The Chris Motes Blog

128 Pens

XMAS 2009 005
Originally uploaded by Chris Motes

I'm cleaning out my drawers.

I collected all of my pens and other writing tools in one place.

I have 128 pens.

And here is a picture of what 128 pens look like.

Glad to start the year with such an epic post.

An Amazing 2009

XMAS 2009 002
Originally uploaded by Chris Motes

2009 was a huge year for me and Lisa. We bought a house, I changed jobs and we had our first child. Far and away, Calum was the highlight of the year. This video will show you why!

Happy New Year all!

Muppets sing Bohemian Rhapsody!

Baby Guide For Dads

My wife and I had a baby 5 months ago. 

I've written a bunch of things to share with dads-to-be.

Before You Have Baby:

1. To have a baby in a hospital in this country, you need good health insurance. Our bill for 3 days in the hospital was massive. Insurance covered >99% of it. You need to have insurance figured out before you get preggers.
2. Buy all your baby stuff well in advance of your delivery. The last thing you'll want to be doing once baby comes home is run around for stuff you need.
3. The hardest things for us to figure out were the stroller and the carseat. We recommend the Bugaboo Bee stroller and the Greco Snugride carseat. This carseat fits into the stroller so you can transport baby to and from stroller and car without waking her. Beware the giant sized strollers - they're appealing because they hold a lot but we found them to be impossible to maneuver. If you aren't a runner or a regular hiker, don't even think about buying the offroad strollers.
4. We also recommend buying a swing that's compatible with the carseat - the swing can be very calming to an upset baby.  Graco sells a pack-n-play portable crib that folds up into a tiny packet and is super handy for travel.
5. We also found the Baby Beorn bouncer to be a great place for baby to sit safely while you do other stuff.
6. Birthing classes are useful and you need to take them. In San Francisco we recommend the McMoyler Method. Two saturdays and you're done.
7. Read the book "The Happiest Baby On The Block". It gives you a good plan to stop a baby from crying called The Five S's: Swaddle, Side, Shh, Swing, Suck. I also found parts of 'The No Cry Sleep Solution' useful. A baby encyclopedia with everything you need to know about babies is handy. That's 3 books. Stop there.
8. Dads: You need to have the route to your hospital memorized. Be able to drive it in your sleep. You should not have to ask directions.
9. Dads: You need to go with mom to the hospital a few weeks before you deliver to scope it out and see where everything is. They usually have Saturday morning tours. You need to find out where to park if you are arriving in a normal situation. And you need to know where to drop mom if you're in an emergency situation.
10. Lastly: Even if you are planning on being a 100% breast feeder, buy some formula. After childbirth, mom may reach total exhaustion and may not be able to breast feed for a while. Having formula around may be the difference between sleep and no sleep after birth.

While You Have Baby:

1. Drugs or no drugs? You can’t just walk into the hospital and get drugged. You need to make progress first. Progress = dialation.
2. No matter how much you have your mind made up that you're going drug free... you need to understand what your options are. Because you  may get into situations where getting an epidural may be the best thing for you and your child. For an example: Think about 20+ hours of labor. Do your research, be informed and be open.
3. Go to birthing class to learn how to get through contractions.

After You Have Baby:

1. Breast feeding is ideal but not everyone is going to succeed at it. If you having problems, get help. But if your wife is about to have a nervous breakdown, remember that priority 1 is NOT to breast feed the baby... priority 1 is to just feed the baby. If you're wife is on the brink then make the call and use formula. Lots of us were fed formula as a kid and we are fine.
2. Using a bottle (with a breast pump or formula) may interfere with breast feeding but it does open up huge opportunities to distribute baby care workload. With a bottle, husband can take shifts at night so that wife can get more continuous sleep. We did an every-other-feeding shift which allowed the person not doing the feeding to get 4-6 hours of continuous sleep. Only one person wakes up for a shift.
3. If you need 8-10 hours of sleep per night to feel normal... get over it.
4. You're wife may be staying home but remember that she's doing a job too. So don't expect to come home from work and kick back with the argument that you've been working all day. So has she.

Hope this helps someone.

Birthday Luck

Yesterday I turned 37. It was a memorable day:

• Started off with some great time with Calum
• Lisa and I took Calum and Carla down to a pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay. Amazing photos.
• I had an amazing workout
• On the way back from the gym I stopped by Whole Foods and magically stumbled onto a rare six pack of one of my favorite brews: Victory Prima Pils
• Lisa made me an amazing dinner of seared steak, pumpkin soup and flourless chocolate cake
• The Yankees won, and A&M football won.

It was a great day. I hope for many more.

Helpful Caltrain Sign

Helpful Caltrain Sign
Originally uploaded by Chris Motes

HUH?

Caltrain stopped service today for an hour because of a bomb threat in the Milbrae station (probably some assmunch left a shopping bag laying around). Police evacuated the station.

After an hour of waiting Caltrain dumped us in San Mateo and told us to follow directions on the sign on how to get home.

This is what the sign said. No there was no second half of the sign with the rest of the info.

Assmuchathon

10 Points On The Healthcare Situation

A few points on the healthcare debate:

1. If you are a private citizen, and your party membership determines whether you are for or against the healthcare bill... then shame on you. Inform yourself and make up your own mind.
2. If you are a member of congress, and your party membership determines whether you are for or against the healthcare bill... then I call on you to resign immediately.
3. Before you use the word socialism in a sentence or paint it on a sign... make sure that you know what it is.
4. If you're scared of socialism... walk over to your nearest post office because that's a government controlled business. Socialized! But it seems to compete just fine against FedEx and UPS. Also think public universities vs. private.
5. The Public Option is... an option. If it's an option it means there are other choices. Think: toilet paper. There are lots of options, some cost 3-4x the cheapest option, yet no one option dominates.
6. There are no death panels. There never were. To the people that used it in the media or still believe it... see point #1 (inform yourself) and point #2 (the party line). I was extremely disappointed to see Sarah Palin use this term in an interview. Same with Rush Limbaugh.
7. Please everyone stop making signs of Obama with a Hitler mustache. Obama is not Adolf Hitler. Hitler's policies murdered somewhere between 11 and 14 million people. Murdered. The core of Nazism was: (a) state/dictator control of the entire economy, (b) racism, and (c) world domination. This is not what the United States is about.
8. If you think Nationalized Healthcare is the first step towards the "state" taking control, then realize that this plan doesn't nationalize healthcare (see point 5). Also realize that Hitler didn't nationalize healthcare in Germany (Otto Von Bismark did in the 1880's http://bit.ly/dTVVn). So let's stop with the Hitler/Nazi comparisons please.
9. Lack of information leads to speculation. Speculation leads to worst case / extreme case thinking. Obama's team should have gotten a summarized version of the facts out to the public at the inception of their effort. Where was the marketing plan??
10. Democrats are watering this bill down to the point where it wont have anywhere near the needed impact. If you firmly believe in something, stick to it and improve it where you can. Don't just change your tune the second you get pressured.

Places I haven't been

So much time, so little to see!

visited 34 states (15.1%)
Create your own visited map of The World or Best time to visit Hamburg

Hyper Local

I'd like to officially announce that my blog is now Hyper Local.

Please send all offers to partner with or acquire this blog directly to me ASAP.

Seriously though, hyper local is more than just a bunch of content about your neighborhood.

Hint: Community.

Over 4 years later and this is still hilarious!