The Jack Noodle Journal

I thought I would continue with what is becoming over the last few posts, my series of papers on the state of the Noodle union.

I have been telecommuting half time ever since K went back to school in September. Wait a second. Is that right? It seems like it has been longer than that. Has it only been 4 months? I guess I started telecommuting in mid August. Still though, I thought it had been 6 months.

K goes to work as a teacher at an elementary school on Monday through Wednesday while I stay home with G Noodle. Then on Thursday and Friday I go in and work at the office 10 hours each day while K stays home with the Little Noodle. 20 hours at the office for me. I work the other 20 hours at home telecommuting.

I’m currently working at a digital photography studio. I’m doing production work on the computer using Photoshop. Photo retouching, clean up, creating clipping paths and file prep on photos of mostly apparel items for use in catalogs and websites. This kind of work totally lends itself easily to working from home. Files are loaded up to the work FTP and then are downloaded by me from home. When I finish the work I upload the images back to the FTP. Time is figured per image. The files take from 10 to 20 minutes a piece to finish.

Technically it would be possible to work all 40 hours from home, but I do like going to the office the two days I go. It’s good to stay in the loop. Out of sight, out of mind is a true statement. I try to be seen and take part in the office fun when I am there my two days. It’s good to keep up with the office politics. Plus it’s nice to get out of the house for at least a few hours a week.

One thing I do find telecommuting is that I’m actually working harder at home. Be it real or not, I kind of feel like I have to step it up so that when I am at the office, my fellow employees have no doubt of the hard work I am doing from home. I feel like the telecommute must be constantly defended.

Officially my home working is 10 hours on Tuesday and 10 hours on Wednesday. I have mostly been working when K gets home in the evening as it has been difficult for me to get any real work hours in while watching the little guy.

Over the last 4 months (really? only 4 months?), two different versions of the home working schedule have formed. The first method is spreading out the 20 hours of work into four 5 hour days (Sunday through Wednesday). The second is ripping it off quickly like a band aid and getting the 20 hours done in two 10 hour days. It’s clear now that two 10 hour days is a far better method of execution. when I am able to make the push and get everything done in two 10s I am much more happy. Working four 5s and then two 10s during a week is just too tough! It gets depressing because you feel like you are always working. I don’t like working too late into the evening either but sometimes that is unavoidable.

The benefits of working from home in any industry are pretty sweet! Saving money on gas. Not commuting to work in the car every day. I’m able to wake up later when G does. I can stay in my pajamas while working. I don’t have to shower (I do though). I don’t get stressed out by events happening in the office environment (events not related to my job requirements).

The best benefit though, of course, is that we are able to stay home with G. I think he’s really doing well having both parents able to look after him. Staying home and watching him grow over the last 4 months has been wonderful. It makes whatever headaches come with a tough working schedule worth it.

So far so good. We seem to be making it work. There are some rough and fuzzy edges to our routine but we are doing our best. Hopefully we will be able to continue on like this for a long time.

Gilby and I have been watching the inauguration activities of our new President, Barack Obama. It’s pretty exciting. I felt I had to mark the moment in the journal so I could have a record of what feels like an important time in history.

G was crawling out of the room when Obama’s swearing in was starting, but I dragged him back in so he could watch.

It’s hard to not feel hopeful and optimistic this morning.

This post isn’t meant as a whining post like I think my last post was. More of an acknowlegement to the state of things post.

We had a good discussion about the baby vs. non-baby worlds with a couple of our non-baby friends the other day. K and I are now coming to terms with the fact that there is a pretty significant divide between the two universes. We are from a social circle that is mostly kid-free and are seeing how we are now adding more kid oriented activities and hangers into the mix to fill in some of the blanks.

It bothers K that this divide exists more than it bothers me. She isn’t willing to admit that there is a difference now and thinks that she is the same friend that she was before baby. I on the other hand, accept it all and think I’m a totally different sort of friend now as a poppa.

I kind of see it as just desserts. I was a horrible non-baby friend. I wasn’t around at all when any of you had your little ones. I feel bad about that now as a baby person. I keep asking, “Gosh what were we doing when (insert kid’s name) was six months or nine months old?”. I definitely wasn’t interested in the baby world when I was a member of the non-baby world. Please.

As a member of the baby world you can’t meet everybody at the bar for drinks after work. You can’t go see latest movie or keep up with the bands who are in town playing concerts. You can’t stay up until three in the morning tipping cows over in Mr. Johnson’s pasture. You have to think about babysitters. The phone stops ringing.

I think the lame thing so far is now it’s just assumed by non-baby folks that you can’t take part in activities and aren’t even considered for the fun when you might actually have had some time and could have joined in. That’s the rub though. If you do call me for some fun times I’ll probably turn you down. So how’s that gonna work in either direction?

This seems to be one of those life passages like the whole singles vs. couples debate back in ‘94 huh?

We have been doing a good job staying active and out on the social circuit as a threesome. Everyone loves G Noodle of course and we have awesome friends. I’m just noting that there have been changes.

I love the baby world. I do sometimes run out of things to say to my new baby world friends but I’m working on it. I also notice that my colorful imagination and language sometimes causes jaw droppings and confused looks from members of the baby world.

I don’t know. I was getting pretty tired of the non-baby world. I was having trouble keeping up anyway. K’s not done though, so keep calling her for fun.

I went back and looked at this old post today. It’s a good one. A month or so before baby arrived. Hard to believe the guy typing that hadn’t met G Noodle yet. Oh and that post led to this post which completes the whole story. Now I’m sure there will be a future post that will link back to this post and keep the train moving down the tracks.

I don’t know. Are the walls here at the Noodle compound closing in? This house is starting to feel a tad small. Am I just feeling anxious, antsy, bored?

I don’t think we need McMansion type space. Just a wee bit more room.

I mentioned in both of the older posts that I knew that children all over the World are being raised in far smaller houses. I still think that is true of course, but man, come on, really?

The G man can now crawl the length of the house in 1 minute 15 seconds!

There are repair needs now popping up here and there also that we’ll have to do something about one day. We need a new front door. The paint is peeling off the cracked siding. The gutters are acting weird. The wood on the back porch is getting mangy.

Now that G is standing up and looking out the 100 year old windows I can see that we are going to have to change those out. I am fearful of him banging on the windows and putting his hand through the old glass or knocking the whole thing out of it’s frame.

Maybe home improvement could be that new years resolution hobby that I wanted to start.

I would love to remodel and add that second floor that we had started planning last year. I wish it was already done though.

Where oh where are we going to get the money to do this stuff? The housing market sucks. There’s this whole economic downturn, depression that everyone keeps talking about. Who knows how long we’ll have our jobs for.

What about refinancing for the repairs and remodel? Will the housing market ever pick up again? Is this a bad time to refinance? What’s our house worth now anyway?

Maybe we should just move into a bigger house in a cheaper part of town. We enjoy our neighborhood here with all there is to do close by, but I’m far less enchanted than I was even a year ago. I wouldn’t mind selling the house and moving. Again with the housing market though! Is this a bad time to sell?

What can we get in Estacada? I don’t know about Estacada. K mentioned it. Somewhere out of the city but close enough that the commute wouldn’t totally suck.

Maybe we should move to a different state? That would really be shaking things up right? Hmm… What about Tucson? We’d have family nearby.

I don’t know.

Gosh. It seems like he was just turning 8 months old only 7 journal posts ago! The months are shrinking. Time is speeding up.

Our little man is one awesome dude. He continues to increase the fun factor with each new day.

I’m going to sit down and read the chapters in my baby books about 9 month olds. Make sure I’m doing everything right. I think the last month I read about was 6. I was much better about reading the pregnancy books. It’s harder to read the baby books when you are chasing one around. I think we are doing okay though still without reading every last sentence in the manuals.

The Little Noodle is a speed demon in the crawling department. He can get across the room in the few seconds that you have your head turned. He’s standing up while holding to things. He can sort of shuffle walk while holding on. He has quite a bit of baby talk. Lots of things to say, but no solid words yet. He learned to wave on Christmas Eve. He has around two and a half teeth, with more on the way any second.

Gilby is a joy!

oh yeah, new photos.

I watched the movie “Electroma” the other night by the electronica act Daft Punk. It was something else. After reading the description to K, she said I could watch it without her. Experimental? Yes. Inaccessible? Yes.

Gosh, inaccessible is an awfully elitist term in reference to art isn’t it? hmm. I’m going to look it up. saying something is inaccessible is almost like triple dog daring someone to “get” it. I digress…

Electroma is an arsty art movie for sure. I can’t recommend it to you unless you are in the proper mood. I really enjoyed it. There was some magnificently captured images. I was reminded of “THX 1138“, “Westworld” and of the fembots from “The Bionic Woman” while watching the movie. I loved the scene where the robots were in the operating room getting their human faces put on.

I was way into the electronica, techno stuff back during the late 90s (alight, alright! I know I STILL am). I was more of an Underworld, Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Aphex Twin fan though. I had heard Daft Punk but just didn’t “get” it. I think songs like “Around the Word” seemed too repetitive seemed too repetitive seemed too repetitive seemed too repetitive seemed too repetitive seemed too repetitive for me back then.

Now days it appears that all the cool kids, music braniacs, and folks in the know have hailed Daft Punk as the greatest thing since sliced bread and one of the most important contributers to the world of electronic music ever. Really? Why would that dude from LCD Soundsystem think it was so cool that Daft Punk was playing at his house? Why did Kanye get hooked up with them?

So I did a little research and it seemed that most people agreed that the album “Homework” is one of their finest. One quick iTunes purchase later, the G Man and I are bobbing our heads to the phat beats. We’ve listened to it quite a bit over the last week or so. It IS a pretty awesome album. Is it a classic? I don’t know. It holds up amazingly well even after 10 plus years.

I sampled their newest album “Alive 2007” and think I’m going to buy that one next. It’s got some crazy sounds and beats on it.

I’m starting to “get” it. I can understand why people really dig Daft Punk. I still think their music is repetitive, but I can see how that’s the point. It’s designed to be repetitive. It’s dance, club, house music after all. If you really listen closely to it though you start to hear new pulses and switching up of the beats and sounds during the pattern of the repetition. One can quickly be taken up by the hypnotic waves of bleeps, bips and bumps. Hmm… a good trance inducer to work to.

I am a different music listener than I was in 1997. I think I have a more diverse palette of musical tastes than I did back then. I have spent time in the Eno universe. I have listened to experimental works. I have an ear for the subtle nuances of noise rock now. I have introduced myself to several new electronic stunts and daredevils. I enjoy 30 minute songs. I am now tolerant of repetition and most of the time enjoy it. I guess my musical tastes have caught up to where Daft Punk was in 97.

I think that this blog post has become inaccessible.

Yeah, not too much to report today. Just hanging out listening to Ween with the Little Noodle. It’s a gray Monday morning.

I need to get back to my fighting weight of being able to talk about nothing that I was once at.

What?

We saw the documentary “My Kid Could Paint That” yesterday. It was great! Very thought provoking. My view of the central controversy is that they got so deep into it and people put down thousands of dollars, that they couldn’t backtrack from their original claim that she worked all on her own. Sure she was being coached! I think admitting that they gave her suggestions would have been fine. Good Movie.

I can’t wait to paint and draw with G Monkey! Oh it’s going to be so fun.

After watching that movie yesterday, I started thinking about setting up a painting area in the basement. You could totally splash stuff around down there. It is awfully dank and dreary down there though. I’m not sure if that setting would be the best place to nurse ones muse and create some inspired artworks.

Was one of my new year’s resolutions going to be, “get a Noodle family budget going”? Well if not, then it is now. We have got to figure this out. I have no idea what money is going where or when or what bills we even are paying. I’ve really let myself go. We have been just kind of rolling along blissfully unaware, spending all we can until the money runs out each month. That’s not good is it? It seems like we should be doing some sort of planning, or forming a strategy.

We are getting all the bills paid and are doing alright, it just seems that there is a bit of a “seat of our pants” thing going on that needs to be reined in a bit.

I’m going to start a list today and get some money in and money out columns going. I’m pretty sure that if we started doing any form of budgeting, that we would be better off.

and that concludes our bimonthly financial talk here at the journal…

So what’s going on this week? I feel like there is something in the works but I don’t know what it is. Something is waiting just off stage, behind the curtain, listening for it’s cue to make a grand entrance this week.

I hope it’s something cool and inspiring.

Baby’s First Christmas from Jack Noodle on Vimeo.

Hey, my first post of 2009. What have I been doing the last five days that I couldn’t bother with a journal entry? Sheesh! Yes, hello there new year! I’m glad to see you.

I’m happy the new year is here. The Holidays were fun and all, but I’m glad they are over with. We were pretty busy. It’s going to be nice to get back to our regularly scheduled programing. Let’s get the routine fired back up!

K went back to work today. Her Christmas break was two and a half weeks? It has been that long since I have watched G Noodle all by myself during her work day. We are having a fun time today. He’s a totally different baby though from when we last hung out by ourselves. That rapid development stuff is amazing!

Up top there is a video of the little guy’s first Christmas holiday season. We didn’t get everything represented, but we got most of the events down on tape. I edited the footage down to under ten minutes from a total of 22 or so. Making a home movie that isn’t boring for a viewer who isn’t part of the family or in the video is tough. It might be impossible. I think I did okay with this one. there’s lots of stuff happening and many quick cuts to move it all along.

I should make a fictitious drama, artsy, motion picture this year. Something different than my home movies.

I might be thinking about making a movie again now after finishing watching Gus Van Sant’s movie, “Paranoid Park” last night. It was pretty good. Artsy. A friend of mine thought it ended too abruptly and didn’t make sense. I didn’t find that to be the case.

Van Sant totally made a movie featuring the Burnside skate projects! Remember when I wanted to do that in 2004? Gus got way better shots of the park than I ever did. I did figure out how to do it at least on my own and he proved me right. You have to get down in the bowls with the skaters and follow them through their routines to get any useful shots. Those guys down there would let Van Sant chase them around in the bowls, but not me.

Yes our Netflix started back up again. We had put it on pause for three months because we couldn’t get through the movies fast enough. With the telecommuting from home in the evenings and baby fun, it has been hard to it down and watch DVDs. We’ll see how it goes now. Maybe we’ll pause it again.

We got Mr. Baptist a web cam for Christmas and bought ourselves one so that he can see and talk to G Noodle over the internets. We’re using Skype. It’s really pretty fun. Good idea K! We don’t have very many Skype friends though. I called in to the office this morning and talked to them over the video. Uh yeah. Now they can watch me working.

You out there, all twelve readers of this journal, should Skype me and we’ll have a video conference! I’ll put a shirt on.