Monday, January 28, 2008
As if she weren't perfect enough
I recently took out a measuring tape and discovered that thanks to her little passenger, Meltem is now exactly as wide (hip-to-hip) as she is long (butt-to-belly-button). In other words, Ozan has made her a perfect square! Let's have a "round" of applause for her.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
They've landed!
Run for it!
Just kidding. A couple of weeks ago the eye hospital they've been building for some time a couple of blocks away finally had its grand opening. Apparently it was a big deal, since the Prime Minister himself came to the ceremony. Security was tight; I was shooed away by the cops as I walked by on my way back from work and had to take a roundabout route home. Now for some reason it's really popular here to shine spotlights in the air and wave them around on important occasions such as this, so the view from our balcony was interesting that night. The building with all the windows is just an apartment block, but it looks cool here, as does the moon.
Just kidding. A couple of weeks ago the eye hospital they've been building for some time a couple of blocks away finally had its grand opening. Apparently it was a big deal, since the Prime Minister himself came to the ceremony. Security was tight; I was shooed away by the cops as I walked by on my way back from work and had to take a roundabout route home. Now for some reason it's really popular here to shine spotlights in the air and wave them around on important occasions such as this, so the view from our balcony was interesting that night. The building with all the windows is just an apartment block, but it looks cool here, as does the moon.
Ozan's nursery
At long last, I am back in the driver's seat of MelbaBlog, having finished SAT Hell Week. (In the week leading up to the January 26 SAT, my students were in a right tizzy, and I ended up teaching 35 hours just between Monday and Wednesday – which is more than I usually do even in a busy week!) Naturally, our faithful readers are interested more in the impending arrival of our little boy than in my own insignificant travails, so I pass on to: Ozan's nursery, which was completed recently!
Here I have to ask you all to stand and bow to the amazing powers of Meltem, who not only conceived the nursery in broad detail, but also designed the wardrobe herself. Here's a general view of the place:
That there on the right is the Wardrobe of Ultimate Coolness, designed by Meltem herself. It may not look so special from the outside, but the arrangement of shelves and racks inside is something to behold. The puny minds at the furniture place weren't quite up to the task of grasping Meltem's genius, however, so when they came and built the thing it turned out to have overly large shelves and a hanging rack so high Wilt Chamberlain would have had trouble accessing it. Accordingly, Meltem grabbed the phone and cracked a major can of whoop-ass (you may have felt the earth wobble on its access a little). Duly chastened, the guys at the furniture store redid some components and re-established cosmic harmony.
Anyway, the nursery is also stocked for the comfort of both Ozan and his parents. Here you see his crib and the world's most comfortable chair (an IKEA wonder called Poäng):
In case you can't see it too well in the pictures, we went with a puppy theme for the decoration of sheets, furniture, and walls. Therein lies a tale. We spent a long time at the furniture place poring over their sample books and finally discovered a theme we liked, one with happy little puppies smiling cutely at you as butterflies (smiling too, it's a happy world) wing about them. Part of the package was to be a strip of wallpaper we would run around the room to alleviate the boredom of cream-colored concrete walls. To our dismay, it turned out that the manufacturer had stopped producing the puppy design. We got around the problem by having the furniture place scan the sample wallpaper and print the puppies and butterflies on sticky paper. Then we just applied them to the walls ad libitum. We think it looks pretty good:
And doesn't Ozan's crib look like the most comfortable place to park his little baby butt?
The cushion can also be transferred to the table opposite, which will serve both as our work desk (note the bulletin board – flanked by puppies, of course) and as Ozan's changing station (note the diaper-supply basket on the left; we bought a super-package of 96 diapers, which I am told should last a week or so).
So there you have it, your first tour of Ozan's nursery. You're all invited to come see it in person, of course!
Here I have to ask you all to stand and bow to the amazing powers of Meltem, who not only conceived the nursery in broad detail, but also designed the wardrobe herself. Here's a general view of the place:
That there on the right is the Wardrobe of Ultimate Coolness, designed by Meltem herself. It may not look so special from the outside, but the arrangement of shelves and racks inside is something to behold. The puny minds at the furniture place weren't quite up to the task of grasping Meltem's genius, however, so when they came and built the thing it turned out to have overly large shelves and a hanging rack so high Wilt Chamberlain would have had trouble accessing it. Accordingly, Meltem grabbed the phone and cracked a major can of whoop-ass (you may have felt the earth wobble on its access a little). Duly chastened, the guys at the furniture store redid some components and re-established cosmic harmony.
Anyway, the nursery is also stocked for the comfort of both Ozan and his parents. Here you see his crib and the world's most comfortable chair (an IKEA wonder called Poäng):
In case you can't see it too well in the pictures, we went with a puppy theme for the decoration of sheets, furniture, and walls. Therein lies a tale. We spent a long time at the furniture place poring over their sample books and finally discovered a theme we liked, one with happy little puppies smiling cutely at you as butterflies (smiling too, it's a happy world) wing about them. Part of the package was to be a strip of wallpaper we would run around the room to alleviate the boredom of cream-colored concrete walls. To our dismay, it turned out that the manufacturer had stopped producing the puppy design. We got around the problem by having the furniture place scan the sample wallpaper and print the puppies and butterflies on sticky paper. Then we just applied them to the walls ad libitum. We think it looks pretty good:
And doesn't Ozan's crib look like the most comfortable place to park his little baby butt?
The cushion can also be transferred to the table opposite, which will serve both as our work desk (note the bulletin board – flanked by puppies, of course) and as Ozan's changing station (note the diaper-supply basket on the left; we bought a super-package of 96 diapers, which I am told should last a week or so).
So there you have it, your first tour of Ozan's nursery. You're all invited to come see it in person, of course!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Don't give up on us
We're still here! Sorry to have disappeared for so long. We've both been increasingly busy as Ozan's debut approaches (and I've been increasingly busy as the SAT approaches!). Not only that, right when I decided it was time to blog again, our Internet connection went down for almost a week. Anyway, rest assured we're still here. Coming attractions on MelbaBlog include: Ozan's nursery! Barry's job situation! Freaky light show! So stay tuned.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Winter wonderland indeed
Greetings to all from the land where the holidays never end! No, I'm serious – Meltem and I sat in a Starbucks the other day and listened to Christmas carols over the PA system. Hey, when you don't understand the lyrics, the songs never get old. There are also twinkling lights still hanging all over town. And, to cap off our (post-) holiday cheer, we've had some real live white stuff. It started as a cute litte flurry:
... but soon got more serious, as our balcony flowers can attest:
And it just kept comin':
The next morning (yesterday) I was even awakened by howling winds as the deluge continued. The main storm dumped a couple of inches, which promptly turned to ice overnight, and it's been slowly accumulating via incessant flurries all day. It's all very pretty to look at from the safety of MelbaBlog Central Command HQ, and it gives me cause to exult once more in the full meaning and implications of the term "walking distance," as in how far it is for me to go to work.
Speaking of that, I actually sampled how the other half lives yesterday morning. I got a late start out the door, so I decided to take a taxi to work. This usually takes about 5 minutes and costs 5 YTL (new Turkish lira). We called a cab, and it showed up about 15 minutes later. Then, since the back streets were impassable, the driver was forced to get on the main road, which was a combination parking lot/skating rink. I bailed out when the meter had hit 5 YTL and we had traveled maybe a hundred yards from home. I got to work late and wet, but with a new anecdote for the blog under my belt.
... but soon got more serious, as our balcony flowers can attest:
And it just kept comin':
The next morning (yesterday) I was even awakened by howling winds as the deluge continued. The main storm dumped a couple of inches, which promptly turned to ice overnight, and it's been slowly accumulating via incessant flurries all day. It's all very pretty to look at from the safety of MelbaBlog Central Command HQ, and it gives me cause to exult once more in the full meaning and implications of the term "walking distance," as in how far it is for me to go to work.
Speaking of that, I actually sampled how the other half lives yesterday morning. I got a late start out the door, so I decided to take a taxi to work. This usually takes about 5 minutes and costs 5 YTL (new Turkish lira). We called a cab, and it showed up about 15 minutes later. Then, since the back streets were impassable, the driver was forced to get on the main road, which was a combination parking lot/skating rink. I bailed out when the meter had hit 5 YTL and we had traveled maybe a hundred yards from home. I got to work late and wet, but with a new anecdote for the blog under my belt.
