Newcott Blog

What a perfect weekend. 3 days long. Cookouts by the pool. Sitting in the sun. Walking along the beach with Silas and Bronwen. Feeling bonded as a family and with our California home. Friday night I went out and picked up Zack from Biola. He’s done with his first year already. We drove him and his boxes up to LAX on Saturday. Silas, Bronwen, and I made a day of it, parking in Venice Beach and walking up to Santa Monica for some lunch at Urth Cafe. Sunday and Monday, we cooked out by the pool. Had the Powells and our crazy goddaughter Gracie over. Monday morning we had an epic 2.5 hour surf session in Huntington. Perfect conditions and a ton of rides. It was the perfect weekend.

Bronwen and Silas are in DC for the week. They come back tomorrow! It’s quiet when I get home and when I wake up. The upside is that I get to do a lot of nothing. The downside is that I miss having contact with them. This weekend I surfed 3 or 4 times, did a ton of errands, watched Munich, and went to Erik’s 30th bday party. Okay, so I’m not exactly doing nothing. I’m going to do a quick once-over the place tonight so it’s in good shape for them when get get in tomorrow afternoon.

Just watched season finales of SNL, Prison Break, and The OC. Blast, Marissa’s dead. I still don’t understand why the networks find it profitable to go months without making new episodes of very popular shows. The reality TV and premium cable network fads have made it possible to have 2 mini-seasons in a year with brief breaks in between (e.g. Survivor is on Survivor 12 eventhough it started 5 years ago). But as for your classic dramas and sitcoms, you only get 20 episodes a year. This makes NO sense because: DVD release and syndication are studio paydirt; and new episodes means higher viewership, which means more ad revenue. Why does this system artificially break down over the months of June, July, and August? And why must most shows be on the same schedule? And who decided that Seinfield should be only 20, 1/2 hour segments per season, but Days of Our Lives should be 200, 1 hour segments? My only thought is that the networks preserve the structure for the sole purpose of introducing a few new shows per year. This blog entry is horrible.

Bronwen had her first Mother’s Day. On Friday I got her a boquet of flowers from my favorite florist, MegT Flora. We got a friend to babysit and we went to The Cannery for drinks and dinner, then walked over to the Lido Theater for Friends With Money. It’s an independent theater with painted murals on the wall and a balcony. Saturday we had friends over for a waffle breakfast. Then, I watched Silas while Bronwen and Annie went to the Art Bar for some creative time. I spent some time in the loft putting down Pergo flooring and building a desktop. It looks fantastic. On Sunday, Bronwen and I had a nice breakfast at Side Street Cafe while Silas slept next to us, on the table, in his chair. I surfed twice and caught some nice waves down at Newport last night. Head-high sets, clear green water, like in the tropics, but still cool (probably 69-70 degrees). Erik and Doug and I went down for an evening session from 6-7:30. The biggest perk of living 2 miles from a good surf break.

- Wedding weekend pics
- Annemarie in the OC and some pics of progress on the loft.

Ooze and Carin got married this weekend in DC. I was the best man — and to say the least, it was an honor to be standing up there next to them. I made the weekend all about Ooze. Spent almost the whole time with him from when I got in at 12:00 am (we hung out until 2:00am) until after the wedding. I was nervous about the toast, but the preparation paid off. Very delicate to find a balance between humor and seriousness. If I had ad-libbed, it could have very easily become a roast instead of a toast. Bottom line, I’m thankful for Ooze’s friendship and I know he’ll be a great husband.

My final act as best man was to decorate Ooze’s car. Ben Sullivan, Ben Newton, Charlie, and I did a number on that bad boy. We attached water noodle foam floaties to the bike rack, duct taped a defaced baby doll to the grill, tied crap to the bumper with string, and left him with a stinky surprise to be found later — hopefully MUCH later. Pictures of the weekend to come very soon.

Living in Califorina with a baby is great. Bronwen and I took him for a long walk on the beach on Sunday. The weather was perfect. I carried him in the Baby Bjorn (thanks ooze). He slept to the noise of the ocean.

Silas had a growth spirt over the weekend. Growth spirt = miserable baby = miserable parents. On Saturday he wailed for literally hours. After you change the diaper, feed him, walk him, there’s really not much else you can do. So you listen to him cry. SILAS!!! We found out he was probably hitting a growth spirt and was feeling uncomfortable and sleep deprived, which only makes the crying worse.

Also, big news on the loft. I finished drywalling, mudding the drywall cracks, AND painting. It looks really sweet. Still need to: build the desk, pad the bench, cover the floor. ALMOST DONE!