By Megan Hansen

mhansen@marinij.com @HansenMegan on Twitter

Stephanie and Thiemo Blank of Mill Valley hold their newborn daughter Lucia Marlene at Marin General Hospital on Friday. Lucia was the first baby born in Marin in 2015. (Alan Dep Marin Independent Journal)

Zen priests Stephanie and Thiemo Blank of Mill Valley were a bit anxious about their baby daughter still being in the womb past her due date, but little did they know she was simply waiting to make her appearance on New Year's Day.

Lucia Marlene Blank was born at 3:15 a.m. Jan. 1 at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, making her the first baby to be born in Marin County in 2015. The healthy baby girl weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces.

Stephanie Blank, 37, said she was only in labor for seven hours before Lucia arrived, a vast difference from her first child's birth, but that both births had their fair share of difficulties.

"She came so fast it was a challenge to keep up with the progression of labor for me," Stephanie Blank said. "After she was born I went into surgery for three hours because they had to repair a tear."

With her first birth to son Miro, who is now 19-months-old, the process was even more complicated than dealing with excess bleeding. He was born early, weighing only 4 pounds, 14 ounces, and had to be delivered via cesarean.

Stephanie Blank said she wasn't even able to hold her son for the first 24 hours after his birth, so being able to immediately hold Lucia was gratifying.

"I was just so happy to be able to have a natural birth following the cesarean of my first child," she said.

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Marin's first baby of 2015 born to Zen priests from Mill Valley

Company seeks votes to publish bishojo visual novel; Juri Misaki, ZEN celebrate new Clannad anthology manga

Sekai Project posted Winged Cloud's visual novel Sakura Angels on Steam Greenlight on Thursday. Under the Steam Greenlight program, developers advertise their game or software, and community support decides which titles will be selected for distribution.

Sekai Project describes the story:

Winged Cloud also developed Sakura Spirit, which MangaGamer licensed for release in North America.

Sekai Project previously released NEKOPARA Vol. 1 and the first episode of Spice and Wolf author Isuna Hasekura's visual novel World End Economica after they were greenlit on Steam. Sekai Project also has Greenlights for WAS -The Hourglass of Lepidoptera-, , Koenchu! -The Tale of the Voice Actress-, Narcissu 1st & 2nd, and the MikuMiku Dance software.

Sekai Project reached its stretch goal to fund an all-new Clannad anthology manga on Wednesday. To celebrate the milestone, Clannad manga artist Juri Misaki and illustrator ZEN drew the following comments:

Sekai Project reached its stretch goal to fund an all-new Clannad anthology manga on Wednesday. To celebrate the milestone, Clannad manga artist Juri Misaki and illustrator ZEN drew the following comments:

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Sekai Project Puts Sakura Angels on Steam Greenlight

You suck at multitasking. Don't take it personally everyone does. According to a 2009 Stanford study, chronic multitaskers can't concentrate, have bad memories, and are terrible at switching from one task to another. And you don't look more efficient to your boss and coworkers, you just look unfocused, overcommitted and generally not in control.

We don't want to destroy one of the workplace's most cherished myths without offering you a better solution, so we've rounded up some distraction-free apps as well as tips for resisting the seductions of the software you're currently using. The result is a more mindful, methodical way of working and a calmer, more focused you.

OmmWriter: distraction-free writing

Distraction has long been a bane to writers, but it has become a particular nuisance since writing machines started coming with Internet access. If you're looking for a full screen, distraction-free writing app, you're in luck there are several on the market. But our favorite program is OmmWriter (Windows, Mac OS X, iPad), a simple program that does an excellent job of creating a Zen-like environment.

OmmWriter is a full-screen writing app with a minimalist interface that fades away as you type. The program comes with eight muted backgrounds, seven ambient-sound audio tracks, and seven keystroke sounds to inspire your writing. It also offers some basic text formatting, such as bold, italic, and underline, and three saving options: .omm, .txt, and .pdf. According to the creators, it's not meant to replace your existing word processor, just to help you write in a distraction-free environment. Too many options, they believe, are a distraction. So think of OmmWriter as a place to get your ideas down on paper, not as a place to format your next e-newsletter.

OmmWriter is donorware with a minimum required donation of $4.11,--a small price to pay for peace of mind and a productivity boost. But if you'd rather not spend the money, CreaWriter (Windows) is a free alternative that's similar in style and functionality.

SelfControl: email and website blocking

If you frequently find yourself refreshing your inbox to avoid doing actual work, consider SelfControl.It's a free, open source app and Web blocker for people who can't get by on willpower alone. The app is customizable and can be used to block access to email (incoming/outgoing servers), Websites, and apps that access the Web. You just add them to your blacklist, set the duration of the block, and start the timer.

Once SelfControl is started, it's basically impossible to disable. Restarting your machine won't help, nor will uninstalling the program. Until the timer runs out, you will be unable to access those apps and sites.

SelfControl is currently only available for Mac OS X users, but Windows users can download similar programs such as SelfRestraint (Windows, Linux) and Cold Turkey (Windows). Both are free, open source apps that work on the same principle as SelfControl--once started, there's no disabling them, not even if toss your computer out the window.

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The Zen productivity guide: tools and tips for distraction-free work