Jumping and Flying

Owain still likes to wear his first item of clothing, a standard-issue maternity ward beanie. Wherever we go, parents assume he was born at the local hospital because their kids got the same hat.

It still fits but the elastic is struggling and pops off when he's in his car seat. This presents numerous opportunities to take "lets make fun of the drunk" photos. If he keeps dozing off in public like this, we'll have to start drawing a moustache on his face with a permanent marker.

He now has more furniture than us. We bought him a new bouncy chair today as he likes to stand up but can't manage it on his own, leading to aching arms for us. It's a Fisher-Price Rainforest Jumperoo which sounds very southern hemisphere. So far, he just finds it overwhelming but we have our fingers crossed.

In the past week Heather has been organising three long-distance trips: In a few weeks, she and the sprog return to Arizona for a visit. Friends and family are labouring under the belief that she is there to show off baby and catch up. I'm actually sending her back to retrieve the whiskey that the movers left behind. Next month, she flies to Alabama to watch the Oscars with Kristi. (I did them sums and it's cheaper than buying a new plasma TV.)

And finally, we've going to be in Wales for our wedding anniversary in May! We were thinking of having a party in Mexico but then we moved from Arizona to Washington and it didn't make so much sense any more. Now we'll be celebrating in our ancestral Shirenewton home which has been in the family now for almost a generation.

So Far in Seattle

We've been here a day now. The flight ended up being a couple of hours delayed so we didn't get to the hotel until gone 2am. Then Heather remembered we'd left the cot on the baggage carousel. So half the morning was spent returning to the airport to collect it, then getting fleeced by the Advantage Rent A Car agent who saw us coming a mile away.

By the time we'd eaten and made it back to the hotel, Heather was too tired to go anywhere. A sympathetic receptionist upgraded us to a room big enough to fit the cot in. Unfortunately, it was on a floor where the Internet was down. By the time that was fixed, it was too late to phone any landlords. It's thanksgiving on Thursday and that spills over into Friday. So basically, we've got one business day to find a place to live before I'm due to start work. It's going to be an early start but that's ok, we've got the world's best alarm clock!

When the baby isn't on the move or in a restaurant, he gets very tetchy so I decided to calm him down with a walk. We're in the Executive Pacific Plaza which is only a few streets from the waterfront so with a tight grip on the buggy I walked down the steep hill to Alaskan Way. In the 2000 feet journey, I passed 3 Starbucks. I even left the hotel via a coffee shop.


The waterfront is just the right amount of run down. I'd say it's roughly on a par with the Palace Pier in Brighton. There are touristy seafood restaurants, an aquarium and an arcade with an F-Zero cabinet!!

I used to wander into the arcades in Brighton just searching for one of these. I'd given up all hope of ever finding it. Not being superstitious, I don't see this as a very good omen.

Going... going...

It's all going on here today.

The car was picked up around midday so we had to get a cab to the Paediatrician's for Owain's one-month check-up. For your information, he is 10 lbs 8 oz after a good poop.

Most recently, someone came round to look at the stuff that needs shipping. Remember the nursery...


...now it looks like this!


We're still in Tempe for a few hours longer. The flight to Washington is in the late evening. It's already delayed by 45 minutes. If it gets any later, we won't be able to pick up our rental car.

Did I miss anything? Oh yes, I've thrown all my flip-flops in the trash and lent my spare pair of gloves to Heather. She still claims she won't mind having weather again but reserves the right to complain at any point in the future.

Our hotel in Seattle has free wi-fi but I can't promise when I'll report in next, or where. It'll be from some happenin' coffee house full of shrinks and so-called gunge rockers, no doubt.

Swing While You're Whining

'The boy' is still doing his thing. He's finally taken to the swinging seat thing. This is a massive relief as previously, the most reliable way to pacify him involved putting an upside-down finger in his mouth which often involves a lot of contortion and discomfort. Another effective method reserved for when he's screaming extra loud is to walk him around the block in his pram. Most of the time he's an angel but that doesn't help when he is causing your ears actual pain. And yes, he's been taken on car journeys solely to shut him up.

The move to Washington is finally picking up speed. Our first task - once we get there - is to find somewhere to live. We're probably going to rent a flat while we settle in. Heather hasn't been to Seattle since she was nine and I've only visited two restaurants and a Wendy's in the entire metropolitan area so neither of us have a favourite street singled out yet.

In the mean time, Heather and I have tickets to fly up on Monday. All of our household possessions will arrive by the end of the month and the car is being trucked up for early December with Owain in the back seat.

Assorted Pics

Things are going well here with Grandma. Unfortunately, with her high-tech digicam in use, it doesn't seem worth taking photos with mine. As a result, she has all the pictures of her visit. I will steal them from her at some point before she goes back.

In the meantime, I've uploaded all the older photos I've taken so far. There's a gallery of Owain's first few days at home and more recent pictures including Owain's first social engagements.

Tomorrow, we visit Prescott so who knows when I'll be able to update again.

Grandma McFarlane

My Mum arrived this evening after a 10½ flight from London Heathrow. She met (and identified) Owain and dropped by our home to see Mac and the dogs. Then we went to Aunt Chilada's so Mum could sample some Mexican food.

I'm not sure what's happening tomorrow. We'll probably practice the famous American past-time of 'hanging out'.

Here is a movie from last month. It's rather boring but if you want to know how Owain hiccups, it's pretty informative.

Sorry. No baby photos today!

I've been jet-setting around the states this week and far too busy to hang out with babies - let alone my regular social circle of anthropologists and pretend dogs.

Before I moved to Americaland, I didn't know there was a difference between Washington DC and Washington State. Now I've visited both in the one week! Cities that I've only seen the airports of now include Salt Lake City and Minneapolis. Both look stunning from the air at one time of day or other. Can't say much more about them.

While in the air or waiting for flights, taxis or sleep, I've occupied myself with two main activities. Firstly, I've been making my way through yet another Zelda adventure on the DS. The Phantom Hourglass is the ideal game to while away the hours when you're packed into a fuselage full of other people's relatives.

My other portable distraction is programming on the laptop. I've been learning the basics of SVG which is basically a high-level web-friendly graphics format. I say web-friendly... as with most up-to-the-minute Internet technology, it hasn't found its way into Internet Explorer yet. Just about any other browser will run my project, Rocket, with some degree of success. (It can be run from Explorer with help but I need to look into that.)

I've only really been doing this project to further my knowledge of web scripting and out of sheer bloody-mindedness. I didn't expect it to further my career directly as the games industry is about lean, mean pixel-pushing. So imagine my surprise when, on the flight to Seattle, the guy in the row behind me asked if I was available to do part-time SVG work! Makes me glad I chose to give Zelda a rest!

Anyway, one way or another, my job hunting should not go on for very much longer. On Monday, my Mum arrives for a week-long visit to see her first grandchild. While she's here, we will probably pay a visit to Prescott and do a bit of shopping in the Valley. She has been burdened with the unenviable task of maintaining the website for the apartment in France so maybe we'll spend the week discussing the finer points of HTML and FTP and leave Heather to look after Owain. Does that sound likely?

Holiday Snaps

Presenting some pictures of our Holiday in Southern California! Technically it was a job hunting trip so if I ever get one (a job that is), I can deduct most of it from my income tax. Tidy!


I have always imagined that CA was especially hot and sunny. But because I'm living in the Phoenix area, I found the frequent clouds and two-digit temperatures to be a blessed relief. (It still could have been a little cooler for this whinging pommy who burned his feet on the concrete by the pool. Awwww!)

Heather got to catch up with a few of her old flatmates from her days in Orange. Some of the stories they had to tell about her were frankly scary, as were the photos.

I don't really want to say too much about the job interviews. I thought they went well. I usually judge these things by how enjoyable they are. In fact, I don't worry so much about the employment side of things. If I got to talk all nerdy about nerdy stuff with some nerds I usually find that the time was well spent. And time is on my side. Or at least time isn't flicking so many rubber bands at me this time around.

The day we got back, I received some receipts from the USCIS letting me know that my applications are in the pipeline. They are dated 1st of July and I'm told the work permit takes about three months which means that I'll likely be starting work at roughly the same time that the baby's due. Yikes!

We finally went to see Knocked Up yesterday. It was very funny and it rang true for this slightly bewildered father-to-be. However, I expected it to be funnier still. I only last week got 'round to seeing The 40 Year Old Virgin which is by the same director. It received a lot less hype and had me chuckling all the way through so the latest movie was a slight let down. The birth scene had Heather suitably terrified. I had to take her to see 1408 today to take her mind off it and it made her scream out loud! Result!

SoCal

Well here we are in Southern California! Heather drove all the way from Prescott yesterday with only two or three breaks.

We're staying in a motel in the City of Orange where H used to live. Last night we ate at Duke's on Huntington Beach which was very expensive and very tasty. This afternoon, we lazed by the pool and now we're off to get some Mexican food even though I have bad heart burn. I just don't care, me! Anarchy!!

Introducing Mr & Mrs McFarlane

Well, we've finally tied the knot!


The date I need to forget if I ever want my wife to not talk to me for a week is 18th May.

The place was the Little White Chapel Tunnel of Love at around 6.15pm. The temperature was about 100F and the only thing I was wearing that wasn't black was my tie. Nice!

The official photographs are at the developers here in Prescott right now. Hopefully, I will post them later today. I also took some pictures of our excursion.

We stayed in the Monte Carlo, played on the slots there and swam in all four of their pools. We also played roulette in Slots-A-Fun where I won $40 ... and only lost $20 - so two personal bests for me.

All in all, my first trip to sin city was a positive experience. I'd do it all again if it didn't involve polygamy.

Las Vegas here we come!

As of yesterday afternoon, Heather is once more Miss McMakin!

I've popped the question and she said yes!!! Hardly much of a surprise as we were shopping for wedding rings when she found out that the divorce papers were signed. It won't be a very long engagement, probably until Friday and probably until somewhere like the A Special Memory Wedding Chapel.

Talking about rings, I feel somewhat robbed. The bride's wedding ring is supposed to amount to roughly a month's worth of the groom's wages. A few taps on the pocket calculator reveals that to be exactly $0.00. I'll tell you for nothing that you can't get many carats for that sort of money. Not 'round here anyways.

Anyway, time to go to bed. Big day tomorrow. I get to see the Hoover Dam and sip cocktails poolside in Las Vegas. Yum.

Brighton

Ok, here are most of my Brighton photos.

On Monday I mostly just chilled out and played on my laptop during the day and then went to the Barley Mow with Lionel, Chris, Richie and Tom and then later to The Golden Cannon, The Sidewinder, The Bulldog and finally the Market Diner:


On Tuesday, I wandered up London Road, through North Laine and the Pavilion Gardens.

In the evening I hung out with Max and Tom. In all that day I managed to stop off for drinks at The Rose Hill Tavern, The Basketmaker's Arms, the Earth and Stars and the Barley Mow. Phew!

On Wednesday I ate three purple plums ... no wait, that's The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

On Wednesday I did some shopping - a coffee mug to be precise after which I was exhausted and had to rest in The Quadrant for a few pints. Then Tom cooked some curry and then it was back to the Golden Cannon for a few beers with Richie, Chris, Rae, Tom and Ben.

On Thursday it was time to head home ... via The Trafalgar for one last hair of the dog with some old chums from Kuju.

All in all, a very boozy 6 days. I suppose that it was the closest I'm going to get to a stag party which means that from now on, I'm never going to drink or swear or look at semi-naked table lamps

(except Heather).

Back in Wales

I'm back in The Cayo and able to make my little photo albums. Here's the first batch which I took before I got to Brighton (except the last picture). I described most of this stuff in my last post.

More to come in a little while...

Sober Again

Urgh. That last posting doesn't really make much sense in the cold light of day, does it? I shall elaborat a bit.

On Thursday, Mum and Dad headed off for France with the doggies. Spud gets very nervous in the car so I thought I'd give them a nice long walk to tire them out a bit. Hence the photos of the village.

With no way to magic up egg and bacon sandwiches, I decided to head to England to see some of the people I've left behind in the old world. First stop was Guildford for a Friday night drink with Dom. Glen turned up and later, so did Caz. Here's Dom and Caz looking bright and breezy the next morning:

On to London and a Saturday afternoon drink in (among other places) The Crown and Cusion. Here are Marisa and Jeff. (Jeff's the one on the right with the really long arm.)

More drinking in the evening with Jeff, an especially drunken transatlantic phone conversation with Heather and another hangover later, I saw the London Marathon. Jeff and Bev and I stood by the side of the road as thirty thousand odd runners pass by. Some were odder than others. Here they are outside their home in Greenwich (Jeff and Bev that is - not 30,000 runners):

And finally, down to Brighton on Sunday evening and a quick bus journey to the Sidewinder to hear Luke play. He's dangerously good with a guitar. Here are Max and Paul the Jazz Chef:

So now it's monday and my hangover's fading. No doubt I'll get up to no good again this evening. Paul is on holiday this week and has kindly let me stay over at his place. He has wi-fi. I like Paul.

In other news, I've been learning a few new tricks to do with teh interweb and redesigned my website. In particular, I've written a php script which allows you to browse my picture galleries much more easilyer. If you keep clicking 'refresh', the pictures change. How do they do that? Using magic!

Unfortunately, I've left my desktop PC at home so I don't have a convenient way to make new galleries so although I've got lots of new photos, I won't publish most of them until I get back to Wales, later in the week.

Now to do more things to write about...

Le France

Cripes! It's (once again) been a while since I last posted. I've got plenty of cool pics to post. I went to the London Marathon this morning and hung out with Jeff and Bev and saw Marisa yesterday and now I'm in Brighton for the start of the week. Anyway ... photos.

The Cayo

Well, I survived the flight back to the UK. Many thanks to whoever poked holes in my cardboard box. Stopping only for a couple of pints of Guinness at The Tan House I made it back to The Cayo. I've taken some photos like this one:


In other news, it's about time I mentioned that I'm going to be a dad! I don't know what sex it is yet but it has a heart beat and the doctor assures me that Heather is the mother.

Goodbye Sunshine

I leave for the UK on Sunday. I'm here without a visa which means I'm only allowed to stay for 90 days as a tourist.

Hopefully, I'll be let back in when I return on the 30th of April. However, I don't know how to explain taking two really long vacations to Arizona in the same year and only spending 24 hours at the Grand Canyon... "Well sir, I just love sun bathing but I really can't stand heights".

I'll really miss Joe. He's sort-of the Uncle Fester of the family.


Heathrow Terminal 4 here I come!

Photies

I turns out that my favorite operating system, Ubuntu, can make picture galleries straight out of the box (using gThumb) so at long last, here are some nicely presented snaps of Heather and I enjoying some of our last few months of freedom.

Firstly, here are a few select photos from the beginning of February including a trip to Phoenix Zoo, Beanie getting a bath and pictures of Sunset Point.


Next are Heather's rather nice photos of our trip to the Grand Canyon.


Finally, here are some piccies I took of Northern Arizona. There's a bunny called Diggity, a few shots of the Court House in Prescott (spot the deliberate mistake in that last photo) oh, and some more shots of a big hole in the ground. As you can see, the weather was somewhat variable.

And as if that wasn't enough, here's a movie of the lovely Heather modeling this year's must-have canyon.

Grand

Golly, it's been ten days. Mostly I went to northern AZ for most of a week and saw the Grand Canyon. I'll have to make up a photo gallery all about that some time. Um, it's very big. If you don't believe me, wait until the photos get done.

Yesterday, Heather had a yard sale and sold a few boxes worth of clothes. She made $40 which paid for the movies where we saw Reno 911!: Miami. It's a fake reality show about very useless cops in Nevada. It's mostly very funny. I'll bet the TV show is good too. [7 1/2] / [10 3/4] (seven and a half out of ten and three quarters).

Oscars are on this evening - not the middle of the night, mind; actually during waking hours! Still probably going to skip them though. Still not finished Zelda.

Now I'm off to get working on the back yard.

That is all.

Up, up and away!

Right. My coach to the airport leaves in an hour so it's time to finish packing. It's so early here that I just managed to catch my sweetheart going to bed. That's pretty early for me.