Monday, December 31, 2007

What Sara Likes




The activities of a 2 month old are pretty limited, but we can tell what she likes and what she doesn't like.

Her favorite things are taking a bath and going for a walk in the stroller. These things calm her down even when she's screaming.

Another favorite is her "belly time". This is where we put her on her belly. She likes to move her head from side to side. Check out the smile in the first photo. Also, i really like the action shot.

Another thing she loves recently is the "mobile" i made for her in her swinging chair. 

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Sara Speaks at 5 weeks!

See what's on Sara's mind at this stage of her life. She likes swinging to the music. She's not so patient with her newbie parents, though.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Our little Sara at 2 months

I'm finding myself more familiar with the roof of Sara's mouth, and the underside of her tongue than her beautiful brown eyes...
She really likes her "Belly Time", where she picks up her head and moves it from side to side. She can amuse herself for about 10 minutes like that before she starts looking more like the second photo.

Other things she likes are baths and walks in the stroller. Those amuse her indefinitely.
Things she hates: Just about everything else.

Thanks to Xin for the new camera, I love it! Hopefully it will inspire more posts.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

A new web page for Steve

I just found out about googlepages, where you can create a web page and upload things besides photos. I used it to create a site to store stuff that i write up in power point or pdf form, which i can't put on the blog. You can check out my new homepage at steve.eichblatt.googlepages.com

Saturday, December 15, 2007

The Joys of being a Dylan collector

For reasons unexplained, this text was included in a Dylan bootleg that I downloaded. I thought it was worth posting.


In the service of God, one can learn three things from a child and seven from a thief.
"From a child you can learn:
(1) always to be happy;
(2) never to sit idle; and
(3) to cry for everything one wants.
From a thief you should learn:
(1) to work at night;
(2) if one cannot gain what one wants in one night to try again the next night;
(3) to love one's coworkers just as thieves love each other;
(4) to be willing to risk one's life even for a little thing;
(5) not to attach too much value to things even though one has risked one's life for them -- just as a thief will resell a stolen article for a fraction of its real value;
(6) to withstand all kinds of beatings and tortures but to remain what you are; and
(7) to believe that your work is worthwhile and not be willing to change it."

(Hasidic text)
- Dov Baer, the Mazid of Mezeritch ('The Wisdom of the Jewish Mystics')

Friday, December 14, 2007

Icicle on the Bicycle




I rode my bike to work the other day and then it started sleeting. So i had to ride home in an ice storm. It was a lot more fun than i expected it to be. The only bad thing was that cars passing by would sling slush all over me. Fortunately, only about 3 cars passed me on the way home. The other bad thing was it was very steep downhill, so i had to ride on the brake the whole time. This made my hands very cold.

Riding a bike on ice feels more stable than walking on ice.
I guess because when you walk, you are shifting your weight on every step, which you don't do on a bike.

There was ice all over the handlebars by the time i got home. The next day all the tree branches and even the blades of grass were all covered in a thick coat of ice. It was beautiful. These photos just do not do the ice justice.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Sara at one month


I wanted to post about something OTHER than Sara, but i can't resist putting pictures of the cute kid here. We really like that sweater she's wearing in the first photo. That was made by my friend Toni's mom, for his daughter, and they passed it on to us. Every time Sara wears it, we feel special.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

fussy sara

There are actually people who doubt that Sara is ever fussy. This video is evidence to the contrary. And this warn't even the half of it!

sara on changing table

This is sara at 4 weeks old, lying on the diaper changing table, which she loves. This is good because she's got her eyes open and she's not fussing.

sara with grandpa

Grandpa and Grandma Jody came to visit in New Jersey

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Visit from the Dad, Jody and Lauren



I guess you can see what all these photos have in common. One of these days i need a blog entry that doesn't have anything to do with Sara. But it seems like everyone's enjoying the monomania.

Sara of the Double Crown


Sara has 2 cowlicks, or "crowns" in her hair. My friend Frankie told me that was a sign of good luck. I looked it up on the internet and it's true! (see here). It is also a sign of intelligence.

(I'll try and take a clearer picture later to replace this one)

Thursday, November 29, 2007

I'm so mad at my mother!


After weeks of effort and ups and downs, within inches of success, we won't be breastfeeding Sara anymore.

It looked like we had actually succeeded, despite many ups and downs. I spent a lot of energy encouraging Gan when times were hard.

But then when we were on the razor's edge, my mom, frustrated with trying to convince me to give up on breastfeeding, took matters into her own hands. Since Mom had failed to breastfeed, I guess she didn't want to see why anyone else might want to overcome the difficulties and succeed. So, she went for the jugular and sent this "caring" e-mail to Gan (not copying me, of course).

Dear Gan: Steve told me about the mastitis. I feel so sorry for you. You're having a hard time, with heavy bleeding and sore, inflamed breasts. My heart goes out to you. If you were my daughter (and therefore I had the right to give you advice whether you wanted it or not) I would say, "Put Sara on a bottle and enjoy her." Your overall health is more important than the small benefits to Sara's health. You gave breastfeeding a valiant try, which is all a parent can ever do.
I love you. Please don't be mad at me for meddling. When Sara is all grown up and on her own, you will still tell her how to live. Mothers are like that.

--
Regards,

And what do you know, it worked!

Kind of like saying to a recovering alcoholic "So sad about your wife leaving you. Come let me buy you a drink!".

Good job, Mom.


Saturday, November 24, 2007

Welcome to the Machine


At the tender young age of 3 weeks, Sara has already been stamped and labeled. Actually, i think it's pretty cool that she received some mail in her name. It's her second official document, after her birth certificate.

Plus, i had fun figuring out how to smudge the secret information on the image.

Friday, November 16, 2007

One more recent photo


This one is just too cute to leave out. It captures Sara at her cutest. She must have just eaten, and not yet fallen asleep when i took this photo.

New Parents Photo update







Due to popular request, here are some more photos of us and the baby.
I think most of these were taken when Lauren came to visit.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

isn't she lovely?

Here is some video of our new daughter set to the great Stevie Wonder song from "Songs in the Key of Life". I threw this together quickly, so i apoligize to the techofiles out there for the low quality...

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

On the 4th day...



We think that she's getting cuter with every passing day.

Sara with Mom and with Dad

Here's a couple of photos of the proud new parents, taken when Sara was about 2 or 3 days old.

Sara Mei Weighing in...

Here's the first photo of Sara, taken on her way from the delivery room to the nursery. She was screaming the entire time.






And here she is on the scale, weighing in at 8 lb, 7.9 oz. She was screaming and flailing her arm around for this photo too.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Isn't she Lovely?



Well, here she is! I fell in love with her at first sight.

This is a photo that i took on Sara Mei's birthday, Friday November 2, 2007. This picture was taken a few hours after she was born. I took the photo with my cellphone and e-mailed it to Rusty. I'm sure that more, higher resolution photos will be posted here soon, so keep your eyes on this site.

The cesarean delivery went smoothly with no complications. Gan is recovering wonderfully. She's up and walking around the maternity ward several times a day. She's the greatest.

Sara is a screamer, our little Jersey Girl, but she's easy to settle. She weighed 8 1/2 lb at birth, and in excellent health.

It's day 3, and finally the parents are learning from the hospital staff how to handle her. We're much more relaxed and we're really enjoying our sweet daughter. We're looking forward to seeing her grow.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Words that are easy to spell on your phone



When you're spelling words on your phone keypad, you have to press the same button multiple times to get most of the letters. Like you have to press the "1" button 3 times to get a "c".

When i lived in Matawan, i noticed that you could spell the word "Matawan" on your phone pressing each button only once, right up until the last letter, "n", which was the 6 button twice. I thought, "there's an interesting property of a word".

So, i ran a simple program to figure out all the words that have the property of being easy to spell on the phone keypad.

Here's the script, and the longest few words.

cat words | grep -i '^[a,d,g,j,m,p,t,w]*$' | awk '//{print length($0),$0}' | sort -rn

pawpaw Tampa papaw mamma magma madam gamma adapt Watt watt tamp papa Matt matt mama data damp Dada Adam

If i extend the criteria to include words that are good up until the last letter (like "Matawan"), i get

cat words | grep -i '^[a,d,g,j,m,p,t,w]*.$' | awk '//{print length($0),$0}' | sort -n

Matawan wattage pawpaws pajamas Tampax papaws pampas mammas mammal mammae madman madams madame Jamaal gammas damage Addams adapts

It's surprising to me that Matawan is one of the longest of such words. I really did stumble onto an interesting word.

Last Beach Trip this summer



We went to the beach about a month ago now with Sydney and Maria and Isaac, their 2 year old son. It was our last day at the beach for this summer. I took this picture with my cellphone camera of Gan with Syd and Isaac with the Atlantic Ocean in the background. I was pleased with the picture. It almost looks like one of those pictures they use to sell frames.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

dilated to meet you

This music video captures our feelings as we wait for our baby girl to arrive.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

New Tattoo





Well, it's only a temporary tattoo, but i think it looks pretty cool. It came as an ad in a magazine, so i gave it a shot. Man, temporary tattoo technology has really improved since i was a kid. I dampened my arm and put this thing on for 10 seconds with a wet paper towel behind it, and damn, it turned out pretty good. I remember always being disappointed by those things when i was a kid. I guess my daughter's going to have a lot to be thankful for being born in this day and age.

I thought i'd capture it before i have to take a shower. Gan thinks it looks stupid...i thought she'd have gone for it.

Friday, October 19, 2007

New Bicycle



I bought a new bike, made by a company called Breezer. It took me a while to find the bike i was looking for. I guess that most people want a bike that's good for riding on a nice day, but not worried about riding at night, or in the rain. So most bikes don't have a light, or fenders. This one's even got a bell and a rack, which i love.

It's called a "commuter bike", which is exactly what i use it for. I am fortunate to be able to ride to work, so i am taking advantage of that, while Gan can use the car.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Playing by ear



I've been trying to figure out how to play the piano by ear. I tried for years when i was a teenager, with absolutely no success.

But lately i have been poking around at it and surprisingly, without really trying too hard, i am improving. Normally what i do is play along with whatever's playing on the stereo. My goal is to figure out what key the song is in. If i can do that, i'm happy. Now i can usually figure that out before the song is over. (In the last couple of years, Bob Dylan in concert seems to be using all the black keys, maybe that's why he's playing the piano instead of the guitar).

Today, i was playing around with chords. Chords are hard for me to figure out. Too much going on. But as i was stumbling around, i figured out the main riff in Tom Petty's "Freefalling". Just like that..then i put it on and it was even in the right key. That could have been luck, i suppose. But it sounded perfect. That was a major breakthrough for me. Maybe i'll figure out more stuff one of these years.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Visiting Kerouac's Grave

I was visiting a friend near Lowell, Mass and i wanted to visit Kerouac's grave. I'd seen it in this movie with Dylan and Ginsberg.
Anyway, we went there. It took a while to find, even though we had a map. The place is HUGE. When we got there, it was like a shrine. There was a grass-worn-off area around it...That's a real honor. And there were all these little "offerings"...flowers, pens, shoes, and there was a little metal box (like an Altoids tin) with a note that read "The contents of this belong to whoever finds it" or something like that. I shook it and it sounded like something inside. i figured it was some weed or something. I opened it up and there was a poem and a brand new $100 bill! I knew that it wasnt intended for me, so i didn't take it though. It was meant for some kid desparate for busfare. So i added what i had in my pocket, about $20, and left it there. I hope whoever found it was as happy as i was when i found it.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Hi Speed train September 19, 2007, 02:22 PM

Here's a train that passed by the platform while i was filming with my phone. It was really moving pretty fast.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Gan at 7 months pregnant in the apartment

Gan climbing the stairs and sitting on the couch at 7 months pregnant.

Gan in the garden

Here's a view of Gan at 7 months pregnant in the garden outside our apartments, with me playing the role of the stupid interviewer.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Mike's Melbourne Metro Map


My friend Mike in Melbourne must have ridden every train and tram in the city, and carefully put together this map of the system. Every city he visits, he checks out the public transit system, and compares all the details (ticket machines, maps, and of course trains, trams...). This map seems to be the best of all the maps he's seen, and maybe some tricks of his own, applied to his home town. It looks pretty official, too.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

isaac with soccer ball

Our friend's 2 year old is pretty agile with a soccer ball.

isaac imitating animals (in spanish)

Isaac is asked by Maria how the different animals sound, and he's doing his best to answer.

camping trip

We went camping in the Delaware Water Gap on the NJ, PA border. This was a quick tour of the campground, with Syd, Maria and Isaac there. Isaac is very cute following me around with the camera.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

More bootleg folding howtos

Who'd have thought? There's a web page showing many cd envelope folding youTube videos. Mine was called "Diaper bag" method. I think mine's the best, because it holds 2 CD's, and i show the tracklist on the outside, but hey, i could be biased.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Improved bootleg CD envelope folding howto video

A new and improved bootleg folding howto, with all sorts of fancy effects.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Eddie playing piano


This is a video of our nephew, Edward, playing the piano. He's actually really great, but this isn't his best performance. Just the one i happenned to capture on tape.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

YAAT



Yet another tour of the apartment, just to bore our subscriber(s).

This time, the place is more lived-in, plus i've seen a bunch of other apartment tours on youTube, so i'm getting the hang of it. I recommend the apartment tour of the 2 young mormon missionaries.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Tour of the apartment


Take a tour of our new apartment. We had just recently moved in, so there's a lot of boxes around. The place looks much better now.

Visitors in New Providence



Enjoy the music by Crocketts Kentucky Mountaineers.

Envelope folding video

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Atlantic City, by the sea

Fancy Hotel
we went to Atlantic city to see Dylan on friday, 6/21. It was the first show of the American summer tour. The show turned out to be great. Better than i was expecting.
The hotel also turned out better than we thought. The elevators were terrible in this place, but we had a nice view and a leather couch and a balcony. But the best thing was that it was close to the less-popular portion of the boardwalk. This part seemed mostly used by the local people, and it was really a pleasure to walk along.
We also swam in the ocean near the hotel at a very laid-back beach. Super convenient.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Profile View

Here she is reposing in mamma's belly

Gan thinks that she looks like me. I'm not sure that's a compliment. Isn't the ultrasound a miracle?

It's a Girl!!!!


10 fingers and toes.


She's giving us the "thumb's up". Or she's going to be a hitchhiker when she grows up.

Monday, May 28, 2007

New Providence

We moved to New Providence this weekend. I don't know if it's the smallest town i've lived in (pop 12000), but it has that smalltown feel. I call it Stars Hollow after the fictional Connecticut setting in the Gilmore Girls.

After living a year within 100 feet of the Garden State Parkway in Matawan, one of the great attractions of the new place is that it's quiet. Then thismorning, i hear all sorts of traffic going by. It turns out they had closed off the main street for a Memorial Day parade, and diverted traffic through our street.

The parade was a lot of fun...High school marching band, antique and modern firetrucks, a car with 2 front-ends that can be driven separately, etc. It seems like everyone there was either old or has young kids.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

What to post?



Here we are thinking about what to post in our new blog.

first baby photo



Not much to see yet.

new Dyl-Time Theme Radio




Check out Mel Prussack's radio show, based on Dylan's Theme Time Radio hour

Cherry Blossoms in DC



We visited DC during cherry blossom week, and we apparently caught them at their peak. I can't imagine any denser blossom-filled branches than these. Gan wasn't feeling well that week, but the cherry blossoms brought a smile to her face that day.