So...

How do you work this thing again?

Hospital Photos - Pt. 1

Here are some photos from the first night at the hospital. My dad volunteered to stay behind and watch Nikolai while my mom and both of Jodi's parents came to visit us. We really missed having him there but everyone appreciated his sacrifice. This is twice now where I'm amazed at how great Jodi looks after having just given birth!

Marco's Birth Day

The naming of Marco..

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In case any of you were still wondering, Jodi and I did in fact agree to a name for our new son. Even the hospital staff had their doubts (and for good reason!)

Born Tuesday evening at 11:41 pm, our son still didn't have a name as of Thursday morning after Jodi and "baby" were discharged by the hospital doctors. It was a full six hours later before we were able to submit his birth certificate and leave! Going back and forth between several names, there was one name that kept coming up, and here's why:

As I had earlier mentioned, for months, we had asked Nikolai, "When is the baby coming?" It was a cute way to keep Nikolai excited about being an older brother and to get a chuckle about children's sense of time. Yet, oddly enough, for the 4 or 5 months before his baby brother was born, Nikolai consistently said, "Umm.... Tuesday" whenever we'd ask.

Fast forward a few months and we began asking Nikolai, "What should we name the baby?" We weren't necessarily seeking his advice on the matter, but we weren't having much luck on our own. Who would have thought picking a name for the second child would be so difficult? With Jodi's first pregnancy, we'd spend countless nights browsing through baby-name books and bouncing suggestions off of one another. Fast-forward three years and things are quite different! Raising a two (now three) year old, Jodi working and doing a ton of work around the house meant those late night negotiations were a thing of the past! On top of this, we had the added complication of finding name that went good with Nikolai. And seeing how Jodi vetoed Sergei, Pavel and Vladamir, another Russian name was out!

Just as consistently as his "Tuesday" answer, Nikolai insisted on Marco. He's never met a Marco and we have no idea how he came across the name. There are a few suspects, but Nikolai insists that he came up with it all by himself and nobody else is fessing up. On top of that, if we hinted that we may not pick that name, he'd say, "If you don't pick Marco, I'll be very, really mad!" Or, "That's okay, you can name him (other name), but I'll still call him Marco." Yeah, it was kinda cute, but we both realized that we may have created a source of future conflict here!

So, back to the hospital room and everyone waiting for us to come up with a name... Jodi had her choice of a name and I had mine. We'd talk about it, then take a little break. When we brought it up again, we had switched! Suddenly I was pushing for the name she used to like and she was leaning towards my initial pick. It was a mess. We were getting nowhere.

In the end, we figured that if neither one of us were dead set on a particular name, we knew someone waiting for us at home who was.

I wish you could see the smile on his face when he found out. That's one proud big brother.

It's a boy!

For months, we'd jokingly ask Nikolai, "When is the baby coming?" to which he'd answer, "Tuesday." With only 19 minutes to go, Nikolai was right!

Last night, Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 11:41 pm we welcomed the newest member of our family into this world! Delivery was even faster this time around. Contractions started around 9:45pm and we were at the hospital by 10:30pm. With the rapid pace, Jodi (again!) gave birth "naturally" with no medication. In the time it would have taken to ask for something, the baby was already here!

Vital Stats:

• Name: TBD - Negotiations underway!
• Born - Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 11:41pm
• Sex - Boy!
• Weight - 7 lbs. 12 oz.
• Length - 20 inches

Hopefully the photo shows up in this post.. If not, I'll update the post once we get home or once I figure out a workaround to the Nokia 770 not liking Blogspot's interface.

Updates...

So where have I been??

For the last few months, I've been busy preparing for the arrival of our second child. We always assumed that the second child would be more work, but I think Jodi and I were a bit surprised at how much more work a second pregnancy would be!

During Jodi's pregnancy with Nikolai, she wasn't working and neither of us had to tend to a three year old. On top of that, there was plenty of last minute preparations to the house. Converting one of the rooms into a second bedroom wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but all the painting and minor repair work is another story!

The first casualty of all this work was my online time. In a matter of days, I went from checking my email every 4-6 hours to checking it every 3-4 days (if that!). While I don't regret it too much, so many "blog worthy" things have happened in the last few months that I regret not being able to write about them.

For myself, blogging serves several functions. Writing about things at length really forces you to focus your arguments and for that reason alone, I strongly recommend it. In your mind or in casual conversation, you can get away with loose connections between various bits of information you have. If they "seem right" in your mind, it's easy to assume you're onto something. But when it comes to writing about it, you really need to dig out those sources to find your quotes to end up with a discussion that can hold some water. Nearly every time I've blogged about something at length, I've refined my arguements as I've typed and ended up with a better understanding of the subject. And that's before the comments start rolling in! That's been missed.

But a more selfish reason that I miss blogging is that I know I missed out on cateloging things that have happened in the last few months. Those include: Taking Nikolai sledding for his first time or to his first Red Wings hockey game. Finding out that family from Italy is (was) reading my blog. Taking Nikolai to see Thomas the Tank Engine. Visiting my sister and Marc up north. Buying a new family hauler! Before and after pics of all the painting. Watching the Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup. The list goes on and on.

But, the good news is that I've already packed the Nokia internet tablet and bluetooth keyboard in my hospital bag. So, once the baby is born, I'll be able to post from the recovery room.

The Road to Civilizations: A visit from China

` Yesterday, I came across three Cadillac SRXs driving on west I-94, heading past Detroit Metro Airport. Driving around Southeast Michigan, we see odd vehicles all the time, but I've never seen anything quite like this! Each of the three vehicles were decorated like race cars and were covered in writing that appeared to be a combination of English and Chinese. I knew that Cadillac began producing vehicles in China (for the Chinese and Asian markets) a few years back, so I wasn't sure if this was related or not. The SRXs clearly were not made for the US market. They had unique tail lights and a wider opening for a license plate. Originally scheduled for January, the SRX went on sale in China this month. It still is not clear if they are imported from the USA or if they are produced domestically.

Some research on the subject revealed an interesting story behind the trucks. A Taiwanese car publication provided some more information here. CCTV, a Chinese television station, is producing a documentary by sending these vehicles around the world. In all, they will visit 54 countries in 500 days covering a distance of 150,000 km. Their aim is to explore places that, "may not be popular tourist spots". As of now, broadcast is only planned inside China. Surprisingly, any more information is hard to come by. One would think the local police would be notified of three Chinese registered vehicles driving through their jurisdiction.

This is pure speculation, but my guess is that they arrived via ship to either Alaska or Canada and drove eastward until they crossed the Detroit/Windsor border. They were driving West towards either Ann Arbor or Chicago so they may be making a counter-clockwise path across the United States.

In an interview, one of the crew said that not only had the Cadillacs been very reliable for them, but that locals have been very supportive of the project. The vehicles clearly draw a lot of attention and it's been positive. Apparently, people are always offering to help and have even given free meals and shelter to the crew. It was great to hear that. With all of the "China fear", especially in a manufacturing region like Detroit, I suspected more than a few drivers might feel that we are being invaded by the Chinese on yet another level. The truth is, China and the United States are dependent on one another and have a lot to offer each other. This is an example of the "connectivity" that global strategists like Thomas P.M. Barnett are always talking about. If you are really aching for change and freedoms to occur in China, small steps like this are how it's done. A Chinese film crew, sponsored by American companies, being given the freedom to travel the world and report back on what cultures and people they find was unimaginable even a few years ago.

The documentary isn't scheduled to air until 2009, so we'll have to wait to see how it turns out. Hopefully PBS or a cable channel will be interested in it as well.

EDIT: Continued reading here.

Jury Duty

Most of you will probably think I'm odd, but personally, I really dig serving on a jury. Back in 2000, I served on a civil case that really had an effect on me. Ever since then, I've looked forward to getting a jury summons. After several years of not getting picked, I was selected Monday at Wayne County Circuit Court in Detroit and served for the last two days. However, this time, the trial was a criminal case. It involved felons, assault rifles and drug raids. And you thought jury duty was boring!

Even if the case had been boring, I do buy all of that "civic duty" mumbo jumbo. It's cool that 12 of us, all from different backgrounds, ethnicities, ages and educations, are put together to judge the outcome of a contested event. Perhaps even more significant for a city like Detroit is the fact that the jury is a mix of suburbanites and Detroiters. Ever since I was a teenager, hanging out in Detroit at every chance I had, I was aware of some tension between the two groups. Yeah, the amount of tension is overblown, but it's there.

So, back to the trial. According to testimony, the Detroit Police had made a controlled drug purchase at a home and returned the next day for a raid. When they burst into the house, they found two young men playing a video game while seated on a couch. What they found next came as a surprise. The home was a two residence home. Oops. Even though the upstairs residence was completely separate with its own locked entrance, it was only apparent once you entered the front door. From the outside, the house looked like a single family home. So which home was involved in the drug sale?

But that's not all...

While clearing the home, an officer found an SKS rifle leaning up against the wall. The gun, a predecessor to the AK-47, was fully loaded with a second magazine attached to the first and a round cocked in the chamber. Yes, the weapon is dangerous and yes, whoever owns it is an idiot for leaving it armed like that, but it is legal to own this weapon. Unless, of course, you're a prior felon.

And that was the gist of this whole case. There were no signs of dealing found in the home so no charges related to the drug deal were made. But when the police found out that one of the men in the house was a prior felon who was not allowed to possess a gun, they arrested him. For the most part, both sides agreed to everything I've written so far. The man's guilt or innocence rode on the legal definition of "Possession", whether or not he lived at the home and whether or not he had access to the room that contained the gun.

After a day and a half of testimony and arguments, the case seemed pretty clear cut. In fact, I assumed that we'd deliberate for about 5 minutes and be on our way. If deliberation went on a bit longer, I suspected which jurors were likely to agree or disagree with me. I was wrong on both accounts. It looks like the case wasn't so clear cut! Further, I had assumed if anyone was going to have sympathy for the defendant, it'd be the women on the jury. Again, I was wrong.

We deliberated for about an hour with most of us contributing unique perspectives or questions to the discussion. Coincidentally, I had done quite a bit of research on the same rifle a year ago after seeing my brother-in-law's SKS. One woman offered some insight based on her husband's former police service and another young man seemed to know quite a bit about police raids. All of it was a very interesting process. With both trials I've been a juror on, it never breaks down to an "us against them" debate. People will agree with you on one subject and debate with you on another. I even found myself debating someone who I agreed with simply because I thought his argument was flawed.

In the end, we found the defendant not guilty. Before deliberation, I was pretty confident of his innocence, but some of the other jurors brought up some good arguments that make me question that. Still, it wasn't enough to overcome the prosecution's weak case. Interestingly, all of us seemed to agree the prosecuting attorney was the better of the pair. Unfortunately, she was given a weak case to work with.

I can only speak for myself, but I always seem to feel a small bond with fellow jurors after the whole process. From different walks of life and different views of the case, we all managed to come to an agreement with everyone being able to vet their concerns. Before deliberation, jurors aren't allowed to discuss the case, but we ended up taking the opportunity to get to know one another a bit. Two of us had a conversation about the book I was reading, Friedman's "The World is Flat". She loved it so much that I recommended Thomas P.M. Barnett's "Pentagon's New Map". I really hope she checks out Barnett. Another young woman, a nurse from Oakwood hospitol with a LOT of interesting E.R. stories, had everyone talking about a few YouTube.com videos including this one and this one. However, like I said, maybe I was just speaking for myself about the bond between jurors. Nobody was up for getting lunch or a drink at Greektown. Everyone just left and headed to their cars. It's that weird anti-climatic feeling you get like the last time you walk out of class on your last day of school.

As Mel and Christian would say, "Fail!" Maybe I should stop looking at every group activity with people of different backgrounds as a scene from the Breakfast Club. Oops! Oh well, it'll still be an experience I'll carry with me for a long time.

Vegetarian Chopped Liver

` Continuing our pursuit of the world's best Reuben sandwich, uncle Duwayne and I stopped at the Star Deli in Southfield. While in line, I took this picture to be a smart ass. "How can chopped liver be vegetarian?" I asked with a laugh. Over the weekend, I even showed the photo to a few people and everyone just chucked. Ends up that the joke is on me! Vegetarian chopped liver IS in fact vegetarian! The stuff is "frequently served as a Sabbath appetizer in Ashkenazi homes." Being a Jewish owned deli, that makes pretty good sense. I was vegetarian for 11 years. You think I would have known better!

In retrospect, I really wish I had blogged our hunt for the best reuben. We've had so many that it's hard to remember each one. Matti's Deli in Dearborn, MI was definitely one of the best with Louies's by the Airport the best sit-down. If curious, read the entry over at wikipedia.org about the history of the Reuben and the controversy over who created it.

It's official: Nikolai loves sledding!

` This kid is going to be an adrenaline junky when he gets old. Heck, he already is! Even after getting a face full of snow (on every run!) and a scratch on his chin, he kept asking for "One more time!"

Gallery: Niko Sledding

Winter is getting old..

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Not much to say. Just getting tired of winter.