Postcards from Susan

My friend Susan is on vacation in the northeast and sent me a couple of wonderful postcards. This first one is of course from Niagara Falls:


And this one is from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Susan tells me Cooperstown is Baseball USA with shops that sell baseball everything!

I have to say I'm so impressed that Susan, who is on this multi-stop adventure of a vacation with her husband and three kids could make time to send me some postcards. Thank you, thank you Susan!!

What I Learned About Novacaine

I went to the dentist on Monday to have a buildup in preparation for a crown. Unlike many people I don't usually have a fear of going to the dentist. But I think anyone who has to endure shots of Novacaine is likely to get a little anxious and stressed during the process.

They gave me two shots of Novacaine to start with, and that first one really hurt. They leave you for about 10 minutes to get numb. While I was waiting I found myself doing breathing exercises to try and relax. I supposed that pain just caused me too much anxiety and my heart was racing a bit.

In the past I've had a history of needing multiple shots of Novacaine to get me numb enough. This time it took a total of four which is by no means my record, but enough to get me stressed out. After the first couple shots it doesn't really hurt so much because your mouth is at least starting to get numb. But after the third and the fourth shots I again found myself working on the relaxation techniques.

Finally, after the fourth shot I asked the dentist if Novacaine might make one jittery. I felt like I had had 10 cups of coffee! The dentist said yes, the drug contains something that constricts your blood vessels so the numbing effect will stay localized. The effects should only last a few minutes, though. And in fact they did. In a few minutes I felt better.

Today I looked up a little info on the web about Novacaine. Here is a quote I found from a dentist: "If you have a problem with the anesthetic making your heart race, you can ask the dentist to use a "novacaine" without Epinepherine." Wow, epinephrine! No wonder. Well I guess I'm glad to know the cause or my jitteriness is not some anxiety disorder or irrational fear of the dentist.

It's a Scorcher

We in Western Washington have been enduring a heat wave. In many places I'm sure this weather would not be unusual. Today is the third day in a row of temperatures over 90 degrees for us. Friday was a record-breaking 95.

Of course our weather in Seattle is normally temperate. This time of year the average high is 76 degrees. Most of the homes in this part of the country do not have air conditioning. I worry about my mother (in her 80's) and wonder how little Elliott is doing in this heat.

I hope any blog readers out there are finding ways to stay cool and comfortable.

Elliott Went Home

Congratulations to little Elliott who got to go home with his parents on Thursday. He made good progress in the two weeks he had to stay at Swedish Hospital. I know Doxey and Cynthia are really happy to have him home. Doxey is learning how to handle those 3am feedings.

Check out Elliott's website for the latest photos.

Clay's Eye Report

Clay had a visit with his eye surgeon yesterday afternoon. He's having trouble seeing anything more than the big E on the eye chart, but the doctor thinks that's okay. Clay is fine with where he is at, and so am I.

We asked the doctor when he might take out the stitches. In most people he said he might consider it after 6 months (which we are well past), but since Clay's eye is so special he wants to be extra conservative. It is possible he may decide to just leave the stitches in there and let them eventually dissolve. Or, he may decide to take them out at about a year. That's not until November, so for now we wait and celebrate that he can see to get around with no glasses and the doctor sees no problems in the eye.

We have no idea when things will be stable enough to try new glasses. If nothing else we are learning patience. For now no news is good news.

Contrast of Old and New

A few weeks ago my friend Judy brought this view to my attention and I had to take a photo to share. I find it an interesting contrast to see the older building in front of the newer. The materials and colors of the two buildings are so different, and yet there is a similarity in their form.

The older of the two buildings sits directly across Third Avenue from the Washington Mutual Tower where I work (that's the newer building in the photo). I've always been fascinated with the older building because its architecture is so different from the buildings that surround it. These days that building is called the Seattle Tower.

When the Seattle Tower was finished in 1928 it was called the Northern Life Building. Check out this photo of an old postcard showing the Northern Life Building.

The Northern Life Building was Seattle's first in the Art Deco style. Originally planned to be 24 stories tall, it was redesigned to add 3 more floors making it one floor higher above sea level than the Smith Tower which was previously known as the tallest building west of the Mississippi.

The Washington Mutual Tower, Seattle's first building in the Postmodern style was completed in 1988. It dwarfs the Seattle Tower at 55 stories. I read that people call it the "spark plug building" because of its shape.

Both buildings are beautiful, each representing the best in architecture of their day.

I Got to Meet Baby Elliott

Yesterday I visited baby Elliott and his folks at the hospital. Parenthood seems to suit Doxey and Cynthia. While I was there Doxey changed his first preemie diaper. He did a pretty good job considering you have to do it with your arms through a couple holes into the incubator and Elliott is attached to a bunch of wires. Doxey also fed Elliott some expressed mama's milk and some formula. Elliott swallowed it all down enthusiastically.

Although Elliott is small he is very alert and checking out everything that's happening. Doxey has posted some great new pictures on the LilGiuseppe blog if you want to check it out.

Cynthia is doing well and was expected to go home today although I'm sure she and Doxey will continue to spend much of their time at the hospital as long as Elliott is there.

Fireworks Cruise

I hope everybody enjoyed a nice Fourth of July. Clay and I were fortunate to go on a fireworks cruise sponsored by the firm where I work, and we got to bring along our friends Wayne and Michelle and their daughter Nikka as guests. I worried a little at the beginning when we saw lightning and heard thunder. But no serious rain developed and it was a beautiful evening.

If you click on the picture you will see an enlarged view and you can use the Next and Prev buttons to see more photos from the evening. It was a great picture-taking event from the water and mountains to a gorgeous sunset and stunning fireworks. Michelle forgot the memory card for her camera and it just so happened I brought an extra camera so she helped me take the pictures. Thanks Michelle!

It's a Boy!!

Doxey and Cynthia are the proud parents of a beautiful little boy, Elliott Lewis. He's about a month premature, but doing great. In fact, today he was able to leave the Neonatal ICU unit and move on to the Special Care unit at Swedish. He's making great progress. And what a cutie!

Here are the important stats:
born Thursday, July 6th at 9:22am, 4 lbs 13 ozs, 18" long

For more info and some great photos, check out http://lilgiuseppe.blogspot.com.

Clay's RJC Adventure

Clay got called for jury duty to report today, July 3rd. If you get called to jury duty for King County Superior Court there are two options - the downtown Seattle courthouse (which is convenient for us) or the Kent Regional Justice Center (RJC). Kent is quite a distance from our home and it takes about an hour and a half to travel there by bus with a transfer in the middle. This is the second time in less than two years that Clay has drawn jury duty in Kent. That's difficult of course because of his lack of eyesight. Traveling alone is a bit more challenging.

It was our plan for me to drive Clay to jury duty this morning and he would take a bus home. So we spent Sunday night driving to Kent to check out bus stops so Clay would know where to go. We couldn't tell for sure which was the correct bus stop, so we got up extra early this morning so we could get to Kent in time to walk to the bus stop before he had to report. We got there about 7:15, parked the car and walked to the bus stop. Then we went to the jury check-in room where Clay was asked for his jury summons. While he was looking for it in his bag, the woman behind the counter asked if he had an impairment and we told him he is legaly blind. Clay explained he was not sure if he would be able to see exhibits clearly. The woman asked if he would prefer to be excused. Clay's response? "Sure!"

I had to drive back to the Northgate Park N Ride where I would leave the car for the day, and Clay walked home from there. That was the easiest jury service he has had yet!

Baby Watch Continues

Doxey and Cynthia are still in waiting mode for the arrival of their little one. Tomorrow morning will mark 2 weeks since Cynthia's water broke. The baby is at about 34-1/2 weeks and doing well. Cynthia is feeling good and has had no contractions or other problems. Cynthia's doctor says that every day the baby stays in his mama is the equivalent of three days in a nursery once he gets out. So Cynthia is doing a great job keeping Lil G safe until he is ready to come out into the world.

A couple times a day they let Cynthia sit up in a wheelchair and she can be rolled down to a patio garden area where they have a nice fountain. The picture is Cynthia waving hello to me via Doxey's cameraphone. Hi Cynthia! Hang in there!

The latest word from the doctors is that little Elliott (which will be Lil Giuseppe's name after he is born) will be delivered via C-Section around the 6th or 7th of July.

Fender Bender

There has been quite a problem with parking on the street just outside our apartment complex. The driveway to the apartments is at the end of a dead-end street. In order to create more parking spots, people have taken to parking their cars diagonally at the end of the street instead of parallel. That leaves just barely enough room for one vehicle to pass out of the apartment complex.

There used to be a sign that said "parallel parking only" but someone ripped it out and threw it in a nearby yard. If a car is approaching the apartment complex from the street and you want to leave, you have to negotiate who is going first. And if you have a big SUV (fortunately I do not), well good luck to you.

This parking situation has bugged me for years. I keep meaning to call parking enforcement and do something about it, but I have done nothing.

Last Sunday night while trying to get out of the driveway I had to negotiate space with a car coming in. My focus was several yards ahead on the incoming vehicle and the space between that car and the parked cars next to it. While trying to judge that distance I didn't notice that I was too close to a big pickup truck who had parked diagonally and was sticking way out into the street. There was a crash of metal on glass (my right-hand mirror taking out the pickup's taillight) and a scraping sound as the right rear bumper scraped my right side door. Arghh!!!

It's a little like closing the barn door after the horse got out, but now I will have to take action on that parking situation. Who knows, if I can effect change maybe a fire truck will be able to get past those parked cars and we can save the apartments from fire. Or, it will just make me feel better.