The Signposts Edition

A few weeks ago when we first got word that there might be a problem with the pregnancy, Shell and I made a deal that we'd just take things in little goals, a few steps at a time and not try to worry about the entire end of the pregnancy. The first such signpost would be the 24 week mark. As of tomorrow (Sunday) it will be 24 weeks and we've made it thus far. Things continue to improve and Shelley's just plugging along, not worrying too much, keeping positive. Our little girl is jumping around, kicking like mad. I will invariably hear Shell in the other room "alright little girl stop kicking mommy!" The baby also seems to become very lively when I enter the room and start talking...you think she knows her daddy's voice already? Last night we sat downstairs and watched the Cubs game, all the while Shell told her that this was Daddy's favorite baseball team...like the kid won't know that seconds out of the womb when I put a gray road jersey on her? I finally received my grades today. Historiopgraphy- B+ Conflict and Cooperation (Cold War History)- B+ 20th Century American Foreign Relations- B Thinking About the USA- B All my marks were above the course average, so that makes me feel good...would have liked a few of the A variety but next year perhaps. I'm also looking at courses for next year and I've got a few that I am desperate to get into. Revolutionary America (like that's a surprise considering its THE period I love) The European Reformation History of Modern Espionage (which always fills up before my registration date) Great Trials of History (ooo...gimme gimme gimme) there was another class that I wanted (America and the World to 1900) however as it turns out it has already been cancelled :( So now the summer is just work and softball and baby. Work is getting busier, although yesterday I tweaked my back which started to spasm just as I was lifting some French Vanilla...I had to sit down for awhile but I was able to finish out the day (though today it's killing me). I had my first softball game with my new team. We won 11-6. I went 1 for 2 (single, a fielder's choice, and two walks). It was windy and cold...just like Wrigley Field in April or old Candlestick Park everyday of the year. I'm well into my summer reading list. I'm currently reading Joseph Ellis' "His Excellency: George Washington". It's the third of Ellis' books that I've read (I have Founding Brothers, for which he won the Pulitzer, and American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson). Ellis tries to strike a middle ground between the mythic Washington of older historiography and the post-modern criticism of Washington that is less than flattering. Instead Ellis potrays Washington as the self-determined, aloof, deeply committed soldier-patriot, but one desperate for a legacy and the protection of his image. The post-modern critique, of not just Washington but the other founders, focuses on their wealth (and its continuation) as the driving force behind the move for independence. However that critique, to me, is developed through the hindsight of a victorious empire, whereas to the founders (especially to Washington who knew the military might of the British) victory was completely uncertain. Therefore while the wealthy elite may have yearned for the higher rewards, they were also risking the most. (At the moment he was named Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, Washington was one of the wealthiest Virginians, due in part to the dowry from the widow Martha Custis that he received upon their marriage and the "army" he just inherited was little more than a collection of state militias- with the exception of the Virginia Regiment which he personally had built, trained, and taken into battle in the French and Indian War) I'm also going to finish a book I started to read a year or so ago, Thomas Fleming's "Duel" about Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Then it's "The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made", the Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas book about George Kennan, Avril Harriman, Dean Acheson, Robert Lovett, John McCloy and Charles Bohlen, the architects of Cold War strategy and the authors of containment policy. I also want to read Isaacson's newer book about Benjamin Franklin, and there's yet another Alexander Hamilton biography by Ron Chernow. Somewhere in there I'd like to fit in the new Harry Potter book when it comes out in a few weeks and also I'm going to breakdown and read that damn Da Vinci Code since everyone else has read it already. Picture time (apologies to the LJ crowd who have already seen some of these): As always click on the picture for a larger version Some bees: I've been taunting some friends about my autographed Tony Kornheiser photo but they've never seen it so here it is. Then of course there is Dixie and her Mum, sitting near the garden last Sunday :) Well we've got houseguests this weekend, so I guess I should get crackin' & cleaning up the place. Until next time Cheers