What's Dis?

Huh? Where am I? What's dis Interweb thing?

Why iz it so hard type wif dese mittens on? What does dis say, I cannot read.

Oh, hai. My name is Rebecca Marquis and I was born yesterday at 7:25 pm. I do not like to miss Jeopardy!, so I came out just in time.

I weigh 6 lbs and 10 ounces. I really like eating. My mommy and daddy are pretty cool people, but I'm not sure they know what hey are doing.

Ok, I'm bored and tired now. I go bak to seepin. Kiss me I'm cute. Luhzu all, bye bye!

We're Off To See The Wizard

I'll be spending the next three hours pacing, mumbling, double-checking and second-guessing. Then, around 7 o'clock, it's off to the hospital. When we return, if all goes as planned, we will be three.

Despite bringing the laptop to the hospital, I will not be live-blogging the birth. That's probably best for everyone.

I'll update this space as I can, most certainly with photographs. I'm not sure what will happen to this blog after I return home with an infant. Technically, the "nine month odyssey" is over, but another has just begun. Regardless, I'll be up at odd hours and will need an outlet.

Thanks for paying attention to my ramblings. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in my anxieties, beliefs, and peculiarities.

See you in a few days.

More August 20 Trivia!

Hey, did you that there's an August 20 each year? And that stuff has happened on that date...just about each year? Seriously, August 20 is smack in the middle of the dog days - when no one is working and everyone cranks up the air condition. Yet, things still happen - and have for years. Let's dig a bit deeper than music history and discover the wonders of August 20. (Tip of the ol' baby cap to Crazy Aunt Lesley for the link. Despite the name, Crazy Aunt Lesley is neither crazy, nor biologically speaking, an aunt. Her name is Lesley, though. I think.)

8/20/94: Temperatures hit 109.8 in Spain (see honey, it could be worse!)
8/20/92: England get 7-363 in 55 overs vs Pakistan, then world ODI record (I have no idea what this means)
8/20/91: Estonia declares independence from U.S.S.R. (since she's being induced, I think Lefty's technically being "liberated" from my wife)
8/20/89: Howard Johnson joins B Bonds and W Mays to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases (but he makes the breakfast of all three)
8/20/86: Phils Don Carmen loses perfect game in 9th inning (welcome to the crushing heartbreak of being a Philly fan!)
8/20/80: Mt. Everest climbed by Italian Reinhold Messner, alone (Daddy once walked up the
steps of the Bethesda Metro station when it wasn't operational)
8/20/74: Gerald Ford assumes the presidency (Do you like nachos, Homer?)
8/20/61: Phillies set then dubious record of 23 straight loses, beat Braves (The record is no longer dubious?)
8/20/48: 78,382 watch White Sox play Indians at Cleveland (television was invented the next day)
8/20/30: Dumont's 1st TV broadcast for home reception (Way to ruin a joke, history)

There are plenty more, but I need to get back to work. Explore amongst yourselves!

August 20: This Day in Music

This is an awesome Web site.

In fact, it's the awesomeist Web site I have seen today.

Too lazy to click the link? It's a database of what song was number one on any given day of any given year. Now, my birthday has some pretty choice cuts attached to it ("A licky boom boom down," anyone?). But continuing my obsession with all things August 20, I have to admit, that date is a pretty good one, musically. We are talking all-time classics here:

1929 ... "Singin' in the Rain" by Cliff Edwards
1949 ... "Some Enchanted Evening" by Perry Como
1956 ... "Hound Dog/ Don't Be Cruel" by Elvis Presley
1955 ... "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets
1964 ... "Where Did Our Love Go" by The Supremes
1996 ... "Macarena [Bayside Boys Mix]" by Los Del Rio

Those are some of the best songs ever written, produced and performed! And how about these two, back-to-back ballads that pretty much defined any Bar Mitzvah or eight-grade mixer in the early 1990's?

1992 ... "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men
1991 ... "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams

Just reading those titles makes me want to stand arms-length away from an twelve-year old girl with braces and just sway back and forth.

It's too hard to feature just one or two songs from the 1980's, when you are dealing with a list this comprehensive. All of the following topped the charts on August 20:

1989 ... "Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx
1988 ... "Roll with It" by Steve Winwood
1987 ... "Who's That Girl" by Madonna
1986 ... "Papa, Don't Preach" by Madonna
1985 ... "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis & the News
1984 ... "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker, Jr.
1983 ... "Every Breath You Take" by The Police
1982 ... "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor
1981 ... "Endless Love" by Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
1980 ... "Magic" by Olivia Newton-John

When a song tops the charts on August 20, that song has staying power. That song is either featured in a blockbuster summer movie or is a timeless classic by a transcendent artist or that song is in the final throes of being known as the summer's hot song (see 2006's "London Bridge" by Fergie).

But sometimes, beyond the movie soundracks or classic songs by well-known artists, something else slips in. Something that is just so...appropriate...

1974 ... "(You're) Having My Baby" by Paul Anka with Odia Coates

Top Ten Responses When Asked “When Is Your Wife Due?”

I get the question often, from new acquaintances and friends with bad memories, "When is your wife due?" Since it's getting harder and harder to answer the question with a straight face and my Nine Month Odyssey t-shirts haven't arrived...with a million apologies to David Letterman....

Top Ten Responses When Asked “When Is Your Wife Due?”

10. Why should I care, it’s not mine?

9. When her belly button pops, it means the baby’s done

8. I don’t know. She takes Metro every day. It starts, it stops, it bumps and jostles, and stutters…and still, no baby!

7. The vet says we should expect a litter by September. Wanna help me lay down newspaper?

6. Not much, mostly just lies there and eats popsicles. Oh, you said, "when's she due?"

5. Hopefully not until after the sumo tournament

4. She’s not pregnant

3. She’s not a library book! (actual answer, given by three-year old SteveJeltzFan, when asked when his pregnant mother was due, circa 1981).

2. Don’t know, don’t care. I just need a fresh Social Security Number. You know, for security.

And the number one response to “When Is Your Wife Due?”

1. About five minutes before the afterbirth!