Bob Barker is Retiring!

It's true. After 50 years in television and 35 on The Price is Right, the 83 year-old is leaving. I just don't know who they'll find to replace him! Will the Price become nothing but reruns without his tanned, wrinkled face gracing the screen?

Olivia Rides the Pillow

Here's a second video for you, since I've not been the best at posting pictures. Daddy gets creative with Olivia sometimes. This is a ride he invented that she really likes a lot. We call it the Pillow Ride.

Olivia Chases the Kitty

At first, Olivia wanted to choke the kitty. Then she wanted to bite the kitty. When the kitty ran away, she chased the kitty.

Disappointment

I've got some disappointing news. I was supposed to have my first prenatal appointment today. It wasn't anything personal or informational. It was just to fill out paperwork and give blood so they could make another appointment for later with a nurse practitioner. But... I didn't have my appointment today. I went and signed in and everything and waited to be called. Then a lady came and told me that I wasn't supposed to bring anybody with me; that I couldn't take Livi back with me. She said I should have known because they told me when they called me. I told them nobody called me and she checked and said, "Well, I tried four times." If I had known they were going to call me, I would have told them I'd changed my number! So she told me to reschedule. And guess when the nearest appointment was? November 22. :-( I started to cry! I'll be 22 weeks pregnant before they'll even let me fill out paperwork! Why don't they just mail it to me? I'll fill it out at home! So I'll be at least 23 weeks before I see the nurse practitioner (they won't make the appointment for that until after I fill out the paperwork and who knows how long the wait will be, hopefully just a week, not another month - I'll have given birth before I see anybody!) Anyways, the real disappointment is, I've read that the window for finding out the baby's gender is from 16-20 weeks. Isn't that sad? That means I'll have missed it.

Too Fat for Lethal Injection?

Then off with his head! Gee, I wonder if shooting a family of four while they stood in a pit dug in his barn after they joined his cult and followed him across the country could be considered cruel and unusual punishment. I hate stupid people. I wonder if he would object to being shot instead?

*Sigh* Okay, I hate "when people are stupid".

New Cell Number

Email me if you didn't get the mass email. Unless your name is Noah. Bwah-ha-ha.

Poopy in the Potty!!!

She did it!! I was in the bathroom combing out my hair and she came in, sat down, and started grunting! So I asked if she had to go poopy in the potty and she got down on the rug so I could take off her diaper. Then she sat on the potty and kept leaning forward and grunting some more. She wanted to hold her babydoll and her puppy the whole time. We didn't read a book or anything. I just kept telling her what a big girl she was, and then I heard it! The tiniest little plop. It's not as loud when there isn't water. But she knew what she had done! I ripped off some toilet paper and she wiped herself! All at 15 months old in an age where children are in diapers until they're 2 at least. :-D

Now the question is:
Do you want to see pictures? Hehe. Here's a couple safe ones I took afterwords. She's already diapered and snapped back up. She's just reenacting it for you. :-D

Brrrr

We've got the draftiest windows and porch doors we've ever had in an apartment, I do believe. I plan on shrink wrapping our windows as soon as Melissa gets here with her hair dryer (mine got lost in the move somehow). But I can't do that with the porch doors, or don't want to, in case I need to get out on the porch sometime during the winter. So I'm in the market for those long skinny insulating pillows that you put down to block the air from getting in. Does anyone know where to get one?

Olivia Dances

I've been trying and trying to get video of Olivia dancing. The problem is, as soon as she realizes I'm filming her, she comes over to investigate. Take this film, for example. She's having fun, twirling away, and I think I'm clever, filming her from behind the couch. But no. Something catches her eye, and upon closer inspection, she realizes it's the mommy, trying to film her dancing.

Oooooh, Contest!

I want a free CD. Onward and Upward will give me one if I brag on their site and happen to be the lucky piece of paper they pull out of a hat. Aren't they AWESOME??!! Go comment on their site on how I so deserve this free CD.

My Husband - The Genius

Josh thinks he may have decided on a thesis topic! Here are the main elements:
(If you can only get through the first word or so, it's alright, we can't all be rocket scientists. Some of us have to teach them when they're three, you know, or they'd never get this far!) Anyways, read through as much as you can, and try to comprehend the brilliance of my husband. :-D

Angular Velocity Estimation

Traditionally, the angular velocity of a spacecraft is measured using a mechanical or MEMS gyroscope. These instruments are typically very expensive or significantly inaccurate, however. Likewise, the inclusion of such instruments adds complexity to the overall satellite bus. It is therefore advantageous to search for numerical methods to estimate this quantity from attitude parameter measurements. There are two methods available for doing this, one is derivative-based and the other is filter-based. I would like investigate the performance of these methods as well as see if anything can be said about total system stability when using such methods.

Adaptive Control

Many modern spacecraft are characterized by changing inertial parameters. Such spacecraft include systems with movable (or deploying) parts, expulsion of fuel or smaller spacecraft from the main spacecraft, and the docking of other spacecraft to the main spacecraft. In these situations, and others like them, the satellite inertia matrix my have significant uncertainty or may simply be unknown. To accommodate such spacecraft, one must create an adaptive control
structure that is capable of identifying the model plant and changing the control structure accordingly. The aforementioned satellite under consideration would be an excellent testbed for such systems. -- I also want to note that such systems would be of great interest to the Air Force, which is currently looking into the feasibility of responsive space missions (ones which go from mission definition to launch integration in six days). If the control structure could adapt for whatever spacecraft it is placed in, one could effectively have a control system that is ready for launch without a known model of the spacecraft (within some range of uncertainty of course).

Tether Dynamics

Tethered spacecraft attitude control strategies have received much attention over the years and are a continued area of research today. The satellite in question will most likely contain a back up tether for gravity gradient stabilization. Thus, there is a possibility for experiments in tether dynamics and control.

Ugh.

Just wanted to let you all know... I'm starting to feel pregnant. Turns out you get fat a lot quicker the second time around. Your body just remembers fatness a lot better than skinniness. I officially have Medicaid now, so I will be getting a doctor's appointment hopefully sometime next week. Yep, I'm in my second trimester and still haven't seen a doctor. For all I know, I could be carrying octuplets, and from the way my belly's protruding right now (I guess I did have a rather large Sunday lunch, too...) I wouldn't doubt it!

Keep voting on whether or not I should find out the sex of the baby, but an awful lot of you are going to have to vote no to outweigh Josh's vote. Just to let you know.