jonathanhickman.com

Fruit flies, redux

I’m getting kinda tired of the fruit flies; you can’t even set down a drink at our house and expect to be able to pick it up again sans files. Ick.

So I started an all out campaign. I fully cleaned the kitchen again and made sure there were absolutely no dirty dishes about (I’ve been hard core about that for a week now with little results). We got all of the food - even the potatoes - out of reach.

And I’ve started the fruit fly traps. My goodness, that’s not a lot fun. The first 24 hours with a fruit fly trap caught us a couple of hundred of the buggers. Now I’ve got two fresh traps set out and nothing else for them to munch on.

And I’ve started vacuuming. While it’s nearly impossible to catch a significant number of flies with your hands, you can easily suck them into the vacuum. It’s effective and it feels good, too.

Last year when we had this problem, they died off because winter came. Unfortunately, that’s a long way off.

I have a new music addiction

I’ve been a bit absorbed lately with finding, downloading, and listening to new music. For every album I (legally) download, there are ten that are on the wish list.

Here’s what I can’t ever figure out: when you buy your first album from an artist, do you try to find the “essential” album that defines them, or do you get the newest album that says where they are now and what they sound like now?

I tend to go back and forth on this and I’ve never found a great answer.

Like night and day

I can’t believe this, but I’m going to have to wake the Bug too take her home.

For weeks, we’ve been struggling with getting C to sleep at the office. She used to sleep here very well, but that suddenly stopped a few weeks ago. After then, she’d sleep only if you held her - obviously impossible in an office setting.

So Katie recommended creating a new napping room for her. We set up a bed, covered the windows (I’d tried this before but not so deliberately) and made sure there was white noise. We put a chair in there to use for getting her in bed easily - and back in bed easily if she were to wake up prematurely (which she did).

The Bug has now been asleep for two hours, and her father is about ready to clock out for the day. With any luck, I can get her straight from her isolation chamber to the car without really waking her.

This is a Good Thing.

You can’t beat free

Currently listening to the new John Baker album, available for free here.

Still haven’t moved the TV

I keep saying I’m going to move the television, but it keeps not happening.

Right now I’m watching the first Rambo movie. Last night I watched the second one. This entertainment is empty yet compelling.

I’m not really sure what’s stopping me from moving the tv, except that Katie and the Bug are napping in the bedroom (its new home) at the moment. I’m sure I’ll have new excuses later.

Sooner or later, I guess.

Anybody know how to get rid of fruit flies?

This is the second summer in a row that we’ve had problems with fruit flies.

I’ve cleaned the kitchen from head to toe. I’ve removed the trash can and gotten rid of all fruit and unwrapped food.

But the fruit flies are everywhere. Actually, I think they’re worse in the house because there’s less food for them in the kitchen.

I don’t suppose anyone has any great suggestions?

Currently listening to

Ohmygoodness, where to start?,

On Father’s day (I can’t believe I haven’t yet written about this!!!), I got the most awesome gift of an eight gig ipod nano. I’ve been beyond psyched about it and have been glued to it ever since. And thanks (mostly) to emusic, I’ve had plenty (but never enough) new music to listen to.

My current playlist:

• Aimee Mann
• Andrew Bird
• Beirut
• Ben Folds
• Camera Obscura
• Earlimart
• Emergency Music
• Get Him Eat Him
• Jan Norberg
• Joe Pernice
• Kelley Stoltz
• Les Fits
• Love Is Chemicals
• Pernice Brothers
• Sea and Cake
• Throw Me the Statue
• Tom Waits

Of course you should see my wish list!

I’m with ya, Beziat

I can’t express how wonderful this sounds:

I’ve still got that dream of a train trip to the Pacific Northwest rich in my head…. Just my iPod, some books, my camera, and lots of time to think. Not much more on the agenda than that. A window seat is all I’d require.

Why oh why won’t she sleep in her bed?

The baby has stopped sleeping in her bed (read: pack n play) at the office. She can be dead asleep, but if you try to put her in bed, she wakes screaming and won’t stop.

She still sleeps in her bed at home - even for naps on weekends. Why won’t she sleep in her bed here?

When to turn the car seat around

Unbelievably, the Bug is going to be a year old in just a few weeks (three weeks from tomorrow).

I’ve been looking forward to being able to turn her car seat around on her first birthday; the minimum for front-facing is one year and twenty pounds - and she’s definitely more than twenty pounds.

So I started looking around this morning, and it hit me that the one year mark is as I said - the minimum. Although having her face forward would be great in many ways - she’d be able to see me and I’d be able to see her - it also puts her at more risk.

The Bug does have a rather large head - most babies do. I don’t want to think about what would happen to her neck in a wreck. And then there’s the fact that she was born four weeks early, so should the one year car seat mark really be set at thirteen months?

Katie checked the car seat manual, and it will hold her backwards until thirty-five pounds, but I sure don’t want to wait that long.

Decisions, decisions.

No more neckties!

I began working as an accountant several years ago, and I am still surprised that I haven’t worn a tie even one time for work. I always thought that clients expected their accountants to look “professional” and wear a tie, but in 2008, that’s not necessarily true.

It’s increasingly uncommon for anyone (other than lawyers) to wear ties. According to this Wall Street Journal article from last week, only six percent of Americans wear ties to work. Six percent. Tie sales in the US in 1995 were 1.3 billion dollars, and last year they were little more than half that.

Ties are uncomfortable, they get in the way, and - let’s face it - they’re completely pointless. Good riddance.