Mike Munhall

Petuti did her first video chat yesterday with grandma Munhall.

You can see larger photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmunhall/sets/72157607040993302/

And, while I’m at it, here are some captures from her second video chat.  This chat happened today with grandma AND grandpa Munhall.

The short answer: dorriemunhall.com.

The medium-length answer: The domains where Dorrie’s blogs live (denver-rrc.com and denver-rrc.org) expired unexpectedly.  Without going into details, I’ll just tell you that renewing those domains is going to be a pain in the ass, so we bought dorriemunhall.com. So, Dorrie’s personal blog is now at dorriemunhall.com.  The Restaurant Review Club blog isn’t back up yet, but it will be shortly.

The long, detailed answer: I’ll save that for another day.

Free to any home: Gink, an 18-year old, female, satanic, mean-ass siamese demon that pisses on rugs, vomits everywhere, wails constantly and spits fire.  Not safe with other pets, small children, adults or the elderly.  Declawed, but its claws are almost fully grown back.  Eats live hamsters.  Spayed.  Current on all vaccinations.

This poor, old curmudgeon has been with Dorrie (and now me) for more than a decade, but her age and poor disposition have done her in.  I’m taking Gink to the vet this afternoon for a date with the “big sleep” unless someone in a drug-induced bout of sympathy claims her.

She has not been happy with the new addition to the family and has taken on urinating on bathroom rugs and anything she can find in Anna’s room.  We’ve had to keep every door to every room closed for the last three months to keep her away from her favorite marking areas.  It doesn’t help that she vomits every other meal onto the carpet and we’re spending a fortune on Woolite carpet cleaner.

She’s always been an unfriendly and unapproachable cat.  Dorrie adopted her from the Humane Society and without Dorrie, this cat’s life would surely have ended long ago.  She’s had an otherwise good life for a nasty cat that will not tolerate humans.  Nevertheless, putting a pet down is hard no matter what the circumstances are.

I’m sorry, Gink.  I really am.

Flickr now supports short (90 seconds max) video clips. The reason for the short duration is that the video support is for “long photos”, not video of the kid’s school play or of your wedding. I love this idea, and it’s something I’ve pondered for quite a while: a way to capture and show - like a photograph - a scene over a period of seconds or minutes. I’m thrilled that Flickr is doing this.

I took this crappy video with my mobile phone. It’s not much, but like the camera embedded in the phone, the video capture is convenient and fun to play with. You know what I’m thinking? VideoPhone365.

Of course, I have a few clips of Anna taken with the videophone. They’re here in this Flickr set.

I’m a proud daddy. Anna Leslie was born last night, April 5, at 9:55 p.m. She weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19.5 inches in length. Mom and bambina are doing fine. We’re all very tired. Must sleep.

Here are some additional photos.

Here’s my new business card. What do you think?

A big, huge thanks is in order to Rena for pushing me to get my photography somewhere to be purchased. Last weekend I opened a store on Etsy. I have only a few pieces up right now, but plan on putting up much, much more in the coming weeks. I’m curious to know what you think of the store. Leave a comment in this post or email me if you have an opinion on how to make it better.

Now, go buy a print. Chop, chop.

Here are a few notable things I’m looking forward to in 2008:

Welcome Dot
My first kid (a.k.a. Dot, for the spec on our first ultrasound picture just a few weeks into the pregnancy) is due April 21. If that’s not something to look forward to , then nothing is. The change that I need to prepare for right now is the change from being a two-income family to a one-income family. I honestly don’t think that there is any amount of preparation that can be done on my part to get ready for my first child, so I’m just going to do the best I can until then.

CameraPhone365
I’ve blogged about this project (http://www.mikemunhall.com/cameraphone365/) a few times. It’s in full swing now, and I’m already finding it challenging to remember to take and post a photo every day. Surely it will become more of a habit as I get used to it.

Blogging Changes
I am no longer going to write about every single book I read. I’m just not into doing reviews, and I struggle trying to find things to say about the books I read. Instead of blogging about each book, I’m keeping a spreadsheet with notes about each one. If I feel like it, I’ll post notes on the items in the spreadsheet occasionally. I want to keep my regular blog reserved for more quality posts, rather than dilute it with dumbed-down entries such as “I liked this book”.

Adobe AIR
I immersed myself into the Adobe AIR APIs several weeks ago. I’ve got a good running start with the technology, and AIR is still in beta. Jumping on the AIR bandwagon before the first official release is a good move on my part, I think. I like the technology, find it useful, and think it will find good adoption. It’s an opportunity to become an expert in the technology from the very beginning and will be a valuable topic on my resume. And it’s fun.

Photography
With the completion of my last photography course, I think I have some ideas on where I want to take my craft. I need to firm up my plans, but I think I can have a fair-sized body of work that I can print, mount, and frame and then sell at some art fairs or online. The first step, though, and one I am taking right now, is to build a consistently-themed body of work.

I got an email from a woman at Javis Davis today, letting me know that I am the runner up for the “Pregnancy Announcement” prize on NaBloPoMo. Being the runner up, I guess that means that the pregnancy announcement on my blog (which really wasn’t as much an announcement as it was a statement) was the second in the month of November among all NaBloPoMo participants.

Hi Mike, it looks like you are the winner of a “runner up” prize in NABLOPOMO! Go to our website, www.javisdavis.com, and you can pick out fabrics for a pillow and blanket set. Look under “Fabric Collections” and pick a main fabric for your pillow, and any two “furry” fabrics for your blanket. Furry fabrics are the ones that say “fluff, chic mink, polychenille, and chenille”. Just email me back with your fabric choices and a shipping address and we’ll get it to you ASAP. Congratulations!!

Also, Dorrie and I went for the first ultrasound yesterday. Baby is healthy and normal. We now know the baby’s gender, but aren’t sharing (sorry). Baby must have my sense of humor: In one of the pictures, he/she is sticking his/her tongue out. That’s my boy/girl!