Denver Web Designer + New Dad Blog

R.I.P Robert Rauschenberg died Tuesday, at 82.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:56:00 +0000

I have always loved his work. If you do not know him, he pioneered "combines," mixed-media riffs that melded sculpture, painting and pop objects. Some of his famous pieces were the JFK piece and the real chair up against a oil painting with stripes carrying through from the wall piece to the chair.

WSJ article

Wikipedia listing

Happy Mother's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:52:00 +0000

Hadley had her first stab at gardening. Christy is an amazing flower pot designer.
We had a wonderful day ending with Sushi at Fontana. Christy Gannon = ONE AWESOME MOM!

Kottke always finds a way to impress me

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:54:00 +0000

When Obama Wins...

Release the Purple Rhinos

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:57:00 +0000

I love Spring. Love the buds. Love what comes later.
Love that the rain is here and that cozy feeling in the morning when you awake to rain drops on your rooftops.
Love that it spawns these cute buds that look like wildlife.

Crashed!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:52:00 +0000

We had a engagement party for one of my coworkers, Sam, at Dazzle. This was before Botulism (BB). I just found this photo-taken by my friend Erin- on her camera that she loaned me. Hadley was a trooper but also a party pooper. She sacked out in my arms after hooting it up for at least 45 minutes. Go Girl!

Spring-time evils

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:22:00 +0000

I have picked most of these and then more come right back up the next day. The Spring necessary evil.

Crazy weather

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:02:00 +0000

Yesterday it was 80 and sunny. Today, 40 and SNOW! What's good for the grass is not good for the SAD.

Home at Last, well, since Thursday at 4:30pm

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 03:21:00 +0000

I have been using Twitter and Flickr to update our status and tell people how much we love them and thank them for all they have done for us over the past few weeks. BUT, I realized that I forget to say some of that on my main blog here, so here we go:

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO: (in no particular order)

sent stuff -bears, bees, prayer shawls, edible arrangements

stopped by - and stayed for hours or even minutes

flew all the way here and provided the MOST enlightening support, stability and comfort

took vacay time to relieve us for the afternoon

wrote encouraging emails, notes and cards....and blogposts

used the TCH email system to send notes

made food

sent food from afar

tried donating sick time./li>
brought tons of snacks, goodies and all things comforting

You are all true friends/family and acquaintances.
Here's a cute one for the road!

We are heading home TODAY! Thursday.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:45:00 +0000

Yes, they told us we can go. Hadley is doing so well that, why stay? She will still have a feeding tube that we will manually use a syringe to feed her every three hours, but she has been latching on to the boob and to the bottle good enough to where they think we won't need the tube much longer (ie. monday). Fingers crossed.

Happy Earth Day

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:45:00 +0000

What are YOU doing to help save?

Other than the obvious, we:

Replaced all lightbulbs with CFLs

Are purchasing an electric, cordless lawn mower next week

Switched to low flow showerheads

COMPOST everything we can.

Recycle

Fill gas tanks at night

Bring ALL of our own grocery bags and Target shopping

Telecommute and public transportation (light rail)

Buy Local

Day 11: Hadley just needs to swallow, suck

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:57:00 +0000

We are now on day 11 in the hospital. The docs and nurses just made their rounds and concluded that we will be here for a few more days. The average stay for an infant with botulism who got the BabyBIG serum is 2.2 weeks. We would just like to be out no later than her 5 month birthday-in 6 days. We have had amazing nurses and doctors. We have tried to keep track of all of them and will hopefully list them later on. That's it for now. Need a nap.

Hadley is out of the pICU

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:32:00 +0000

After a day of being off the respirator, she is now out of ICU and in a regular room. YAY! Hadley is making improvements everyday. Even today she giggled hysterically twice! It was amazing! She is so close to being her old self again. Needs to add a bit more weight though. And then we just need to get her sucking on the nipple and we will be outta here! Pray for that, please.

Hadley botulism update: Things are looking up!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 02:36:00 +0000

Hi there.
We are still in the hospital.
But the good news is that Hadley is improving everyday.
We are still hoping that she will gain enough muscle strength to be able to breathe on her own so that the respirator tube can come out. They have told us for the past few days that there IS a possibility that it could come out tomorrow, but that day comes and she is not quite there yet. Today she was taken off the respirator for an hour to see how well she could breathe on her own and she did very well. They will test again tomorrow and give us an update.

We have seen major strides in her movements in her arms and legs as well as, in her expressions - she actually laughed (as much as you can with a darn tube down your throat) with cheeks all aglow and bright eyes!

She pooped on her own last night...a bunch....which made the nurses and docs very happy.

Her grip is also getting better. Even an improvement from this morning. Tonight she had quite a strong grip.

Her Nana Judy arrived today so she is very happy to see her, as are her parents. It is a good change to have some backup help and just another family member here.

All of our friends and family have been so supportive and helpful, offering dinners, company, and ANYTHING. One friend even offered their shirt...but we declined due to hair issues. ( look a joke!)

Christy has not left the hospital since we arrived but I HAVE managed to get her outside to walk around the complex for some fresh air.

So all in all we are pleased with our daughter's progress but of course, just want her off the respirator and HOME WITH US!

Keep Hadley in your prayers and positive thoughts and I will keep you updated.

The B Word

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 03:51:00 +0000

Hello readers.
I write to you with a heavy word on my shoulders. Botulism.
Have you even HEARD of that word, or did you even KNOW it was still around, or did you possibly think when you did hear that word that it was from ANCIENT TIMES?
Well, we did up until yesterday. I really do not have the energy or time right now to go into details but just wanted to let you know that our adorable, lovely, smart, cute, loving, perky daughter, Hadley has some how contracted botulism. It is just unimaginable. BUT treatable with a 100% treatment and success rate of recovery. Still the waiting is long and frustrating.

Here is my wife's post on it.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it

The good news is as of tonight, hadley seems to be doing better since having the globulin. She was more aware and her eyes were almost back to their big, enticing, observant selves.

And quickly here is what I can tell you.

1- it is treatable and cureable.
2- it can be contracted from honey/ or Kyro syrup( but really in only two cases have they seen w/ honey), dust or dirt particles (think big construction sites, highlands ranch developments, etc.)
3- certain canned foods or raw bad food.
4- you most likely NEVER know where you got it
5- it is NOT contagious
6- recovery takes 10-30 days of ICU hospitalization on a respirator and feeding tube
7- the serum Human Botulism Immune Globulin (BabyBIG) costs $45k
8- it sucks for your baby, you, and your family/friends

we will keep you posted but not very often for now.

thanks,
dave, christy and hadley

HaddersTV

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:55:00 +0000

Well, last night I finally broke down and fed my tech-hungry gut and bought an Apple TV. We got the 40GB version because I could not see spending the extra money for storage.....yet. It is amazing!

I opened up the box, pulled out the Apple TV unit. Plugged it into the wall next to the TV. Then grabbed the componet audio/video cables and attached them to both the Apple TV and the TV itself. We had trouble getting the audio to work at first but that was my fault. Fixed that and it was set up.

Then I hop on the computer in the office and open up iTunes. There I register the Apple TV, sync it with my wireless network and it was ready to fly. I couldn't believe how seamless it was.

I started watching Elf being streamed from my computer into the Apple TV. It was a dream. Quality is obviously not as good as a DVD or Blue-Ray for that matter, but for what it is, it's amazing. Tonight, we are going to rent a movie on iTunes in HD and see how that goes......that is, IF I can get Hadley to give up the unit.

Good Friends, Family

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:43:00 +0000

This weekend was full of visitors.
Wanted visitors.
First it was Saturday brunch with a couple and their 2-month old we met in baby class. The three of them came over for a scrumptious asparagus, egg dish that christy made, some wonderful pastries, fruit and muffins. We had a great time discussing parenting stuff. At least with new parents you don't ( hopefully ) bore each other with all your drool and poop stories.

Then later that day we got a call from christy's cousin whom she has not seen in 12 years. He is in the army getting ready to be discharged for injuries he sustained in fucking Iraq. What a wonderful surprise. He stopped over late Saturday and ended up staying the night. He is quite the man. 23 and full of stories and adventure. It was nice getting to know him. I think christy felt the same way although they are related.

Three. A buddy of mine, Linder, showed up from Houston. I have not seen him in 5 years since he moved away. He bought me lunch at our favorite mexican place down the street, La Fogota. Awesome. He was full of great advice, as always, and level-headedness. It was inspiring to say the least. I dug his jacket too. Hadley loved him as well.

See Flickr for details

Coding Friday Rap

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:07:00 +0000

Check this. Good for you. Good for your biz.

Smart inventor. Smarter Dog

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:28:00 +0000

This is awesome.

ROOFING ISSUES- NEED OPINIONS

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:09:00 +0000

Hello readers.
We need your input.
Here is the scenario/case.

We had a few leaks in our roof last year. But we had a guy fix them. We decided we might need a new roof so we have asked 4 roofers to come give us their opinion on the state of our roof. Repair? or Replace?

1. We had one roofer tell us he would not touch our roof to fix it, but that it needs complete replacement. ($8k)

2. Second roofer came out and said we need an entire new roof , decking and all
($18,600)

3. Third roofer came out and said, "oh no, you do not need new decking just new roofing materials ( shingles ). ($7,800)

4. Fourth roofer came out and got up on the roof with me and said " dave, i'm a roofer, i do 400 rooves a year, and you do not need a new roof." He said the decking is fine, the shingles are ok, with at least 4 more good years left. Possibly some hail damage but he needed to come back to check.

so, here we are at in impasse. what the hell do we do? I say, if a roofer tells you you do not need a roof, then you don't. but does he know what he is talking about?

it is the slow season. roofers are notorious liars, so i have no idea what to do.

comments PLEASE.
thanks

my little tooshie girl

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:17:00 +0000

A "new" wifi approach at Starbucks

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:17:00 +0000

CRTs and wireless at Starbucks. I wonder what your reaction would be?
video here

Dave Grohl + iPod Touch ad...

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:29:00 +0000

Yeah, THEY rock!
This is the homepage for iTunes+iPod on Apple's site today.

Goodbye HD DVD, Hello BLU-RAY

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:09:00 +0000

Toshiba to announce the DEATH of HD DVD much sooner than expected.

We knew it was coming, but not THIS soon. I feel sorry for the poor souls that gave their hard-earned cash to HD DVD.

Was it Netfllix's announcement of the discontinuation of carrying HD DVDs in their library, OR

Best Buy's call to stop promoting HD DVDs in their ads and in-store promos and displays, OR

was it the technology itself?

I think it's funny now that the death of Beta to VHS was attributed to the porn industries adoption of the latter format. But today, in 2008, porn had nothing to do with it.

OR WHAT? I would love to hear opinions.

Denver's cool because?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:41:00 +0000

Denver is the 4th-greediest city in America?
California still #1 “exporter” of newcomers to Colorado.
Denver called #1 travel destination for 2008.
Denver and Colorado job growth beats national average for 2007.
Perception is everything – 61% believe we’re already in a recession.
2007 inflation highest in 17 years.
Colorado venture capital and M&A activity strong.
Early recovery? Some Denver real estate factors bucking national trends.
National retailers missing sales forecasts – badly.
Southwest Airlines proclaims Denver its fastest-growing city.
End of the gold rush? Colorado’s last gold mining operation sold.
Advertising inserts now ranked as the most influential ad medium.
Wal-Mart cuts nearly 1,000 magazine titles.
Digital TV conversion no boon for cable and satellite.
Online ad market to double by 2011.
Newspaper web site visitors at all-time high.

Our next new car...

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Meet the new Toyota iQ concept car that is one step closer to actual production and could come to the states soon.
The above picture is actually the production version.

Read more about it here.(Thanks Joy)