Katie, Taras and Lucy visit

meet Zoe, give us even MORE cool stuff, and try out the climbing wall

Thanks guys!

more baby pics

Death valley

an article on Death Valley in todays sfgate.

climbing wall complete

Finally! I had wanted to put a dead vertical section on the right hand side of the wall (just to cap the structure), but chloe convinced me to try out an idea I had drawn up for a full extra 4 foot section which makes a 30-45 degree angle with the 50 degree overhang. The advantage of this vs. and end cap is more climbing area and a very cool overhanging blunt arete. The disadvantage is that it requires a lot of careful measurements and cutting (for me, at least), so I drew up plans on google sketchup to avoid calculating angles and where to cut the plywood. After getting my next door neighbor tom to put a 30 degree bevel on two 2x6s, measuring everything three times and finally cutting the plywood it came time to get the damn sheet up into the overhang. Tom was sick and unable to assist or lend me his clamps, so I attached it with a rope and Christa and Stephanie's help. The end result was well worth the effort, so now it's route setting time!






The framework is actually kind of cool to play around with behind the wall -- I guess we could use it for storage or something.



a Sketchup file of the wall (without a lot of the framing) can be downloaded here

halloween

The realization that it was Halloween barely registered in our sleep deprived zombie brains today. I'm sure the parents out there can understand how low on the list of priorities finding a costume for a six day old baby who sleeps during the day and parties all night is. Nevertheless, it seemed a shame to let the opportunity go to waste, so without further ado, I give you ... FUTURE ZOE

Christa and Stephanie coming to help!

And to continue the much appreciated work of bringing us food (oh and to play with snd coo over the baby of course). I actually hadn't anticipated how helpful it is to have people (friends, family) bring meals by .. it really helps a lot, especially with chloe out of commission and requiring upped caloric intake. I'm definitely going to do that for any friends who have babies in the future.

Doctors appointment

Zoe is gaining weight after losing a bit in the first few days (normal) and she is back up to 8 lbs, 8 oz. Here's some pictures of the little butter ball from today

Zoe's first earthquake

and she maintained admirable sangfroid

ergh

first night alone with the baby, and the little thing is still apparently on a nocturnal schedule.

Just got back home

We got kicked out of the hospital this afternoon, laden with diapers, ointments and a lot of frequently contradictory advice. We got home to discover that the grandparents had put up balloons and welcome posters at out place, and our neighbor had even built us a table and left me a couple of beers! I've been running around trying to find places for all of the little baby-related things.

Also, I'm not sure if this is normal, but I'm feeling a tad sleepy now.

some photos

OK, I promise this won't become the Zoeblog, but here are a few more pictures:

More zoe

Zoe

ZZN!

zoe, 8 lbs, 12 oz (yes, you read that right) was born at 16:06 by C section. The mother and daughter are both doing great. Thanks for everyones support!

c section scheduled

thanks everyone! Chloe is doing a lot better now and pushing like a champ!

the epidural

after 57 hours of labor, Chloe was just in too much pain to continue without an epidural. They put it in a little while ago and Chloe is sleeping now. Wish us luck!

epidural just went in

Back at hospital

6 cm 100% effaced. We are getting admitted!

leaving for hospital

just called the hospital

And they recommended staying home for as long as possible. Unfortunately, the lower dose of morphine hasn't really helped chloe this time and she hasn't been able to sleep.

mmmm dopo takeout

no speck pizza tonight though :(

going home again

only 3.5 cm

back to the hospital

we're heading back to the hospital in ten minutes again

stiiiiill @home

contractions are longer but nothing new to report

still @home

Chloe got some sleep, thanks to the morphine.

Coming back from the hospital!

Only 2 cm. It should happen today though

going to the hospital!

Climbing wall 3

last update for a while...

put on some final panels (The bottom ply and some nice diagonal pieces)



and gave it a try:

panel 2

After convincing my neighbor Tom to give me a ride to Economy Lumber in exchange for some 2x4s and beer, I installed my carefully calculated diagnoal supports and framing. Next came the attachment of the plywood with anti slip paint and T-nuts ( I also found a good source of them: 50 for $12 at a place just down the street from us).



With the trip to the lumber yard, this took the better part of two hours, which got me in roughly under the 6:30 "quiet time" deadline at the macaroni factory. I painted another sheet of ply and then installed the campus rungs... they're way too positive, so I might flip them upside down or something.


I still don't really have many holds, but I added a few holds to bridge the gap between the 19 degree wall and 50 degree walls and gave it a try



And chloe couldn't resist a dead hang too!

Here is the present state. The upper sheets are each standard 8x4 foot CDX 3/4 inch ply.

Still to be done:

side panel(s)
lower panel for footholds
buying of non-boring shapes

so far my favorite shapes are from soillholds.com and stoneageclimbing.com Strangely, despite the fact that Touchstone Climbing (The owner of our gym) also owns Stone Age, they don't sell Stone Age holds in their pro shops! Arrrgh. I covet those Echo Stones!!!

Climbing Wall

Because I foresee fewer visits to the gym in the coming months, I finally decided to buckle down and start building a home wall. Also, when will we ever have 12 foot ceilings again? I cajoled Paul to come by and help plan and build the wall -- thanks man! The most time consuming part was just anchoring the damn base board into the cement: the guy at Economy Lumber steered us wrong on the correct masonry bit size. After another visit to the lumber yard (Ashby Lumber this time), we got bigger bolts and the base board is now very solidly attached to the floor via 1/2 inch expansion bolts. Paul and I managed to get the basic frame, as well as one diagonal support up yesterday. Between yesterday evening and tonight I put in some cross bracing, painted the plywood sheets (I added some anti skid silica to the paint for roughness) and screwed two panels into the framework. I got the plywood sheet up with the help of our neighbor and some clever clampwork -- that guy has some cool tricks up his sleeve! There's still a decent amount of work to be done, but I couldn't resist bolting some holds on and taking it for a spin. It's very solid with no perceptible flex so far. Next comes the second panel. Before I do that, I need to find a cheaper source of T-nuts though.

yesterday:

Today (added cross bars)

The tape measure in my hand somehow lost a chunk of steel, turning it into a spring loaded finger slicing razor blade.


Note the clamped 2x4 under the overhang and the pushing device to the right. The trick is to clamp the 2x4, slide the plywood sheet into the small gap, then push the sheet up with the pusher. Once up, the pusher braces the sheet against the ground. Smart, but I liked my idea of getting enraged, turning into The Hulk, and throwing the plywood sheet into place better. Next time.


Sheet up, holds on:


First vertical section screwed on:

Due date

Chloe is due tomorrow. I have the sneaking suspicion that our lives might be about to change.

In other news, I had a dream that we walked down to the waterfront which had become a large Alp, and I discovered that there were beautiful bolted limestone and granite cliffs waiting to be climbed. But no, I don't miss France at all.

Dopo

After seeing a favorable video review of Dopo in the paper, chloe and I decided to treat ourselves to a dinner there. The line was pretty ridiculous on a Saturday evening, and like many other restaurants in the area, they don't take reservations (WHY?!). We waited for about an hour to get in, during which time we were treated to the view of a woman's ass crack squeezed up against the window. I mean really: if you're going to wear those hideous lowrider pants, DON'T lean too far forward, and DON'T take the seat in front of the floor to ceiling plate glass windows.

I didn't know what "Speck" was before eating here, but I wasn't very excited about the name. It sounded like some kind of German animal by-product. Luckily, I googled it while we were waiting, and it turned out to be a lot better than the name would imply. It's a juniper smoked ham, and I say "luckily" because it was excellent, and you could really taste the juniper.

Chloe ordered the mozarella pizza, which was also very good, but don't let the heaping boulders of buffala (i.e. real ) mozarella in the video fool you: They are much less generous when they aren't on video. You could barely tell where the cheese was!

Overall, the food was excellent.