Now, if you’re like me (which can be both good or bad…) you’re thinking, “4D?? I didn’t think the universe had more than three dimensions… what gives?” Well, a quick hunt on wikipedia describes the new technology as producing a 3-dimensional image, with the additional dimension of movement (and sound!). (wiki article here)

The images are so beautiful and at the same time so shocking. To see so clearly the baby still in the process of forming, yet still so SO tiny is simply breathtaking.

The technician was planning to give us the option of taking home traditional 2D printouts if we were too freaked out by the 4D images, but our baby boy was being too active and uncooperative during the exam, so our tech was only able to capture a few 4D images of his face, no 2D… so we weren’t left with much of a choice. And in retrospect I’m glad.

Without further ado, I present the first multi-dimensional images of our son:

I begin each morning with a 5 minute cardio warm up – usually on an elliptical or bike. I then move to weights. I do 10 standing shoulder presses with two 30lb dumbbells, then I lay on a bench with the same dumbbells and do 10 bench presses. I keep my feet elevated during this to purposely throw myself off balance. This results in a full core workout at the same time. I put the dumbbells away and do 10 curls with a 50lb curling bar. I then move to the pulldown bar and do 10 reps at 100lbs. I then move to the Adjustable Crossover Machine and use the pulley systems to do Ab rotations that really work my abs, shoulders and core. It basically looks like I’m swinging a baseball bat. A 70lb baseball bat. I do 10 of these swinging to the right, and then 10 more swinging to the left. I then go to the situp chair and do 33 situps with 130lb weight.

I then repeat the entire previous paragraph 2 more times, with only a short 30 second break in between sets.

After my three sets of weight training I move to an elliptical cardio machine. I stay on there about 40 minutes, with my objectives being: reach 300 calories burned, and get my heartrate up between 151-171 and sustain that heartrate for as long as possible.

So the weights and cardio combined are my workout regimen for every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

One Tuesdays and Thursdays I only do cardio, with the same goals. Since I’m on the cardio machine much longer, I usually burn well over 300 calories.

At the very end of each workout, I spend some time on a stretch chair stretching out all my muscle groups really well.

The craziest part of all this for me is that I am getting up at 5am each morning before work to go do all this!

My free membership expired on August 11th, but I have already renewed for another 3 months. In these previous three months, I have lost 17 pounds so far (more than halfway to my 30lb goal), and I’ve built a ton of muscle. I’m not ready to post any before/after shots yet, but I can tell you that my pants are all big on me, I’m tucking in my shirts now, my belt is on the last notch and I just generally feel more energetic and better about myself. I really can’t imagine not doing this the rest of my life. If I miss a day or two at the gym during the week it throws me off completely.

Oh, my eating habits? I’m not eating anything different that I did before. Just trying to make better choices about what goes into my body. And the biggie is to stop eating when I’m full. That’s it. No radical diets. No starvation. No eating like a rabbit. Just exercise and not putting more into my body than it can handle.

Details? The due date is officially 7 January 2009. The other “little” detail is that it’s a BOY! Third time’s the charm, I guess… though we weren’t specifically trying for a boy. But, it’s amazing how many people assume we were since we already have two girls. I think since I’m so comfortable with raising little girls now, I had just convinced myself it was a girl. Plus, our friends just had their 5th girl and so that wonderful news was still fresh in our minds. So now that the shock is wearing off, the excitement is building.

The “fun” of choosing a name has begun. It seems easier for me to rule out potential names than to actually say out loud that I like one. Nevertheless, the list has begun and a few of the ones at the top are really sounding good…

I’m also very excited that my time at NF will continue with a little Tree Climber someday. I can’t wait to walk through camp with my son and bore him to tears with all the stories of the fun/dumb/dangerous stuff my friends and I did there over my 15 year tenure.

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The other big news is that our oldest daughter turns FOUR YEARS OLD this Saturday. Amazing how quickly she has turned from a fragile infant to a walking, talking(!), rationalizing, full of personality, real little person! I’m so happy with the girl she is turning into. She’s so much fun. She also drew a picture of our new family (baby boy included) that I’ll post here once I take a picture of it.

That’s all for now.

[From the Shiloh website:] Shiloh is a New York City not-for-profit Christian organization dedicated to equipping at-risk children with tools that build hope, confidence, and the skills to attain their goals.

After I was introduced and asked some guided questions on what life as a designer is like, I decided to have some real fun with the kids and as a group, design a movie poster from scratch. I went into it with a blank slate and let the kids make all the creative decisions. After we came up with the movie itself, it was time to discuss who the actors were, the plot, title and emotional feeling that we wanted to get across. We projected my computer onto a big screen so they could see it being built. It was very spontaneous and a lot of fun – and I think the kids really enjoyed it.

The movie we came up with was a story about a NYC-based chimpanzee named Charlie who got mixed up with a no-good talking parrot named Squanto. Squanto convinced Charlie to give up on his love interest, Delilah, and pursue his stage career in the Broadway version of Dirty Dancing. I doubt I could have ever come close to predicting THAT plot line! You can click on the visual to see the final poster larger.

“The very worst thing for a designer is to not have direction and then be told they didn’t deliver on what you wanted.”
Seriously, we’re not mind-readers.

“Creatives don’t work like you do.”
Not only do we not work like you do, we don’t even work like our fellow designers.

“Don’t stand there watching over their shoulder.”
Well, you can, but if you do I’m going to start designing exactly the opposite of what you wanted until you walk away.

Link.

Last week it is was Wal-Mart trying to collect $470,000 from a former employee who is now brain damaged. Way to care about the little-guy there, Wally. Luckily they finally woke up and retracted their suit, but the PR damage was done.

Now it is Apple, Inc. submitting a formal opposition to the City of New York’s (aka The Big Apple) trademark for a new apple logo for their GreeNYC Campaign. Apple Inc. claims that NYC & Company’s new logo will “confuse” consumers into thinking it has something to do with their computer company.

You can decide for yourself, but I say that’s completely ridiculous. As someone who designs logos, the notion that even the most obtuse consumer would see these as the same company is ridiculous. What surprises me even more is that Apple has traditionally been the company that truly cares about design, and one would think that they would have a better understanding of design as a whole. Apparently they only care about their own designs. This self-obsession comes across in the actual legal opposition (.pdf) as they refer to their own company as “world-famous.” That just rubs me the wrong way.

(Sources: Neatorama and Wired News)

My amazing spouse, referenced on my blog many times, got me an awesome birthday gift last month. She got me the opening day package to the Red Bulls NY home opener at Giants Stadium. The package includes four tickets for opening day (amazing seats at midfield!) and four Red Bulls NY long-sleeve t-shirts.

If you’re confused about the strange attraction I seem to have with this popular energy drink, please allow me to explain. Red Bulls NY is the New York area Major League Soccer (MLS) team. They used to be called the NY/NJ Metrostars. I’m a lifelong soccer player/fan.

So this Saturday I and three soccer-loving buddies (well, two soccer-loving buddies and one slightly-intrigued buddy) will begin the afternoon with bowling in NYC, then heading to Giants Stadium for the game and finishing up at the premier soccer pub in NYC, Stout NYC.

I’m really looking forward to Saturday. Thanks babe!

(Click photos to enlarge)
It’s that time again, time to post the result of our annual Easter photoshoot. The girls have gotten so big and it’s so much fun to look back over these photos. The first two, of just E is from 2005 and 2006. The two of E and A are from 2007 and 2008.

via my friend, and yours, Yangblog.