Jeff's Digital Oasis

Long time no chat!

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:24:00 +0000

Wow.. it's been awhile since I had an update...
I know, I always have excuses, but we did go to Boston for 6 weeks, and my internet service had been flakey.. but we are back in Toronto and my service is stable again.

I have lots of pictures and updates to post, but here`s a few to start...

New Lawn
We finally have grass for our front and back yards. It's been over 2 years wait, but it's good now!

New furniture
We saw an ad on Craigslist for some traditional style Chinese furniture and jumped at it. This is exactly the type of furniture we wanted, and got a good deal, although there's some small damage. Still worth it...

Back online

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:15:00 +0000

This blog was down for while due to my internet connection issues.
First, the DSL modem was flakey, resulting in outtages, then I went on a trip and the connection was down, and I replaced the modem, which stabilized the internet connection, but needed additional configuration to get all my web services back again.

Well, I finally configured the modem, and this blog is back online.

I`ll have some updates to post in the coming days...

2009 Photo Postings

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:26:00 +0000

Had to break my original update into 2 posts as the pictures were not displaying properly...

2009 Photo Gallery

Shubing's Birthday and Ethan's 100-day pictures here

Our Chinese New Year dinner at Mom and Dad's place

Ethan's 2009 Gallery is now online here

2008 Photo Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:06:00 +0000

Wow.. it's been awhile since I posted an update.
I will work on posting my notes of baby Ethan's progress here soon.

In the meantime, here's are some new pictures to tie you over...

2008 Photo Gallery

All of Ethan's 2008 pics are now online

Pics of Ethan's 1-month Dinner Celebration

Family Luncheon when Jim, Sara and Cameron were in town for the 2008 Holidays

Happy Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 05:38:00 +0000

Well, it's the end of 2008 and the start of 2009.

We had a great family get together this Christmas, with everyone in Toronto (Sara+Jim+Cameron flew in from San Francisco, and Alice+Randy flew in from Bonnyville). The newest member of our family, Ethan, was introduced to all and we enjoyed his cheerfulness. Cameron is growing fast, and starting to show his personality :-) Of course, it's never enough time to spend together, but it was still good.

Here's wishing everyone the best for the New Year.

New Baby T has a name

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:14:00 +0000

We have finally decided on a name for Baby T.
We started with looking through websites for names, and also received suggestions from friends and family. We got some good and "creative" names, and after some pronunciation testing with grandma, we have decided on one.

The list of top names:
Julian- Nicole gave this great suggestion, but some people think the kid will get bugged in school and called Julie...
Tanner- I came up with this due to the initial 10-10 delivery date
Jeremy - nixed on recommendation from Sara :-)
Newton - Jim and Sara came up with this due to calling the baby New Tay
Carter, Skyler, Conner - some Boy band names

Ultimately, we settled on Ethan, inspired from Mission Impossible's Ethan Hunt. There it is.. Ethan Tay is in da house!

I have added new pictures to both the Baby T galleries for your enjoyment!

Introducing new Baby Tay!

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:31:00 +0000

We have a new addition to the Tay family in the form of a baby boy. Baby T was born on Oct 9th, 2008 (10-09-08) at 2:36AM at the Markham-Stouffville hospital. We are still working on a name for him.

His arrival was a journey... Shubing was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes in the second trimester, so she had to go on a strict low-carb diet; we found out the baby was breeched late in the third trimester, so we tried some methods to help the baby turn but decided to stop after a few attempts as we felt there must be a good reason why baby did not turn by himself; the original due date was Oct 15th, but due to the breech we were scheduled for a C-Section on Oct 10th; even with the C-Section, the baby decided to come out early!

Here's a story of what happened before the birth: we went to visit Shubing's good friend Gaoshan, and ended staying for dinner. Their place was in Stouffville, so we were only 15 minutes from the hospital. When we were ready to leave, Shubing felt a gush of liquid. She checked and noticed the liquid was reddish in colour. We proceeded to head home immediately and she experienced another small gush while we were on the road. Shubing called her friend, A-Mao, to get an opinion on this and also called our midwife. The midwife said this is a sign of the water starting to break, and instructed us to go to the hospital right away! The reason is labour can start within 24 hours from the water breaking, and because of the C-Section, it is important that the mother does not go into labour or complications may arise. Well, we have already passed the hospital and am 20 minutes to our house, and we needed to get our supplies, so we continued home as planned.

At this moment, we were taking a slight left curve on the road and the on-coming car in the opposite direction did not turn and headed straight for us in our lane! I swerved left into the on-coming lane and just missed a head-on collision with this jerk, and looking at the rear-view mirror, the vehicle almost hit the cars behind us too. Fortunately for everyone, an accident did not occur.

So we got home safely, grabbed our pre-packed supplies and headed back out to the hospital. We got there at 10:30PM Oct 8th, and got checked into a private labour room. Shubing was put on the IV, and we were told that we'll likely get into the Operating Room by midnight. But then we got bumped as there was someone in a more urgent condition, and we just rested and waited. By 2:00AM Oct 9th, Shubing was brought into the OR, while I waited (with my camera) outside. And then they called me in to be with Shubing, and my pictures will tell the rest of the story :-)

Check out the pictures here

We were not released from the hospital until Sunday, as the nurses wanted us to stay an extra night because Baby T was losing too much weight. It turns out the there wasn't enough milk from breast-feeding, and supplementing the feeding with formula helped Baby T to regain his weight. We didn't have any real issues with jaundance as well. We are home now and everyone is recovering well.

See new pictures of Baby T in his photo gallery!

San Francisco Trip 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:06:00 +0000

Shubing and I figure we'd go on a trip before the baby is born. Cuba was the initial destination, but the looming hurricanes put an end to that idea! I've always wanted to take Shubing to San Francisco (it's my favourite North American city), and the timing was right as Air Canada was having a seat sale. We stayed with Jim-Sara-Cameron for the week, and spent the last night at cousin John's. It was a good trip, so check out the pictures at my 2008 Photo Gallery!

2007 Family dinner with Cameron

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:29:00 +0000

I have finally posted the pictures from our 2007 dinner with Sara, Jim and Cameron. Check out the gallery here

A different take on motivational posters :-(

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:18:00 +0000

These Demotivators lithographs and mugs are a riot, especially in the work environment! Go to www.despair.com to see the products...

Shubing at 33 weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:26:00 +0000

Shubing is now 33 weeks pregnant.
She is doing well, and has a very healthy appetite!
Her due date is Oct 15th, and we'll wait for the birth to find out the jender of the baby.

I've posted new pictures of her here

Free magazines online

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:29:00 +0000

This site lets people scan and upload magazines for all to share. Obviously, it does not adhere to any copyright laws...
http://www.mygazines.com/

Family Updates....

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 03:41:00 +0000

Wow.. it's been awhile since I posted anything...
Anyways, here's some updates:

Shubing is due on Oct 15th, so she's getting quite large.
I'll have to post new pictures of her...
She is feeling well and in good spirits, but seems to get tired easier than usual.
We still haven't come up with any names for the kid yet, and we won't know the gender until the baby is born... We have Lamaze classes booked the weekend of Aug 16-17.

Mom+Dad has sold their townhouse. It's not official yet, as there are some conditions to clear, but it should be fine. Her closing date is Aug 29th, so it only gives them 1 month to find an apartment and move. Good news is they have found a place that they like and have started to pack... I still need to move my stuff out of their basement, and into mine :(

The construction around my house is progressing along nicely.. Most of the lots have houses built on them, and they are starting to build the curbs. We are hoping for lawn to be put in this fall, but that may not happen. I'm just looking forward to the end of muddy roads and Shubing would be happy when all the inconsiderate (and sometimes idiotic) construction workers are out of our way...

Until the next update... keep fresh!

Will it blend?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:11:00 +0000

Will the iPhone G3 blend?

Twitter is not ready for prime time

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:19:00 +0000

Update on Shubing

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Mon, 26 May 2008 03:20:00 +0000

<-- Shubing at 18 weeks.

Well, can't believe it's already 1 year since our wedding. And now the next event is the baby, which is due on Oct 10th, 2008. We will wait until the birth to see if it's a boy or a girl. We have not started to pick names yet, so start sending us your suggestions!

Shubing is in her 5th month now. During her first trimester, she would feel nauseous daily, but not throw up. Only time she throws up is if she gets hungry and doesn't eat something quickly! As well, things that she usuaLly like to eat are have become a turnoff! She would cook something for dinner, and then not feel like eating it anymore.. we would shop for groceries, and she then feels it's not what she wants to eat.. kinda funny!

Now that she is in her second trimester, things are much better. Her appetite has improved, but she now prefers to eat foods that are not too strong in taste. Surprisingly, Shubing has taken a liking to Western foods, like subs, burgers and even hotdogs! We ate a lot of free burgers during the Harvey's Angus Burger promotion! As well, she has taken a liking to ice cream and milk shakes, but that's my fault actually :-) We found a place with $1 milkshakes, and now I make them at home using my blender with vanilla ice-cream and various fruits (have tried strawberry and papaya). Yummy!

The bump has grown in size quickly the past 2 weeks. It went from not-noticeable to noticeable. Shubing has started to wear maternity clothes, as her normal clothes now do not fit or are uncomfortable. As well, she tires quickly during the afternoons while at work.

I plan to capture the baby's growth and Shubing's bump size, and track it up to the childbirth. Check back regularly for updates.

2008 Photo updates

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:48:00 +0000

I have updated my online Photo Gallery with some new albums:

Niagara Falls Trip - Jan 18th (For Shubing's Birthday)
Birthday Quilt - April (Thanks Alice!)
Dinner - May (because I haven't been taking pictures lately!)

Enjoy!

Sweet Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:21:00 +0000

Alice made me this quilt for my birthday.
It's the cover for my futon now :-)
The pictures shows both sides of the quilt.

R2D2 media player/projector!

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:13:00 +0000

Click here to view an amazing R2D2 projector/media player system!
Thanks to Marc for the link.

domain hosting crazyness!

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:50:00 +0000

My domain hosting service is shutting down, so I am scrambling to move all my files off their servers, and unto my home PC. I also have to reconfigure the domain name and redirects.. lots of crazy stuff tonight....

So if you cannot access my sites, this is the reason... Hopefully, I can be fully hosting again shortly...

Baby stoller craziness!

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:55:00 +0000

I can't believe a baby stroller can cost US$900 (and up)!
Not that I am against it, just that I am surprised....

Baby in 3D!

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:37:00 +0000

UC Baby offers an interesting service where you can get pictures and videos of your unborn baby in 3D. It's not cheap, but it's a fun concept...

The scary part is they offer Heartbeat Bear (plays the sound of your baby's heartbeat) and Baby Forever (create a doll of your baby!)

How many cannibals could your body feed?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:39:00 +0000

This is the analysis for my body

Toboggan excitement

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:36:00 +0000

Check out this awesome video "owned by a sled" of snowtime excitement!
Thanks to KLee for the link.

Reminds me of the Mike Peca hit on Teemu Selanne

Updated wedding pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff T) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:35:00 +0000

I have finally finished processing and posted the pictures from our Wedding Ceremony.

Check out the photo gallery here. This is a compilation of the pictures taken by our family and friends.

Next batch will be the Reception Dinner pictures.
Stay tuned for that, but don't hold your breath :-)