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October 08 My Favorite Nick (Part 1)
I couldn't resist these four. This kid is unbelievable. I swear, my sister should give motivational seminars for women with fertility problems. Keep trying, stay positive and look at what can happen:
Swear to God, I won the godparent lottery. If I could be guaranteed a Nick, I can honestly say that Ami and I would consider having a baby. Oh yeah, how 'bout some video of Ami and I cracking him up. The scream at :21 is worth it's weight in gold. August 13 Dad and Debby VisitMy dad and Debby arrived last Thursday, August 7th from Atlanta and stayed through Monday the 11th. We had a fantastic vacation with them, and ended up doing some of the Denver sightseeing that we never get around to doing. We did everything from visiting the Art Museum and Botanic Gardens to making a few trips to our new favorite pizza spot in the city - Marco's Coal Fired Pizza. If you haven't been there yet, their wings and Naples style pizza will rock your world. 21st and Larimer.
On Sunday night, we had an All-Parents BBQ and it was awesome. All of our parents and step parents came over for burgers and brats and Baron-time. I've attached a few pictures that I took when we were out in the backyard.
All-in-all, it was an amazing weekend. Thank you so much, Dad and Deb, for coming. You're as good of guests as you are hosts. We had a fantastic weekend with you two!
July 21 4th of July Weekend In Baton RougeWith all of the craziness surrounding Baron's surgery, I wasn't able to post pictures from the 4th of July weekend that we spent in Baton Rouge, for my godson Nick's baptism. It was a fantastic weekend full of seafood, snoballs and family.
Thanks to Jen and Dominic and everyone in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. We had an amazing trip and it was a blast seeing you all! We wouldn't have wanted to spend our 4th of July anywhere else than in the company of great family and friends. July 15 The Amazing Baron - Off The Injured Reserve!
Since I last updated, his condition just kept improving by the day. He never had another fever, and kept getting his strength and color back as the hours ticked on. His doctor called this morning to tell us that if he could eat something today, he'd be able to come home tonight. Unfortunately, he wouldn't touch anything they were giving him - no problem, daddy makes a wicked batch of cooked ground beef. We arrived at the hospital at lunchtime, grabbed one of the vet techs as a witness and he inhaled the beef. That was it, we were given clearance to pick him up after work. The vets and techs all autographed a bandanna for him, which he was wearing when they brought him into us. They also sent him packing with his favorite toy that he'd been playing with all day. They (once again) were all amazing and the great folks at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital are our new heroes. Before we get to the pictures, I have three words for you: Veterinary Pet Insurance. Although they'll only cover a fraction of the $8,000 bill (yikes), it's definitely a good thing to have. Okay, on to the good stuff...Here he is today and this evening as we're bringing him home!
July 13 The Amazing Baron *UPDATE*Well, it's most certainly been one of the longest, most traumatic days that we've ever lived through.
It's never a good sign when the radiologist tells you they've called in an emergency surgeon and anaesthesiologist, and "you need to spend some time with him before he goes in". I swear, for about four hours, we thought we were going to lose him. His fever was back to 106 and he was leaking septic fluids into his abdomen. The internist said that if he had a laceration on his intestines, the outlook wasn't very good, and her diagnosis was guarded.
After laying on the floor with him for fifteen minutes, we were notified that they needed to wheel him into the operating room. We gave him kisses and told that little s.o.b. that he was ABSOLUTELY NOT allowed to die on us.
We went to my moms house, and spent the next five hours with the family, which was wonderful. I think we'd have pulled our hair out if we'd have had to stay at the veterinary hospital.
Finally at 5:00, we started worrying - being that the surgery was only supposed to take an hour and a half. They got us on the phone with a technician, who went down to the O.R. and took our call from the scrub room. When she picked up the phone, we were expecting the worst. But I'll be damned...he did fantastic. Turned out, he had a ruptured spleen which was where the septic fluids were leaking from. After performing a thorough examination of every one of his internal mid-section organs, they removed his spleen, stitched his stomach to his abdominal wall (another story for another post) and sewed him back up.
The prognosis is very favorable. His recovery time will be a few weeks, and he should be back home by Tuesday. (Which is good, because Bubba is freaking out, without his puppy)
And we're just thrilled. Our baby is going to be safe and have a full recovery. Although the health of our bank account is another story entirely. I think we're going to have a "Baron Bake Sale" or "Baron Bikini Car Wash". Something like that.
Thank you SO much to all of you who've been on the phone and email all weekend, wanting status reports. And although they'll probably never read this, thank you to Jacke, Elizabeth, Dr. Fink and all of the other Emergency Care folks from Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital. If you're in Denver and ever need an amazing trauma unit, this is the place to go.
Oh, one last thing...Here's some pictures from tonight, after surgery. He was pretty doped up, but very responsive to us. Those of you who know Baron know that he was going crazy not being able to sniff around the vet hospital and give kisses to all of the girls in the triage area. I'm sure by tomorrow night, he'll have made 100 new friends, once he's up and about.
This is him in recovery. They shaved him up real nice for the procedure.
Here's his incision. All the way from his chest to his weiner. I know, I know..TMI.
And here's mommy cuddling. He was in need of some tlc. So were we.
The Amazing Baron
We had a very rough weekend with Baron, and I just wanted to keep you all in the loop.
On Friday night, we took him on a late walk and as we were bringing him inside the house, his leash got caught on the handle of our security door - pulling it into his ribs and pinching him between me and the door. He started yelping and crying so we massaged the area and decided to watch him overnight. Starting Saturday morning he was incredibly lethargic and had a fever, so we took him to our vet.
They transferred him to the Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital on an emergency basis to stabilize him because he was becoming unresponsive and breathing very heavily. They admitted him and started fluids and pain medication. He spent the night last night and they are running a series of tests this morning to try and determine if he has pancreatitis or any internal bleeding.
Things are very touch-and-go right now. His fever is back up and it looks like he might be there for a few days. We are on our way to the hospital now and will probably spend most of the day and evening there with him.
That’s the latest, for right now. He’s stable and in GREAT hands, so we’re expecting big things today from all of the tests they’re running. Please keep our little man in your thoughts.
(Here's a picture I took of him last night, thoroughly enoying the pain meds)
May 30 Jose Theodore's TattoosBack in March, Tony and I went to an autograph signing with the Avalanche's (current) goaltender Jose Theodore. I got a couple of shots of his Japanese 3/4 sleeve tattoo. Really nice work - I love the cherry blossoms.
May 14 Spring in NYCThis past week, I was fortunate enough to journey to the big city for a SQL Server 2008 lab, and ended up flying Ami out for the weekend. People keep asking us what we did, and I really don't have much of an answer other than eating a lot of great food and staying out of Times-Square. Oh, and we took a ton of pictures. Here is my photo journal of our weekend in New York City. We stayed at the Hilton Times Square, which aside from being in Times Square (yuk), it was a really nice hotel. We had a corner room on the 41st floor. It was super quiet and the views were amazing.
We ate at Grimaldi's Pizzeria, directly under the Brooklyn Bridge. Wicked good pizza. Similar to Lombardi's, with the Naples fresh-mozzarella style. I won't say that it was better than Lombardi's, but it was definitely as good.
We got some great pictures of the skyline, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Grand Central Station, Chrysler Tower, and a handful of other places.
Before Ami arrived, I went to Peanut Butter & Company and got "The Elvis".
"The Elvis" is a grilled peanut Butter sandwich, stuffed with bananas and honey - topped with bacon slices. It sounds nasty, but it was absolutely delicious. Oh, also, I went to Hello Deli one day and was served by Rupert. Rupert is always on the David Letterman show.
On Mother's Day, we went into Madison Square Park to try the Shake Shack. Seriously, this place's burgers were better than In 'N Out Burger. (which, if you know me, you know is my favorite)
I went by the Today Show taping, one morning and saw Al Roker and the rest of the gang, out in the courtyard area.
Then, Ami and I went to the Chelsea Market and saw the Food Network studios as well as a ton of great stores and bakeries. Amazing building full of tons of hidden treasures.
All in all, it was a great trip. The weather was terrible, but we were so happy to be in New York that we made the best of it. We ate like little piggies and had a blast! March 01 Dominick Joseph Sciortino III
Most of you know that my sister Jen (best sissy in the whole world) is pregnant. She was scheduled for her c-section, last Thursday, so my mom flew down to Baton Rouge and my dad and Deb drove down from Atlanta. Last Monday, I was able to book tickets, and decided to not tell any of them. (I like surprises -- ask Tiff & Trev)
Unfortunately, Aim had to stay in Denver, since her sister Jen was just arriving in town to visit for the weekend. :(
I took plenty of pictures, and called with a ton of updates.
I arrived in Baton Rouge Thursday afternoon, and after shocking my dad and Dominick, they secretly rushed me back to the prep room, and we popped the big surprise on my sister, who was about 5 minutes from being wheeled into the operating room. She, my mom, and Deb nearly died when I walked in the door. Everybody was crying - it was awesome. Perfectly executed surprise.
Four hours later, all 20 of us Marsells, Sciortinos, Hirschfelds, Bellangers, McQuiddys, etc..rushed in to meet the beautiful Dominick Joseph Sciortino III. We call him "Nick". He was born Thursday February 28th at 4:56pm, tipping the scales at 7lbs. 11ozs. and he is perfect. My godson is absolutely perfect...I was a gushing uncle, and still am. I was jumping at the opportunity to change dirty diapers, and hold him.
Jen is doing great, as is Dominick. They are so happy. We are all so happy, and we're so excited that we got to meet and spend time with what will most certainly end up the most loved baby boy in Baton Rouge.
Congratulations, Jen Bear, and thank you for allowing me to be part of three of the greatest days of my life. You and Dominick are the perfect couple, and now have a perfect addition to the family.
p.s. - for those of you who thought I'd come back to Denver immediately ready to have a baby, you're wroooong. I knew my will power would win out.
And, here's some video I shot on Friday night:
February 25 Now (Officially) A CelebrityI was on TV, tonight! I know...pretty cool, huh?
Our neighborhood (San Rafael) has been fighting to protect our zoning against big buildings and apartment complexes for just over a year. I enthusiastically joined the march last year, and after rounds of meetings, petition signings and yard signs everywhere, our City Council Meeting was finally tonight. Over 50 neighbors attended the meeting, and 26 agreed to get up in front of the city council and talk about our neighborhood needed to be protected. I volunteered, jotted down a few notes, and jumped up and spoke. It was totally fun!
The bill passed unanimously, and the wonderfully historic neighborhood of San Rafael is now protected by the OD-9 Overlay. Yay, us!
If you're looking for an autograph, contact my publicist at: baron_the_wonderdog@marsell.com.
February 05 iPhone FanboyAs you may or may not know, the iPhone
So last Tuesday I suck it up and buy an 8GB iPhone.
This morning, Apple makes the announcement that a 16GB iPhone is available to the public.
So, after a $100 upgrade and a $40 restocking fee, I'm the proud owner of a 16GB iPhone. If there's any technology that you're wanting to come out, and don't want to wait any longer for, just give me the money to buy it's previous version. That'll guarantee you that the new version will be released one week later.
Okay, back to the point. Having played with an 8GB for just under a week, I absolutely love this electronic piece of heaven. I ride the light rail to work in the mornings, and all of a sudden, I'm wishing my ride was longer than 7 minutes. Why didn't I have one of these when I lived 35 minutes from work.
On one single device, in a span of about 10 minutes, I can do all of the following:
- Send a text message to Ami and tell her I love her
- Take a picture of the bum passed out in the seat across from me
- Email that picture to ten friends (or at least Tiff)
- GPS my exact location on Google Maps, so I know exactly how close I live to my office
- Watch 1.5 minutes of an episode of The Office Season Three
- Listen to 30 seconds of my favorite Hillary Duff song
- Check the weather of Denver, Big Canoe, Playa Del Carmen, and Paris
- View my calendar items for the day so I know how many pointless meetings I have to attend
- Watch a YouTube video of Baron tearing through my living room
- Browse to ANY website on the internet and view their (non-mobile) version of the page
Yeah, it's that great. I love this thing. Is it the best gadget I've ever bought? I'm gonna say that it's right up there with my first MP3 Player and my Xbox 360, so pretty close. If you haven't played with one yet, stop by the Apple store and get addicted.
January 10 HD DVD vs. Blu-ray WarHappy Thursday! If you are considering selling an HD DVD player on eBay, you'd better get it listed today. Universal HD DVD contract expires (and most importantly, from last week) Honestly, I'm not sure how HD DVD could rebound from this chain of losses. It's not an official victory, yet, but I'd consider this one a foregone conclusion. As an owner of both Blu-ray and HD DVD, I really didn't care which one won the war, so long as the war ended. Looks like we're getting close. January 08 The Amazing BaronDecember 28 Avalanche vs. Red Wings 12/27/07
December 15 Ami Reacts to 2 Girls, 1 CupDisclaimer: If you go and find the video, you're on your own. Good luck and may God have mercy on your soul. December 11 Flogging Molly Live
Fortunately, we live downtown now. The Flogging Molly concert started at 8pm, and there were two opening acts. So, at 9:00, we threw on our parkas and the boots and trudged out into the silent, empty streets with one destination in mind. The Fillmore Auditorium at Colfax and Clarkson. We live on 23rd and Emerson, which is one block over and eight blocks up. Piece of cake. We walked two blocks and flagged down a fishtailing, smoke-ridden cab. :)
We arrived, and the second opening band was just finishing up. We hit the bar for two MGDs and two shots of Jager, and just hung out and talked until the sound check was over. We moved up to the first 1/3 of the hall, and squeezed our way into a pack of kids, right in front of the soundboard. When the band came out, the sound and view was perfect - not too close, to mistakenly end up in the mosh pit and not too far, to not be able to see their faces. If you've never been to The Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, you really have to see it to believe it. It was my first ever concert there, and the place was massive. I'm used to going to shows at The Gothic and The Ogden and The Aztlan, where everyone is crammed into about 2,000 square feet. The Fillmore holds thousands of people and used to be an indoor sports facility. It's standing room only, and the standing area rests beneath giant glass chandeliers, bathed in purple light. It's an amazing venue.
The concert was amazing. They played every one of our favorite songs, which never seems to happen at concerts anymore. They played "Seven Deadly Sins" as the encore song, which was the first Flogging Molly song I had ever heard and one of my very favorite songs. The sound was tight and every chord was legible - every beat on the accordion was clean. They played a total of about 20 songs, and they were all hits. It was like listening to a live album. I've been to alot of concerts over the years, from Rush to Ice Cube to Nirvana to George Benson to The Exploited to Wu Tang Clan to Jimmy Eat World to Circle Jerks to Outkast to Earl Klugh to Boyz II Men to Fugazi and on and on and on. The Flogging Molly show was definitely in the top five. November 30 A Fallen FriendI had a bad feeling, yesterday, when my boss Linc grabbed my arm and asked me if I could come into the board room for a minute. The first thing that popped into my mind was that someone on the team had given their notice. I wish it had been that.
Aaron P., one of my friends, and one of our team of developers had committed suicide. He hadn't been to work in a few days, and a good friend (and other co-worker) went to check on him and found him.
I was just starting to get to know Aaron, as our paths really just started to cross from some workgroups that we were in together. At first, I (admittedly) didn't get along with him because we were both strong personalities and in my experience, cocky guys don't always get along well with other cocky guys. Aaron was cocky, but that was cool because Aaron was smart and could back it up. He was young, so we all just kind of knew that he was proving himself, and he did. He was the kind of developer that always knew the cutting edge tools, way before you did. And you'd just sit in a meeting with him and nod, as though you'd heard of this killer app too, while secretly writing down it's name so you could research it when you got back to your desk. Believe me, I was guilty of doing this more than once.
So, now he's gone. And my heart hurts for the pain he must've felt that drove him to this. Those of you who know me well know that I've not had a favorable history with loved ones and suicide. I hate it. I hate it's essence and I hate that good people are so tortured inside that they fall by it.
My thoughts are with Aaron's family and his closest of friends. Especially his four-year-old son. His dad was a good man.
September 20 Mission TV Mount AccomplishedThis is kind of cool. I got a wall mount for our new TV and my good friend Austin helped me mount it last night. It's articulating, so we can turn the TV towards the kitchen when we're cooking. It also lies flat against the wall, when you're sitting in front of it.
It took us about 2 hours total to mount it. I think both of our hearts nearly stopped when we hung the TV and about thirty seconds later, one of the wall bolts pulled out of the wall. Yikes. Apparently, we had sunk the bolt into the edge of a stud, and it didn't have a full grip. Thank God we found it when we did, or Ami and I would've had a rude awakening at about midnight.
September 08 Our New House!We bought a house! Our closing is this coming Wednesday and we'll move in next weekend.
It is less than a mile from Lodo ("Lower Downtown Denver"), and walking distance to all of the buildings, restaurants, sports arenas and bars.
Here's a map, showing it's proximity -- the location is absolutely amazing.
We were very fortunate to buy in this terrible real estate market, because we got a brand new 3,000 square foot home in downtown. It was a headache selling our Highlands Ranch house, but it was SO worth it.
By the way, when you look at the exterior picture, below, we're on the right-hand side. The next door unit is owned by the builder, and from what I hear, it's a beast, at just over 4,000 square feet!
Come see us, we can walk to a Broncos game! Or Six Flags Elitch Gardens. Or an Avalanche game. Or the Denver Pavillions. Or the Art Museum. Or a Rockies game. Or the Zoo.
You get the point. :)
August 25 Goodbye Willowick HouseAfter five years, we are officially moved out of our Willowick house, in Highlands Ranch. A team of eight of us loaded up all of our belongings into a POD unit, did a final cleaning, and moved out at roughly 4pm.
It was a little bit emotional, doing our final walkthrough and seeing "our home" completely empty. Those of you who have been through it before will surely understand. When you finally close the door and shut the garage door for the very last time, the lump in the throat wells up. Maybe it's just because it was our first home...maybe it was because we were thoroughly exhausted, but driving away was certainly harder than I think either of us imagined.
But we did it. And we're moved in to our temporary home base, which is a Lodo condo, off of 27th and Blake. We are a stone's throw from Coors Field, and directly across the street from Ami's work. It's kind of cool being directly in the heart of the city. I've always lived in the 'burbs, so this is an entirely new experience for me. I'm excited - it's a taste of what's to come.
So, where does that leave us, now? Well the computer is up and running, the condo is fully furnished, and I'm about to hook up my Xbox 360, so life can go completely back to normal.
Come visit us. The location is fantastic! |
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