Newcott Blog

I haven’t written a blog post in a while.  It’s slipped from my priority list.  I’ve been extremely busy both in my personal and professional lives.  The busy weeks slip by the quickest.  I know it’s a busy week when my 10 minute car rides to and from work don’t feel long enough.  That’s when I make my personal phone calls — call buddies or family.  And then I’m home, deciding whether to go for a run or decompress with Bronwen and Silas.  Then there are the weeks of traveling.  Last week it was Washington state for Eli’s wedding, straight to Chicago for a conference, home for a day of work, Mexico for a weekend with the fellas, and then to D.C. for a family visit.  Crazy.  So, that’s been the last three months of my existence — racing from one thing to the next.  I hope things slow down for the next two months, before Bronwen has our second baby, so I can feel a little more sane.

Check out the Crystal Cove Beach Cottages.  A couple of weekends ago, we stayed in one.  The “resort” is a collection of old Cottages built in the mid-century.  The cottages have been renovated by the California State Parks and they are now run like a resort.  It feels old timey.  There are pictures of the old Hollywood film crews that would come down there to film pirate and beach movies.  There are still many cottages that will be restored, so for now supply is pretty limited.  Each cottage has humble amenities, but each one overlooks the ocean.  The same view that we had for $75/night is worth $600/night at the Montage down the coast.

Silas is in full-blown toddler mode and he is hilarious.  He puts thoughts into sentences and points out things I do not notice.  If he hears a plane going overhead, we usually don’t notice, but he is lightning quick to yell “ah-pah,” which is how he says airplane.  He gets fixated on things he wants and can be demanding (and stubborn as a result) and he has a language that Bronwen and I are getting very good at translating.

Upon waking in the morning or middle of the night, he often yells instead of cries to get our attention.  He usually yells that he wants to go downstairs to play with his choo choo.  He prefers his mama be the first to hold him.  And he sings an excellent version of Do-Re-Mi and can count to 5, often starting with 3.

Just before Christmas, we had cupcakes in the house.  Silas calls them “cup-cups.”   Instead of eat, he says bite, which he pronounces as “bot.”  Upon walking into the kitchen one afternoon his eyes zeroed in on a cupcake on the counter.  He immediately pointed to it and yelled, “I wan bot dat cup-cup!”  Translation, “I want to bite that cupcake!”

2008 seems dangerously close to 2010. From the reference point of my childhood self, 2010 is the distant future. The distant future is where people fight with robots for jobs and computers and flashing lights coat our walls. Good news is, I was very wrong about what 2010 would look like. I’m very comfortable with the world from a technological point of view. Which brings me back to 2008. What will this year be all about? Bronwen will give birth to our second child in June. Silas will turn 2 and start potty training. I will grow more handsome and distinguished by the day. But beyond that, the year is pretty much an open book. I like this time of year. This is the time of looking ahead. The trick is to NOT become overwhelmed thinking about the options and possibilities. I do NOT want to play the year like a chess match, thinking 4, 5, or 6 moves out. There is no point to it. So, my resolution for 2008 is to take the year day by day and to not think too much about tomorrow. Be present — which is easier said than done. 2008, here I am.

Chris came through again and got me into his office Christmas party.  This time, we were in L.A. at the Magic Castle.  Talk about unique.  This place is an old Hollywood mansion that was long ago converted into a private club for members of the magician’s guild.  If you know someone in the guild, you can get a pass to visit for a meal or drinks  at one of its many bars.  The mansion has mazes of rooms on multiple levels.  Many of the rooms are for dining, there is a bar on each level, and there are several theaters.  In addition magicians mill around doing some of the most amazing card tricks I’ve ever seen.  There is also a magic piano in a parlor next to the main bar.  It is played by Irma’s ghost.  If you ask Irma a question, make a request, and tip her well, she will play almost anything you would like to hear.  It was definitely a magical experience, and I’m surprised that after 6 years in SoCal, this was my first time there.

Since 9th grade, it has been a dream of mine to attend a live taping of Saturday Night Live.  To me, those were the golden years of SNL:  Wayne and Garth, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock.  In October, during my trip to NYC, Chris got Bowis, Nick, and me in to see a live taping.  The experience was very cool and it happened so fast.  During commercial breaks, you watch the shuffling around the compact set designs.  Bon Jovi was the host with Foo Fighters as musical guest.  Both bands ended up playing and it was like being at an exclusive rock concert.  I think the music was the best part of the show.  During the skits, I mostly watched the television monitors, so it was a little like being at home.  But the after party with the crew and talent was very surreal — all the actors were there, in this little bar, hanging out like normal people.  I even ran into Will Farrell.  I left the after after party at 5:00 am.  Thanks for the awesome night, Chris.

On Saturday, Silas and I rode the model trains in Costa Mesa.  There is a very cool park in Costa Mesa called Fairview Park.  It’s a wide open space on the edge of the Costa Mesa plateau.  A non-profit group that built several miles of model railroad track.  Every third weekend of the month the group of friendly, mostly gray-haired model engineers give free train rides on 6 or 7 gas powered trains.  They are about a 10th the size of a full-train.  15 riders per train straddle special cars.  It’s a little boys dream, and Silas is very into it.  This weekend they had Santa setup at a special mid-route station.

Silas has some weird, unknown (and hopefully not serious) sickness — the only symptom of which is that he thows up at random intervals through out the day. Thursday night, he threw up 5 times. Bronwen and I spent the night doing laundry and changing his clothes. It breaks your heart to see this sweet little boy crying because he can’t stop heaving. We made it through the day yesterday without any eruptions, so one would expect the whole sickness to be over. Not so fast hot shot. At midnight and one a.m., it starts again. But since he’s not feeling sick with any other symptoms, he still wants to eat and drink. That means, come morning, it’ll be time for a hearty breakfast. At 9:00 a.m. I was driving with Silas to meet some friends for a 5K walk around Balboa Island. Half way there, he pukes all over the back seat of my car. Picture me by the side of the road, scooping puke out with my bare hands. Silas is in tears. I had to drive all the way home with Silas soaking in his own puke. I don’t ever want to get in my car again. I may donate it for a tax deduction.

I apologize for the picture.  Poor little guy.

Boston has changed a lot since the late 90’s. I went to Boston University between 1995 and 1999. On the afternoon I had free, I went for a long run from the center of town out to Alston. I started at Park Street Church, the church I used to go to on Sunday nights. I ran through Boston Common, up Newbury Street, up Beacon Street, through Kenmore Square, past Fenway Park, up Commonwealth Avenue, through the length of the BU campus, and to the house in Alston that I rented with a group of 6 guys during our last year in school. Kenmore Square is the most changed area I ran through. Kenmore Square is the giant intersection of Beacon St. and Commonwealth Ave (plus several other streets). In 1995, the place was a dump. Today it sparkles with new hotels and clean sidewalks. Kenmore has always been the primary T stop for Fenway Park, and the unofficial beginning of the BU campus. Cleaning up the area was inevitable. But I miss the way it was. There was a 24-hour IHOP — a great place to go and talk with a girl friend or a buddy for hours over a bottomless cup of coffee. There was a gnarly late-night pizza place called Nemo’s — we’d hit it after a night of partying or working. There was a punk bar/venue called the Ratskellar — the interior walls were covered with giant rubber rats with glowing red eyes, and a metal door that was alway guarded by the biggest skinhead doorman you’ve ever seen. And a local homeless guy named Mr. Butch called this corner of Kenmore his home — Mr. Butch was a 7 foot tall Rastafarian with huge dreadlocks, deep black blood-shot eyes, and an electric guitar. He was the friendliest homeless guy you’d ever meet. He’d say the craziest things, usually speaking in rhymes. I’m not joking. He would have a nonsensical, obscene conversation with you in expletive-filled, rhyming verse. He had this husky, forced voice, and he would sometimes drift in and out of singing whatever words he was saying.  If you got close to him, he’d try to shake your hand, so you had to be quick if you wanted to avoid touching his huge, calloused, dirty hands. I knew I wanted to write about Mr. Butch today, so I decided to Google him, and sure enough, there he is on Wikipedia and YouTube. I am sad to read that he died this past Summer, 2 months before I was there and might have had a chance to see him again. Check him out if you like (click on the links at the bottom to see videos or real news articles). Mr. Butch, this one’s for you.

It’s been a very long time since my last post. Time to get back into this thing called the blogosphere. Since writing, I’ve been to Mexico (family cruise with Newcotts), Sweden (work), NYC (work), Boston (work), DC 5 times (to see Cindy), Indianapolis (work), Phoenix (work), and New Orleans (work). Quite a 2nd half of 2007. My mom’s in a semi-stable condition — that is, chemo seems to be keeping her cancer cell count at a more constant level. While it’s been a lot of lot of back-and-forth between the coasts, we’ve had some blessed times in D.C. with my mom and extended family. Bronwen and Silas have been super-champs. I turned 30 last month and my big present was a Mac mini (seriously generous of my in-laws and parents — and excellently coordinated by Chris and Bronwen).

I feel like I have a ton to say about a lot of things above, so I’ll try to hit some of those in future posts. It’s good to be back in the BLOGOSPHERE, whatever that is.