She's a Person, Not a Number!!

Grace, now 25 days old, received her first official mail a few days ago from the Social Security Administration. (sure she's received plenty of mail from loving family members who have sent wonderful gifts - but we are talking about the govt here people!) Already, at the mere age of 25 days, Grace has been reduced from a person to a number. I'm certain the IRS can't wait for her first tax return to get a portion of her self worth as well.

It got me thinking, what's in that number. I have known through my experience in the military that SSN's were assigned regionally and that you could guess fairly accurately where someone was from by the fist three digits of their number. I set out to find just how true this was and determine the method to that madness. I combed the SSA.gov web page, and got a lot of good info from a few pages perporting to be able to find your runaway lover via a SSN search. As it happens, there's quite the rigorous process to assigning a social security number. I've chosen links from both official and unofficial sources which I think are the best information I've found. Feel free to puruze the information for your own edification.

The SS Admin has official info - but poor formatting: http://www.ssa.gov/employer/stateweb.htm

As this location is trying to sell things, I feel the information is less reputable, but it looks a lot better than what the govt threw down on their web page: http://www.usrecordsearch.com/ssn.htm

In case you were wondering Grace will forever be marked as a Washington native, if not by anything else other than the number the government has permanently assigned her.

There Really are Good People in this World

...and I know this because of three recent incidents.

The first such incident goes back as far as our recent trip to New Orleans. On our last day in the city Sarah lost her drivers license, credit card, hotel key, and military ID which she had

stored separately in as small sleeve. The fun part was getting Sarah onto an airplane with no photo identification. The rest, canceling credit cards and contacting govt agencies to receive replacement identification, wasn't a whole lot of fun. About a month after our trip to NOLA, Sarah received a FedEx package from the Bourbon Orleans Hotel, whose contents included the protective sleeve and all of her lost credentials. While in NOLA, we did not stay at the Bourbon Orleans hotel, nor did we correspond with them previously in any way. It is my belief that a good samaritan found Sarah's ID's, turned them into the hotel where they were staying, then a good samaritan employee used the hotel's FedEx account to mail us home the items. As far as I can tell, the only person in this entire chain of events who benefitted financially is FedEx. And yet, even though none of the individuals profited from the event, they went to fairly great lengths to return to us our lost items. Thank you everyone who helped return our lost ID's, as even though we do not profit from these events (everything had already been replaced), we do get

enormous peace of mind knowing not only that our identification isn't being used for malicious purposes, but also that there really are good people out there in this world.

The second incident was me, after being quite moved by the return of Sarah's ID's, repaying my Karmic debt to the universe. One rainy Saturday morning, I went on a training run at Point Defiance park along the muddy trails with one of my neighbors, Dave. After a gloriously muddy run, we were driving home and saw an elderly gentleman on the side of the road fruitlessly attempting to change a flat tire. Normally I don't stop to help people on the side of the road - because, who knows, maybe it's the next Dahmer trying to ensnare you in their trap - but today was different. Not only did I have my Karmic debt, but I had Dave, he would protect me if something went down. Not to mention we were already wet and muddy from the run, so getting a little more rain on our back was no big deal. I'm sure the gentleman may have been a bit scared of us at first, two mud-soaked hooligans coming to see if the needed "help." In the end, our good deed for the day was done and the man continued on his way to buy a new tire and we returned home feeling like good citizens.

Finally, on a grander scale, hundreds, if not thousands of people band together every day to engage in an activity where no one profits, even though everyone must put in some effort for the group at large to come out better. I'm speaking of Geocaching. If you are unfamiliar with the sport, to summarize, recreational GPS users "hide" small containers all around where we live, work, and play, mark the location using their GPS, and then upload that information to a centralized web database and essentially challenge other GPS users to find these "stashes." It's actually an enormous amount of fun and great for the entire family. It requires planning, use of multiple resources, and problem solving - not to mention essentially going on a treasure hunt almost anywhere in the world. Check our the web page for more information. www.geocaching.com

Two years ago for X-mas, I gave my father a "trackable" travel bug. See Michelin Man's photo above. The tag has a code on the bottom which can be input by geocachers to log on the database their discovery of the tag. The tag is designed to me mobile, travel to different geocaches, and have a goal. My father decided that the goal of Michelin Man was to travel from FL (where my parents live) to Point Defiance Park - near where I live. Over the past 2 years, with the help of almost 20 people, by route of just 4 states, and 12 different geocaches, Michelin Man traveled 3042.4 miles and was returned safely into my custody. My faith in the good of society is reaffirmed every time we go out geocaching, for not only the 20 people directly involved with MM's travels, but the thousands and thousands of fans of the activity which make is so popular and successful have all contributed their selfless time and effort to maintain a network which is free to everyone.

If not already a geocacher yourself, take a few minutes to locate the nearest cache to your house, and then see if you can go out and find it. It's how I started and I've been a recreational cacher ever since. Sarah and I will cache on vacation, or business trips, or make a lazy afternoon of bar crawling with geocaches between each bar we visit. We like to call it geocrawling. No matter how you do it, I think you'll find it as much fun as we do.

Visit the log of Michelin Man's travel's and look at a map of where he's been...

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?tracker=ec024j

The Becoming of a Father

I have to admit, I was a little worried about Scott and how he'd adapt to being a dad before Grace was born. I'll never forget his reaction when I told him we needed to convert the one other upstairs bedroom into a nursery. "The baby doesn't need a nursery, the baby can sleep in our room for a short time at the beginning then it can move downstairs into a bedroom in the basement." I also remember his reaction when he first took a look at my conservative baby registry. "We don't need half this stuff," he exclaimed. He thought the mirror you attach to the backseat so you can see your baby in the rearview mirror was completely ridiculous. Or his reaction when I suggested we buy an "overpriced" B.O.B. jogging stroller. "You can't be serious," he said. However, with the birth of our baby Grace, everything changed.

Scott has embraced his role as a new father and has insisted on using everything he initially thought was so unwarranted. In fact, the first thing he said on our way home from the hospital was, "we need to get that backseat mirror out of the garage as soon as we get home, I can't see Grace!!" He even took the stroller out for a test spin without the baby. His ability to soothe Grace when I can't and am getting frustrated and discouraged is amazing. To say the least, Scott is a natural at being a dad. He's patient, caring, and very supportive of his exhausted wife. Scott celebrated his first fathers day this past weekend and deserves a "best daddy" ribbon if you ask me. Happy Father's Day.

The picture to the left is of him and Grace in a sling that was made for me and my body measurements. He insisted on wearing it himself and holding the baby on a walk last week. I might have to make him one of his own.

Grace is doing well at the 3 week mark. She's become much more alert and awake, however with that has become a bit more fussy. We had our first vomiting episode yesterday morning and was aghast at how much a little baby could throw up. As a first time mom I question if I'm doing anything right, although with the reassurance of my husband and many fellow moms, I'm told all that Grace is doing is normal and to be expected. I can't thank everyone enough. In between her stubborn episodes Scott and I relish the moments when Grace is just falling asleep as we watch her adorable facial expressions. From smiles, to sticking her tongue out, to raising her eyebrows and puckering her lips. We constantly find ourselves unable to take our eyes off her.

Grace had her first official photo shoot last week. Please click on the link below to see the photos. Can't wait to share more of our stories as we continue to embark on this adventure of parenthood.

http://picasaweb.google.com/scott.templin/GraceSPhotoShoot#

A Templin is Born

Grace Adele Templin

Born: 30 May 2010, 12:18pm

Weight: 7 lbs 4 oz

Lenght: 19 in

We are proud to welcome Grace Adele Templin into our life. She is beautiful and we love her more than I could imagine was ever possible. As new parents we are learning quickly and settling into our new roles as caretakers.

Grace represents many first for our family. She is most obviously our first child. She is also the first grandchild for both Sarah's and my parents. She is the first, first born female Templin in at least 5 generations - and one of only two female Templins in the last three.

Sleep is intermittent, but the waking moments are ones of pure joy just to be with such a wonderful bundle of loving, cooing, (and often pooing) baby. We can't wait to tell you more about here and her journey into this world. For now, we will leave you with photos and try to get more rest.

http://picasaweb.google.com/scott.templin/GraceAdeleTemplinHospitalToHome#