Days gone by

OK, I did it again. I once again ignored my blog for months on end. In fact, this hiatus was even longer than the last one! So, my humblest apologies to my dear readers, and although I would like to say that I'll be more diligent in the future, I can not make such promises. Instead, all I can say is that I will do my best and thank you for checking in every so often.

Anyways, with a long hiatus comes a long list of things that have happened in my life since my last blog.

I'll start with a new list of Connor's milestones past:
1) he now crawls, stands, and cruises (walks on his feet while holding onto things)
2) he started walking last week and he is starting to get pretty good at it. He'll take a bunch of steps and then stop and stand, and then continue on. He can't really make it long distances and he'll usually resort to hanging onto something or crawling, but he's making good progress!
3) He now eats baby food and all sorts of solid foods (apples, pears, peaches, bananas, ground beef, steak, chicken, some fish, green beans, broccoli, carrots, and squash)
4) He still hasn't purposefully said any real words, but he's definitely making a lot of noises and trying out new sounds. He's said things like dadadadadada and mamamamamama and bababababababa. But, he's not really talking to us, so we're not counting it.
5) He's pretty good at waving hello and good bye to people.
6) He likes playing peek-a-boo with people, but his version is to look at you sideways and smile.
7) He's very smiley and just a very happy baby in general.
8) He loves music and often times will dance by bending his knees, flailing his arms and rocking his body and head to the beat. He also really loves live music so I play the guitar and drums for him a lot. Also, we sing to him a lot and sometimes he'll even sing along.
9) He doesn't really sleep much. He usually takes a nap in the morning and a nap in the early afternoon, but then he usually stays awake until 11 pm or midnight. Sometimes, if we're out and he's too interested in everything around him, he won't take his naps, and then he gets cranky.
10) He has a natural mohawk. Or a faux-hawk. We honestly don't put anything in his hair, although I'll admit that I will sometimes run my hand through it to accentuate it some more. It's just the way his hair is growing in and we love it!
OK, that's all for now!

snotty little child

Not much time for a long post. Connor has developed his very first cold and I have to admit, it's pretty darn pathetic. Nothing quite sounds as pathetic as a 4 month old baby coughing and sneezing with a runny nose and phlegm clogging him up. Yes, it may sound gross,....well, it is. But, it makes him so sad because he doesn't know how to cough up the phlegm or blow his nose, so he's just...leaky.

In the meantime, I'll post the newest beer label (It is an imperial stout,....so yes, it is a clever name):










Additionally, we brewed a second batch of our Big Apple Hard Mother $*@&%# Cider and reused the label (see previous post).

I hope to post before the holidays, but I may not. We're heading up to New England (CT, MA, RI) for x-mas and will probably stay up there until New Year's (Shannon has the week off).

If I don't post again, HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!

Who's your daddy?

Well, it's official. I've been on paternity leave for 5 and 1/2 weeks! I can't believe that it's been that long already! As my lack of updates may indicate, staying at home with a baby takes up much more time than I was expecting! I knew that it would be a lot of work, but I was expecting a little more free time! But, I do have to say that I have been having a blast and it is totally worth all the work! So, I have actually tried many different versions of this post, but I keep getting interrupted. So, I'm going to post some lists to consolidate my thoughts.

Major milestones already passed:
1. smiling
2. laughing
3. grabbing things
4. putting hands together
5. playing with toys on his play mat
6. rolled over twice (back to front)
7. grabbing his feet
8. recognizes the tv and enjoys the colors and noise
9. can push himself up when on belly
10. stands on feet with a lot of assistance

List of duties (heh heh....duties....) when staying at home:
1. diaper changes (#1)
2. diaper changes (#2)
3. feedings (every 2-3 hours)
4. playtime on his play mat
5. swing time
6. carrying him around in Baby Bjorn
7. playing in crib and watching Baby Pooh mobile
8. nap time
9. cleaning up drool, spit up, etc.

Once I figured out his feeding schedule, we've been taking adventures around the city. I'll just strap him into the Baby Bjorn and we'll travel through the subway system to go shopping, or visit my school, or visit Shannon for lunch, or travel pretty much anywhere. I have plans to take him x-mas shopping later. OK, well, speaking of which, Connor is starting to get fussy, so I'm going to go and figure out what he needs. I have a lot of thoughts for future posts, so hopefully I get to post soon! Ciao!

Monkey business

I meant to post this yesterday, but HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Three little beers

A quick late-night post: So, I promised a peek at the three newest additions to the Duckhat family!


First up, we have the Duckhat BIG TENT Chocolate Porter. The theme is of Josh and Melissa's wedding (which was around the time that this beer was brewed and for which a big tent was rented). For those who don't know, we make all of these labels ourselves and these labels are placed on each and every bottle of Duckhat beer. Josh and I take turns creating the labels and the theme of the label is usually something that has taken place around the time of the brewing. The recipe was for a regular Porter, and we decided to add fancy chocolate powder to our brewing process. This beer is good to go and it turned out really really well! Yummy! We are all so excited that this tastes so good!




Our second beer released was the Duckling Double IPA. See if you can guess what event the brewing of this beer was around... I think I mentioned this in a previous post, but this beer marked a change in the way we make our beers and it is very exciting. This
is our first all-grain beer and we are very excited to make that leap. We are getting a few steps closer to being true homebrewers.

Just an aside: Josh and I are quite modest people (despite the numerous labels that feature ourselves and our lives). The label above depicting the wedding was created by me to honor the wonderful occasion. This label was created by Josh to honor the arrival of Connor. It was the way our label creation rotation turned out, but I do wonder what these labels would look like if our turns were reversed...


Lastly, our third beer is an Oktoberfest Ale and was dedicated to the wonderful thing that is known as October baseball. This year, both the Yankees (woo hoo!) and the Mets (Woo hoo! from Josh) clinched positions in the postseason earning a spot in their pennant races. For those who are not familiar with baseball, baseball in October signifies the postseason and culminates in the World Series. Unfortunately, the Yankees were knocked out early by those damn Tigers, but the Mets are currently still in the fight to enter the World Series (tied 3-3 with the Cardinals) and will play their final game tomorrow!

Also, the beer was named in honor of this stat-o-matic game that Josh and I are obsessed with, which is based on the old game called "Pursue the Pennant"...good times...good times indeed...


OK, that is all for now. I need to go beddy bye. If you would like to reserve a sample of these beers, feel free to post a comment or send me an e-mail. Every beer that we brew is in limited quantities, so act fast before they're all gone. If you want some, I'll try to put it aside to reserve it for you, but unfortunately, I can not make any promises. Your best bet is to come visit me as soon as possible to grab your limited edition Duckhat beers!

My B

So, I apologize to my very small number of readers for my long hiatus from this blog. In fact, it's very possible that I no longer have any readers because people have given up on checking for updates. In fact, it's very possible that I never started out with many readers to begin with. Anyhoo, I'm going to post anyways and pretend like I'm not talking to myself online.

As you can imagine, things have been very crazy and busy and have only gotten crazier and busier when school started again in early September. Here is a list of things that I can think of off the top of my head that have happened since my last post:

1. Kristen and Jake got married! Yay! I am so very happy for the two of them and regret that I wasn't able to join them for their celebration in Seattle, but think many happy happy joy joy thoughts for them!

2. Connor has gotten so much bigger! When he was born, he was 6 lbs, 11 oz. This week, he is somewhere between 12 and 13 pounds and he is only 2 months old.

3. For updated pictures of Connor, feel free to go to http://ctam.shutterfly.com/

4. The Yankees win the AL East division title! Yay!

5. The Yankees win game 1 of the ALDS against Detroit and I was at that game! Yay!

6. The Yankees lose the next three games and blow it in the ALDS against Detroit. boo.

7. Duckhat brewing Co. pumps out another 4 beers! Three bottled beers: Chocolate Porter, Double IPA, and Oktoberfest Ale. One beer currently processing: Stout (pictures of bottle labels to follow)

8. Josh creates new Duckhat Brewing Co. pint glasses and they are awesome! (picture of glasses to follow as well)

9. Barenaked Ladies release new CD entitled "Barenaked Ladies are me". Takes a little getting used to, but I like it! My favorite track is "Maybe you're right". Give it a go if you haven't heard it...

10. Plane crashes into a building on the Upper East side of Manhattan...woah! Turns out that Cory Lidle (new Yankees pitcher) was in the plane...double woah!

I think that pretty much sums up the last two months of my life (well, except for the many hours working at school, and the many hours grading and planning and reporting and then the many hours at home caring for Connor and the many hours not sleeping), but that's life! Well, ... that's life as I know it for now!

Shannon returns to work in a few weeks (she has been working so hard for the past 2.5 months! Anybody who says that being a stay-at-home parent is lazy or easy or "lucky" is out of their minds! Plus, I can only imagine that it gets exponentially harder as the kid grows up!) When Shannon returns to work, I have planned to stay home with the Con-man for over two whole months (Oct 30 - Jan 8)! So, I am very much looking forward to that time! But, with that comes the responsibility of planning out two months of work to give to the substitute teacher, so my time between now and Oct 30 is going to be very busy. Well, dear readers (or reader,...or perhaps, nobody...) thank you so much for coming to visit the site again and feel free to spread the word that I'm back baby! Feel free to post a comment. I'd be interested in seeing how many people actually read this. Since I've only told about a dozen people that this site even exists, I'm pretty sure that now my blog is just me talking to myself. Well, on that note, peace out homeslice!

ba doop ba doop

I have Tivo.

I love Tivo.

So, why is it that I still time my kitchen runs and bathroom breaks during commercials and rewind if I don't make it back in time?

On Target...

So, yesterday our new family took our first official expedition to the real world (we have taken trips to the Pediatrician's office, but this was a real jaunt). Shannon, Connor, grandma Kelly, and I all took a trip to Target to get a few things like a new hamper and some other household assundries.

First of all, Target on a Sunday afternoon is craaaaaaaaazzy! Considering that we are both off and free every weekday, that was a tactical error.

Second of all, I now appreciate how much effort and time goes into travelling with a baby!

When we woke up in the morning, we knew that our goal for the day was to go to Target. It wasn't urgent and it didn't NEED to happen yesterday, but we thought that it would be nice to make a trip and since we needed stuff at Target, that was the plan. So anyways, we knew from the moment that we woke up that Target was our ultimate destination (ironic, I know...Target) Anyways, after the morning feeding and changing, etc., we ate breakfast and prepared ourselves. Then, it was time for the late-morning feeding and changing while we continued to enjoy some coffee.

As we were nearing departure time, Connor was sleepy but just starting to stir. This meant that he was close to being awake, which also means that he is close to wanting food and being fussy. So, we were thinking maybe we should just get moving, otherwise we would never get to Target. So, we prepared everything for our departure. Everything includes the stroller, the diaper bag (making sure the diaper bag is suitably packed with extra diapers, wipes, extra clothes, extra blanket, and an extra hat), some water and a piece of fruit for Shannon, the car seat, and of course, the baby.

Once everything was all set and Connor was all strapped into the car seat, it was of course time for him to drop a #2, so we had to stop to change him and then get him strapped in again, but then he was awake and hungry, so he was being fussy and crying a little. Anyways, we plowed through it and head out for the car with all of our stuff. Then, we kept forgetting things in the apartment as we were heading out the door (water, then a Target gift card, then the directions, etc.), so it took us a while to get to the car.

Once we got to the car, the trip was a lot smoother and aside from a break to feed Connor in the car in the Target parking lot, our trip was smooth sailing. (Although as I said above, Target on a Sunday was a baaaaaad idea!)

When we returned home with all of our Targeted merchandise, we were exhausted. So, that was our day. Apparently, when you have a newborn, a trip to Target is a whole-day affair.

p.s.-Happy one week birthday, little dude!

Happy birth day baby!

BAM, it's a boy! Connor Michael Tam was born at 1:27 am on August 7th, 2006 (or 08/07/06,...sorry, I just can't get enough of that!) He was born at the Roosevelt Hospital birth center at 6 pounds, 11 ounces and he was 20 inches long. I really just can't get enough of this little dude. I can stare at him for hours...and I think I'm just going to go do that now. Enjoy some pictures!

Under the bridge

Happy Birthday Shannon! In honor of Sha's birthday, the two of us and Jon took a walk around the hood and walked along Riverside Park up to the George Washington Bridge. It was a beautiful day for a walk and we had a great time chillin in the park. I don't know how many people know this, but there is a little red lighthouse directly under the G.W.Bridge and it's pretty cool to see.

Anyways, I thought it was a great under the bridge photo to add to the blog.

Bam Blog #1

So, here it is, the very first baby blog entry. Just so you all know, baby is still in Shannon, so no baby just yet. Shannon is officially off from work as of today (Yay!), so now she can relax, kick back, find fun things to do, and not have to work! So, from now until our very own "Labor day," we'll just be waiting and trying to relax. Because we don't know the sex of the baby, we've been referring to the new baby as "Bam". Dave came up with that nickname. It's short for "Baby Tam" and it just kinda stuck! So, Shannon and I are both quite ready for Bam to make his/her grand entrance and from here on in we're playing the waiting game. August 7th is the due date, so we'll see how punctual little Bam is...

What are they thinking?

I don't understand something...why is it that teams still seem to pitch to David Ortiz in the bottom of the 9th inning when the game is close? Last night, the Cleveland Indians were ahead of the Red Sox 8-6 in the bottom of the 9th inning and trying to close out the game for a win. As usual, the Red Sox somehow found a way to get two men on with one out and guess who steps up to the plate? Yup, Papi Grande.

Now, I probably don't have to tell you what happens next, but just in case you don't know how it ends (how it always ends), Ortiz hits a homerun to magically win the game for the Red Sox by exactly the right number of runs. Not just enough to tie the game or to cut down the lead. No, enough to just win the game in the bottom of the 9th inning.

This was his FIFTH walk-off hit this season and 15TH (including post-season) walk-off hit since he joined the Red Sox in 2003.

So, here's the thing...why do pitchers still pitch to him? I understand if the bases are empty and you're up by two runs or more, but with two runners up and him representing the winning run?? With the scenario above against the Cleveland Indians, I wouldn't think twice about walking Ortiz and loading up the bases! Either Ortiz hits a home run and the game is over, or Manny hits a homerun (or a double) and they win the game. OK, I understand that the threat of the Red Sox order is that you walk Ortiz and you end up with Manny (who is just as bad when it comes to clutch hits), but here's my radical idea...walk Ortiz AND Manny. You're up by two, so you walk Ortiz to load the bases and then you walk Manny to cut your lead to one and then you try to get some outs. I'm not saying it's not risky and I'm not saying I would do it everytime, but it just seems time and time again, the Red Sox win off of these stupid walk-off hits.

The Red Sox have built a line-up that is extremely smart. Two guys to lead off your lineup who are very good at getting on base. Then Ortiz and Manny. Very smart. Very annoying. That's why I hate the Red Sox.

But, mark my words, the Yankees will win the division and the wildcard will not be coming out of the AL East.

Simpsons quote of the week

Episode 1F20: Secrets of a Successful Marriage

Homer: Oh, and how is "education" supposed to make me feel smarter?
             Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old
             stuff out of my brain.  Remember when I took that home wine-
             making course and I forgot how to drive?
Marge: That's because you were drunk!
Homer: And how.

Fantasies are normal

OK, first "Adult" kickball and now "Fantasy" baseball....this is getting pretty risque!

So, I've been playing fantasy baseball this year and this has been my very first time playing. It has both opened my eyes, as well as ruined my life. I have never been so knowledgeable of all of the many other baseball players in the MLB, and I find myself rooting for different teams simply because I have one of the players on my fantasy team. Also, if I have players on opposing teams who are playing each other, I'll watch the game and come up with situations that need to happen to best suit my fantasy team (ex: well, so-and-so can get a base-hit and steal a base, but then I need the pitcher to get out of the inning without any runs, and then once they take my pitcher out, I need so-and-so to come in to hit a homerun and get a bunch of RBIs, but not too many runs, because I need my closer to come in and get a save). Crazy! So, in addition to watching all of the Yankees games this year, I now watch all of these other games to see how my players are doing. Also, with a tool called Stattracker, you can see current stats on all of your fantasy players as well as your opponents stats to get up-to-the-minute updates. Needless to say, if I'm ever by a computer, Stattracker is always on and I am always looking at it! Anyways, it has been a lot of fun, but between monitoring all my players and deciding whom I should keep and whom I should trade away and whom I should pick up, fantasy baseball has ruined my life...well, life as I know it...

p.s.-The Yankees just lost 6-19 to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays today, but they shut them out yesterday 6-0. What does that mean? It means that Johnson is a piece of $%#^ and Wang is my hero. Heh heh...Johnson and Wang...

The Duck is back!

Duckhat Brewing Company is proud to announce that we have begun two new batches of beer to be ready by late September / early October. For those of you who didn't know, Josh and I have been brewing our own homebrew beers for almost two years now. We have been slowly perfecting our technique and style and have, to date, put out 10 different beers so far. We were on a little hiatus as Josh was doing research in DC, but now that he is more or less back in NYC, we've started up again! We are also changing our technique and adding another element: we are going all-grain! (If you don't know the difference, don't worry about it, but basically the old method included the use of Malt extract (which is a thick syrupy substance), and now we're using malt grains which entails larger equipment and different procedures...) The result should be a more refreshing and clean-tasting beer. We'll just have to wait and see! Anyways, I'll update you on the two new beers later, but in the meantime, I'll give you a gander at the labels of our past 10 beers:

Unfortunately, whenever we make a batch of beers, we are limited to only 50-60 beers of each style. Also, once they have been bottled, there is a limited time in which they are drinkable and they can and will go bad after a certain amount of time. For these reasons, unfortunately, we do not have any more of these past beers in stock. However, like I said, there are two more being made right now and we plan on starting another batch in late August (to be ready in November).

You can click on the photos for a larger view.

Seconds

Fish have a memory of three seconds.
A jiffy is an actual unit of time equal to 1/100th of a second.
It took 302,400 seconds for me to write my second blog post.
Fish have a memory of three seconds.

So, do you remember the good ol' days when you would go out to the playground with a whole bunch of kids and play a version of baseball, except instead of hitting a small white ball with a bat, you kicked a big red ball and tried to peg your opponents out? Well, what's more pathetic than feeling nostalgic and warm inside at the mention of the phrase, "No Headhunting"? Perhaps being almost 30 years old and still arguing that point with an adult kickball league umpire?

That's right, this summer I was talked into joining an adult kickball league through an organization called WAKA (World Adult Kickball Association - www.kickball.com). Myself, ten other Trevor teachers, and a few of our friends and acquaintances have joined together to form a summer kickball team! The rules are your typical playground kickball rules (except that there are extended rules to incorporate a strike zone and various other "baseball" type scenarios). In fact, there is an official 10 page rule book with extensive rules and regulations. For example, I'm sure everyone can relate to Rule 16.01 which states, "Ghost men are not allowed". How many times have we all been burned by that rule!

So far, our team is not doing very well. We play every Monday night and our record is currently 1-4. Apparently, it is much harder to kick a kickball than I remembered! Also, with 11 players on a defensive field, it is very difficult to kick the ball where there isn't somebody there ready to catch it! In fact, the best strategic offensive maneuver is to bunt and run like hell!

Web-gem moment: Sliding head-first into second base, scraping up your entire right arm, and still being out by a mile.

All in all, it's a really fun experience and totally worth all the "how old are you?" comments that I get when people learn about my childish activity. Besides, I couldn't find an open softball league to join this summer and it's a much cheaper "early mid-life crisis" than the sportscar! Did I mention the flip-cup and beer pong games that take place afterwards at the sponsor bar? How old am I?

May I introduce to you...

You too?
Yes, me too. Everyone seems to be blogging these days and I thought that I would join in the party! For a long time, I've been watching Jill, Risa and Jordan blog it out and it's been great following what goes on in their super creative minds! If you haven't been to their blogs, I highly suggest that you get your tushies over there! However, I will have to say that I've been reading blogs well before "blog" was even a word! My cousin Kevin created a webpage four years ago that was basically a weblog. You definitely need to read it if you're into poopy discussions and very entertaining thoughts!

U2?
No, not U2, but RHCP. Although I desperately tried to think of a blog title that was based on U2 (my favorite band), I failed. But, rather I thought that it might be witty to title the blog "Under the Bridge". It is a reference to the Red Hot Chili Peppers song (one of my favorite, might I add) of the same name, but also a reference to where I live. That's right, Shannon and I live in the Heights (Washington Heights), just south of the George Washington Bridge in New York City. In fact, if you step outside to the front of our apartment, you have a beautiful view of the bridge. It's best when it's all lit up at night. So, for all of you out there who think that Washington Heights is too far, I implore you to not be afraid of The Heights and come visit us!

You two?
Yes, us two. I promise to discuss many other topics and many other things that cross my mind, but many of my future blogs may drift towards the new addition to our family. No matter how much I really don't want to become one of those new parents who seem incapable of talking about anything besides their baby and how their baby just did this and how their baby is the cutest and how their baby's puke smells like flowers and how their baby is blah blah blah, I fully succumb to the fact that this new development is going to change our lives. So, there may be many blogs that touch upon new developments or new pictures, etc. I've come to terms with it. So should you.

Ewe too?
No. There will be no discussion of ewes or any other kind of livestock. Actually....I'm not sure I can make the promise of livestock, but I'm pretty sure that there will not be any discussions of ewes....except for this one....damn it! OK, no MORE discussions of ewes.

You Dunn?
No, I'm Tam.

You done?
Yes, I'm done. Thank you for reading and come back often. I'll see how frequently I can post messages. Since I'm off for the summer right now, I will most likely be posting often, but once baby is born, I can't guarantee anything. Also, then school will start in September and then all bets are off. But, I promise that I'll try to post as often as I can! Also, please expect posts that are much more stream-of-consciousness in the future. Please feel free to tell anyone whom you think would be interested in this.

1 more 2 u
Happy Birthday Jon-boy!