Month: April 2011

Would You Like to Take a Survey?

Early this morning, I got a surprising e-mail from the Weezer camp.

The band is inviting registered members of its Website to take a survey ranking a number of Weezer songs.  There are two lists, one of standard album tracks and another of rarities and live-only covers.  Pretty much the whole band’s catalogue is included.  There are some weird omissions (no Love Explosion), but a number of songs I’m surprised to see make it (Rosemary, Baby, Sheila Can Do It, and other songs from Rivers Cuomo’s solo shows in Boston during the fall of 1997).

I’d offer to share the link, but each survey is tied directly to an individual e-mail address.  Usually, I think that test marketing tends to ruin things, but I’m glad Weezer is looking for opinions from the fans.  I can think of three reasons why they’re doing this:

  1. The band is looking for input on setlists.  They have a bunch of shows coming up this spring/summer. (However, these shows start this weekend.  And they tried something similar back in 2000, but Buddy Holly didn’t make the fan’s cut.  The band played Buddy Holly anyway.)
  2. They’re putting together some kind of greatest hits/boxset and want ideas on what to include. (If that was the case, they’d probably just take their singles and throw them on something. Besides, they’re between two labels and there may be legal difficulties in putting such a compilation together.)
  3. Rivers/the band are developing new material and are looking to see what worked in the past and what the fans want to hear. (Probably wishful thinking on my part.)

This weekend will tell if they’re using this to develop setlists.  Last week, Rivers tweeted the band was learning Radiohead’s Paranoid Android (although I really wish he would remember his 2002 pronouncement that “Radiohead sucks, except for Creep), and the cover could make its way into a setlist or two (hopefully replacing the Kids/Pokerface mashup).  I do have to admit that while my voting was based around my feelings of the band’s songs, I ranked a song or two higher or lower than I otherwise would to offset any other crazy fans out there.  And most of the Boston material I gave high marks, because I do think gems like Baby and Rosemary need to be revisited.

The one thing that could have made the survey better (aside from the inclusion of some missing tunes) was the opportunity to comment on rankings, or at least specify what version of each song was being ranked.  For example, the Green Album version of Don’t Let Go is an 8.  But the live AOL Sessions version is an easy 10.  The Maladroit version of Take Control is maybe a 4.  But the Take Control DC Demo is an 8.

Now I’m just getting nitpicky.

I just hope they use this for something productive.  And that no one went crazy and ranked their cover of Unbreak My Heart higher than a 2.

And with no real transition, the band finally released a video for Hang On, the second single off Hurley.  I’m sure it’s going to win the award at the VMAs for best use of bluescreen.

 

King Tom

Keep a Cool Head

Is it me, or did it get humid overnight?

The period between late March and late June is my favorite time of year.  And in Ohio, I’ve come to get used to the nonstop three (or so) weeks of rain we get in late April.  In Columbus, it’s been rainy the past few weeks, but it just feels super humid all of a sudden.

Normally, I wouldn’t mind because the heat isn’t here yet.  Actually, at home, we’ve had the windows open the past few days and it’s quite nice.

On the other hand, at work, it’s not so nice.  I work in what passes for a skyscraper downtown and for the past few months, they’ve been updating the heating and air conditioning systems (my office is on the floor below the works, so I can tell when they’re working).  Yesterday and today, it seemed even more humid inside the building than outside.  Well, it wasn’t all in my head.  Turns out part of the system upgrade didn’t take, so the air conditioning wasn’t working.  And all day Monday and today, it felt like I was constantly in need of a shower.

We got an e-mail saying they figured out the problem, will blast the a/c overnight to clear out the indoor humidity and then have it back to normal levels for tomorrow.  I’m guessing that I’ll need to bring along a jacket or sweater (or maybe both) because I expect the system to be cranked up and stay that way through the weekend.  If only I was able to move my computer and any meetings outside, then I wouldn’t mind any humidity.

King Tom

The Aspiring Farmer’s Almanac

Last year, for our first spring/summer in our new house, I planted some beets and peppers in our backyard.  Despite planting the seeds late in the season (I think I planted the beets in late May and the peppers in mid-June), by fall, we had a number of good beets and small, if not decent-sized peppers.

Well this year, I’m slowly expanding the backyard garden.  I’ve bought beet and pepper seeds, and have decided to try out artichokes.  Even though artichokes usually are grown in California, the seed packet says they can be grown (and will even come back for a second year) in Ohio.

It’s been pretty rainy and cold lately, so I haven’t planted anything outside yet.  I did have a small pot and just enough dirt to start something inside, so I started some of the artichoke seeds.

I put those in the pot maybe two and a half weeks ago.  I hope the weather clears so I can plant these, as well as some beet and pepper seeds soon.

I know I can do peppers and beets.  It would be great if the artichokes work out.  Although I should mention that I may not be the only one eating the beets when it’s harvesting time.  Last weekend, Hope had some beets and went crazy (in a good way) over them.  It’s a good thing I know a few ways to cook them.

King Tom1 Comment

Hope’s First Year

A few weeks ago, The Civee resumed her graduate classes, making Tuesday and Wednesday nights the time  Hope and I get to hang out and do fun things like listen to Weezer and watch the Yankees.

So last night we were hanging out, laughing, running around, listening to some music, waiting for the Yankees game to start and probably doing some other things which The Civee would disapprove of when it hit me- a year ago today, all this little baby could do was hang out.  Sure, she’d “listen” to whatever background music was on, but she couldn’t laugh, run or otherwise interact with me.  Hope has come a long way in just a year.  Have a look for yourself:

People have been saying that Hope looks like me.  I think they say that because her hair is just growing in while I’m starting to lose mine.  But I actually see a lot of The Civee in her.  Her smile, her sense of adventure and her coyness all remind me of her mother.  Still, she’s her own person.  She’s coordinated.  And strong.  And smart.

Back when she was a month old, I said something along the lines that I was surprised I hadn’t dropped or otherwise broken her.  Well, thankfully, the streak continues.  Although it is getting harder to hang on to her.  She loves to run around and is starting to do more things on her own.  And as much fun as it was to hold her as a newborn, it’s just as much fun to interact with her and watch her explore the world.

Happy birthday, Hope!

King Tom2 Comments

These Aren’t The Recipes You’re Looking For

I was in the rare books section of a local library when I saw this:

Naturally, I was interested.  I wasn’t allowed to touch the book (I’m surprised I was even allowed to look at it), but I wanted to learn more. The book is available on archive.org, and after checking it out, I’m sad to say the spine is a case of false advertising.

King Tom

What’s In Hope’s Bottle?

I should warn you up front that this post is going to be more explicit and mature than the usual nonsense featured here at the Kingdom.  This post is about one thing.  Well, two things actually.  The Civee’s breasts.  And this whole article has been posted with her approval.

Back before we were expecting a baby, The Civee and I had a goal for our future child: to be breastfed.  There are many benefits to breastfeeding- it promotes mother/child bonding, antibodies in the milk protect the baby from infections, particularly in the ear (this will be important later on), and it costs less than formula. (However, if you ask The Civee, she’ll tell you that how each mother decides to feed her child is her own choice that ought to be supported-there are many seldom talked about trade-offs and roadblocks that make it very hard or impossible for some women to breastfeed (Can you tell who wrote this sentence?).)

For guys out there who are single and/or not fathers yet, I should take some time to fill you in on what they don’t tell you about breasts during breastfeeding:

  • They get bigger.
  • However, they’re also off-limits.  You’re on a strict look-but-don’t-touch basis from before the baby’s birth until a few weeks after breastfeeding ends.
  • Remember the Hatch in Lost? How a button had to be pressed every 108 minutes to release energy to keep the world from blowing up?  Well, milk-filled breasts are the same.
  • They hurt.

Despite all this, we decided to do it.  However, there was a complication.  As regular readers of this blog know, we found out a few months before she was born that Hope would have a cleft lip and possibly a cleft palate, which would make it difficult, if not impossible, to create the suction to breastfeed (or feed from a normal bottle). Learning that breastfeeding our daughter may not be possible was difficult for The Civee to hear. We were a little sad about it.

Nevertheless, The Civee and I decided to do the next best thing to breastfeeding- she would pump- using a machine to extract the milk and bottle it, which we would then feed to Hope.  Since Hope would need two major surgeries before her first birthday and because cleft babies are more prone to ear infections, we decided this was the best way to go.

For The Civee, pumping was not easy.  The actual act was.  But everything involved with pumping was not.  The Civee had to pump multiple times each day (it started off about seven times each day, with at least one overnight session).  Each session lasted at least 20 minutes.  For the first three months, she would get up and feed Hope at 2:40 a.m., pump at 3:00 am, crawl back in bed at 3:30 and get up at 5:00 a.m. to start the process all over again. There were multiple pump parts to clean each time and bottles of milk to refrigerate.  If one of the pump parts broke, we had to track down replacement parts online.  If both of us were around, it was a bit easier.  But if, for example, I was at work and it was just Hope and The Civee, it could be quite a struggle for her to watch a baby and pump at the same time.

In addition to all that, there really wasn’t much in the way of support.  Most mothers who pump do it to supplement their breast feeding.  Apparently, there are very few mothers who just pump.  So finding resources and information was tough.  When we were at the hospital for Hope’s birth, we met several times with the lactation specialist, a person the hospital employs to help new mothers learn to breastfeed.  However, the specialist wasn’t familiar with pumping, at one point answering our question with a terse “Google it.”

Even in the face of all that opposition, The Civee pumped.  For the first six months of her life, breast milk was all Hope had to drink. Even after we introduced formula and food, breastmilk served as the mainstay of Hope’s diet.

When we first heard Hope would have a cleft lip, we were told many cleft babies have trouble with their milk/formula intake and have growth issues (the medical term is “failure to thrive”).  There was some learning on our part how to use the special bottles, but from the beginning Hope grew.  She’s not even a year old and she’s in 18-month clothes (mostly because of her height).  She’s also very active.  The evaluators and therapists we’ve met with are very happy with her development.  And she’s only had one minor ear infection.

The Civee and I (mostly The Civee) put the pump away last month.  Hope fully recovered from surgery number two (something we attribute to drinking mom’s milk moments after she woke up from surgery). Clearly, all of the pumping was worth it.  Because Hope can’t do it (right now), I’d like to thank The Civee for doing all that work.  We have a wonderful little daughter, and The Civee’s breasts played a large part in that.

King Tom2 Comments