First Video Status Update!

As promised in my last post introducing baby Caleb, here is an update on where things are at on this blog and my YouTube channel and my plans for the next few months - especially given my new nighttime schedule!

And for those of you that would rather read than watch, here's the summary:

• I have cast both showmatches, Ethereal511's 2v2 submission, and all 10 games played in Season 6 of the Blizzard 1v1 Ladder (2012 Season 1). (Special blog note: I do plan on doing blog posts for each of these. If you can't wait, check out the YouTube channel - otherwise, be assured they will trickle in!)
• I have also cast all 4 games from Season 7 and my single game from Season 8. These games haven't been produced/encoded yet, but I hope to upload them in the next week.
• For the next 4-6 weeks, I'll be playing SC2 with baby Caleb in the very early morning with only the mouse - and will be trying 1v1 in addition to 4v4!
• I might do some videos of a game I just bought with the kids - X-COM Enemy Unknown!
• After Caleb starts sleeping longer and I get time in the evening to cast, I still hope to cast all of the games played by the Colorado School of Mines in Season 5 of the Collegiate StarLeague (CSL). (I'll actually cast less than the 66 mentioned in the video - not all the replays were available.)
• Season 6 of the CSL will start in November, but it's not clear yet what opportunities community casters like me will have... now that they have a big, international sponsor!

Well, it's past my bedtime - see you guys in the next blog post!

New Baby Boy!

Yes, as you might have guessed, I have someone new to the StarCraft scene to introduce to you!

Please give a warm welcome to my new son Caleb! He was born on Saturday, September 29, 2012 at 1:33pm! He weighed 8 pounds and 5 ounces and was 21 inches long!

[Sept 29] Baby Caleb warming up under a heat lamp thingy after getting cleaned up.

The delivery went very well, and he and his mom are doing great - we've been home since Sunday and are settling into our newborn baby lifestyle!

[Sept 30] A very proud StarCraft dad with his new baby boy. Caleb and I got to show our Zerg pride the evening after his birth and the next day. I got lots of smiles from the maternity staff - guessing it was due to my beaming grin rather than my choice of t-shirt :)

When my first son, Isaac, was born, I brought a netbook which somehow happened to have the StarCraft 1 BattleChest installed - I have no idea how that happened... ;-) So we actually played our first StarCraft game together at the hospital (I picked random race and got Zerg!).

This time, I didn't have a netbook, but I did have an iPhone! So I found a StarCraft 2 memory game in the iOS AppStore, and Caleb and I played a bit of that and read about some Zerg build orders on TeamLiquid.net. (We also played some Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies which I bought while at the hospital.)

[Sept 30] Yes, I know Anakin's creepy later on - but in Episode I, he was a cute, innocent kid.

Caleb also got his first Star Wars action figure at the hospital, just like his older brother - who got a Luke Skywalker in Endor camouflage!

Admittedly, for Isaac, it was hopeful thinking on my part as we didn't know whether he was going to be a boy or girl - so it was different this time knowing that a boy would be coming.

And yes, I know there are cooler Star Wars characters than kid padawan Anakin - but I had already decided to give Isaac Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi for his upcoming birthday (I forgot to get him an action figure on his 1st birthday!) - and thought little Anakin was a good fit for the occasion.

[Sept 30] Isn't this adorable? He's my little guy! (I'm referring to the baby, not the space marine - although he's kinda cute too.)

Of course, no newborn photo-taking would be complete without some StarCraft product placement ;-) That's a StarCraft 2 space marine bottle cap figurine I got from the BlizzCon 2011 online sale. I thought about bringing my Hydralisk figurine, but felt it was too scary-looking for a baby boy - I hadn't taken a good look at it until now. A space marine seemed more appropriate! But don't worry - I will still be playing Zerg on the online ladder with Caleb!

As you might suspect, we have a lot more uber-cute pictures of baby Caleb - but I'll save those for the family blog :)

For those of you dying for more StarCraft on this blog, I will be posting an update about the state of this blog and the channel soon - where it's going and what's coming up.

I do have a new night life now (I have the graveyard shift, so lots of late night time with Caleb), so it'll be interesting to see what content I can produce with him on the blog and channel!

(And yes, for those of you long-time blog readers, this is the first time I've shown my face on this blog - it was such a nice photo and a special father-son event, I couldn't resist!)

He's Almost Here!

Well, this is it! After 39 weeks of waiting, our baby boy is almost here!

We've been busy getting his room and our home ready for his arrival, packing our bags and gearing ourselves up for the sleepless nights - and waiting.

These last two weeks have been a lot of anxious waiting as my first son came super fast at 39 weeks (total labor was just over 2 hours - and our hospital is a 45-minute drive away!) - so I was half-expecting things to start moving at any moment!

But it looks like this little guy is taking his time! So instead of speeding down the interstate at midnight (like we did for my first son), we're staying overnight in a nearby hotel - much to my wife's relief!

I may even get to blog some tonight ;-)

Here's a little montage of his latest ultrasound pictures, from when we found out he was a boy to the last ultrasound we did 2 weeks ago. It can be hard to see him - especially in the later ones, he was running out of space in there!

19 Weeks: He's a boy! (the profile of his head is on the left)

25 Weeks (his face is on the right, laying down, looking at us - I think this is his best ultrasound picture!)

29 Weeks (his face is on the right, on his back looking up)

33 Weeks (arrows point to his nose and lips - he's looking straight at us, his eyes in the shadows)

37 Weeks (on his back looking up, his lips on the left - he's nestled in there pretty tight!)

I'm super-excited to meet him face-to-face and look forward to spending lots of time with him - and of course, playing some mouse-only 4v4 with him on the Blizzard ladder in the middle of the night!

His big brother and I got into Silver League in about a month (almost 2 years ago!), and I've not played any 4v4 since then, so I get to start from scratch and play all 5 qualifier games again with this little guy!

Ok, time to get rolling, say goodbye to my co-workers, and start my long, sleepless weekend!