Monday, November 05, 2007

A (not so) quick wrapup of the many things going on.


I keep wanting to write epic blog posts about all the different things we've got going on lately, but I never have the time to actually write them. So I'm going to cop out and just give you guys some big updates in bullet form.

We're having a daughter. Sorry if you're just now hearing about it, but yes, it's true. We're quite excited, nervous, etc. Karen's about halfway along and has had a pretty much ideal pregnancy. (No sickness, no super-crazy cravings or aversions, etc.) Read more over at Karen's blog if you haven't already. If you're my daughter reading this in the distant future and wondering how your dad announced the big news....um, sorry about this.

We're adopting a cat. That's the plan anyway. Tomorrow, we're scheduled to pick up a kitten that was brought into our vet. It was found hiding under a car and has since been named "Volvo," which I assure you will not last. If this ends up causing too much craziness, our vet has assured us we can bring her back at any time and they'll find a good home. So at worst, we're fostering, but I hope it'll work out long-term.

We're painting our house. And it is an epic affair. After two steady weeks of work, we've only completed about 1/6th of the house, but it looks INCREDIBLE. (We're going from horrible mint green to a sort of dark cedar. I love it.) Again, I steer you to Karen's blog for the backstory. We'll have some great in-progress photos soon, and I'm especially excited about my parents coming down to help next weekend.

I got to see They Might Be Giants Friday night in Atlanta, which was great. They played a good mix of old and new stuff, although they did seem pretty exhausted from all the touring they've been doing. (Thanks to YouTube, you can see a video clip from the front row, which is far closer than I was.) I picked up an autographed vinyl copy of their new album, which will make for a fun memento. Had a great time with my old California friend Jeff at the show. Maybe too great a time, because....

Saturday was one of the worst days of my life. Not really sure why. I didn't drink a tremendous amount Friday night, and never even really got that tipsy. But Saturday was literally a gut-wrenching day of frequent, sudden stops along the interstate. I came home, passed out and woke up about 20 hours later feeling quite a bit better. I'm blaming the gypsies who fed me before the show. They'll probably come for my baby in a few months, too. (Actually, the restaurant was tasty, if a bit underwhelming in terms of menu choices.)

Sadly, I had to miss our monthly Supper Club with friends and family (sorry again, guys), but another drive up to Huntsville was far, far out of the question.

I've been playing around quite a bit on Facebook, which is a world of better than MySpace. If you're on there and you haven't found me yet, let me know. All sorts of friends from college, high school and elsewhere have come out of the woodwork on there. I even started a group for advertising bloggers, and it already has more than 80 members from around the world. Crazy. (If you have a Facebook account, here's the link to the group.)

Work is going wonderfully, but it's definitely keeping me busy. Just embarked on a huge new project that should be fun. It comes on the heels of this huge project, which was a good time. I have an office now, which is a first in my career. It's quite nice and serene, and I'm actually somewhat close to my colleagues now.

I don't have much recent stuff I can really show off, but here's a fun "save the date" card I made with designer Miles to promote an HR conference. The client is a local law firm.

FRONT


INSIDE



Our TV is broken, and it's become quite an ordeal. We took the 180-pound monster into a repair place, which eventually said they fixed it (for $125....not terrible). After dragging all 180 pounds BACK home, I realized it was still broken in the same way. (But thanks to Greg and Valerie for helping load it into and out of the car.) The repair guys are picking it up tomorrow and waiving the $50 pickup fee, but we'll see how it goes.

If it ends up costing too much more or being unfixable, we're looking at this 37" LCD by Vizio, which sells for about $750 at Sam's and has gotten good reviews for such a cheap model. Anyone out there have any other recommendations? We're replacing a 34-inch CRT by Phillips, if that gives you a sense of perspective.

Jonas has ballooned to 73 pounds. I'm starting to think he's actually a manatee.

OK, that's plenty of updates for now. There's so much more going on, but I'll try to be better about keeping you all up to speed more regularly. As always, you can enjoy my blogging antics somewhat daily over here.

6 comments:

JH said...

Congratulations! Do you have a favorite name? That's my favorite part of babies, not that I have one, but finding out what other people are going to call theirs.

Btw remember that ad you guys bought on the ABC station in Columbia - I was trying to remember it the other day. Was it a manatee or a frog? Or am I all wrong.

Emily said...

Okay braggy, that's a rights-managed photo you've posted there, I'll have you know.

Griner said...

Em, I've actually always wondered about the limits of the "self-promotion" exceptions on rights-managed photos. (I know you were most likely joking, but it did get me thinking.)

I did some poking around and found that courts have sided WITH the photographer in cases where the photo is being used for "private gain" -- ie, self-promotion to attract new clients.

As I am neither seeking private gain here nor even naming my client, I assume I'm in the clear. But man, the more I learn about photo rights (and don't even get me started on YouTube clips), the more of a headache I get.

And Jennie, her name is Allison Guy. She's named for her great-grandparents on Karen's side, Alice and Guy.

Unknown said...

I suggest checking out the "Black Friday" deals on TVs. I got a 52" rear projection a couple of years ago from BestBuy for $800 which was normally $1600. All I had to do was show up at 3:00 AM (which is fun in its own way).

Unknown said...

Happy impending baby, David!

Moving along to TVs (which I am much more qualified to talk about than babies), the Vizio brand has proven to be pretty reliable. When I was at Costco a few days ago, I overheard one of the Costco employees say that fewer Vizios are returned than any other TV brand they carry (which includes Sony and Panasonic). Also, I've owned a Vizio P50 for over a year now. I haven't had any troubles with it, and the picture is still incredible.

brittany said...

i want to see more pregnant wife photos. i was particularly fond of the ones of karen digging that impressive-looking trench.
and are you certain that jonas is not eating for two as well?
just a thought.