Awesome

Everything is great!

Hey, just wanted you guys to know that everything is great with Aidan and we are all very happy right now. Can't wait to see everyone.

Lullaby

You ever notice how time moves slowly when you are waiting for something important? Well, it seems like once you get so close that time actually speeds up and the thing you are waiting for just stops getting closer. Its really strange getting to this point. Quite honestly, I really expected to be a father by this time. Back in December and January, they moved our due date up from July 17th to July 10th. So naturally, I figured that the due date would keep moving up. I never thought that we could actually go past the due date. Just to clarify, I do have a calendar (several, actually) and I know that it is not yet July 10th. But we just had this feeling that Aidan would arrive before the due date. So far, its looking less and less likely. I realize, of course, Emily could be in labor right now. She's upstairs sleeping and has been getting contractions for about a week now. They get consistant for about 3 or 4 hours, but then they plateau, and stop. Its really annoying, more for her, but its a natural part of labor. Its called pre labor. Actually its called piss off the parents so that a misbehaving 3 year old doesn't seem as annoying.

I figure we have a nice routine now. Every night, Emily goes to sleep around 9, I come downstairs, watch some TV, have a cigar, and then go to bed around 12 and listen to Rush.

Speaking of Rush, congratulations on your new contract. It's well deserved. Like him or hate him, that man hosts the most listened to talk radio show ever broadcast, and brings in huge revenue for Clear Channel. Mega Dittos.

We had a great 4th of July. We set off quite a few fireworks in our driveway and put on quite a show with the help of our neighbors.

I have to tell you, Emily has got to be the strongest person I know. Only in the confines of our own home does she reveal how much pain she is in 24 hours a day. When we are out, around others, she puts on a game face that I didnt think anyone could pull off. She is truly amazing as she gets done what she needs to, and then quietly goes home early for her much needed and deserved nap.

We got up our new (read: over a year old, but finally finished) video. It is available on youtube. I would post it here, but only a small streaming version is currently uploaded. I will be uploading a much better version tomorrow, so I will post it here then.

As only the keenest among you have probably noticed, I have gone back to titling my blogs after episodes of the greatest television show ever canceled, Angel. Now, just for reference, this episode, Lullaby, was the one right before Connor was born, so I thought it would be fitting to name this blog, which will hopefully be the last before Aidan is born, Lullaby. Also, it feels like the calm before the storm, so I figured a nice calming thought would be welcome right now. I promise many pictures of Aidan will be posted here as soon as I can.

Goodnight.

The Dark Knight

In anticipation of The Dark Knight being less than a month away, I thought I would just share with you some insight that I have had into this franchise as opposed to the previous one. I believe that these two quotes sum up the key differences in the two different series of Batman movies from my lifetime:


Previous Series:

Harvey Dent: "You have broken into our hideout. You have violated the sanctity of our lair. For this we should crush your bones into POWDER. However, you do pose a very interesting proposition: therefore, heads, we accept, and tails, we blow your damned head off!"

New Series:

Harvey Dent: "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villian."

If you feel that both lines of dialog are acceptable in a Batman movie, by the same character, no less, I damn you to 1000 back to back airings of Batman and Robin on TBS. If not, I'll see you at the midnight showing of The Dark Knight.

My New Radio Commercial

This commercial first aired on the June 11th episode of The Hump Day Show. Thought you guys might want to hear it.

Redford Review: Transitions

Wow, has it really been nearly a month since I last filled you guys in on my life? How did you manage?

Well, the Penguins finally succumbed to the Wings, who, lets face it, are an unstoppable force. They have defence down to a scary, scary science. The fact that we won two games is truly an accomplishment. There's always next year.

The presidential race is finally set, (probably). McCain vs Obama. Yawn. I care a lot about politics, but these two guys really scare me, and I really don't think either one of them could possibly influence me enough to care about this race. Which is really sad, since I really enjoy the whole system, and want to get involved.

The really big news, of course, is Aidan. He is about a month away from being born. We had our second baby shower (the Valan/Liguori side) on Sunday. It was a great time, and everyone was incredibly generous. We were very excited about cashing in our 10% discount at Babies "R" Us, but there's not really much left on the registry to buy! We could easily raise him till age 14 with everything we've received!

We just decided to switch hospitals, a bit last minute, but we feel its very important that we (read: Emily) are comfortable during the birth process. We had a bit of an emergency last week, which had Emily at the hospital and very uneasy about the care she was receiving, so we started looking around and found a new hospital. Of course, we have to switch doctors, and we have decided to go with a Midwife. Up until a few weeks ago, I didn't even know what a Midwife was, now one of them will be delivering my son. I am ok with this, as there will be a doctor there in case there is any problem. I feel very safe, and on this particular subject, no one (outside the medical community) is more educated than my wife, so her opinion is the star I guide my ship by on this subject.

On a personal note, I am feeling like pregnancy is a very strange time. To put it into an analogy, its as if we decided to have a baby, so basically, I have to send away my wife for 9 months, and she will come back with a baby. I say this because my wife has not really been herself the last few months, and I'm really missing her. I know she will be back to herself (and believe me, I will appreciate her so much more from now on) in a few weeks. Now, keep in mind, I am not using selective memory, we had our arguments, and neither of us is perfect, but I would much prefer she be mad at me for something I did, rather than an unknown act her hormones have tricked her into thinking I did. I miss you, Em, I can't wait for you to come back. And best of all, you're bringing Aidan with you!

Random Thought: I'm really digging this song: Viva La Vida, by Coldplay. Its really awesome.

My mother and sister came up for the party this weekend. I don't know, they just aren't the same people I left in Pittsburgh 3 years ago. I blame myself for a lot of their problems now. Its amazing what you miss, especially since I thought I wanted out so badly. Its not money, its not job security, I just miss being a part of my family. When I left, the family began drifting apart. Not that I caused it, but maybe I showed them that we can survive without each other. What I failed to show them is that maybe we don't want to.

I think I will always look back on the last pure moment. Reagan's birthday party, the original 5 jumping on Kevin's trampoline, just like we did in our own back yard, so many years ago.

So, when they were up here, we went to the casino. We all had a great time, I got to play Deal or No Deal, and hit the bonus 3 times. I was down about $60 (thanks to Em loosing $40) so I decided to play triple play video poker. I was dealt 4 deuces on the deal, so I made a quick $150. We left right after that. Good times. I'm out of money on Full Tilt currently, hopefully Emily will let me reload it soon, its a nice way to pass the time while she's sleeping.

Nick

Redford Review: Nick Redford-CSI

I would make one hell of a CSI (crime scene investigator). Yeah, I know, there was absolutely no reason to actually write out what CSI stands for. If you don't know, you really need to grab a remote control sometime. I only watch the original, in Vegas. I hate the spin offs. I don't know why, I think I have maybe seen one of each spin off, but honestly, SpikeTv shows like 24 episodes every day, so I don't need to watch the spin offs. Anyway...

So, as most of you know, Emily (the wife) and I are having a baby. Soon. July something. Possibly June something, as the baby should arrive between the 38 and 42 week marks and 40 weeks would be July 10th. So it could be June. Hell, it could be at the 36 week mark, too, so who knows. Anyway, we had a baby shower in Pittsburgh last weekend thanks to my mother and sisters. We got a ton of stuff that the baby i definitely going to need, so it worked out.

Now, for those of you who have actually spent any time with me, or this blog, you know that I have many things, and I am lacking only one thing: Patience. (ok, i also do not have any GPS devices, so that's two things I am lacking, but that's completely besides the point). Now, having no patience, the first thing I did when we got home on Monday was to open all of the boxes of stuff for the baby and put everything together. (Its all together and working properly, thank you all). This left us with a relatively common dilemma, lots of empty boxes. Now, I , being as lucky as I am, have always worked for companies that are owned by family members. Its just the work environment I enjoy and find the most conducive to my preferred lifestyle.

Now, part of that lifestyle would be the ability to throw away larger trash by putting it in the dumpster in the parking lot. Redford had it, and so does Fantasia. So I loaded up the empty boxes into my car, and headed to work today.

When we got here, the dumpster was wide open (its usually locked) and it was completely full. I was a bit discouraged, being that I have load up a bunch of boxes into my car for a rally this weekend and the back of my car is full of baby product boxes. Then I go into work, and a coworker is upset at me because she had to clean up empty boxes in the parking lot when she got here and thought it was us who loaded up the dumpster. When I explained that we had not yet overloaded the dumpster and it must have been someone else, we began to get upset. So, I went over to the video surveillance system and watched the video for last night. I caught them. I saw the person pull into the parking lot, then pull out 15 seconds later. Then about 15 minutes later, they pulled back in. This time they stayed for about 4 minutes, then left. Then AGAIN about 10 minutes later they pull back in and stay another few minutes.

So I go outside and join my coworker in looking through the garbage for anything identifying the culprit. She found it. Inside one of the boxes was a packing slip. This brain surgeon had left a packing slip with her name, address, and finger prints all over it. We didn't even need the fingerprints.

We called the cops.

So about 15 minutes later, a state trooper shows up to file a report. Normally, nothing is done of this because of the lack of evidence. Not with Nick Redford on the case. So we gave him the packing slip and showed him the video tape. He asked if we could burn the footage on DVD for court if necessary, which we could, and he said the best quote I have heard in weeks: "Wow, I really don't think you guys could have possibly made this any easier for me to solve." Yup, we did it. We solved the case. Before the cops even showed up.

So he goes to the woman's house. In her front yard sat (and I kid you not) the very car that was easily identifiable in the video, and a ton of garbage bags that (I surmise) were being readied to load up our dumpster tonight, or perhaps another innocent victim's dumpster. Maybe even yours.... So the cop goes up and knocks on her door. He held up the packing slip and asked the woman, "Where do you think I got this?" Dude, this cop was bad ass! Who says that? That has to be the most awesome thing a cop could possibly say to a suspect. I mean, really, that's what TV cops would say! This guy is my new hero, even though he needed a pregnant woman and a couple of sex toy proprietors to solve the case for him. Ok, he would have solved it without us, we just happened to not have anything better to do this morning.

Needless to say, the criminal (no need to assume innocence, we got her on freaking tape) was mortified. The phone rang in Emily's cubicle. We looked at the caller ID. It was the same last name as the packing slip. After careful deliberation, we decided to answer the phone, of course, the deliberation took much more time than the person was willing to wait for someone to answer, so they had hung up.

A few minutes later, the state trooper showed up and told us what had happened at the woman's house (which is how I have all these details, for those of you who are doubting the validity of this story). He told us that the woman was very apologetic, and asked him to ask us a favor on her behalf. She would like to come over and take everything out of the dumpster that she had put in, and clean up the garbage that had spilled out, in exchange, she would like us to drop the charges.

We decided that since we do like to have goodwill in the neighborhood, that we would agree to the terms. The state trooper told us that if she did not show up in a reasonable amount of time, to call him right away and the charges would be reinstated and he would make the arrest. He went and told her of our incredible generosity.

About 20 minutes later, I glanced out the window and saw the same gold blazer from the video, but this time, it was being loaded up, in the rain, with wet, wet cardboard boxes. After she had finished, she actually came into our building. The women looked to me to answer (in case she was hostile, you know how women get). Needless to say, she was very apologetic. Actually, it was funny, the first thing she said to me was: "Hi, I, uh, I'm the one who got in trouble." I was cordial to her, and accepted her apology, and told her that its really no big deal, we just can't have it happen again.

So, now, I am off, into the sunset to fill up a now mostly empty dumpster with baby toy boxes.

Case closed.

Redford Review: Spring

Thumbs down! Way too much pollen, ragweed, and other allergens. I would not recommend spring to anyone!

I cannot breathe through my nose. At all. This is the absolute worst its ever been. I am currently on two (2) Claritin D pills, and two (2) Sudafed pills. That makes four (4) pills that are currently going through my bloodstream with one (1) objective: to make me not feel like my head is currently hosting some kind of international mucus convention. Guess what... 4 is not enough. Either the mucus is some kind of super mucus, sent here from a distant planet to make my life miserable, or these fucking pills don't do anything at all. I am really upset about all of this. Imagine not being able to breathe. I was actually unable to do my job yesterday. Every tuesday, we record the HumpDay show. (a little brainchild of mine), and I am supposed to do the news. Due to the fact that I cannot pronounce certain syllables witout full use of my nasal passage, the Fantasia sales reps will just have to due without thier Nick-otine fix this week. Fear not, gentle reps, I will be back, as soon as I personally pave over the entire area. We need more parking lots, less plants.

Redford Review: Cloverfield

This review will be split into two different sections, because really, the movie is in two different sections.

Section 1: The Movie

Let me start by saying this: If The Blair Witch Project had never been made, this movie would have been heralded as the new wave in film making. The homemade camera feel, the choppy edits, the "this is found footage" tagline at the beginning. All perfectly done. Nothing explained afterwards, no outside perspective. Leaves you hanging and wondering what the heck is going on. The biggest problem: The Blair Witch Project did get made. It existed and was pretty well done. Cloverfield was made a lot better than Blair Witch. By leaps and bounds. Quite honestly, the story was better for Cloverfield as well, as much as we know of it, anyway. The effects were thousands of times better. They were flawless, but honestly, its 2008, there really should not be any special effect flaws in a movie with this type of budget. The monster looks great, the injuries looked great. The camera work looked authentic. I really enjoyed this movie. They practicly told you at the beginning where this was going to end, but the whole time, you hold on hope that its going to go differently. At the very beginning, there is a graphic that says that this is the tape found at "Incident site US-447" "fomerly known as Central Park". Ok, so we know that somehow, this camera will end up abandoned in Central Park. Now, we spend the whole movie wondering if the camera will be left by an escaping member of the cast, or if everyone dies and somehow the camera lives on. I won't spoil it for you, so go out and rent it.

As a whole, the film was really good, and I would certainly recommend it. The story flows nicely, although my wife thought that it was totally unrealistic (and not cause theres a huge monster attacking the city). She felt that these people would not risk their lives to get someone who is most likely dead. I countered with the flawless logic that realistically, there is only one monster the size of a building, and all you really have to do is avoid it, so why not take a chance to get save your friend who called you and asked for help. Keep in mind, at that time the characters did not know about the... well, I am trying not to spoil too much.

There is also somewhat of a love story, between Rob and Beth, but it really is more of a plot device to keep the characters in the city during the mayhem, as they pass by several opportunities to leave in order to save Beth. It was fine for a 2nd level love story.

If you are the type of person who totally emerces themselves in a movie and can completely let the outside world go for one hour 24 minutes, this movie will really entertain you and keep you on the edge of your seat. If you didnt get the Blair Witch and always keep your mind rooted on the ground, you're probably not going to get this and will think its stupid. I fall into the first category, so I liked it a lot.


Section 2: JJ Abrams you viral bastard

For those of you completely unaware, JJ Abrams is the creative mind who brought you fantastic television shows like Alias, Lost and Heroes. The one thing that sets him far above the rest of the pack is his ability to help you emerce yourself in the stories he tells. He pretty much invented viral marketing, if he didnt invent it, he perfected it. If you watch Lost, you know that there is the main stories on the island, but there are also stories told everyday online through websites that tie into the show. Cloverfield is no different. At first, all there were were Myspace pages for several of the characters in the movie. Leading up to the theatrical release, they were updated as much as you or I update our page, as if they were actual people. They have pictures and blogs comments and loads of other stuff. The only way you know they are connected to the movie is because they are connected to each other. The good folks at Bad Robot (Abrams production company) "leaked" the existanse of these pages to key bloggers to get the ball rolling. Then, other sites popped up.

Tagruato

This is a website for a company that basically specializes in deep sea drilling. It is also the parent company for several companies that tie into other Abrams projects. Most notably, Slusho!, which is a soda company out of Japan. If you search a little, you will find out that Slusho! was the company that had hired Rob to be the VP of Marketing, which is why he was movine to Japan (the reason for the party at his house).

Ok, cute little tie in, giving a more realistic feel to the movie. Right? Then, in the months leading up to the DVD release, something else popped up.

Missing Teddy Hanssen

Starting in March, this blog popped up on blogspot. It references some of the companies mentioned above and also one called TIDOWAVE which seems to be an enviromentalist organization thats sole purpose is to destroy Tagruato.

I'll let you do some hunting and piece together some clues, but let me point you in the right direction. Teddy Hanssen is the former boyfriend of Jamie Lascano, who has the worlds smallest part in the Cloverfield movie, but figures very prominently in the viral stuff. Check out JamieandTeddy.com.
The password is jllovesth.

Once you dive into this world, its tough to get out. The fact that this stuff is starting to pick up now makes me think that a sequel is in the works, but nothing has officially been announced.

This stuff is truly worth taking a look at, even if you didnt particullay like the movie. Oh, and when looking through it all, make sure you look for comments, they are where the real secrets are hidden.

Enjoy!

The Redford Review: Pregnancy

Yeah, the title of this is The Redford Review, and there will be blogs posted where I review things, but honestly, I am not out in the marketplace as much as I would like so today, I will review pregnancy!

You know that point of a roller coaster, where you fly out of your seat a little and your stomach drops, and everything seems just a tad bit ominous? Imagine if that feeling lasted the entire ride. Yeah, thats pregnancy. Not in a physical sense. I am male, and there for cannot become pregnant, so I have no idea what it feels like. Actually, I do have a fairly good idea what it feels like, my wife tells me every day. (just kidding*) From the moment you find out that your family is about to increase by 33.3333333...% your life begins to actually revolve around someone that by legal standards, doesn't actually exist. The entire process is filled with ups and downs, highs and lows. Lets take them chronologically...

The first month:

Highs: You're going to be a father. This is a big deal.

Lows: You start thinking about when he/she is a teenager and hates your guts. Thats going to suck, I barely know him/her yet and I am thinking about them hating me and not wanting to spend any time with me.

Month Two:

Highs: Your wife still feels pretty normal and her behavior is relatively normal. (although, suspiciously, the food budget that didnt allow an extra $1.19 for a backup box of ho-hos last month suddenly has doubled.)

Lows: Your wife gets this queezy feeling that seems to last right around 9 months. For you, it just means you have to drive slower, but for her, its a small preview of things to come.

Months 3-5:

Highs: You start shopping for baby items and clothing. I don't know about you, but my wife makes the same face everytime she sees anything that looks like its for adults, but is a 1/9th scale replica. Its a face that makes you want to grab her and hug her because clearly she is in a lot of pain, but then she grabs the item and makes sure it is purchased. I still don't understand why anyone would want to buy things that make them cry or feel pain, but romantic comedies seem to do pretty well at the box office, so clearly this phenomenon will continue.

Lows: There is more vomiting done in this time period than a man will do in his entire lifetime.

Months:6-9

I am currently halfway through month 6, so I have no witty remarks about this point forward. Just cross your fingers and hope for the best.

So, what is the conclusion of my review? Should you get pregnant? Yes! The species will continue!


We painted the nursery yesterday. It looks very blue. It was while standing there looking at 3.5 blue walls that the idea dawned on me, "what if the ultrasound was wrong?" Emily assures me that we saw the testicle and there is no way they are wrong, but I still get paranoid.





*actually, I am not kidding, she does tell me every day

Random Updates

Thought I would update you guys on some stuff going on in my life right now, as well as some thoughts I wanted to share.

The website as you know it is going away. I know it seems like we just did an update, which we did a few months ago, but I have a large and possibly life changing event coming up next weekend and I am hoping to get alot of hits on this site afterwards.

Emily's BFF Jackie is having her book release party (more info here) and I have been asked to DJ/Emcee. I am looking to this event to launch a semi part-time successful entertainment business, as the local media will be covering the event, so I made signs for Nick Redford Entertainment, so I am going to need to set up my website to reflect that. This blog will remain as the only remnance of the old site, but you might want to bookmark this page because there will be no link from the home page. (I'll probably link to it from my myspace or facebook page).

I am also looking to start getting more heavily involved in my budding photography business. Aparently, babies need to eat, and apparantley, food and diapers cost money, so I need to kick it up a few notches in that department.

Been really obsessed with my Wii lately. I got a whole bunch of games for Christmas and my birthday, so its been all consuming, as well as a pregnant wife, so lots of stuff going on with me.

Just want to wrap up with a thought I had the other day. President William Jefferson Clinton cheated on his wife in the mid 90's. This is public knowledge. If I were his wife, I would feel attacked and hurt by this. At least publicly, she has not done a damn thing. No response. No divorce. As far as I can tell, she simply forgave and forgot. I don't know about you, but when my country is attacked, I want to know my president will not forgive and forget so easily, and she has shown me that she would be capable of not reacting at all. I find that appalling.

Just a thought.

Test

blogger test. More later

Political Blog

Political Blog
January 7, 2008
Nick Redford

Simply too many requests to ignore. Today, I give my opinion and back it up with facts on this overly heated Primary season. This blog will take me some time to complete, (probably three or four blogs) but it will help you, and probably help me, decide where to put our support this year.

It is no secret that this election could very well be the most important election in our lifetimes. So much depends on it, yet we have to listen to candidates talk about “floating crosses” in campaign ads, or how many times the candidate voted “present” in meaningless votes. Its just silly. We need to focus on the issues. As I write this, as far as I am concerned there are 7 realistic candidates for President of the United States. I intend to talk about the most important issues and where each of them stand on that particular issue. Yes, this is going to be very long, so I intend to make it as entertaining as possible. Enjoy.

The seven realistic candidates are (in alphabetical order so no one thinks I am playing favorites):

Hillary Clinton
John Edwards
Rudy Guiliani
Mike Huckabee
John McCain
Barrack Obama
Mitt Romney

On to the issues:

Illegal Immigration

Me- Honestly, this used to be a non-issue for me. It really did. I rationalized it this way: If you are skillful or smart enough to get across the border and outsmart the border guards, then you deserve to be in America and probably have something useful to contribute to this society. Then I learned that “outsmart” wasn’t exactly the right word. As it turns out, the only skill you actually need is the ability to use the Marty McFly Point-and-Scream “What the hell is that?!?” and run across the border as the guard falls for your all-too-clever-ruse. Clearly, something needs to be done. Lets see what the candidates think it should be.

Clinton: Said the plan to give illegal immigrants Driver’s Licenses “made a lot of sense”. But to be fair, she did deny saying that later, so I guess we have to give her credit for both sides of the issue. (I checked the quotes, she did say it to the Nashua Telegraph on October 17, 2007.)

Edwards: Has repeatedly said that we need Immigration Reform. That’s pretty much all he’s said on the subject. Here and there he says that we should give them drivers licenses if they are “on the path to citizenship”. No, I don’t know how you could define that either.

Guiliani: Wants to build a “technological” as well as a physical fence for the border. (good) However, during his time as Mayor of a town so nice, they named it twice, Rudy ran a “sanctuary” city, even renewing a law that made it illegal for city workers to report the names of illegal immigrants if they reported a crime. Yes, so someone who is committing a crime by living here illegally can report someone else for doing a crime, and be let of the hook for their crime. (bad).

Huckabee: Confusing stats here. Supported a bill that gives illegal immigrants college scholarships, well, kind of. In reality, the bill makes it possible for anyone in Arkansas to be allowed to get the scholarship as long as they go to high school for at least 3 years in Arkansas, he just didn’t make it so that illegal couldn’t get the scholarship. So, not good. I like his policy on the whole “path to citizenship” debate. He says that the path should start at the beginning, back in their own country.

McCain: And I thought Huckabee was confusing. McCain seems to say exactly what his audience wants to hear, but doesn’t seem to mind if it goes against what he already did. I am currently looking at about 15 different instances of him supporting illegal immigrants (bad), yet I see lots of votes against them. Voted for establishing English as the official language of the US Government, voted yes on the border fence, Of course, those happened relatively recently, you see, his votes get more conservative as he gets closer to an election year. Earlier (in 2006) he voted for establishing a guest workers program, voted for allowing illegal aliens to be able to participate in social security (dear god you have got to be kidding me) and voted yes on allowing more foreign workers into the US for farm work. (yikes)

Obama: Supported that failed attempted to give drivers licenses to illegal. (strike one) Wants the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the US to be made citizens.(strike two), Wants to provide Government Services in Spanish (buh-bye). Of course I did find a quote from him in Sept 2007 advocating a “wall” be built. Hmmm.

Romney: Wants the first people to be considered for citizenship to be the ones who are waiting patiently and doing it legally. (a novel concept) Took a very hard line on immigration, vetoing a bill similar to the one Huckabee signed on scholarships. But that’s only as of late. Earlier in his career, he wasn’t nearly as hard on “undocumented workers” as he is now. Did he have a change of heart, or decide to lay the foundation in case he decided to run for a higher office?

Next blog: Social Security.