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Baby Tip #5

Baby Signing is very popular these days. Just be careful what signs you are teaching, directly of indirectly. Actually, my niece Hayley is very proficient at signing. Especially, the sign for more…

If you ask me, just hire a nanny that can speak so that you don’t need to learn how to sign..

Baby Sign involves using sign language to communicate with infants and toddlers. Children of an early age have a desire to communicate their needs and wishes, but lack the ability to do so clearly. This often leads to frustration and tantrums. In some cases children actually start to learn to speak, only to lose that ability once their larynx descends. Hand-eye coordination is easier than the coordination of speech, which requires coordinating the lips, tongue, breath, and vocal chords simultaneously. By using simple signs for common words such as "eat", "sleep", "more", "hug", "play", "cookie", "teddy bear", etc., infants can learn to express their needs before they are able to produce comprehensible speech.

Babies in Deaf families, immersed in a signing environment, use simple signs from as early as 6 weeks. It has been estimated that 90% of a baby's linguistic observations are observations of interactions between others, not interactions between self and others. It follows, then, that babies will strive towards the communication form they are immersed in, and use of sign among other family members is at least as important as use of sign to the baby, if early use of sign language is desired. Some parents feel that they don't have enough time to teach their baby sign language, but by using sign with each other in front of the baby, they will need to spend little time in actual instruction.

Use of Baby Sign is growing, but still not widespread. This is at least partially due to the fear that children who sign will not learn to speak properly later on. However, all available evidence suggests that hearing children who sign as infants go on to develop particularly rich spoken vocabularies, as well as a tendency to solve problems through communication rather than tantrums. They may also teach sign to younger siblings after they themselves have switched to speaking with their parents.

Baby Sign may be recommended by speech and occupational therapists for toddlers with developmental delays and speech difficulties due to physical disabilities other than hearing impairment. These children often have the mental ability necessary for language development, but are hampered by skeletal, muscular, or other limiting problems, such as hypotonia. Baby Sign allows them to communicate their needs despite their disabilities.

Parents who have some enthusiasm for sign language may already know the local adult signs for "eat", "sleep", "more", "play", but may find it more natural and productive to use simpler "baby" versions of these words. Some may gradually introduce adult signs as the infant grows. It is, however, common for parents to teach their babies non-simplified signs from adult sign language such as American Sign Language rather than specific Baby Sign.

Google Fight

Have you had the opportunity to challenge a friend or nemesis to a Google Fight? It’s pretty cool.

www.richmcintosh.com challenges www.jonkurt.com ready FIGHT!

Special thanks to Dave for the link..

Word of the Day

January 12: dinner whore

A girl who is exclusively after a free meal or an expensive gift. She actively seeks out dates with well-off men who will wine and dine her at upscale restaurants. She is usually physically attractive enough to make the man fall for her feminine wiles. She will rarely have sex with these men, until they spend a certain number of dollars on her. Nobody knows exactly what that number is, so the man keeps spending and spending, while the dinner whore keeps living it up.

As a mere graduate student living on a stipend, it is impossible to find a date in New York, as it is saturated with dinner whores.

This is a new addition to the blog and can be found on the right hand side of the page, below the weather and facts. It will submit a new word everyday. Some of you may be blocked from the site, most likely your employer isn't a fan of the site... The web page is Urban Dictionary and it's a slang dictionary.

Thanks Rudi, for the link....

ManRoom 2.0

Today, I took the afternoon of to do a little electrical work on the ManRoom. The ManRoom is the converted attic space of our home that I spend most of my time watching TiVo and Blog’n.. Well, as you can probably imagine I have a couple electronic appliances plugged in to the outlets of the ManRoom. Nothing “fancy” just your standard entry level guy stuff. Kind of like a college dorm room.

Anyway, on Sunday “Elvis’s Birthday” I was vacuuming the ManRoom, training for SaHD, when I heard a pop and the vacuum stopped working. I thought I had blown a breaker. So, I went to investigate. Nope, wasn’t the breaker? Well, come to find out I actually blow out an outlet and scorch some wires.. No problem.. That why I have tools.

I ran out to the local hardware store to get some supplies and started to work. It didn’t go very smoothly, mostly because when I started the project it was dark out and when you turn the power off it’s a little hard to see what you are doing w/o lights and just a flash light. You may wonder why I didn’t run a light in from another room? The breaker box wasn’t marked very well by the yo’cal that had written in the tag lines with crayon, so I tripped the main. Hey, I’m 566 days 2 hrs 49 min 42 sec from retirement (see bottom of blog for running ticker) and I really don’t need to be electrocuting my ass…

I didn’t finish Sunday and tried to finish up the last couple of nights and it just wasn’t working out. I really didn’t know what I was doing and learning by trial and error after error as I went along. That’s when I realized today. I could leave work early and finish the job during day light hours. Yep, that was the ticket. Light everywhere and time to work out the issues… Now, I’m blog’n and catch’n up on my TiVo.

The only casualty of the entire ordeal was today I had the power off during PTI and TiVo didn’t record it.

So anywoo, that’s what I did today in Rochester and I’m a McIntosh… Damn Kurt Brothers!!!

Get to Know Your Local Legends

This is the first installment of hopefully a successful series called “Get to Know Your Local Legends”. Today we focus on that man of mystery, Tom Overlie. He’s not only that pretty face sitting next to Betsy Singer on the 6 o’clock news, but much more. I would have never taken an interest in Tom if it wasn’t for Andy & Heidi, a couple new to Rochester. They had just taken a tour of Tom’s beautiful home. They raved about the décor and very liberal photography collection… and of course the CD..

Tom joined the KTTC News Center in May 2000 as co-anchor of the 6pm and 10pm weekday newscasts. Tom is the winner of 3 consecutive Emmy Awards for best newscast (Upper Midwest Chapter), has been named Best TV Newscaster for 3 years in a row (Rochester Magazine), and is the Southeast Business Journal's "One to Watch Under 40". Other news awards include those by the Minnesota Broadcaster's Association, Minnesota Associated Press, Northwest Broadcast News-Eric Sevareid Award, and the North Dakota Broadcasters Association. Through the years, news reports have taken him from the "backyard" to remote villages in the heart of Mexico.
Prior to joining KTTC, Tom worked for five years in North Dakota for Meyer Television News KMOT-TV, as an Anchor, Producer and Medical Reporter. Tom also worked for three years at KEYC-TV in Mankato, Minnesota.

His hobbies include writing books, home renovation (featured in Rochester Magazine, Rochester Post Bulletin, Friends of Mayowood Tour) and extensive travel. In fact, he enjoys exploring remote corners of the world, which has included three years as a student in Jos, Nigeria, West Africa. He's also a musician and recently completed a third original musical series for his nieces and nephews compiled in a project called "Guardian Angels".

Tom is also involved in the Rochester community hosting the Eagles Cancer Telethon each January, and he's been honored by the American Cancer Society, Alzheimer's Association, Minnesota Veterans, Boys and Girls Club of Rochester,the University of Minnesota-Rochester and other charitable organizations. Tom says he feels fortunate to be in a position to contribute to so many worthy causes. "I'm glad to be part of a news team that not only works hard to bring you the news each day, but works just as diligently to be a part of this community. It's an honor and commitment our news team takes very seriously."

Keep posted for more Local Legends.....

Dance Off

My friend Jon has these two photos on his blog. He posted them within two weeks of each other. Not only are these guys (Paul and Dan) amazing dancers..

Check out how much they did to change the background in such a short amount of time.. Lamps, Chairs, Clocks....

That’s Amazing…

Also, is it cold there? Dan's wearing a coat... Turn up the heat..

Stamps are 39 cents starting today…

Why would this matter? Jon? Well about 5 years ago stamps increased to 37 cents. My wife, Amy, is pretty sharp but not necessarily up on current events. That’s my department (slow and obvious).

So, anywhoo. We had just moved to Rochester and been invited to a big departmental BBQ. We had a great time and enjoyed ourselves, maybe too much, glug glug.. So my sweet Amy, did the appropriate thing and sent a Thank You card to the home of the family the hosted the BBQ.

Well, needless to say, I had not done my duty (in the slow and obvious department) and informed my lovely wife that stamps had increased. Later that week, the now director of the department, stopped Amy in the hallway to thank her for the card and to inform her that she owed his wife 3 cents for the postage due, that the mailman was nice enough to collect on delivery.

Have a nice day and don’t forget to buy your 2 cent stamps. I’m sure you will buy too many or not enough of and waste some of the old 37 cent’rs, but isn’t the point…..

Want the 411 on the 411

It may be possible to save the $1.00 fee your cellular provider charges for 411. How? Just dial 1-800-FREE411. BUT DON’T DIAL 1-800-411FREE (IT’S A PHONE SEX LINE!!!) But if you want too, it's pretty funny...

Claim: The phone number 1-800-FREE-411 offers free directory assistance service.

Status: True.

Origins: One of the many changes that has taken place in the telephone industry in the last few decades is that while phone companies once generally provided their local customers with free directory assistance (via the 411 phone number), in most cases telephone customers are now charged a fee (typically $1.00 or more) for each directory assistance call. Despite the charges, U.S. consumers continue to avail themselves of the 411 directory assistance service, placing about 6 billion such calls per year.

Now, however, an outfit called Jingle Networks is providing an alternative directory assistance service — and it's free. Users who call the toll-free number 1-800-FREE411 (or 1-800-373-3411) can navigate a nifty automated voice recognition system that asks for a location (city and state), type of listing (business, government, or residential), and name. Once the service has located an entry for the requested number, it reads the information aloud and offers the caller the option of connecting to the number by pressing a single number on his telephone keypad.

How can Free-411 afford to offer free directory assistance service? It works sort of like commercial radio or television — businesses pay to sponsor it in exchange for presenting their advertisements to customers. The funding of Free-411 is typically explained thusly:

The service is made possible by thousands of national and local businesses who sponsor this service with brief valuable audio advertisements that are played to callers who request businesses in their yellow pages category. This advertising model allows businesses to acquire new customers over the phone, cost effectively, with little or no risk. Meanwhile callers get free directory assistance, potentially saving each of them thousand of dollars per year.

The way it works in practice is that a caller who requests a business number is first presented with a short (about 12 seconds) audio advertisement for a sponsor who operates a competing business in that area; the caller is then given the option of being connected to either that competitor or the business he originally requested. If no sponsor operates a local competing business, then the caller hears no advertisement at all. (In the latter case, if the caller accepts the option to connect to the desired number, the business receiving the call hears a short message at the beginning advising them that the call was placed via Free-411, and a Free-411 salesman may follow up with them a few days later to solicit them as a potential advertiser.)

Snopes.com made three separate trial calls to 1-800-FREE411 asking for information on different local businesses, and in each case the voice recognition system smoothly processed all their spoken information and correctly identified the businesses of interest. In only one trial out of the three were they presented with an audio advertisement. Free-411 also offers directory assistance information via a free web site.

I tried it too, and it worked just fine... This would be just the ticket for Rudi and his New Year’s Resolution.

Top of the Muffin to Ya...

Forget wearing white after Labor Day - there's a new fashion violation in town. It's called a muffin top: that unsightly roll of flesh that spills over the waist of a pair of too-tight pants, like a muffin bursting out of the pan

Defined by www.pseudodictionary.com in May 2003.

muffin-top - 1. A person whose belly hangs over the top of their pants, like the way the top of a muffin hangs over the paper cup. 2. Excess belly fat that hangs over the pants.
e.g., 1. Good morning muffin-top! Would you like a donut for breakfast? 2. A: "Did you lose weight? I can't see your muffin-top anymore." B: "No, I just bought bigger jeans."

Christina Aguilera is a reformed muffin topper, often spotted onstage during her wild-child period in a pair of badly fitting pants accessorized with an ample tummy roll. Kelly Clarkson is also a repeat offender. "Especially when Kelly first won 'American Idol,' the muffin top was the one thing that was common in everything she wore - nothing fit right."

And it isn't just femme fatales that shop at the belly bakery; screen hunks can sometimes fall victim, too. Their condition? Stud-muffin top.

Of course, that muffin top tends to occur just after you've gained weight (that extra hamburger or two on the barbecue all summer can pile on the pounds). If you are a little heavier than usual, you have a choice. Either admit it to yourself, buy a larger size and look as good as ever, or deny it entirely, squeeze into the same old jeans and show the whole world your bakery special.

Here's how to avoid it.

Tip 1: Minimize, sister!
Spanx body shapers - like a tube, they can roll over any spot on your torso. Get 'em at www.spanx.com.

Tip 2: Get waist-ed
If you're still devoted to those hipsters, look for a wider waistband on the trouser, or wear a wide belt with them - it holds you in a little bit more.

Tip 3: Junk the hipster jeans
There's a return to a higher rise right now - a lot of the super, uber-cool people aren't wearing tight, low-rise jeans anymore.

Tip 4: Cover it up
Wear floaty summer dresses, since they always offer a muffin-top-free silhouette. Longer, Empire-waisted tops are also very trendy now. Made from soft, silky material, they hang gracefully instead of gathering tightly at the waist. You can still wear a midriff-baring baby doll; just remember to slip it on over a longer waisted tee, which then holds in any flab.

Sunny Day in Minnie

These lovely ladies represent three generations of an Aunt and her nieces, Amy & Tracy (sisters), Hayley (our niece), and Lynn (Amy & Tracy’s Aunt). Lynn came into Minnie from Chicago to visit for the weekend.

We went to the Walker Art Center “The WAC”. It was pretty cool and free today..

For dinner Amy and I kidnapped Lynn for Sushi at Fuji Ya… As always the food was excellent..

FREE Wi-Fi

Traveling a lot or just looking for free Wi-Fi? Try the Wi-Fi-FreeSpot™ Directory it’s a listing of Wi-Fi enabled locations that offer Free Wireless High Speed Internet Access. It has a lot of good restaurant, hotel, airport, and retail business location information. Another good reference is this blog, they seem to update it regularly.

Also, try Panera Bread they now offer Wi-Fi

high-speed wireless internet access

— free of charge — in bakery-cafes

across the country. If your computer

is Wi-Fi enabled, you can connect to the

Internet wirelessly while at your Panera.

There are currently 732 Wi-Fi enabled Panera

Bread bakery-cafes, from California to Virginia.

More are added every day. You can search for a

Wi-Fi enabled Panera in your area, browse

the state-by-statelocation list below, or look for

the Wi-Fi door stickers at participating

bakery-cafes. Not to mention the offer a healthy menu..

Pictures by Lauren

Our friend Erin’s daughter Lauren drew these pictures for Amy and me during our visit to Las Vegas.



This is a picture of Amy sleeping on the couch… Looks like she has a case of stink leg…



And this is a picture of Lauren farting on my leg… Lauren can fart at will. In fact she farted on me 4 times. I was very impressed.

Pimp's Up, Ho's Down

Pimp's and Ho's has been updated. I would like to add another place to meet people in Minne...

Also, a special thanks to a friend of the blog, Scott S.... Now you too can play at home.. Check it out HERE

Bouns... Pimp Quotes...

"During sex my girl always wants to talk to me. Just the other night she called me from a hotel." Goldie McJames (Detroit)

"It's been a rough day. I got up this morning, put on a pimp jacket and a button fell off. I picked up my ho stick and the handle came off. I'm afraid to go to the bathroom." Vanilla Snow (New Orleans)

"My ho was such an ugly kid...When she played in the sandbox the cat kept covering her up." Timberland Lamont Thomas (L.A.)

"I could tell that my hoes parents hated her. As a kid, her bath toys were a toaster and a radio." Papa Pimp (The Ho Village)

"My ho is so ugly...Her father carries around the picture of the kid who came with his wallet." Tony "Da' Fro" Norris (Pearl River)

"When my ho was born .... the doctor came out to the waiting room and said to the father, "I'm very sorry. We did everything we could......But she pulled through." Dr. Balls Newmont (Orlando)

"My ho is so ugly ... her mother had morning sickness - after she was born." "Guns" Gastelum (Colorado Springs)

"I remember the time my ho was kidnapped and they sent a piece of her finger to me. I said I wanted more proof." Silver Ice (L.A.)

"A rival pimp asked, "How can I get a kite in the air?" I told him to run off a cliff." Mayor Lamont Branford IV (Atlanta)

"One year they wanted my ho to be a poster girl... for birth control." Jackson Brown (New York)
"My uncle's dying wish was to have me sitting on his lap. He was in the electric chair." Phil McCrackin (Grayling)

"Yo momma went to a freak show and they let her in for nothing." Jesse "The Nose" Goose (Cali)

"One time I went to a hotel. I asked the bellhop to handle my bag. He felt up my ho!" Ron "The Iceman" Collins (Burke)

"For two hours... some guy followed one of my hoes around with a pooper scooper." Mervin Beasto (Lansing)

Hang'n Out on the Sidelines

Arkansas Razorback players Clarke Moore, Brett Goode and Casey Dick need to stop hanging out on the sidelines together! Although, I think that these guys may be responding to my ladies of FSU blog and thought they would send a message hoping for a little action… However, after you look at the bios another thought comes to mind....

But really this is not a fake photo.. Click on their names for the players bios..

The Truth about Cell Phones and the National Do Not Call Registry

If you’ve received an e-mail telling you that your cell phone is about to be assaulted by telemarketing calls as a result of a new cell phone number database, rest assured that this is not the case. Telemarketing to cell phone numbers has always been illegal in most cases and will continue to be so. In response to recent e-mail campaigns urging consumers to place their cell phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission issue this advisory to give consumers the facts.

One e-mail making the rounds says:

“JUST A REMINDER...In a few weeks, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls. YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS... To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888/382-1222. It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS...”

Another version claims:

“The Federal Trade Commission has set up a "do not call" list. It is called a cell phone registry. To be included on the "do not call" list, you must call from the number you wish to register.”

Here’s what you need to know about the National Do Not Call Registry program:

• FCC regulations prohibit telemarketers from using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers. Automated dialers are standard in the industry, so most telemarketers are barred from calling consumers on their cell phones without their consent.
  
• The federal government does not maintain a national cell phone registry. Personal cell phone users have always been able to add their numbers to the National Do Not Call Registry — the same Registry consumers use to register their land lines — either online at www.donotcall.gov or by calling toll-free 1-888-382-1222 from the telephone number they wish to register. Registrations become effective within 31 days of signing up and are active for five years. There is no cut-off date or deadline for registrations.
  
• Business-to-business calls are not covered under the Registry.
  

For More Information

To learn more about the National Do Not Call Registry and the rules that enforce it, visit the FTC at www.ftc.gov or the FCC at www.fcc.gov. For more information about a planned “wireless 411” directory, visit http://www.qsent.com/wireless411/index.shtml.
The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish (bilingual counselors are available to take complaints), or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at www.ftc.gov. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

Some broads have even tried this with me........

Cheeseburger in Paradise®

Well we didn't make it to In-N-Out Burger, but we did make it to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville for a Cheeseburger in Paradise®.

We also thought this would be a good chance to get a family portait...

Fatburger ®

Today, I had one of Las Vegas’s staple burgers at Fatburger. The original Fatburger, very tasty and well worth hoofing it up and down the Strip to burn of the extra calories..

Tomorrow before we leave for home. I may try the most highly regarded of western US burgers at In-N-Out Burger.

Viva, Holiday Lights

Pretty lights from Vegas. Whoe, Whoe, Whoe... Maybe if Caesars turned off a light or two of they could spot their guests a little Wi-Fi action.. So I could tell everyone how awesome the Resort is and encourage others to choose Caesars as their vacation destination in Las Vegas.....

You would think that a Resort like Caesars Palace would have Wi-Fi, but no... I have to pay $11.99 per 24 hours and plug into a Cat 5... That Wi-Fi technology has been reserved by 5 star motels like, AmericInn, Quality Inn, Motel 6 and other “black light” roadside favorites.

Happy New Year!!! 2006

A Picture Share!, originally uploaded by Rich on the Road.

Happy New Year!!!! Amy and I made it to beautiful Las Vegas earlier today for the big new year’s eve event. Our flight number was actually 777, but I don’t think it will make a difference with our mad skills as gamblers. ….

Anyway, as you can see Amy didn’t quite make it to 2006, "left coast time".. In her defense she was post call. As usual that wasn’t the case for me. I was well rested, since I was post day-off. Man, I have it tuff!! And par-for-the-course, nothing went smooth for Amy on the trip out…

So, Amy gets home from work and we get loaded up in the car and head for MSP in Minnie. We check-in, get on the plane and now we are Vegas bound. As usual, I pimp Amy and put her in the middle seat as I enjoy the roomy aisle set. Unfortunately, for Amy, she got stuck sitting next to this freak. It was awesome!! First the guy was a talker. He was in his late fifties and had brought a National Enquirer to “read” on the trip.. Then, I don’t know why, but this dude’s wife was sitting directly behind him and he insisted on talking to here too, without turning around. That was pleasant. Anyhoo, he quiteed down and feel a sleep. Well, you would think that was a good thing. Nope, not on lucky flight 777. When this guy would fall a sleep we would flail around, like he had Tourette's (minus the funny swearing)… Now the snack cart is making the rounds, remember when a bag of nuts where free? So the guy gets the $3 snack-pack and proceeds to tare into it like a dog ripping up the garbage… Well, my boy needs a Pepsi (empty calories) to wash it down with.. Remember I said the guy twitched when he feel asleep. Now that he’s all jacked-up on the snack-pack and Pepsi. He falls a sleep and has one of these episodes, he knocked over a full Pepsi right in Amy’s lap. He wakes up and is all sorry, and even yells at himself a little, freak… After that the guy got it under control. When we got to Vegas and we where deplaning the guy gave Amy some trick money for the dry cleaner.. odd

Well, sorry for the lack of posts.. I’ll get back on schedule in a couple of days, and I’m sure this won’t be the only photo from our trip……