Web Application Stress Testing
.NET Schema CompilerMy little girl is growing very fast. She now can sit and has started drinking the bottle by herself. She makes tons of babababa sounds, raspberries and she loves to clap. What she loves most is being close to Jaime. Here she is with the lovely Mr. Green, Jaime’s frog.
Jaime for the first time today put on his underwear and pants without any help - holding them open with his hands and wriggling his feet into the correct holes. I was a very proud papa :-)
We have been having some problems with his Montessori school lately. He is in the toddler program (18mo - 3yr), but is showing very clear signs of being ready to move up to the Primary program (3yr-5yr). He’s bored and is acting out in class, and expresses very strongly that he does not want to be there. But when you ask him if he’d like to go to the class for older kids, he gets very excited about it. Some days it gets so bad that he’d rather sit in time out than get ready for school. Today he got “written up” by the school for pushing other kids and hitting the teacher.
We started talking with the school about moving him up a week ago. Since then, we’ve gotten a series of delay tactics on the part of the school. “Give me a couple days to look into it” and then raising “concerns” about his potty training, when they know damn well he’s fully potty trained. He’s had no accidents in school this year so far. At home, he takes care of his potty needs himself (he still asks for a diaper for when he wants to poop though, which is usually once a day and never at school). Now, the school is indicating they’ll be ready to move Jaime up on his birthday - Nov 8th, and that they can’t move him sooner. But that’s ridiculous. We know other kids hav moved up prior to their 3rd birthday, and we also know that the toddler class is doing Jaime no good right now, and Jaime is doing the toddler class no good either, so why continue sending him? I am of the opinion that we should just keep Jaime home until the school is ready to move him to the Primary class. Vivi thinks the school might kick us out if we do, but I don’t think I’d want to send Jaime to the school if that is their response. It seems very anti-Montessori for the school to want to keep Jaime in a class that is not working for him. They were the ones who made it clear when we started that kids are moved up when they show the signs that they’re ready, and Jaime is showing all the signs they mentioned.
Megan is starting to hold her own bottle and feed herself. She loves to eat too - she loves butternut squash and soups made from butternut ,carrot, and potato. She’s not very fond of banana or peach, and kind of neutral toward yam. Not a sweet tooth as of yet. That will probably change! She is very interactive - very grabby. It is hard to prevent her from grabbing anything that comes within her reach, which makes it tough to hold her and eat at the same time, or hold her and sit at the computer, or hold a tv remote. Everything will be grabbed! She’s a thumb-sucker, especially when she sleeps, and she’s a very very good sleeper. She puts herself to sleep with no trouble every time - you just have to put her in the crib. How different from Jaime! But, she won’t sleep through the night, as the night hours are apparently her favorite hours to eat - again, how different from Jaime, who slept through the night starting at 3 months. Megan is 7 months and is always hungry in the middle of the night.
So, gas shortages are here for real in the southeast US. It is interesting reading the comments on the web about people’s experience with gas. So far, most of the anecdotes seem to be of the “we were just about out of gas when we finally found a station with a little left” variety. Also reading about significantly reduced traffic levels in places like Asheville NC, Nashville TN, and in Atlanta Georgia. Unfortunately, it’s likely to get worse in these places before it gets better because the refineries are still operating at severely restricted levels. Gas supplies will continue to decrease for the next week and probably for the next 2-3 weeks. I suspect there will be some very bad trouble spots in some of these areas being hit by shortages. If only they could raise their prices, those areas might attract more gas shipments, but people are apparently hunting for “price gougers”, and in the process, hurting themselves because gas stations would rather run out of gas than raise prices to $6+ and be accused of price gouging.
And now, in addition to worrying about societal collapse due to peak oil, I have to worry about economic meltdown due to the financial crisis. Apparently last Thursday we were minutes away from a freeze up of the money markets that could have resulted in virtually all monetary transactions grinding to a halt, since credit cards and check-clearing are usually worked through money-market type accounts. Yeah, credit card transactions failing by the millions and no checks clearing, including payroll checks. That would have been fun. It is apparently why the gov stepped in and guaranteed money market accounts, and that is probably something like the scenario that Bernake and Paulson scared Congress with in the secret closed door session.
So I have been thinking about disaster preparations.
If gas shortages spread, or if financial dislocations become severe, we could see disruptions in shipping that could result in food shortages. It’s already getting difficult for truckers to travel routes that go through the southeast. Food has to be number one on the list of disaster preparation. So far, I have some - some rice, some beans, tuna, cans of corn and green beans. Not much really. I should make a list and get more. Some other thoughts:
I’ll have to think what else I should add to the list and get working on it.
After a swift labor and an even quicker delivery (3 minutes pushing), our daughter arrived without complications. All fingers and toes are accounted for. The number of limbs is correct. Two eyes, one nose, one tongue and a heck of a good girl is what we got. We are lucky already.
I like to talk about a soul’s age on little ones like her. She has an old, wise soul that must know English because she seems to understand what I tell her. She seems so comfortable being that I have to say she has been around here before, many times. She is better at the breastfeeding thing than I am, knows the drill on diaper changes and was completely calm and relaxed during her first bath, as if she was in a spa getting a deluxe treatment.
My heart must have doubled in size since she arrived because my love for her is infinite, just like the I love I feel for my awesome, amazing Jaime.
Stats:
Arrival date: 2/16 Time: 12:36 am Weight: 8 lbs 13 oz. Height: 21 inches.
Here is a pic.
