An Impending Storm

Several storms are brewing here on Francis Avenue North. The more immediate of the two is WINTER STORM '08, where the city of Seattle will be pummeled by up to eight inches of snow. Pummel is the word that KOMO news used, coincidentally it is one of my favorite words because it just implies so much. Sometimes a person just needs a good pummeling. In this case, the city of Seattle will be getting one.

This picture is pre-pummeling. The pummeling, along with 75 - 90(!) mph winds and lots of snow should be hitting the metro area sometime this evening and continuing into the early morning. Anyway...this picture is what I came home to after a cold week in California. I was afraid I wouldn't get home. I spent an extra four hours at the Oakland airport because SeaTac was operating with just one run-way. So, this is the base for the pummeling we expect tonight.

It has put a damper in my nursery plans. I was expecting several packages from Amazon.com yesterday. Several months ago, I accidentally signed up for Amazon Prime, which for $80 a year promises free two day shipping. I didn't mean to (or remember) signing up for this service...but I figured since I had it, I had better use it. Plus I found the changing table I wanted for almost $70 dollars less than BabiesRus (the world's most terrifying store. Ever) Anyway...the snow storm is interfering with my changing table, changing pad, changing pad cover, pack'n'play, and most importantly our new CAMERA!!! 

Now I never knew I would be so excited about all this baby stuff, but I did know that a new camera would make me very very happy. Even though I thought I wanted a digital SLR (drool) I played a little bit with my friend Drew's beautiful camera and found it to be a bit too much camera for me. Not to mention, they are very very expensive. With Drew's help, and the website dppreview.com, we decided on a Canon SX10. It is still a point and shoot, but it has way more pixels than the camera we are currently using (which has 4! Less than most camera phones these days) and 20x optical zoom, while the current camera has just 3x and then that horrible digital zoom.  And although I haven't actually used it yet, from what I understand, I will be able to control aperture and shutter speed and all that. So I am hoping it is a happy medium between an SLR and a point and shoot. The downside of this new camera is that I will no longer be able to blame my poor photography skills on the crappy camera. So I think I am going to have to start thinking about my composition a bit more. 

I used to feel like a fairly competent photographer. Although in all honesty,  I think I was better at the technical printing stuff than the composition and creative aspect of the art. So digital photography seems to put more focus on the creative aspect. Although I do plan on learning Photoshop so that I can kind of mimic the manipulation of the darkroom. Although I did just learn about RAW which I can't even process on my computer, but I should be able to do some photo shop manipulations...right? And I love the way Rob sees things through the lens, his eye is so much different than mine. But we will probably just use the new camera to document Futureman, and this blog will contain fewer pictures of our view, and more (possibly endless) pictures of the boy.

Now...here are some poorly shot (because of the camera or because of my skill?) images of the offisury or nuroffice. 
This is the crib that both my brother and I used, along with lots of my parent's friend's babies. I was a bit worried that it wouldn't pass current safety regulations, but a soda can doesn't fit through the bars and my mom pointed out that all of the babies who had used it are now fairly functional adults. I have some alphabet cards to hang on that wall. If we ever name the kid, maybe I will spell out his name with them. We are still taking suggestions.
A bit of a detail shot. I love bright colors. I think that is interesting because I tend to dress in pretty sedate clothing. I love to wear black but I like my surroundings to be colorful. Especially  in this gray Seattle environment.

This is the Ikea Poang chair we got on Craig's list for super cheap. It is clean and red. I love red furniture. I was pushing for red couches in the living room, but those would have taken an extra 10 to 12 weeks to be delivered, and in that case, my need for immediate gratification beat out my need for red furniture. It seems like life is a constant tug-o-war between wants and the desire to be free of such material wants. All this baby stuff. What do I need? What do I want? What does the baby need? 
Here is a limited selection of the baby's clothes. We have been fortunate enough to have several babies around that are slightly older than Futureman and therefore willing to share their clothing with him. We love that. I love sharing and passing things around. This whole baby thing seems to be a bit of a racket. Babies can't tell the difference between brand new and shared clothing or items. It is all new to them. I am trying to keep that in perspective as I shop for the baby. Used items make me happier than new items. Although we certainly have ALOT of blue clothing. Which is fine, its just interesting that we start gender stereotyping our children so early in life.