Reality Me » Cathy http://realityme.net A juggling technophile shares personal stories, challenges, humor and perhaps some political commentary. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:22:41 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 From the mouths of babes http://realityme.net/2012/02/01/from-the-mouths-of-babes-332/ http://realityme.net/2012/02/01/from-the-mouths-of-babes-332/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:34:54 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=14063 Cathy: "Get off the Internet! Clearly!"

]]> http://realityme.net/2012/02/01/from-the-mouths-of-babes-332/feed/ 0 While Cathy was away, the boys played! http://realityme.net/2011/10/25/while-cathy-was-away-the-boys-played/ http://realityme.net/2011/10/25/while-cathy-was-away-the-boys-played/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:02:01 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13966 Cathy went to visit Sarah in New York City. The grandparents basically had Amy and Evan for the entire trip and Noah for much of the trip. That left Tommy and me at the house alone. Tommy, like Freakzoid, gets sucked into the Internet so I basically had the house to myself for duration of her trip minus the time I spent for clients and the time I spent juggling at Boo at the Zoo. So what happened in that time? The yard had a major cleaning of the junk which had been accumulating for a decade. The house received a sweeping and mopping. Then there was this surprise for Cathy:

]]> http://realityme.net/2011/10/25/while-cathy-was-away-the-boys-played/feed/ 1 Creating experiences for your child is parenting http://realityme.net/2011/10/17/creating-experiences-for-your-child-is-parenting/ http://realityme.net/2011/10/17/creating-experiences-for-your-child-is-parenting/#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:51:04 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13952

cathymccaughan Oct 16, 3:51pm via TweetDeck

Cat Stevens on the XM and 9-y-o chirps: "I remember this song from the big rally in DC. Let’s do that again." #colbert

]]> http://realityme.net/2011/10/17/creating-experiences-for-your-child-is-parenting/feed/ 0 From the mouths of babes http://realityme.net/2011/08/28/from-the-mouths-of-babes-330/ http://realityme.net/2011/08/28/from-the-mouths-of-babes-330/#comments Mon, 29 Aug 2011 01:55:41 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13869 Evan, 6 years old: "Can I go next door and go swimming?"
Mom: "Were you invited?"
Evan: "No, I’m going to ask."
Mom: "That would be inviting yourself and is wrong."
Evan: "So can I go see if they will invite me?"
Mom: "No. That would still be inviting yourself."
Evan, stomps off exasperated: "I’ll just go stick my head in the toilet!"
Evan, from the back of the house: "Quit laughing!"

]]> http://realityme.net/2011/08/28/from-the-mouths-of-babes-330/feed/ 0 Happy Anniversary Cathy! http://realityme.net/2011/08/25/happy-anniversary-cathy-5/ http://realityme.net/2011/08/25/happy-anniversary-cathy-5/#comments Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:14:55 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13865 Ten years ago today and after nearly two years of dating, Cathy and I were married at Gatlinburg’s Ye Ol’ Tyme Photo Boothe and its been one grand adventure since then!

August 25, 2001

This has the best decade of my life beyond any shadow of a doubt!

]]> http://realityme.net/2011/08/25/happy-anniversary-cathy-5/feed/ 0 DomesticPsychology.com url shortener http://realityme.net/2011/05/25/domesticpsychology-com-url-shortener/ http://realityme.net/2011/05/25/domesticpsychology-com-url-shortener/#comments Wed, 25 May 2011 13:48:32 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13638 I’m a strong believer in owning your content. URL shorteners like http://bit.ly/ and http://3.ly/ bother me in that if the business changes or goes under, your short links die. http://3.ly for instance has been acquired or changed to http://qr.net which I still feel was a bad business move. If the business becomes unethical, they could sell your short links to redirect your traffic elsewhere. So, just like I believe you should view Facebook and Twitter as temporary places for content (much like a bulletin board on a college campus) and instead host your own site like http://domesticpsychology.com/blog/ (much more like a library or museum…and yes I know Twitter gets archived at the Library of Congress), I believe you should own your own url shortener.

Anyhow, to live by my own words, I thought I’d buy Cathy a domain for her own url shortener for DomesticPsychology.com. My first thought was http://dp.me After two cups of coffee, I rethought that one. I’d say I am not sure Cathy would want to direct people to http://dp.me but then again I haven’t ever broached the subject :)

]]> http://realityme.net/2011/05/25/domesticpsychology-com-url-shortener/feed/ 0 From the mouths of babes http://realityme.net/2011/05/16/from-the-mouths-of-babes-326/ http://realityme.net/2011/05/16/from-the-mouths-of-babes-326/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 14:49:54 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13596 Cathy via SMS: "Y didn’t the cat puke everywhere BEFORE u left?"

]]> http://realityme.net/2011/05/16/from-the-mouths-of-babes-326/feed/ 0 Slow to learn http://realityme.net/2011/05/12/slow-to-learn/ http://realityme.net/2011/05/12/slow-to-learn/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 18:19:33 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13584 On your wife’s birthday, it is ill advised to quip, "getting older makes you snarky!"

]]> http://realityme.net/2011/05/12/slow-to-learn/feed/ 2 Of being dad http://realityme.net/2011/05/06/of-being-dad-19/ http://realityme.net/2011/05/06/of-being-dad-19/#comments Fri, 06 May 2011 13:42:57 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13574 Don’t suggest to your wife that she get a mammogram for her birthday. Just saying.

]]> http://realityme.net/2011/05/06/of-being-dad-19/feed/ 0 From the mouths of babes http://realityme.net/2011/05/01/from-the-mouths-of-babes-325/ http://realityme.net/2011/05/01/from-the-mouths-of-babes-325/#comments Mon, 02 May 2011 01:13:40 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13563 Cathy: "Normal people don’t name flies."

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Me, texting back: "Homegirls!"
Wife, texting: "Wear a condom."

Thank you Apple. Your autocorrect on "Homebound" has either gotten me in serious trouble or given me a hall pass.

]]> http://realityme.net/2011/02/23/from-the-mouths-of-babes-321/feed/ 1 Happy Valentine’s Day! http://realityme.net/2011/02/14/happy-valentines-day-2/ http://realityme.net/2011/02/14/happy-valentines-day-2/#comments Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:52:32 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13259 I placed the ladder from the 2nd floor to a ledge above the downstairs landing effectively giving the staircase a ceiling with a narrow opening for travel from downstairs to upstairs.

What I said, "Watch out for your head!"
What I heard: *bonk!*

That’ll be one more trip to Godiva today.

]]> http://realityme.net/2011/02/14/happy-valentines-day-2/feed/ 0 18 hours of ice http://realityme.net/2011/01/13/18-hours-of-ice/ http://realityme.net/2011/01/13/18-hours-of-ice/#comments Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:15:10 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13214 So in the past 18 hours:

  • My wife couldn’t get off our street due to ice
  • Our friend managed to get onto our cove returning our son 11pmish but couldn’t get out
  • My neighbor had to use 4 wheel drive to escape the ice
  • The postman slid into a neighbor’s yard
  • My father-in-law had difficulty leaving the street
  • My 17 year old daughter slid her car into our retaining wall and had to climb out the passenger side
  • My 17 year old daughter took our van to pick the 5 year old up from school

Waiting with bated breath to hear that the 5 year old makes it home safely and that the van survives.

Oh, and btw, secondary roads in Knoxville are still precarious. This is why schools get canceled.

]]> http://realityme.net/2011/01/13/18-hours-of-ice/feed/ 1 Groceries and the Snopocalypse http://realityme.net/2011/01/10/groceries-and-the-snopocalypse/ http://realityme.net/2011/01/10/groceries-and-the-snopocalypse/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:34:10 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13206 I get a giggle out of Knoxville’s typical overreaction to bad weather. We use a gallon of milk every day or two so I’m often buying milk regardless of weather. When the forecast is doom and gloom the milk and bread shelves are barren. Coincidentally, our pantry ran empty in sync with a predicted 2-5 inches of snow so Cathy and I joined in the madness at the grocery. After spending $150 on essentials and a few day’s meals, we arrived home to hungry children only to realize we hadn’t purchased anything for a quick meal for that night!

So, after getting the droopy, "we’re hungry" eyes from the children last night, I got the same thing from the dogs this morning. Apparently in our effort to feed the humans, we failed to notice the dogs were scrapping bottom in their food supply too. So, now to brave the snow covered roads before tonight’s ice storm comes to get to the pet store for dog chow and a rat (hungry snake too).

Tl;dr: On Sunday, we bought meals for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and neglected to bring home dinner for that night and failed to buy dog food.

]]> http://realityme.net/2011/01/10/groceries-and-the-snopocalypse/feed/ 0 I am the gas fairy, goo goo g’joob http://realityme.net/2011/01/09/i-am-the-gas-fairy-goo-goo-gjoob/ http://realityme.net/2011/01/09/i-am-the-gas-fairy-goo-goo-gjoob/#comments Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:09:59 +0000 Doug McCaughan http://realityme.net/?p=13200 When I notice the van running low on petrol (gasoline), I attempt to secretly refill the tank so that Cathy is frequently surprised with a full tank of gas. Yesterday she found herself stranded at the mall because the van refused to start. She claims she was out in the cold for an hour and a half. I arrived and after some futzing with the van the engine roared albeit roughly and with a warning light. Eventually we found our way to Autozone whose computer reported that the MAF/MAP sensor was overloaded. Great, sensor replacement time. Wait a minute! Hadn’t seen this before? Oh… yes. I walked out the door to the van, removed the gas cap, and replaced the gas cap, the warning light faded away, and the engine ran smooth. See, in modern vehicles, the fuel system is often pressurized so if the gas cap is not sealed well, like it’s crooked, then the engine has problems getting fuel.

n.b. The gas fairy does indeed sound like a walrus.

Tl;dr The van wouldn’t start leaving Cathy was stuck in the cold for an hour and a half because I put the gas cap on crooked.

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