Tree and engineering

Hey! There's our tree! Roll your mouse over the picture to load a slightly different view, which will allow you to get a little wigglevision 3D thing going on. You can see how excellently malformed it is.

Also today, Houston and Katrina started engineering large structures with some wood planks we've got lying around. They got really into it, which makes me proud.

Our Christmas Tree

Two years ago we got a slightly silly tree, because we couldn't find a Very Silly Tree. And last year we got a normal tree.

This year, with enthusiasm, i announce that we got another Silly Tree! It's of the same cloth as the one three years ago; about a foot and a half of trunk left over from some previous year when someone cut their tree, and with branches springing joyously from the chunk of central trunk. I think it's beautiful. Off balance, nearly flat, utterly untrimmed and wild... and it was free. We went to Luurtsema Tree Farm, which is the same place we went three years ago. They have a pretty typical assortment of trees, nothing special, nothing bad. But they have let a whole section of their lot run kind of wild. So there's incredible variety of stunningly awful (or wonderful) trees. Some mostly dead ones, many trunk remnants, bush shaped ones, giant wild trees... Karen and i walked around laughing at them for fifteen minutes before finding the perfect one. "Perfect" being relative, obviously.

I suppose i'll have to refer you to Karen's post for today for pictures, because she took lots and hasn't uploaded them to her computer yet, and i'm irrationally tired right now (after the decorating and picture taking!) so i'm going to bed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I don't have a camera worth taking anywhere (due to the awesomeness of Karen's two cameras, which she takes with us everywhere worth photographing casually), so i present you with "The scariest alien ever" which Houston commissioned me to draw.

We spent the day at Karen's mom's sister's family's house. It was delicious, DELICIOUS. And the company was excellent. Good people, all.

Much more interesting to read about (and experience) is the birth of their first kid!!! So excellent! Congratulations, guys!

HDTV

On February 17th, 2008, broadcasters across the country will switch off their analog broadcasts FOREVER!!! This means our old 19" Sony Trinitron TV will no longer be able to tune into any stations. Weird. If we could travel backwards in time, and take this TV with us, it would be able to pull in signals from the very first broadcasts ever, and now the tuner part of it is totally obsolete.

Right, so everybody will need a digital TV tuner box, which are being sold fairly cheap, and the government will even subsidize your purchase (and send millions of dollars to factories in China also, which is where these DTV boxes are all made) with a $40 coupon. I couldn't believe this, and signed up to get a coupon, and sure enough, it came in the mail. Then i lost it.

My brother in law had an extra tuner box laying around, which he gave us. Yesterday i plugged it in to our nearly obsolete TV, looking forward to having CRYSTAL CLEAR DIGITAL PICTURE etc etc, and... now we get no channels at all. I don't know what is going on, since we live about five miles from all the broadcast towers. But there was nothing. I took comfort in knowing that the TV pictures i wasn't receiving were absolutely stunning, with resplendent colors and vibrant, um, resonance. So today i built an antenna. I'm proud of it, because a) it works, b) it works well, c) it was free, and d) it's utterly hideous. I don't think i've ever built something so ugly.

HEY BURT

Today when Corbyn was over, all three kids started goofing around with him and eventually managed somehow to get him involved in a game of Hey Burt.

You know children's nursery rhymes and the deep political philosophical backgrounds they supposedly have? Like "Humpty Dumpty" has something to do with... i dunno... some king or other. Or "Ring Around the Rosie" has to do with the plague. Well, i think we need to be prepared to accept the possibility that a bunch of kids just kind of self-organized (that's what chaotic systems sometimes do, and if any system is chaotic, it's groups of kids) and came up with these utterly random little ditties.

Because that's what happened with Hey Burt. The kids run around in a tight circle squealing "HEY BURT HEY BURT HEY BURT" and never quit. At least, quitting time isn't predictable or triggered by any observable phenomenon besides Parent Intervention. Admittedly, there's no story or rhyming in this game, but it sure did spring unlooked for from chaotic play.

So our fifteen year old black kid neighbor has been sucked into Hey Burt. Of course, our kids are utterly adorable, and everyone loves them, so who can blame him? Not me.

Also, we had a parent teacher conference today. Turns out Houston is totally brag worthy, academically. And his teacher adores him. But he's a handful sometimes behaviorally. We've come to believe that he's kind of an unstoppable showoff and class clown. Okay, first: it's in the genes. I'm totally a showoff, but never got in much trouble for it because i was so careful to obey grownups. Second: Houston's been doing this since before he could talk. His first trick was to shake his head back and forth to get a laugh. Then it was fall down, and now it's still pretty much falling down, spiced with running into people and possibly pulling them down too. Bless his heart. He'll grow out of it... he has to.

Houston needs a haircut.

Houston has always been strangely shy, when at other times he's outgoing to the point of being wild and obnoxious. I remember being embarrassed to get haircuts because of all the attention i'd get because of it, and the same mechanism must be at work in Houston's mind.

And he isn't much of a salesman, either. He has small tins of caramel popcorn (with peanuts!) to sell for NINE DOLLARS EACH for Cub Scouts. Nine bucks? Oh man.

ILASTRATED: BY

Today Karen was gone all day, with Beth, at Beth's brother's memorial service -- he passed on last week. So i hung out trying to get enough rest. I think i have what Houston had last week, feeling tired and achy.

So while Zane was taking a nap and the other two spent quiet time waiting for the chicken (timer) to ring, i slept. A six year old face resolved from the darkness of my slumber and Houston said "What does 'illustrated' mean?" and i said, "Um, depicted? Demonstrated?... Shown?" but Houston said "Like, on a book." I said "Oh!" and gave him the answer he was looking for, and then he said "What's the word for the other one?" which is of course, "Author".

What impresses me is that he was thinking of the word, and not exactly sure what it meant, but then he wrote it down, without referencing anything else. That's why it's spelled wrong. But check out the colon! He's so smart. Here's the other side of the page, which Katrina illustrated and was the "AFFR" as well, i suppose.

Also, he's started reading Chapter Books. 30 pages last night, fifteen pages during quiet time. And, according to Katrina, she and Houston watched ten movies today. Wow. It must be awesome to have your mom or dad be a little bit ill during a Saturday.

OLD!!!

Today i went to Meijer to buy a watch band, eggs and frozen pizza, and while i was pushing my cart full of watch bands, eggs and frozen pizzas, and overheard a friendly but frumpy looking lady cashier with aggressive sideburns and an ample belly chatting with a customer. "You're twenty seven? You're only one year older than me!" she was saying. She's twenty six? I suffered a moment of vertigo as i did some quick figuring and realized that i am THIRTY six. Fixing to be thirty seven. Fixing to be forty! Incredible. The kind lady looked forty to me, or at least as old as i think i look.

I've never felt more comfortable being my age as i do now. I hope it stays that way.

Good kids.

Here's Zane. He's just so cute. There's times when i look at him with his pouty lips and his gigantic blue eyes, and my heart flutters. It's totally unfair. My favorite recent development in Zane's vocabulary is the word "Almost". -"Hey Zane, are you ready for a nap?" -"Almost." What a good kid.

Katrina wrote and illustrated a book about Broccoli Obama. Well, "wrote"... there's pictures and squiggly lines which Katrina "reads". I guess Broccoli Obama made a house?

Houston announced today that he can add twenty plus twenty plus three plus three. He figured it out "in the bathroom" at school. What a brain in that one.

ZUMBA!

I've mentioned ZUMBA! (which is, i guess, capitalized and exclamation pointed like that, just like "iPod" is written just like that) before, but never really explained it. Here's what's up. If the girls at work danced like we have to dance at ZUMBA!, i would tell them in my official "obey me now" tone: "NO BOOTY DANCING." If the boys at work danced like that, i would tell them to stop because it would be highly disturbing. This video was my introduction to, um, the hottest aerobic/dance craze sweeping the world, which features a girl wearing the most bizarre outfit -- she's wearing a bra and a... t-shirt cut off right below the arms? Like... huh?

So anyway, i really like ZUMBA!. We dance these energetic Latin-inspired moves to fairly loud dance music; the kind of music i would be listening to anyway. There's many moves i'm not extraordinarily good at, like the hip swings, the booty shakes, and the pelvic thrusts. But i'm learning (i never thought i'd say this) to shake my booty. The class is usually large, with perhaps forty people there, and i'm always one of two (or less) dudes. There was once a guy who was a spastic dancer, and not cool-spastic. And there is another guy who goes frequently, and i have no idea if he's any good, because he's always in the last row. Not that i'm any good -- the footwork is repetitive but complex, so by the time i get the hang of it and start working on what the heck my hands are supposed to be doing, we've moved on to the next step pattern. And you're supposed to pop your hip with your butt way out, with the leg on that side straight. I can not get the hang of that.

Right. Last time when we left, a friend of a friend was waiting for his wife, and so of course i said he should try the class out. He said he didn't have the balls to go in there and dance like that, so i pointed out that it's quite firmly established that balls are not a prerequisite. He agreed that i was very outnumbered... and i almost almost said that in another sense, i've got the rest of the class outnumbered... but i really don't know him that well. So... why i think i know the whole Internet well enough to share that comment?

The problem with techno music:

1. People with normal brain chemistry find it grating and anxiety producing, instead of uplifting and energizing.
   
2. I don't know what my favorite songs are named, so i can't find them to listen to them.

I fixed our laptop!

Assuming that the power plug in the laptop itself had ripped away from the laptop motherboard, which is what usually happens when laptops refuse to let themselves be powered up or charged, i disassembled the laptop completely. I used to say laptops aren't fixable, because they're all so idiosyncratically designed.. Desktops are the opposite -- any motherboard made for a desktop PC in the last five years will fit into any other desktop PC case. I wish they made cars like that. In fact, i've wondered if that's on the horizon -- standardized mountings across manufacturers for engines, suspensions, transmissions etc. With the Big Three US car makers scrambling to avoid bankruptcy, it would make sense for them to cooperate and reduce costs by coming up with reasonable standards. It could work -- most major scooter brands, and ALL Chinese made scooters use one of two main engine styles.

Um, anyway, my confidence in overhauling laptops is much greater now, so i took the laptop apart without mislaying any screws. This is because i am a genius and stick the screws right next to their holes with blobs of poster putty. But the power connector was fine. So i put some plumber's putty (two part epoxy putty which is like modeling clay once you mix the two parts, except it gets hot and then hardens) to reinforce the vulnerable bits of the laptop, and put it back together. But i forgot to put the speakers in, so i had to take it apart again.

So what was broken? The plug which plugs into the laptop. So i cut it off and soldered a new one. Then i used more plumber's putty to make a nifty little protector thing for the plug, which i then colored black with a permanent marker. So now the laptop works.

That's mostly what i did today, besides sleeping or working or playing with the kids or talking to Karen. Not enough playing with the kids and talking to Karen, i'm afraid.

A Day In My Life!

Here's my first quadrennial post of approximately one picture per hour, all day long! The previous three years have all been boring old annual picture day posts. SO BORING! Please disregard the previous two sentences and the previous sentence fragment -- they're nonsense.

This first picture is me "driving" to work, by which i mean i drive around the building ten minutes after i wake up, having recovered from my bleary state of just having been hauled from the depths of unconsciousness by the gentle beeping of my little old Palm Pilot. Sleeping on the floor at work is actually kind of pleasant. The hard floor keeps me less deeply asleep, so i get to remember many, many more dreams. This rocks. Also rocking is the fact that my commute takes 20 seconds instead of sixty times that long.
___more___

Oops again...

AAARRRRRGGGHHHH I'm still awake!!!!!!!

However, please view this little thumbnail of my creature being turned, step by step, into a centipede. Did you know that Japanese kids often keep house centipedes at pets? WHY??? They are magnificent escape artists, are too small to be "petted", and... they're scary! And they have a slightly painful bite! Japanese people are weird.

Oh snap.

I accidentally stayed up until 3:25am, so far. This is why i should not play computer games. Of course, this one is really good. I shall resist, and go to bed now.

Mmm, fried food.

Karen let me sleep in this morning, which one would expect to leave me feeling refreshed and awake. But instead, i played with the kids, fiddled about on the internet, discovered Milkdrop, which is a music visualization thingie which comes with the latest versions of Winamp. Then, i took a nap. Crazy.

But then for supper, i made fish'n'chips style fish. I've made lots of different styles of fried fish, and have seen every recipe mess up in some way, except for the one made with meringue. You whip up some egg whites and then add the flour, salt, and beer (or whatever -- no beer in our house), fold it together, and poof! fluffy delicious batter which actually sticks to the fish! It also makes amazing onion rings. Kind of oily, though.

Oh, more cooking adventures: i'm going to make a pie for tomorrow. Butter crust is my favorite, so i went to make it. But the dishes needed doing, and the hot spigot decided to freak out and start breaking. So i had to fix that temporarily, which involves shutting off the hot water to the whole house, and therefore couldn't wait. By the time i got that done, it was 1:30am, and poof, we have no butter. So, i chopped apples, and i'll make the crust tomorrow.

Stuff isn't as cool as it used to be.

Awwwww! Look at how cute we were! That was from a series of pictures that my roomie Tony (he comments here as "bread") took of us while we were in college. We were, what, 21? 22? We developed and printed the pictures ourselves. From the same era: Juanito as a teen idol. Karen had that picture hanging up in her dorm, and people would say "Woo hoo! Sexy!!!" and i would probably always blush and stammer, shuffling uncomfortably. I'm much more in touch with my sexy side since... i dunno.

Back when i was in school (grade, middle, high and college) there were always the Cool Kids. The kids who had little things which were really cool. Like... the way Jeff Barkman threw a football. Or Benji Hocking's Ray-Bans. I'm talking about the kids who can blow huge bubbles, or own a Schwinn Sting-Ray, or a Commedore 64 computer, or a convertible Mustang. I used to really want to be like that. Recently i was pondering those days, and realized that it's been years, perhaps more than a dozen of them, since i thought anyone was cool like that. What's up with that? I still think people are cool, and i still have my favorite people and stuff. But nobody's coolness grips me in the way it used to. I suppose i simply grew up. I'm happy with who i am, and what i've got.

Oh yeah, and if you're using Firefox with the FoxyTunes extension, this link here might make the little gray box overlaid on the lower left area of the browser will make a music player slide out, which will play the latest album by one of my favorite musicians. Mmmm, Ott.

YAAAAAAY!!!!

Okay, nothing to say right now, because Obama is about to give his victory speech, and i want to watch it. Also, i have a lot of respect for McCain, based on his concession speech. He was gracious, honorable, respectful. And he shushed the people who reflexively booed when Obama was mentioned. I wish McCain had showed this side of himself instead of the angry fear monger side that Republican campaign tradition demanded him to show. He might even have... won...? Except probably not with the economy and the astonishingly unpopular current Republican administration... yeah, our country would have certainly benefited from a McCain presidency, but preferably back in 2000 and 2004. Did you guys hear what Bush's campaign did to McCain in the Republican primaries? McCain got royally screwed.

So anyway, Obama speaks soon, and i'm giddy with excitement. President Barack Hussein Obama. Our First Black President. Awesome.

Oh, and now weed is legal for medicinal uses. So i'm in the clear. Because i don't have any.

Two things

First, Zumba is so much fun. We went today, for the second time, and it was way more crowded, and i wasn't the only guy! There was one other male in the room, a skinny, spastic looking dork (sorry for being so uncharitable) who (my honed senses detected) seemed to be there mostly to watch girls shake their booties. Except he spent some of the workout uncomfortably close behind me, and my shaking booty probably doesn't have the same appeal... so maybe i've been working at Crossroads too long.

Other thing, election tomorrow. Nervous.

Yesterday and today

There's one of the halls at Wedgwood where i work. That hall is witness to enough swearing every day to make us want to check its ID to see if it's old enough to witness R rated stuff. We can't figure out which part of it to ask. And how boring would that ID picture be? Usually there's somebody standing in front of the wall.

Anyway, we took really cute family pictures yesterday. Beth is an excellent and cordial photographer, and Karen and i are good looking parents of good looking kids. And we're incredibly humble.

Today we went on a DATE! We go on so few dates that every one deserves mention. We did the old standby date of teenagers everywhere; dinner and a movie. But it was awesome.

And to sum up, there's tomorrow and then the next day is The Election. I have a lot of anxiety about this. This is really odd, since i never worry about anything. If it was up to me, we'd leave our house and cars unlocked, the kids wouldn't always always always need to be in car seats (seat belts? yes of course) and stuff. I'm okay with plane rides. And i'm not worried about bridges collapsing under me, or tornadoes or bird flu. However, this election has me... WORRIED!!! Weird. So i'm constantly trying to distract myself with... oh, who'm i kidding? I'm checking RSS feeds on all the news sites and tracking polls. Tuesday night i'll be able to get back to normal procrastinating.