My 15 milliseconds of fame

The president of my firm was interviewed for a TV news story about hospital expansion in North Carolina and they brought a video camera to my office for some 'b-roll' as they call it. It was casual Friday so my 15 seconds of fame aren't pretty :)

http://news14.com/content/local_news/triangle/613942/hospitals-across-north-carolina-begin-expansion-projects/

Belly pics update

We've added week 23 and week 25.5 to the slide show. I'm getting bigger! And really starting to notice that my belly is getting in my way. I can only imagine what I will look like in another 15 weeks!

Our daughter's crib

We set up our daughter's crib this weekend in her room. Kermit is enjoying it already. As you can see he's giving it a thumbs up!

New Zealand Part II

Here are some of my favorite things that we did in New Zealand:
A cruise around Milford Sound on a gorgeous day!
Kinloch lodge lake
The luge on the side of the mountain in Queenstown
Hiking a Glacier
Getting stuck in a traffic jam of sheep


Click through to the Vimeo website in order to see it in HD - well part of it at least. Our video camera battery died for some portion of the trip and so we used the video function on our digital camera, which turned out ok - just not HD.

New Zealand Part Two from Nathan Marvelle on Vimeo.

Another reason I love our Prius . . .

. . . the gas tank is only 10 gallons. Now, some might see that as a problem. Smaller gas tank means more fillups. But because the Prius gets more than twice as many miles to the gallon as other cars, you are still filling up less often AND the smaller gas tank means that fillups are QUICK! Other reasons to love the Prius: the interior lights come on as you approach the car (it senses the keys), you open the door and start the car without using the keys, and you can lock all the doors with a tap on the handle. All very nice features that you would expect on a luxury car.

Needed: A soundtrack for writing

On this sorta gloomy Sunday afternoon, I have sat down at my computer to begin writing the outline for one of the four chapters that I have to pen for my dissertation. The deadline: October 14th... not only do I have to write these chapters, but I also have to finish the lab work!

While writing, I am finding myself distracted by the silence that is our house. The dryer is humming in the background and the dog's tags jingle as he randomly roams the house looking for something interesting. I have settled on Lisa Hannigan to keep me company. But I am anticipating having endless hours of writing, and although I am not opposed to listening to songs over-and-over I'm going to need a soundtrack to keep me motivated and focused. I'm looking for something upbeat and calming (is that an oxymoron?). Any suggestions?

495 miles

That is how many miles our Prius got to it's first tank of gas... Pretty good, eh? And when I filled it up I was surprised at how quickly the tank was full - It seems like it might only hold ~10 gallons. I put in 9.9 gallons to be exact, and 495 miles/9.9 gallons = exactly 50 miles per gallon as predicted by the manufacturer.

I can't believe we have driven that much in only a week and a half!

Julie and Julia

On Friday, Michelle and I went to see Julie and Julia. This may have been the first movie I have ever seen on opening night. I was expecting the movie to be good... but it exceeded my expectation - it was great! I could not stop smiling and was giggling the whole time. However, one disappointment - there was a scene towards the end of the movie that left me feeling a little uneasy and was never resolved. I wish the producers had either left that scene out, or provided an explanation for the audience. But other than that - it was great!

A must see!

A felt doppelganger of Ira Glass

I stumbled upon this felt doppelganger of Ira Glass on Etsy. Isn't it adorable? He can go with you anywhere putting your life into multiple insightful acts.


The description off the Etsy site:

I admit it: I have a giant crush on Ira Glass. But, as I open up about my situation, I find that I am far from alone. Bring home a tiny felt version of your favorite NPR voice and stage a carefully crafted radio show (in three acts) anytime you want.

New Zealand Video Part I

We finally put together some of our New Zealand video from February. Here is part I... next week we will have part II posted.

New Zealand Part 1 from Nathan Marvelle on Vimeo.

What is this in my belly?

So I've been feeling the baby moving for quite some time. Last week I was able to put Nathan's hand on my stomach and he was able feel her moving. But this weekend something bizarre, strange, and weird happened. I had the computer sitting on my lap while I was laying in the bed. I was peering over my bump and I was feeling the baby squirming... then out of the bottom of my eyes I start seeing my belly moving up and down. Wow! She was kicking or punching so hard that she was making my stomach move! I stared at my belly for 30 minutes in amazement. I wish I had the video camera to record it, but hopefully I will catch it on tape soon.

Yes! No! Yes! No! PRIUS!

Our car from the future was almost snatched away.

We knew that we needed a new car this year (we had two cars >13 years old and have a new baby on the way), but we were unsure what kind and if it was going to be brand new. We were so excited to learn that our 1994 Blazer that my parents had given us was going to qualify as a "clunker" under the cash for clunkers rebate. It gets 17 miles per gallon and with 190,000 miles and being 15 years old we would probably only be able to trade it in for ~$500, but the governments' program was going to guarantee us $4,500!!

The program kicked in on July 24th. So being the planners that we are, we started looking at cars early. We finally decided on the Toyota Prius, a hybrid with 50 miles per gallon, that is just as big as a full-size Camry. We ordered the car on July 16th - a silver Prius with tinted windows and floor mats.

The car was supposed to arrive Wednesday July 29th... it was delayed and potentially was going to arrive Friday, July 31st. However, Nathan was leaving town on Friday for Boston so we weren't sure if we were going to be able to get it.

Friday morning we awoke to a nightmare: This article in the New York Times broke the bad news that we may have just lost $4,500! We were devastated, and were immediately in contact with our salesman as soon as the showroom opened. The dealership had received the news the night before and were trying to figure out what to do for all the people in our shoes... Nathan was back and forth on the phone with him and learned that our car had actually arrived, but still were not sure what the deal was.

At 11am we received a call that the deal was back on and we needed to hurry in and buy our car. CRAZY! We went from devastated to joyful! Both of us rushed from work and began the 2 and 1/2 hour ordeal of buying a new car. Nathan had to catch his flight so Amanda finished up the paperwork and drove the car back to work! What a crazy morning, but we finally had our new car.

Here are some pictures of the newest addition to our family: