snagabag

I started my new job today at Boundless Network. It’s a startup based in downtown Austin, and well… I don’t like to talk about work here, so I’ll just leave it at that. You can find out more about them by visiting their website.

I enjoyed my 6 weeks of ‘vacation’. Liah no longer cries when I hold her (Aparna still does). I got some stuff done around the house, I traveled a fair amount, and it was just great spending so much time with Apu and Liah.

As I mentioned below, Jay came to SF to meet Liah. Of course we took photos, and when I was looking at them afterwards, I realized Aparna had taken one that captured the true essence of the friendship Jay & I have.

I present to you “Best Friends“.

The beauty of this photo is it works for all of my closest friends. Just paste them over Jay and my reaction stays the same.

Click on any of the photos to open up my photo album from the trip.

Because I’m lazy For reasons I can’t explain, I never wrote 2 big events in late October*. The first was our first family trip to San Francisco! It was actually Liah’s 2nd trip to the bay area, but I didn’t make it up last time. It was an amazing trip. We saw a lot of friends, and of course we hung out with the fam. You won’t find any pictures of my cousins in the bay area, because I forgot to take photos when we all got together! My excuse? My attention was divereted due to the Cowboys being on TV.

I think Liah had a great time in SF. We showed her all the houses (i.e. - apartments and condos) her parents lived in while they were in SF. She got to meet a lot of our friends. We even took her places her parents rarely visited when they lived in SF. No, not the gym! We took her to the beach. Granted it was freezing at the beach, but that’s San Francisco for you.

Of course, the big news was Liah meeting her whitest uncle, Jay. He drove up from LA where he’s doggedly pursuing his dream of acting like a waiter. Seriously, it was great to see Kato, and I’m glad he was able to meet Liah. I think the winner for most awkward moment was when Jay & I watched Liah by ourselves. (Aparna went to lunch with some friends.) It was the two of us and Liah, who was hanging from my chest in her baby bjorn. Yes, we looked like quite the San Francisco couple.

*Big Event #2 will be posted shortly.

Well, things are moving right along over here. Yesterday we spotted Liah’s first tooth! It is just a tiny speck of white on her lower gum, but it’s there nonetheless. To be fair, the first time we saw it we thought it was a piece of leftover rice from her new food.

It’s too tiny for me to get a clear photo of, so I’ll have to entertain you with an updated picture of how Liah’s looks after Dad is done drying her after her bath.

I need to photoshop this so it looks like she’s touching one of those Van de Graaf Generators. At least then her hairstyle will make sense.

Today was a big day in the Goyal household.
(drum roll)

Liah had her first non-liquid food today!
We gave her the baby food staple of rice cereal. What can I say, Golden Grahams it ain’t. (Oh yeah, Golden Grahams is the best cereal in the history of cereals.) However, she didn’t seem to mind it too much, but then she didn’t really have to much of a choice.

And just because I can, here’s another picture of Liah.

I can hardly believe Liah’s been with us for 4 months now. Wow. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s been even more fun. Of course, taking care of Liah wouldn’t be so draining if Aparna helped out more, but what can you do?

You know the drill by now. Click on the photos to see the album of random shots from Liah’s 4th month. Check back soon for a couple of more photo albums from the past month to commemorate special occasions!

I was all set to meet up with an ex-coworker, Kathy, for lunch today after a job interview. We had agreed to meet at 1pm at Austin Java. So I get there at 1pm and proceed to wait …and wait …and wait. Finally, at 1:45 I give up and take off for home. Why didn’t I call Kathy? Because I smartly didn’t put her number in my cell phone.
So I get home and immediately notice there is a message on the machine. I listen to it and it’s Kathy telling me at 1:10pm that she’s waiting for me outside of Austin Java! Well, that can’t be right. I was also waiting outside of Austin Java.

…and then I realize what must’ve happened.

I gave Kathy a call after she tells me she waited an hour for me, I ask her, “Are there multiple Austin Java’s?” To which she replies, “Of course, that’s why I said we will meet at the ‘Barton Creek’ Austin Java.” I, of course, had failed to jot that little fact down when I scrawled “Austin Java” on a post it note when we originally made our plans. It turns out I was waiting at the “Lamar” Austin Java.

Oh well, I promised to actually buy her lunch next time we get together.

And she promised to pick a place that has only one location.