Future Poltergeist

I'm reading a book called 'The Autograph Man' by Zadie Smith, and I ran across a pretty good joke that I'd never heard before: The Joke about the Pope and Chief Rabbi Several centuries ago the Pope decreed that all the Jews had to leave Italy. There was, of course, a huge outcry from the Jewish community, so the Pope offered a deal. He would have a religious debate with a leader of the Jewish community. If the Jewish leader won the debate, the Jews would be permitted to stay in Italy. If the Pope won, the Jews would have to leave. The Jewish community met and picked an aged rabbi, Moishe, to represent them in the debate. Rabbi Moishe, however could not speak Latin and the Pope could not speak Yiddish. So it was decided it would be a 'silent' debate. On the day of the great debate, the Pope and Rabbi Moishe sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Rabbi Moishe looked back and raised one finger. Nex...

Were you working when this happened ?

She's doing fine. Well, mostly. She has (probably) a low level ear infection which is making it hard for her to sleep. Last night was better, for me anyway. The FP Gal basically held her all night, which seemed to help. Tonight will be my night. She's not running a fever or anything. She seems to do better if she can be elevated or upright so we might have to rig something. We'll get through it somehow. One (possible) point of interest, the pediatrician prescribed amoxicillin for her. That's one of the few drugs that I'm allergic to. They told us to keep an eye on her after we gave it and there were no bad side-effects. Anyhoo, she's screaming up a storm right now but it's typical nighttime stuff. Let's just hope I don't have to update this about four hours from now.

Apparently the Luftwaffe was pretty thick around the nursery last night. At least that was the impression Relia gave us. She was tough to put down last night. She didn't stay down for more than a couple of hours at a time. This morning she was up early. I don't know that either the FP Gal or I got more than a few hours sleep. And now we're on to Monday. Great.

I'll be watching and blogging the Oscars this year. 720pm: The FP Gal and I are talking about seat-fillers. I always thought they were hired to make the theater look more full. She thinks they just fill in while the seats are empty. She also wants to know if there is any kind of intermission there and/or if they show the commercials in the theater. Color me ignorant. 725pm: Predictions? Haven't seen many of the movies but I may as well throw something out there. I'll go with 'Blood' for Best Picture and the Best Actor award to Daniel Day Lewis. Best Original Screenplay to Diablo Cody for 'Juno'. Also, all of the dance numbers will suck. 734pm: The opening montage featured a UPS truck and random (and I do mean random) cutouts from old movies. The effort looked incredibly cheesy. Turns out that Ahnold was driving the truck. Very underwhelming. 739pm: Year two of the Jon Stewart experiment. Not that impressed. He seems both starstruck and unprepar...

If a small bowl of infant cereal is dropped from table height onto a wooden floor, the splash will travel roughly four feet. It will cover various objects in it's path with a gluey oatmeal type substance that will cover roughly 1/4 of the DVD's that are in the DVD cupboard at the end of the splashway. Paper towels are useful in going through each DVD and wiping it clean. Cats may or may not be helpful depending on their tastes. Your baby won't care one way or the other.

If I was single and carefree, I'd be all over this : If you have a free Saturday and a cast-iron posterior, you can see (or re-see) all five Oscar best-picture nominees at area AMC theaters (Arbor Lakes, Rosedale and Southdale). For $30 (including unlimited popcorn refills), you can spend 12 hours and 25 minutes in the theater -- or come and go as you please. Alas, the FP Gal says I'm not single enough. Oh well! I haven't seen any of the five. Tried to see 'There Will Be Blood' but just couldn't fit it in. The FP Gal wants to see 'Juno' (well, so do I) but we haven't figured that out either. Babies do take up time. Who saw what and what did you think?

Taking care of satellite. Lunar eclipse (not last night's but, well, it's the same moon).

Doesn't that pool look nice?

There is a lunar eclipse tonight, happening as I type this. It's particularly beautiful because it's being framed by Saturn and the star Regulus. It has a reddish look and that's entirely normal. The tint doesn't come from pollution, it comes from refraction. It's the same reaction that colors sunrises and sunsets. Stayed home with Relia today. Work was nice enough to let me have a day off without dipping into my sick pay. We didn't do much. She's pretty low energy and very wet. Nothing traumatic or scary, though. One of my New Year's resolutions was to either start or join a reading group based on the Man Booker Prize . I looked around and didn't find anything so I really thought I'd be stuck creating the darn thing. Well, lookie what I found . The only problem is that the group has been around for a few years and has already read 85 books (out of around 200 total). I'll see how it goes. The other resolutions are going well. I ...

It seems that Relia has something of a cold. Coughing, more coughing and a stuffed nose. Also very tired and having trouble finding a comfortable position for sleeping. Nothing serious, but a little heartrending. The FP Gal wishes she could have the cold instead but of course it doesn't work that way. Wish us luck! (BTW, thanks to Pop for some short notice babysitting. You really helped us out!)

I think I've mentioned before that I'm a Netflix user. Most of the movies in this project have been watched through their good services. It's nearly impossible to find twenty or thirty year old movies at rental stores anymore. And the convenience factor is quite high. One thing that Netflix does is let you rate movies so that it can suggest related movies that you might like. My Netflix account must think that I'm gay. Seriously, take a look at the last few decades of movies and treat them as a psychological profile. It's a good thing they don't know my occupation or there would be no doubt. Let me tell you, putting a Liza Minnelli film on your list doesn't help things. How was the movie? I only watched the first half and was bored out of my mind. Minnelli is the showcased girl in a German cabaret. An Englishman moves into her boarding house and something happens. They meet another man and something else blah blah blah. I didn't care about t...

Holy cats, I'm behind on the movie reviews. Almost a month behind. I know that you folks are understanding, but I feel bad. I'll try to do better.

After a previous Elvis event today, we learned that his music works pretty well for singing/dancing with Relia. Since this is the Elvis song I know best, it's the one I used. The FP Gal said I'd got it stuck in her head. Thought I'd share it with the rest of you!

As the FP Gal mentioned , Friday was our anniversary. Not our wedding anniversary or anything like that. It was four years ago yesterday that we had our first date. A glorious date it was and it worked out (obviously). She still didn't remember the joke so I got to tell it for a fourth year. We did a poor job of planning this time around so we had to decide things on the fly. This isn't easy with a six month old, believe me. We have managed to leave the house, though. Last night we went to the MOA to go visit Underwater World. The FP Gal mentioned that I would be facing my greatest enemy in his own lair. I calmly told her that if he gave me any trouble I'd punch him in the snout which is the approved method . This was my first time at Underwater World and I highly recommend it. The aquarium is seen through a tunnel, from underneath. They've helpfully supplied a moving walkway so you can stand still and let it all flow by. It's very cool. We double backe...

( Link ) Headline: Strangers are badgering me to breast-feed. How can I get them to stop? Um, try wearing looser fitting shirts?

Everything went fine at the MOA. I didn't take a swing at Sharky, wasn't even tempted. In fact, the trip was pretty normal, nothing out of the ordinary. (Well, I did walk past the spiritual brethren of Jay and Silent Bob but nothing other than that.) Follow up note to the earlier post, the lack of bottles was my own fault. I had scads of time last night and should have checked on the supply. Next Wednesday I'll know better. I should also say that Relia has been in a fine mood all day. All of the earlier stuff was just circumstances building up. Now that it's sorted out, things are much better.

The day started out with a bang, or really just a lot of whimpering. Usually Relia gets fed around 6a. This means on a typical Thursday (my day off) she'll sleep until close to 8a. That means I can sleep until then too. This morning as the FP Gal was slipping out the door she told me that she'd fed around 430a. The baby calls the shots and we roll with the punches. Lots of commotion from Aurelia around 7a and it was clear that there would be no sleeping in. I laid in bed and tried to gauge her level of activity. Could I take a shower without her screaming? I risked it. The answer was 'no' I couldn't get through a shower without screaming. Got dressed and went to change her for the day. Yesterday we put her in her Cuddly Bunny outfit and hoped for the best. No such luck. Blowout! Quickly changed her out and cleaned her up. Looked at the clean outfits. Nothing simple, only the complicated ones were left. Did my best and got her dressed in something wi...

Our dear kitten Ozzie (the Terrible) has been an absolute whirlwind of destruction this week. On the counters, in the cupboards, knocking stuff over and breaking things from our mantle. I feel like I spend most evenings running into the kitchen to correct him. The FP Gal thinks he is so much naughtier than any of our other cats because he is a boy. There might be something to this but I'm sure I don't know. She wants to emphasize that she's not opposed to boys of other species, she just thinks that boy kitties might be more rambunctious than girl ones. What to do about it? I honestly don't know. We can't really fence off the kitchen (the source of most temptations) without seriously rearranging our lives. Electrifying the counter tops is too expensive (apparently). Same with Invisible Fencing. Squirt guns work to some extent but we don't want to be armed all the time. And one of us would have to be stationed in the kitchen. What else? I've thought...

Last night I came home to find a trail of flour leading from the kitchen to the living room. Ozzie of course. This cat has the weirdest taste in human food. We can not leave bread out or he will tear it apart. He also likes the FP Gal's oats. Very strange. On a related note, I found him licking beaters with cookie dough this evening. In his defense, someone had left them by her computer. Holy cats, I'm tired of this weather. I've come to the point that I'm admitting jealousy if any of my travelers are going somewhere tropical. I think I need some time in the sun. On a beach. Nearby bikinis would be nice but aren't necessary. Someplace like here . Pitchers and catchers report on Saturday with the White Sox first spring training game on 27 Feb. Yes, I'm ready. It feels like I'm readier than most years and I think I've figured it out. For the last ten years or so they've been in contention until sometime in September. Last year the killed ...

Read an interesting article in Atlantic Monthly today. The whole thing is worth reading. My friend and I, who, in fits of self-empowerment, had conceived our babies with donor sperm because we hadn’t met Mr. Right yet, surveyed the idyllic scene... But it was also decidedly not the dream. The dream, like that of our mothers and their mothers from time immemorial, was to fall in love, get married, and live happily ever after. Of course, we’d be loath to admit it in this day and age, but ask any soul-baring 40-year-old single heterosexual woman what she most longs for in life, and she probably won’t tell you it’s a better career or a smaller waistline or a bigger apartment. Most likely, she’ll say that what she really wants is a husband (and, by extension, a child). The author continues and argues that women shouldn't hold out for that perfect love, but should be willing to settle for less. She puts forth a solid case and I'm sure she'll get a metric ton of hate mail. I...

We ran some errands yesterday and ended up at Target (big surprise). While we scooted past the bedding section we stopped to look for a little gift to ourselves. You see, a few years back I bought a big flannel sheet. A king size for our full size bed but that means we don't have to fight over it. The flannel sheet is wonderful and all, but any advantage it gives is negated by the cotton fitted sheet. That thing is like ice. Seriously, you don't dare move at night because you'll have to warm a new section of it. The solution? A flannel fitted sheet. Which was not sold separately. So we bought a full kit of flannel and refitted the bed last night. The difference? It's wonderful! In fact, I wish I could go back to bed right now...

I didn't watch a second of the Pro-Bowl yesterday. Looks like I missed some nice plays .

Full answer in the comments.

The national animal of the U.S. is the bald eagle. Many other countries have their own animals. See how well you can match the European countries. (Note, I've split some various UK constituents because they have different and interesting answers. Wikipedia played a big part in this, so it's open to dispute.) 1.Armenia 2.Belarus 3.Bulgaria 4.Denmark 5.England 6.Estonia 7.Finland 8.France 9.Germany 10.Gibraltar 11.Greenland 12.Iceland 13.Ireland 14.Moldova 15.Norway 16.Poland 17.Romania 18.Russia 19.Scotland 20.Spain 21.Turkey 22.Wales a.Auroch (similar to Oxen) b.Barbary Macaque (monkey) c.Barn Swallow d.Bear e.Brown Bear f.Bull g.Bulldog h.Dragon i.Eagle j.Elk k.Falcon l.Gallic Rooster m.Grey Wolf n.Lion o.Lynx p.Mute Swan q.Polar Bear r.Red Dragon s.Stag t.Unicorn u.White-tailed Eagl...

It was very cold today (or so they tell us), not that we know since we spent all day here in the house. Let me check...it says that it's -6 right now, high of 13 earlier. And that's not counting windchill. Yes, it's been a cold cold winter. The cliche is that we should be grateful for these times when it's July and outrageously hot. Or vice versa. It doesn't help of course, but what can you do? So what did we do today? Watched a lot of movies. Last month I read my first Philip Marlowe novel 'The Long Goodbye'. I also read a second one, 'The Big Sleep'. Both of these have had movies made after them and (thanks Netflix), this morning I watched the later's movie . It's a Bogart/Bacall movie and plenty of fun. There's something about the dialogue from a good hard boiled film noir. It's cutting and clever. (Relia slept through most of it.) This afternoon we watched 'Double Jeopardy' with Ashley Judd. Far-fetched, but...

One of the sites that I get a lot of my pictures from is this one . It features new pictures daily, ranging from beautiful to funny to idiotic.

A new 'Survivor' has started. Each season we do a pool at work, everyone kicks in a few bucks, you pick a name out of a hat and if your player wins, you get the kitty. My luck at this has been brutal. The best I've done is five weeks in. This season I drew Amanda and I hereby apologize to her and her family. Last week saw the beginning of the fourth season of 'Lost'. I'm loving it! The show is not very good about giving straight answers and that drives the FP Gal crazy. Which is understandable. I'm fully confident that the writers have an idea of what they're doing so I'm not as bothered. Newest guilty pleasure TV show? BBC America shows episodes of 'Coupling'. I'd describe it as a cross between 'Friends' and 'Sex in the City' with a good dose of dry British humor. Lots of fun. I guess this is turning into a TV themed post. We're now heading into the worst part of the television year. That time between fo...

(Via Althouse .) Here are a set of lists of all time greatest (and worst ) Best Actors. I remember thinking that Brando was overrated in 'On the Waterfront' (so was the overall movie). DeNiro was truly impressive in 'Raging Bull', very possibly the best acting job in Oscar history. Actually, the top ten is very strong with some all time greats. On second thought, Brando was overrated in 'The Godfather' too. I've got lots of disagreement with the worst list . I liked Benigni quite a bit in 'Life is Beautiful'. I thought Hanks was wonderful in 'Forrest Gump'. Washington was also very powerful in 'Training Day'. On the other hand, I can't agree more that Nicholson's performance for 'As Good as it Gets' was overrated . My sense is that the acting awards have been well nominated and awarded this decade but I haven't seen a lot of the movies. In fact, my sense is that (almost paradoxically) the acting has been ...

Yes, for the third time this bug has gotten me. It must like my taste as it left the FP Gal and Aurelia alone after the first time. Seriously, I may need to build a clean room for the next one of them gets sick. UPDATE: I think the FP Gal is poisoning me to get her hands on my insurance.

Look which city made the New York Times today. I love the opening line: If you have to come down with a strange disease, this town of 23,000 on the wide-open prairie in southeastern Minnesota is a pretty good place to be. Yeah, so it's got that going for it. Seriously, good luck to the people covered in this article.

( Via Hit & Run .) A man in England wanted to build a castle in one of his fields but he didn't think the local council would let him. Over the course of two years, he managed to secretly – and unlawfully – build the imposing mock Tudor structure in one of his fields, shielded behind a 40ft stack of hay bales covered by a huge tarpaulins. Once it was finished, he and his family moved in and lived there for four years before finally revealing the development – complete with battlements and cannons – in August 2006. Mr Fidler claims that because the building has been there for four years with no objections, it is no longer illegal. Of course the council doesn't agree. Since he skirted the rules, they want to tear it down. Now that building may not be to your taste (though I like it) but it's not an eyesore. The constructions looks sound enough and there's no mention of a safety risk. He built it in a field so it's not overshadowing his neighbors or anythin...

Three of the last four nights have been loud and angry. Relia has not wanted to go to sleep. Or maybe she wanted to sleep so badly that she couldn't. Either way, that's meant lots of yelling and tears and very little peace of mind. Last night was the worst of them. She spent about an hour yelling in my ear while I tried to jigger her pacifier or her legs (or anything) to get her to just calm down. Finally, I made her a bottle and glutted her to sleep. Wake her this morning and she's all smiles. That makes up for a lot.

Not what I predicted, but lots of fun to watch.

Despite appearances, Tom Petty is only 57 years old. There is no truth to the rumors that he fought in the Spanish-American war. Best commercial so far? Probably the one where the ad walks out of the TV and searches for 'Ted'. Well, the game is still close and Giants have an excellent chance of covering. This one just might come down to whoever gets the breaks. Here at casa DeFor we're getting ready to have chicken lasagna. You may all be jealous.

To recap, I think that the Patriots will win but not cover. The line is 12 points and I think the Giants can keep it closer than that. That seems reasonable to me (either that or I'm just taking the cowards route and splitting the baby). Who do I want to win? That's a tough call. The Patriots cheated and any kind of ultimate justice should ask them to lose. ( This story , about the Pats/Rams game after the 2001 season reinforces that.) But root for the Giants? I still can't get over 41-0. Nor can I really wish good fortune on another New York team. Of course that last point also holds true for the Boston area (five championships this decade and the top NBA team this season). Frankly these are probably my second and third least favorite teams. Maybe I should cheer for widespread power outages. New York and Boston fans are some of the smuggest unlikeables in major sports. None of that will change after tonight. Let's just hope for a good, exciting game. So ...

Only six more weeks of winter !