Grad School Update...

...Just not the one I wanted. :-(

February 20, 2009

Mr. Thomas Zumbado

Salt Lake City, UT 84112

Dear Mr. Zumbado:

Thank you for applying to our Graduate School for the 2009-2010 academic year. While I assure you that the materials you submitted were carefully reviewed by the faculty in the Department of Politics and by the Graduate School, I regret to inform you that the department did not recommend your admission for the coming year.

The number of places available at Princeton for entering graduate students is extremely limited and we cannot offer admission to all who are well-qualified. Indeed, many departments consistently have applicants who would be admitted without hesitation if the resources were available. Our decisions take into account not only the applicants’ merits, but also the suitability of the department’s programs to the candidates’ expressed interests. Our goal is to achieve a sound match between the strengths of our programs and the interests of the relatively small number of outstanding students that can be accommodated.

We chose to advise you of our decision via email on the assumption that a timely response would outweigh the informality of this means of communication. I would be happy to provide a formal letter upon request.

I wish you success in your plans for graduate study and thank you for considering Princeton University.

Sincerely,

William B. Russel

Dean of the Graduate School

Pancreawhatis?

Prancreatitis...or an inflammation of the pancreas.

Lisa's surgery has come and gone. And as predicted, her real trial has started.
She was laid out after the procedure, in horrible pain and unable to move.
It didn't matter to her though, because she was certain that she would be coming home on Tuesday...today.

Sadly, her release has been postponed due to an onset of pancreatitis.
I never quite caught the how's and why's, but I imagine it had something to do with her gall stones and the Docs roto-rootering her guts to remove the gall bladder. Yep...good stuff.
As of now, she's resting "comfortably" and preparing herself for her eventual discharge.

As for the kids, I guess they're doing as well as can be expected.
Some of Vince's anxious ticks have returned. (Collar-chewing and Nail-biting.)
As for Amy, I think she's finally getting used to me. Her nighttime cries aren't as harrowing as before and she's finally getting used to me at night.
...In fact, she woke up last night to make sure I was still nearby before drifting back to sleep.
Eureka, I've been accepted into her culture!

In regards to classes and other school responsibilities, I've been in touch with all my bosses and professors. And so far, everyone has been cool with my family's predicament.
It pays to be a good student!


Nonetheless, I'm worried about falling behind. And the fact that I can't work is a bit of a burden, too. I guess my report to you, dear readers, is that we're holding steady....for now.

The only unknown is Lisa's recovery time.
I'm not too sure we can keep this routine going for long.


CRAP! What the heck am I going to do about scouts?!?

Gall Bladder Blues...

Man, what a bummer.

Lisa's GB has launched its most brutal attack so far. So brutal in fact, that it's laid my muse out in the hospital for about three days. Yeah, the pain was pretty rough when she went to the ER. But now she's safely tucked away, undergoing her medical tests / procedures and living pain-free thanks to St. Morphinius.

(Yeah, Lisa's Gall Bladder saga will probably start after her surgery....my poor sweetie.)


As for me however, my GB epic is in full swing.
You see, I've got the pleasure of looking after a nursing infant without the support of nursing implements. Oh sure, I've got plenty of bottles and sippy cups; not to mention enough milk, formula and pediasure to put a Babies R' Us to shame.

But is that good enough for baby-girl? Oh, nononononooo.
She can spot a fake blindfolded in a pitch black night....which is usually o'dark-thirty here in SLC when she wakes up lookin' for liquid goodness.
Needless to say, when dumb ol' pops tries to feed her with a bottle, she starts kicking harder than Chun-li. Good times.

Thankfully, Vince's been a champ throughout this whole ordeal. (Actually, "Ordeal" is more my label. Vince thinks of this more as "That-Time-Daddy-Was-Trippin'-'Cause-Mommy-Was-In-The Hospital" or "Saturday.")
In all seriousness, Vince has been incredibly cooperative, helpfuland even supportive. Nine years old and he still finds ways to surprise me. I'm getting that boy a Sundae when this blows over.

What's really lifted my spirit though is how much folks have been looking out for the Kids and I. We've gotten tons of phone calls and favors from all my friends and neighbors. Heck, we even had one of my Cub Moms grab us a pizza and agree to watch Amy on Monday for the first day of Spring semester classes. (What a peach! She gets a gold star in my Cool Book.)
I've got to admit, it's nice to feel the love. Thanks to everyone for thinking about us.

In the end, I imagine this is one of those adventures in fatherhood that I'm going to laugh about when I'm old and grey. (Well, old-er and grey-er.)
Nonetheless, this whole experience has given me a newfound respect for my wife and what she endures. Amy's perfectly content with Daddy when its daytime. But when it's dark, no one but Mommy will do.

"Mother" really is the word for "God" in the mouths of infants.

Gotta go. Amy's waking up.

Winter Break 7

Some images from the ride home from Denver, CO.


The trip through mountainous Colorado was a snowy mess.
Thankfully, the highway was pretty clear.
Three cheers for Snow Plow Drivers!






Once off the highways however, road maintenance fell to the local municipalities....who apparently couldn't kick down some of that fat skiing revenue to buy a decent plow.







Ski towns do have some great g'nosh, though.
This place had some dynamite burgers.

(Backcountry Brewery, Frisco CO)






On the way to Grand Junction, we stopped in a place called Rifle, CO. Whew. Talk about your one-horse towns.








Yep. It's all about priorities in good ol' Rifle.
This shot was too good to let go.

I don't think I've ever seen anything like this in UT. What a boring state!





In GJ, I treated the kids to a nice warm bath.
As much as they may fight like cats n' dogs, they absolutely love to bathe together. It was a trip highlight....and perfect fodder for when they get older! ;-)





On to the videos!

Winter Break 5: Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas morning was a mad rush to get ready and head over to Ron's place. Mom had planned on taking some actual "portraits."

Sorry, this is as good as it gets with an Autie and a cranky toddler.






As usual, the presents were the biggest highlight for the kids!

A puzzle for my sweetie...







An interactive electronic game for Squirt...









A Little People dump truck for Amy...









And some Mr. Potatohead goodness for Boobaloo...
(a sure-fire win)








Amy's "big gift" was a Radio Flyer Inchworm that she absolutely loved!








No. Really. She...um...loved it!!!









Well. At least Vince got a kick out of it.







After spending the morning with the Watsons, we all loaded up the car and motored off to spend time with the Porches.


We were greeted at the door by Anne's big ol' Golden Lab.









Until finally all the Porches started showing up.
There's crazy Uncle Vince, my Vince's godfather.








Grandma Bea was a firecracker as usual.









Here was the full Porch presence for Christmas '08.
Where's Kevin and Chris?








Even with all the loot he got for Christmas, Vince was still entertained by the smallest things. In this case, Anne's "Dancing Santa" got the MVP. Thanks, Kringle.







Ho-HO! This spot was saved for a picture of Vince and Amy with all their Porch cousins!
But you know what? They IGNORED my kids the whole damned time we were there. Not even a "Hi" or a "Thanks" or a "Koochie-koo" or nothing. I don't think they spoke one damned word to us that I didn't pry out of their mouths. Way to show some love to the family, guys.
Don't mind my little retard.

Fuckers.



But, I refuse to end this post on a low note......

Peek-a-boo, Grandma!!!










Lots of lessons learned on this trip.
Lots of little nuggets of knowledge that I've locked away in my mind for next time.
Man, do I miss my family in CA.

Winter Break 4

The very next day, we took in the sights of beautiful downtown Denver.

Naturally, the political scientist in me was eager to tour the state capital building.











And I'm glad we did!
The legislature chambers were an incredible sight.







So was the view from the front door.

(That's the city-county building over there across the park, btw.)






Vince was pretty jazzed about the state Christmas tree.













But I just couldn't get enough of the beautiful architecture.









Neat, no?









We were checking out the little museum on the top floor when an incredible opportunity arose...








...to actually ascend the maintenance stairs and check out the tower balcony!






This was too awesome! The day was clear and beautiful.








That's Pike's Peak in the background.








And here's a shot of the Denver skyline.








To the south, we caught a glimpse of the Denver Cathedral and decided to check that out next.







We thanked our well-informed tour guide and set out on the streets again.







When we arrived to the cathedral, I started snapping photos of anything that looked interesting.












Look at those stained glass windows!








And how about that gorgeous altar?










The pipe organ was a real marvel, too. Sadly, I don't think this image does it justice.








And here's the little nook where I lit a candle for my babies.








After our trip to the church, we drove around to look at some other sights.

This is the house of the unsinkable Molly Brown.









And this is the big blue bear looking into the convention center.

I'm not sure what the point was of putting it there, but admittedly I'm not much of an art guy.




OK, so more winter break pics will be posted shortly!
Adios!

Winter Break 3

Our first night in Denver was a bit rough.
Amy complained quite vociferously about having to go to sleep and Vince was all knees and elbows. (Ouch!)

In the morning, we cleaned up, ate breakfast and motored up to Great Grandma Bea's in Aurora for a visit. I was a little worried about getting lost at first, but Denver's pretty easy to navigate if you just take your time and pre-plan your route.


Bea was as live a wire as ever. She was so happy to see Amy and Vince, she didn't even mind when Amy rifled through all her pretty porcelain knick-knacks and Vince went exploring.

(Before you say anything, I wiped that booger off of Amy's face right after the shot.)







Amy was especially friendly on this trip. She didn't shy away from either of our hosts. In fact, it wasn't long before she had Great Uncle Kerry wrapped around her finger!








Kerry was a champ and let Amy play with this novelty snowman doo-dad that sang and swayed to three different songs every time anybody breathed hard.

Yeah, it was a little annoying...





But the wilas couldn't get enough of it.
It even brought Squirt out of his little hidy-hole to be sociable.
Not too shabby.





After a great Mexican lunch from this little hole-in-the-wall place called El Lucerito, we said our goodbyes to Bea and Kerry (until Xmas) and hooked up with Cheri and Mike again for our next Denver adventure:


Oh, yeah. You know the kids loved this one!




In fact, we were all pretty excited to go on this trip. The exhibits were said to be top-notch and the admissions price had recently dropped from $20 to $13. (How generous.)







Not normally a guy who likes posing for photos, Vince didn't mind mugging with this toothy dude. I think it might have reminded Squirt of this fella.






Not to worry, though. Vince's enthusiasm for modeling quickly dwindled once we got inside.







As with the Glenwood Springs pool, Amy was a little freaked out by all the water....along with all the incredibly large fish inside that could eat her.






Vince on the other hand, got as close as he could to every exhibit.
He's still our big waterbaby.






As always, Lisa played the supermom that held things together. Along with keeping track of Vince, she also coaxed Amy out of her shell and helped her enjoy the exhibits more.







Cheri and Mike were happy to see the kids enjoying the aquarium.
But I think Cheri may have been more scared of the camera than the sharks! ;-)






Here's Grandma and Vince, taking in the scenery.








Lisa got this great shot of a Moray Eel.
Shoot, those things are ug-ly.












She even got this shot of a Nurse Shark taking a break.








But her best shot was of this wary diver keeping an eye on one of the tank's big-boys during a scenery scrub down.

Man, that fish was huuuuge.




I forgot to mention. Lisa offered to take charge of the photography chores while I helped the guys enjoy the show.

Here's Amy and I.






And here's a shot of the three of us at the Tiger exhibit....













That's right. It's an aquarium with a Tiger exhibit.
He looked pretty hungry, too. Gulp!







The shark tank was the real hit of the show.
Vince totally dug it....really.












Another image of Vince, Amy and I taken through Lisa-Vision.
I swear, my wife's really got an eye for photos.

(See how the light reflects off of my bald spot? Timeless.)








At the end of the trip, we decided to take a dessert break at the fancy restaurant inside the facility. $30 a plate? No thanks, I'll have the pie.






This was so much fun.
I can't wait to see what we do tomorrow.