Battlestar Galactica Prequel Announced

Interesting news!

"Caprica" will take place more than fifty years before the events that play out in the "Battlestar Galactica" series. The people of the Twelve Colonies are at peace and living in a society not unlike our own, but where high technology has changed the lives of virtually everyone for the better. Of course, a startling new breakthrough in robotics and artificial intelligence brings about the first living robot - the Cylon. The prequel will tell the story of two families, the Graystones and the Adamas (the family of William and Lee Adama, the leaders of the "Battlestar" Colonial fleet).

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Thief

I stumbled upon a new series on FX called Thief a few weeks ago. It's pretty interesting. Nick Atwater (played by Andre Braugher) leads a small group of black and Latino professional thieves operating out of New Orleans. In the first episode the team botches a heist of a bank and runs afoul of the Chinese mafia. This snafu ultimately leads to the death of Nick's fence and forces Nick to kill Izzy, one of his own guys. Things get further complicate for Nick when his wife unexpectedly dies in a car accident leaving him with a white stepdaughter who hates him and who is a witness to the murder of Izzy.

The writing is tight and I like how the thieves are neither outrageously high-tech Mission: Impossible types, nor bumbling hoods. The series is set to end in a few episodes (talk about a really short run), but if it's re-broadcast this summer or renewed for the Fall, be sure to catch it.

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Star Spangled Spanish

Some Latino recording artists have created a Spanish version of the Star Spangled Banner. It was played across the country tonight on various Spanish-language radio stations at 7 p.m. The goal of the artists is (presumably) to show patriotism.

You gotta be freaking kidding me.

Who is this for?

If you can't understand or don't know the anthem in its original language, you're probably not into patriotism anyway, so a Spanish version would be just as meaningless to you.

This makes no sense.

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Keith Hernandez

I was up late Saturday night with the baby, and as I often do when the Yankees aren't on, I was watching the Mets game.

The Mets announcers frankly suck. Don't get me wrong -- most baseball announcers suck. The Yankees announcers have their own set of problems. First of all, there are too many of them (about eight at last count). They also have a tendency to be smug (Michael Kay) or amateurs (Dave Justice, John Flaherty, etc.).

But back to the Mets. Their announcers tend to be depressing or negative and the team really isn't bad enough to merit that. This is not Tampa Bay or Kansas City. This is a big market team with some exciting young rookies and they're probably going to make the playoffs -- so lighten up already.

Keith Hernandez in particular never misses an opportunity to point out how the current players can't play the game or to say something generally obnoxious. On Saturday he went the "generally obnoxious" route. Mike Piazza, now with the Padres, hit a homerun. Mike goes into the dugout where he's congratulated by the other players and team personnel, one of whom happened to be a woman.

Well, Keith wasn't havin' none of that.

"There's a GIRL in the dugout! There aren't supposed to be any GIRLS in the dugout!"

He was quickly informed that the "girl" was a massage therapist (no, not that kind) and part of the training staff for the Padres. She had every right to be there.

Well, Keith wasn't havin' none of that. He drops this gem:

"I'm not saying girls should be in the kitchen, but they shouldn't be in the dugout."

What a dick. And he continued to repeat variations of this statement throughout the rest of the game.

It especially bothers me that someone of Spanish descent would say something stupid like that, but I guess sexist machismo runs deep. What if someone said, "I'm not saying that Latinos should be picking lettuce, but they shouldn't be in the broadcast booth."

That would be wrong, right?

Portfolio Update: Stamps

New album added: Stamps.

Tummy Trouble

I'm sick!

After my visit to the pediatrician last Friday, my tummy started hurting and my poop was greenish and gooey! I cried and cried. Boy, was mommy upset.

We went back to the doctor yesterday and he said I may have a stomach virus. And I may be lactose intolerant. I have to switch to a soy-based formula and mommy can't drink any milk either so it doesn't get into the breast milk.

I have a lot of gas and it hurts. :(

AKA "Chinito"

Hi!

I'm almost two weeks old, so mommy said I could post on her blog. I'm posting another picture of myself. I was only three days old when this was taken in the hospital. I'm so much bigger now!


I have a nickname already! My granny calls me "chinito." I'm not sure why -- I'm actually part Japanese, not Chinese. Granny is so cute. ;)

New Mommy: Week One

Orlando and I have been home for a week now. Time went by fast!

I'm still getting some stabbing pains from the c-section, and my feet are so incredibly swollen, it's scaring me. I can't flex my toes. It's frightening. I want my old feet back. :(

Other than that, I (mostly) feel okay.

Some observations from a new mommy:

• It took about two days for me to realize that it's not necessary to check to see if Orlando is breathing every two minutes. That was exhausting.

• Orlando never cries if he's soiled himself. He only feels it's important to alert me if he's hungry.

• This baby smiles a lot in his sleep. It's so comforting to see that. :)

• I was prepared for breastfeeding to not work out, and by God, it sure hasn't. When Orlando was immediately taken to the NICU and started on Similac, breastfeeding was doomed. He prefers the ease of a bottle and I don't blame him. The funny thing is, he still likes to frantically paw at my breasts and play like he's actually going to breastfeed, then he freaks out and frustrates himself because he has to work to extract milk.

• When the baby wails for food, I sometimes get a stabbing pain in my uterus. I read somewhere that this is some hard-wired physiological response.

• Orlando likes when my mom sings songs to him in Spanish. He focuses on her very intently.

• My dogs, Beren and Cricket, have done well with the baby so far. Cricket, the elder, mostly ignores the baby, but she likes to sniff his scent on my clothes. Beren has decided to be a guardian to the baby. If my mom is asleep and the baby wakes up and cries, Beren will go up to her and stand near her as if to will her to wake up and tend to the baby. This begs the question, why does he think she should tend to the baby and not me? What's up with that?? FROWN!

• Orlando had his first pediatric visit yesterday. I was worried that he wasn't drinking enough milk at each feeding, but he is now 7 lbs. 5 oz.! The pediatrician said to keep doing whatever it is I'm doing. That was a relief.

Thank you to everyone who sent kind email and posted well-wishes on my blog! I was (an am) a little stretched thin right now, so I can't respond to everyone, but I did appreciate the thoughtful comments!

Orlando Bryce Pessoa

Orlando Bryce Pessoa (6 lbs, 11 oz., 19") was delivered by c-section on 04/05/06 at 2:11 p.m.

He was briefly in the neo-natal intensive care unit because of a breathing problem, but he's fine now and we're both home.

Off To The Hospital

I'll be off to the hospital in about an hour for an 11 a.m. check-in. The c-section is scheduled for 1 p.m.

I'm so hungry!

Talk to you in a few days.

Week 39

At last night's appointment the doctor announced that the baby still hadn't descended into the pelvic area and I'm still "carrying high." Since I'm having problems with my disability claim because of the way the paperwork was filled out by the doctor's office (frown!), I went ahead and had a c-section scheduled for tomorrow.

Today is going to be spent doing last minute stuff that involve driving, since I'm told I won't be able to drive for a few weeks after the c-section.

Bottom line, the baby will be born tomorrow!

Two people guessed April 5 as the birth date in my baby pool:

• "Courtney" says the baby will be a 7lb, 11 oz. boy.


• "FTPDiva" says it will be a 7lb, 2oz girl.

I will know tomorrow, but I probably won't post until Monday at the earliest.

Wish me luck!

Ethnic Barbies

I came across an old email yesterday with links to Barbie fan site that has some amusing pictures of a variety of ethnic Barbie, Ken and friends dolls.

Check out South African Barbie:

Incan Barbie:

This is Malibu Ken, with a process in his hair:

Tango Ken looks like Johnny Depp, don’t you think?

Check out all the dolls here.

Play Ball

With the baseball season starting tonight, now’s a good time to post my predictions.

American League

East: New York Yankees

Central: Cleveland Indians

West: Oakland A’s

Wild Card: Toronto Blue Jays

National League

East: Atlanta Braves

Central: St. Louis Cardinals

West: San Francisco Giants

Wild Card: New York Mets

American League Championship Series

Yankees vs. Cleveland

National League Championship Series

Cardinals vs. Giants

World Series

Yankees vs. Giants

World Champions

Yankees

King Kong

I finally got around to seeing King Kong, since the DVD came out this week. It was okay. I’d been warned that it was slow-moving, but the backstory stuff before we see Kong didn’t really drag that badly.

I found the “island savages” stuff distasteful, but expected. I was also disappointed in the fact that all three versions of the movie shed no light on how a human civilization could exist on an island with dinosaurs and at least one huge carnivorous ape. How did those people get there? How did they survive long enough to build a wall massive enough to keep out those big creatures? Why do they offer useless human sacrifices to Kong? And how old is Kong anyway? No answers are given.

Kong looked okay, but his face could’ve been more expressive. He had an elderly face, which was an interesting choice. That should’ve made him endearing, but he was mostly alien and unfathomable. His “love interest,” Ann, managed not to come off as shallow, yet no real reason was given for her to go out of her way to save Kong when he went on his rampage. The director failed to establish a real bond between the two.

Despite the shortcomings, I liked the look of the movie. I liked the Depression-era New York. I also was surprised that Jack Black was good in his role. I usually can’t stand him.

Paltrow Swigs Stout

From the Boston Herald:

The Oscar-winning mum-to-be Paltrow has tongues wagging after she downed a Guinness at a hipster Manhattan restaurant - a sushi place no less - while five months pregnant.

Evidently in the UK they think Guinness is a good source of iron. Right.

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Game of Shadows

The sports radio station I listen to has been buzzing for weeks about the new book Game of Shadows which talks in detail about the steroid use of Barry Bonds.

Today it was announced that the baseball commissioner has decided to get serious and investigate the allegations in the book. In addition to confirming what was said about Bonds, they're also going to go after Gary Sheffield of the Yankees and some others, like Sammy Sosa and presumably Mark McGwire.

I sense a certain reluctance in baseball's hierarchy when it comes to really investigating this. The McGwire/Sosa competition in 1998 generated a lot of money for baseball. The Giants' games sell out because people want to see Bonds hit home runs.

There's talk of taking away the homerun records set by Bonds, McGwire and Sosa. The problem with that is, how can we pretend it didn't happen? Don't you still have to not strike out when you step up to the plate? It's not like you could grab just anyone off the street, juice them up, and expect them to duplicate what these guys did. Even if you hate these guys, there was talent involved.

Then there's another problem -- why stop with them? How many career homeruns of Palmeiro, Sheffield and Giambi do you take away? What about the pitchers like Clemens and Schilling who are alleged to have taken steroids? How many of their wins do you take away? What about those glaring one season wonders like Brady Anderson who hit 50 homeruns in 1996 when he'd only hit 16 the year before? Or Luis Gonzalez with the inexplicable 57 homeruns in 2001?

Lastly, what about the trainers, managers and general managers who had to have known that their players were on steroids? What do you do with them, nothing? If their players can be punished even though they never failed a drug test (with the exception of Palmeiro), they should be punished too.

It's a house of cards. I want to see if they really intend to follow through.

I have my doubts.

Week 38

Nothing new to report from last night's OB appointment. The baby still hasn't decided to move down. There's no dilation yet. The doctor still thinks it's going to be a C-section. She says it's up to me if I want to wait past the due date to see if the baby decides to move into position on its own.

I'll think about it a bit.

Immigration Reform

This is an interesting debate for me. My parents can here as immigrants from Panama -- legal immigrants. They met and got married here. I was born here. They went to college here. They became citizens and they've never been on welfare. They pay taxes. In fact, my father worked as an IRS agent for over 30 years.

But enough about me.

The focus of the current immigration debate is whether to deport the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, or allow them to stay here as "guest workers" for the next six years after which they must leave the country, then apply to come back in.

Neither of these proposals seem doable to me.

How much manpower will it take to find, confine and deport the 11 million illegal immigrants? And how much will it cost? What happens to their children who were born here? Do you potentially add millions of children to the foster care system?

As for the guest worker idea, if it was me, why would I voluntarily leave here after six years? And isn't this amnesty a slap in the face to everyone who followed the rules and applied to come here legally?

Moussaoui: I was supposed to fly 5th jet

From Reuters:

Zacarias Moussaoui said on Monday he was supposed to fly a fifth airplane into the White House as part of the September 11 plot and knew two other planes were to fly into New York's World Trade Center.

Taking the stand at his sentencing trial, Moussaoui -- the only person charged in the United States in connection with the September 11 attacks -- said "shoebomber" Richard Reid was to join him as part of the crew in the suicide mission.

Huh?

Why would he admit to this? Why did he even take the stand? I think he wants to get executed.

Very fishy...

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Afghan Christian Should Be Released Soon

From AP:

KABUL, Afghanistan - A court on Sunday dismissed the case against an Afghan man facing possible execution for converting from Islam to Christianity, officials said, paving the way for his release.

Well, that's a relief. They were actually going to kill this guy for doing... what, exactly? But someone has to get him out of the country, I would think.

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