Last home time I got pretty much everything ready for MFF that needed testing. The projection screen frame is done and the screen just needs some stitching (gonna be huge for cheap and plan to make a how-to for it), got a video switcher and tested it with the two laptops and projector and also the projection onto the screen, and a camcorder and video grabber for the new Visikord program I'm getting. Took some running around, but everything went together well once I started plugging things in. The projection screen will be about a 10X7ft frame on 4ft legs, all PVC pipe. The screen itself is simply spandex, so it's nice and stretchy. It's 7X5ft unstretched, so when I pull it to the frame, it gives a nice stretched spider web type outline and I don't have to worry about wrinkles or anything.

Not sure if I posted it yet or not, but Visikord is a dance reactive visuals program. Basically you move/dance in front of a camera, and it makes visuals based of those movements. There's a couple different ways to use it, but you can find out more at http://www.dancevisuals.com/ You can go to his youtube channel from within that link to see even more vids. It's a really awesome program and one of a kind!

location: Sitting in a dock mood: excited tags: mff, visikord, visualization, vj

Ok, here's what I want you to do. Click on the following youtube link, but close your eyes! Don't even look at the title. In fact, put your mouse over the link, and then close your eyes before clicking it so the new tab/window doesn't open and you accidentally see it. The video is real, it's not a scare prank or anything, so don't worry. I'm hiding what it is behind a cut because I want other people to hear it the same way I did. I heard this video on the radio, which I think makes it 100X more funny. I will say it's selling something commemorating Obama, but nothing more. If I had been driving, I may have ran off the road when I heard it.

Avert thy eyes! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCiTAJi1yRk

( So what is it? )

location: Sittin' in a dock mood: amused Listening to: The truck idling next to me tags: mystery product

Hats off to the Nevada Highway Patrol (and other states with similar programs) for their Badge on Board program. The reason I'm so glad to see it is this from their website:

"NHP Troopers will be riding with truck drivers, watching for passenger vehicle moving violations around that truck. When the Trooper in the truck observes an unsafe behavior, he or she will radio to a chase vehicle, and another Trooper will pull over the offender identified by the Trooper in the truck."

You can see the full program info here: http://badgeonboard.nv.gov/

While you can "educate" people until you're blue in the face, a lot of people just don't get it when driving around a big rig. While it my be safer (but not really safe) to cut in close in front or behind another car that can stop and move as quick as you, too many people crowd in around a truck, leaving us no room to react should something go wrong. Tailgating, cutting us off, not paying attention while driving, etc. For example, when you pass a car and move back in front of them normally, it's not a big deal if you're a little closer than you should. Do that in front of the truck, and you'll be a hood ornament before the brakes even start to apply if something requires us to stop. Most semi's have air breaks, which unlike hydrolic brakes in cars, are air powered and there is a lag from the time I press the petal to the time they actually kick in. While that's been minimized, it's still an inherent issue in the system. Not to mention, when you cut in front of some trucks like that, we can't even see the rear bumper of your car because of our hood.

So this program not only educates, but enforces the rules of the road in an area that is severly lacking. Mostly because it's so hard to witness it. It's not like speeding where a car could be doing so for miles and pass a waiting trooper. Most of these infractions only last a few seconds at most, easily missed even if a trooper is within sight. This isn't just a rant against people in cars. The program targets any vehicle driving unsafe around a big rig...even other big rigs. I'm all for that. Heck, just passing/being passed by a semi truck takes concentration because we push so much air out of the way in front of us. I'm sure everyone has felt that *woosh* as one passes you going the other way, or your car trying to drift away or even closer to the truck if going the same way. If you're busy texting or talking on the cell, eating lunch to go, or doing whatever, then that simple lack of attention could cause your car to be pushed in to another vehicle.

But that's enough of that. I hope this kind of program picks up around the country so the populous starts to understand it takes a lot more from everyone to drive around a semi.

location: Bed mood: sleepy Listening to: Soon to be snoring. :P tags: badge on board

Came home for a couple of days where my projector had been waiting for me (bought a referb one off ebay) and man does this thing hum. It took some work to get it working well with my main visuals program, but once I did, just pointing it on a bumpy, off white wall would give anyone seizures. *grins big* Thing is a lot brighter than I thought, which is good. For whatever reason, my computer didn't like to interface it with the VGA cable and my graphics card. Not sure what was going on, but eventually it rendered at full framerates and full screen on the projector and off I went. I was grinning ear to ear the whole time, and I realized that the cats love the projector. I could hold it up and aim the image around like a lazer pointer and they would go nuts trying to chase it. Kira also loves to watch the pretty visuals.

The next big thing I need is a projection screen and it'll be ready for performing. And then a camcorder with a flood light or two, and I'll pretty much be ready for that new dance visuals program and working MFF. I can't wait!

location: Home mood: giddy Listening to: Electronic music during projector testing. tags: mff, projector, visuals

Well I got word today that I'll be able to VJ at MFF this year. Working out the details now with them, but I'm giddy as hell right now about it. *bounces excitedly*

Now just to get all the hardware issues worked out. >o.o

location: Home mood: ecstatic Listening to: Nothing, not that good of a multi-tasker. :P tags: mff, vj

Had my first steer tire flat and now I'm waiting on the shoulder of a farmland highway. It didn't blow out, so there wasn't a sudden jarring which can be scary for any trucker. I picked up a nail or something in the road and slowly lost pressure. I heard it running flat and was over on the shoulder, stopped, before I ever felt any control issues. The ironic thing is it happened 6 miles from my last drop of this run. I have an air hose and chuck I can connect to one of my truck's air lines to air up low tires in a pinch, but it's leaking too fast to get me to the store. >.< Oh well.

In other news, I'm gonna be going to MFF this year. It'll be special for at least one, if not two reasons. One of my good friends is supposed to be getting married there. I'm really happy for her of course and looking forward to going to that. For those that have known of my VJ work from Oklacon and Furry Fiesta, or just seeing my postings here, I'm trying to VJ MFF as well. Only this time, I have a really awesome program that I'm about to get my paws on likely before it hits the general market. I'm not going into much detail unless and until I get conformation whether or not I'm able to VJ there because I don't want to ruin the suprise. I will say it involves "audience participation". I sent them an email asking if I could work there, but no answer yet. Their programing head is supposed to be getting in touch with the dance/DJ head to get me an answer. *crosses paws*

That's about all for now. I know it's been a while since my last posting here. Been busy a lot lately.

location: The side of the road mood: bored Listening to: Fox News Channel on Sirius tags: flat tire, mff, vj

Here's an interesting idea, if not somewhat of a serious one. Since we all (should) know that our roads are in pretty rough shape around the country and seems government can't seem to fund it right...What if an initiative was started to raise the funds locally. Here's the scenario:

A fund would be set up either by city or county (maybe some small states could do a state wide fund, but I feel this would normally be too easy to get corrupted and not remain dedicated to the fund's purpose). The people in said cities/countys would have the option to make donations in any amount they choose and all the money would go directly to repairing/rebuilding local roads. Of course, there would have to be some tweaks to consider, but that's the general idea and would not replace but be in addition to any transportation funding for roads. And unlike the current HIGHWAY funding bill, this money would *NOT* go to bike paths, mass transit, railroads, etc. Only to road projects.

While it sounds like the government has become the boy/girl scouts begging for money (as if they don't already), I think it also would be a way of taking back control of some things. Something like "If you want it done right, do it yourself" kind of deal. I doubt this would ever get off the ground and be laughed out of town, but would be kinda cool if it did work. I'd be willing to donate.

And on a side note if you're traveling through Missouri: If you see a bridge with a sign that says "Safe and Sound", that means it's one of the *WORST* bridges in the state. Makes complete sense, doesn't it. http://www.modot.mo.gov/safeandsound/

location: The usual...the truck mood: curious Listening to: Airport Mania music in background from Yahoo Games tags: fundraising, roads and bridges, safe and sound program, transportation funding

It's not just people cars that sometimes rack my nerves, even truckers can be idiots. Lucky for me, I was told by dispatch ahead of time to come the back way into the distribution center (dc) I work out of because a truck from another company tried to make a U-turn in the middle of the road and got stuck, blocking the main way in.

I'm going to guess this was a new driver that paniced, but it still doesn't excuse what he tried to do and the hours it took to free him. The road from the interstate to our dc is a 2 lane with a shoulder on each side. It's obvious to anyone that a truck and 53' trailer can't turn around on it without going off the road. Only problem is there's a large ditch next to it. Had he gone another 1/4 mile around a curve, he could've easily turned around in our drive, or even one of the other lots near us. No clue where the driver was trying to get to, or what made him change his mind. He drove for a major (past tense: *drove*) for a major company, and all of them tell you, NO U-TURNS. At my company, if you're caught doing that, it's instant termination. You could get stuck like this guy did, block traffic, risk someone not seeing you and running under your trailer, etc.... Only time we're allowed to is if under the instruction of a police officer. I once had to do that to get around a major wreck, but had plenty of room and was the only way out unless I sat for 4+hours, but that's another story. Otherwise, you go find a parking lot, go around the block, or whatever you need so you make sure you can get turned around safely. It's pretty much drilled in our heads, never do a U-turn.

For whatever reason, this driver decided to do one right in the middle of this 2 lane road that has a decent amount of truck and car traffic. Granted, if your truck is short enough, you *may* be able to do it in some intersections if there's no traffic, but he didn't even do that. What ever the case, blind panic or not, he got the truck stuck in the ditch and had to wait for a wrecker to come pull him out. I can only imagine the embarassement he felt because every other truck that went by or was impeded by this was likely thinking the same thing as me, and every car just pissed that he was blocking all but one shoulder of the road for 2+ hours.

Oh well... Just glad it wasn't me. :)

mood: sleepy tags: idiot trucker

Had a pretty cool home time this last go around. I got in Monday evening, so we got up fairly early Tues to get things squared away. Because that night, Allie and I went to see Gaelic Storm. If you've ever watched the movie "Titanic" (and by now, who hasn't?), they are the group that played the Irish band down in the poor people's party. It was at an Irish themed pub in Green Bay, the only pub the band goes to when on tour. It was all fast paced Irish jigs and drinking tunes, and great story telling in between tracks. This was also one of those few times where I'm willing to get some alcohol in me so I can "loosen up." Only had a margaritta before the show because I ran out of time, but later went to the bar and got something I never thought I'd have. A beer.

My first sip of beer was at an early age from one my dad was drinking and I thought it was the most disgusting thing on Earth. But I have seen the dark Guinness brews and could see them having a much different flavor. I sampled a little and then ordered a full pint. When in Rome.... Anyway, it definately wasn't something I could drink like water and had to sip on it for a while. Never really felt anything from it, but I quickly realized I didn't like the taste of it either. It was like being hit with a dumptruck load bland, right in the mouth. Oh well, just another thing I can now say I've officially tried. After the concert, we went home and spent the night alone. Since we couldn't bring the baby with us, she stayed with Allie's second mom (She's closer to her than her real mom basically) overnight. That was a welcomed relief to both of us. Next day we just rested up and I headed back out, another good 2 days home, albeit way too short as usual.

location: On da road again mood: cheerful tags: beer, gaelic storm

Let's all take a rally about healthcare, toss in a nameless/faceless guy in a white shirt with an AR-15, crop the video so you can't see his skin, then make up a story about how it's a racism thing as if the guy with the gun is white. I don't use this phrasing loosely, but what they did is more racist than what they claimed in the news story. Mostly because what they claimed in the news story was faked for no other reason than to bash those against the president.




I always love a good chuckle. Thanks MSNBC.

mood: blank tags: msnbc racism

No, not like an ATV, but four wheeler as in trucker slang for cars.

Long story short, I'm driving down the highway and a car thinks he can race me down an on ramp to jump in front of me. First he acts as if he was gonna yield the right of way, but then decided to gun it and try to beat me instead. Either he changed his mind at the last nano-second or his car didn't have the acceleration he thought it did, but he was just a few feet in front of me by the end of the ramp and then hit the brakes (I'm guessing because he thought he wouldn't make it) while half in my lane, forcing me to slam on my brakes. There's more to it than that (I.E. other traffic around me, limiting my options and the exact actions of this driver leading me to think he was yielding), but basically he was acting like an idiot and I came within 2-3 feet of hitting him.

Nobody "owns the road", be you car or big rig. But I see stuff like this all too often and is likely my biggest pet peeve. Because of this guy, I had 5 pallets of food get thrown forward and a fair amount of damage to them. Half of one pallet was tossed to the floor. The guy receiving the product had to re-stack that and now has to go through those pallets and throw away anything that had damage. One pallet was all 5lb tubs of butter and many of them had their lids pop open because they were squished together from the pallet behind them. All of the opened ones have to be tossed. All because someone thought he could play around with a semi truck.

For everyone out there reading this: Big rigs are not cars. We're big, we're heavy, we take much longer to stop, and we can't swerve out of the way of a situation like this unless we want to risk rolling over and causing a much bigger accident. In a case like this, all we can do is hit the brakes and pray. I know they don't teach you this in drivers education, which is why I'm saying it now.  Give us space. Not because of some self absorbed high and mighty attitude, but because when people do stuff like this, it puts them in serious danger of being hit and even killed.  Even if you're just passing one on the open road, don't cut in front of us as if we're a car. Get on up ahead and leave a decent gap. That way, if something happens, requiring you to suddenly slow way down, we have time and space to react as well.

Of the accidents involving a big rig, only a fraction of them are actually *caused* by the truck. Most of the time it's caused by a passenger car because of stuff like this. They either don't know how to drive safe and defensively, or don't care. Even if it's obviously the fault of the car, backed up by witness statements galore, the investigaters and lawyers will make the trucker's life hell. They will go over our log books for any small infraction, even if it's in an entry a week or more ago. They will look for any way to fault and charge the trucker. I've heard reports where a car crossed the center line and hit a truck but the trucker was still charged for "failure to control his vehicle". Another where it was a car that caused it and there was a minor log book violation from a few days prior and he was charged because if he logged it right "He shouldn't have been there at that time." That's about the weakest arguement you can have. If the truck wasn't there, another one could have been, or another car. Your mere presence doesn't mean you're at fault.

And on top of that, you're almost garunteed to be sued by the people in the car. Lawyers see trucking companies and truckers themselves as cash cows. Even when the car is at fault, they will still sue the trucker for something because all they see is dollar signs. Some of the old timers say if you see you're about to hit someone, don't slow down. Speed up and run them over and kill them because then they can't sue. I don't do that, but it does hold some meaning.

This is some of the crap we have to deal with daily. Getting into a wreck is the last thing we'd want. Not only because an accident can ruin our entire career, but because we don't want to see innocent people hurt as well. I'm not talking about the idiot drivers, I'm talking about people that may be their passenger, or having a roll over that takes out 3 lanes of traffic and landing on un-involved vehicles, etc. When a big rig is in a wreck, the damage and casulties can be big and we'll do whatever it takes to prevent it if we can do so safely and not put ourselves at risk for an even bigger accident. We'd much rather have to pay for a few thousand in damaged goods (Not sure what my damage value could be) than to loose a life.

Right now I've had to write up a report of what caused the product shifting and waiting to hear back from dispatch. Hopefully they'll be understanding as being one of those times you just can't avoid something. Would suck big time if I was wrote up because of this guy, but that's the risk we take every day.


P.S. Just tried the new detect location function on here and it said I was in Elyria, Nebraska. LoL I'm still in Wisconsin, but these net cellular air cards always throw off i.p. based location detectors.

location: Wisconsin, even though LJ thinks otherwise tags: four wheelers, idiot drivers

If I could go to one of these town hall meetings and get some mic time, I'd just ask one simple question.

I would just like one congressman to show me where, in our constitution, do they get the power to do this? Once someone can point that out to me, then we can debate how good or bad the bill is. Even though I'd never support this kind of bill, those that do should understand that it's not a federal power to do this. If anything, it should be left up to the states. We can agree on this, no?

location: Here, wanting to be there. mood: annoyed Listening to: Water sounds on Second Life tags: healthcare reform bill

I've been wanting to do this since it became an option a few years ago. HSA's, or Health Savings Accounts. Having our baby is what kicked me into gear to do it and I applied yesterday, and just waiting on approval now. Why? Cheaper and easier to understand coverage. As with most company group insurance policies, they offer only an individual or family plan, the family usually costing quite a bit more and intended for a typical family of 4. So to just *just* add on my daughter, it would cost nearly 4 times as much in premiums and I can't add my mate since we aren't married. With my individual HSA, I'm saving about $80/mo and I have the option to add my mate on even if not married and will do so when she returns to work herself. Through my company, I was looking at about $290/mo in premium, taken as $74/wk in my check. The HSA with just me and baby was quoted at $212-216/mo with a $6k deductable. HSA's aren't really too well known or advertized. The only way I found out about them was on the Dave Ramsey show (radio financial advise show), so I'll run down the basics for anyone interested in saving some money and taking more control over their health care costs. I figure now would be a good time considering the reform bill is being talked about so much. *hiss at the bill*

There's several options with HSA, as they're commonly known, but there's two main parts. The first thing you have to do is get a qualifying high deductable insurance policy, then you can go to a bank or possibly through the insurance company and set up the actual Health Savings Account. Even though I haven't set up the savings part yet, usually the term "HSA" is intended to cover both parts. Technically I think the insurance side is call a High Deductable Health Plan, but for ease of reading I'm gonna refer to the whole things as simply HSA. The insurance side in my case has coverage for preventitive maintence type care (i.e. regular physicals, pap smears, our baby's normal wellness checkups and vaccines to age 5, blood pressure checks, etc) at 100%. So when Kira and I go for a normal doctor visit, we don't pay anything and it's all billed to the insurance. If one of us goes in because we get sick, have and accident, need a perscription, or some other non preventative maintence issue, then it get's billed to the insurance company again. In this case, the insurance company will apply discounts as agreed upon by their network doctors/providers, and then forward that adjusted bill to me. I would then pay the bill to my insurance company. What makes it work is that instead of a $150 doctor visit, it may only be $80. A $30 perscription may only be $19.

Now, here's where the deductable comes into play: I have a $6k yearly deductable. Any cost that I have to pay for said non-preventative care is applied to the deductable. Once I hit the deductable, the insurance kicks in again and covers everything 100%.  So lets say something major happens and I incure a $10k surgery +all the meds required after treatment. I would be on the hook for the first $6k yearly in my particular plan, and insurance would cover the rest, on top of the normal preventative care. Also, the deductable is total of the plan, not per person. By having a high deductable, it keeps premium costs pretty low. Not all plans are the same, though. When looking around, I found other plans that had 80/20 type policies (and a few other break points). Where mine will be 100% ins paid preventative care, you can get an 80/20 policy where you would get an even better premium but still have to pay 20% of even the preventative stuff. When I looked in to them, I figured the premium savings wasn't big enough to want to consider it, but your situation may vary of course.

So some people may be like "How can you afford to pay a $6k medical bill?" Well...I'm glad I asked. LOL. It's a kind of risk management on my part. My plan had $3500, $6k, and $10k deductable options. The lowest one had premiums that were too high for me to afford. I figure based on past lack of medical needs, I could handle the $6k deduct because paying for a simple doctor visit wouldn't be hard for me. And if for some reason I can't pay all the full bill, I can make payments on it over time. This is also where the actual savings account comes in. Once the insurance is set up, you get the HSA at a bank and make deposits in to it that are tax deductable, and earn tax free interest. The money in these accounts are only to be used for medical expenses. In my particular plan (through Blue Cross/Blue Shield, btw), I don't *have* to have the savings account and can just pay out of pocket if I need, but any savings account you want to get requires the insurance policy first. I want to say you're allowed to put in $10k/year, but I could be off a bit on it.

The idea behind the two plans is that you pay for your health care costs at significant discounts out of the savings account, where you're also earning interest and tax benefits. As your savings account grows, you can raise the deductable on your insurance and still have the cash to cover the deductables and get drastically reduced premiums. The other major benefit to me is I can add a non-married domestic partner (though if I read it right, to them it basically means not married but could legally *be* married), meaning my mate at any time, and can make adjustments without having to wait for a once a year open enrollment like through my company's policies. Some companies do offer HSA's through their insurances, but mine doesn't and I'm having to go get it on my own. I haven't looked into it completely yet, but I also think that the savings account can also serve as something of a retirement account.

If you're in pretty good health and looking at ways to help control costs, you may want to look in to these. If you want to give it a shot and you can't do it through your company, it's not to hard to find HSA providers in your state. If you already have coverage through your company, getting an HSA isn't likely to be considered a "qualifying event", meaning you'd have to wait until open enrollment to cancel that coverage. Another thing I found out is that that you have to get a provider from your own state, and if your current group provider doesn't have the HSA, you'll have to go to a different provider all together. Let's say I lived in Nebraska, where my company is based out of and holds the BCBS group policy. Since I'm eligable for the company group plan, I can't seek an individual BCBS policy. I would have to go to another place (I.E. through United Health Care or some other provider in the state). Since I live in Wisconsin, I couldn't even use BCBS of NE for any individual plan. I can (and did) go with BCBS of WI though, since they are not the same company. Kinda like how fast food chains are all over, but each are individually owned and opperated.

location: Waiting on a load at the DC mood: happy Listening to: World of Goo playing in the background of my laptop tags: health savings account, hsa

A sacraficial lamb
(Ok, now how do I make this connection?!?! Everyone knows that if a truck is involved in a wreck, the results can be disasterious. It could be anything from crushing a car in front of us and killing the people inside, to something like the fuel tanker that exploded after a car lost control and hit him in Detroit a while back. Thankfully no one was killed but basically destroyed a section of a busy interchange. The thing is, most every trucker is more or less trained to "take the ditch" as it were. Most of us will do anything we can to avoid hitting a car, even if it was the car driver's fault that leads to an accident. It's one of the things I keep in the back of my mind all the time. Always try to leave and out. I.E. an open lane, large following distances, a shoulder I could move to if need be. But sometimes there is no good out if something happens in front of me. Sometimes when I go through some of the more rural, wooded areas, I think "If there's an accident right in front of me, I may have to steer this rig into a tree". And no, I'm not exagerating. If I hit a car at highway speeds, the occupants are as good as dead. If I hit the back of another rig, I'm as good as gone. No matter what preventative steps one takes to drive safe and defensively, you can't always know what's about to happen. There could be a time where I have to make that snap judgement to either risk myself by driving off the road, or possibly hitting a car loaded with innocent people. Not a pretty thought for sure, but one I learned early on in my training and one that'll likely stay with me in this career. And if I train any new drivers or talk to any prospective ones thinking about getting a CDL, it's a bit of advice I'll pass on to them as well)

location: Same place as always mood: okay tags: a trucker is...

A living atlas
(It never ceases to amaze me how in such a short time we can learn the outlay of the U.S. and the best way to get to most cities just about as well as you know your own town)

location: Truckstop, waiting on a load mood: bored tags: a trucker is...

A magician.
(Let me see you fit a 75 ft vehicle in a place designed way back when the normal size was about 55 ft and not get a scratch on it. Some of the older industrial districts of larger cities are like that yet they still expect modern longer and wider trucks to fit)


Now for the rant. What is it with public restroom stalls? Have the designers ever had to use one? How can you expect anyone to get in and out without stepping up onto the toilet to open the door because it swings within 2 inches of the bowl. Yes, I've seen plenty that are so short that I damn near stumble over and fall on my face trying to get out because the door swings so close to the bowl. And I'm by no means that overweight. I'm tempted to start using the handicap stalls just so I can get in and out without being a contortionist.

On a lighter note, I upgraded my interior lighting. The rig did have all white lights, even the map lights, and all way too bright. So I swapped the 4 "dome" lights (flood lights really lol) with blue LED's because I like the color and are not so harsh, and the two map spot lights with red LED's so it doesn't blind me at night if I need to look at something. Nice and pretty now.

*EDIT* The "lighter note" comment was a totally unintended pun. Wow. XD

location: On the road again mood: frustrated tags: a trucker is..., public restrooms

*LINKY*

Right after birth pics of us holding her and getting some measurments.

tags: birth pics

I know not everyone likes it when parents try to gush about all their baby's "firsts" Like being able to roll over on their own, crawling, walking, etc. I don't like that either. Since I don't want to bore everyone with that stuff, I'm gonna cut it off for now. Things are going smooth, and keeping us the standard 2 nights for observations. If anyone wants any updates, just feel free to PM me, ask on here, or txt/IM me for those with my info. But for now....


*hands everyone an "It's A Girl" cigar*

And if you don't smoke, they're actually chocolate, so you can just eat them! :P

Of course I still plan to make a post with pics, but otherwise it's back to my regularly scheduled blogging.

location: Hospital still mood: content tags: baby

Our little cax was born at 2:57PM today after about an hour and a half hard labor. They put Allie on some meds to speed labor since contractions weren't picking up much on their own, and also an epidural. For some reason, the epi wasn't quite as effective, so there was some intense pain right at the end. For those that know what's what, Allie only tore a minor bit and didn't need to be cut or get stitches afterwards. She weighs in at 7lbs 11oz, and 19 in. long. Mother and baby are resting up and we're waiting on the deluge of parents and other relatives of hers to show up now. My parents are in Texas and may come up next weekend, and my other relatives are scattered around and not likely to come up for this.

Pics to come later

location: hospital mood: determined Listening to: Our baby crying now and then. tags: birth