Future Poltergeist

The FP Gal got me a Viking snuggie for my birthday. It's to be worn up in my office which really isn't heated. (Tonight's starting temp up there was 45 degrees. That's away from my more enclosed area with it's personal space heater.) Anyway, tonight was the first night that I actually got it out of the package to wear. Relia was excited to see it. Her comment: "It's so . . . romantic!" Um, that isn't how I would describe (nor the FP Gal) but it's nice that she sees the world in happy terms.

(Relia helped me pick this out.)

Interesting article in the Washington Post about 'Settlers of Catan' and whether it's the game of the moment in the same way that 'Monopoly' was during the depression. 'Settlers' is the most popular of the German style of games and a very good starter game towards more serious strategy games. The Post's description: It is, like Monopoly, a multiplayer real-estate development game, in this case set on an island rich in natural resources to which players have limited access. You need ore to build a city, and if you can't mine enough yourself, you can trade - but the wood you surrender in exchange may help your partner, or boost or thwart someone else. In Settlers, the trading - and the interconnected fates of the players - keeps everyone involved even when they aren't rolling the dice; there are multiple ways to win; and players are often neck-and-neck until the very end. The game has been constructed to last an hour, 90 minutes tops. A...

Last week I talked with a very nice lady who needed to fly from Hartford CT to Boise ID. This involved a connection in Chicago and she had to choose between two options. One of them was based on the absolute minimum time necessary to get from one flight to the other and the next one would keep here in O'Hare for about four hours. She wanted the shorter one but if she missed the connection she'd be stuck in Chicago overnight. Got all that? Good. As we were talking through her options she asked me, "If I miss the flight, how far of a drive is it to Boise?". "Um, about two days." She had trouble believing this. I went on to tell her that it might be a shorter drive from Hartford to Chicago. What does Google say? Hartford to Chicago: 892 miles, 14 hours and 13 min. Chicago to Boise: 1691 miles, 1 day and 2 hours (and I'm calling 26 hours worth of driving at least two days) I don't mean this as a sneer at anyone's lack of spatial awareness. ...

Yesterday Relia started asking questions about Santa. Her first one was most intelligent: how does he come down into the fireplace and not get burned? I told her he was very careful and had been doing this for a long time. This was something of an offhand explanation and it was out of my mouth before I realized that I had just committed us to the Santa myth. The FP Gal and I really should have talked about it before now and gotten on the same page. Whoops! She seemed ok with this when I told her and I'm not sure if we would have been better off trying to defuse it anyway. The idea of Santa, the gift-bringer, is fairly prominent in the things she sees and the music that she hears. If she was the one kid at her preschool who knew the truth, then she'd just become a pain to other kids (and by extension) their parents. Besides (I tell myself) this isn't a harmful myth. I figured it out long before my parents fessed up. I've talked with co-workers who said the same ...

Our birthday weekend is nearly done and it was a very good one. I was asked this year if I like our matched birth dates and the truth is I really do. It gives us the chance to celebrate together. Some notes: My brother and sister have similar birth dates with their spouses too. Not as close as we do, but pretty close all the same. Either it is some kind of weird coincidence or some kind of strange astrology is at work. Two gifts really stand out. I got the first three seasons of 'Moonlighting' and a Lego Beach House . I have very fond memories of Maddie and David fighting and let's face it, this is probably the only beach house I'll ever have. The FP Gal was going to give me a football day without kids. The idea was that I'd go out someplace else and watch the game. Well, we had freezing rain overnight and I'm much afeared of the icy roads so that didn't quite work. But she kept them out of my hair anyway. Thanks, hon! It's been a good and eve...

I've got to admit, this is pretty interesting .

To the FP Gal! Another good year under our belt and you still look as lovely as the day that I first met you.

Audio version! We've got the Christmas CD in the car and Relia is struggling to understand this song. Santa isn't a baby. Felix is a baby! Anyway, this was from this morning's go round. Relia: What is she singing about? Me: She's trying to be nice to Santa so she can get some presents. Relia: (after some thought) From his bags? Me: Yes. Relia: All of the toys? Me: Well, kind of. Relia: (very quickly) And then she can get them all and put them in a garage sale so that I can get them and play with them! Me: Uh . . .

Link here . We haven't really dug deeply into this yet but I'm sure we will at some point.

The FP Gal mentioned that we've bumped each of the kids up one seat. That means Relia is now in a booster seat (and will be until she's 16 or something like that). This isn't a big change for her. The buckle mechanism is the same. The only real difference is that it's not quite as high a seat and she can't see out as well. But . . . she's growing pretty fast and that won't be an issue soon. Felix has now moved from the bucket style car seat to a more traditional one. (There are probably technical names and the FP Gal and all the ladies on her chat sites would probably laugh at my terminology. So be it.) The bucket was great because we would strap him into it while inside the house and then carry him to the car. Then it would lock into a base and be all set to go. On the other end of the trip you simply undo the bucket and you can carry his colossal bulk around. Not anymore! Now we carry him out to the car and fight with him over the straps. Then ...

I haven't written much about the Vikings this year in part because they've been hard to get a handle on. Didn't want to judge them much during pre-season because it was obvious that they were waiting on Favre to rush in and save them. In the first few games the offense looked rusty and the defense was just good enough for them to lose closely. They've had so many injuries and turnover at wide receiver that it seemed like a few good weeks of practice and they could get back to being a high powered offense. But it never happened. Instead they continued to start slowly and sputter along, still losing close games. Never really out of it, but never in control either. They looked like they were playing the third game of preseason. Every week, they looked like they were playing the third game of preseason. At the same time it seemed like every tipped ball was ending up in the hands of the other team. Penalties would happen at the worst time. Never did they look like t...

(Yay, a book list!) Here is an interesting list of recent books . The list is made in an effort to suggest a common canon, books that most everyone would have read. Sound good? Here it is: The Road - McCarthy Fight Club - Palahniuk Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao - Diaz The Beach - Garland White Teeth - Smith Infinite Jest - Wallace New York Trilogy - Auster Million Little Pieces - Frey Ender's Game - Card Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Eggers How many of them have you read? I've read two of them ('Ender's Game' and 'Oscar Wao') though there are three others of them on my shelf waiting. I've at least heard of them (except the 'New York Trilogy'). But does that mean that this list represents books that most people would have read? No, of course not. Because we live in a fractured culture. We don't listen to the same music, watch the same TV, go to the same movies or read the same books anymore. That's just how it is....

This is one of those sneaky songs that you don't pay much attention to on the first few runs through an album. But it's now one of my favorites.

Holy cat bus, this stuff is cute . Make certain to click the 'earlier' button at the bottom of the pages to see more stuff. I'd love some of the prints for the kids rooms. On a related note, the FP Gal was thrilled with the Totoro appearance in 'Toy Story 3'. That's one of the reasons why I love her!

This was the 1978 Hugo winning book. The curtain opens on a young healer named Snake, a young woman who uses actual altered snakes to heal people. She is helping a young boy with a tumor, by spurring one of her snakes to attack it, poison the cancerous bit and save his life. While this happens the boy's tribe kills one of her other medicinal snakes out of fear. This is terrible news for Snake since her helpers are rare and difficult to breed. The curtain opens wider and we see that this is a post nuclear war world, probably Earth. There are still small tribes and towns and levels of technology vary greatly. Snake is afraid that she won't be allowed back with the other healers after losing her snake. She sets off on a quest of sorts, picking up new obligations and directions as she goes. This won both the Hugo and the Nebula (British sci-fi award) so it must have been well thought of. From this vantage point it's hard to see why. Not that it's a bad book by any m...

Actually, I haven't looked at a forecast, we might have nice weather for weeks and I wouldn't know. Anyway, today was nice enough for us to go to the park. 'Us' being Relia, Felix and I. Relia made a last minute plea for somewhere else but I told her it would be a sin to waste a sixty degree day in November. Once we got there she ran off to make new friends and left Felix and I with the stroller. The park we went to is right underneath the flight path and we had several jets go over. Every time one did, Felix would become entranced and follow it along until it was out of view. I think he was in awe. Relia made new best friends. She does every time we go. They're best friends for an hour or so and then she never sees them again. (I meant that to sound poetic but it came out really pathetic. She seems ok with this arrangement. I'm sure that regular school will bring about some life long mates.) It was a very pleasant time.

Remember the state map with representative movies? Well, someone decided to do the same thing with TV shows. For Minnesota they went with 'Coach' while I would have gone with 'Mary Tyler Moore'. I hate to say it but I don't recognize a bunch of these. (Though maybe that's a good thing . . .)

While playing with Relia . . . Relia: I'm not a baby! Me: Are you a little girl? Relia: Yes. Me: Are you a big girl? Relia: I'm a big sister! Me: And what am I? Relia: (thinking) You can be the cash register!

Ok, here is the opening bit: The entire thing, all of it in it's bizarre entirety started with a strange waitress asking me about a drink that I never ordered. "So how did that Colorado Bulldog treat you? I was right, wasn't I?" Well, she was cute enough. Enough that I didn't want to just tell her that she had the wrong guy and give her a cold shoulder. Besides I was on the road and when you're out of town you can use all of the friends that you can get, right? So I looked her straight in the eye, focused on her, gave a winning smile and said, "Huh?". Women usually remember me for my wit. I got a smile in return. "The Bulldog. I told you it was tasty." Her smile fell a bit. "You didn't like it?" No place to turn now but honesty, "Miss, I'm afraid that you have someone else in mind. I'm a beer drinker. Sorry." The smile came back. "That's what you said earlier and t...

Relia picked out this picture 'for Mama'. I think it's the lion fountain at Singapore.

While in the car and talking about the lynx family at the zoo. Relia: What would they say if I was in their area? Me: Little girl, get out of there! Relia: And what would they say if you were in there? Me: Big daddy, get out of there! (pause) Me: And what would they say if mama was in there? Relia: (thinks) How did you get in there? Me: (laughing) And what would they say if Pop Pop was in there? Relia: You can stay in there Pop Pop. Me: And Nana? Relia: (thinking) You can give them flowers. Me: And Grandpa? Relia: You can give them toys! Me: And Grandma D? Relia: (thinking very hard) You can give them something to eat! Me: (laughing again) And what do they eat? Relia: (immediately) Apple crisp!

I took Felix and voted this morning. For reference sake, at 815a I was the 93rd person to vote. I checked the post from 2006 and at 9a there had been about 150. There was some temptation to dress Felix in his elephant costume but I was afraid of being yelled at for 'electioneering'. Now I'll settle in for a nap (hopefully) and the parade of people ringing the doorbell to get us to the polls.

This was the 1977 Hugo Award winner. 'Gateway' is a book about voyages into the unknown. Not the warm fuzzy places of the 'Star Trek' universe, but a frighteningly dangerous place with a known (and high) mortality rate. How much can be risked to win riches? Especially when the risks are beyond your control? The story is about a man names Robinette, and his work to come to grips after one of these voyages. The chapters alternate between his description of the past and his current time sessions with a computer psychiatrist. The juxtaposition works quite well. You know that something terrible has happened but not what it was. Robinette has won the lottery on Earth and used the money to go to a hollowed out asteroid called 'Gateway'. This asteroid was a found artifact from an alien race. It features nearly a thousand small starships. Humanity has figured out how to start the ships, but not how to steer them. Volunteers go into them and out to the stars. I...

After all of the rejected storylines I've put out, it's only fair that I tell you what the actual story will be about. Are you ready? (And please keep in mind that a brief summary can't capture the whole flavor.) Ok, here it is. In this story, an adult man is out of town on business when he runs into another guy who looks just like him. The dig in to find out what's happening and discover that even though they were both raised as only children, they are in fact identical twins . Both of them check with their parents, who swear up and down that nothing untoward happened. What follows is something of a voyage of discovery as they try to figure out what it all means. This becomes especially difficult when they find another matching guy. And another. And so on. I'll have some kind of excerpt up from the beginning later in the week.