As cold as it gets

These mornings are extremely cold, as evidenced by the ice on my car in the morning. 

Brrr!

The Prius

Remember how the car got dinged back in '08? The picture above shows how it got hit on the rear three quarter panel and bumper, however the door was not damaged and this is where reality diverge from logic. Ever since we got the car repaired (back in '08) there has been this annoying hissing wind sound when we drive above 100kph (60mph). Really annoying when you learn to notice it. 

The body shop has been amazing to deal with. Really stellar service apart from the fact that it took three visits to figure out. They stood by their work and was super helpful each time we went back to try figure out the problem regardless of how long it was since the initial repair. Finally last week, riding in the back seat with the body shop tech driving/speeding I nailed down the problem area: rear end of the rear window where theres a small black triangular plastic cover. You can see it the picture below:. Covering it with my hand the noise went away.

The body shop removed it and found a gasket missing which brings me back to where the logic ends. As the photo shows the door was not dinged, so why was the gasket missing after being repaired? We will never know but we are happy to once again ride in a quieter car.

A little update

Its been a while since I wrote anything on here, so heres an update.
With work things are as always crazy busy, the cases are now going to be manufactured at two different companies and thats a split that makes a lot of sense, and we also see a huge drop in time wasted sitting around waiting for the manufacturer to get their asses in gear. The main issue now is just how to adjust the case to that the band can fit snuggly and precisely and I have found a plan that is being implemented now.  The first cases will go to our wonderful supporters on Kickstarter and to sellers in Europe that hopefully will kick off more sales over there.

The trip to Norway was very nice, it was lengthy compared to my previous trips but it had been two years since my last trip and I think it is important to stay a little when traveling so far, it took us 2 weeks to wake up from the jet-lag.. Norway is rainy, cold, and not much daylight to speak of so there was not much to do besides sleep anyway. We did have some awesome days though and lots of good food.
One of the big events this time was celebrating my grandmothers 90th birthday, which happens to fall on the same day as Christmas. With a new internet connection I hope to see her on Skype and stay updated email, who knows, maybe even Facebook?

One of our best days was visiting my family in Voss. (see images below) We took the train and had a nice journey through winter Norway. Most of my mom's family lives in Voss because my great grand father moved there due to the war in 1940s and this is where he started Sølvsmidja, a silversmith company. We got a tour the new factory and see how they make the jewelry, it was pretty awesome. This was also the first time Heather got to meet my mom's extended family and I think she really enjoyed her time with them. It was pretty clear Heather now is in love with Voss and its safe to say we will be back for more.

Another noteworthy occasion was when the clouds cleared one morning and we decided to go to Ulriken, the 2100ft mountain in Bergen.

We also got to see some of my friends, one of my best friends, Frode, managed to invite 30 people to his house for a big party, just like in the old days, except everyone seemed a bit older/more tired than last time we were all gathered.

Heather flew home one week before Lucia and I so for one full week while Heather slept in her own bed at home Lucia heard nothing but Norwegian. Obviously it was during this week she started picking up a lot of norwegian words, and she still use them randomly. Now she may say a full sentence in english but then one word will be substituted with a norwegian.

On the way home we stopped in London due to a flight mismatch and we got a chance to spend time with our good friend Kelly who now lives in London. We all took a little tour of London and saw the London Eye, closed for maintenance :( and walked down along The Thames. Lucia was super excited to see the London Bridge which she keeps singing about from a TV show called Barney. We had dinner at a pub and it was awesome.

The flight home next morning was OK, but the sleep I planned to have was torpedoed by the ridiculous short childrens shows on the inflight TV, being woken up every 20 minutes makes no one any less tired.

 Overall a great trip, and it is great to be back too!

I will post pictures as they are ready

Art Center Car Classics 2011

Finally a weekend all to myself. I can't remember exactly last time I had a weekend without company of any sort and it was a nice break. I stayed with David out in Venice and I am super grateful for his hospitality. He lent me the sofa and the keys to the Jetta. I was also struck by how nice that part of LA is, just a great neighborhood.
I came down to LA to go to the annual car show at Art Center where I went to school a few years ago. This car show is not like any other, its quite unique. Most car shows are either centered around new and coming cars, or vintage classics, or race cars, or hot rods, which are all exciting on their own, but the show at Art Center tends to bring the best and most significant and unique cars from all these genres together in one show. Usually there are other vehicles as well such as aircrafts and motor cycles, but I have also seen u-boats and spacecrafts there. This year was no exception with a very cool amphibious plane on display and although Jay Leno and Chip Foose was not there I met up with old friends and caught up on the latest.
I now have several hundred photos and videos to go through but in the mean time here are a few pictures from the show:

The impressive new concept car from Cadillac: "Ciel"

Very rare Ferrari #1 

Very rare Ferrari #2

Out of gas - electric only

I managed to run the Prius out of fuel on my way to pick up Lucia from daycare. I had about 1 mile left and had been going up a pretty long hill when it happened just about 300ft from the top. I made it there and coasted down the other side, regenerating as much as I could but as I merged with the freeway it was jammed so I had to slow down to a crawl. Ironically the Prius looses energy standing still so that was less than ideal, but it was downhill. I knew there was a gas station past the Daycare and decided to give it a try. This gas station is located at the bottom of a long steep hill so I knew if I could make it to the crest of this hill I would be saved. As the exit neared, traffic sped up and I gained momentum and confidence. Unfortunately there was an intersection with a stop sign I had to go through, I had to break but there was no cars so I decided to sail through and started the last 500m/1500ft slightly uphill section before the big downhill with only one (1) bar left on the battery indicator. It wasnt enough. With only 200m(600ft) left the electric motor gave out and I came to a stop. I called the daycare and Nick showed up minutes later with a can of gas. I am so thankful for his assistance and with a few drops in the tank I made it:

It was a great learning experience though. The Prius actually has a lot less electric energy available than I imagined. It functions a lot like the KERS system known in Formula 1 and is designed to give you a boost, but not run the car over longer distances. I believe there was a lot more energy in the batteries but perhaps the electronic systems kept me from accessing these. That said I'm super happy I was able to go as far as I did, with a regular car I would have had no few options than to stop the car where it ran out, with the Prius the extra battery presented a lot of options as where to eventually stop the car. 

Sketching

I have been using a program on the Mac called Sketch Book Pro for years. It is a pretty awesome sketching program when used with Wacom tablet. I downloaded the free version for the iPad to check it out but was disappointed to see that the iPad screen is way too coarse and doesn't register pressure or pen angle like the Wacom does. Lucia loves it though and has figured out how to change the colors, and she handles the little pen with a lot of enthusiasm without any risk of putting additional color on furniture, clothes etc.

Towed

Okey, some of you may know my car was vandalized some time last week while parked outside our apt building. Basically they made a mess and tried to steal my car - and failed, but managed to break the ignition on the steering column. No longer able to insert the key or start the car I had to have it fixed. It is now at PR Motorsport in Hayward getting a new ignition lock.
I have always left my car unlocked and empty for days like this; no need to cut through the top.

Pictures from April 9

Click on the image to enlarge it.

So Awesome

Our dear friends near Redwood City were in a jam for child care today, so Pete to the rescue. He drove in terrible, terrible traffic to their house to watch Eddie today. Lucia was so excited to go see him, she literally ran down the hallway in our building before Pete was out the door. She loves her some Eddie. YAY Pete to the rescue! You rule dude!

The Hansen Sandwich

Off to Vegas!!

A weekend in Pasadena

I went to Pasadena last weekend to be at the yearly car show at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. This is not a normal car show or concourse, but an event focused on designs that push the limit for what is bold, beautiful or innovative, and this year they not only focused on cars, but boats, airplanes and more.
There were cars of all ages, one-off prototypes, experimental airplanes and space crafts, a u-boat, a bat mobile, boats, motorcycles.
This year Burt Rutan received a lifetime achievement award and held a keynote about his planes and hobbies which included figuring out how the pyramids were built, efficiency (home and automotive), the JFKs assassination, and global warming.
He spoke mostly about his hobbies and it was incredibly interesting to hear how he tried to solve each problem like a flight data engineer using the raw data and drawing his own conclusions. Very cool.
I drove down with Christian Morsing and we had a great time. We got stuck in traffic more than a few times and didn't get to do all the things we intended, we also had 43C (110F) driving through San Joaquin Valley. Definitely not a top-down environment. Thank you A/C!
I took a lot of pictures this time and I will make them available soon. I even have a video!

Last day before deadline

I have been working long hours on this design project with my friend Ty, and we are looking forward to take a break and resume our fatherly duties.
I cant really discuss the project or show any pictures of the car but I think this teaser can give you an impression of the top surface of the current 3D model rendered on the computer.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the Baby Daddies out there!

Our baby daddy is celebrating the day with a much-deserved day off. He's got his door shut and I'm not disturbing him all day. Not to take the dog out. Not to hold the baby, feed the baby or change the baby, or make funny faces for the baby. Not for anything. Well, maybe if something is on fire or if there's an emergency. But otherwise, I'm leaving him alone.

We celebrated Father's Day last night, given that I knew he wanted to work all day on his project. I got him some fancy fancy imported proscuitto and a pizza griller. Pizza, prosciutto and chocolate are about Pete's favorite things in the world.

We bought some wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe's, added our toppings, and put the griller on our new gas grill. A few minutes later = delicious, delicious pizza. We are SO excited to be able to make awesome pizza at home! We sat on the couch and watched TV -- something we NEVER get to do anymore. It was nice.

Thank you Pete, for all that you do. I know you didn't sign up to be a stay-at-home dad, but you're so amazingly good at it. Lucia is thriving because of YOU. YOU. You define awesome dad. I love you to pieces.

The day of the Zoo

I had an extra day in L.A. after Heather went back to San Francisco, and I was invited to go to the L.A. Zoo with Mary, David, Danny and his grand parents. Located near Glendale, my old neighborhood, I had actually never been to the zoo before and was happy to finally be able to see it.
The L.A. Zoo was much larger and nicer than expected, and it had animals you could actually see. I really enjoyed the primate exhibits, but I felt like I was kind of intruding on their home, and felt a bit awkward taking pictures of them. There was nothing awkward about the tigers:

Back at Work

I went back to work yesterday. It was pretty draining on many levels. I looked at pictures of Lucia throughout the day, which only made me miss her more. I packed my lunch and snacks, plus my gym bag, plus my computer bag, and managed somehow to make it up the stairs to my office. It was good to see everyone, and WEIRD as hell to be working again. The last time I did this job I didn't have a baby! I didn't know Lucia at all -- she was just this squirmy worm in my belly! It's very strange. I miss her very much, but I'm also kinda thankful for the break during the day (sorry Pete!). I was so exhausted last night I wasn't much help to Mr. Mom Pete. I hope that changes as I get used to this!  

The Days FLY By!

I can't believe tomorrow is Friday already!

We've had a rough week, sleep-wise, thus the lack of posts. We're trying to learn how to put Lucia down to sleep BEFORE she falls asleep on us. Pete's better at this, admittedly. She's so warm and cuddly, but if I let her fall asleep on me, I'm trapped until she wakes us, because if I put her down afterwards, she wakes up and gets all upset. The early part of the week was rough, with every day getting a little better.

So anyway, there's that. It's going well. Dr. Hello Kitty told us to do it this way, so it helps to have her endorsement. We saw her on Wednesday about the rash that Little Miss has; it's dry skin + baby acne. They tested it for staph just to make sure, since my c-section incision is infected (still!). Dr. HK said she'd call me if it was staph, but she was pretty sure it wasn't.

We bought a new baby carrier that I LOVE (see above - note her bunny feet) but unfortunately I overdid it yesterday with it by taking a walk with her. She was fussy and stopped fussing when I kept walking, so I kept walking. Big mistake: last night I was so sore in my back and abdomen from the pressure on the incision. It's very hard for me to take it easy; I'm high-energy and having to limit my activities has and continues to be tough. This is NOT how I wanted to spend my maternity leave.

Tomorrow I'm going to have lunch with a friend who works at Google; it's Halloween so everyone is going to be dressed up. Little Miss is going as a monkey. Afterwards, we're going to a Halloween party at Day One, the awesome center we've gone to for lactation support and general sanity. We'll be sure to take pictures!

Update!

Where'd the week go? Here's the update!

We went to the Newborn Club Monday and Thursday. It was a bit frustrating to receive conflicting breastfeeding advice, but the good news was that BOTH times Lucia's weight was up and she's doing great.

We learned some lessons this week on running errands: 1. learn how to collapse stroller and *practice* LOTS before an outing. 2. always bring a change of clothes for Lucia, plus a bottle, plus several clean diapers, and multiple pacifiers. 3. Do not plan on trying to do several errands, as my energy is still a 4 out of 10, and diminishes quickly after stressful outings.

We also learned some lessons on sleeping and eating. Last night Lucia went a whole four hours between feedings, which felt absolutely amazing. We credit the NICU for training her to do this -- they had her on three-hour feedings, we just added on a bit.

My incision is healing nicely, thanks to Pete's re-dressing of it twice a day. When we vowed to love each other through sickness and health, we really really meant it. I never thought the love of my life wouldn't bat an eye at cleaning out an incision of mine.

I really can't believe she's 2 weeks old already. The past two weeks have been such a blur.

Relieved, but Exhaustion Hit Today

This was the only picture we took today. Sure, she did lots of cute things, but darnit, we're too tired to take any pictures.

Lucia has kept down all of her feedings. They're increasing them by 5 mL every other feeding, and simultaneously decreasing the amount of IV nutrition she gets. Currently she's hooked up to three IV bags, 1 is like baby gatorade, full of electrolytes, another is fats (soybean oil, we found out), and the other is just for basic hydration. As soon as they can take her off the IV, we can bring her home (possibly this weekend -- we're excited but are trying not to get too excited just in case). We're going to try to feed her at the breast tomorrow; cross your fingers for us. The other times we tried this Lucia basically threw a fit. We have a strategy for tomorrow though.

Since I haven't been able to feed her from the breast, I've become a PRO at pumping breastmilk on the go; the NICU has a breastfeeding room and I quietly slip in there just before Lucia's feedings so I can give her fresh breastmilk. I can see why some women don't breastfeed; it's hard to get up every 3 hours to pump or feed. At least with Lucia she's cute; the breastpump = notsomuch. Then again, the breast pump makes for 15 minute sessions, no question. Lucia tends to dawdle a bit when we're feeding her on the bottle. But washing the pump parts at 3 a.m.? I won't miss that.

I've finally learned to keep ahead of the pain with the pain medication. If I don't, it basically steam rolls right over me. I was taking the minimum dosage at the maximum time span, and was basically miserable. I think I have it figured out now though.

My stepsister Kate arrives tomorrow; we can't wait to see her. I asked Pete if he was thankful we had help coming in, he said yes definitely. He has been a CHAMP; driving me everywhere, taking care of absolutely everything without me asking and basically being a super hero. I know he's ready for a break.

One Year Ago Today Part 2

One year ago today we had our big wedding in Delaware. It was a magical, magical night, complete with 80 family members and friends, pomegranete martinis, filet mignon and a black and white photo booth. It was more fun -- I was able to really let go that night and fully enjoy every moment. The weeks (ok months) prior with all the planning was super stressful, but that night it was all worth it and I just relished in the joy and love and happiness. It was so much fun. I predict the same thing when Little Girl arrives; I suspect I'll be so thrilled with happiness to see her and hold her and just LOVE her that I'll be able to forget all this pregnancy is really a pain in the butt stuff.

Pete and I sat on the beach today and talked about how the year has been for us. We agreed that we've both changed a lot; for the better. There's no doubt he's made me a better person; more patient, more kind. As cliche as it sounds, my love for him deepens every single day. It becomes richer and more textured and more well, deep. I love him in all different ways. The past year we've really grown as a couple and grown as friends to each other. Happy Anniversary Pete. I love you dearly.