Future Poltergeist

Overheard

2012-02-12T15:30:00.000-06:00

We saw this on the TV:

and I suggested to the FP Gal that we should raise DF with a Scottish brogue so we could push his cuteness to ridiculous levels. She wearily eye rolled and said, "that's up to you".
I turned to DF and said, "say 'Aye, daddy'".
Without missing a beat he said, "aye, daddy".
And yes it was incredibly cute.

Btw, I'm very much looking forward to seeing 'Brave'. So far I've been excited by about twice as many movies this year as all of last year. I hope it all pans out!

Overheard

2012-02-12T10:17:00.001-06:00

A four year old comments on pregnancy . . .

The FP Gal: (while laying on the couch) There is so much I want to do today. I should get up and starting doing things.
Relia: But if you get up, you'll have to go potty!

Matchbox with Relia

2012-02-11T20:44:00.002-06:00

Today Relia and I went down to Austin so we could see a play. When I first thought of this trip I thought of it as a Daddy/Daughter thing and that's what we did. We simply left the FP Gal and DF to fend for themselves.
When we got down there we met up with my dad and went out for lunch. We went to the Chinese buffet. I told her that one of the nice things about a buffet is that you can try new things without much risk. She told me that another nice thing is that you don't have to wait for the food. How smart is that?
We had some time to kill before the play so we went to the Oak Park mall. How empty is it? Let me put it this way, not only do you have to fight through tumbleweeds, the building is actually starting to crumble away. It's all very sad.
Then to the theater. We got some seats and waited for the show to start. She was as patient as she could be. Being able to study daddy's watch seemed to help.
The show was good. It involved some quiet kids and a large magic fish. She was good but an hour is a long time to sit still. Especially when the seats are so fun. Afterward we got a tour of the very tiny dressing rooms and backstage.
Then back home. She slept a bit on the way up. We got home in time for dinner and then bath and time for bed.

I Do It!

2012-02-10T10:21:00.003-06:00

DF is deep into that toddler phase where he wants to do every possible thing. On one hand I'm glad that he's learning things. On the other hand I just want to Open. The. Refrigerator. On. My. Own. It's a pretty broad line between cute and exasperating, but he makes that journey pretty often.
Minutes ago I was trying to change his diaper while Relia was changing a DVD. He threw a fit, because he wanted to DO IT. I won't describe the type of fit, but you can connect the dots pretty easily.

Oh, I know this is just a step in development (and a positive one!) but I am soooo ready for it ease off a bit.

Update: On Facebook I said:

Being at home with a toddler in the 'I do it!' phase is liking working with the most eager and incompetent employee ever.

And then later:

Make that incompetent, eager and belligerent . . .

Have a Great Friday

2012-02-10T10:04:00.002-06:00

Chinese Translation

2012-02-09T22:30:00.002-06:00

Very good stuff. If you normally skip over my music suggestions, make an exception here and listen to this.

Top Five June Movies

2012-02-08T22:27:00.002-06:00

And into summer we go! As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Four Weddings and a Funeral - June of course is known for weddings and I humbly submit that this is the best wedding movie of all time. Charming and witty. Poignant and heartfelt. And able to overcome the casting of Andie McDowell.

Say Anything - Another end of year movie, and a personal romantic favorite. I can't watch John Cusack without thinking of the scene. You know the one. Yep, this one right here.

National Lampoon's Vacation - And on to summer vacation. This is one of the best family road trip movies out there. Remember back when Chevy Chase was funny?

Field of Dreams - More baseball. Not as good as 'Bull Durham' but then, what is, right? This movie captures the magic that bonding over sports can create.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World - Another road trip film, this one is possibly the zaniest movie in my collection. A great collection of actors. A great snapshot of its era. The quasi remake 'Rat Race' is also pretty good.

Minnesota Caucus

2012-02-07T23:26:00.001-06:00

I went and did the caucus thing tonight. I posted about it over on the political blog if you're interested.

Overheard

2012-02-07T08:00:00.001-06:00

Unfortunately I don't have anything new from the kids here. I simply wanted to mention that all of the past 'overheard' posts can be viewed here. There are well over a hundred so it takes some time to get through all of them. Going back through them has been worth a chuckle or two for me. I hope Relia appreciates all of this when she's older. (And of course once her siblings start to talk more, they'll join the act!)
Anyway, look if you'd like and have fun.

Winter

2012-02-06T19:14:00.002-06:00

The temps here were in the 40s today. Warm enough that I took a good sized walk near the U today without a coat on. (In related news, parking near there is horrendous!) After I picked the kids up from preschool we tried for a walk around the block but DF remembered that we had food in our house and refused to go any further.
All in all this has been the mildest winter that I can ever remember here in Minnesota. We haven't been buried in snow and I don't think we've dipped below zero yet. We've had a few cold days and we'll almost certainly have some more. Tomorrow they're talking about a low temperature of 3 degrees. But we have certainly been spared the weeks and weeks of freezing weather that we're used to.
Yay!

Happy Monday

2012-02-06T07:00:00.000-06:00

Super Bowl

2012-02-05T15:10:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I'm not that excited for the game but it is still the Super Bowl. One thing that the game has in its favor is that it's something of a toss up. Often we go into the Super Bowl with someone very heavily favored. Not today!
The Patriots are only favored by 2.5. That means either team would be favored if they were playing at home. And from what I understand, the crowd at the game will be mostly Giants and Colts fans. In other words, it will be a hostile bunch to the Pats.
So who will I pick? Out of 32 teams these two are possibly my second and third least favorites. The Cowboys and Steelers would be in that mix too. But if it comes right down to it, I think that I'd rather see another Patriots win than the Giants. So that's what I'll pick.

Sometimes I'd simply say that I root for a well officiated game and some entertaining commercials. Well, yes, I want good commercials tonight but for some reason I'm in the mood for a game where the refs come out looking just terrible.

"Never Let Go" A defense of Titanic

2012-02-04T00:15:00.000-06:00

Last weekend while we were at the movie we saw the trailer for the upcoming 3D update of 'Titanic' (of which I'll say more in a bit). As the trailer flashed through familiar scenes it showed Kate Winslet telling Leo Di Caprio that she'll never let go. Some woman sitting further back in the theater hissed "liar!". This post is for her.

I liked the movie 'Titanic' but a lot of people didn't. That's fine, to everyone their own opinion. The movie was as popular as can be and that brings about its own backlash. Haters gotta hate, right? The criticisms are many but the one that drives me crazy is when some snide someone sneers about the 'never let go' moment. It's usually something along the lines of pointing out that Winslet said she wouldn't let go but she did, the coward! The problem is that the snide people simply weren't listening.
After the boat sinks and the lovers find some flotsam, Leo tells Kate not to start saying her goodbyes. He assures her that there will be a rescue. And then this dialogue takes place:

Jack: You must do this honor. You most promise me that you'll survive. And that you won't give up no matter what happens. No matter how hopeless. Promise me now, Rose. And never let go of that promise.
Rose: I promise.
Jack: Never let go.
Rose: Never let go, Jack. I'll never let go.

He makes her promise to survive and continue on. Which she does of course. When the boats come back she discovers that he has died. She remembers her promise and finds a way to live. In order to do this she must let go of his hand and then he sinks. In other words lives up to a verbal promise to not let go by physically doing so.
I think there is a literary term for that.
Of course the oh so wise, sneery people couldn't be bothered to pay attention to a little bit of dialogue. Shame that. Makes me wonder what else they've been missing.

Ok, back to the trailer. 'Titanic' came out when I was living by myself in Colorado. I had no TV and no friends outside of people from work. It blew me away and I saw it six times in the theater. Yes, I was one of the people that made it a box office phenomenon.
The FP Gal never saw it on the big screen. With it making a return, I'd love to fix that problem. But the timing could simply not be worse. The movie comes out again right about the time that the Oncoming Baby is due. Even if we tried to see it before baby comes there is no way that she could possibly sit through a three hour movie right now. And it will be very tough to find time for it right after baby has arrived. In short, the only way we'll actually be able to get out and do so is if 'Titanic' stays in theaters for a couple of months. And what are the odds of that happening?

This Cheese

2012-02-03T10:15:00.000-06:00

In the same grand tradition of 'beef cookies', we have another strangely named food in our house. We have several types of cheese but if the kids are snacking they either have stick cheese or cheese slices. Apparently as I would offer these to DF I must have been saying "do you want this cheese or that cheese?".
So now sliced singles are known as 'this cheese'.

Btw, the beef cookies thing shows no sign of going away. We kind of expected that other kids would correct her out of this by now. Not that we were hoping but you know how kids are.

Have a Great Friday

2012-02-03T07:09:00.000-06:00

Top Five May Movies

2012-02-02T15:21:00.002-06:00

And we go to May! Per usual, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Shawshank Redemption - A wonderful movie and really not limited to just one time of year. But they tarred the roof of the shed and [Morgan Freeman voice] "May is one damn fine month to be working outdoors."

Ferris Bueller's Day Off - It's tricky to place this movie but it feels like a May movie to me. In many ways it is summer but school is still going on. It must be near the end of the school year, not the beginning. Anyway, another great movie.

Sound of Music - Another one that was on TV every year. My mind has it in May. It's certainly not un-May like, right?

American Pie - Very much an end of school movie. Also much raunchier than anything previous. But still pretty darn good.

Saving Private Ryan - A tough call with this one since its central event, D-Day takes place in June. But there is no better Memorial Day movie than this one.

Manners

2012-02-02T08:05:00.002-06:00

Yesterday at Target we entered past half a dozen kids in various wheelchairs. Relia noticed them and loudly asked me why they had them. I told her that it wasn't polite to point at people in wheelchairs. Then I tried to explain to her that they might find it embarrassing but she really didn't understand me.
Later we passed one of them while we were grocery shopping. Just as soon as we were past she stage whispered "See! I didn't say anything about the wheelchair!". And when I say stage whispered, believe me, they would have heard her in the back of the house without any problem.
We turned a corner and when I thought about how my advice backfired I couldn't help but chuckle. Relia thought I was laughing at her and I couldn't really explain it well to her. Oh dear, you'll learn. You'll learn.

Lileks on Costa Concordia

2012-02-01T20:06:00.002-06:00

This is from James Lileks twitter feed:

Amex sent me a brochure for a cruise line - great rates on a ship called the Costa Concordia. Tempted to call them up, see what they'd say.

Amex brochure: "When you choose Costa, you don't just see Europe - you live it." Well, most of you.

"Meet dedicated staff with distinctively Continental perspectives."

"Barriers dissolve in the hijinx of theme nights on board."

Sorry, I forgot the best part about the AMEX brochure for the Costa Concordia: "Immerse yourself in truly European experience."

Overheard

2012-02-01T14:51:00.004-06:00

While driving home from preschool:

Me: So tell me what you learned about today.
Relia: Oh, just some more letters.
Me: Which ones.
Relia: (pause) If I tell you, you won't believe me.

I assured her that I would. I love the idea of preschool teaching her some secret forbidden letters. It turns out that it was E and F. And I'm willing to take her word on that.

Great Books?

2012-01-31T22:44:00.002-06:00

Here are the results of an interesting poll. 125 modern writers were asked "to provide a list, ranked, in order, of what [they] consider the ten greatest works of fiction of all time- novels, story collections, plays, or poems." The post linked here provides the top ten for the 19th and 20th centuries. The list for the 19th first:

Top Ten Works of the 19th Century
1. Anna Karenina* by Leo Tolstoy
2. Madame Bovary* by Gustave Flaubert
3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
5. The stories of Anton Chekhov
6. Middlemarch* by George Eliot
7. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
8. Great Expectations* by Charles Dickens
9. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
10. Emma* by Jane Austen

Pretty strong results for what I've read here. I would have put some Hugo on there and I personally find Dickens impenetrable but those are really quibbles. The 20th century:

Top Ten Works of the 20th Century
1. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
2.The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. The Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
4. Ulysses* by James Joyce
5. Dubliners* by James Joyce
6. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
7. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
8. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
9. The complete stories of Flannery O'Connor
10. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

I loved both of the Nabokov books here. I'm not nearly as fond of 'The Great Gatsby' as these folks. Haven't read the others although I keep running into suggestions that the Proust is wonderful. I'm very surprised that 'To Kill a Mockingbird' isn't on the list.
Still, I think that the whole idea is very interesting.

Life Moves Pretty Fast

2012-01-31T08:21:00.001-06:00

I enjoyed this.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - 2012

2012-01-30T10:02:00.004-06:00

This is a nominee for Best Picture this year.

Oskar Schell is a young boy who has lost his father and had his world shattered. His father (played by Tom Hanks) had a chance appointment at the World Trade Center on September 11th and didn't make it. Oskar is trying to put things back together but he is borderline Aspergers and making those emotional leaps is beyond him.
To try and help him get to meet people, Oskar's father set up 'expeditions' for him. These involved map work and finding and exploring clues. With his father gone, Oskar finds a clue that he thinks must lead to something and sets off on an enormous expedition that takes him all over New York. He meets strangers and finds that almost everyone has their own pain and it's impossible not to share it.
His mother is played by Sandra Bullock and it's one of the more wrenching roles that I've seen lately. She is trying to grieve for her husband while living with a boy who gives her no empathic support. It's painful to watch but the payoff is well worth it.
I thought this was a very good movie but it's not for the faint of heart. You can't help but feel for Oskar but at the same time he's a bit frustrating to watch. You just want to somehow snap him out of his mental state. (Thank God, we don't have this problem at home!) Anyway, it was well worth seeing and it certainly is a deserving Oscar nominee.

Happy Monday

2012-01-30T10:02:00.001-06:00

Least Compelling Super Bowl

2012-01-29T13:35:00.002-06:00

I'm not the least bit excited for the Super Bowl next week and I'm trying to figure out why. Some of it is because it's hard to be excited for Boston or New York teams. Since 2000 those two cities have won an absurd 10 championships in the MLB, NHL, NBA and NFL. To make it worse, the same football teams here have won recently with the Giants in 2007 and the Patriots in 2001, 2003 and 2004. In short, we've seen this all before.
But how unique is this really? Let's take a look!

2010, Packers/Steelers, first SB appearance for the Packers since 97. Rodgers proves he can replace Favre.
2009, Saints/Colts, first SB appearance for the Saints in their history
2008, Steelers/Cardinals, first SB appearance for the Cardinals in their history
2007, Giants/Patriots, Pats go for an undefeated season. Eli Manning proves he is more than just Payton's little brother.
2006, Colts/Bears, first SB appearance for the Colts since 1970, first SB appearance for the Bears since 1985. Colts finally get past Pats to make the SB.
2005, Steelers/Seahawks, first SB appearance for the Seahawks.
2004, Patriots/Eagles, first SB appearance for the Eagles since 1980.
2003, Patriots/Panthers, first SB for the Panthers
2002, Buccaneers/Raiders, first SB appearance for the Bucs, first SB appearance for the Raiders since 1983
2001, Patriots/Rams, both teams had appeared recently (Pats 1996, Rams 1999) but Pats team was very different than the '96 team. First SB for Tom Brady.
2000, Ravens/Giants, first SB appearance for the Ravens.
1999, Rams/Titans, first SB for the Titans, first SB appearance for the Rams since 1979.
1998, Broncos/Falcons, first SB appearance for the Falcons.
1997, Broncos/Packers, Broncos had lost previous four SB appearances.
1996, Packers/Patriots, first Packer appearance since 1967, first Pats appearance since 1985.
1995, Cowboys/Steelers, first Steelers appearance since 1979.
1994, 49ers/Chargers, first SB for Chargers.
1993, Cowboys/Bills, rematch of previous year, Bills had lost previous 3 SB appearances
1992, Cowboys/Bills, first SB appearance for Cowboys since 1978.

And on and on. In the past twenty years there was only one game where both teams had been in SB very recently with the same QBs and coaching staffs and that involved the hard luck, easy to root for Buffalo Bills of the early 90s. This has none of that.

Be Right Back

2012-01-28T15:31:00.003-06:00

We're taking a small break this weekend. The FP Gal and I are out living the playboy lifestyle at a hotel while various grandmothers watch the kids.

Have a Great Friday

2012-01-27T09:58:00.000-06:00

Top Five April Movies

2012-01-26T10:02:00.002-06:00

Again, spring movies are tough. Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Bull Durham - My all time favorite baseball movie and it isn't very close. I try to watch it each year right around opening day. Better than other baseball movies it captures the 'play every day' magic of the baseball season.

Amelie - One of the most charming movies ever made. I don't know what time of year the movie is supposed to be set in but it strikes me as a spring movie. It has that new life feel of springtime to it.

Bambi - Very much a spring movie. The scene with all of the young animals coming out and meeting each other marks this movie.

Wizard of Oz - Another movie that I think was on the TV each year during this month. Or at least that's the vibe that I'm remembering. Can anyone back me up on this?

Princess Bride - I'm not sure why I think of this with spring but I do. Maybe it's because of the light humorous touches throughout.

(On a side note, we really could use some more obvious spring movies . . .)

Back to the Moon?

2012-01-26T09:58:00.002-06:00

I put this over on the political blog but on reflection, it's not really that political.

Yesterday Newt Gingrich made some waves by suggesting that we could have a permanent moon base by the end of his second term. This was widely laughed off as Newt being crazy. Put aside considerations as to whether or not going back to the moon would be a good idea, is it technically possible? This is from last month's 'Astronomy' magazine. (I couldn't find the article online so I'm retyping this, any typos are mine.)

For example, SpaceX has already announced plans to build a heavy-lift rocket called the Falcon Heavy. It will be capable of putting more than 50 tons into orbit, and is financed from the profits and publicity earned from its Dragon supply missions to the Iss as well as SpaceX's other commercial satellite launches. Using Falcon Heavy, the company could launch Bigelow Aerospace's BA 330 space station as well as the additional supplies and rocket engines needed to take that module beyond Earth orbit and to the Moon.
Even more significant, Falcon Heavy and BA 330 will cost far less and be ready to fly much sooner than NASA's current proposal to build its own heavy0lift rocket to launch its Orion capsule for missions beyond Earth orbit. The first manned test flight of the NASA-built rocket, announced in September 2011, is not expected until 2021 and may cost somewhere between $25 and $60 billion to develop. In contrast, SpaceX built Falcon 9 for just $300 million and went from a blank sheet of paper to its first launch in only 4 years. Because Falcon Heavy is essentially three Falcon 9 first stages strapped together, the development cost for it will likely be as inexpensive and as straightforward as it was for Falcon 9.
Thus, not only would the private rocket be an affordable way for many rich tourists to get to the Moon, but it also would be a far more cost-effective method for the United States, or any other nation, to get there. All NASA would have to add is a lunar lander, something America already has experience building.

Keep in mind that this is from last month, published well before Gingrich said anything. It certainly doesn't seem like eight years is an insurmountable timeline. I don't know how much longer it would take to design a permanent base but this is a problem that people have been working on for literally decades. It sure seems like if we had the will we could do it.

"Football"

2012-01-24T22:13:00.002-06:00

DF and I came home today and I asked him what he wanted to do. (Tuesday is Nana-day for Relia so she goes over there in the afternoon.) So I asked him and he said 'tv'. I suggested baseball and he said 'football!'. So we turned on the tv and I looked around for some football for him. The NFL network had one of their top 10 shows on so we watched that for a bit.
At some point he wanted the blanket on us so I helped him with it. (It's much bigger than him and probably outweighs him 2 to 1.) So there we were, all cuddled up together watching some football. The top 10 was 'best hands' and when number one was Cris Carter I confidently told him that I'd been sure it would be.
Sometimes this dad stuff is pretty ok.

Oscar Nominations

2012-01-24T08:53:00.002-06:00

Hey, they've released the Oscar nominations! Let's take a look, shall we? For Best Picture we have:

"The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
"The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
"The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
"Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
"Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
"Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
"The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
"War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

This year we saw a grand total of none of these. My Mom saw (and loved) 'The Help'. We're going to go see 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' this weekend. I've heard raves about 'Hugo' and 'Moneyball'. I don't know if there is a front runner, per se but it looks like a fine set of movies.
In fact I'm struck by how mainstream this list is. I think you could describe 'The Artist' and 'Tree of Life' as prohibitively art-house. Maybe 'Midnight in Paris' too, but Woody Allen is kind of his own institution at this point. Everything else was mass marketed. I think that the expansion of the nomination list has served them well here. No matter which movie wins, this is a more accessible list than the ones we were getting a few years back.

Happy Monday

2012-01-23T11:39:00.001-06:00

Playoffs

2012-01-22T12:52:00.002-06:00

I won the first two games last week to bring my overall record to 6-0. Then on Sunday the Ravens won but didn't cover and of course the Packers (thankfully) lost. So 6-2 overall going into this week. Only two games today and after them we'll know who we have in the Super Bowl.

Ravens at Patriots (-9)
Another great offense versus great defense game. On paper I'd have to go with the Pats but my gut tells me otherwise. I'll pick Baltimore and hope that they pull off the upset.

Giants at 49ers (-3)
Did you see the 49ers win last week? Incredibly emotional and the history of teams the week after emotional wins is not that great. Of course the Giants kind of did the same thing while beating the Packers. I think that whomever wins this game is also favored to win it all. Or at least that's how I'll almost certainly pick it. And I think it will be San Francisco.

There is a subtext to my picks this week. If the Ravens and 49ers meet in the Super Bowl it will be the first time in NFL history that the championship teams are coached by brothers. Which would be pretty darn cool.

Baseball in January

2012-01-21T08:21:00.002-06:00

This morning DF and I were doing things downstairs and I put some 'Phineas and Ferb' on the TV, mostly for him. He watched for a while and then went up to the screen, pointed and said "No kids! Baseball!".
Well. I'm not going to ignore that. Fortunately MLB.tv still lets me access games from last season so I went over to the AppleTV and pulled up some meaningless late season game against the Bluejays. He was immediately mollified. In the second inning one of the White Sox players hit a home run. I did the 'put it on the board, yes!' thing and DF got really into it with me.

Pitchers and catchers report next month and we'll have real live meaningful games in April. DF and I are very excited for it.

Have a Great Friday

2012-01-20T09:52:00.002-06:00

Car Music

2012-01-19T21:46:00.002-06:00

I've run into a new problem. For years I've been making mix discs to play in the car (yes, I'm way behind in the whole MP3 thing). The problem used to be making sure that the music was appealing to the FP Gal, or at least not too obnoxious. I can usually hit that target.
Relia was ok because for the most part she really digs my music. The problem? She is now old enough to actually listen to the lyrics and ask what they mean.
Now, I don't listen to hardcore rap or anything like that. In fact if anything it's the old 80's emo music that presents a problem. I listen to Altered Images 'I Could be Happy' and she wants to know why the girl needs to "get away/run away". She wants to know what that 'girl' wants when I listen to the Smiths 'Please, Please, Please'.
I keep flashing to the first scene from 'High Fidelity' where John Cusack talks about the millions and millions of love songs that any given teenager will hear.

On the other hand, whenever this song comes on, the kids love it. At the end DF says 'again!'.

Top Five March Movies

2012-01-18T19:23:00.002-06:00

Once again with the movies, this time with March. Spring is tough for this. There just aren't many movies out there that scream spring. Or at least not many that connect with what I think of with spring. Per usual, any comments and suggestions are welcome.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Ok, this is still a winter movie. But March (at least up here in Minnesota) is still a winter month. Great love story, fascinating visuals, easily the best Jim Carey movie.

Waking Ned Devine - In honor of St Patrick's day, here is my favorite Irish movie. A man in a small Irish village wins the lottery. Unfortunately the shock of it kills him. The rest of the village decides to pretend that he is still alive so they can split the money.

Hoosiers - March also brings us basketball tournaments and this is the best basketball movie around. Shivers and chills, the whole thing.

Fiddler on the Roof - Not sure why I associate this with March. I know sometimes Passover falls there but not all that often. Did it used to be on TV every March or something? Anyway, it's a great musical and quibbling shouldn't stop it from being watched here.

Lord of the Rings trilogy - I'll admit that this is a personal choice and may not tie into March very well. I told you that Spring is tough! Maybe it's the combination of long nights and cabin fever or something but for some reason it feels right to load these up in March.

School Shopping

2012-01-17T23:00:00.002-06:00

This morning the FP Gal and I went on a couple of school tours to see where Relia (and probably the rest of our litter) will go. The best school we went to was one that is an International Baccalaureate school. When Wikipedia comes back up I'll see if they have a good explanation of what that is. The basic concept is that they have a program with schools all around the world and they concentrate on creating thinkers.
What amazed me both at this school and at the more traditional one we visited was just how aggressive the teaching is nowadays. At the public school we went to we stopped in to see a third grade classroom that was working on 'literary theory'. On the screen they were working with bullet points that emphasized things like 'Recognize the use of onomatopoeia' and 'Recognize the importance of understatement'. We might have hit on such things later in school but certainly not in my third grade classes. The FP Gal said that math teaching is pretty aggressive too.
Frankly, I did not know this. I'm sure my kids will do fine and it looked like the kids in the classroom were all following along well. But this makes it tough to really compare how kids are doing now with how they did when I was back there.
One other example, at the IB school we popped our heads into a second grade classroom and saw that they were working on a project about money. It was explained to us that several weeks ago they had started with some play bartering, then they developed products. And now after learning about markets and supply and demand, they were finishing up by spending their own made up currency on things they had created. Wow!
Needless to say, we came away very impressed.

MLK Day

2012-01-16T22:22:00.003-06:00

The FP Gal and I tried to explain who Martin Luther King Jr was today. She got some of it but not all. We told her that he tried to change rules that were unfair. That she understood. His being killed was tougher. She has some concept of death but she doesn't seem to care about things like 'what happens after you die'. Instead she wants to know about things like, 'what did they do with the body?' and 'where did they put the gun?'. (MLK was buried in Atlanta and I'm not sure that the gun was ever recovered.)
Tonight we were talking about holidays and Relia wanted me to list all of them. She mentioned that today is 'King Arthur day'. We gently corrected her. Y'know, I never realized how many similar sounds there are between Martin Luther King and King Arthur. Guess you need a more flexible mind to make that connection.

Happy Monday

2012-01-16T09:40:00.002-06:00

Relia helped pick this out. She said she likes the clouds.

Watch!

2012-01-15T20:21:00.002-06:00

My uncle Jerry gave me a very nice watch for high school graduation. I wore it for years, being very careful not to whack the cyrstal on anything. But it had a problem. Every two years the battery would run out, but that is common and not a big deal. I'd take it in to get a new battery and no one could take the back off to change it. That was the problem!
About ten years ago I found I checked at a shop out at the MOA and found a crazy little lady who had the goods. In the space of a few minutes she a) she got the back off, b) proposed marriage, c) changed the battery and d) gave my girlfriend who was with me a discount on a different watch. (I may be fuzzy on this but it seemed like that. As I said 'crazy'.) And then sadly her shop closed up and I couldn't find her. And again no one could open it up to change it.
After some time the battery ran down and that was that. I set it somewhere safe and occasionally thought about searching really hard for the crazy lady so I could get the darn thing running again. But it didn't happen and it didn't happen.
Then the other day Relia saw a picture from the wedding, a close up of the FP Gal's hand and mine as we were showing off our very cool rings. She said, "hey, you have a watch on!". And then asked why I don't wear it anymore. (Hon, if read this far and want to insert that picture into this post, please do.)
Anyway, long story short, there is a new shop out at the mall and they were able to fix it quickly and easily. So now I have to retrain myself to put the watch on. And I will. It just feels better to have it on my wrist.

Football Rivalries

2012-01-14T18:50:00.002-06:00

Yesterday while driving home with Relia she saw a house with a Green Bay Packer flag and mailbox. She has noticed it before and has asked me if the people there like football. Um, yeah, I'm guessing they do. No one would put that stuff up there to class up a house.
As we watch football games she always wants to know which team is which. Which color goes with what name and where they are from. She must be catching on because she could recognize the Packer stuff.
Then we had this conversation:

Relia: We don't like the Packers, right?
Me: That's right.
Relia: We like the Vikings!
Me: (smiling) Yes we do.
Relia: And we don't like the Packers because they steal things, right?
Me: Uh, no. They don't steal things. Not that I know of.
Relia: (trying to work it out) I thought I heard you say that they steal things.
Me: I don't know what you heard sweetheart but that isn't why I don't like them.
Relia: Then why?
Me: (thinking quickly) Because when they win then the Vikings can't win.
Relia: (still confused) Oh.

I'm torn here. I'd like my kids to share my likes and dislikes yet at the same time it's tough to teach your four year old why she should respect a sports rivalry. And the only thing I can figure out with the 'stealing' thing is that the Packers look a bit like the Steelers.

And in a few months I have to teach her why we don't like the Cubs!

Playoffs

2012-01-14T18:35:00.002-06:00

Meant to get this up earlier today. Whoops!

Saints (-3.5) at 49ers
A classic great defense vs great offense battle. I could see the Saints blowing them out or the 49ers grinding out a win. I'll go with the home team, San Fran here. (And yes, the picks are up late but this is how I picked them in the football pool too.)

Broncos at Patriots (-14)
On paper the Pats should win this game and win it big. And if they do win it will almost certainly be by at least the two touchdowns they're favored by. Ah, but there is the Tebow factor here. I rode it last week for the upset over the Steelers. But not this time. I think I'd enjoy a Broncos win more but I don't think they do it. I'll go with New England.

Texans at Ravens (-9)
The Texans made the playoffs for the first time this year and even won their first game. The Ravens have been there quite a bit over the last decade. I don't trust either QB. Both have great running backs and great defenses. I think that the Ravens win, but do they cover? Ah . . . yeah, I guess so. I'll pick Baltimore.

Giants at Packers (-9)
The Packers are the best team in the league this year (probably). The Giants are one of the hottest teams right now. The Giants have a more complete team, good offense and good defense. The Packers have a great offense and a lousy defense. Man, I want the Giants to win and win outright. But my history of sports rooting doesn't go that way. Sadly I'll go with Green Bay here.

Last week I went 3-1. The coin went 1-3. This week the coin picks

Saints
Patriots
Texans
Giants

No Dentist

2012-01-13T11:58:00.002-06:00

They actually called us and canceled. There is unhappiness but what can you do?

And this reminds me that I didn't mention our big blood sessions last weekend. When I got back from donating platelets I decided to look for a video of someone giving blood so that Relia had an idea of what was going on. (We'd thought of bringing her in so she could watch part of it but they have rules against that.)
Anyway, she spent the rest of the day swabbing us with pretend iodine and then drawing 'blood' with a red straw. She's got the basics down but I wouldn't trust her with real patients just yet.

Have a Great Friday

2012-01-13T10:50:00.002-06:00

A True Pregnancy Fact

2012-01-12T21:50:00.000-06:00

It turns out it is shockingly easy to convince your pregnant wife to pick up some cookies while she is at Target.

Sledding

2012-01-11T22:00:00.000-06:00

Very impressive. I'm a little afraid to show this to Relia. After today's spitting of snow she wanted to go to the sledding hill. Um, not quite yet, sweetheart.

Top Five February Movies

2012-01-11T11:32:00.004-06:00

Continuing along in my attempt to find the five best movies to fit each month, now comes February. These choices are personal and comment and suggestions is very welcome.

For February:
Groundhog Day - Let us start with the obvious one. This is easily the best film about a very minor holiday in movie history. It mixes interesting philosophical questions with humor and a giant 'what would I do?' approach. Ironically it's highly rewatchable.

Glory - February is Black History month and, while certainly not the only movie representative of the genre, this is my favorite. A very well told story about a lesser known chapter of the Civil War.

Sleepless in Seattle - And then comes the love stories. This movie is certainly one of the higher points of the romantic comedy genre. It has magic, kismet and is one of the few romantic movies where the couple doesn't even meet until the end. Very good stuff.

Casablanca - One of the best love stories of all time. Charming, touching and endlessly quotable. And with a goodly amount of smolder...

The English Patient - More love story but this one is overshadowed by the desert. In fact it wouldn't be that outrageous to call it a love triangle. In any case you can warm your February bones with glorious sand dunes. The very beautiful Juliette Binoche doesn't hurt either.

Kids Update

2012-01-10T17:47:00.002-06:00

I don't know if any of this is worth a post on its own but I thought a little roundup might work well.

Relia has her first dentist appointment on Friday. She's very excited. Keeps wanting to remind me. And the FP Gal. And Nana. And probably everyone at her preschool. This has given us a chance to brush up on days of the week as she keeps working out how many days until Friday.

The maps on the living room wall continue to be a big hit. We have both a US map and a world one. I like to show Relia where various cities are on the map and she likes going over to point at them.

DF also likes the maps. He knows that we point to them and he makes certain to join us so that he can get his pointing in too. This weekend he discovered that there are pictures on them of various local industry. So now we get 'apple, apple, apple!' as 'cow!'.

Both the FP Gal and I have to remind ourselves that he isn't two yet. I don't know if it's because he's big or if we just don't remember what two is like. But we both do it. He has taken to walking around with the plastic White Sox bat. When he does I call him Bam Bam. He doesn't get the joke but he does like to be included.

We think we may (and I stress 'may') have decided on both a boy and a girl name. This is kind of a relief for us. We had a pretty good girl name about a week after we knew we needed one but the boy name has been a very tough nut to crack. We'll share when it's time.

That's it!

Happy Monday

2012-01-09T11:38:00.001-06:00

Skagway

Chalk

2012-01-08T16:21:00.002-06:00

Relia and I spent a little time this afternoon writing on the front steps with chalk. Please look at the date of this post. I'd really, really like for this to be an annual tradition for this date but I'm doubtful we'll be able to do so.

'Daimyo'

2012-01-08T11:15:00.002-06:00

For a week or so DF has been puzzling us with the word 'daimyo'. He says it repeatedly and clearly and the context seems to change from time to time. It's an actual word. From wikipedia:

Daimyo (大名 Daimyō^?, Pronunciation (help·info)) is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords^[1] in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings. In the term, "dai" (大^?) literally means "large", and "myō" stands for myōden (名田^?), meaning private land.^[2]

So apparently he's a Japanese history buff! Surprising in one so young but it's important to nurture early inspirations, right?

And then we figured it out. He was simply saying 'down-we-go'. Poor little DF was simply trying to tell us that he wanted down from chairs, couches or holding arms.

The more you know, I guess.

Reading

2012-01-07T22:51:00.002-06:00

Keep in mind that there are some good selections up for January over here. There is:

Plato's 'Apology', in which you can help me figure out what the heck Socrates was up to.
Plato's 'Crito', where you can figure out the idea that made my libertarian leaning jaw drop.
Aristophanes' 'Clouds', and chuckle along with me at a fairly novel use for philosophers.

and

Aristophanes' 'Lysistrata', to find an ancient anti-war remedy.

Some good stuff there . . .

Playoffs

2012-01-07T08:17:00.002-06:00

Time again for my annual attempt to perfectly pick the playoffs. Ready?

Bengals at Texans (-4)
One of the things that I like about this year's playoff teams is how many down on the their luck franchises are there this year. Exhibit A is this game and it's a shame that both fans can't experience a win here. On the field it's tough to tell who should win this. Houston is a better team but they have had serious injury issues. Ah, I'll go with the home team and pick Houston.

Lions at Saints (-10.5)
The Saints are quite possibly the best team in the NFL right now. The Lions have some issues, both with talent and temperament. It's tough to see how Detroit comes through here except . . . nah, I'll still go with New Orleans.

Falcons at Giants (-3)
Like the last game this one features one team that is kind of schizo and one with a lower level of talent. Only in this one, it's two different teams. I suppose I should go with the better team, especially when they're at home but I've got a hunch that New York folds. I'll go with Atlanta.

Steelers (-8) at Broncos
Home dog in the playoffs? When the favored team's QB is working with one foot and their top running back is out? And the underdog has this year's football story of the year? Um, no. I'll go with Denver here.

As always, I'll go against a coin and see which one is better:
Bengals
Saints
Falcons
Steelers

Have a Great Friday

2012-01-06T09:04:00.001-06:00

In case anyone reading this is missing snow . . .

Crash Day

2012-01-05T15:46:00.002-06:00

Nine years ago today I took the Sportage off-road. Be careful on the ice out there, ok?

Around the World

2012-01-05T09:42:00.002-06:00

This one looks best in full screen. What an amazing trip that must have been!

Top Five January Movies

2012-01-04T19:48:00.002-06:00

We're very comfortable with the idea of movies that fit with various parts of the year, the best example being the large selection of Christmas movies for December. I was curious if I could come up with five movies that best fit each particular month. These choices are necessarily personal. Comment and suggestion is very welcome.

For January:
When Harry Met Sally - This might seem a strange choice for January since the action in the movie takes place at all times of the year. The climax scene centers on a New Year's Eve party so I'm declaring that it has crept over the line and into the new year. Besides, December has more than enough movies of its own.

Fargo - I don't know of an earlier movie that got an upper Midwest winter right before this one. Especially the scenes of snowy fields and the snow covered cars in parking lots. Cold, cold, cold!

A Simple Plan - Maybe not as well known, but this movie takes place in a snowy Wisconsin. The plot centers on a family that finds some stolen money and tries to hide it from the police. Unfortunately the lies they tell become more and more difficult to keep straight and the web tightens. A very good movie.

The Shining - Again with the snow and the cold. I know of no better movie that gets to the heart of cabin fever during the winter. Seriously, after a few days of being snowed in with my family it would get ugly too.

Lawrence of Arabia - And the antidote for all of the cold and snow? How about some of the best desert cinematography and story-telling ever. Put this on during the bleakest part of January and by the middle of the movie you'll be pushing the blankets off and wanting to make some ice tea.

Policed!

2012-01-03T21:44:00.003-06:00

As I mentioned I got ticketed back around Thanksgiving. I was driving on 35W and I didn't pull over a lane while a police car was on the shoulder. He pulled me over and then yelled at me for a few minutes. I didn't talk back to him at all. In fact, when he came up to the car I wasn't sure what I'd done. The shoulders on 35W are fairly wide and I judged that there was plenty of distance between me and the parked car. What I've learned is that I'm not allowed to make that judgment call.
I told the FP Gal later that day. I was ashamed for having done something wrong, especially in front of the kids. We looked at the ticket and it didn't have a fee on it. So I called into the system and asked how much it would be. We then wrote out a check and sent it in.
On the ticket it says that paying money is the same as a guilty plea. And I'll go ahead and plead guilty here. I should have moved over. I think that the law could maybe have a bit more elasticity but that probably wouldn't work. So be it. I did the crime and now I was ready to pay my fine.
Only the check came back to us along with a note saying that we would receive a court summons. A court summons. Apparently there was endangerment so there has to be a court appearance. And when do we get said summons? This is the frustrating part. No one knows. It depends on when they 'get to it' or something like that. And if the summons gets lost in the mail or misdelivered? Well, then I'll have a warrant out for me.
Gah!
They did helpfully tell me that if I haven't seen anything in another month I should call again.
Double gah!!

I just want to put this all behind me; pay my fine and be done with it. I've already had my lecture and believe me, I have learned my lesson. Please let me go!

Overheard

2012-01-02T12:12:00.002-06:00

Back around Thanksgiving I was driving the kids to Relia's swim lesson when I got pulled over and ticketed. There was a cop on the side of 35W and I didn't pull over a lane when passing. He came up and gave a quick and angry lecture which made a big impression on some little ears. Paying the ticket has been a minor nightmare but I'll right about that in a different blog post.
Yesterday, while eating lunch with the FP Gal's family Relia leaned over to me.

Relia: (whispering) Isn't this a good time to tell everyone about the time you got policed?
Me: (whispering back) NO.

This morning while we were out driving down 35W again I was reminded of this and decided to have a word with her about how I'd rather not share this with anyone and everyone.

Me: Relia, about the time that daddy was, um, 'policed'. I'd rather not tell everyone about that ok?
Relia: But how will they know that it happened then?
FP Gal: Daddy doesn't really want to tell everyone about that.
Relia: That's ok. I'll tell them!

She really didn't understand.

Happy Monday

2012-01-02T08:45:00.001-06:00

(It is Monday, right?)

2011 Vikings RIP

2012-01-01T23:46:00.003-06:00

The season is (mercifully) over and I want to put down some thoughts now so I can look back and laugh later.

This was only the second Viking team of my lifetime to 3-13. The other one (in 1983) was almost certainly a worse one. For instance, of the Vikings 13 losses, no fewer than 9 were by less than a touchdown. That means one tipped ball or dropped pass from the opposition or some other fluke in those games and they could have won any of them.

Their other four losses were by deficits of 29, 38, 10 and 22. So they lost a ton of games but only were blown out three times. This wasn't a terrible team. Or at least, not an all time terrible team.

Their three wins were by margins of 24, 3 and 7. So all in all they played 11 out of 16 games to less than a touchdown difference. Yeesh.

Enough with the scores though, what do they do moving forward? Back in the spring I wanted them to draft the best O-lineman they could and roll the dice with Webb at quarterback. Instead they grabbed Ponder for QB. We got to see plenty of him this season and you can see the potential. He might be a pretty good QB in time.
The problem is that every time Webb has been given an opportunity, he's been pretty good. I keep hearing that he couldn't be a franchise quarterback and for the life of me, I don't understand why not. As a back up he'll be better than some of the other QBs that start next season for other teams. Maybe the Vikings really do have this figured out but I could use some convincing.
What else? The defensive secondary looked old this year. Maybe next draft they pick a cornerback with the third pick and then another one early in the second round. For the last few years the Viking defensive backfield has been awful and that needs to change. It could also be that the Vikes need to abandon the Tampa 2 defense. I watch other teams play and the opposing receivers are covered and I think, why not us?
The offensive line needs help and that help should come in a hurry. I don't know if that means drafting or simply going out and finding bodies but it needs to be improved. I keep hearing that next year's draft should be deep for receivers. If so, then I hope they hold off until the late rounds.

The last year and a half have been just abysmal for Minnesota sports (except for the Lynx). I wonder how long until the rebound?

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T07:33:00.002-06:00

We didn't stay up that late considering (probably 1a) but Relia decided that we needed a slumber party sometime around 5a. Not the best beginning to the year. Oh well, the day is bound to get better, right?

Blogaversary

2011-12-31T14:36:00.003-06:00

If my math is right, this is the seventh anniversary since this blog here was created.

Update: And my math was not right. This is the eigth anniversary. Yeesh.

2011 Year in Review

2011-12-31T13:45:00.002-06:00

It feels like it's been a busy year but I can't really account for much of it. The 'recently read' list on the side of my blog is about 15 months out of date (and I don't think I'll fill the gap). Time to restart it though, I think. We saw few movies of note this year and almost nothing 'must see'. At least nothing that I can remember.
I guess this year was spent just living with the kids. I worked part time all year, something I haven't done since leaving home. This meant that I got to spend simply a ton of time getting to know my children. Also got so spend more time with the FP Gal, which is clearly a plus. On the downside, I now feel very disconnected with the outside world.

Best book I read this year? That's a tough one. My Hugo reading fell off, or at least fell out of order. And the reviews dried up completely. The best one was probably 'The Vor Game' by Bujold, but the most enjoyable was probably 'Blackout/All Clear' by Willis. I also really enjoyed 'The Hunger Games' by Collins. For the first time in many years I didn't read any Booker prize books. Not sure why; it just didn't happen. There were two notable non-fiction books for me. The first I've mentioned already, 'How to Read a Book' by Adler but the second one caught my imagination more. It was 'The Long Way' by Bernard Moitessier, one of the sailors on the first round the world race. The book deserves it's own post and who knows, it may even get one. Suffice it to say, he was an interesting man.
I've looked through this list and as far as I can tell we only saw two movies in the theater this year. We saw 'The King's Speech' back in March and the last Harry Potter movie in July. That's it. Looking through the list there were at least three or four other movies that I wanted to see. In other words, what an awful year for movies!

So back to the kids. 2011 saw DF's first steps and a full blooming of his personality. He's talking quite a bit now, even singing from time to time. He has opinions and preferences and somehow has become a huge daddy's boy. I'm proud and a little awed by the responsibility!
Relia just keeps getting more and more adult. She still throws the occasional tantrum but you can sometimes see the wheels turning as she tries to keep control. She plans ahead, tries to find solutions and even develops schemes. Relia is becoming very, very smart. Both in terms of knowledge collection but also in how she puts things together. I could hardly be prouder.

Of course next year will bring new challenges and another bundle of joy. I think back to where I was ten years ago and it seems like I've come impossibly far in such a short period of time.

Austin Puzzle

2011-12-30T21:44:00.002-06:00

Heidi gave me a puzzle of Austin. Yep, Austin MN, the town that knew me when. A pretty cool thing, the puzzle is centered on the house that I grew up in.
The other night the FP Gal and I put it together. A 400 piece puzzle, it took us about five hours to get it all done. The actual town area (shaded red) was fairly easy. The surrounding countryside was very difficult.
Despite the look of intense concentration, we had lots of fun doing this.

Have a Great Friday

2011-12-30T08:28:00.002-06:00

Sick

2011-12-29T19:07:00.002-06:00

Sick sick sick sick sick. And it ruined a day off as Dad came up to watch the kids for us. Guh.

Updates

2011-12-28T11:29:00.002-06:00

Sorry, didn't mean for the blog to go dark there. It just kind of slipped away from me. On Monday we went to Willernie to see some friends and family. We met at Aunt Liz's house so we could see how it's been refurbished. It was a great time. Afterwards Mom came over so we could exchange gifts.
And then I was done, done, done. That was three days in a row watching the kids at other houses. That's three away games in a row. Throw in new toys for the kids and the FP Gal and I were both exhausted. After we put them down for bed we slowed things down with a card game and had an easy night.
Yesterday was a good one. The FP Gal is off for winter break and she gave me an easy day. She took the kids to daycare and picked them up afterwards. Then she was off to her parents for dinner, leaving me with more blissful calm.

Ahhhhhhh . . .

Merry Christmas Everyone

2011-12-25T15:51:00.002-06:00

Lots of wonderful stuff going on but the image that is sticking with me right now is DF and his new yellow Tonka dump truck. He's been running around the downstairs with that most of the afternoon. He holds on to the back (the dumper?) and runs and runs. Sometimes he comes to a controlled stop but not always. He's taken about 40 or 50 pratfalls, anyone of which would have retired me to the couch for the rest of the afternoon.
Relia after him with a flashlight, also smiling. She's playing with various dolls other princess related things. Also very happy.
They say that Christmas is for kids and while that isn't quite true, it's easy to see what is meant.

Sky Lanterns

2011-12-24T23:22:00.002-06:00

If you don't know what I was talking about in the previous post, you can see some lanterns here:

Of course we only launched two, not 11,000 but it was still thrilling.

Christmas Eve Day

2011-12-24T22:57:00.002-06:00

It was a busy day so I'll just go with highlights:

Drove down to Austin this morning. The kids surprised us by not taking a nap. Yep, neither one took the nap that we expected. Well, not that surprising with Relia but DF regularly naps in the morning. This did not bode well.
Met up with Dad and spent some time at his place. It's always interesting to see what the kids will adopt there. For Relia it was a large bell. For DF it was a mechanical dog that we got for Grandma many years ago.
After lunch we drove for quite some time so we could get the kids to sleep. After they dropped off we went to Joann's so the FP Gal could get some things. (I may have caught a few winks too while listening to the game on the radio.)
Over to Aunt Donna's and Uncle David's. Able to watch some football and relax.
DF got to spend some time with an honest to God gog (dog). You may remember that he is on patrol for them out of several windows in our house. This time he had one right there. And it scared him. Whenever Jackson (the gog) moved quickly or got too close, DF retreated to daddy. By the end of the day he warmed up a bit but not very much. Apparently gogs are better in theory than in practice.
Went to the candle-light service at dad's church. We told her that she could hold a real lit candle and at the end of the service she was able to. The FP Gal and DF listened to things from the nursery which worked out very well.
Back to Donna and David's to spend time with the family. Had some excellent potato soup and some Christmas cookies. DF discovered how wonderful white chocolate is.
Way back last spring I got some sky lanterns for a project I had in mind. Unfortunately I haven't figured out any place in the cities that I can actually launch the durn things. So I took them down to Austin and we launched two of them from the edge of town. It was windy and we had trouble figuring out how to get them launched. One ended up in the trees but the second one went up and up and up and may have ended up in Wisconsin or Michigan. It was very cool and now I need to figure out where to launch the seven I have left.
Back home and with some effort got the kids into bed waaaaay after their normal bedtime. I wish that meant they would sleep in tomorrow but it probably won't work that way.

It was a fun day and my only regret is that we wanted more time with family.

Have a Great Friday

2011-12-23T07:42:00.001-06:00

Comet from Orbit

2011-12-22T20:42:00.002-06:00

Incredible video from the ISS. The flashes in the opening is a thunderstorm seen from overhead. Then a comet comes over the horizon. It must be amazing up there.

Overheard

2011-12-22T08:39:00.002-06:00

The DF leads me to the front window.

DF: Gog! Gog!
Me: Is there a dog?
DF: (looking) No gog.
Me: Is there a bus?
DF: (looking again) No bus.
Me: Do you need a hug?
DF: No hug! All done! All done!

He got a hug anyway.

Noel Nouvelet

2011-12-21T22:29:00.002-06:00

I put together a Christmas CD last week and wanted a version of 'Noel Nouvelet' on it. After some searching, I settled on this version and boy howdy, it's gorgeous.
We sang this back in high school. I can't remember if we did it as a full choir or just in Austinaires. It's a traditional French Christmas carol and it's both beautiful and haunting.
Enjoy!

Overheard

2011-12-21T19:30:00.001-06:00

Tonight I told Relia about when I decided to cut my hair, oh so long ago.

Relia: You should grow it back.
Me: You think I should?
Relia: Yeah. Because right now you look like . . . you look like . . . a thumb.

Moon!

2011-12-20T20:17:00.003-06:00

DF has discovered the moon in a big way. Through books first, 'Goodnight Moon' and others, of course. But he's also discovered it hanging up there in the sky.
This morning started early. Relia came into our room about 430a with a complaint. The FP Gal (bless her heart) went with her and fixed things. Unfortunately, both of us were then awake. After some time I crept downstairs and the FP Gal dozed off again.
DF woke just before 6a and I brought him downstairs. While we russeled up breakfast he did his normal search for dogs at the various windows. No 'gogs' were found but a sliver of the moon was hanging up to the south of us.
"Moon, moon, moon" he said, to make sure that I saw it too. I agreed it was there. We looked again several times until nearly two hours later I dropped him off at daycare.
The FP Gal told me that he asked where it was tonight too. I'm sure he'll be at the south window looking again in the morning. Hard to explain to him that the moon is 'inconstant' and can't be trusted to be in the same place.
One of those lessons of growing up, I guess.

Happy Monday

2011-12-19T08:41:00.000-06:00

This pic has me breaking the tenth commandment in a big way . . .

Survivor Thoughts

2011-12-18T22:48:00.002-06:00

(Warning, spoilers ahead!)

So the season started with me writing this about 'Survivor' and the return of Coach and Ozzie. As the whole thing has now ended I thought it would be nice to bookend the season. Got it? Yes, there will be bullet points . . .

I was worried that Coach and Ozzie would over shadow the season. And they did. And I didn't really care for it. It was nice to see Coach continue his character arc as he really does seem to have learned some things. Ozzie on the other hand seemed to become more true to his nature. Interesting, but overall not worth it. All new contestants for next season please.
Not that either of them won. The winner was kind of quiet and behind the scenes all season. Interesting choice on the part of the producers. And yes, I think there were some societal double standards in play.
I was sooooo glad that the jury called the remaining people on the cult like quality of their tribe. It felt like several people were badgered into huge displays of religiosity by their peers. This didn't feel sincere organic. If anything, it felt like an open play to keep crazy Brandon at bay.
Speaking of Brandon, I can't think of a worse ambassador for Christianity over the past few months. He never seemed to really care about other people, certainly not in the universal sense that the best Christians display. He also sought cheap redemption on an almost daily basis. It takes more than just saying 'sorry', bro.
Of course, the flip side with Brandon is that he was obviously haunted by demons. It might be interesting to check back with him in ten years and see if he has stabilized somewhat. (Please Survivor producers, no sooner than that!)
In contrast to Brandon there was Dawn. What a wonderful person she seems to be! She could be in a pro-Mormon commercial tomorrow.

Game stuff, ok, let that be the end of returning players for a while. And if you simply have to bring them back, let me suggest a few things here.

Stop bringing back the over dogs. Bring back some people who showed potential but were sidetracked. Like the guy who was stuck on Redemption back on season 22. Or some of the people who were voted out first. Otherwise the game is overshadowed too much.
And mix up the tribes more! This season would have been much improved if the tribes had been scrambled when there was 16 or 14 players. The show is always better when the last group is split in more than two directions.
Get a few hardcore strategy board gamers out there. Seriously, find some veteran Diplomacy players. You'll end up with a better show.

I loved the scenery. I loved the challenges. I wish there would have been more likeable people to root for . . . but sometimes that's just how it is.

Dog Patrol

2011-12-17T20:48:00.003-06:00

DF is getting more and more wordy. Specifically, he's using more and more phrases. The most used one is "No dog" although he actually says 'no gog'. This is used when he looks out the back window for the neighbor's boxer or out the front across the street. He is constantly on the lookout for 'gogs'. Constantly.
Today at Target we were in the freezer section and he spotted a display. It has the Target dog and a Kemps cow together. He broke up into laughter! "Gog! Gog! Gog!" "Yes, buddy, I see the dog." And so on.
He also has a couple of picture books and he can hardly wait for the dog pages to come up. One of them has a potty on the other page. Because he spends so much time with the dog, he also knows the word 'potty'.

I'm trying to remember where Relia was at this stage and frankly I can't. Not without checking back at the blog history at least. I think he's farther along but I'm not sure. We were afraid that Relia's talkativeness would stunt him somehow. The theory being that she would talk so much that he wouldn't have to. That hasn't been the case at all.
In fact, I probably was wrong about his favorite word. If you totaled them all up his most used would easily be 'Relia'. When she's not around he looks for her. He talks about her. He misses her. The FP Gal said that he thinks Relia 'hung the moon'. I can't say it any better than that.

Have a Great Friday

2011-12-16T08:28:00.001-06:00

Little Colds

2011-12-15T22:48:00.003-06:00

Poor DF has a slight cold. Some coughing and runny nose. Obviously tired more easily. We're slightly afraid it will be the croup but if it is at least we know how to treat that.
And . . . I think I might have a little something going on with my system too. I've just been so tired all week. Maybe it's the early darkness or something.
Actually, I have no complaints about the weather at all this week. The temps have been in the 30's and we've had mists and rain. Reminds me of the week I spent in Oregon and Washington eight years ago in December. Ah.

12 Days of Christmas

2011-12-14T09:56:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I put together a new CD of Christmas songs. I included this one and played it for Relia in the car. She was upset that they kept 'messing up the song'. I told her that they were doing it for fun but I'm not sure she really believed me. Sweetheart, here it is, you can see it for yourself.

Have a Great Monday

2011-12-12T13:41:00.003-06:00

Computer Woes

2011-12-12T13:33:00.002-06:00

You might remember that I got a new computer right around Thanksgiving. I don't think that I shared the fact that it's disc drive didn't work. It would open up and close just fine, but then it would make a rattling noise and (worst of all) the computer had no idea that you'd given it something to read.
Yesterday I took it back and exchanged it for a different computer. The sale price on the new computer was a little better so I even got a little money back. All good.
Brought it home and set it up. Got all the things on the back plugged in. Went through the start up. Connected to the internet and (bam!) got hit with some kind of virus. I was seriously on for about three minutes and then a near constant stream of virus warnings shut it down. The computer wouldn't let me do anything. Even things like Free Cell were messed up.
So. I packed it back up and took it back this morning. Told them my woes and again they exchanged it. I've set it up too and it appears to be working. I'm connected and the disc drive is working. With any luck everything else will keep working too.

We hate these damn things when they break but man, do we rely on them.

Classics for Children

2011-12-10T13:59:00.002-06:00

I've been thinking about introducing the kids to some better lit recently. This urge becomes especially strong when she wants to watch some kind of tween show. With this in mind, I ran across this post from Stan where he talks about the things he has read to his kids. (Don't miss his first five suggestions.)
With this in mind I started reading 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' to Relia. She seems to like it but her attention span needs some work. We'll see if that improves with time. I also like the idea of reading some poetry to her. Everyone should have some appreciation of a good turn of phrase.

Have a Great Friday

2011-12-09T12:55:00.001-06:00

Kindle Note Making Powers

2011-12-08T21:07:00.002-06:00

I recently finished Adler's 'How to Read a Book'. Very good book and I'd recommend it to anyone who is interested in some serious analytical reading techniques. One of the first suggestions is to go heavy on the note taking. Underline, highlight and write stuff in the margins. They even suggest using the flyleaf!
This all makes some sense but I find the idea of actually marking up a book to be a near sacrilege. In my thirty some years of reading I have never written in a book guilt free. I don't bend the pages. I even feel bad when the spine on a paperback breaks. Taking notes in the actual book is a step too far.
Enter the Kindle. I've started doing the reading for the Great Books list (feel free to join in, should be fun!). To take a note you simply start typing with the key pad. It opens up a window for you to put your thought in. You can simply save this or 'save and share' and the window closes. A number appears in the text and you can move on.
Highlighting is even easier. You simply click on the text and move to the end of the thought that you want to highlight. Click again and (viola!) you've got it. As a bonus, you can see passages that lots of other people have highlighted too. This is interesting, if nothing else.
Push the menu button and you can access your notes and highlights. You can also see the most popular highlights of others. All as easy as can be.

Now I can mark up my readings!

Kitchen Gift Guide

2011-12-08T21:04:00.002-06:00

Megan McArdle has her annual Holiday Kitchen Gift Guide up and, as always, it's a fun read. If you have someone who likes to cook in your life, this is worth a read.

Left Handedness

2011-12-06T17:25:00.002-06:00

Interesting article in the WSJ on left handers (I want to say southpaws but that makes my dad upset). The FP Gal and I both have a left handed parent so our kids have a 1 in 4 chance of being lefties. Relia is clearly right handed and it's too soon to tell if DF tends towards the sinister. Only time will tell.

Happy Monday

2011-12-05T16:22:00.001-06:00

I'm thinking of moving the home office to here.

Snow

2011-12-04T22:25:00.002-06:00

Just so you/we had snow.

DF in a Hat

2011-12-03T18:48:00.002-06:00

This is DF's favorite hat. He likes to put it on and wander around the house. I'm more of a Fox in socks guy, but he really is adorable.

Most Popular Christmas Toy by Year

2011-12-03T14:02:00.002-06:00

According to the internet here (and if we can't trust the internet, what can we really trust?). Any errors come from me trying to decipher pictures. Or just simple internet mistakes. The list (with my commentary in parenthesis):

1960 - Barbie
1961 - Etch a Sketch
1962 - Troll doll
1963 - Easy bake oven
1964 - GI Joe
1965 - Operation
1966 - Action man (an action figure)
1967 - Battleship
1968 - Lite-Brite
1969 - Hot wheels
1970 - Nerf balls
1971 - Wheebles
1972 - Uno (much earlier than I thought)
1973 - Playmobile
1974 - Dungeons and Dragons (again, much earlier and more popular than I would have guessed)
1975 - Pong
1976 - Connect Four
1977 - Star Wars figures
1978 - Speak and Spell
1979 - Strawberry Shortcake (1979? really?)
1980 - Rubik's Cube
1981 - Legos (I'd guess this was always a high seller)
1982 - Bicycle
1983 - My Little Pony
1984 - Care bears
1985 - Cabbage Patch Kids (biggest fad toy ever?)
1986 - Transformers (last year that I was in tune with what was being bought I guess)
1987 - Pictionary
1988 - Stay Puft Marshmallow man (and I have trouble believing this)
1989 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
1990 - Super soaker water gun (not the biggest seller in Minnesota, I can guarantee that)
1991 - Nintendo game boy
1992 - Barney
1993 - Mortal Kombat game
1994 - Power Rangers
1995 - Pogs (am I really seeing that right?)
1996 - Tickle me Elmo (another big sensation)
1997 - Beanie babies
1998 - Furbies
1999 - Pokemon

I could maybe have guessed about five of those, all in that period of time between the age of 7 and 15.

Have a Great Friday

2011-12-02T07:57:00.002-06:00

Dorms

2011-12-01T22:01:00.002-06:00

I've been doing some in depth research into some schooling (I'll talk more about this at some point maybe). Anyway, I'm looking at a technical college here in the Cities and today I played with a tuition calculator. I was telling the FP Gal about this.
After inputting various factors it came up with a figure of over $12k. The FP Gal said this was less than she paid for her masters degree. I told her that it included $5k for room and board. She was relieved and told me that we could cover that here at home.
I told her that I'd always felt a little left out that I'd missed my chance at living in a dorm. She said something like 'you bet you have!'. Fair enough. Though I can't help but think of the shock on some 18 year old kid's face as he opens the door and a nearly 40 year old graybeard is sitting on the other bunk.
I wonder how long it would take him to ask me to get him some beer?
The FP Gal said that they'd probably pair me up with some 70 year old guy who was just trying to stay active. She's probably right. And I'm sure we'd get along just fine. Especially once we got that sock on the doorknob thing figured out.

Man, I wish that I'd just tackled this stuff when I was 18.

Overheard

2011-11-30T20:07:00.004-06:00

To help you understand this one, I need to tell the story of some book buying. Last year I took Relia to B&N Har Mar and let her pick out two kids books from the used section. One of them was a book about Hanukkah, detailing the lighting of the various candles. Just one more sign from the universe that our family should really be Jewish.
Anyway, this conversation took place yesterday on the ride from daycare:

Relia: (pointing at the house next to the place, yard covered with various Christmas decorations) Look, she has her Hanukkah candle up!
Me: Yep. It's called a 'candelabra'.
Relia: 'Candle-agra'. I hope that Nana puts hers candle-agra up soon.
Me: Does she have one?
Relia: Oh yes. And soon she'll put it up. (pause) And then she'll make angel food cake like she always does. (pause) And then Grandpa will sit and watch the stupid old TV.
Me: Um, is that a Hanukkah tradition too?
Relia: Yes, he does that every year.

For the record, the FP Gal's family isn't Jewish and I don't know if they have a candelabra or not. And as far as I know Grandpa doesn't really 'watch the stupid old TV' that much.
Where does she get this stuff?

Update: And now I find out that she was talking about a 'menorah' and I have no clue what I'm telling her.

Cold

2011-11-29T23:30:00.002-06:00

It's not even December yet (not quite) and I'm already having trouble dealing with the weather. We've only dipped into the 20s and it still feels . . . unfair somehow. I think Meigan said we deserve extra credit for living through Minnesota winters and that is certainly true. Unfortunately, I don't know what we're storing that credit up for. Maybe life on the upper plains makes it easier to get into heaven.
I feel this way especially in the morning. Our downstairs is very tricky in terms of gauging just how warm it is outside. As a result, I rarely feel confident that I got the kids dressed right. Once we get into true winter this won't matter as much because then you simply load on the clothes and go. During the transition periods it's harder.
I keep wishing we had a steam room in our house. Doesn't that sound nice? Not really a sauna as I want something wetter. Maybe like those big Russian baths. Today I actually ran the water in the shower for about twenty minutes while I sat in the bathroom and read.

Oh, this could be a long next few months.

Happy Monday

2011-11-28T14:33:00.002-06:00

Back to Status Quo

2011-11-27T22:55:00.004-06:00

Now that Thanksgiving is done, I'm hoping that things calm down here on Walton mountain. We're finally all healthy again. Probably. DF may still have some lingering thing. But he's no longer running a fever. (And yes, I knocked on wood after typing that out.)

I have a new computer up and running. Much to the FP Gal's consternation, I went with another HP. What can I say? I also bought another Kia after the last one dern near killed me. Guess having a product crash doesn't permanently chase me away as a customer.

Our house is becoming more and more Christmasy. Relia is incredibly aware of what's going on. She asked us today where Santa lives and wasn't satisfied with just 'at the north pole'. She wanted specifics. And then she tried to figure out where he puts all of his food. I suggested that he use the flying reindeer and she told me that 'he is magic and can go a week without food'. Then she got upset when I mentioned that Santa is pretty fat and would like to eat more often.