4 days in a hotel room with an infant

JD had her Bradley natural childbirth teacher training last week in Atlanta. I was able to go along to be Calvin's babysitter.

Here's a breakdown...
Wednesday:
With enough food and toys to keep anything happy for a month, we leave Huntsville late in the morning. After debating routes with the 2 granddads, I decided on the "northern approach" to Atlanta (very scenic mountain driving on both 2 lane road and divided highway). Thanks to our stopping a couple of times (including a full meal a Zaxbys), we didn't get to Atlanta's loop until 4pm EDT. :( Going 20 miles on I-285 under these circumstances was quite less than desirable and much worse than what I ever experienced on the roads in DFW. Met up with Goober Pea and his "roommate," Lanay (definitely misspelled). They took us out to eat at a Mediterranean restaurant. We arrive and the host says, "table or floor?" The place was divided into 2 rooms...one like a typical restaurant and the other heavily decorated with pillows along the walls and short tables. Despite the horrible worst case scenarios with Calvin roaming and destroying stuff, we chose to sit on the floor. In hindsight, I fully agree that the other side with highchairs would have been better. :) BUT, the best part was that there was a "booby dancer" that came into the room every now and then. Calvin was VERY interested in her. He stared and danced. The lil guy even started to do this side-to-side wiggling move that he had never done before, but wasn't unlike the gyrations of our dancer. The food was really good and we were quite regretful that the hotel room didn't have a microwave and fridge so we could take leftovers.

Thursday:
JD's classes for the next few days are from 8am-10pm with breaks for lunch and dinner. That leaves just Calvin and myself. Thankfully, after lunch at Steak n Shake and a trip to Target, Calvin was wiped out and took a good 3 hour nap when we got to the hotel room. Those 3 hours were so hard! I couldn't leave the hotel room and he's never been one to sleep in a stroller, so I had to keep myself quietly entertained in mostly dark conditions. Praise Allah that I brought the VCR and a collection of TLC/History Channel videos along with Calvin's cartoon/Sesame Street videos.

Friday:
Pretty much just like Thursday except Calvin and I spent a few hours at the mall next to the hotel.

Saturday:
Calvin slept until I woke him up at 11:25am. He has never slept that late before and I really didn't want to wake him but we had a playdate w/ Mike and Lanay at Atlanta's botanical garden. It is on the smaller side but is very nice. They've got room to grow and really should expand. There is a fantastic childrens garden and you really do see a lot of variety. What this garden lacks that most have are those sections that seem to be the landscape architect's Versailles dreams. I've never been that big of a fan of that style, so I didn't miss it.

Afterwards we ate Cuban. Calvin fell asleep on the way back to the hotel and stayed that way for a few hours.

Sunday:
JD's classes finished up at 5pm. We decided to check out of the hotel and head over to Goober Pea's for dinner. It took a while to be ready, but the Mexican chicken dish was good. Calvin was changed into his new Batman pjs and we left taking the previously rejected "southern strategy" on the route between H'ville and Atlanta. Since we couldn't have a nighttime scenic drive, the more scenically mundane route that included several bisections of towns (thank goodness they blink yellow at night) was more ideal for keeping me awake and us alive.

American Coupling

After 2 weeks of episodes, here is my opinion:

It sucks.

The only thing as good (maybe even a smidge better) than the original BBC is the actress that plays Jane. She has completely sold me that she is Jane. I also find her beauty and sexuality more convincing than the original (something about her pixie-like appearance seems more "Jane" to me). There is more of a coquette aspect about her manner that is in Jane's lines but not as "in-front" as the American actress portrays her role.

I think the best thing that could be said about American Coupling is that it offers you a great opportunity to study the differences in acting and direction. The episodes are nearly identical scripts. You hear the same lines coming out of the mouths of 2 sets of actors. In the case of Coupling, it is a telling contrast.