Ramblings of a man on paternity leave @ iBanjo

Ramblings of a man on paternity leave

This entry was posted by Ben Collins-Sussman on Sunday, 26 October, 2008 at

[cue Doogie Howser theme music]

Dear diary,

Google is probably one of the only companies in the U.S. that gives an actual paid paternity leave (7 weeks!)… why, it’s almost as civilized as living in Europe. It not only gives us a chance to bond with babies, but try to reset our lives as we walk around in a sleepless stupor. Highlights of my downtime so far:

When mommies and babies are sleeping, it’s still possible to practice the banjo with the magic of Mike’s Mute, the mostly highly rated of mutes on all of Banjo Hangout (where the cool kids are!). The photos don’t do it justice. It just clamps onto the bridge and makes your banjo as quiet as an unplugged electric guitar… yet it still sounds like a banjo!
Did you know that the bottom of a newborn baby’s foot, being completely unused, looks exactly like the bottom of a hand? Delicate little lines everywhere — the same ones palm readers look for. It’s amazing to think that those features are hiding under the thick dead layer of smoothness on the bottom of adult feet. In that same vein, did you know that when a newborn straightens out his arm, all one can see is a single puffy tube of flesh? There is no visible elbow, no indication of how or where the arm bends… thus proving my scratchy elbows are a product of nurture, not nature.
As the temperatures drop into the 40’s in Chicago, our pantry is overflowing from potatoes delivered by our local community supported farm. It’s time again to dig into my favorite recipe for potato leek cheese soup. Seriously: just boil some potatoes and leeks, add cream cheese, and you’re in heaven. Blending with a stick blender is strictly optional; I can’t get enough of the stuff. Go make this soup right now.

Back to the diapers.

Category: Banjo, Family
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Karl Fogel

October 27, 2008 at 3:31 am

Oh the domesticity, oh the humanity!

matt

November 21, 2008 at 8:51 pm

If you render bacon instead of using oil for the soup and then blend the soup thorougly (i go so far as to puree in a full size blender), you will be rewarded with extra goodness.

Bacon + potatoes + leeks = heaven.

BSage

November 25, 2008 at 6:38 pm

matt wrote: “If you render bacon instead of using oil for the soup…”

Oh, Eff is gonna love that idea… 😉

Mike Stidd

August 20, 2009 at 4:08 pm

Thanks for the flattering words about Mike’s Banjo Mute. I was refered to this site by a customer who read your comments and purchased one of my mutes, a guy form Norway, small world.

Mike