Same as the Old Boss

I doubt anything I type here will add much to the national discussion that's currently taking place about Blago's arrest. However, while doing research on the previous governor's arrest I happened across this little gem of a website - www.congressionalbadboys.com. It's a witty compendium of our nation's history of Congressional malfeasance. I've just started exploring it so I'm not sure what all is in there. It appears they've divided it up into sections dedicated to classes of political corruption.

Some of the more interesting section titles are "Congressman and Teenagers", "Congressman Who Ended Up in Jail (The Prison Caucus)", and my favorite "Do They All Come from New Jersey?: BadBoys--state by state." There is even a "Partisan Scorecard" that, despite the Republicans' recent rash of scandals, shows they still trail Democrats 56 to 26 when it comes to the number of BadBoys from 1975 to the present. Which only makes sense considering Republicans have controlled congress for only 8 of those 33 years (6 really considering the Dems achieved a narrow majority in '06).

So, my fellow Illinois-ians take heart. Congress is still a way dirtier place than Springfield and maybe even Chicago. Maybe.

Wonder. Fear. Love.

These emotions, from what I can tell after just two weeks, constitute the primary colors of parenthood. More often than not they are in various proportion to one another providing an endless array of feelings at any given moment I'm with my son. But there have been moments when I have experienced each in its purest form, absent from the others. Wonder is all I felt when I heard his first cough followed by the tiny wail announcing his arrival. Ice cold fear gripped me when I woke up in the middle of the night and thought I heard him choking over the baby monitor. And love? I'm sure it will come as no shock to learn that I find undiluted love to be the most potent and persistent of the three.

If you've yet to see any pictures of our boy, you'll find some here. And if you're wondering why we named him Eli, this post from August 2005 should offer some insight. More later. My boy is currently screaming his head off and its daddy's turn to give him the bottle.

Delay of Game

Tonight we were to be admitted for an induction. Laurie called at the assigned time and was told to call back in 20 minutes. Twenty minutes later she called and was told to call back in another 20. The next time she called back she was told, "Don't call us again, we'll call you in 20." 45 minutes later I called, and after 10 minutes on hold, was told to call back tomorrow morning at 8. They were insufficiently staffed to admit us tonight.

We understand that inductions take a back seat to natural births, but it still makes for a bit of a let down. Its like being called to battle stations only to be told, "Stand down. This was only a drill." I know the disappointment is even greater for my wife. Still, we're fine, the baby is fine and he will get here eventually.

For now we're focusing on the silver lining of one more night in our own bed and the possibility that the delay might allow nature to take its course. As we marched around the mall in preparation for the night's festivities Laurie had three really good contractions.

I probably won't provide another update until we've actually been admitted. In the meantime we thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.