Reality Me

Blog

  • The kids are off to steal the nuke codes

    The grandparents have taken 4 of the 5 children off to Oak Ridge for The Secret City Festival. (The socialite teenage girl has plans) Did you know you have to take proof of citizenship if you want to tour the plant? That means a photo id and a birth certificate or passport or something comparable. I’ve wanted to see The Secret City Festival since I heard about it but frankly my body and mind are still decompressing after being so tightly strung for the past several weeks. I’m more relaxed but literally still shaky like a tuning fork is playing in my head. I’m taking this day away from the computer and doing some things for myself that I’ve been neglecting. I have an important project in the batting box and I need to clear my mind so I can start fresh and strong tomorrow or Monday.

    I find Oak Ridge’s history beyond fascinating. I love it when people tell their stories. I’ve only been to the Museum of Science and Energy (once) professionally so I have yet to see the exhibits. I’ve never seen the children’s museum (the kids go with the grandparents). I’m vowing to attend next year’s Secret City Festival!

  • Great siblings

    I love watching my children play together. Evan loves his brother and Noah is so patient with him. This morning as Noah practiced his drumming, Evan crawled into his lap and Noah relinquished the drum sticks. He has great patience. Now Amy and Evan play with Play Mobile in the living room. (Granted, they have a time limit before their play devolves into fussing) I really enjoy these guys.

  • Urges

    I’m fighting the urge to run out an buy a bench vice! Oh wait, I already have a tool that will work…

  • Whose da favorite?!

  • Air holes should be smaller

    I woke up this morning to find 20 lightning bugs outside of their container.

  • Of Being Dad

    Oops. Tried to make a teenager think for himself. Now everybody’s unhappy.

  • Surreal Moment of the Day

    (I posted this to Facebook but it should have gone here)

    The sun is bright, there is no wind, I put on my noise canceling headphones, turn to Simply Noise’s thunderstorm, press play and the house shakes from a HUGE explosion of thunder outside.

    It was really like a scene from a movie.

  • My Wife: Guest Blogger/Bad Parent

    My wife is a guest blogger at Scholastic Parents and a bad parent. Share your thoughts with her.

    Read all her Scholastic Parents guest posts. Jump in and feel free to comment on each topic.

  • Parent Fail

    It’s 1:00am and half my family is awake.

    On the positive side, I finally got one of my nose hair trimmers working! What a drag it is getting old…

  • Invisible Rope Trick

    This brings back memories. I have no idea where I learned this but when I was 11 or 12 years old, a friend or my brother and I did this. Cars do slow down! But for the record, eventually an angry man gets out of his car and rips you a new one.


    EMBED-Invisible Rope Prank II – Watch more free videos

  • From the mouths of babes

    Evan, 4 years old: "Daddy, go downstairs to your computer so I cannot get scissors."

  • Reminder to self

    When cracking jokes to the Aspies, be ready with an explanation that 1) it was a joke and 2) why it is funny. Expect "oh" instead of guffaws.

  • Sheriff Hunts Someone from the Air

    Yesterday a low flying sheriff’s helicopter circled over our house several times. We believe they thought a criminal was in the creek. Roughly 45 minutes later, the police scanner reported apprehending someone at the Weigel’s nearest our house and the helicopters (there were at least 2) went away. When it took the most direct path over our house I had the video camera paused and missed the best shot. This video mostly shows trees.

    A couple of things you will hear in this video:

    1. "they must be 100′ off the ground" – okay. exaggeration and not well seen in this video. The first video I tried shooting, and had the dog gone thing paused, was when they flew directly overhead and it did look much lower
    2. "could it be drugs" – the DEA flies helicopters over these parts frequently during prime growing season but usually they are over the farms and properties along the river.

    The person they were hunting was caught about 45 minutes later 1/4-1/2 mile from my house

  • activeCollab IRC support on Efnet and Freenode

    Sort of. I’ve opened an #activecollab channel on IRC’s Efnet (and Freenode) in hopes some real-time community support will develop for people interested in customizing activeCollab‘s project management and collaboration tool. I won’t promise to always be there nor to have useful information, but perhaps if a group of us form we can generate answers faster than the forums.

  • Of Grasshoppers

    Student: This mountain is too high.
    Master: Forget the mountain. Let’s climb this small hill first.