home, sweet home.

Home, sweet home.

We’re at a point now where, once Xander is nursed to sleep, he is not to be nursed again until six in the morning. As suggested, we’re keeping him out of the bed, away from Leigh. If we don’t do that, he will wake up periodically looking to nurse, which proves disruptive and slows down the night weaning. My job, then, is to take Xander and sleep in the basement.

Not today.

Not today.

This works awesome all around. Xander has slept very well, only rousing once at night to wonder what’s going on. I’m sleeping well, and it also gives me a chance to watch a movie each night on NetFlix. It should go without saying that Leigh is sleeping better, also.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say about that.


Nov 18 2009

Equivocation Station

equivocate

verb

to use ambiguous or unclear expressions, usually to avoid commitment or in order to mislead; prevaricate or hedge: When asked directly for his position on disarmament, the candidate only equivocated.

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/equivocate


Nov 16 2009

Out of the Blue

RAIN

RAIN

Sometimes unforeseen events happen that send you down seemingly arbitrary paths towards unknown destinations.

West looks better when it's wet.

West looks better when it's wet.

Over the weekend, I got an email from an old work friend from Effingham. I almost trashed it as spam, as I didn’t recognize it, but for some reason, I read it. I’m glad I did. It was nice to hear from him and know he’s doing well.

Need to remove that algae.

Need to remove that algae.

It was also nice to hear from someone who is questioning their direction and their motivations as much as I am. I remember giving a futon to this friend as he prepared to move to New York some years ago. We stood in my driveway in Effingham and had a conversation that questioned the way we were raised to always play it safe. We probably could have had several of these conversations, and maybe even pushed one another to move beyond our “programming,” but that wasn’t meant to be.

Overcast skies bring out the midtones.

Overcast skies bring out the midtones.

Reconnecting out of the blue has not been for naught, though. Already, I have begun reading Stephen Wolfram’s “A New Kind of Science” (NKS) after a casual reference my friend made. The funny thing is, that plays in to my recent intense math studies, even though I have no idea where those studies are headed. NKS also runs parallel to a post I have been trying to write here, about how everything in the Universe boils down to a fairly simple pattern, possibly even something loosely called recursion.

My olde friend also shared an idea—one I think has merit. It’s possible I could help with this idea, from a code development perspective, which seems to give almost immediate meaning to my recent intense adoption of the Codeigniter PHP framework for rapid development.

I don’t know where this will all end up—that’s the point of this post. I am thinking positively, though. So many things seem pointless, accidental, coincidental—but when taken as a whole, they seem to have been carefully orchestrated towards an end we cannot individually recognize until we’re there.