Blogging Again

I finally bit the bullet and decided to move my blog off of my own server (which was having DNS issues) and back onto blogspot. It's easier this way :) Unfortunately, since all of my old content was published to my own web server, I am missing some stuff like photos.

Losing the Lotoja Lottery

I just received my notification from LOTOJA that I did not get a spot in this year's ride. Too bad :( I guess I will have to wait until next year for my shot at redemption. Or, I could ride with a handful of guys that are going to attempt the LOTOJA route several weeks before the race.

Returning to the Scene of the Crime

I hadn't planned on mountain biking again so quickly. My plan was to road bike this week while my wounds were healing. But, alas, it was too windy to road bike today but too warm to workout indoors. So, I did the only thing I could... I velcroed on my biking cleats, still caked with the dried blood of Friday's incident, and headed back out onto the trail. I did take it a little easier than normal, and, of course, I avoided riding the section that I crashed on. But, I did stop to get a picture. I hesitate to post it because it probably doesn't look as treacherous as I described it, but here it is anyway:

In other crash related news... I took my iPhone up to the Gateway Apple Store on Saturday. They laughed when I asked if it might be covered by the warranty :) Rather than repair, they offered to give me a replacement for the low, low price of $250. Unfortunately, I didn't think to ask if they would give me a price break on upgrading to the 16Gig iPhone until later that day. Oh well.

The swelling has gone down a little on my back, but it's gotten even uglier. I woke up Saturday morning to my entire left side being painted the deep purple of subcutaneous blood. I'll spare you the picture. Several days later and the fringes of the purple splotch are starting to fade to yellow. Although it's still a little tender to the touch, it's more of an annoyance at this point. I feel like I have a big ugly appendage sticking out of my back and side.

Living Dangerously

In more than two years of riding my road bike I have only had one major accident. Riding my mountain bike, on the other hand, seems to result in at least one wreck per week. Usually these aren't very bad; scrapes, bruises... normal stuff. But yesterday I managed to raise the bar.

I was riding solo on my lunch ride when I decided to tackle a short steep hill that I usually ride around. It's the sort of hill that you could never just ride up, but if you get enough momentum and then switch through your gears fast enough you can manage to get up without stopping. What makes the hill particularly difficult is that you can't ride straight up it. There is a slight S-curve that you need to navigate as you are riding. Also, the hill drops off on one side to pit several feet down filled with broken fragments of concrete slab.

Well, I didn't get enough momentum going into the hill and ended up about halfway up before I had trouble pedaling. The hill was steep enough that as I came to a stop I started to feel myself going over backwards. I went to put my feet down to catch myself but there was nowhere for them to go because of the drop off. Before I knew it I was upside down with my body slamming into the concrete slabs.

I can honestly say that my helmet saved my life yesterday. My lower back took the brunt of the fall, but shortly after my back hit my head (or rather my helmet) came slamming down as well. I was really lucky that I managed to not get impaled by the several pieces of rebar that were sticking out of the concrete slabs.

Fortunately, I was able to pick myself up and walk away. I had blood dripping down my leg and my back hurt like hell but at least it didn't feel like anything was broken.

Now here comes the stupid part... I was riding circles in the parking lot beneath the Slate Canyon trailhead trying to decide whether or not I should continue riding or just head back to work and I'll bet that you can't guess which I chose. Yep, with my back hurting so bad that it was painful to walk, I decided to finish my workout and continue the climb up Slate Canyon. Silly me :)

I actually wasn't too concerned about the injury until I got back to work. It was starting to swell really bad. By 3 in the afternoon, a couple of hours after the incident, I felt like I had a basketball embedded in my back. I showed my boss and he insisted that I go to a doctor to have it looked at.

On top of the pain, I was starting to get faint. This started at work but continued to get worse through my doctor visit. I actually blacked out at one point as I was talking to the doctor and they had to wheel me around in a wheelchair as I was beginning to doubt that I could walk without passing out and falling over.

The only thing that I learned from the doctor was that I had a massive hematoma in my back. They did some blood work to make sure that I wasn't losing too much blood to internal bleeding and then checked my urine to make sure that I hadn't damaged my kidneys in the fall. Both checked out OK. There wasn't a whole lot left to do other than wait for the pain to subside and the swelling to go down.

Here is a picture of my hematoma. It's kind of embarrassing because it looks like I just have a massive love handle.


It turns out that my body was not the only thing to get injured. When I mountain bike, I carry along my iPhone in my camel back. After the accident, the iPhone was still playing music, so I didn't suspect any damage. But when I got back to work and pulled it out of my pack, this is what I saw:


Do you think that this will be covered by the warranty? It makes me so sad that I want to cry :(

Our Sick Little Monkey

Somehow our little Sara Belle picked up a pretty nasty chest cold and has been miserable for the last couple of days. There is nothing more awful than hearing a 2 week old baby hack like a smoker. To make matters worse, Mom has the same ailment and Dad may be coming down with it as well.

Nursery Video

Here is some video that I took right after Sara was put in the nursery. I wanted to post it earlier but I didn't have the proper software at the hospital to extract the video from the camera.

Blue Man and a Baby

Escape From The Hospital

Free at last. We are finally, free at last.

It wasn't easy though. We had a beeyotch of a nurse this morning who seemed content to ignore us into staying another day at the hospital if it was up to her. By nine in the morning we had gotten the OK both from Rosey's doctor and from Sara's pediatrician to head on home. So, I started packing all of our bags into the car. The only thing that we were waiting for was for the nurse to come remove Rosey's staples and then turn off Sara's security device.

After waiting an hour, I very politely nudged the nurse and asked what was left to do before we go. She looked at a bunch of papers, and said that there were just a couple of formalities to take care of and then we were free to leave. She then disappeared. I presumed that she disappeared to wrap up those formalities, but began to doubt when we hadn't heard anything from her in another hour. So, once again, politely asked her what else needed to be done for us to check out. A second time I got an identical response... few things to wrap up and then disappear.

After waiting three hours, I was starting to get a little upset. I called her up one last time and asked a little less politely for her to help us leave the hospital. She finally comes storming into our room all pissed off and then blows up at us because Rosey is still in her hospital gown. She gives us a dirty look and says, "Your wife isn't even dressed and you still have all these bags to take out to the car. You're not even ready to leave yet."

She seemed unphased and unapologetic when we reminded her that the reason that Rosey was still in her gown was because no one had yet removed the staples from her incision. And, by the way, the only bags remaining in the room were the ones containing Rosey clothes and the baby's things. I had removed all of the others hours ago.

With an ugly scowl on her face she removed Rosey's staples without saying a word to us and then disappeared. Another nurse, a much nicer nurse, then offerred to do the final release and walk us out to our car.

It was funny to compare all of the different nurses that we got while staying at the hospital for several days. Every one of them had their own little quirks, but for the most part they were all really good at what they did and really pleasant to work with. It's funny that the worst nursing experience we had was with the very last nurse that we had assigned to us.

Marathon Hospital Stay

It feels like we have been at the hospital forever now. Thankfully, there is an end in sight. It looks like we'll be let go on Saturday morning. We've been here since Tuesday night... ugh.

Sara is an exceptionally healthy baby. She is very alert and seems bigger and stronger than most 2 day old babies. Our only trouble has been that she seems to get a lot of gas. As I was burping last night, I asked in a baby voice... "Where's all the gas coming from, huh?"... and then the answer occurred to me: GENETICS. Poor girl.

Rosey seems to be getting better by the hour. She has been able to get up and walk around and seems to be relying a little less on the pain medication. It's still no picnic for her though. We're hoping that she'll be feeling back to normal within a week or so.

After hearing and/or reading about how much trouble some women have with breast feeding I was almost surprised to see how natural it seemed to come to Rosey and Sara. Sara has a killer grip... a lesson which I learned to Rosey's consternation when I tried to pull her away from Rosey's breast without unlatching her first. I won't make that mistake again. I also think that Rosey's success is largely due to the months of reading and research that she did to prepare herself. I'm really proud of all the work that she has done and it's fun to see it all paying off now.

C-Sections make for lucky fathers that get to spend more time with baby since Mom isn't feeling well. Because Rosey isn't very mobile, I have been charged with most of the other care duties outside of breast feeding. Largely this means, burping, soothing, and changing dirty diapers. Because of little Sara's gas this has been no small task. I have also quickly become acquainted with the affects of sleep deprivation. I woke up this morning at 1am after only getting about an hour of sleep and it took me several minutes to remember who I was and what I was doing. It was seriously a creepy kind of feeling.

Rosey's Mom has been with us here in the hospital and has been a huge help to us both. I think that the only reason that I've gotten any sleep at all in the last two days has been thanks to her. It's funny how your perspective can change so quickly. Before the baby came we were convinced that we were going to be able to handle everything by ourselves and that Mom's help would be superfluous. I would say that it took less than 8 hours after Sara was born to realize just how wrong we were and now we are immensely grateful that Rosey's Mom is here to help us. Thanks Mom.

More Baby Photos

Sara Belle Christensen

Going into surgery

We're doing the c-section after all. Not enough progress. Will update post op.

Sent from my iPhone

24 Hours and Counting

It just occured to me that we have now been at the hospital for more than 24 hours. Rosey is doing well and things seem to be progressing again. She struggled with a little bit of nausea, and managed to vacate her already food deprived stomach (she hasn't eaten since 6am). They say this is a good sign. We are just waiting for full dilation now and the next stage of labor to begin.

Sent from my iPhone

An Almost Caesarian

For a moment there we thought that we might end up with a c-section. The contractions seemed to go into a holding pattern for a while and the doc was concerned that labor was no longer progressing. But when the nurse checked, Rosey had dilated some more and so we were given the OK to continue with natural labor. But the threat of c-section continues to loom if the labor does not consistenly progress.

Sent from my iPhone

4cm and Still Dilating

We have been making slow progress since my last update. Rosey's cervix has thinned out considerably but is still only dilated four centimeters. We are all speculating that it will be a 9pm delivery.

Sent from my iPhone

We Got Drugs

The epidural has now been administered and it came not a moment too soon. It's providing Rosey with some much needed relief. Contractions are now about three minutes apart.

After the epidural the nurse had some trouble hooking up the scalp electrode to the baby's head and noted that may be an indication of a full head of hair. I guess we will know shortly.

Sent from my iPhone

Let the Pitocin Begin

Rosey started having contractions overnight. As of about seven this morning they were coming about every ten minutes. We just started the pitocin drip and now things should really get interesting.

Sent from my iPhone

Induction

We go into the hospital tonight to start inducing. So we should have little Sara by late afternoon tomorrow. Hooray!

Sent from my iPhone

The Office View

Here is another pic that I took from my new office.



P.S. - This post was mainly to test whether or not I could send picture directly from my iPhone to my blog... And I guess the answer is NO. The picture associated with this post did not show until I manually uploaded the photo. The original photo had an img src with a cid: url type. Looks like blogger didn't pull the photo from the MIME like I expected. I wonder if it's blogger bug, blogger on published to a non-blogger server bug or if it's an iPhone bug.

Mobile Office

This is the entire contents of my office packed onto a cart. Yes, I do have a lot of computers. I was also surprised to discover how much junk I've accumulated over the 7 years that I've been here at Novell. Like, where the hell did that Nerf bow and arrow come from?

Novell is consolidating office space and our group got moved from the second floor to the third. I guess I'm lucky. This is the first time that I've ever had to move since starting at Novell. I know of other people who have had to move offices practically once a year.  

My new office, other than being on the third floor, is pretty similar to my old one. Actually, if you were to dissect the building diagonally, my new office would be the mirror image of my old office. It's evil twin so to speak :)

The best part of the new office is that I now have a view of the mountains instead of a view of I-15. I'll miss the sunsets but the mountains more than make up for it. Check this out:

The only downside of my new location is my new neighbors. I'm now two doors down from my boss's boss's boss's boss, the vice president and general manager of the workgroup business unit.

My First Yoga Experience

I tried yoga for the very first time today and I think that I like it. Lately I've been working out at the Novell gym during my lunch break. I usually split my time between a stairmaster and lifting free weights. But five days a week of the same indoor activity can get kind of boring... not to mention my legs are often low energy by mid-week from very lower-body centric cardio.

Novell offers a yoga class several times a week in one of the studios in the gym. Several of the guys that I cycle with have been taking them forever and swear by them. So, today I decided to give it a try. It's a perfect solution to my stairmaster boredom and I'm excited about what it can do for my flexibility and core strength... two areas that are particularly weak right now.

I was called out as a newb within seconds of entering the room. Apparently I grabbed the wrong kind of mat and was the only one in the room wearing shoes. I guess I stuck out like a sore thumb. But the teacher was nice and slowed the pace down a little for me as well as gave me a little extra instruction. It was humbling to discover just how inflexible I am and how little core strentgh I have. I have a new hero though... one of the guys that I ride with was able to twist and balance his body in all manner of poses that I would have otherwise thought humanly impossible.

9 Days To Go and All Is Well

This is it. The final stretch. We had an appointment this morning and everything looks fine. Rosey's blood pressure is holding steady and they are predicting a very normal healthy birth.

Chicken Butternut Stew with Couscous

Usually I have meals planned out in advance, but last night I found myself in a situation where I didn't have a plan and didn't really feel like going grocery shopping. So, I decided to get creative with some stuff that I had laying around and invented this recipe. Surprisingly, it turned out pretty good, so I thought that I would share.

1 Medium Butternut Squash peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
3 Large Boneless Chicken Breasts cut into 1 inch cubes
4 slices Bacon
3 Small Pink Lady Apples cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 Small Yellow Onions (or 1 large) cut into 1/2 inch squares
1 1/2 cups Raisins
2 Bay Leaves
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp red/black pepper blend.
4 whole cloves
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup uncooked couscous

Cook the four slices of bacon in a deep skillet. Remove bacon but retain bacon grease in pan. Cook the cubed chicken in the bacon grease until just starting to brown. Add squash, apples and onions. Cut up or crumble bacon and add to skillet with chicken and vegetables. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes on medium high heat. Add raisins, celery seed, thyme, cloves and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, cover and simmer on low for approximately 30 minutes until squash is cooked through. Add couscous and let stand 5 minutes before serving for the couscous to absorb the liquid from the stew.

I was originally going to cook the couscous separately and then serve the stew over the couscous, but then I figured that it would taste even better if the couscous were to absorb the liquid from the stew rather than just plain water. Unfortunately I used twice as much as I indicated in the recipe here and ended up with a chicken butternut couscous paste :) It was still tasty but not so presentable. So, I halved the amount that I actually used for the recipe.

The cloves were kind of a last minute addition. I wanted something to compliment the sweet flavors of the apples and raisins. I considered using nutmeg or cinnamon but decided the cloves would work better in the end.

Serves about 6. Enjoy!

Surviving Arabesque

Well, after practicing incessantly all week, I survived my recital on Saturday afternoon. It wasn't my best performance of the piece, but at least I feel like I didn't totally embarass myself. There were three spots where I kind of "screwed up":

• I had a dramatic pause in the beginning where I overshot a jump and had to recorrect my hand position.
• My ending was really weak because I was afraid to try and execute the big jump at the end very fast while I was so nervous.
• There was a spot in the middle where I started to play the wrong note and then backed up and corrected. But I did it without even pausing so might not recognize it as a mistake unless you are familiar with the piece and listening closely.

Without further ado, here is the recording (made possible by a generous gift of an awesome camcorder from Rosey's Mom... Thanks Mom!):

21 Days and Counting

Only 21 more days until little Sara is ready to pop out. We are back at the original doctor after a short stint with a doctor and office in Payson that we were even less happy about. Rosey's blood pressure has stabilized now (in fact it was almost normal at her last visit) and we suspect that she is going to carry full term without any complications.

Our biggest dilemma now is what to call her. We can't decide (agree) between:
Sarabelle Christensen
Sara Belle Christensen
Sara [non-Belle middle name] Christensen
or maybe even a latecomer,
Emma Christensen

Hmm...

Biffing the Practice Recital

Tonight was the practice recital for my performance next weekend and I totally biffed it. Even though I have had the song memorized for nearly two months and have literally played it hundreds of times, I couldn't get through it in front a small gathering of fellow pupils. I stopped half-way through, almost lost my place, and then continued on slurring all of the notes together. I totally embarrassed myself.

After everyone else had gone, I was tempted to ask for another chance to play to redeem myself. But then it occurred to me... that's the whole point of performance. You only get one shot, one opportunity. You're either prepared for it or you aren't. I doubt that there was anyone there who thought I wasn't capable of playing that song given enough time. Nor did anyone care whether or not I could play if perfectly in the privacy of my own home.

The difference between being able to play a song and being able to perform a song is a whole lot of practice. Unfortunately, I hadn't really been practicing this song. See, I got the song to where I could play it pretty good and from that point on I PLAYED the song instead of PRACTICING it. I left the rehearsal recital committed to practice the hell out of this song for the next 9 days and hope that it's enough to not embarrass myself on the real performance.

Thanksgiving 2007: The Lost Photos

Oops, I forgot to post these photos from Thanksgiving.

An Early Delivery?

Rosey and I finally got fed up with her doctors constantly sending her to the hospital despite getting positive test results over and over again. So, we decided to switch to a new doctor based out of the hospital in Payson. We figured that the new doctor may not be much better, but at least:

• there would be only one doctor to deal with instead of getting a different doctor at every appointment.
• the new doctor was a female OB-GYN and came highly recommended by everyone that had heard of her.
• the clinic is Payson is much closer and therefore means less travel time even if Rosey did end up going to the hospital as frequently.

Rosey saw the doctor for the first time on New Year's Eve. The jury is still out on whether or not we are going to have a better experience with this doctor.

Although Rosey's blood pressure continues to be only slightly elevated, and neither she nor the baby is showing any other signs of distress or pre-eclampsia, the doctor was concerned. Enough so, that she said that she will monitor Rosey over the coming weeks and decide week by week whether or not she wants to induce labor and get the baby out early. She said that she could do this as soon as the baby reaches 34 weeks and has mature lungs. That would be next week :)

Even if everything goes well over the coming weeks, she said that she will probably want to get the baby out one way or the other when she reaches full-term at 37 weeks. As you can imagine, neither Rosey nor I are very happy about this. Neither of us want there to be any danger for little Sarabelle, but unless there is an imminent risk we would prefer that she get to cook for as long as possible. And so far, every test, other than the blood pressure reading itself has come back showing that there is no imminent risk.

It's very frustrating to feel like you are at odds with your doctor. I understand that doctor's are concerned about taking risk's that could lead to lawsuits if something goes wrong, but on the other hand, I feel like they put their own interests (of covering their own asses) ahead of the best interests of the baby.

In any case, if the doctor gets her way, we may be parents a little sooner than expected. So much for having a valentines baby :)

A Mighty Wind

For most of the year we love that we live so close to Spanish Fork canyon and across from a farmer's field. The mountains and canyon are so beautiful and we get unobstructed views.

Unfortunately, this benefit comes with a price. Over the winter, the brutal Spanish Fork canyon wind blows across those empty farmer's fields and dumps small mountains of windblown snow right onto our driveway :(


It's a good thing that I got a sturdy new snow-shovel from my (Rosey's) Grandma Lightcap for my birthday. That poor shovel has seen it's share of snow this year.