Crowded House released their first CD in nearly a decade a few weeks back and it has been in heavy rotation at our house since. I thought it would be fun to take Ann to see them in concert and found out last week that they were playing at Foxwoods in just a week's time. That sealed it. I got on the phone, got tickets and made reservations to stay overnight in the Great Cedars hotel (I figured we wouldn't want to drive back so late after the concert was over).
We had a complete blast. Crowded House is absolutely wonderful live and lead singer Neil Finn is quite funny as well. Somehow he got on the subject of bassist Nick Seymour being hungry and needing fish and chips as well as how all of the band could use mojitos or, at the very least, tequila. Shortly after, tequila shots and limes were delivered to the front of the stage and at least Neil and Nick partook. A few songs later, a nicely dressed room service cart with fish and chips was rolled out on stage and Nick ate the fish and had a few chips. Neil then took the plate, had a few himself and then began walking along the front of the stage passing out chips to whoever wanted them.
I managed this picture with my iPhone during the concert:
All in all, the concert was wonderful and it ended far too soon. And while they played a nice mix of old and new favorites (and a few songs I never remembered having heard before), they didn't play Into Temptation, my all time favorite song. Ah well, as Ann pointed out, they could have played for four hours and have left us not having heard all of our favorites.
It was also our first visit to Foxwoods itself. That was a trip. We ended up not bothering to play any games in any of the casinos. It was just too smoky. Cigarettes were everywhere and smoke was everywere. It got pretty gross. But this morning we went to the Grand Spa and Ann got a massage while I “read” (listened to an audio book) and then took a dip in the whirlpool and swimming pool. I even sat in the steam room for a bit. By the end I didn't want to leave the spa and have become addicted to the whole idea of the place. I haven't been that relaxed in I don't know how long.
Alas, we had to head home again and I am dog-tired now. But it was a wonderful way to start the weekend.
Technorati Tags: CrowdedHouse, Foxwoods
When my father died, it was like an entire library burned to the ground.
—Laurie Anderson
My father-in-law, John, died last night. Ann and I sat with him and held his hand and talked to him for hours. He was very out of it but he did react as we spoke. His eyes and head moved, he squeezed our hands, and we could see his heart rate react on the monitor. At about 9:30PM he finally let go and died peacefully.
His obituary is as follows (reprinted from what we submitted to the local news:
John F. Affleck, 84, of Garden Hills Drive, Cranston, died Saturday, June 23, 2007 at Kent County Memorial Hospital in Warwick. He was the beloved husband for 58 years of Harriet A. (Vucci) Affleck.
Born in Providence, a son of the late John A. and Ann L. (O’Dea) Affleck, he resided in Cranston since 1935.
Mr. Affleck was a mechanical engineer and worked at Leesona Corporation in Warwick for 29 years, and later at Gulton Industries in East Greenwich before retiring.
He was a Staff Sergeant in the Army Air Force during WW-II, serving in the 37th Air Depot Group.
An avid golfer, he was a member of Sun Valley Country Club and Cranston Country Club.
Besides his wife, he was the devoted father of Ann Affleck and her husband Andrew of Cranston, and loving grandfather of Jack Affleck.
Funeral from the NARDOLILLO FUNERAL HOME, 1278 Park Ave., Cranston on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m., followed by a Mass of Christian Burial in Immaculate Conception Church, Oaklawn Ave., Cranston at 10:00 a.m. Burial will be private. VISITING HOURS Tuesday 4-8 p.m.
Jack and I went with his cub scout den on a tour of our local NBC affiliate. We got to meet one of the anchors and got a complete tour of the entire place. It was utterly fascinating. I love this kind of thing so I think I got more excited by it than Jack. Then again, the whole way home he went on about what an amazing time he had and how cool it was. Of course, I think the fact that he got a water bottle for free was a large part of that...
Thanks to iTunes, I now know what my wife has been doing when she's been out and about. I'm shocked and, frankly, disappointed. (It's the third item in the four below.)
Jack and I just had lunch at Bugaboo Creek. I am so disappointed and depressed right now. Not because of Jack, of course. He was the perfect lunch companion and we had a lot of fun together. No, what's got me down is a fundamental change to the restaurant. We haven't been to Bugaboo for at least two years. The nearest one to us when we lived in Virginia was somewhere up in Maryland, a goodly drive from home so we only ever went when we were on our way back from up north. Jack didn't remember it as we pulled in and I said, “Remember the place with the singing buffalo who sang, 'Bugaboo Nell! Bugaboo Nell!'” and Jack replied, “Oh yeah!” and got very excited.
We sat down, ordered our food and waited. Then the buffalo started talking and talked about wishing he was down eating the really good food and we were up on the wall. OK, funny. Not what I remember him saying. Then he came on again and said he didn't want to be stuck up there and wished someone would bring him a cookie (he named a dessert on the menu).
When he came on the third time, it was yet another advertisement for food on the menu.
Basically, everything in the restaurant is now an advertisement for more food or drink. All of the folksy charm has been leeched from the place and it left me feeling somewhat used and sad.
The waiter was also desperate sounding when he tried to push appetizers and drinks at me (who pushes cocktails on a father in for lunch with his six year old son?) and gift cards and such. He also pushed repeatedly at joining their club to get email and a free dessert on my birthday. Um, no thank you.
I doubt we will be going back.
On the way out, the hostess turned on the talking tree just for Jack. It was an ad for their gift cards.
Technorati Tags: Bugaboo Creek
Jack was a sheep in the school nativity-esque play. They had two performances and the call was an hour before showtime. The kids all hung out in the first row of seats at the front while everyone else filed in and sat down behind them. I am not sure who's bright idea that was. You had 70+ kids all milling around getting antsy. The youngest, Jack's group, were the most rambunctious as you'd expect. The closer they got to showtime, the more insane things got.
The first night's show went very well. Jack knew all of his moves (in fact, he was one of the few sheep who did) and he did quite well. The second night, however, was a completely different story. When the sheep went up on stage, Jack's ears fell off and off the stage. He was worried until he saw that people were laughing because it was cute. I think he was over his nervousness over being on stage and was more relaxed. And he knew I was filming him and he always likes to ham it up for the camera. Take all of that combined with the laughter he got when his ears fell off and you get what happened next. Jack began to ham it up big time. He made faces, he over-exaggerated all of his moves, he pulled his costume over his head, and more. Ann and I sat in the audience with her mother and just looked at each other not knowing what, if anything, we should do. I could not tell if I should be mortified or just amused.
When the show was over, I apologized to the director of the play but she laughed it off. Granted, we're hardly talking professional level theater here and Jack's performance was the least of the many issues they had (all of which added up to a very cute show). The rest of the evening, I kept asking people if they noticed my son on stage. That got laughs. In the end, it was fine. Jack did feel bad later on and I think he learned something about upstaging other people so alls well that ends well.
And I have a fantastic video tape to show the first girlfriend he brings home someday...
Technorati Tags: christmas, family
Jack and I had one of those unexpected fun days out. After Soccer practice early this morning (I'm a coach in the soccer clinic he attends Saturday mornings) I figured we were in for a lazy day at home while Ann went to work. Mid-morning, she came down and tossed the Lifebeat section of the ProJo down in front of me and pointed to the Seize Today section listing "Spontaneous things to do this weekend."
That how we found ourselves, after dropping Ann off at the mall, at the Lincoln school for girls near Brown University. It was the Rhode Island Festival of Children's Books and Authors and for a measly six dollars, we got to make our own bookmarks, Jack made a really cool looking book (I mean really cool) and he got his copy of The Polar Express and Jumanji, which we bought at the festival, signed by Chris Van Allsburg and his copy of The Stinky Cheese Man signed by Jon Scieszka (who signed "To the best funky guy" after Jack told him his favorite line in the book was "What is that funky smell?")
After that, we had to pick up groceries so we stopped in at the Whole Foods near Brown (since it was on our way home) and found out it was Kid's Day. It turns out that this means Jack gets his own club membership card (he collects that kind of thing), a chef's hat and apron (and really nice ones too) and we got to try all kinds of great food around the store and collect recipes that we can make at home. Jack had the face painter paint a really cool looking snake on his hand.
When we got home, Jack had phone messages from a girl at soccer practice who's crushing on him (Jack would be horrified to find that I posted online that they kissed this morning so you won't hear it from me). He hasn't called her back yet. He's feeling shy, I think.
All in all, it was a very good day. Tomorrow, Ann gets to go do stuff with him and I'm going to sleep in and be incredibly lazy. I've started re-reading Lord of the Rings while re-watching the extended versions of the movies and all the documentaries included. Good geeky fun. Oh, and I have work tomorrow too... no, I won't think about that today. I want to bask in the glow of this good day a while longer...
Tonight I finally read the final chapter in The House at Pooh Corner to Jack. I've been reading him a chapter here and there from both Pooh books for weeks but about two weeks ago after Chapter IX, I stopped and made excuses not to finish the book. I didn't want to leave the Hundred Acre Woods and I think I instinctively knew what was coming. I've read many a Pooh story over the years but never any in the second book. I don't know why. I've owned the books as long as I can remember. And even though I had a feeling what was coming, I was still not prepared.
For those of you who may not know, the last chapter starts with all of the animals knowing that Christopher Robin is going away. They don't know where nor why but they do know that he is going. They gather together to sign a poem Eeyore had written and then go to deliver it to him. There's an awkward moment where nobody really knows what to say and they all wander off leaving just Pooh behind. The two walk to an Enchanted Place in the forest and talk about random things. Then Christopher Robin tries to ask Pooh to always remember him, no matter what happens.
I finished the story and Jack looked at my eye and said, "Why is there a tear?" I tried to explain that the story was hinting that Christopher Robin was growing up and leaving his toys behind. How grownups put aside their toys. Jack looked at me solemnly and said, "I'll never give up my toys." I said, "Good. You shouldn't ever."
Then we were quiet for a moment. Then Jack looked at me, as I wiped another tear away, and said, "Do you want me to make you smile so the tear goes away?" I said, "Sure." So he tickled me on the neck. I smiled and scooped him into a big hug and told him I loved him.
Then I sang him his goodnight song ("Michael Row the Boat") and said good night and went downstairs.
He has been learning to read the last few weeks and he rode on just two wheels for the first time just the other day and he's mastered every level and every hidden trick in Lego Star Wars I, and he does a perfect imitation of my Night Elf in World of Warcraft, and he believes in magic and is scared of monsters under his bed and is so proud when he stays on green on the behavior chart at school and loves taking trips to the new Providence Apple Store with me and snuggling on the couch to watch Jake Long: American Dragon or Kim Possible with me.
He won't always be six. He will always be with me and he will always be a joy to me. But right now, in this moment in time, we are in an enchanted place which I never want to leave.
I don't know if I can really blow my own horn about being one of the longer-time bloggers (since 1994) if I post so incredibly infrequently...
So, in no real order...
And now, back to air conditioning...
When I was 9 years old, I stood on the longest line I'd ever seen to see the new movie everyone was talking about. When the word went down the line that Star Wars had sold out, I think my mother was actually relieved. Still, she did try again and I was able to see the movie finally. She took me a total of three times. Later, during the summer, I visited my sister Ann on Martha's Vinyard where she was living that summer and as we walked by a movie theater, I heard the sounds of light sabers and begged her to take me in to see it. She bought me a ticket and I went in, half-way through the movie and then sat through it again from the beginning. (Continues...)
Technorati Tags: StarWars
That halloween, with the help of a brunette wig (I was a bright blonde at that age) I was Han Solo. I turned the bottom bunk of my bed into the Millennium Falcon. I wrote stories about the adventures of Han and Chewie (in which my cat was usually some alien villain they had to defeat). I read the book, had the action figures, had the sheets and lunchbox and owned all of the play sets (including my favorite, the Falcon itself. When in the 4th grade I developed a huge crush on my newest classmate, Courtney from Australia. I sent her an anonymous note declaring my love for her, I blew my cover by accidentally putting the tails on my R's and S's as in the Star Wars logo. Everyone in class knew of my obsession so I knew that she must have known it was me. Of course, she never said anything to me about it.
I doodled in school as everyone does but my drawings were nearly always X-Wings, TIE Fighers, the Death Star, the Falcon and Imperial Cruisers. (Though, sometimes, they were also Battlestar Galactica vipers because, well, I could draw those.) I created posters and dreamed up techniques for filming space battles and other sci fi goodness, were I ever to actually get my hands on a camera.
The years went on and episodes V and VI came and went. I loved those movies too (in fact, to this day, Episode V has always been my favorite) but those early days of obsession were never matched at any later time. And I grew up. I watched Star Wars many times over the years, can still quote the entire movie. I still remember that they were in trash compactor 3263827 and that "some of the other guys were talking about [the BT-16 and that] they said it is quite a thing to see." [That's a sample of the worst ad-libbed dialogue of all time, spoken by two Storm Troopers as Obi-Wan is deactivating the tractor beam in Episode IV]. I saw the special editions in the late 90s and saw the new episodes with a mixture of excitement and some disappointment in recent years. And every time I saw "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" I got excited and felt like a little kid again. For Jack's sixth birthday back in March, I let him watch Episodes IV through VI and have been enjoying every moment of his new obsession with the movies.
Today we visited the Boston Museum of Science to take in the Star Wars exhibit. I've been pretty sanguine about the whole thing. When we were trying to figure out our schedules to make this happen, I told Ann to take Jack and not worry about me. I need to work and don't want to deprive Jack of this fun. But she insisted we all go and so I worked from 6AM today so I could knock off at 2:30, get Jack at school and all head to Boston. And I am so glad I went. I had no idea that that little kid still lived inside me and that I would get such a thrill out of this show. I had figured that they had some actual items from the movies but I really never thought much about it. I was completely unprepared for the actual models of the ships, the actual costumes, the actual landspeeder, actual light saber props, the actual Yoda puppet, and so much more.
When I looked up from the model of the Imperial Cruiser (they only made one for Episode IV so when you see a cruiser, any cruiser, it was this particular cruiser) and saw the Millennium Falcon I got this crazy smile on my face. It was an incredible feeling. Almost, dare I say it, religious. This was it. This was the very ship that had so captured my imagination. I loved looking at my toy of it. I loved drawing it. I loved everything about this ship. And here it was. The real Millennium Falcon. I was not expecting nor was I prepared for my reaction. I couldn't take my eyes off it it. I walked around a few times and snapped a number of detail photos (for full photos, see my flickr photoset).
After the exhibit, we rode a quick, silly Falcon simulator in which Anthony Daniels told us about the Universe and then we headed on home. All three of us had an amazing time. Ann and I are old fans and Jack is a fresh new one. And no matter how much my childhood was infused with Star Wars, I think my favorite memory of the entire Star Wars universe will be the image of my son, sitting in the robot theater watching a presentation about robot and what they can do today, waving at the C-3PO model sitting in front of us, moving, and voiced by a recording of Anthony Daniels because he truly believed that that was the real, actual Threepio.
So, once upon a time I was messing with my sister's laptop and I made this blog her home page in Safari. So, when I was down visiting last weekend she gave me a hard time for not updating my blog recently. So, here's an update so her browser's home page has a more recent date. I've been (everyone say it with me) busy.
Since my last post I've been doing a lot of contract and volunteer work and I started a full-time contract with Sykes who sells me to SAIC who sells me to Pfizer. In short, I've been working for Pfizer in New London, CT for the last 5 or 6 weeks as a project manager.
The nice part about this work is that my main customers are all in the New York headquarters. In the last five weeks I've been to New York three times on business and am already racking up the Amtrak Acela frequent... uh... rider? miles. And I get to see my sister and her family a lot which, in turn, means getting a hard time for not updating my blog.
Outside of work and travel, I've also updated Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac to a new edition which covers GarageBand 3 in depth and launched a new podcast companion to the book as well. And I just finished reading Matt Ridley's Nature Via Nurture, a truly fascinating book about genetics and the long, and silly battle over nature versus nurture (short answer: it's both).
So, that's a quick summary of my life over the last two months. I'd say I'll be posting more and more frequently but I am insanely (everyone say it with me again) busy. But I'll try. Really, I will.
Currently playing in iTunes: Naked As We Came by Iron & Wine
Technorati Tags:
Podcasting, TakeControlBooks, MacOS X, GarageBand, NatureViaNurture, Genetics
I was surprised to see UPS stop at my house today and bring me this! It's a gift from my publishers at Take Control Books: A mug reading “Take Control of your Hot Steaming Beverage” Excellent! Thanks guys!
With the recent announcements from Apple of iLife '06, I will be doing a lot of fast writing to get the book updated for GarageBand's new podcasting features. Just need to get my hands on a copy... Gotta admit, I'm pretty excited about iLife '06. There's a lot of interesting stuff there and even iWeb is enticing. Normally I avoid these make-it-easy tools but this really looks like something that not only makes it easy to maintain good quality webbiness, but makes it fun as well. We shall see...
Back to my new mug. It wasn't out of the box 10 minutes before it was filled withTibetan Tiger tea.
Technorati Tags: tea, TakeControl
Somebody took me to task for not blogging recently. Imagine that. Being taken to task for not blogging. Anyway, in the interest of not being glared at meanly, here is an update of what's been going on lately.
First, we're deep in the throes of getting this house ready for re-habitation. Since a week before the great flood, we've been staying at my in-laws while we had the hardwoods done, did flood cleanup, lead abatement (in the form of covering it all up since actual removal would be a horrid nightmare), and painting. We've still got a lot of work to do in the painting department but we've finished all of the nasty wall repair and prep work and we're mostly down to priming and painting. In fact, two of the rooms are fully primed and the ceilings are painted leaving just wall color and trim work. So, we expect to whip through what's left so that we can get new area rugs, move the furniture back in and be ready for Thanksgiving when we're having a large number of family members over. When we painted our living room in Virginia, we gave ourselves a week and managed to finish everything the day of our annual holiday party.
Second, we're debating what to do about the floors. When we started working on the baseboards, we found that putting down blue painters tape and immediately pulling it back up to reseat it pulled up the polyurethane. We've also noticed that it's blistering/bubbling up in the cracks between floor boards. Clearly, something has gone horribly wrong. Perhaps the flooring people did something wrong or perhaps it is the result of the incredible humidity the week they put it down (they did the three coats the week it rained non-stop). We were hoping to have them back in to do some spot repair and talk about it before thanksgiving but it's clear that we won't have time. So, we'll put down rugs, move in furniture and accept the fact that we may have to reverse back out if they need to do any large-scale fixes. Or maybe we'll just decide to not care about anything except what's out and visible (ie, where there's no furniture or rugs). I figure that with a five year old, the floors will age rapidly anyway...
Third, I've been heading up to Boston a fair amount. Went to a mini-reunion of current and former WebCT folks, a birthday party, and various lunch meetings and interviews. I nearly forgot how much I love Boston and it's been great to visit it. Good thing too, odds are that any job I find will be up there as that's where the jobs appear to be. I've done the commute via train a number of times and already know that I am going to like it very much. Much nicer than the bus/subway combo I had to do in VA since I can stretch out and actually use my laptop.
Fourth, I took Jack to the zoo today. It was much fun. I love seeing the world through the eyes of a five year old. So refreshing. And exhausting.
So, that's an update.
Technorati Tags: family, homeimprovement, homeowning
Last week we had our hardwoods done upstairs. We moved everything out of the living room, family room, office, and stairway into the garage, kitchen, and basement. In the basement we set up a makeshift living room and office so we could actually live and get some work done (especially important as my in-laws, where we slept) has no wi-fi). After the floors were done, it rained all week so we were not able to begin work on painting the rooms as we had planned. We needed to wait while the smell of polyurethane stopped giving us massive headaches and chased us out of the house.
After 10 days of light to moderate rain, all hell broke loose. The final night of rain, last Friday night, we got 7 inches of rain in less than 12 hours. After a week of rain, the ground was completely saturated and something had to give.
At 9:30PM Friday, I checked the basement and saw that it was dry. But a voice in my head had me worried and as a precaution, i grabbed the two most valuable pieces of art we had, a drawing of sunflowers by Ann and a painting of flowers by my sister Jen, and put them up on the couch.
When I returned the next morning, there was 5" of rain in the basement.
I could go into lurid detail about the next three days and the cleanup but after Katrina and after what happened to some people in New England with that same rain, it would be more whining than anything else. We lost a lot of stuff but we came out of this far better off than a lot of people so we're thankful for that. In the end, aside from some old books, linens, games, pillows, a tv, a computer monitor, and various and sundry other random objects, we came out of this just fine.
But it wasn't a lot of fun and I certainly don't recommend the experience to anyone. And if you keep stuff in your basement, for goodness sakes, put it in plastic or get it up off the floor. You never know!
You can see more pictures of our basement in this flickr set.
Technorati Tags: flooding, homeowning
This is how I assuage my lack-of-blogging guilt: updates posts.
So, in no certain order, here goes...
1) Wallace and Gromit: Go see it. It's fantastic. And stay to the VERY end of the credits. Trust me on this one. Jack loved the movie. He kept leaning over to me during it saying "This is great!" The puns are fast and furious and there are plenty of quick visual jokes you barely catch (it will be a DVD slow-mo movie for sure)... our favorite was the sticker on Wallace's truck: "Eat more cheese. Ask me how." All in all, a fantastic movie and highly recommended.
2) Serenity: Also amazing. I will say nothing else lest there be spoilers.
3) Our floors upstairs have been sanded, stained, and the first coat of poly is drying (and we need to escape the house in a few moments as the fumes are killing us). With the rain due the next seven days, I have no idea how long it will take before we can actually use the floors again. In fact, with the weekend and holiday, it may be some time. Ugh. But then again, once it's done, we can finally move in! So far the floors look amazing and if I knew where the camera is, I'd post a picture. I was so pleased at the good condition of the wood under the rugs. There was only the back room where there are significant stains (even after much sanding). Given the smell of urine when the rugs were taken up, we're guessing that the former owner had issues with her dog in that room. We chose a stain dark enough to not entirely hide the stains, but make them look like normal variations in the wood.
4) The TV season so far:
* Family Guy: Welcome back! Still funny. Still a favorite. As a newly naturalized Rhode Islander, I especially enjoy the Rhode Island in-jokes (after Ann explains them to me).
* Smallville: So far, so good. This season has started quite interestingly and I'm enjoying where the season appears to be headed. I especially liked the homage to the movies with the fortress of solitude looking virtually identical (or is that ripped from the comics directly?)
* How I Met Your Mother: I find this amusing but I enjoy the chemistry between the lead and Robin and it annoys me that she isn't the actual future wife and mother. But I'll get over it. I'll keep watching a bit more as I think it has some potential and I'm a sucker for Alyson Hannigan.
* Out of Practice: Predictable and somewhat flat but I like Henry Winkler (I grew up on Happy Days) and am willing to give this a bit more time to mature. If they can just avoid the obvious jokes about Paula Marshall's character being a lesbian any longer, that would certainly help.
* Joey: Ditched. I officially dropped it. The next two shows replace my two Thursday 8PM slots (we have two TiVos). I just don't care any more.
* Alias: Only watched the opener but looks to be a good season.
* Everybody Hates Chris: Brilliant. We absolutely love this show. It replaced Joey 15 minutes into the first episode.
* Commander in Chief: I am amazed I like this show as much as I do. It is somewhat heavy-handed but at the same time, Geena Davis is wonderful to watch. We both liked the second episode a lot and if the quality stays at that level (and we see more Bruce Boxleitner) we'll be happy.
* Veronica Mars: Excellent as always. And with Charisma Carpenter now too. How can you not love that?
* Lost: Wow. Even with the answers coming fast, the questions out-pace still. Excellent writing and it is weaving a fascinating mystery.
OK. That's enough blather for right now. On with your lives!
Technorati Tags: television, homeimprovement, movies
Top ten reasons my new old house has kept me from posting much (or doing much of anything) lately:
10. Getting contractors to move on anything less than a glacial time frame is a chore. From initial contact to first visit to see what you want done can take 1-2 weeks. Then getting a bid for the work can take another 2-3 weeks. So far, we have one bid for re-finishing the basement and 3 bids for having the stinky old carpets removed and the hardwood floors redone. Nobody can begin work for at least a month, if not longer.
Technorati Tags: homeimprovement, rhodeisland
9. Because the carpets are ancient and stinky (the previous owner was a smoker) they have to come out. This means we need a flooring person to remove them and refinish the hardwoods under them. So, until that happens, we have kept most things in boxes and haven't really moved into any rooms on the main floor beyond the necessities (dining room table, tv/couch, the desk is set up in the living room in front of the fireplace, etc.)
8. The dining room, we just found out, does not actually have hardwoods under it but an ancient layer of linoleum which is itself on top of plywood. So, if we take up that carpet we have to deal with the floor underneath. So we're going to leave that particular carpet down until we have a plan for the dining room and adjacent kitchen (we're talking about taking down the wall between the two to create a nice great room). Whether or not there's any asbestos in that old floor is something else we have to consider.
7. The basement does, in all likelihood, have asbestos tiles. So says everyone who's seen it. But that's OK because that's easily covered up. Removing it is where you cause trouble. The basement needs to be refinished and moisture sealed (it gets very damp down there). This one's actually easy. We just are waiting for a good time to get that project started. There are upstairs projects that are higher priority.
6. Even backwards, there is no 6.
5. Jack out-grew his crib-turned-daybed. The back of his crib converts into a headboard for a full-size bed. So, we went out and got him a mattress, box spring, frame, and bedding galore. Today the bed arrived and we were all set to have his new, improved room all set for when he got home from school. However, his box spring does not actually fit up the stairs. They're going to try a low-profile box spring a bit later today (soon, in fact) and if that doesn't fit up the stairs... well... we have no idea what we're going to do. And, no, it doesn't fit in the window either.
4. We haven't unpacked much into the kitchen yet as there is probably (likely) lead paint in the cabinets. On the advice of the home inspector, we should paint them first to be sure as you don't want to be putting food and hot fresh-from-the-dishwasher plates there. Ann got some ChildGuard paint/covering and we'll be painting them soon so we can finally unpack into the kitchen. Until then, we unpacked all of the food and much of the plates/pots/pans/bowls/glasses into a wooden armoire we have. But that only lasted a week because...
3. We have mice! We found out we have mice when we found lots of mouse poop among all the food they chewed into in the armoire and poop on the plates, etc. So, we moved all the food into the cabinets anyway (the ones that had contact paper on the bottom) and the plates/etc into a different cabinet we have in a different room. We have caught one mouse in a no-kill trap and let it free a few miles away. So far, no sign of more inside the house despite the fact that we have seen it running around outside here and there.
2. Lead paint + old wallpaper = painfully slow wall prep for painting. In a house this old you just assume the walls have lead paint on them. As such, you can't sand, scrape, chip, or rip wallpaper off. You can't stir up dust which could be breathed in and make people, especially Jack who is still in the danger age (<6) for this kind of thing. Soooo... we have to be very slow and careful about getting the walls ready for painting. At least we know we're taking up the carpets so we don't have to put down drop cloths anywhere.
1. The lack of central air has made our lives far moister than we're used to it being. In Virginia, we had central air which ran nearly constantly. Up here, we have some window fans which work find on normal days. But when it is rainy or humid, it gets damp in here. Worse, that's when the carpets let loose their find funky smell and it become borderline nasty around here. So, having central air is a high priority for us. We may even do it this fall if we find that the furnace (which is very old) is not up to another winter.
Bonus item: The Chimney. We just found out that the chimney needs nearly $1,000 worth of work because it is missing the cement cap and the flues are exposed. This means rain can come right down into them and in the winter this means freezing water doing awful things to the masonry, etc. We're waiting to get a second opinion on this.
Now, lest anyone think I'm actually complaining, well... I guess I am. But this is a lovely house and despite all that it needs, it's a wonderful place. It's solid, cute, and when we do fix all that needs fixing, it is going to be a fantastic home. I cannot wait to actually cook thanksgiving here and have family over. And living in Rhode Island is fantastic. We're both very happy even if we're constantly annoyed, depressed, or plain overwhelmed by what's involved with this. I guess you have to accept what you are getting into when you buy an old house like this. So many of the houses in this neighborhood are undergoing some or other kind of work so it's a common thing here. It's also encouraging to see how many people are investing in this neighborhood and that can only help the long-term property values around here. So, while this appears to be an extended kvetch, it's also something to be taken in the same vein as when somebody complains about their significant other. "Sure he's a slob, but I love him anyway" kind of thing.
Hey, at least I have my wifi and tivo working!
Anyone want to buy a lovely townhouse? Ours is for sale.... Property Details
A grab bag of stuff...
Technorati Tags: friendszone, iron&wine, rhodeisland, subpoenas, t-mobile, washingtondc
For a great many reasons, the following is really reverberating with me today:
'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says:
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
No, I am not dying. Just working up the courage to do something rather dramatic with our lives. Time to stop being scared about the what-if's and just do what we really want to do.
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My grandfather ("Big Jack") worked for RCA (I believe he was pretty high up too) and he was, most likely, the source of many of the various obscure records we owned. Two in particular leap to mind. An album called "Christmas Party" which had a song of that title we played every year and a one-sided, 78RPM record from Kukla, Fran and Ollie called the Kuklapolitan Strolling Carollers. This four-and-a-half minute long record has four songs on it including a sweet rendition of Silent Night by a very shy puppet (I don't know which) and Deck the Halls with no "Fa La La" but "Doy doy doy" instead (which, as a kid, I loved to hear over and over and over again). My sister still has our copy of the 78 but nothing to play it on. Via the link above, I found a full recording of the record so now, for the first time since I was quite little, I have listened to it. Wow, that takes me back. Thanks to the magic of Audio Hijack Pro, I now have a copy in my own iTunes library for whenever I want to stroll down memory lane. And now I know what everyone is getting for Christmas this year: CDs!
Update 8/15/06: Changed URL at request of site owner
Technorati Tags: 78rpmrecords, childhood, christmas, kuklafranandollie, nostalgia
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Robin Goodfellow was my cat from 1992 through late 2001. A friend at the time saw somebody pushing a garbage bag out of a moving car into the woods and when he noticed that the bag was moving, stopped and found three kittens inside. One got away but he took the other two. One of the kittens ended up with somebody at Dartmouth's financial aid department and the other one came to me through my friend Sumiko. Molly and I were living together at the time (if her parents read this we were not living together, I just use that as an expression, to anyone else we were actually living together and I just said that for the benefit of Molly's parents) and we decided he was a trickster and named him Puck. We realized about 2 minutes later that going out the back door and shouting "PUCK! PUCK!" would not go over well with the neighbors as they might not hear the "P" sound so well, so we got literary and named him Robin Goodfellow, or just Robin.
Robin was a funny cat. As a kitten he immediately took control of the other two cats, Sebbys and Tasha, who were living in our house (Walden) at the time. And they let him. This little two or three week old kitten bossing around these much bigger cats was one of the funniest sights I've ever seen. Robin was a prima donna and his favorite activity was looking at himself in the mirror (I also have a picture of him looking at his reflection in the reflective black stove front as well). He literally preened when he walked and you could tell that he was singing "I'm too sexy" inside his head (though, his version was more like "I'm too sexy but have no gonads so whatever.") Anyway, he was an amazing cat and I could go on and on for hours with various and sundry Robin stories. Those of you who met him know what I mean and those of you who didn't, well, it's your loss. He was a great cat.
When Ann, Jack and I moved down to DC we did it in stages. First, I moved down to my friend Chris' house and lived with him for four months while Ann and Jack stayed with my in-laws in Rhode Island. Both locations already had cats and neither one needed or wanted another, even for a few months. So, I asked my friend Annie if she wanted to take him for the four months. She did and the day I moved down with a car full of junk to Chris' house, I stopped at Annie's along the way and dropped off Robin. I think I stopped by to visit him one time afterwards and that was the last time I ever saw him. I never visited again and when we did buy our new house and were all reunited as a family again, Annie had grown so attached to Robin that I didn't have the heart to ask for him back. And, honestly, we'd gotten used to not having to worry about a pet and thought that, ultimately, Robin would be happier with her where he was. So, we told Annie she could keep him.
I learned from her weblog that he died last Monday. Farewell old friend. And, Annie, I'm so sorry for your loss. He was a wonderful cat and I'm glad you got to love him as we did.
Six years ago today, Ann and I got married. The day was an incredibly gorgeous day. For mid-May, the weather is always risky in Rhode Island but we certainly got lucky with the temperature in the 70s, bright sun, and no wind. Even the sunset cruise around the bay, while incredibly cold thanks to the temperature of the water that time of year, was gorgeous. All in all, a perfect day.
We had two sets of plans today. We thought we bought tickets to today's Nationals versus Cubs game through Jack's T-Ball league but no one ever confirmed with us. So, in case we didn't actually have tickets, I also lined up a babysitter so we could instead go out to dinner or a movie (and here all the people who know me far too well all shout "FOOD! MOVIE! WEASEL!" and the rest of you just look somewhat confused and simply smile and nod).
I went yesterday to the ticket pickup to see if there were any for us. Sure enough, there were. I paid and when I got home, I emailed the sitter to say thanks, but no thanks. (Doing both the game and going out would be too much.)
Now, Jack has been on and off sick for 2+ weeks now. It started as a nasty viral thing with a high temperature and general nastiness and then evolved into an ear infection. Then, six days into his antibiotics, some new viral thing grabbed ahold of him and caused him to start throwing up and being miserable again. He missed his T-Ball practice, his fourth game in a row, and we had to cancel weekend plans with out of town friends. But on Saturday he was feeling much better, though we decided to still have him miss his game as a precaution since we really didn't want to miss going to the Nationals game today.
This morning, at breakfast, he threw up again. So, there went the Nationals game as we kept Jack home yet again. Yesterday, I picked up a used copy of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex for PS2 (Jack and I had finished all of the PS1 Crash Bandicoots as of Friday) and we stayed in and played it most of the weekend. We're on level 25 of 25 with just this last level and one more boss level to go. What on earth will we play when this is over?
As for Ann and I? We celebrated our sixth anniversary in an oddly appropriate way: we worked out back for a few hours planting new plants, relocating plants suddenly hidden under hostas that were much smaller last year, and weeding. It was a strangely nice way to spend an anniversary. Although I have to work tonight so we can't have an us night in front of the TV watching some or other movie...
...then again... nothing is time critical... and it is our anniversary... ah screw it. I can work a long day tomorrow to catch up...
Yes, I'm still alive out here. I've been a lot focused on job searching and in finishing up my work at Devis. It's been an intense few weeks and Friday is my last day. Then it's full-time focus on finding my next destination whether it be here in DC or back up in New England or somewhere in between. I'm still looking so if you have any leads, I am, as always, interested in hearing about them.
Meanwhile, I offer you this great look at what critics might have said about books if video games had been invented first from Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for You: Everything Bad Goes Public
I am not Catholic. In fact, I'm not really religious at all (my theology is something I can only explain over beers so if you're curious, buy me a few and I'm sure you'll hear more than you ever wanted to hear). I did not agree with this Pope or the Church on many things but it's still a sad day. He spoke out against the death penalty and worked for peace in the world and I respect and support that.
Trying to explain this to Jack has been interesting. Thankfully, he has a 5 year old's attention span:
Jack: "Why did the Pope die?"Us: "He was very old and sick and it was his time."
Jack: "Where did the Pope die?"
Us: "In the Vatican, the city in Italy where he lived."
Jack: "Is there such a thing as space monsters?"
Last week I was informed that I was being laid off unless any major contracts come in before my last day. As a result, I am looking for a new job across a fairly wide geographic area: Washington DC, New York, Providence, or Boston. You can view my resume (PDF format) and I would be interested in hearing about any leads. (I will post an entry soon which actually describes some of my background cover-letter-style. I just wanted to get this out there now rather than hold it up. Most people can read my resume and get a good sense of the kinds of roles I would be good at doing.)
The Mapping of a Cat's Brain. Works for me. Owning a cat after a few years of not having one is a bit of a re-education. Dot appears to love chewing on string, plants, and, more alarmingly, cables. So far, she's only interested in thin ones so things like power cords are safe. But I'm still keeping a close eye on her.
As a parent, there is nothing worse than a sick child. You worry, you fret, you call or visit the doctor over things which, if they were happening to you, you'd just make some soup and curl up somewhere and wait to get better. You know that it's complete irrational and yet you still do it. You can't help it. It's wired into you.
I'm sitting in Jack's room, next to his bed writing this on my laptop (this is why they invented wireless networking). I am listening to Jack breathe and checking his temperature every so often. Earlier tonight he was up around 102.7 and I put him into the bath tub to cool down. After the bath, he was only down to 102.4. After going to bed, he spiked to tie his record high of 103.7. He threw up an impressive amount of phlegm (luckily I was here so it was quickly cleaned and nothing more than his pajama top had to be changed).
We called the doctor who suggested we give him his next dose of motrin a bit early and see how he does. If he doesn't get better, or if he gets worse, bring him to the ER. We did that just about one year ago. He was throwing up and unable to keep any fluid down and he began to show the signs of dehydration. So we got him in the ER on an IV and he was OK.
This year, however, he seems to be doing better now. His breathing is much smoother since he got the phlegm up and his temperature has dropped below 100.
You hate nights like this when you are a parent. I can recall those friends of mine who swore they would never have kids for reasons like this. They don't think they can deal with these moments. Or they know they can but they just don't want to. And, I admit it, this is no fun. And yet, in a strange way that I just cannot explain, I still wouldn't trade this for anything. My silent (clickity clackity keyboard silent) vigil, as stressful as it is, is important.
Our friends Liz and Eric decided they weren't paying enough attention to their cat Dot and made the hard decision to give her away. They asked. We accepted. And on Thursday, we brought her home. This is a picture from Friday night, after Dot began to get confortable and not so afraid of Jack. More pictures of Dot are at flickr.
From today's Boston Globe: Gen X Dad. This is quite good and reflects my own experience. I carpool with my neighbor who's a teacher which means I'm at my desk by 7:20AM. This also means that I can leave between 3:30 and 4:30 depending on whether I've taken a lunch break or not. This means that while I do not see Jack in the morning, I get to spend a lot of time in the evening with him every night and put him to bed. It is exhausting. Especially if I have to turn around and work at night on leftover work that cannot wait until morning. But it's worth it.
Excellent! Civil War Maps - (American Memory from the Library of Congress). I live only a few miles from a battlefield where my great great grandfather, Andrew Jackson Williams, fought and was injured.
I got pinged by family and friends for not sending out more pictures. So, here's my catchup on the last two months.
I'm sitting in the kitchen of my in-laws. Jack is playing with Playmobile pirates on the floor and Ann is taking a shower before we head up to Boston to visit friends for New Year's. My in-laws are sitting half-asleep in their chairs with the TV on. On TV are two women on QVC hawking bras talking about how we all know how breasts get lower as we all get older. "I know my neck is getting longer," says one. A truly special family moment.
Jack's school had their Christmas concert tonight. A stage full of children aged 2-5 singing. It was, depending on your perspective, incredibly cute or downright frightening. Personally, I loved it. I joined the "Preschool Paparazzi" and set up the video camera in the balcony amid all of the other parents and their cameras. Ann sat below with the still camera and snapped this and other pictures. Here they are singing and acting out Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I believe this is the international sign for antlers.
Wow... ten years ago this month I started jotting down interesting things I wanted to share on my website. I just remember seeing some stuff I wanted to remember and thought it would be interesting to put them on my website as a sort of public journal. I don't know where I got the idea or why but I did. Granted, my second entry was four months later or so but, hey, it started in November 1994 (see the link to the archives on the sidebar). So, happy 10th anniversary to my blog!
I recently saw one of those memes go around the net which asks you to jot what your life was like 10 and 5 years ago and where you think it will be in 5 and 10 years. So, this is a good place to do that.
Ten Years Ago: In the fall of 1994 I was in "dating retirement" taking a break from things to grow up a bit and trying to figure my life out. Shortly afterwards (the following spring) I met Ann and began applying to graduate schools so my work on my life at that point paid off quite nicely.
Five Years Ago: In the fall of 1999, Ann and I had been married six months and she was in her second trimester with Jack. I had a good job at WebCT (which was still Universal Learning Technology at the time) and things were looking up. The dot com bubble burst was still a ways off.
Five Years From Now: I know I want to do a lot more writing so by 5 years from now so I hope to be published and starting to make a real go at writing. In addition, I want to get back to doing more teaching and more lecturing/seminars than I am today.
Ten Years From Now: Jack will be a teenager so I just hope that I survive the experience.
Jack's favorite song is "The Hills of Connemara" by Gaelic Storm's (from their selftitled first album).
He recently asked me what the song was about so this morning (when it popped up on the "Sunday with Jack and Pancakes" playlist on the iPod) I hit the old google and checked it out. Here are the words (with pennywhistle notation which I'll try out later when I find my pennywhistle).
I also found a site listing a great many Irish songs and traditional music lyrics which is very cool and a site for Connemara itself which looks lovely. Jack and I both want to go there. Maybe that will be our next family trip. Ann's been talking about going back to Ireland for years so I expect we'll have no trouble talking her in to it...
There's been a steady mist since we left Virginia. Wet weather in autumn does wonderful things to the already-gorgeous foliage: the tree trunks turn a dark color and the striking colors of the changing leaves are that much more vibrant and breath-taking. The further north we drove, the better it got. Route 15 up through Gettysburg, PA, I-78 across to NJ, I-287 up into New York, the Sall Mill Parkway in Westchester, the Merritt Parkway through CT and finally, I-95 into RI. The colors have been amazing. The cloudy skies, gentle rain, and faint fog have all amplified the effect.
Combine that with this regional elation. I had a Red Sox moment the day after the Sox won the World Series on the Metro in Washington where me in my Sox cap caught the eye of another guy in his Sox cap. We shared a smile and a nod. Multiply that by a billion and you don't even scratch what it is like up here. Everyone has their Red Sox gear on and everyone is congratulating everyone else. People are practically beaming here. We've all died and gone to Red-Sox-Won-The-World-Series-Look-At-The-Foliage-Did-You-See-The-Parade-Have-Some-Pumpkin-Pie heaven.
Though, my favorite moment was the dirty looks I got wearing my Red Sox cap in the Starbucks in Ardsley, NY this morning. Now they know what it feels like to be a Red Sox fan. Rather, they know what it used to feel like to be a Red Sox fan. I'm going to ride this high for awhile and it feels great. My father-in-law is still walking around in a daze. I've never seen him so happy. We bought him a Red Sox World Champions hat today and I don't think he's taken if off yet.
Yes, right now, this place and time, this is heaven.
Is it Friday? Did I make it?
So, catching you up on all things me, because I know so many of you out there have been wondering...
OK. That's enough for now. Thanks for listening.
In 1991 I started a document in my favorite word processor at the time, Nisus Writer, to catalog story ideas, internal thoughts, dream logs, etc. It ended up becoming my diary and is a fantastic catalog of the last 13 years.
Email and Snail Mail (both written on the computer and thus still around and received) are good too but far less accessible (I have pretty much all email I've ever sent. The first batch from 1986-1988 or so are in an old passworded archive to which I have long since forogtten the password. After that, it's a mass of exports from just about every email program I've ever used. I tended to always save mail by person so at least I have the messages grouped by who they were to/from but beyond that, it's a giant mess. I toy with the idea of writing a script which will parse through all of the various formats and normalize them into one consistent format I can use today. I have at least a few years in an old FileMaker Pro database which is a problem in that I do not have a current version of FM here to use.)
Anyway, I digress. This one document is the best catalog I have of the last 13 years. And it is a trip to read through it, something I do every few years. It's also interesting to check my memories and see how accurate they are. Generally, my memory is pretty accurate. Usually it's just details that I've lost. (Though, in one case I rememebered a relationship ending because I moved too fast and scared a woman away. Turns out that while, yes, I did move a bit fast, we talked it out and she decided she wanted to give it a go and it was me who decided that I didn't like how fast I was going and decided that this wasn't a good idea for me.)
The best part about this document is that it fills in what I have forgotten about how I met my wife and those first few critical dates and those first few weeks. Ann's still asleep upstairs (it's her turn to sleep in, I got to do it yesterday) and Jack and I are downstairs watching Sesame Street together while I'm reading my past. I said "Hey Jack! Look, it's the story of how I met Mommy." I think that concept was too weird for him. He just looked at me for a minute and then showed me something with his toys.
Most infuriating is an entry from about 10 years ago (almost exactly) in which I recounted a conversation with my friend Molly: "But today we were talking about relationships and she wrote that I’d meet my Helen of Troy. Her description was wonderful: [insert it here!]" I never did insert it! I have no idea what she said! Molly? You out there? Do you have ANY memory of this?
Then again, just six months later, I did get to describe my Helen of Troy when I talked about my first date with a new woman I'd met and how we sat talking at Murphy's Tavern until they kicked us out at 12:40 AM. I tried to tell Jack that story but he was more interested in the lego plane he'd just built. When he's older he'll be more interested...
A little less than a month ago, Jack's best friend (and our neighbors) moved away. He took it much better than we expected him to. We waited until only a few days before they left to tell him and made sure he got as much time with her as possible before they left. After they left, he seemed fine. Then after about two weeks he started moping around saying things like "I'm down in the dumps" and "I don't want to play with my imaginary friends. I want real ones." Thankfully, he returns to preschool today and new swimming lessons tomorrow. And now that everyone is back from summer vacations, he'll have plenty of playdates. But for a time there, it just broke our hearts to see how sad he was. Once our neighbors get settled in their new home (overseas, thus preventing any chance of easy visits) we're hoping to get the kids to chat via video. Then again, if he seems to have moved on, it may make more sense to just drop it unless he asks. We'll see what happens.
Most of my blog has been just pass through of the popular links du jour. Here for your reading pleasure (or getting-to-sleep material) is an update on my summer.
I've been pretty quiet here lately. It's not business. I'm no more busy now than I ever am. I think it is in large part the fact that I am saturated. I have been spending a lot of time reading a great many news sites, blogs, and the in-between sites. Most of what I read that interests me has already been blogged to death and I see no need to be another also-ran site so I am reducing what I link to to things that either make such an impact on me that I don't care how much they've been repeated or is original content. And original content takes time so I expect the lower traffic to continue until I change my mind, which I of course reserve the right to do.
The last few weeks have been very interesting. I greatly enjoyed watching the Democratic National Convention and thought that Kerry and Edwards both delivered very good speeches. So far the Republican response has been underwhelming. The fact that they resorted to a terror alert to capture the next news cycle indicates to me that they are getting desperate. And, yes, I believe strongly that these terror alerts are more political than safety. Nothing the Bush Administration has done has given me any reason to actually believe them about anything.
In other news, I discovered Seed Magazine recently and read the issue I got cover to cover. There were fantastic articles in it about how environmental issues are shaping this election, how research into mercury in children's vaccines is turning up some frightening things, Percival Lowell and canals on Mars and how he inspired so many even despite that major gaffe, and more. It's the first science magazine that I have gotten into in years. The others are either too much work to read (either too technical or too dry) or too popular (the articles are overly simplistic).
I'm also slowly working my way through Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver (very close to the end) and The Confusion is on deck. At the rate I'm going, the third book will be out by the time I finish the second. The story is very interesting but I still dread the ultimate ending in the third book. To date, I have not liked any of Stephenson's endings. I always feel like he has amazing ideas but realizes 1 page before the end of the book that he has only 1 page left to wrap everything up. So, with 3 books to work with, maybe we'll get a good ending this time.
At the same time, I'm also slowly working through Bone by Jeff Smith. I stopped collecting comics after Neil Gaiman's Sandman ended some years back and my friend Jim recommended this. It's fantastic. I'm buying 1 book every two weeks so as to stretch this out. I get book #3 in a week.
Jack has been taking swimming lessons (he has graduated from starfish to seahorse), attending afternoon day camp (today is his last day) and other fun activities. On the downside, his best friend in the universe is moving away and though we've explained it to him, he doesn't really seem to understand it so I expect the day he wants to play with her and she's already gone will be the day he gets it. We're doing everything we can to keep his days filled with activities and making new friends. We just need to get him to early September when school starts again for him.
Finally, I am stuck on the final screen of Neverwinter Nights. It's the first game I've gotten into obsessively in something like 10 years. For the last decade all I ever really played was Solitaire games (cards, mah-jong, etc.) I decided some months back that I needed a change of pace and here I am. Once I manage to finish this level I can download community built adventures, get the expansion packs, or replay this one with a different character class just to see how I do with something different. We'll see...
Meanwhile, work goes well and I'm back to being very busy again, which I prefer. So, that's good.
Recently, I've introduced Jack to the joy of Jet Moto. It's a Playstation game I've been playing for years. Goes back to when I lived in Cambridge with Dan (who has fallen off the face of the Earth and I'd love to get back in touch with...). We'd always play it and/or Twisted Metal as a way of unwinding. Even though I have the PS2 now and far sexier games, I still really enjoy the simplicity of Jet Moto the very first (I don't even like JM2 nor do I own JM3). Though, I think we're going to get Splashdown: Rides Gone Wild just to try something new and different.
Anyway, after playing tonight, Jack grabbed one of his plastic knight-on-a-horse toys and was running around the room singing the theme music from the game.
When I told him that it was time to head up to bed he said, "I can't. I'm still playing Horse Moto."
I don't think I've laughed that hard in ages...
The cicadas are here! We're actually somewhat lucky in that our cul-de-sac was built in 1990, after the previous emergence of this particular group of cicadas so we don't actually have any here. But all around us, in the parts of town not touched since the last emergence, they're out in force. From here it sounds like flying saucers hovering or 
