The little Inn by the wayside

[Zyx]

Maria and I are setting aside one million for Skoda's future expenses, such as college and education.

CWF Investment trivia of the day: Assuming that the stock markets continue to perform as they have in the long run, $1 million invested today to an index fund* should be worth (inflation adjusted) $4 million in 18 years. (Assuming 10% annual growth in the long run with 2% inflation. Does not include fees or taxes).

* Index funds, long-term commitment, reinvest dividends. rinse and repeat. fire and forget. actively managed mutual fund's rarely perform better than the market, almost always worse when fees are considered. index funds never beat the market, but never underperform it either. bonds just shield you from inflation so your $1 million will be worth $1 million after adjusted for inflation, unless U.S. declares bankruptcy or the Mayan apocalypse ensues. Note that banks want to maximize their fees from you, which they these days try to make from management fees instead of performance fees because, as noted before, their actively managed fund performance usually sucks.

Disclaimer: Past performance is no indication of future performance. There are always risk involved in investing. This is not professional investment advice. Use with caution. May contain peanuts.

[Chroelle]

REally laughing out loud here.

Well if you are looking to invest, then the Danish housemarket is pretty low, and I would not mind heating and keeping a house for you over here should you decide to invest. Heck I would even live in it for you.
Nah- enjoy the good fortune. You had it coming.

[Zyx]

Talk about coincidences, my bank's private banking arm tried to contact me because they'd like to manage my vast(?) assets.

[eMTe]

I got a dry socket infection

Being an extraction veteran I am even more cautious then needed. I only read about dry socket once or twice and it was enough for me to eat only jellies and kefirs for three days and not do any lifting for 2 weeks. So shall it be after this Thursday.

Changing topic to linguistics, is there any word in Danish or Norwegian that sounds similar to Swedish "brunkrissla" and what does it mean? If it's a word at all. I tried some online swedish dictionaries, but they are underdeveloped and pretty lame. "Brun" means "brown", but Im not sure if it is significant in this case.

[Zyx]

Changing topic to linguistics, is there any word in Danish or Norwegian that sounds similar to Swedish "brunkrissla" and what does it mean? If it's a word at all. I tried some online swedish dictionaries, but they are underdeveloped and pretty lame. "Brun" means "brown", but Im not sure if it is significant in this case.

It's a type of flower, Inula conyzae in Latin. They're really running out of Swedish names for Ikea's products these days.

[eMTe]

Oh, ok, yes...I did some shopping today.

But what's wrong with the name? It sounds pretty nice for me.

[Chroelle]

Its Brøndkarse in danish.
Dont know if that helped you. They are indeed running out. I am guessing we will have even more funny names from IKEA soonish. Sadly all the best ones are already taken... by the cafeteria in the store. Köttbullar, Pyt-i-panna, Jönsons...

[Pager]

Ok...I gotta ask...are the IKEAs where you guys live equipped with one of those little tunnels for children? They have one in every IKEA I've been in here, about halfway through the store, not a long tunnel, about 2 feet long, and about 2.5 feet high...It is my life long goal to go through every kiddie tunnel in every IKEA I ever go in...my wife was really embarrased when I went through the last one, especially since I had to wait in line with a bunch of little kids to wait for my turn.

Btw, Zyx, that is better than any professional investment advice...especially that part about the peanuts.

@RWM, are you sure you were there for dental surgery?...I think I saw something like that on late night tv.

[Railwaymodeler]

Yes, it was dental surgery. But to be a teenager, yeah, waking up like that topped my creepy meter out at a perfect 10!

Skoda is a little fussy tonight, Maria has been trying to quiet her. I tried first, so that Maria could rest, and had no luck. Maria is having some luck settling Skoda down, but not much better than mine. I have noticed that our cat has a calming effect on Skoda, but the problem is, is that Loki, the cat, does not want to be near a crying baby! Loki is not used to Skoda yet, and runs and hides when she hears the crying. I think maybe that Skoda could be upset, because Loki was sleeping by Skoda's crib, and Skoda noticed when Loki woke up and did something else (Ate, used the litter pan, whatever she had to do). Probably upset Skoda, and here we are.

So I am sitting here on the couch with my laptop, as it seems to attract Loki. She loves coming up to me when I am on the computer. Something about humans working on a computer makes cats feel that right when we try to do something, they HAVE to be center stage, right then and there!

Going to be an interesting night, but I wouldn't trade this for the world!

I wanted a family like this for a long time, and now it is reality. Got a beautiful fiancee (Though I generally refer to Maria as my wife already - emotionally we are married, just not by law yet), a newborn baby, and all seems right with the world now that Pace's antics are done for good.

Now, to get that cat out from hiding!

[Chroelle]

Raillo. I remember those night where the world just seems to come down over you like a ton of bricks, and then you stop to realise that you wouldn't trade it for anything. Have you tried holding Skoda on your arm with her head resting over your hand... So she is on her stomach lying face down with her arms and legs hanging? Wait I got a pic somewhere of me holding Anna like that. Let me see if I can find it. It saved our lives...!
EDIT: Perhaps it is a little early but trust me - you want to remember this wAy of holding your baby!!!

EDIT2: Pic removed. LEt me know if you want to see it again.

[eMTe]

Another one (tooth) bites the dust.

Great thing about writing system is that you can communicate with other people without opening your mouth. Sorry, Im in the mood for silly observations.

[Pager]

That only works so long as the pain tablets don't take over and your fingers start translating your mind's thoughts all wrong...

[Railwaymodeler]

Well, it turns out that Loki, my cat, does keep Skoda calm at night! Last night I finally managed to coax Loki out of her hiding spot with some cat treats, then picked her up quickly. Carried Loki in my arms over to Maria, who was holding Skoda. Soon as Skoda saw Loki, she became happy again. Loki had a nervous 'What next?' look on her, so Maria took Skoda and laid her in the crib, and I brought Loki to our room, and shut the door to keep Loki from leaving.

Skoda was quiet the rest of the night, except for needing to be changed at 4 AM.

I've shown Maria the photo, Chroelle, and she is starting to hold Skoda that way. Seems to work well. Thanks a million for the tip!

[Chroelle]

Your welcome. I told you it would be handy.

I will go remove the pic now that you saw it, because ...hey...there is no need for a pic of my baby online ATM.

I was able to carry around Anna like that for hours in the end, which of course didn't give me anymore sleep but it did give Anna some sleep. As you might remember (probably not) she was cholicky (however it is spelled), so she was crying from 3 pm to 7 am. Which more or less meant the hours I was not at work... So I got around 3 hours of sleep every night for a duration closing in on 3 months... Sometimes I would fall asleep midconversation at that time. Tanja was able to sleep when Anna took her nap so that helped her. Oh - which reminds me. Tell Maria that she needs to listen to the people that say stuff like "remember to take a nap, when the baby naps". IMPORTANT STUFF THAT! Laundry can be done at other times, and cleaning is also not VITAL when the baby sleeps. And RAillo - You are screwed. There is no sleep for you.
But dont you just love it!

[Pager]

You can sleep when she's started school, and just think all that sleep you had the rest of your life should have been leading up to this moment...

[Railwaymodeler]

Absolutely, C, I do love it! This is something I have dreamed of for a long time, to have a wife, a child, a family. Little by little things are happening. My computer shop is doing quite well recently, too. I have no plans, despite the recent money, to ever close up and walk away from the computer business. In fact, one of the bus drivers asked me what I would do with my payment. I told him, I may actually take a day off for once!

Seriously, though, I have no intentions of quitting working. Skoda needs not only to be financially set, which she is, but also to have that kind of role model in her childhood. The role model that my dad was to me: A hard worker that loved his kids.

Maria and I have been talking quite a bit tonight, she wants another baby sometime. If we do, I kind of hope for a boy next time!

Loki the cat seems to have figured something out: If she sleeps near the crib, she won't hear a baby cry. If she leaves the vicinity of the crib while Skoda is awake, then she'll hear a baby cry. So, Loki is sleeping on a table next to the crib in Skoda's sight.

Smart cat!

[Tormuse]

Aww, I missed a baby pic! I guess once you have her in that position, you can hold her in your left hand and still have your mouse hand free for gaming!

And yeah, if I was to have a family, I'd want two kids. That way, they can keep each other entertained as they're growing up.

My home internet connection is still down, but I've started unpacking and cleaning up the place and it's starting to look like a home. Pretty soon, it'll be ready for a house-warming party!

EDIT: And yes, smart cat, indeed!

[eMTe]

if I was to have a family, I'd want two kids. That way, they can keep each other entertained as they're growing up.

Sure, they can keep to themselves and you can follow your own agenda then, but if the conflict arises you're still needed to act as a peacemaker. So better solution is to have three kids - one a couple years older and two younger - that way the older one would act as a surrogate parent in times of war and can generally keep tight rein on juniors, while you can resort to the usual pleasures of free man.

[Chroelle]

Hm...Well my best friend has 4 kids - 2 teenage girls and 2 young boys that haven't reached school age yet... That I can tell you is not a perfect combination at the moment if you want some peace.
But the big girl does help alot with peacekeeping between the two boys - though she has the opposite effect with her sister - oh and parents of course being a teenage girl.

There was a study recently about what combinations of children gave the most peaceful home, mixing gender and numbersin the mix. Two girls came out on top, so I am happy. But that was not to say that the more girls the better. Actually the more girls came in the mix, the larger was the drop down the list. 3 girls was like 8th on the list or so, and 4 girls was bottom!
I wonder what would happen if they threw in a factor of number of bathrooms. Then perhaps the 4 girls mix would be better if there was 5 bathrooms...

[Railwaymodeler]

Good news here! I think Skoda might be a future model railroader!

For the first time in about a month, I had my railroad running. Ever since Skoda was born, I simply have not had time to run the trains. Finally Maria said even she wanted to see them run, so we fired up the system. As the rails were beginning to show oxidization on the tops, I ran extra locomotives on each train, so if one stalled, the others could push it forward till it got power again.

We ran three trains, one passenger express, one freight, and one local mixed passenger/freight that stops at every stop.

Skoda was giggly happy when a train would pass her. Maria was holding her in her arms, and Skoda had a BIG smile when one of the trains passed them.

Reminds me of what my dad always told me: When I was even still in diapers, we would be driving around town (Which had quite a lot of active railroad crossings), and if we got stopped for a train, no matter my mood, I would be very happy when the train passed!

Seems that railroading is in my DNA and blood, and has been passed down!