Christmas party embarrassment

I’m worried the little fella is out to give us a bad name.

Last night, during the first of many Christmas appearances we are to make this week, he created a bit of a stir.

For most of the evening, he was his usual calm self, sleeping in his car seat for almost an hour and a half after we arrived while other children scampered about with their parents in tow, worrying they would cause some terrible disturbance. The little guy even managed to sleep through one of these sugar-hyped tykes falling into him.

Once he was awake, he did his usual sit-and-stare routine while various people cuddled him. He even managed a few smiles for the ladies, which led everyone to comment on how mellow and well-behaved he always is.

After all of this, when all the other kids had gone home or to bed, he became the centre of attention when conversation lulled. People continued to comment on how great he was, and he soaked it all up while drinking down his evening bottle.

Once he was finished gulping down 120 ml of formula and due for a burp, he would have none of it. I decided to do a few dips with him – a technique I learned from Momma J that usually elicits a burp a few minutes afterwards. But there was nothing.

I then tried walking around with him. Just as my friend I were joking about how Baby G might spew on him if I let him hold the little guy, I heard a big belch followed by the dreaded splat. I looked down on the floor behind me to see a huge puddle of regurgitated baby formula.

The party stopped and everyone looked our way. Embarrassed, I put the little guy down and headed to the kitchen for a cloth just as one of the hosts grabbed a napkin to clean up the wet spot. The red napkin, being of the cheaper variety, leaked dye onto the spot causing the hostess to think Baby G had puked up blood with his formula.

Nobody panicked after the dye incident was quickly explained, but I had to get down on my hands and knees to work the stain out with club soda while everyone joked around. A few of the non-parents were also worrying aloud if he was OK.

I assured them he was fine, and he did this all the time. Just as I was saying this, I saw him spit up on the hostess who had picked him up, which made people ask if he was OK again. I told him he would be fine, but I knew they were thinking I had caused all of this by administering the dip technique.

In the end, the little guy was tentatively passed around some more and we left awhile later. He was happy as punch to get home and head to bed, and we laughed it off. I’m just worried about standing on anyone’s carpets after he eats now…

In-game ads. Why not?

With the explosion of gaming and the acceptance of it as an alternative form of entertainment to television and film, I’m sure the little fella will be begging for the newest system on the market when he gets a little older.

I’ll oblige as long as he doen’t turn out like these guys.

I don’t get the whole anti-advertising mentality of hard-core gamers. It’s not like like gaming is any different than TV or film. As games get more expensive and more people steal them, the companies that make them have to find alternative forms of revenue to have the dough to keep the machine running.

We do live in a capitalist-run world after all and gamers are very much a part of it. Gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry that employs many of these men-folk (and a few women) who complain about intrusive advertising.

With such a captive medium to exploit, it’s no wonder advertisers are targeting them. Besides it’s not like this is an evil thing to do. A lot of these guys (and a few gals) are consumers with money to burn.

Little fella has a long life ahead of him

According to Stats Can babies born in Canada today will live until their 80. I hope this doesn’t mean the little fella is going to take longer than me to get serious about having a family and career.

As much as I love his chubby little cheeks, I don’t think I could handle a 60-year-old in my basement, who has returned home to find himself and go back to school because he was to wild and reckless in his 40s.

“Mass think” over?

In his commentary on Time naming everyone who uses the Internet the Person of the Year, Jeff Jarvis proclaims the end to mass media’s control over the flow of information. It’s a line we’ve all heard many times before from futurists like Jarvis who want to believe the world is being dramatically altered by millions dancing on YouTube, but it’s not.

The fact he took the time to comment on an article produced by a mass media outlet demonstrates he, like the Internet and Web 2.0, is enabling mass media to spread even further. He’s giving legs to a story that would have been distributed to a finite number of people in the past. Now millions more are reading it.
So while Time’s print subscription rates may be going down, its readership is up in new markets across the world thanks to Jarvis and other bloggers like him.

When I lived in Japan a few years ago, I didn’t read or watch North American news because it was too expensive or unavailable. Now, thanks to broadband, more people in more places are listening to, reading and watching the content produced by corporations that have the money to employ journalists to write articles in magazines like Time.

And bloggers are helping spread the word by writing articles or column about articles.

The truth of the matter is, most of us aren’t industry observers like Jarvis, so we depend on traditional sources, which happen to be taking a different form on the Internet. Yes, some bloggers are quiet influential (but not necessary original), and they’ve encouraged millions to go online to share their lives and stories, but those people often tend to pass around mass media stories and content.

Like this fine video from Justin Timberlake, who I have a new found respect for.

Study: Circumcision reduces risk of HIV

Prior to Baby G being born, Momma J and I had the great circumcision debate.  In the end we decided not to inflict the little guy with any unnecessary pain.

During our discussions I mentioned these studies, but they were in their preliminary phases. I felt the only reason to do it, would be to give the little guy protection against disease or infection, and it seems to have some merit now.

I don’t think this study will change our minds, as the older he gets the more painful the operation would be. It’s just an example of one of many millions of things we will be confronted while the little guy is living under our roof.

As he grows older, we hope to teach him to be responsible about sex, so such things shouldn’t be a worry. Nevertheless, you always want to do everything in your power to protect your children from disease or ill health.

Christmas photos

In the great tradition of showing and sending too many photos of a first child, we’ve been on a bit of a tear. Here are a few of the Christmas photos we had done by the photographer that shot the ad I posted a little while back.

Who doesn’t love animated cats?

The whole pet craze thing baffles me a little. But you have to love people’s williningness to share their creative genius with the world.

Innovative way to help the disadvantaged

I was doing to surfing this afternoon and I came across an article from the U.K. that would work great everywhere.

With banks recording record profits year-after-year, it hardly seems necessary for them to continue to charge people for not using their account. Instead, the banks should institute a policy on dormant accounts that can benefit the less fortunate in society.

Hopefully this initiative gains legs in more places than just the U.K.

Time is a passing

Wow. It’s amazing how the holidays, a baby and some sickness can take you off track.

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. Before the little fella came along, two or three parties a week was a welcome event. Now Momma J and I find ourselves yearning for our bed at 8 p.m. when we’re out with friends.

Getting out is great though. Thankfully, the little fella is pretty easy going. If his belly is full, he’s pretty content to stare at the lights and the people around him. At a friend’s dinner on Friday, and gathering on Saturday, he was quite content to be passed around if people were willing.

Momma J and I have made a pact to take advantage of these times, as many people have told us babies are a lot tougher to take out once they start grabbing and moving.

Yesterday I saw signs of what is to come.

The little fella is starting to grab at stuff, and he’s not content with just eating and passing out anymore. By four o’clock yesterday afternoon, I hadn’t been able to get anything done, and I was pretty damn tired. Momma J had been out for a good part of the day, and I tried to put him down, but he would have none of it. He just wanted to play, which for him means shaking rattles and making faces for hours on end.

Don’t get me wrong I’m enjoying every minute. He’s a heck of a lot of fun now. It’s just more work, and I know it’s just the beginning. At times yesterday, I was kind of looking forward to eighteen years in the future when he heads off to school.

Only thing is, because he’s so great, we often talk about having another…

“Stand up and stop the puck.”

I’ve always wondered why I felt so alone in the world. This New York Times article explains why.