The L.A. Dime

Something happened during our 5 month ultrasound which I failed to mention in my previous post on that subject. Through a fairly comic series of misunderstandings, we discovered the gender of our baby, and…it’s a GIRL! The first Riddell girl, in fact, since my Aunt Sherry, and she is sure to spoiled rotten.

Here’s how it went down. The ultrasound machine has a series of information fields that are filled out on screen by the technician. Well, despite the Tech’s best efforts to keep us in the dark, even making us turn away when she peered at the more sensitive regions, Tina noticed that one field on the information screen indicated “female.” Naturally, she figured that was the gender of our child, because why note the gender of the mother? Shouldn’t that be obvious? On the way to the car, she told me what she’d seen. Clearly, we were both just ecstatic that the baby is healthy, and we were thrilled to know that Bouncey is a girl, but Tina’s wish to keep it a secret had been spoiled…until we looked at the ultrasound at home, and noticing the field indicating gender was near Tina’s name and date of birth, and because the technician had told us about all of the other uses for ultrasound — including on men — I realized that it was TINA’s gender after all. Dr. Silverman confirmed my suspicion. It’s silly, but it’s a default field they have to fill in before they begin the ultrasound.

But we’d celebrated with a rainy day breakfast at Toast. We talked girl stuff all the way home and even bought two dresses at target (one reading, “I love Daddy”). So…we asked Dr. S to tell us the truth once and for all. Turns out we were right already. And we couldn’t be happier. You shoulda heard my grandmother squeal!

Little Bouncey has a first name, already, too. It’s Sophia. Her middle name will hopefully be the only surprise remaining in this grand adventure.

The Cheese Fry has done it again. His Knee-Jerk Review of catastrophic failure, Grindhouse, will save you  money if you’re still considering seeing it, plus he’s posted a great link to a Dame Online article that is so, so relevant to those of us raised on John Hughes’ beloved oeuvre of 80’s teen movies. Check out What I Learned from John Hughes. Thanks again, Cheese Fry.

Thanks to Jeff Hammer for making me aware of this cool iTunes ad on that takes a look at the bands you have in your library, your address, and then through untold magical powers, creates a calendar to let you know when your favorite artists are playing nearby. Pretty cool. Check out iConcertCal.  Too bad they couldn’t give it a better name.

Okay, so this is pretty darn funny. In this short film, Will Ferrell gets hassled by his Landlord.

And this is not so funny — last night I accidentally rammed a corn cob skewer through my finger, but at least Tina didn’t laugh like she did the time a hot egg blew up in my face.

The Dime is proud to announce that Tina will join its staff as a contributing author.  Keep an eye out for her first post, coming very soon.

So…we had our five month ultrasound Friday with Dr. Silverman, now of Tori and Dean Inn Love fame. In case you didn’t know (and good for you if you didn’t) Tori Spelling, shunned Dwight Shroot-style by her deceased TV magnate daddy, now has her own husband, her own show, her own B&B, and her own bun in the oven. I’m only aware of this because my celeb-devouring wife watches the show, and let out a wicked scream when Donna Martin herself entered the offices of our doctor. Of course, I was called down to watch. Dr. S is a great guy, and said Tori is good to his staff or he’d never let her film the visits.

As for our little one, everything looks fantastic. He/she is still bouncing around like crazy inside the womb, but isn’t camera shy at all, and posed nicely for some face shots and even a “thumbs up,” which you can see near the end of this video. The full ultrasound is 30 minutes long, but this is just a 10 minute excerpt. There are some great closeup shots of the heart — ventricles, valves, and all.

While Tina has been feeling little bumps inside her belly for over a month, which she says are like little bubbles brushing against her insides, I felt a big one myself for the first time on the way to the Doctor. It was quite an amazing experience to get this little, “hello, don’t worry,” en route to an event that proved so devastating for us last August. Knowing what can go wrong during a pregnancy despite all the love, all the medicine, and all the folic acid and omega 3 fatty acids in the world, makes the time we are enjoying right now all the more special. And we are enjoying it, without taking anything for granted, and without forgetting.

For Christmas, our pal Jan gave us the unique piece of pottery below, in which we’ve planted cilantro, chives, oregano, and basil. This seven-bowl pot is from Ten-Thousand Villages, a wonderful organization that purchases hand-made products from poor artisans around the world at a fair price, then resells them at a modest profit in North America. Visit the site to find beautiful gifts for yourself or others, and know that your money is helping someone feed his/her family, and not line the pockets of greedy CEOs.

Must we build walls around our schools and universities? Must institutions be physically separated from the communities that surround them? Must our cars be searched before we park? Must students, staff, and faculty pass through metal detectors before entering campus? Must there be guards on every floor of every building so that the average citizen may retain the right to bear arms? Or perhaps we the citizens, all of us, must simply arm ourselves. Pack heat wherever we go. Would that serve as a deterrent? The gun lobby would support it. Sadly, there is little else to keep anyone at all from committing mass murder because this is a free and open society. Do I wish to change that? No. Do I seek to refuse citizens the right to hunt? No. But this is enough. Something must be done. I’m tired of “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” The fact is, people kill people with guns, and that’s where capitalism fails us. Because there is money to be made by the gun industry, their product cannot be more tightly sanctioned or controlled. Because oil companies want us to drive gas-guzzlers, MPG standards must remain ancient. Ford’s Model T got better gas mileage than most modern cars, and he was forced to choose petroleum over hemp by big oil, thereby making untold billions for one industry while seriously damaging the planet in the long term. For years, big tobacco lied about the dangers of its product and bought its way out of tighter controls in the name of its share holders. When do we say “screw industry” and act for the greater good? I believe in the power of the free market to make our lives better. But there seem to be far too many ways, now, in which it makes our lives worse.

Tina and I joined friends Laurie and Gary for Easter brunch at Yamashiro, high atop the Hollywood hills. We love the restaurant for dinner — the best seared Tuna I’ve ever had — but the brunch thing…not so much. It’s pricey as you would expect ($45 per person, not counting drinks), and while the food was good, it wasn’t worth the money. The older I get, the less buffets appeal to me. Ultimately, I’d rather have one dish prepared very well instead of several that are just average.

Yamashiro also does a Mother’s Day brunch, too, but the Dime advises you to pass. The view at night is spectacular, but during the day, it’s just…LA during the day.

Last Friday night, we formed a posse and rolled down to my favorite Mexican restaurant, La Barca. After dinner we shipped out to the Natural History Museum to watch our favorite LA band, The Submarines, perform among the mastodons in the Museum’s First Fridays series. They keep the doors open late, sell food and drinks, and bring DJs and bands in to play while you learn a little something about the planet.

It was great to see people singing along with The Subs, and a long line at the merch booth. There are some new songs (check out their great Kinks cover, Waterloo Sunset), the fan base is swelling, and there’s always a loud cheer for Brighter Discontent, which was featured in the Nip/Tuck season finale.

Check out First Fridays, and give The Submarines a listen if you haven’t already.