Thanks, Sony

About two weeks ago, we sent in our Sony snapshot camera to a service center for repair. The camera was displaying some weird pattern on the screen, and was unusable. Luckily for us, it was still under warrenty, so I went to Sony’s service website (which was a little tricky to find) and submitted a request. From that, I recieved an email confirmation and general mailing instructions. A short visit to the post office, and viola, the process was started.

A couple of days later, I recieved an email that my package had been recieved, and was to be processed and repaired as needed. That was about all I heard from the Sony repair center in Texas.

Yesterday, I arrived home to find a box sitting on the front porch. I think the UPS delivery guy didn’t even ring the doorbell because my wife was home all day. While it had only taken a couple of weeks to get the camera back, I had sort of forgot about it.  But, getting in getting it back, I was impressed with the promptness of Sony’s US service center. Sure I only got one email, but one is all I really needed to know that it arrived.  I’m quite confident that if I any more input was required on my part, more emails would have come from the service center. The quality of the packaging was also very nice. The camera arrived in the same box I shipped it in, fully repaired and ready to go (with some fresh batteries, of course). That box was packaged in another box full of bubble wrap. Very nice.

In all, I was very impressed with the Sony service center, promptness (for me anyways) and the quality of the repair. The camera is now back in working order.  Thanks, Sony.

Father and Daughter goofing around

When I was first hired by Intel last year, I signed up for a training class in Tucson. That class was canceled, and I was offered the opportunity to take the class in Las Vegas. I took the family along for the ride. Eliana was only 14 months old, and was just starting to walk. We took her for a walk down Las Vegas boulevard in the newer part of the strip. While we were all taking a rest, I was being a silly dad and sticking my tongue at Eliana, and she would stick her tongue back at me. It was great to take everyone along on an almost free trip to Las Vegas.

A Day with Eliana

This is a little slideshow I put together using Photostory with some pictures of Eliana. Eliana was about 9 months at the time of these pictures, so it’s been a while since they were taken, but they are still fun to see with the generated soundtrack.

All Wet

This past weekend, I found this little “spray park” at Desert Breeze park in Chandler, AZ. There is also a nice lake, and a little train that goes around the circumference of the park. However, in the middle of summer, there weren’t many people out there, so we had nearly the whole park to ourselves. This spray park is a great way to keep cool in the Arizona heat.

The Alphabet Song

Well, from a toddler’s point of view anyways. This has been Eliana’s favorite song for the last week or so. It was a fun time for all to record her latest rendition of the song.

Welcome to this World

This clip is about 2 and a half years too late, but better late than never, I suppose. These images reflect only the smallest part of our experience giving birth to our first daughter, Eliana. She was born by emergency C-section, but was, and still is, completely healthy.

Movie Night

Last night, Eliana and I watched The Castle in the Sky. It is another great movie from studio ghibli in Japan. I borrowed it from the public library honestly for myself. I’m a big fan of the movie Spirited Away, from the same studio and director.

This was the first movie besides something with Elmo or the Baby Einstein characters that we watched together. The movie pulls you in right away with dramic escape sequences and crazy chase scenes. I think Eliana enjoyed her first real movie. It was a memorable experience for me as well because Eliana sat next to me, very closly on the couch. I was moved by her comfort with me, and I hope we have many more movie nights together.

The Crying Game

When Annabelle was first born, we knew there was a lot of newborn crying in store for us again.  Being hardened over that past couple of years with a very awesome first child, we thought we could handle it all over.

With Eliana, the newborn crying was loud, but she was an easy baby to figure out. When she cried, at first, we were unsure of what ailed her.  Eventually, we learned that if she hadn’t made a mess in her diaper, she was either hungry, or sleepy, or needed a burp. So, while she cried, we knew how to take care of a baby.

Annabelle on the other hand, would cry and being the experienced parents we are, we checked the obvious problem areas and addressed each as needed. But, the crying still did not stop. We were tired and perplexed. Eventually, we started to hear a little sound when Annabelle started to sleep. It sounded like she had some mucus in her nose.  It turned out, many babies do not have a fully developed nasal system. We did what we could to comfort her, but with as much as we did for her, we were, and frequently still are, rewarded with screams of pain for unknown reasons. 

Annabelle has gotten a little better as she’s gotten older, limiting her cries to when she’s tired, or when she strongly desires her mother’s breast. Annabelle is also starting to get her first teeth, and so too come random crys of pain.  Lately, I’ve seen Eliana behave so well in so many situations, it’s hard to believe she is a 2 year old. She listens to my requests, and is probably the most well-behaved child I’ve known.  Of course I am biased, but I still try to be as objective as possible. The differneces between my daughters doesn’t end with their crying tendancies, but they are the moments that we have to deal with on a daily basis.

Baby Tantrums

Today, I came home a tired man (from some sort of illness I haven’t figured out yet) only to find that my wife and daughter, Annabelle, were sort of having an argument. My wife was busy preparing dinner, while Annabelle was sitting behind her in front of the sink, away from the stove (for her safety). I heard some crying as I approached the door to the garage, but once I walked though, I heard crying from her that seemed to not be that of a baby who needed something, but rather a baby who was angry at her mom for ignoring her (and maybe not feeding her in time). Annabelle has been more difficult to feed alternative foods (such as bottled milk and mushed baby food), so I am sure she tried to feed her at an appropriate time.

What I found odd was the tone of Annabelle’s crying. She is 6 months old now, and she seems to understand when we are happy and angry. So, my first reaction was to gather as much fatherly strength that I had and explain to her (a 6 month old) that we will not tolerate that kind of behaivor in my house. She didn’t understand the words, but she did understand the tone, and much of the cry summarily stopped. It also helped that I put her in her high chair as a signal that I was indeed going to feed her (as I have started to do during my dinner time these past couple of weeks).

While I was feeding her, I noticed that she had an almost sad look on her face, as any child would have after a stern scolding. I know my actual words were not demeaning nor necessarily harsh (I did not call her names, or talk down to her). But my tone was that of the authority, and she knew something was wrong. I hope I was soon enough with the scolding that she knew the reason. While I was feeding her, my wife came over, appologetically, and tried to feed her. Annabelle didn’t want to take the food from her. I picked up the spoon, filled it with spinach and potoatoes (pre mixed in a jar) as she took it, albeit a little slowly.

After a few minutes, we were able to get her smiling again. This is the natural state of my kids. I know I’m a good dad because my kids are happy. I know that the amount of discipline I bestow is far lower than the amount of fun, happiness and love with which I shower my children. I hope that future tantrums are soothed long before they develop into something like this, as this sort of power over children can be easily abused. That is something I will never do to my kids.

Being Polite

Yesterday, my wife took Eliana to school and picked her up. She doesn’t normally do this, but I want to try to ride my bike to work whenever possible, and luckily, she is very supportive.  When my wife went to pick up Eliana, a girl opened the door and Eliana quickly said “Thank You”. The girl replied with a blank stare. Since we have tried to teach Eliana to be polite, she expected “You’re Welcome” to be the natural response.  So, in case the little girl didn’t hear, she said “Thank You” again. Again, nothing. Now, it could be the little girl didn’t talk yet, or was just plain shy, but it goes beyond this little girl.  Eliana is very social at school now, and says “Bye-bye” to everyone.  And from the people who actually hear her say this (we know, because they see her or turn around), do not give a polite “Bye-bye” back.

I’m glad that Eliana is polite, and becoming comfortable around other people. I hope she turns out to be more social than I am, or ever will be.  However, I do find it a little disturbing that everyone is so wrapped up in their lives and is so full os stress (or something else), that they cannot say “You’re Welcome” or “Bye-bye” to a 2 year old. Is this a reflection of the world in which she is growing up in? I think the one I grew up in wasn’t much better, hence the state things are in now.  Is it time that people stop running around chasing their tails and realize that if we were all a little nicer to each other, this would be a better place to live?

NOTE: This post is a second-hand post in that my wife actually saw this first hand and was telling me about it in the car.