hello, carter!

Check out my new bundle of joy!

OK, well, he's not exactly *mine*, but he did bring lots and lots of joy to Kenny and Laureen - and they clearly deserve it. To say that they are fully committed to their baby is an understatement: it seems that they were made to be perfect parents. I'm sure Carter will turn out a-OK (until he gets old enough for uncle Stan to teach him a thing or two, of course).

So, last weekend Susan and I enrolled in Parenting 101, and went over to the Kwong's house to get a taste of what raising babies is all about. Susan was up late with us but had to turn in eventually as she had to work the next morning. I, on the other hand, dutifully stayed up all night with Kenny to attend to all the baby-feeding-diaper-changing fun.

Next day, I was completely delirious. It'd be hard for me to go for a repeat right away, yet Kenny and Laureen are managing just fine. All the best to them!

f my life

If you have a few hours to spare, check out fmylife.com. It's like Twitter for the unfortunate. I'm pretty sure I can contribute some good stuff...

fiber (optic) diet

We gave into the temptation and signed up for Verizon FiOS. Up until now, we were getting high-speed internet from Comcast – and, as a side effect, got a few broadcast channels – some in HD. But, Verizon kept sweetening the deal. Free installation, DVR, and now cash back… we couldn’t say “no”.

First impressions?

The number of channels is a bit mind-boggling. The quality of the HD signal is noticeably better (no, all HD is not created the same, as I’ve learned – has to do with differences in compression levels).

The installation was a bit more involved than simply pulling cable through the wall. Downstairs in the basement we now have a futuristic battery/terminal box. It contrasts quite nicely with the piles of construction debris.

Major complaint?

The DVR box is slooow – so slow that some actions simply hang. Even switching channels results in a noticeable delay. But, we just sigh, and say that this is still better than having to watch commercials ;)