Posts
7lbs 1 oz.
20 in
1:31pm
9.9 apgar
She only let out two cries and then she just looked around!
Ye HAW
pics to come!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Hospitals are so boring!!
So I think that a Hospital would be a fun place to work but as far as being a fun place for patrons to be THEY AREN'T...
There's nothing on the TV, there's no WiFi access, no pay preview, no waist of existence video games. It's just not a very fun place to be.
Don't get me wrong, the people are "lovely" (Holly's word)... but don't you think if you owned a hospital that you could differentiate your services in the marketplace by making it a fun place to be?
Do a Hotel style movie, video game, TV combo deal minus the adult entertainment. Hey you could even nickel and dime people and add a revenue stream. I bet that those who won't pay their hospital bill will rent a movie!!!
And honestly why not do WiFi access... Live in the Now Man!
So back to the Baby and Mom.
They're still connected and we're still waiting. Holly just fell asleep which makes me thing that we're still a ways off.
We just found out that we're at 6 cm... Hmmmmmm.... I don't think we'll have her by lunch time. I wonder if Holly will let me out of the room for some food... I'll have to think of a good excuse to sneak out because she can't eat anything and I don't want to make her feel bad... naw I'll just tell her the truth and see where that gets me.
There you have it an update on the girls and a million $ idea if any of you end up being a hospital administrator.
Just saw the Doctor.
We just saw our doctor and it looks like things are really getting going. We should have a little one by lunch time. Holly said the funniest thing, "perfect then we won't interrupt nap time for the girls". This brings up two points, 1) she's already trying to get Ella on the nap schedule. 2) It reminds me of a Jeff Foxworthy skit about redneck women popping babies out and getting out of the hospital cus they got stuff to do... not to suggest that Holly's a redneck woman, rather that she's tough as nails.
The anesthesiologist is on his way in for the epidural and it's starting to get exciting.
Holly is absolutely amazing. She really is tough as nails!
So far this morning I've done a little work on my website and Holly spent some time editing her big book project. We both got a little sleep but spent most of the quiet time listening to Ella's heartbeat.
I took some pictures but I think that I'll have to get Holly's approval before posting them. Sorry... she's a photoshop junkie.
More to come...
Phil
3 hours and all is well...
It's 3:00 AM now and Holly sent me out to the gas station for chap stick.
The nurses all thought that was a little odd. I told them that I just do as I'm told. I didn't mind and I was able to buy a candy bar and get a bottle of water.
It's slow going but Holly is doing great.
We have another 3-4 hours of this stage and then things should start getting exciting.
Holly doesn't remember it being this uncomfortable..."I guess you forget about this stuff when it's over".
I just don't like the smell of the hospital. The Dad chair is the worst in the world! But we like our hospital and our doctor.
For some strange reason Holly felt like watching Top Gear, the greatest car TV show on the planet. This could be a good omen for me... I hope that Ella is a gear head like her dad. Natalie loves horses, it looks like Alana will be a dancer and I really need a race car driver. Since I've lost hope of ever getting a boy and I don't know if I'm feeling the 4 kid family vibe Ella is my best shot.
More updates and ramblings to come.
Phil
We're at the Hospital!!
All Right!
Get ready for a play by play series of postings as we bring our new little girl into the world!
We checked into the hospital at midnight this morning and it looks like things are progressing well!!! YE HAW...
We're still trying to work out the spelling of Elanore, Eleanor or Eleanore. What do you guys think?
More to come.
Phil
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Video Chat
Hey all
What video chat applications do you all use? I'm trying to set up video chat with my parents and just downloaded the SightSpeed application. I haven't tried it yet but I wanted to get everyone's thoughts.
Thanks for your help
Phil
What video chat applications do you all use? I'm trying to set up video chat with my parents and just downloaded the SightSpeed application. I haven't tried it yet but I wanted to get everyone's thoughts.
Thanks for your help
Phil
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Late on Christmas Eve
Well it's 11:12 Christmas Eve.
Santa has come and gone...we had a lovely chat.
Holly asked me to download all the memory cards from the cameras so that we could be prepared for the big day and I came across this little clip.
I laughed so hard I almost woke up the kids....
BTW, we were cleaning the house getting ready for friends to come over. Thus the vacuum and the trash can in the middle of the room. This also explains why we're rocking out... I just can't clean without some good music to get me into the mood.
!!!Warning any who would be offended by a 1 year-old dancing in a diaper to awesome "classic" rock Don't watch this video!!!!
Merry Christmas!
Music is one of the all time greatest songs... All Right Now by Free
Santa has come and gone...we had a lovely chat.
Holly asked me to download all the memory cards from the cameras so that we could be prepared for the big day and I came across this little clip.
I laughed so hard I almost woke up the kids....
BTW, we were cleaning the house getting ready for friends to come over. Thus the vacuum and the trash can in the middle of the room. This also explains why we're rocking out... I just can't clean without some good music to get me into the mood.
!!!Warning any who would be offended by a 1 year-old dancing in a diaper to awesome "classic" rock Don't watch this video!!!!
Merry Christmas!
Music is one of the all time greatest songs... All Right Now by Free
Happy Festivus!!
It's Christmas!!!! I love this time of year!
In a true HR guy spirit I understand that some people out there may not celebrate Christmas and to me that's okay. Whatever you celebrate have a great time!
I think to buck the traditional Happy Holidays salutation I think that this year my broad generic salutation will be Happy Festivus.
In a true HR guy spirit I understand that some people out there may not celebrate Christmas and to me that's okay. Whatever you celebrate have a great time!
I think to buck the traditional Happy Holidays salutation I think that this year my broad generic salutation will be Happy Festivus.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
I finally understand the "Credit Crisis"
I've been cruising along in ignorance all this time thinking that I had a good idea of what had caused the "credit crisis", though I'm not a huge fan of NPR liberal radio I came across this 1 hour news story that really connected all the dots for me. I listened to this at work today and if you have time I suggest that you listen too.
Let me know what you think and if this helps you understand how our economy got to where it is today...
Oh, and Merry Christmas.
Phil
Let me know what you think and if this helps you understand how our economy got to where it is today...
Oh, and Merry Christmas.
Phil
Friday, December 12, 2008
More political soap-boxing...
Fundamental Principles of Business and How the Government Messes it all Up
A few months ago I spent a lot of energy to try and convince my dad that we needed to bail out the financial industry. Maybe it was because I work in the financial industry but really I think that I was swayed by all the hype and energy that the media built up regarding a great depression and financial Armageddon. Last night I called my dad and confessed that I was very wrong and have now changed my view.
Why would I change when the economy is in worse shape then it was before? I realized that there are fundamental principles of business and life. If you adhere to the principles you will win. If you break the rules you will eventually loose. I’ll outline some of these and I challenge you to measure your family financial situations and the companies that you are familiar with by these principles to see what part of this mess each of us is responsible for.
1. Maintain control of your leverage.
The Church often states that they are completely out of debt except for some transactional debt that is required in some situations. I can only imagine that these situations have to do with the transaction of real estate and the timing to free up or sell assets. Perhaps they have a line of credit with building products manufactures so that they don’t have millions of little transactions. I believe that this strong control of debt is inspired and a key reason why the church is generally considered to be the most financially secured religious organization in the world.
This brings us to the housing crisis. Banks and the consumers used real estate as a debit card and got way over-leveraged. If you watch CNBC you will hear about the deleveraging of the markets over and over. We’re more leveraged now then we ever have been. The problem isn’t just the banks—it’s the people, almost all companies . . . it’s everyone! So when times get hard we stick each other with the debts and the only answer is to either go out of business or get the government to take on your debts.
2. Cash is KING, or Cash flow is KING
There are only two problems to a budget. Either there is too much going out or there isn’t enough coming in. So those who have cash and more cash coming in are in a good place. If you’re in trouble you either raise cash or go to #3.
3. Giving up an asset that has future upside in order to survive until tomorrow is the right answer.
So you either increase your income or you tighten the belt to reduce the outflow. Part of tightening the belt is letting go of great parts of your business/life in order survive even if you plan on buying that part of business back at a premium in the future. GM should let go of some plants, brands, and international companies in order to survive. Following the car theme, Holly and I recently bought a new van. There isn’t anything really cool about a van but if I lose my job we’re prepared to sell that van at a loss. In fact it’ll probably be the first thing to go. (You guys don’t have to hold me to that ☺ it’ll be really hard.) But this is an example of the right thing to do. If a company isn’t bringing in more cash then it’s paying out it needs to tighten the belt, cut some people, some production, and even a division or two.
These three principles of business are key fundamentals and I feel that our government is completely ignoring these things. In fact they are making it worse by going into debt at a ridiculous rate. They’re doing this because they don’t believe that the American people can handle the situation. It’s too hard for us to get through this. What if this turns into another depression? What if we loose 2 million jobs? What if, what if…. I’m sick of this crap. We are a great and powerful people who need to be told the straight deal! We need to go to work. We need to stop spending other people’s money. We need to start living within our means. We need to stop squandering our inheritance. We need to give our kids something other than trillions of dollars of debt.
I’m a GEAR HEAD. I love cars! I subscribe to three car magazines. I religiously watch a number of car TV shows. I dream about someday being in the car business. (Although I do despise car sales people… well, except for Pinkie). It is my humble opinion that US cars are just OK. I don’t feel that they’re innovative. They don’t induce passion. Generally they’re really ugly (think the entire Cadillac line). They all use outdated technology. The new ecotech engines are really cool and have great upside, especially in forced induction situations, but that’s about it. The companies that build these cars have to cut on quality in order to be competitive. The unions have sucked all the life out of the car companies. The top-heavy management and legacy costs create a huge outflow of capital. There is simply no way that they will be competitive. They need a major chainsaw to cut management, divisions, and the number of cars they build. This should have been done early this year but the fools didn’t do it. They chose instead to let it get so bad that they became too big to fail so the principle-less politicians would throw money at them!
Holy smokes.. Natalie just fell asleep sitting on the floor! She fell forward and landed on her face…. HOW FUNNY!!!!
I’d feel better if we built a border fence, built power transition lines across the country, invested in massive solar power collection stations, or even gave tax breaks to buy cars made in the USA (including all the foreign car models made here). Do anything but give people who have failed a green light to squander and fail again!
So I stand in a new place. I’m not extreme right wing. I do think that there are some worthwhile ways and thing that the government can do but I don’t think that throwing money at rich and high leverage focused people is the right answer. Doing this just supports bad behavior and removes the natural consequences of bad decisions.
Just a note to end the post: I’ve been laid off twice so yes I have some blood in the game. I’m more leveraged than I think I should be. I believe in the American people! I know that if we forget ourselves, roll up our sleeves and GO TO WORK! we’ll all be just fine. It will NOT BE FUN! It will BE HARD! It will take SACRIFICE! But it will be all these things regardless of what the government does. I personally would rather take my whooping now than tomorrow.
Let me know your thoughts… mine were very different 3 months ago so you may get me to change again.☺
A few months ago I spent a lot of energy to try and convince my dad that we needed to bail out the financial industry. Maybe it was because I work in the financial industry but really I think that I was swayed by all the hype and energy that the media built up regarding a great depression and financial Armageddon. Last night I called my dad and confessed that I was very wrong and have now changed my view.
Why would I change when the economy is in worse shape then it was before? I realized that there are fundamental principles of business and life. If you adhere to the principles you will win. If you break the rules you will eventually loose. I’ll outline some of these and I challenge you to measure your family financial situations and the companies that you are familiar with by these principles to see what part of this mess each of us is responsible for.
1. Maintain control of your leverage.
The Church often states that they are completely out of debt except for some transactional debt that is required in some situations. I can only imagine that these situations have to do with the transaction of real estate and the timing to free up or sell assets. Perhaps they have a line of credit with building products manufactures so that they don’t have millions of little transactions. I believe that this strong control of debt is inspired and a key reason why the church is generally considered to be the most financially secured religious organization in the world.
This brings us to the housing crisis. Banks and the consumers used real estate as a debit card and got way over-leveraged. If you watch CNBC you will hear about the deleveraging of the markets over and over. We’re more leveraged now then we ever have been. The problem isn’t just the banks—it’s the people, almost all companies . . . it’s everyone! So when times get hard we stick each other with the debts and the only answer is to either go out of business or get the government to take on your debts.
2. Cash is KING, or Cash flow is KING
There are only two problems to a budget. Either there is too much going out or there isn’t enough coming in. So those who have cash and more cash coming in are in a good place. If you’re in trouble you either raise cash or go to #3.
3. Giving up an asset that has future upside in order to survive until tomorrow is the right answer.
So you either increase your income or you tighten the belt to reduce the outflow. Part of tightening the belt is letting go of great parts of your business/life in order survive even if you plan on buying that part of business back at a premium in the future. GM should let go of some plants, brands, and international companies in order to survive. Following the car theme, Holly and I recently bought a new van. There isn’t anything really cool about a van but if I lose my job we’re prepared to sell that van at a loss. In fact it’ll probably be the first thing to go. (You guys don’t have to hold me to that ☺ it’ll be really hard.) But this is an example of the right thing to do. If a company isn’t bringing in more cash then it’s paying out it needs to tighten the belt, cut some people, some production, and even a division or two.
These three principles of business are key fundamentals and I feel that our government is completely ignoring these things. In fact they are making it worse by going into debt at a ridiculous rate. They’re doing this because they don’t believe that the American people can handle the situation. It’s too hard for us to get through this. What if this turns into another depression? What if we loose 2 million jobs? What if, what if…. I’m sick of this crap. We are a great and powerful people who need to be told the straight deal! We need to go to work. We need to stop spending other people’s money. We need to start living within our means. We need to stop squandering our inheritance. We need to give our kids something other than trillions of dollars of debt.
I’m a GEAR HEAD. I love cars! I subscribe to three car magazines. I religiously watch a number of car TV shows. I dream about someday being in the car business. (Although I do despise car sales people… well, except for Pinkie). It is my humble opinion that US cars are just OK. I don’t feel that they’re innovative. They don’t induce passion. Generally they’re really ugly (think the entire Cadillac line). They all use outdated technology. The new ecotech engines are really cool and have great upside, especially in forced induction situations, but that’s about it. The companies that build these cars have to cut on quality in order to be competitive. The unions have sucked all the life out of the car companies. The top-heavy management and legacy costs create a huge outflow of capital. There is simply no way that they will be competitive. They need a major chainsaw to cut management, divisions, and the number of cars they build. This should have been done early this year but the fools didn’t do it. They chose instead to let it get so bad that they became too big to fail so the principle-less politicians would throw money at them!
Holy smokes.. Natalie just fell asleep sitting on the floor! She fell forward and landed on her face…. HOW FUNNY!!!!
I’d feel better if we built a border fence, built power transition lines across the country, invested in massive solar power collection stations, or even gave tax breaks to buy cars made in the USA (including all the foreign car models made here). Do anything but give people who have failed a green light to squander and fail again!
So I stand in a new place. I’m not extreme right wing. I do think that there are some worthwhile ways and thing that the government can do but I don’t think that throwing money at rich and high leverage focused people is the right answer. Doing this just supports bad behavior and removes the natural consequences of bad decisions.
Just a note to end the post: I’ve been laid off twice so yes I have some blood in the game. I’m more leveraged than I think I should be. I believe in the American people! I know that if we forget ourselves, roll up our sleeves and GO TO WORK! we’ll all be just fine. It will NOT BE FUN! It will BE HARD! It will take SACRIFICE! But it will be all these things regardless of what the government does. I personally would rather take my whooping now than tomorrow.
Let me know your thoughts… mine were very different 3 months ago so you may get me to change again.☺
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