Day: April 28, 2004

Today’s todo list:

finances – didn’t touch them

pay hosting bill – didn’t do that either

work on a personal website that got 650 spontaneous hits sunday – didn’t touch it

submit my resume to several job possibilities – didn’t do that either

put all local web developers contact info into ACT – nope

Buy a paper – I did that!

I shouldn’t, but I’m going to bed.

These so totally rock! Emotions 2 gallery from http://www.worth1000.com/galleries.asp Thanks Dean and Jeni!

A personal favorite – Eden

Handcuffs very good

Bleeding rose exceptional!

Thinking of loved one – very touching when I first saw this my thoughts drifted to Cathy and I trying to name our baby.

Ran and got the two propane tanks refilled (that’s the empty one from the grill and the empty reserve tank for when the one on the grill gets empty). Also checked with the tech at Cingular on a strange issue with my phone. I want to Internet research the problem before swapping the phone. Basically, the Motorola v400 I have will occasionally ring but the ring tone will be broken (silent pauses). When this happens I am unable to accept the call. I reproduced it from the house once and strangely enough while the cell phone continued to ring, the caller (the home line) entered voicemail. I’m hoping its a software issue and that a flash of the firmware resolves it.

Returned home and cooked some tasty hamburgers. Thanks to the wife for the good pattying. I timed the cooking by juggling torches. When the torches burned out, it was time to flip the burgers. And better exercise than lifting the 12 ounces of beer timer!

After eatting I rushed Noah to soccer practice and reminded him “no wrestling and no hanging on the goal posts” so as I approach the field I see him wrestling, later, the soft spoken Noah who I frequently have to command “speak up” is shouting “I wasn’t trying to kick you in the nuts!”, followed by some good spinning on the goal posts, a little more wrestling, and then as everyone did the team cheer “Go Yellowjackets!” Noah chimed “Go Yellow Butt Cracks!” He did kick the ball harder than ever and was very energetic in the practice. I’m so proud!

On the trip home Noah made no mention of the his urgent need so after he got cleaned up, the whole crew loaded up to go participate in Baskin Robbins free scoop day. I had one of those fun dad moments on the way to the mall by declaring in the car “to anyone older than 2, before you ask the question, the answer is ‘no'”. Having seen the carnival being setup in the mall parking lot earlier I knew exactly what was about to be begged for. Of course, given the challenge of figuring out a question, Tommy began chiming off a dozen questions all which the ‘no’ answer fit beautifully. Then, on que, Sarah screams “ew ew ew! Can we go to the carnival?!” A smile and a tear in my eye! Such poetry!

sidebar: I’d rather take an extended weekend to Cincinnati for Kings Island than waste money on these carnivals. However, when I lived in New Orleans we’d get one a season not a football field’s length from my house. I went to them all. I feel some guilt denying my children but I also don’t remember a 3 minute ride costing $5 a head. Dean can chime in at any time with my loss of birthday money on the nickle slide as he brought home bags of groceries from the more favorable games.

Take a look at the most recent PBTeen (PotteryBarn) catalog cover:

The guy is “mixing drinks” (alcohol reference) behind a bar. The bar is labeled “chill” with a bottle that looks distinctly like a “beer.” The standing girl actually just looks like she is having a good time. The sitting girl is “beating her bongos” and is strategically placed so that she looks almost naked.

The poses are very intentional as the real catalog has slight differences than this online version and a forth person has either been photoshopped into the picture or was present for this alternative picture. The differences are very subtle so these exact poses are what the catalog wanted to present.

The party message and the necessity of “alcohol” or drugs to “chill” and “sex” to have fun are very clear. I know that sounds “paranoid parent” but its intended to be more of a pure criticism of their marketing approach.

Ran errands with the wife and Amy. Had a good time for the most part except when wife went psycho and called me psycho. Amy impresses everywhere she goes overflowing with cuteness and popping weird things out like “look, a baseball” yes, she said “baseball” Where’d she learn that?!

We picked up more birthday invites, dropped off stuff related to Cathy’s projects, did some banking for me, reserved a meeting space for Cathy’s zoo project wrapup, tried to see if my phone needs a firmware upgrade or a total replacement but the tech was too busy, bought new sheets, did some necessary shopping for the kids, and pet some puppies.

Then we came home and Sarah spent $165 on a $.35 milk and I tried to turn it into a “value of money” lesson and Sarah ended up in tears and Cathy got mad at me.

Baby woke just as I was getting into my productivity gear. She is a woot and a half. I’ve left the television off this morning despite the temptation. She is a bit on the wild side this morning but having a great time with her toys. She and I both enjoyed some conversation and some waffles.

When she got up she removed the full diaper and immediately threw it in the diaper pail when I let her out of the bedroom. What a good baby! And soooo ready for potty training.

I love watching her play with her toys!

Baby’s sentences this morning:

“Look Dada. A truck!”

“I tripped”

“A waffle!”

I had a question about my “canned air” reference. This is neat stuff. The chemical composition is 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane (at least in the Fellowes brand that I buy). It’s a chemical under pressure that is typically used to blow dust out of computers. If you turn it upside down the chemical will spray out in liquid form and can freeze ants or be used to remove bubble gum stuck to something.

I found it interesting that when I bought this at Walmart I had to have an “age verification” which severely slowed me down at the self-serve checkout. This forum discusses the “blackouts” and “paralysis” caused by huffing canned air. Would You Know If Your Child Was “Huffing”? (scroll down to see article. Note 1999 publish date.)

    

A New Day!

Let’s start the day off with a PayPal donation link:

This Morning

This was one of those mornings I would have given body parts to keep sleeping. Now I did wake at 5am and was wide awake. Had I gotten out of bed I’d be writing a different story. I got the kids up at 6am and went back to sleep until 6:15 when I went up to give Tommy his medicine. Sarah had laid on the couch and sprang from it as I came up the stairs. Then I went to sleep again until 6:30 and I awoke with my head spinning, that kind of dizziness that only lying back down can resolve. I fought it and got dressed then stirred Tommy again at 6:35.

I am dreading today. I want to hide.

Last Evening

I rewarded my computer efforts with some yard work. I intended only to be an hour and ended up being 2 hours. I fixed another lawn mower. So that’s 2 out of 3. The two push mowers both work (granted I think I still have a little tuning to do on the 2nd push mower). Now I just have to get the commercial walk (run rather) behind mower working. This is one that I can get a sled for and it does all the work. It’s going to be a beast to get running again.

After getting the mower working I grabbed the pruning shears and machette and bush hogged the yard for a bit. Cleared a good bit of brush back and the red bellied woodpecker later thanked me by flying through its newly available flight path. The birdseed that has fallen to the ground has grown so tall that its starting to go to seed. I am certain that this is how the chipmunk found its demise since the cat could hide in that tall grass which was right beside the drainage pipe that the chipmunk lived in.

The evening was spent getting the kids to bed then watching most of a good movie with the wife.