jumpin joey

the punting on saturday was brilliant as expected except for the sporadic showers and unremitting complaints from eric. every 5 minutes he kept requesting for one of us to take over. saturday reminded me what a whimp eric really is. na, just pulling his legs. he was a genuine star. he laboured for more than 90% of the time, avidly giving us a commentary on cambridge colleges and their history. that pole they use to punt, it weighs about 10 kgs. i couldn't accept as true a skinny african [mauritian] toiling with the punt for over 2 hours !! i promise you, he has a career in punting when he graduates with his m.phil. [here] are some photos from our punting session on saturday.

took monica to [rosie maternity hospital] for her first scan today !! woo hoo !! we had a 9:00am rendezvous. she was asked to come in with a full bladder since the scans look vivid on the monitor. so, monica woke up at 5:00 am, drained her bladder, had 3 glasses of water and promptly went back to sleep. at rosie, the lady called us in and a gel [that has silver chloride to facilitate access] was applied to monica's abdomen. pulsed ultrasound, because of it's high frequency can be aimed in a specific direction and it obeys the normal laws of geometric optics with regard to reflection, transmission and refraction. monica asked me if they are like x-rays. i was able to her that no, these transducers use high frequency pulses less than 7 megahertz. x-rays are on the other side of the spectrum, after UV rays but before gamma. i have read about these scanners before.

forgeting that hogwash, we saw this tiny baby on the monitor and i assure you words simply won't do any justice if i am to express the bliss i & monica experienced that fraction of a moment. monica even cried instantaneously, jubilant tears i promise you. the baby provisionally is nicknamed jumping joey. when ever the lady pressed the transducer on to monica's abdomen, the baby hopped. we could catch sight of the umbilical cord, the face [including a pronounced nose], the legs and even the pulsating heart !! i am not sure if the baby is a boy. the hopping seems to persuade me that it has to be a boy, but at the same time the jumping could mean the baby is very ticklish .. more like monica. hmm ..

the lady measured the length and she concludes the baby is about 12 weeks old. you should be able to catch a glimpse of the scans here [1, 2]. later in the afternoon, when i was busy optimising my diffie hellman key exchange mechanism, monica said she wants to see the baby again. i didn’t realise she was *not* joking until she asked me "how much" one those ultrasound devices would cost ? oh boy !! well, i had to confess to her that they are quiet inexpensive and probably set us back by no more than 3 or 4 million pounds. since i am laden with easy money, i told her that i am going to the toilet to withdraw 4 million pounds straight out of my "you know what". kwazy woman !