50 things every audio engineer should have by age 50, in no particular order

I saw that "50 Things Every Woman Should Have by Age 50" and it said a bunch of crap about shoes and clothes and having a bank accounts in your own name. It waxed poetic about old boyfriends, jewelry, and loving your wrinkles. What the actual hell. I don't need to acquire self confidence about aging, I need to make more music and get more gear to record it with! I will be 50 soon and I have just about everything on this list, so if nothing else I'll be motivated to finally upgrade to Pro Tools 12. 

1. At least one microphone that costs more than $600
2. Soldering iron
3. SPL meter
4. A working turntable and preamp
5. A working cassette deck
6. Reference monitors
7. Sealed headphones
8. Unsealed headphones
9. An analog mixer
10. Firewire or USB interface
11. At least 2 channels of decent mic pres
12. 100’ snake
13. An XLR to ¼” snake
14. Fishpole
15. Shotgun mic
16. Stereo mini to ¼” adaptor
17. RCA to ¼” adaptors
18. Barrel type XLR turnarounds
19. Seven computers (2 PCs and 5 Macs)
20. Eight computer monitors
21. Pro Tools 10
22. Pro Tools 11
23. Pro Tools 12
24. Adobe Audition (to troubleshoot opening OMF files)
25. Logic
26. Reason
27. Max/MSP
28. 2 channel graphic equalizer
29. At least one decent reverb plug in
30. MIDI controller
31. Video camera (ie a digital audio recorder that takes pictures, too)
32. Patch Bay
33. 20 hard drives
34. A decent subwoofer in your car or at least a system that goes to 30 Hz minimum
35. Card reader
36. A gaming console (Xbox, PS3), you don’t have to play it but you need it to compare streaming audio quality
37. A headphone amplifier
38. MIDI cables
39. MIDI to USB cables
40. Clients
41. Acoustic piano
42. Guitar
43. Bass Guitar
44. Choose one : Melodica, harmonica, recorder, dulcimer, thumb harp, or anything someone visiting you will be prompted to say “what’s this?” when they pick it up
45. Active DI
46. Passive DI
47. A webpage showcasing your work
48. Up-to-date CV
49. One formal outfit for the awards ceremony
50. Sneakers to go with the formal outfit

The food allergy saga continues

So here is the sequel (read the previous chapter here):

On Wednesday, I ate small "doses" of a muffin and my back started to itch. But I didn't break out. During the day they increased the serving size and each time my back started to itch but I didn't get break out. So my doctor observed that I am allergic to either wheat, baked egg, or both. She gave me the option to continue with our plan to exert the next day. I absolutely wanted to keep going with our experiment, I am tired of breaking out at random times.

The Treadmill. The Muffin.

So today, Thursday, I ate a muffin and ran on a treadmill.... and I got hives. Yay! (?)  It is actually good news because it's no longer a mystery.  So now I know if I eat wheat and baked egg (and possible any of my other dozen allergens) and exert myself I will break out. Of course, I could break out without exerting, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

And wait a minute.

HEY PEOPLE. I ran on a treadmill for 30 minutes without stopping at an average of 2.8 miles per hour. Can we just take a minute and reflect on that?

[insert ray of sunshine]

So what to do next? Well, the hives episode is an anaphylactic reaction. I didn't have the swelling of face or lips, nor did I have breathing problems, but the reaction is actually anaphylaxis. Scary shit, right?? So she is going to put me on a regimen of four different daily antihistamines. And then we are going to try a drug called Xolair which seems to be effective for chronic hives. A really fucking expensive monthly shot for which I have to dedicate 90 minutes each time. Worth it? YOU BET. I never again want to rush to an emergency room with my kids in the back seat of the car wondering "what's wrong with mommy". Never again. Been there, done that, got the scar on my heart for life.

The other good news is that this condition could be temporary and resolve within 2-7 years. So maybe it's just a hormonal thing...??

And that, my friends, is all I have to report. Thanks for peeking in on my journey with food allergies. It's embarrassing and it's gross, but hopefully now you'll understand why - if I am ever fortunate enough to dine out with you - I only end up eating a piece of lettuce and some carrots.

EPILOGUE: FOODS I CAN EAT SAFELY
Here they are, in no particular order:
Fish, beef, potatoes, carrots, apples, rice. Oh - and lettuce.

* * FIN * *

Leslie's food allergy saga

Right.

So I have allergies, lots of them. And today I am taking a food allergy challenge. And I get to have an IV. And I am not enthused.

Where to begin? To quote from the caterpillar in "Alice in Wonderland": "Begin at the beginning, continue through the middle, and stop when you get at the end".

Here goes.

Mom and I used to go to Elder Beerman's (a department store in Dayton, OH) to get mixed nuts. I loved sitting on the couch cracking nuts with my mom. Cashews, pecans, peanuts, coconut mixed in, almonds ... I ate them all.

One day I started grunting and my ears were itching. Mom mentioned I might be allergic.  Sure enough, I started noticing every time I ate peanuts, cashews, raisins, etc. my throat and ears would itch. The list began to grow: raisins, celery, figs (Fig Newtons), oatmeal (Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies!), peanut butter, grape jelly, grape juice. Over time it wasn't worth it to go through all the itching so I just avoided that stuff.

Later, when I was 11 years old, at Easter, I ate hard boiled eggs. Six of them. And I had the mother of all rashes that lasted for months. I tried special soaps and cremes and nothing got rid of them. Add to list: boiled eggs.

Now that I had assembled a list of foods to avoid I was good for the next 30 years. Occasionally I would have something touch something else - for example, I had a piece of birthday cake at Benihana one year and my lip became swollen. I figured maybe some peanut oil had gotten in there. Shrug.

THEN. Then for the love of God. THEN.

After I had my second child in 2012, I remember it was Easter again. Surely I could have one hard boiled egg.  NOPE. For the first time in my life I had hives. I drove to the store to get Benadryl. Because that is what my dad used to do.

Oh yeah --- my dad had hive breakouts. It was fun. I would be sitting watching MTV (probably around the time Tommy Shaw's solo career took off) and dad would call me. "Leslie, I want you to see something". *Groan* So I would trod back to where he was in bed after he had taken Benadryl. "I think it was green peppers", he said one time. Another time it was "There were anchovies in the worcestershire sauce". Gross, dad.

Well, as fate (and genetics) would have it, I am manifesting allergies in the same way. Hives. Fucking hives. And what is worse, my poor dad eventually had an anaphylactic episode after eating green peppers that were "hiding" in some gumbo. It was really, really scary. He is okay now. Carries an epi pen everywhere (DON'T YOU, DAD.)

F.M.L.

So back to 2012. Had a boiled egg, broke out, fuck boiled eggs forever.

But then I started having other reactions. And here they are for your reading pleasure. By the way, what are you doing today you have time to read this whole thing? Well God bless you.

Meals that have caused hives since 2012. The trick is there is no way to know for sure what set it off.

• Single hard boiled Egg. White shell. Home.
• Le Peep: Scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, toast
• Corner Bakery: Chicken Pomodori panini (suspect mayo)
• Panera: Frontega chicken panini (suspect mayo again)
• P.F. Changs: Pan fried shrimp dumplings (sesame oil?)
• Cassano's: Cheese Pizza (wheat? Tomato paste? cheese?)
• Infinitus Pie: Cheese Pizza
• Amy's Organic Cheese Pizza
• Random pizza shop in London
• Whole foods uncured beef hot dog (organic), hostess white bun (wheat? celery salt?)
• Auntie Chun's teriyaki chicken noodle bowl
• Chik-Fil-A chicken nuggets, waffle fries
• Qdoba cheese and chicken quesadilla

So from this list we have added sesame, celery, mayo, eggs (at restaurants) to the list of foods to avoid.

Which brings us to today. There are some common ingredients in the list above: wheat, eggs, and chicken.

So today I am taking a oral food challenge. A skin prick test revealed that I am, indeed, allergic to wheat. But to what extent? Is that what is causing the hives? And why - in most cases - have I been able to eat these foods in the past but not now? And why - in some cases - can I eat a food one week and have a reaction with the same exact food the next week? Why can I eat scrambled eggs every morning and not have a reaction? Why can I eat chicken at home (usually organic of course) but not out at a restaurant?  I can have toast or a grilled cheese sandwich at home. It's a stupid puzzle.

One cause could be exertion. In many cases I have a reaction after I have done a lot of walking.

I could also "just have hives" (idiopathic hives). Fortunately there is a drug called Xolair that might help.

But first things first... I'm at National Jewish Hospital and I am going to start by ingesting tiny doses of wheat.

TO BE CONTINUED
(read the next chapter here)

MEIS Study Abroad 20-22 May

Zachary and Kira

Our family arrived in England on May 14. We headed to Woodbridge right away so that we could all get situated at my in-laws' lovely home. The kids could get used to being with their Nana and Granddad while I prepared for the Maymester course.

This also gave me a chance to adjust to jet lag. I need energy to keep up with the students!

We took the kids to the neighborhood park, where some really nice locals commented on my children's lovely "American accents".

I headed off to London to meet our tour guide, Drew Young, and get acquainted with the hotel. The students were all on different flights, so I anxiously awaited everyone's arrival. Once we got settled in, we went out for food and a brisk walk. The following day we were bound for Liverpool!

Study Abroad students

We departed from Euston station and took the approximately 2 hour journey from London, arriving mid-day, and checked in to our hotel which is right across from the main train terminal in Liverpool.  We stored our luggage and set off to pick up our conference registration.

Along the way, we found a newly revitalized shopping district. This area shows how much Liverpool has grown from the rather depressed, industrial town it was the last time I visited in 1998. It now appears to be thriving, although I wonder about the effects of gentrification.  At any rate, it was good for the students to see where they could shop and find ATMs, all walking distance from the hotel.

The Liverpool Sound City conference is a four-day festival consisting of concerts and workshops for music industry students and professionals. The sessions were held in dark rooms with blue lights - not exactly great for recovering from jet lag. As a technology professional, I would have liked to see more technical demonstrations, but as an artist I did find the talks about surviving in today's music industry to be enlightening. Perhaps I will offer to present a "DIY recording" talk at next year's conference!

My colleague Stan Soocher is joining me to teach a section on music business; unfortunately we missed his moderation of the panel which discussed the "Blurred Lines" case and its impact copyright. He did tell me afterwards that there is an appeal in the works.

I visited sessions on artist income and social media strategies with an impressive list of panelists, including Nick Calafato from LastFM, Rakhi Sina from Eventbrite, and Ari Stein from Gigmit. The conference also featured "roundtables": group discussions held in a "speed-dating" style where attendees would swap tables with a featured host every 15 minutes.

Leslie with Nick of Last.fm

From these sessions, I wasn't surprised to discover that some artists make more money busking than on the bar circuit. People will pay for a (unique) experience, but not recorded music. Opportunities exist, however, in the broadcast/netcast area, where artists flock to get airplay/netplay. One example of this is a young woman named Eileen. She is a poet but also has a radio show and musicians constantly approach her for airtime.  Another French student works for a company who grant money to artists from her country gain traction in the UK. Artists have to prove they have a track record and strategy - no mention of their talent and ability.

Nick from last.FM foresees streaming services becoming demographically splintered in the coming years. He posed the question: Will streaming services appeal to certain demographics? Will Tidal, because of its founder (Jay-Z), be oriented towards hip-hop? Globally speaking, Spotify has become "trendy" in France, while CDs are still more popular in some countries.

In the Marketplace area of the conference, Wez Priceless gave (very basic) lessons on how to DJ. Props to this guy for wiping CDs on his shirt and tossing them, very nonchalant and label-side-down, around during the demo. Those were the days.

I visited the table at Liverpool John Moores University and was crestfallen to learn that they had cut the music program - ironically - at the Lennon School of the Arts. How could this happen!

There was also a main stage that featured performances; in particular I liked She Drew the Gun and Steed.

Late on Friday, the festival at Bramley-Moore dock was pleasantly packed and equipped with rides, food vendors, and at least 8 stages. Some massive, some tiny. I saw Everything Everything (highly recommended from student Josh Kern) and a band called Taffy.

Everything :||

Taffy

Dogshow

The act "dogshow" was bizarre and novel - yet somehow ordinary in terms of sound. Their act was on a self-contained, mobile stage. The lighting guy was on an attached golf cart and very into his job. Complete with fog machine, Korg analog synth mod, at least two Macbooks, drum controllers, cymbals - this was very damn loud and the crowd was very into it.

Altogether, a pretty packed 48 hours here in Liverpool, and still two days to go in the festival. You can be sure I will blog about it.

Comparison of two Atmos theaters in Denver area: Marvel's Avengers (Age of Ultron)

The first theater I went to was the AMC Flatirons 14 theater in Broomfield (near Denver), who presented the film in ETX. They pride themselves on having recliners to sit in, and they are quite nice, but they are also in front of a wall.

The recliners are in front of a wall.  Remember that - I will come back to it later.

Flatirons 14

The film was shown in 3D, which is a hassle for me because I wear glasses. I can get around that by wedging the earpiece between my dreads so they don't keep slipping down.

There was no Atmos trailer, and subsequent conversations with colleagues led me to believe that the film was a 7.1 upmix.  I was seated halfway between the screen and the rear of the theater (#14). I didn't hear any thing much from the side or rear loudspeakers, and I suspect that is mostly because each row of seats has a low wall behind it, and each recliner is below that wall.  So, if you don't want to learn a little about sound diffraction and barrier walls, I don't blame you, but know this: walls tend to block sound. It don't take an Einstein.  As my colleague Fred Johnson said, cinemas care about getting butts in (very comfy) seats and recliners do that better than sound.  Sigh!

But there is another theater near Denver: the Regal Continental, which presented the movie in RPX (also in 3D). You can read a thread comparing RPX and ETX, but all I cared about was that it had Atmos.

These guys care about the whole experience. Check out the dramatic entrance!

I met up with Fred's surround sound class. The place was amazingly huge. So, 2/3 of the way back could have been one of 20 seats. I used the sound from the pre-show "First Look" to detect the amount of energy coming from the rear speakers. Because my previous viewing didn't reveal anything, I was more interested in the rear and side channels.  Before the movie began, I counted 8 speakers on the left, 8 right, 8 rear, and 16 in the ceiling (40 total!) Later, we were informed that there are 78 screen channels, (including 5 arrays, 5 mids, and 8 subs.)

A big theater with lots of speakers

Here are some of my notes from the movie (minor spoilers):

• Reclining is nice but the sound is better when I'm sitting forward a bit.
• The Atmos trailer ("geodesic"?) was cool, felt good about my positioning when I heard it
• When Bruce Banner is listening to opera, heard soprano from top speakers
• Front channels are smeared for me - no localization, probably sitting too far back
• Immersion is really good
• When Hawkeye's kids run in, sound is offscreen right, possible a little towards back - hard to localize and that might have been the intention
• Thor's flight into the sky uses top channels
• Glass shattering is always heard in the rear channels - not overdone, just predictable
• When Ultron rises above the city at the end of the movie, mostly top channels are used with some sides and front - textbook "voice of God" technique, lol
• Destruction of meteor in all channels
• Overall, nice and loud without distortion.

After the movie, we got a tour from Fred's contact at the theater. He tld us the brand of speakers were SOS and Klipsch (about $50,000 worth of speakers). They use a Doremi (pronounced do-re-mi) server with PCM uncompressed audio. I had to leave before the end of the tour so I will report back with the info I get from Fred.

Conclusion: If you are in Denver and want to see a movie in Atmos, go to the Regal on Hampden and Monaco. It's very kick ass, from the time you walk in with the neon lighting. This place cares about audio - and the seats aren't bad either, they're like "rockers". Just as comfy. I need to go again and see if sitting closer gives me more sense of what those 78 front speakers are doing!

Arrangements of Todd Songs by Leslie G.

I recorded these songs over the course of several years. The earliest seems to be around 1991. I still have my Roland U-20 that I used and this week (July, 2014) I am using the same equipment to recreate the originals. My sequencer back then was a Yamaha QX-5 and I had an Alesis HR-16 drum machine.

I took a lot of care with the mixes through that equipment, which were all done on the devices themselves, including reverb, etc. There was no home version of Pro Tools back then! I did some guitar parts to a Fostex (I think) 8 track reel to reel recorder, which I sold a long time ago.

Last week I had to buy a replacement floppy disk drive ($10.00) just to get all the arrangements loaded back in from my Alesis DataDisk. And yes, I even powered up my Power Mac 9600.  (OS 9.2)

The songs from 1991:
Hideaway

• Secret Society
• Mated (incomplete)
• Take it Home
• Maybe I Could Change
• Lost Horizon
• If I Didn't Try

I never knew what I'd do with these arrangements, but they were a lot of fun to make and sing along with. One thing for sure: trying to recreate a song gives you a ton of appreciation for the craftsmanship, love, talent, genius behind these works. It's a full-time job. It's - pardon the expression - not something that you can just pull out of your ass.

This year, I tried to modernize the sounds using Pro Tools and Reason. I even have Ableton at the ready for "Smoke". However, my setup was not ready for this work: trying to get PT 10 / PT 11 to talk to Abelton and Reason is a total pain in the backside. Also, I was playing with a few new MIDI controllers, opening Max/MSP, etc. If only I had more time!

I did a tribute concert for Todd in 2013 with the amazing faculty in the department where I serve as chair. The individual tracks were recorded to disk. I am going to try to use Pro Tools to eliminate all vocals (maybe keeping backups). The tracks are:

• International Feel
• Never Never Land
• Tic Tic Tic (It wears Off)
• You Need your Head
• Rock and Roll Pussy
• Zen Archer
• I don't Want to Tie you Down
• Is it My name
• Just One Victory
• Another Life
• Hello It's Me
• Can We Still Be Friends
• If I have to be alone
• Lost Horizon
• Only Human
• Smoke
• Love is the Answer

I'm trying my best to create tracks that you can sing along with. And it should probably be said that I'm not here to make money, just to share. Which brings me to...

Being really careful about protecting Todd/Utopia's music. I learned a lot in a short amount of time about karaoke, mechanical licenses, fair use, "public performance".  I bought a license for "Secret Society" for $16.00 ($15.00 processing fee, $1.00 for the song.)  But rather than do this for 22 tunes, I think it will be safer and smarter to just share these with the folks going to the retreat and not post them to SoundCloud. 

So there you have it. One day a song shows up in your NewsFeed, but there's a 23-year history to these tunes. Thought you might like to know!

Poop happens.

Kira is 2 years and 5 months old. She has been toilet training since last September, so about 10 months.

10. Months.

So far, she goes first thing in the morning. She doesn't bring home many soiled articles from school now, so we are feeling pretty good about her daytime toileting habits. She wears a pull up at night.

At home, we have one training potty upstairs but bought a second one (a "princess potty", complete with sounds that go off at random times and also when she pees) for downstairs so that we could get to her quickly if she started to have an accident.

Today's trip to Target was an experience, though.  So, if you're squeamish, you might want to return to Facebook and read about something a little more tame, like the couple that got struck by lightning and rescued by a passing cop. Sorry for the morbid humor, but some people actually get more grossed out by poop stories!

So here's what happened: Kira has a day off from school today, but Zachary doesn't. So I took the day off to stay home with her. We went to Target to get some new undies (ironically). Before we left, she used the toilet. ("Hurray!" said the 8-bit audio chip through the tiny speaker under the seat).

We had a wonderful time at Target, she behaved well and we finished our shopping. I should have come home then, but nooooooooo...

I decided to take her to Snooze for brunch. It was just me and my little girl, and she deserves pancakes. And so do I.  So we go to the restaurant.  As you know, Snooze is a popular hang, so we were on a 30 minute waiting list.

Lesson #1: Kira does not like public restrooms.
It's odd, but she has gone to public restrooms in the past with success. For some reason, the last couple of times we've gone out she refuses to sit on the toilet.  But I thought, "It's only been 90 minutes since her last trip to the potty. She'll be fine".  We went to the bathroom anyway but she refused to sit.  Maybe it's the loud toilets and super-loud hand dryer (Excellerator (sp?)). 

Finally, we get seats at the restaurant.

We ordered our pancakes and about 5 minutes later, she said, "Poop".

"Okay let's go", I said, sweeping her off of the padded bench seat. We got to the toilet and she refused to sit.  "DAT ONE,", she said, point at the Koala Care® pull-out table.

"Those are for babies who wear diapers," I said.

"DAT ONE!!!!" She insisted. So I put her up there and sure enough, she had a tiny poop stain in her undies.

"No problem", I assured her. I cleaned her up and we went back to our booth.  On the way back, we passed some booster chairs.  "Dat one?" she asked.  I sighed. "Sure, you can have a booster seat".  So I took her back to our table and put the booster on the padded bench.  We colored the children's menu together.

Lesson #2: "Butt hurts" means what you think it means, especially after your kid says "poop". You have t-minus 0 seconds to get your kid to a toilet.

After a while, Kira said, "Butt hurts."

"Let's go," I said, and we hurried back to the restroom. The waiter was bringing our food so I gave him the thumbs up to leave it for us.

She didn't even want to go in this time.  I started thinking it was time to go home.  So we head back to our seats and she sees some high chairs.

"Dat one?"  she asked.
"Kira, you already have a booster..." I started.

"DAT ONNNNNNEEEEEE", she insisted. Not screaming, but I wanted to avoid a scene so I picked it up and carried it over to our table.

I was just getting it set up and moving the booster, when oops! I spilled the orange juice.  All over her pancake.  The waiters were very nice and offered to bring us a new pancake. The couple next to us was very nice while the waiters mopped the floor.  Despite the niceties, all I'm thinking is, "ya'll better hurry up with this damn new pancake, I've got t-minus..."

So we dig into our scrambled eggs. Kira's doing well.  Actually, everything was very nice at mealtime.  The pancake arrived in a short amount of time.  I was shoving food down my face.  But it was delicious and we enjoyed it. And then...

Lesson #3: You did not heed the warnings. It is too late.

So we head to the car, and I open the door, and Kira stands in the door, and cacas all over the doorway into the car.  There we are, in the Southglenn mall parking lot with the car door wide open, and I am using every thing in the car that resembles paper to get this mess cleaned up. Paper towels, Kleenex, some Windex wipes (not on her, of course!) ...  UGGGGHHHHHHHH.

Lesson #4: It's a good thing to have paper and plastic bags in the car.

Fortunately, I had spare pants for her and home is just 5 minutes away. So we came home.  She still had to poop, so she sat on her princess potty and finished what I hope is the summer's most epic pooping session.

Lesson #5: I love my parents more than ever.

Thanks mom and dad, I'm sure I did the same thing to you. And I turned out okay.  Anyway, after reading 5 books to her (very fast and every other page), she lay down for her nap.

Peace out, and props to all the moms and dads out there.  Poop happens, you just have to be ready for it.

Snake dream

I know some of you are subscribed here to read about my adventures in England. You're welcome to keep reading, but be forewarned I'm back to more of a "stream of consciousness" posting style now that I'm back in the USA. This post is about a dream I had last night. So here it goes... I dreamt last night that I was floating/swimming in murky water. I overheard something (a radio? people's voices?) saying, "they found the missing couple". This couple had survived exposure to the elements by plastering wet mud over their bodies. I regarded the banks of the murky river wondering why - if they were so close to the banks to get mud - didn't they just get out of the water. As the dream continued, I realized I was holding on to something in order to stay afloat. I accidentally maneuvered into a small bay/inlet, and saw black snakes in the water. I tried to leave the bay but was unable to paddle or swim out. One bit me on the foot, and another bit me on the other foot. Then I woke up. Now back to lucidity: Those who know me are aware of my association through snakes via my mom. (I have another dream to share about that - not sure when I'll post it). I recall trying to associate the word "asp" with the snake, but I looked up "asp" and that wasn't the snake I saw: The snakes in my dream were flat, long, and black. Couldn't find any similar pictures on the 'net. ANYWAY. I can only think of a couple of non-psychic reasons why I dreamt this. One is that my daughter (1 y.o.) has razor sharp teeth and has been biting me. It drives me bat shit crazy. (Love her.) I also took a "floatie" to the storage shed yesterday. One of those 4' long, green, styrofoam deals. As for the psychic reasons, well, I looked up a bunch of snake dreams and all I see is BAD NEWS. You can talk about death in the transformative sense, but ... well, all I can say is, "DUCK". P.S. Andy also had a dream about shards in his thumb and woke up with some sort of insect bite. Zachary had a nightmare at about 4:30 am, I haven't heard him that upset in a long time. What to make of it all....

Leslie's Labor and Delivery story: Kira

I know most of you signed up to my blog to hear about our family's adventures in York, England. But it is a blog, after all! So, now it gets personal.

I am trying to type as fast as I can since Kira is fast asleep right now, and I just woke from a nap myself. So pardon any typos and non sequiturs!

I was hoping she'd be born on time, which as far as I was concerned was January 16. But the doc had given me a due date of January 23, which gave us plenty of wiggle room, pardon the expression. So you can imagine my disappointment when January 30 rolled around and I was looking an induction square in the eye.

That weekend I had been having contractions every, oh, 30 minutes; but the timespan for those contractions was only about 2 - 4 hours and then they'd stop. Sure, she might come out soon, but we were in week 41, or even 42 based on my own calculation. Everyone reassured me this (induction) was the right thing to do, although I could have opted out. I wanted relief but I also wanted things to happen naturally. (After all, Kira, you did seem like you were really damned determined to get here in the first place!)

We got the call from Rose Hospital at around 10 pm that night. I hadn't really rested that day. They told me I could have a snack but nothing to eat once the drugs were administered. I had Carr's Water Crackers, some brie, and a Reese's peanut butter cup. (And yes, I am allergic to peanuts, but can you prove there are real peanuts in an RPBC? It's not a fatal allergy anyway. Leemelone.)

Yes. So we got to the hospital and I started crying. I was scared and disappointed, to be honest. It was a lot of nerves built up over time, more than anything. Once we were admitted we followed the nurse up to the labor and delivery ward. I was mad because when I had Zachary my contractions had started (5-1-1) and I had a wheelchair. No wheelchair for the non-laboring mother!

When I say "we", I mean myself, Andy, and Kellie, my sister.

We arrived in the room, and they gave me drug #1 around midnight to "ripen the cervix". (Oh, it gets waaaay more gross if you want to stop reading now). I think I went to sleep; Kellie went back to her hotel, and Andy tried to sleep on the little pull-out bed. The next drug - "the meanie", would be administered at 4 am.

I think at 4 am I was still only dilated 1 cm!!! The nurse "helped me out" with the another 2-3 cm ... er, manually. Then they gave the pitocin. This motherf------. I was fine as long as I was on my left side, but then I wanted to lay on my right side. Why'd I want to do that. I rolled over to my right side and it was on like Donkey Kong. The contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes -- with no preceding "oh honey I think it's time to go to the hospital the contractions are getting closer" chapter. Nope. Right to major pain land. So I asked for an epidural. Which I got soon enough, but this time the catheter became the main pain source. (With Zachary, there weren't any catheter issues).

Not long after that, my water broke. In a very unusual place - on the birthing table. Without the baby. (The sac came out by itself). Ha - are you ready to go back to Facebook now, you wuss????

What was most unsettling was that at that point I had four nurses standing around me, the baby warmer was ready to go, but the lead nurse had this to say to me: "um, your doctor is on her way here". Yepperrrr. So they stood looking at me for about 10 minutes. I felt like I had to push. So I said, "I feel like I have to push". No one really knew how to respond to that, I guess, cause no one did. So I thought I'd better wait, if I could. IF.

Finally, the doctor arrived. She wasn't really expecting me to go into labor so fast, and said as much. We laughed. Oh, fun times.

The good news is, I only had to do three sets of three pushes, and then one last Biiiiiiig one. Kira came tumbling out at 7:14 am. I cried, she cried. It was a beautiful miracle which of course words cannot express.

I was glad that she could lay on my chest for a while before she was tagged and weighed. I think all mothers hate that part. Give me my baby! The nurses were a cheerful bunch but I just wanted to hold her.

After that, things are a blur. At some point I arrived in my recovery suite; a little extra money for a little better food, a better bed for Dad, and a Jacuzzi for mommy. Anyone who's been keeping up with our family knows about the drama we came home to after our journey abroad, so you'll forgive me for splurging!!

My cousin Tonia sent the most beautiful "baby girl" balloons! My mother and my son, Zachary, were able to visit the next day, and Kellie was able to stay for most of the morning before returning to DC.

So that's how Kira was born on January 31, 2012.

Coming Home

Neither I, nor Andy, nor Mom can believe that we've got less than a week before we depart York! That was a long, short three months. I feel my research is in a good place, but there's plenty more to do. What have I learned while being in York? Well, my most recent observation is that black tights are all the rage right now. Maybe one in four women at any time is rockin' those black tights! Also, it amazes me that such diverse regional dialects can exist in a region the size of my home state - but as Andy points out, the population density here is enormous. I've learned that being able to go anywhere, anytime and get food is a luxury I've taken for granted. And I miss warm water! Having to choose between "scalding" and "freezing" is no fun - most places in England have separate cold and hot water taps. I notice these are superficial observations, but it will probably be a while before I can really reflect on how the trip has REALLY made an impact. (I'm sure you'll "stay tuned"!) Many people love York because it's a beautiful city with lots of history. It's definitely full of tourists, transplants, and natives alike. Transportation here is pretty good, except for the [expletive] number 4 bus which advertises buses every 10 minutes but don't quite deliver on that promise. Otherwise it's easy to get around. Probably even easier if you're not pregnant!! During our time here, Zachary has learned to walk, and is talking quite a lot. Not words, per se, but he's got baby speak down pat. "Ca?" means car, cow, and quack. "Eeeeee!" means horsie. And "mum-mum" means "I want some of what you're eating". He is mastering feeding himself (yogurt anyway) and drinking from a small cup or glass. I love 'im. Our trip back is going to be complicated. Lots of "hops" to make: first to Andy's parents, then to London Heathrow (plane leaves at 11:00 am but they want us to check in 3 hours early!), then to my sister's home in DC, and then to Denver! We're going to be travel-weary when we get home, for sure!! Well, of course I have to blog in between Zachary's naps and other activities, so it's time to bring this blog to a close. I've got more pictures to post, so look for those soon! (If you missed it, the last installment of pics was here): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150422426611465.374624.622256464&type=1&l=2035bb1f36

England has the flu

That's right, the whole country has the flu. It's claimed everyone in my family, and I had 3 students miss class last Wednesday! We are all sick, there is no escaping the England Flu. In other news... I'm helping plan the upcoming Ambisonics conference in 2012, which is being co-hosted with the AES. I have seen some amazing venues for playback, and I'm hoping we get great demos. Of course, I'll be in the US for the conference, but it's exciting nonetheless! Andy's family brought by a keyboard for Zachary to do his "doo bee doos", as I call them. He's standing at the piano now, which is in front of the TV, coughing, playing the piano, and watching Pocoyo. Mom LOVES it when "Zachary's show" is on. Ironically, "his show" is on DVD, I haven't actually seen a broadcast of it, even though Stephen Fry is the narrator. Go figure! As for my research, I'll be able to accomplish what I've set out to do although I'm VERY disappointed in the lack of support for blu-ray authoring. The Occupy High Fidelity movement seems to be a complete failure at the moment, but I'm doing my part! I do have more pictures, but I've got the flu and my brain is foggy right now. I hope you're enjoying the blogs, perhaps I'll write a blockbuster one of these days, but for now I'll be signing off. Stay healthy you all! Yours, Leslie

The week's haps

Hello loyal readers, :) This has been an interesting week! Setbacks, exhaustion and breakthroughs. It looks like the move has really messed with Zachary's sleep; he had gotten on a routine and now that's blown out of the water; new place, no consistency = restless sleep. Which means *we* don't sleep. I think it was Thursday when me, Andy and mom were ALL worn out!!! But, we've contacted our "sleep expert" and she's helping us with some strategies to help our little guy get some rest. If you know me, you know that my life revolves around how well Zachary sleeps, so I hope it doesn't sound like I'm "whining", but ... hey, what do ya do. But in other news, I've finally had a breakthrough in my research, which involves Java programming for Blu-Ray. This GD thing! The technology and tools are about 4 years old, but no one really uses it, so there is zero support out there on the web. Fortunately, I have talked with some AES gurus which have provided some well-needed insight. On the cultural exchange side, I met two drunken racegoers on the way back from Ascot. He was hitting on every woman within four seats, including me and my mom! He had been "chatting up this bird" from somewhere or another, which was fine, but she left the train about four stops before us. I knew we were in for it when I heard "Oy! 'ave you seen the Desmonds?" He meant the TV show. I replied, "yes, actually, the show about the Jamaican hair shop" and he picked up on my accent. Then it was really on. "Ah! Are you from Iowa?? OH! IOWA AY! IOWA OOH! IOWA AH AH AH" (Or something) and he and his brother sang together. It was ... yeah. And then he explained that he spoke a dialect called Geordie. (They were from Newcastle.) And he tried to teach me a phrase, which I think was "I'm no wee in shite". I asked him what it meant, and he said he didn't know, but it's something that you say when you disagree with someone. Our other "cultural activity" was a little more civilized. :) We joined Catherine and Helen, who work at the Uni. They took us on a fantastic tour of Castle Howard, and prepared a lovely tea for us afterwards. I shall provide pictures, as soon as I fine the cable for my camera! That's it for now, but in the meantime, I'll leave you with this gem: "Gizza brun jack and dinna blaw the top off!"

Induction week at U. of York!

Ah, today was the day I was waiting for! A chance to meet the new students, and learn about their backgrounds. I think I counted four students from China, one from the Ukraine, one from New York (!), one from North Wales, and three from the Yorkshire area. Out of about 11, four students are female! Go girls. :) Many backgrounds: Electrical engineering, music production, and composition. This means that some students know about audio technology and some /don't/. As my fellow instructors know, this can be a challenge; but since they're all postgrad, they should pick up on things quickly.

On the home front, it was great to see my sister Kellie and nephew Ryan! They "blew into town" last week. We went to the races, which was great since I'm right next to the racecourse -- we just walked over. Kellie was the big winner that day! We got to see some VERY rowdy racegoers on the bus to the pub afterwards, and had a very nice meal there. It's called the Royal Oak and has gotten great reviews on Trip Advisor. Thanks to Dave Malham for the recommendation!

Unfortunately, little Zachary had the 24-hour flu (or something!). Andy stayed at home with him. But he is much better now, eating more than ever (tuna melts! tomato soup! cheese-on-toast!), and getting better at walking. When he feels like it, that is!

Well, I'm at the Uni as I write this, so I'm going to get back to work. Sorry - no pictures this time around, but if you're on Facebook you can always see the latest gwan's on.

-TA

A week's worth of musings

Now, if I had my iPhone, this would make more sense. Each of these thoughts would come through with its own title, date, and context. But as I have got no iPhone, this is going to sound like a bunch of rambling. So, hold on to yer hats...

...the latest thing has to do with how I'm going to sound when I get back to Denver. Between having the accent rub off on me, the pregnancy hormones, and jet lag, I'm going to sound like a crazy woman who's taken on some pretentious way of talking. Case in point: today, I was invited to join a session taking mic measurements. This was after a large lunch, and one of the researchers joked, "you can come watch us take a nap". Then I said, "I shall". WTF? "I /shall/"? Who talks like that? Well, spend a few months in the UK and you'll notice that you (as an American) do not have a British vocabulary, so you fall back on what you THINK sounds British. And you are wrong, very wrong. Neither Americans or Brits will know what your problem is.

Other observations: "Ta" means "thanks". But again, as an American, don't try to say it. /You/ are saying "ta" as in "ta ta, see you later". And it sounds like "tahhhh" to the native ear, not the expertly elocuted "ta" of the Northerner.
"Cheers" means thanks. Again, leave this one to the locals.
"Thanks" means thanks. This is your best bet.
"Thank you" means "I'm an American". But still a safe bet.

They do not know what grape jelly is here, nor grape jam. So I have to get some from home! Furthermore once they hear of such a thing, they wonder aloud why they don't already have it.

My new GP (general practitioner) is pretty heavy handed when feeling my tummy for the baby. Poor baby, getting all mushed around. :( Female doctor, too.

The chips (french fries) here are amazing anywhere you go. I eat them a lot.

I need new shoes. The walk from my house to the nursery is like going from UCD's campus to somewhere on the 16th street mall. A little less than bearable.

I want a clothes dryer! Not liking the drying rack.

I saw my second hot air balloon in a week. What's up with that?

"Mixer taps" are better than the separate taps (faucets) in the bathroom. Want warm water? Fill the sink. *groan*. But the kitchen sink has a mixer tap. Seriously, what's up with that?

Well, I'm sure I'll have more to say. Don't forget to check out my latest pics at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150338277571465.359469.622256464&l=6d2de4e689&type=1

First days in York

First day at York

I was very tired because Zachary had a rough night. But I was determined not to miss my first day!

It was a nice walk, but then when I dropped off Zachary I noticed a cycle shop. So rented ("hired") a bike! Much better for my footsies, but not a great idea for pregnant moms. Eventually I will have to figure out how to take the bus here.

I toured the studios and got my key today. No Pro Tools! So I will have to convert all of my files. No problem, I've got time, right? Tomorrow I will bring my hard drives and disc burner.

It's nice not being on a "paved" campus. And I have a window office! :P

To see pictures, click here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150328884226465.357495.622256464&l=0aefa5ad74&type=1

Fulbright Day 2

This was an intense day of walking! Seeing houses of parliament was great, and we had a lively discussion inside one of its meeting rooms. The view of the Thames from parliament was pretty indescribable! Another memorable moment was seeing a sculpture of Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Westminster Abbey among other 20th century martyrs. That was a very moving sight. We had a lovely tour with lots of history, none of which I can remember :) but if you'd like to see some pictures, they're here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150322771786465.356154.622256464&l=1dcc039052&type=1

Fulbright begins!

I'm in London at orientation. Andy and Zachary and mom and Martin (Andy's dad) are back in York at our house (a "rowhouse" type thing, or "terrace house"). I can't stand being away from them! But orientation is going well. There are many fascinating people here doing very interesting work. Although most people are very jet lagged, I think the personal introductions held everyone's interest. There are only a couple of "over 40s" teaching around England, like myself. The majority are students working on PhDs or postdocs. Everyone in the entire group was asked to present a "fun fact". Mine was that I play bass in a band. There are also two euphonium players, two people who can ride unicycles, a former figure skater, and one man who told a story about being airlifted from a volcano. There are microbiologists and neurologists, musicians and anthropologists, historians and philosophers. We'll be scattered all over the UK doing our "thang".

We did a hell of a lot of walking to various venues, and my legs are sore. I can't wait to rest up for tomorrow's activities.

For pictures of orientation, follow this link!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150321360916465.355888.622256464&l=36ef18beb6&type=1

Fulbright orientation this week!

For those of you kind enough (and interested enough) to subscribe to my blog - thank you! It's been difficult getting things up and running, and I notice that several posts don't appear until 1 day later (or more). I'm hoping to iron out those wrinkles, as well as post more photos. I just got a new phone since my old Blackberry is not up to the task of today's "social networking" demands. The new phone, however, has a different set of problems. Grr.

Zachary will visit the Montessori tomorrow. I'm a little worried about the neighborhood, since it's surrounded by auto mechanics, metal works and the like. But I'm hoping the inside is more visually appealing!

On Tuesday, the Fulbright orientation begins. As I make the 2 hour journey to London by train, I hope to figure out how to make the blogging go more smoothly. The itinerary looks very promising, complete with photo ops and visits to very prestigious institutions, including Parliament. Of course, there's more to follow!

september 7: to London

We had a great time enjoying my sister's hospitality before our trip to London. Zachary is asleep right now on my lap as we await departure on the plane. Hopefully we will all get some rest - another big travel day tomorrow!@

A stopover in DC

Greetings from the nation's capital! We're visiting my sister for a few days before the trip to London. I haven't taken any pictures, but we've had a great time. I saw my cousins, Sharon and Calvin; Andy and I went to Adams Morgan for some delicious Indian food; and we managed to record Pocoyo for Zachary to watch. Zachary is having a great time in Kellie's place, which has lots and lots of floor space and stairs. He took to the stairs in no time - then again, he's had lots of practice with his "toy" steps at home and the work at the Mac nido!

Tomorrow is the big day: we leave at 6:40 pm EST. We're hoping Zachary sleeps on the plane. Send us "happy baby travel" thoughts!!