I had my medical exam at work today. They called me up at 2:50 to ask me where I was. But I didn't know I had a 2:40 appointment so I handed off the phone to our Portuguese intern to get some information and translate it into English. He tells me that they need to see me immediately at the infirmerie. I was working on something so I finished that up. Then I had to pee real bad so I went and then went to the infirmerie. I opened the door, and lo and behold, they tell me to wait outside, which I did for like 15 minutes. They had a miniature television running some educational anti-drug use shorts whose plotlines reminded me a lot of Requiem for a Dream but without the 'attention to detail'.

Finally I get to enter, and she asks me some simple questions regarding my identity and medical history. Then she asks me to take a pee test, but I had just gone so I was as dry as a West Texas creekbed. While we're waiting, she makes me take a vision test instead. So I'm sitting there with my bottle of water with my head pressed against the apparatus staring at these tiny little numbers and letters. Actually, I didn't even know they were there for the first 30 seconds of the test until I shifted my gaze so I could see the display. Anyways, I'm supoosed to press a button when I hear the number or letter being said. But it was more like a French test than a vision test. They said 'uh' (which turns out to be E which I had thought was pronounced 'ay') like 5 times so I'm pretty sure I missed all of those. After the numbers and letters, they had a test where they would show the circles and you had to click if one was deeper or more to the fore than the others and another with lines and you had to press the button if one was darker or thicker than the others. But the instructions were in French so by the time I figured out what they were asking me for, the pictures were already gone and a new one with a new set of undecipherable instructions had appeared. Finally they had a rectangle and a circle on the upper right, just outside of the rectangle. I gathered, or thought I did, that I was supposed to click the button when the circle got inside the rectangle. So the circle starts moving slowly to the left into the rectangle and just as it's about to get into the rectangle, the machine shuts off, and the nurse tells me I am done. She gets a printout of the results, too bad it wasn't from a dot matrix, and she tells me I did pretty well. So that makes me think that the Frenchman are either blind or retarded, but I'm pretty sure she was being nice and that they think I'm color blind with no depth perception and an inability to discern differing line thicknesses. Then she ended her diagnosis by telling me I have a problem confusing R's and B's; I'm pretty sure this is not the case, but who knows, maybe on they're on to something.

After my body filtered the bottled water I had drank, I let out a few droplets earning me the right to enter the doctor's office for a regular physical. I had to strip to my undies; I was wearing some nice light blue boxers with easter eggs all over them, looking dashing. I don't know where I got those from, but they are pretty comfortable, perhaps a little silly to be wearing in front of a 55 year old woman especially since there's a hole that's been worn in the crotch from extensive use. I might have made a different choice had I actually been told I had an appointment today. The doctor weighed me (just a shade under 90, fat-belly kilos), and since she was a wee one, she was looking right at my belly the entire time I was on the scale. Then I had to lay down on the examination table, the type with the crinkly paper, and she listened to me breathe, looked in my throat, hit my knees with a hammer, and banged on my ribcage to see if I was hollow I guess. After she had finished examining me, I was able to redress but not before I found an impressive piece of bellybutton lint that I promptly removed and threw on the ground. Overall, I don't think the ladies at the infirmerie were too impressed with ol' B.

Come to think of it, I guess it's possible they told me I had a physical scheduled. My phone has this red light that's been blinking for like a month. I assume the phone is desperately trying to tell me I have messages, but I don't know how to check them. I had set up a passcode at one point, but my voicemail never picked up; it always was answered by some woman whose identity we never discovered. Then all of a sudden one day the flashing red light appears. Last week, I talked with Sabine, the German girl, and she said her phone does the same thing, and she hasn't figured out how to check messages either. Her French is better than mine so I figure it's ok not to check my voicemail until she learns how to figure her own phone out and can teach me how to work mine. Her phone has caller id and a little display panel while I just have a crappy phone that I am thankful is not a rotary.

Michael's been sleeping very poorly of late. He'll sleep for a few hours and then wake up all throughout the night. Then he whines for a bit, which was new, and we never knew why. Well, we think we have the reason now.
Phuong gives him the knuckle test to see if he is hungry. If he dives at the knuckle, then he is hungry; otherwise, something else is likely bothering him. Well, yesterday, fat little baby tries to eat the entire knuckle and Phuong jumps back in pain. We look in his mouth and he has his first tooth poking through his lower gums. And there is another one right next to it that is about to burst through. So I guess we're in for a long few years until we die.
That's pretty much it.

Who here has a go-zillion digital pictures on their computer in a jumbled mess? Who here DOESN'T? We don't want to know who you are.

In one of my scrapbooking message boards, a friend of mine recommended this free service by Google called Picasa. It is a program you download onto your computer that locates every image you have on your computer and helps you organize them. Cool right?

Well, with my limited free time, I have managed to download it, but have not managed to use it yet? So I throw a poll out for those who want to try something new...use this Picasa thing and let me know if it is SUPER fantastic or not so super fantastic. I am hoping it is the former!

Here is a link to it on the web:

http://picasa.google.com/index.html

Post in the comments sections your thoughts!

My non-mobile baby play group was cancelled today. Boo.

Love,

P

Brian is the only person that ever calls me on my cell phone. Yes, feel sorry for me.

So imagine my surprise when "Unknown" showed up on my callerID! Since I have no idea how to check my messages, I actually picked up and VOILA! It was David Simcik, my old friend from college and senior plant design group mate!

He was actually visiting Paris right now and proposed to this fine young lady in the picture, Laura Goldman! And that ring was BEAUTIFUL! Talk about the BLING! :o)

Anyways, they were so nice to take time out of their trip to come and visit us in our new place. We caught up on what we had been up to, and Brian and I were most impressed with this great couple! It was a wonderful and welcome surprise to visit with an old friend from home!

We were lucky to get this pic of all of us by carefully balancing David's Canon camera on a bunch of boxes (we have PLENTY of those around). And let me tell you, if you need a digital point and shoot, get a Canon. David's looked like it had been dropped in a chemical bath and it still took this fabulous pic!

Love,
P

Four Month Teddy Bear Pictures!




What Michael normally does with all of his toys:

If you have a baby and want a great camera, get the Nikon D50 or D80 DSLR.

It is FANTASTIC and will not miss any of baby's funniest moments. I am LOVIN' mine.

More pics are available in our photo album, linked to the right. See March 2007 Album.

Enjoy,

P

Today, Michael is talking! He is starting to babble, "ba..ba...ptha...da...pttthhhaaa....ba..." It is amazing! He is an actual PERSON now and not just a mini-bioreactor! We are constantly surprised by this little fat baby!

After breakfast, our nuclear family went to the market on Rue Mouffetard, where we invested in our most favorite item: FOOD.

1. Rotisserie chicken, pork tenderloin, pork ribs
2. Small potatoes seasoned with the fat drippings of the above things roasting in the rotisserie
3. Croissant, sugar brioche, baguette, small apricot tarte
4. 6 different cheeses
5. Milk
6. Bananas, apples, pears
7. Fresh french salad greens

We also went to another open air market at Place Monge. Next week, we will go again and I will post pictures.

Until then, revel in Brian's favorite way to hold The Boy. I call it The Football Hold:

Voila,
P

Items accomplished in one day PRIOR to getting internet in the house:
Took care of Michael, played with him, and moisturized him 4 times a day
Ate my 2 day time meals
Dinner/baguette for the day purchased
5-6 loads of laundry washed/dried/folded/put away
4 boxes unpacked

Items accomplished in one day AFTER getting internet in the house:
Took care of Michael, played with him, moisturized him 4 times a day
Ate my 2 day time meals
Dinner/baguette for the day purchased

In other words, my efficiency and accomplishments has drastically reduced. But on the UP side, I get to keep in touch with my most fabulous family and friends from back home.

Love to all,
P

Brian is at IKEA today buying us buttloads of stuff for our apartment! In France, almost everything is closed on Sunday EXCEPT IKEA! So last Sunday, we rented our Citroen C4 and went as a nuclear family to check things out. IKEA is as crazy here as it is in the U.S.


I felt like I was in a river where the current of people took you through the store, and the only way to stop was to grab onto a branch, which at IKEA is like grabbing onto the armoire that you are looking at.

We are getting this couch and matching "recliners." Unfortunately, they will not arrive until AFTER April 13th, so we will be sitting in our Target camping folding chairs until then! YEAH Target!
Yesterday, Michael had his first cell phone conversation! I put Brian on the speakerphone of my cell phone and Michael would laugh and coo back every time Brian would say something! It was hilarious. And to make sure Michael wasn't just laughing at the cell phone, I put it on the voice message voice and he just stared at it with a furrowed brow. How neat that he knows his Dad's voice, even on a cell phone!

Speaking of cell phones, I got the girliest cell phone I have ever seen:

Random Finding for Today:
There are MORE Outback Steakhouses in Korea than all of Europe. NONE in Paris. :o(

A free night stay at the Besancon Paris B&B for the person who knows where this quote comes from:
"How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different the saints."

Post your answers in the "Comments!" Thanks goes out to Amy Bowman who noticed that I didn't enable Comments in my blog! Now, everyone can post to their desire...

Have a most GLORIOUS FRIDAY!
P

Welcome to the Paris Besancons Blog!

I decided that instead of bombarding everyone's e-mail Inbox with family SPAM and shameless pictures of Baby Michael, I would start a blog where people can check in on us at their own leisure.

I do solemnly swear to post often (at least 2-3 times a week) so that it would be worth your while to visit. No one likes to go to a blog and find that it's not been updated in the last 30 days. :o)

So welcome to our lives and we hope you enjoy! Post comments too!

Love,
B&P