July 31

Once again I have gotten sidetracked in the lazy days of summer. It seems that Daphne, my job, and my latest hobby (watch repair) have consumed most of my time.

This Saturday I hope to finish my kitchen tile repair work for good. Jennie and Daphne will be out and about running errands, so I can finish grouting and make any last minute tile cuts uninterrupted. We fear the new grout (different brand) will stand out and look different (from the old, original stuff). A couple of wide ranging suggestions from friends and family: "spill some coffee or food on the new grout to help it blend", "don't worry about it", and "grout? Why bother grouting? It looks fine, Davey" hehehe.

Here's the pattern I used for my kitchen floor...


Keep an eye out for some updated photos of Daphne before the weekend is in full swing.

Link of the day: Crazy Baby Hair Contest

Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 28

Why must the weekends pass by so quickly?

Only five brief months ago, Daphne entered this world with a strong set of lungs. She never ceases to amaze us with the volume of her "hoot and holler". Daphne's early evening nap (7pm ~ 10pm) usually involves a lot of fussing and crying (and that's from Jennie and me). hehehe

Whenever she starts pouting and squirming, we know she is ready for a visit to her crib. Once her fingers enter her mouth and we hear the magical slurp, she usually falls asleep within moments.

Here are some new photos from this weekend:

Peaceful rest, tender moment...

Big stretch after eating some booby...


Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 26

Wow! What a busy day...

It seems like I have been running around non-stop all day. Simple stuff like fixing the leaky kitchen sink and replacing the refrigerator water filter were among the big chores. Daphne has been talking up a storm the past few days and today was no exception. She will smile and have gibberish conversations with Oprah and anyone hosting a Food Network TV program.

My frugal nature is leading me deep into the world of watch repair. Sure, I could afford to send off my twelve year old Seiko Kinetic in for a new capacitor and gasket change (authorized repair centers charge $90 to $150 depending on condition), but what fun would that be? Now that I have the tools for the job, I ordered the parts I will need to fix the watch for less than $20! I know, I know, you are thinking, "Dave, will you screw up that sentimental watch?" Trust me, I am "Uber careful" and take pride in my steady hands. After all, I used to solder chips on computer motherboards for fun back when 286's and 386's were state of the art!

Jennie's new hobby is babywearing. She studies internet forums and carefully evaluates all the latest trends. I believe she will be ordering a BabyHawk this week.

Here are a few photos of Jennie visiting a friend's house and trying on her Ball Baby Overall:





Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 24

Daphne's day was quite busy. Jennie ran some errands and visited friends with the little daffodil. When I got home from work, Daphne took a four hour nap, drank some milk, and went back to sleep for the evening. Her nap schedule is a little out of whack and tomorrow will be another action-packed day, too. Jennie and Grammy have a full day planned to take Daphne out on the town.



Well, my newest hobby of the moment is collecting and working on wristwatches. My watchmaker's toolkit arrived today in the mail and now I have the necessary tools to repair, add/remove links, and basically service any type of watch. The $13 toolkit from eBay has already paid for itself. The local jewelry stores charge $10 to add/remove links and $20 to do any type of watch service/maintenance. Now, if I only understood how all the little gears worked inside! hehehe

My favorite Russian Aviator watch. It is a simple, yet elegant timepiece. (click watch for larger image)

Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 23

Daphne can almost sit up completely without the aid of a pillow. If you place Daphne's palms flat on her knees while she sits up, she succeeds. Well, until she turns her heavy, bobble head and throws off her balance. I believe she will be crawling very soon as well...

My mother had knee replacement surgery yesterday. Get well soon, Mom!



Remember me griping last summer about the abandoned house behind ours? Technically, the homeowners are probably trying to sell it or lease it, I suppose (with no luck). Someone should mention to the homeowners that houses sell quicker if you mow the yard more than once per year and provide any sort of upkeep (weeding mulch beds, fixing broken windows, etc). But, that's another topic for another day...

Enjoying outside activity becomes tough with mosquitoes aplenty, so Jennie found this valuable product yesterday: Mosquito Dunks. Our neighbors have a stagnant above ground swimming pool (approximately 20 foot diameter) that has not been drained or cleaned in over 2 1/2 years. Last year, the pool water mutated from a delightful green color to a dingy brown. With lily pads popping up, the frog infested water now has a black tint. Yuck! And, sending a registered letter to our town's codes department and mayor yielded no response to this unhealthy eyesore.

Oh well, enough of my rambling for today.

Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 22

Nearing 21 weeks of life, Daphne has finally edged over 14 pounds on the scales. And, hey, her hair is starting to come back as well! It's hard to believe that she has doubled her birth weight and weighs as much as our dog.

July 16th -- Daphne rests while visiting Grammy's house


Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 19

Today I happily babysat Daphne while Jennie spent a few hours sewing with her buddies. It was a piece of cake really. Daphne slept nearly the whole time Jennie was away. I gave her a large bottle of Mommy's boob refreshment between naps. We played in her exer-saucer, motorized swing, and playpen until she voiced her displeasure (baby boredom).

After Jennie returned, I mowed my knee-high, weed-filled backyard. Poor little Maggie (my 10-year old Cairn Terrier) could have gotten lost in that forest of grass, volunteer weeds, and thistles. I really try not to let the yard get so tall, but it always seems to rain whenever I want to mow. While my rechargeable, electric mower is rated to cut 1/3 of an acre of average height grass on one battery charge, it runs out of juice quickly when the grass is as tall as me. Oh well, that's the price of being GREEN. I still have an ancient gas-powered mower for any emergency mowing needs, but I hate buying gas at $4 a gallon. So, I mow what I can and plug in the electric mower to finish the job another day.

I still have a gas & oil powered weed eater with an extra loud motor for that necessary testosterone release. I may be GREEN mowing the yard, but I burn some serious petrol as I whack them weeds! What a release! Vroom, vroom, vroom...

Here are two more videos of Daphne in her crib. As she begins to sit up, crawl, and say, "da da", I will post more video...

Recorded July 15th -- Proudly swimming in the crib


Recorded June 28th -- Daphne's explosive blowout in her diaper.


Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 18

As promised, here are a couple of short videos I extracted from my camcorder. I hope you enjoy watching these as much as I enjoyed filming them.

Recorded June 26th -- Daphne pushing herself up while on her belly.


Recorded July 15th -- Daphne giggling in her crib with Mommy.



Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 17

In the next few days, I will be posting several 1 to 2 minute video clips of Daphne. I have so much video to splice, but I think you will really enjoy them.

This week, my employer has been holding another liquidation sale of fine timepieces for employees at a fraction of cost (consisting of vendor samples, TV displays, returns, scratch and dents, etc). Several of my co-workers have purchased 10+ watches, and I can't blame them (especially with Christmas right around the corner). I purchased a couple of Haurex (Italian) and limited edition Vostok-Europe (Russian) watches as well as an Avier (Swiss) stadium watch. My Riedenschild (exquisite German timepiece) will be up for sale soon; I just don't have the patience to own a manual watch that requires winding every day. Only battery-powered or automatic (kinetic) watches for me!

Here's one of my favorite acquisitions...


Well, I need to run for now, but check back for some new Daphne photos later today...


Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 15

Howdy y'all. It seems like an eternity since I last blogged. Sorry.

Over the weekend, Daphne discovered her toes! She gazes in amazement at those plump, little sausages at the end of her legs. It's quite comical to watch her crouch over and grab her piggies.

Also, Daphne is becoming more interested in her play pen these days. She actively reaches out, grasps with both hands, and places anything (and everything) in her mouth. Drool gently drips down her chin continually. Visitors to our house will notice random burp cloths on every chair and table. You can never have too many burp cloths for a teething Daphne.

Photos or video tonight! Check back often...

Evening update #1: (6:11pm) here's Daphne taking an afternoon nap. Her room gets the afternoon sun. It's warm!


Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 12

Jennie and Daphne attended a "Nashville Baby Wearers" meeting near Vanderbilt University today. She was able to try out a few slings and Daphne even fell asleep in one of them for an hour. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I was able to knock out some more tile work in the kitchen. I love the sense of pride and accomplishment which comes from home improvement.

Jennie and Daphne ready to hit the town in style.


What's the deal with the increasing occurrences of arson, shootings, and domestic violence in my neighborhood recently? I think the time has come for Jennie, Daphne, and me to begin looking for a new area to live... we have outgrown the ghetto. I suppose bad stuff can happen no matter where you live. Growing up in the late 70s and early 80s, I just don't remember anything bad happening in my community (maybe I was sheltered?).

Daphne snoozes after drinking some milk...


Forward Alexander Radulov, one of the most talented hockey players for Nashville, has chosen to return to Russia for the next several years. I completely understand the desire to earn 800% of his current salary ($24 million over 3 years in Russia), but I am heartbroken nonetheless. He is signing his NHL death certificate and will never play in the US ever again...



"Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google." ~ anonymous

"1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d" ~ L33T Humor

Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 11

Not too much going on these days. Same old, same old. The lazy days of summer are here.

I continue to get up each morning at the crack of dawn, hop off to work, and rush home in the evening to play with Daphne and Mommy for a few hours before bedtime. Last night, I carefully examined my inner eyelids while Jennie surfed the internet on the new Dell and Daphne snoozed in her crib. Hopefully, my snoring did not bother anyone... :)

I have no clue what we have planned for this weekend, but stay tuned for more photos or video!

Daphne giggles during diaper changes...


Quote of the Day: "Computers are like bikinis. They save people a lot of guesswork." -Sam Ewing

Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 10

My new Dell PC arrived yesterday afternoon and I am thoroughly pleased! For a "Scratch and Dent" model, it is fairly pristine. One little scratch in the rear bottom left side of the case saved me over $300 (based on the brand new sticker price). Geez, why are people so afraid to shop this way? I highly recommend the Dell Outlet. (unpaid testimonial)

Sometimes the finest things in life are simple... introducing the Inspiron 530 - Intel Quad-Core PC


I plugged it in, uninstalled all of the "bloatware" (you know, the extra garbage software installed on new PCs), installed my productivity software, and sat back in awe. Quad core processing is amazing! Anyhoo, I am still getting used to Windows Vista, but it does not seem that bad at first glance. I do hear a lot of folks complain about it, so my final judgment will remain guarded.

Not quite my "BEFORE" and "AFTER", but close... (yeah, right)


This past Tuesday was the final "weigh-in" for my work's Biggest Loser competition. Humbled and honored, I came in 1st place with a minuscule 10.2 pound cumulative weight loss. My initial goal was to lose 20+ pounds in 6 weeks (ouch). Now I must focus on keeping it off long term (and build on my healthier eating habits). I want to be able to chase after Daphne without experiencing shortness of breath (or having to grab my heart like Redd Foxx from the award-winning TV Show, "Sanford and Son". hehehe)



Daphne will be 19 weeks old tomorrow. More photos this weekend for sure...

Quote of the Day: "The authority of a person is inversely proportional to the number of pens that person is carrying." ~ some dude

Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 8

During a mid-morning feeding, Daphne casually spit up an endless amount of breast milk (thanks to a massive gas bubble in her tummy). Needless to say, Mommy and Daphne were both splattered. Usually, Daphne burps without any difficulty, but today she would need a nice, warm bath instead.

Later, Daphne launched a full-scale "poop"-splosion in her crib while enjoying her mobile. Daphne's "crap"-quake shook the house and Jennie came running from another room! Her little bottom spewed more lava than Mount Vesuvius. Our sweet pea had earned her second bath of the day!

Each day, I love playing "pat-a-cake" and "boom chick-a-boom" with Daphne as soon as I arrive home from work. Her eyes light up and the magical ear-to-ear grin warms my heart. Thank goodness for little girls!

After bath number one, the calm before the poo tsunami...



Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 7

Daphne slept through her first 4th of July fireworks display in Mommy's arms. Maybe next year she will be able to take it all in as a toddler? Yesterday, she refilled her sleep bank with several 3+ hour naps throughout the day. What a tough life it must be at 4 1/2 months old! hehehe She tipped the scales at 14.2 pounds last night (wearing only a diaper and shirt).

According to Dell's shipment tracking, my new "scratch and dent" Quad-Core Intel PC should be delivered today. Nothing beats ripping open a cardboard box, unveiling a new toy, and breathing in that factory smell of plastic and metal. Mmmm, electronic gadgets are great!

I recorded a bunch of Daphne videos and snapped a ton of photos over the holiday weekend. More to come... (I will try to post some photos or video tonight after work)

Evening Update: As promised, here are some snapshots from Daphne's 4th of July celebration. She was a festive little princess in her little watermelon onesie.





Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 4

Happy Fireworks Day!

May your 4th of July be filled with grilled burgers, hot dogs, fresh corn on the cob, baked beans, deviled eggs, watermelon, and homemade ice cream! Enjoy your extended weekend -- remember, family first...

I uploaded a new video to YouTube tonight called "Daphne in Crib". It's a small, two minute clip of Daphne fussing around her crib (just before nap time). Early in the video, she seems content and even smiles a few times at Daddy, but halfway in, she goes ballistic and sobs with her sweet, manipulative pout. I ended the video promptly, scooped her up, and loved on her until she cooed with happiness. Daphne has me wrapped around her little finger for sure!

Let me know if the default video quality is decent enough or if I need to re-sample it at a higher frame rate (and re-upload). Here it is: (click on the video below to view)



Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 3

Happy Independence Day's Eve!

Maggie, my Cairn Terrier, celebrated her 10th year of life yesterday. She might be 70 in dog years, but still gets around pretty well. I hope to have her playfulness and mobility as I approach her age.

Taking advice from my good buddy Kishore, I have been watching the Dell Outlet for a good value. I bit the bullet last night and ordered a "scratch and dent" Intel Quad Core PC sans the monitor. For a fraction of the price, I will have a brand new, modern PC at home for the first time in six years. Since PC technology moves so fast these days, there is never a perfect time to upgrade. I have been procrastinating a purchase for the last 24 months; basically, I try to time an upgrade where cost is minimized and bleeding edge technology is maximized. I have always bought components (motherboard, video card, RAM) separately and performed my own upgrades until now.

Instead of tearing apart my existing computer on the kitchen table and upgrading, I would rather bounce Daphne on my knee. The time factor is huge for me now. Seeing Daphne smile and wiggle made my upgrade choice an easy decision.

Big plans for 4th of July?

Hopefully our yard receives a sprinkling of rain before the neighbor children unleash the onslaught of fire and brimstone. Why do the neighbors always seem to aim their bottle rockets at my house? The Halloween and 4th of July holidays in my neighborhood really stink! Either way, your yard will contain several pounds of empty candy wrappers or the remains of exploded fireworks.

Each year Jennie and I discuss gathering all of the trash and placing it in the offender's driveway or on their front porch with a note. We always chicken out, but it's fun to dream, right?

Have a Merry July 4th!
Dave T.

July 2

MILESTONE ALERT: Daphne sat up in her Bumbo seat yesterday and played with her little bunny. Closing in on 18 weeks of age, our little princess is becoming a big girl. If she could only grow some hair!

I tried to upgrade my motherboard and CPU last night, but I was "sniped" on eBay. I found a really great, low price and bid on it several days ago. Less than 20 seconds before the item closed, someone outbid me and I lost out. Oh well, I refused to get in a bidding war and pay more than the product was actually worth. So, patiently, I will keep my eyes peeled for other opportunities.

Uh, oh. My "Service Engine" light is glowing prominently once again on my dashboard. I will be really angry if I have blown another O2 sensor in my 7 year old Subaru Legacy. Purchased brand spanking new in December 2001, I have driven 105,000+ miles. Granted, I never get any maintenance done (and only pay for oil changes every 3000 miles). But, blowing six or seven O2 sensors seems excessive and just last December, I replaced the dual catalytic converter which houses four stinking O2 sensors.

Could it be time for a new Toyota Prius? With gas prices soaring, a hybrid sounds great. But, I am not too keen on having a car payment (something I have avoided for almost 5 years now). My current goal is to drive my Legacy until the doors fall off.

Oh well, Daphne is doing great (her personality is beginning to show more and more each day). Take a gander at these photos below and you will see what I mean!









Until tomorrow,
Dave T.

July 1

Passionate lovers of hockey drool with excitement for today's fast-paced signings and player trades. That's right, today (also known as "Christmas in July") marks the opening of free agency at noon eastern. Will your team spend millions of dollars on superstar player contracts to instantly become the next Stanley Cup favorites or miserably flop as underachievers and cost the general manager his job next summer? Exciting times indeed!

Email and comments keep pouring in hourly (regarding this blog). I can honestly say that I had no idea so many folks enjoyed this website. With anything in life, there are always a few bad apples (people who enjoy saying hurtful criticisms for the sake of trying to make themselves feel better). No worries; the positive comments and email far exceed the negative ones. I will continue posting photos of Daphne and sharing stories until my fingers atrophy with arthritis.

Speaking of Daphne, she is quite the wiggle worm these days! Each morning (before I leave for work), I peek in on her after my shower and also while I quickly wolf down some breakfast. Trying to achieve condign comfort, she flops around her crib like a fish out of water at the edge of shore. It is not uncommon for her to lay on her side at one end of the crib and five minutes later, she will be on her belly or back at the other end.

I will post some new photos before the 4th...

Until tomorrow,
Dave T.