J. Jason Lazarus Blog

Thought I’d share. Deanna’s doing fine and everything is going well. Apparently the appointments begin to get a bit more regular at this point - so next month we’ll start seeing the doctor on a two-week basis or so.

Deanna’s been seeing first hand my apprehension about being a new father - not that I’m regretting my choice, lord no - but I do get worried, what with my lack of experience with babies, that I’ll be a good father. She ended up buying me a card and a few baby-related gifts the other day from Barnes & Noble to try and tell me that I’ll do fine - little things that’ll give me ideas on activities with the baby and how I can be the best father I can.

As simple of a fix as it may be, it really worked on me and I’m feeling much better about the prospects, granted, mainly because she believes I’ll be a good father. Once again, I truly can’t wait!

Baby Heart Beat (MP3) - Week 23

So, I did it. Yup, I got my iPod Touch. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the one that was going to be engraved - I canceled my online order due to the late shipping date - but I did manage to grab up one of the first ones to get here locally. I know a lot of you are wondering why the heck I need yet another iPod. To be honest, now this is the only iPod I need. It does all what my video iPod did yet minus the weight and bulk - this thing is slender and ten times more useful than any other iPod has been before. Between having the ability to buy itunes from my iPod, surf the web via a fully functional web browser from my iPod and carry my photos with me and be able to zoom in on them - man this machine is an outstanding and revolutionary peice of bling.
It has truly been surgically attached to me the last couple days and I don’t think that’ll wear off anytime soon. The one thing, unlike the other iPods I’ve had in the past, that I’m worried about is actually keeping it scratch-free. My ipod video still has its original protector on front but the back has been scratched to all hell - my touch right now has a temporary screen on both the back and front as I currently await the arrival of my
Gelaskin for it.. Being the gamer geek I am, I thought it would be only appropriate of me to lay down some cash for a gamer-inspired protective coating - and being their only one, not to mention a pretty awesome one at that, I got this one. I’d seen gelaskins at Macworld for the past two years but have failed to get up the gumption to buy one - now I’ve got not only a iPod Touch Gelaskin racing to me from the outskirts of Toronto, but also one for the top of my Macbook. I’ve seen how they work and they’re extremely durable and very, very shiny and pretty. Can’t wait to get it - it should be here tomorrow.
Aside from that, like so many new gadget owners I’m considering contacting Apple and see if they’ll pay me for all the hours I’m spending giving technical demos for the Touch. I’ve, in less than a week, given at least 10 demos for it, and with the weekend fast approaching, that number is bound to go up. If they’d hurry up and stock the stores around Fairbanks, people might actually rush out and get them after simply watching me tout my Apple bling.
Yes, I know, it really is only bling - a status symbol, a simple, narcissistic plot to attract attention from any gadget hound. Yes, I know all this and I’m pretty darn comfortable with the fact that I have a Touch simply for those reasons. Just know one thing as you criticize me - I’m better than you simply because I do have one.

of coarse, I jest… but only a little.

So…. this ultrasound wasn’t as awe-inspiring as others mainly because it was so up-close that you couldn’t tell hide or hair of half the parts of the baby the doc kept on pointing out - he had it so zoomed in that seeing anything even close to recognizable was nearly impossible! That being said, it was another welcomed sigh of relief and confirmation that everything is not only on track but things are going good. Apparently the Femur length was longer than usual by about 2 weeks and yet the head is on track - we’ve heard a lot of thoughts on this from people that probably don’t know enough to say anything for sure, but the doctor reassured us that everything is going well. From a laymen’s perspective, that might mean we’ve got a Valentine’s Day baby on the way! Who knows!

Nonetheless, more and more each day I’m really, really looking forward to being a dad. I just hope I’ll be a good one! Also, we’re still hoping to not get a sign of what the gender is, thus why we’re not looking over and over at the video - we want it to be a surprise!

Anyways, here’s the Week 20 Ultrasound

Apparently I’ve got more consoles than I previously thought - this entry brings the grand total to 21. I suppose I’m officially crazy. Especially when you start considering that I really don’t have anything from the early years of video games - I even seem a little more obsessed. In fact, the Intellivision is now the oldest game console I own. According to wikipedia, it’s part of what’s considered the “second generation” of game consoles - to translate into laymen’s, made before most of you were walking and some of you were born. Ah, yes, the Intellivision reigned supreme during an era where box art held our imaginations as high as clouds cause, God knows, the graphics couldn’t. This is when you could, nay, were required, to imagine what was going on cause the 16-some-odd pixels that might make up your little ET on the screen wasn’t going to show you any emotion.
I suppose this is why I’ve always avoided game systems from this era - the gameplay is nostalgic (my family did have an Atari) but it leaves so much to be desired. It’s amazing to think that back then so many companies all at the same time were going after such a large audience - with literally contrite crap.
Now, now, I wouldn’t be a tech if I didn’t understand that computer systems of the day couldn’t pump out graphics - but damn - these people were paying upwards to what we pay now for these games nearly thirty years ago - granted, they were revolutionary but the interactivity alone couldn’t have been the only thing winning people over from television or, for that matter, printed books! No wonder people thought video games was a dying fad in the early 80’s!
You’d think listening to me I’m anti-classic video games - but to the contrary, I respect their historical value and their indelible mark they’ve placed on society - were it not for our roots, us gamers would have no history. That being said, I don’t think I’ll be playing Lock & Chase for the Intellivision to the bitter end - but for momentary reminiscence and a fleeting distraction? Whatever could be better than a game system made by the same people that makes Barbie Dolls?

Here’s a list of the games, that thanks to my super-amazing friend Ashlee, I have:
AD&D, AD&D: Treasure of Tarmin, Armor Battle, Atlantis, Auto Racing ,B-17 Bomber, Baseball, Bomb Squad, Frogger, Happy Trails, Horse Racing, Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack, Lock & Chase, NASL Soccer, Skiing, Space Hawk, Space Armada, Sub Hunt, Venture

So, it’s now been quite a while since I started this blog and I’ve got to say that I use it a heck of a lot more than I thought that I would - but not nearly as much as I should.
I intentionally took this picture almost a month ago to complain that Fall as already here and that I had no idea where the summer had gone - and now, as I write this blog, we’ve got a good quarter inch of snow on the ground for the past three days. I think it’s decided to stick very early this year - well, at least early in terms of previous years. August 26th was the earliest that I ever saw snow in Fairbanks stick for the season, but with Al Gore around more and more often, it’s more than likely going to continue to happen later and later. Least it isn’t as bad as the last few years where we didn’t see snow until late October to mid-November.
Gallery News: I’ve got two pieces sitting in a new gallery for the entire month of October - this time a little closer to town. The Annex, one of Fairbanks’ more honored galleries, is in the middle of having a community invitational to anyone that wants to display their work - and thankfully I have in-the-know friends like Bonnie that keep me informed of such things. There’s also talk of Bonnie and I doing a joint-show hopefully by the beginning of the year somewhere downtown - cross your fingers!
Baby Update: Actually, in this case I suppose no news is good news - Deanna has continued to have a stellar pregnancy - no tough pains, cravings, no morning sickness at all, and is finally starting to show and “round out”. Later on this week we’ll get our 20th week ultrasound and that’ll be posted ASAP on Thursday. I’ve already started reading to the baby and Deanna’s now able to feel the baby on a semi-regular basis.
Gaming Update: As shocking as it may be, I’ve actually been beating games lately. Yes, I’ve actually played two non-Final Fantasy games all the way to the bitter end - how crazy is that? Bioshock, which is possibly one of the most exciting and visually stunning games I’ve played in years, was finished almost a month ago at this point. I could almost say I raced through the game - finishing it within the first two weeks of its release, but through it all I had a blast. Any game that gets you staring at the physics and light dynamics behind blood splatter has got to be worth your time. Crackdown has also been offically beaten although like any GTA ripoff, there’s a lot more gameplay there. I’m also currently in the middle of Rogue Galaxy for the PS2 (about 8 hours in) and Resident Evil 4 for the Wii (about 16 hours in). I also recently picked up My Sims for the Wii and have unfortunately fallen for its insane amount of cuteness. I have no idea why I like such a simplistic, borderline idiotic game, but damn is it ever catchy. Game nights have been pretty regular over at my house and I’ve been having some new friends over lately and have just been loving it. I managed to play probably about four hours of Halo 3 multiplayer with four friends over the weekend - one being a co-worker, and had an absolute blast. Lemme see, got a new DS about a month ago - one of the Brain Age 2 Crimson-and-Black ones. Had no clue that the screens were truly that much better - that alone completely justified the purchase. Oh, and notch it up one more - I’ve got, I believe, 19 game consoles now. Ashlee just sent her Intellivision with several games to me - here’s to hoping all works fine!

Camera Update: Not much to mention here - aside from the fact that I’ve got a new camera. Even after a healthy dose of badgering Bonnie for getting a seemingly “useless” 110 film camera (remember the cartridge based film systems?) I picked up a Minolta 110 zoom SLR that seems to work perfectly. Hopefully in the next few weeks I’ll take some pictures with it and will post. I haven’t been doing much shooting the the past two months but I have managed a trip out to St. Patrick’s Mine, Cleary Hill (early Sept) and Gold Dredge #8. It was my first time to the tourist trap of a dredge but the trip was well worth it - courtesy of Bonnie’s unending generosity. Got to see one of the most well maintained dredges around Fairbanks and enjoyed it lots.

Overall: The weeks have been flying by and work is excellent. Not much to complain about, short of the fact that weekends are never long enough. The PFD has arrived but not to too much fanfare in our home - well, I suppose not YET. Out of the money we got, we’re attempting to limit what we spend to save most of it - although, Deanna did get a weekend trip to Kenai to see her family which she absolutely loved and I’m getting an ….well… *sigh*… another iPod. Yes, yes, I’m sure all of you think that I have too many already, but I’ve already got a more than convincing arguement for all of you. The iPod in question is the new iPod Touch - and without touting it’s 3.5 widescreen screen, it’s video and music playback, it’s penultimateness of coolness factor - it is, above all else, a fully capable web browser - from my pants pocket. No more having to carry around a laptop down to Anchorage just to check my email - I’ll have a web browser - in my pocket. Yes! Woot!
Nonetheless, it’s my little present for what has been a recent drought in personal gadgetry. I’m still waiting for it to ship as I seem to not be the only person that wants one. We’ll see how long it takes - hopefully not as long as Apple is suggesting.
Aside from that, not much else is happening. It was nice reflecting a bit on how far Deanna and I have mutually come since I started this blog over four years ago - and to be honest, the ride has been nothing but a complete blast. I don’t think I ever thought my wife would be my best friend nearly as much as she is - and my most favorite person to hang out with. I didn’t think I’d have a staff job and be teaching so early in my life - four years ago I thought I’d be going for my masters and barely be cutting it for a long time as I desperately searched for a decent job. And to think, now I’m mere months away from being a dad! The road has been long and momentarily possibly a bit trying, but it has never been boring or frustrating. Here’s to hoping the adventure never ends.