• Life

    Postpartum Care Down There, or Perineum Things

    April 19, 2021 - By 

    I ended my first childbirth with a 2nd degree tear, which the doctor described as “normal”. This meant that I had skin and muscle damage, but not such that it extended all the way to the back. From my internet research, I knew this meant stitches— which was what I got. A few hours after giving birth in the Labor and Delivery Ward at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, I was moved to the Family Centered Care Unit. (Those are two long mouthfuls!) In the second location, the nurse told me that a postpartum woman should urinate every 2-3 hours and…

  • Uncategorized

    93 Days

    April 19, 2021 - By 

    I recently stumbled on 93 Days, which is based on the real story of how Nigeria managed to keep their 2014 outbreak of Ebola minimal despite initial political pressure and through good management. I personally enjoyed it: The human element made it moving, the quiet desperation made it exciting, and the sensible actions helped to find a relatively happy ending for a story about an illness that, as one doctor puts it, “kills 8 out of 10”. I was surprised that multiple Amazon reviews complained of how “vanilla and unrealistic” this “feel-good” movie was. Given this is based on a…

  • Life

    My Baby’s Nose-Picking Tweezers

    April 7, 2021 - By 

    Before I needed to pick a baby’s nose, I would not have thought about designating a pair of tweezers to be “nose-picking tweezers”. However, one finds oneself saying and doing different things in life, especially when one adds a baby! My baby sometimes gets hardened mucus particles in her nose. Although she is occasionally able to sneeze them out on her own, they sometimes stay in for a few days. Baths only help loosen her clogged nostrils so much and mucus wipes marketed for babies do not seem to help me get very far inside her nose. Young Sophie’s grandfather…

  • Fashion

    Dotted Green Button Footie with Floral Detail from Carter’s

    April 3, 2021 - By 

    Any baby in this lovely spring green footie with bright florals will look like he or she is ready to take a pleasant nap outdoors! Printed at the chest is “lovely” in a fine cursive below a butterfly appliqué. Is the butterfly lovely? Or is it the baby who is lovely? Or is it meant to be a statement about the clothes itself? One does not know. However, floral at the wrists and all the way down to and under the feet might make one fashionable and lovely. In this infant outfit, your baby will be ready to stomp on…

  • Fashion

    Stripy Shark Footie for Newborns from Little Wonders

    April 1, 2021 - By 

    When I first saw this outfit, I thought that it looked very nautical. I also noticed that the feet appeared to be one-horned narwhals! This may be because one of her other outfits had one-horned unicorns. However, the two sharks swimming at the breast of the baby who wears this outfit probably shows that the feet were meant to be sharks. With back fins. I cannot be the only one who sees those narwhals. Anyway, my child cannot appreciate the animal differences amongst her newborn outfits, nearly all of which are of the same basic design and thus strongly resemble…

  • Finance

    Share Spinoff Sales at Tax Time

    March 27, 2021 - By 

    Pfizer (PFE) did a share spinoff into Viatris (VTRS) by joining Mylan with Pfizer’s Upjohn. I received a few shares, whole and fractional, and my brokerage sold the fractional. At tax time, my brokerage provided me with a .pdf which I loaded into Turbotax, but the .pdf did not provide the “cost basis” for the fractional 0.021 Viatris share sold and which I was credited for with $0.32. An error was detected and I was requested to add the missing information. How would I do that? As far as I understand, it goes something like this: When we say that…

  • Finance

    Don’t Buy Shares in a Partnership

    March 26, 2021 - By 

    If you do your own taxes, that is. In 2019, I had the most irritating experience of getting a K-1 for taxes. Dealing with a K-1 was more complicated than the meager amount I received was worth, so I sensibly sold the 3 units (the equivalent of stocks) I owned after doing my 2019 taxes. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to deal with the sale of those shares in my 2020 taxes. I soon discovered that this was even more annoying than the previous year. Most of the information was simple enough to complete from the K-1 and my…

  • Life

    Misspellings on Clothes: Princess Baby Hat

    March 25, 2021 - By 

    I believe that what you wear says something about who you are. In some cases, what you wearing literally says something. This hat, with its bright rose-gold foil-colored cursive commonly associated with throw pillows, decor about living and loving, and weddings, is not quite my style. Fortunately, thus hat was not gifted to me but to my baby. As you can see, the dot of the “i” is in the wrong place. I do not know whether this is a case of someone not knowing how to write cursive or an accident by a graphic designer. Surprisingly, this hat may…

  • Travel

    maidreamin – chain maid cafe in Akihabara

    October 22, 2018 - By 

    When I was in Akihabara, my friend was very interested in visiting a maid cafe. I was a bit curious, too, because I had been hearing a lot about the maid cafes of Japan. We ended up in a chain maid cafe called maidreamin located very close to the Akihabara Station. To find it, you do have to go in what looks like a side door and then up some stairs, but the very large logo on the wall will tell you that you are on the correct path. In 2018, there is a ¥500 cover charge for entry +…

  • Uncategorized

    Review: Dragon’s Egg by Richard L. Forward

    April 4, 2013 - By 

    This is a sort-of review of the book Dragon’s Egg by Richard L. Forward. Imagine a world of tiny creatures who exist with neutrons and live at a pace much faster than humans do. The cheela, once plants, become mobile and live through “turns”, their version of days. With twelve eyes and a rather malleable body, they evolve gradually. Their changes over time both pre- and post-human contact mirror human civilization both amusingly and sadly. Amongst those we meet are Pink-Eyes, who becomes their Jesus and beseeches the god “Bright” to still be kind to the cheela; Swift-Killer, who becomes…