Category: family

Trick or Treating

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The Rubikuitous Charlie


The most Sanguine Natalie


For that thoughtful look with: her glasses on

We went trick or treating tonight.

Natalie tried to go upscale on her fangs for her vampire costume, and go with ones that just fit on her eye-teeth, as opposed to the mouth guard type ones, and it didn’t work, so she improvised using some sugary blood syrup that she got at the SCA event on Saturday.

Charlie’s costume, a Rubik’s Cube, however worked out very well, and he got a lot of compliments, though he did experience, as I had warned him, issues with comfort and mobility.

Still, they had fun, and took in a decent haul of hysteria inducing sugar, so they both considered their outing a success.

We had to return home at one point, because they needed gloves.

Neither of their costumes were amenable to the use of pockets to warm one’s hands.

I remember trick or treating when I was a kid, with my Dad watching, and now I am watching as my kids trick or treat.

It’s the whole “circle of life” thing, I guess.

The Nobility Gets the Best Sh%$ to Smoke

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Instead of going to the Stewart/Colbert march for Sanity/Fear, Sharon*, the kids, and I went to TNT, an SCA event held by our local group (the Barony of Brighthills).

I got called up to receive a baronial award, the Order of Job, for selfless service to the Barony.

I’m a wee bit confused: I don’t recall doing much beyond cutting up some veggies, making the oldest recorded recipe for chocolate for an event, and washing a few dishes.

In any case, it was our 16th anniversary, and we enjoyed ourselves. We ate, we danced, we made glass beads using a torch.

I got my wife some books as an anniversary gift.

It’s so nice having a wife who doesn’t want to be surprised by such things: I just point her at the book seller, and she says, “Is this OK honey?”

This is much better than the expectation that I am a mind reader.

A good time was had by all.

*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.

Damn

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Tudza (l) and Lavi (r) as radioactive zombie cats

We took Lavi to the vet for what appeared to be some tooth problems.

It’s a tumor, and an aggressive malignant one in her head.

She probably will not make it to year’s end.

She’s had a good run, being over 17½, and had survived a bout of hepatic lipidosis about 5½ years ago, but it looks like she will not make it through year’s end.

It’s to be expected when cats reach this age, but it is still a bummer.

Funeral for a Friend

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The Truck is Here


It Hooks Up


It’s Pulls It Up


Ready to Roll to the Bone Yard

Play It Off, Elton

As I mentioned a month and half ago, my wife’s Honda Odyssey died, and we got a new car.

Well, we finally completed arrangements, and donated the car to Kars4Kids, and they picked up the car, a 1994 Honda Odyssey.

If I recall correctly, we picked it up in 1998, used, and when it breathed its last, it had 262,930 miles, so it was not a bad run.

I’m glad that this is finally over and done with, but there is a bit of melencholy associsted with the event.

In any case, scroll down for your dose of Elton John.

Fun at Garage Sales

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Charlie already has a snare drum and a glockenspiel, and today, when we were driving home, we passed a garage sale that had a nearly complete drum set, a bass drum, and 3 different sized tom-toms, and associated mounting hardware, at about 1/3 of their normal price.

We need to get a bass drum pedal, and a high hats, and some cymbals (crash, ride, and splash).

He’s already demonstrated the ability to use the drums in a Rock & Roll setting, he and his sister Natalie spent the past three weeks at Day Jams, a Rock and Roll day camp, so he’ll be able to practice his skills.*

He’s well on his way to be a heavy metal hebe.

We have videos from the concerts, and I will be posting them shortly.

Both of the kids were both very good.

*Yes, the idea of a child practicing drums does fill me with a bit of trepidation.

Poor Implementation of Technology

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2 weeks ago, we bought a Mazda5 mini-minivan, a 2009 with about 36K miles on it.

On Tuesday, with the temperatures well over 100°, the “Check Engine” light went on.

So, my wife calls the dealer, it’s still under warranty, after all, and is told that they cannot see her until Monday.

Well, I tell her to take it to our mechanic, Marks Motors in Owings Mills, and he puts it on a scanner, and the scan code reads, “loose gas cap,” which was probably created by a juxtaposition of an improperly installed gas cap, screwed up by yours truly, and the heat of the day.

So, this car, which has more electronics on it than all of NORAD did in 1967, has a sensor to detect a loose gas cap.

This is a good thing. A loose gas cap spews pollutants into the atmosphere.

But still I wonder whatever possessed the designers of the car to display this as engine fault, rather than flashing something saying “tighten your gas cap.”

Why send someone on a premature trip to the mechanic for a damn loose gas cap?

It’s a nice car, but this is a truly bone-headed human interface decision.

Penny Wise and Pound Foolish

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On Thursday, Sharon* spent 6 hours in the emergency room with severe chest pains.

It turned out that it was her long-standing problems with acid reflux, so it was not a heart attack, it was heart burn.

Well, because of Sharon’s* sensitivities, allergies, and odd interactions between her body chemistry and drugs, there is currently only one drug on the market, the proton pump inhibitor Dexilant, on the market which can address this.

She’s tried all the other ones, and they don’t work, but the insurance company drones have decided that it’s a good idea to deny the authorization to save a few bucks.

We are appealing.

How many f$#@ing trips to the ER with symptoms of a heart attack, which they cover at 100% does it take to wipe out any savings?

Well, let me give you a hint,we have already blown through that with the first trip to the ER.

Not enough bullets.

*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.

Busy Day Today

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My wife’s 1994 Honda Odyssey died 2 weeks ago, with 280,000 miles on it, and we have been looking for a replacment.

Well, we settled on a 2009 Mazda5 mini-minivan with about 36K miles on it. It seats 6, but is a somewhat smaller than our old Odyssey, and much smaller than what the Odyssey has grown into since.

It has a rather un-minivan-ish feel to it, and it drives nicely.

My wife is now pondering a name for it.

My though is that it’s an inanimate object, so just call it a car.

I Wish I Knew the Back Story

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No picture, but we were on I-695, just east of I-83, driving through an area of construction, and in the median strip, surrounded by Jersey barriers, was a guy firing up, or at least setting up, a gas barbecue grill.

So, he was setting out to grill Italian sausage, or maybe, they were workers heat treating something on site, I don’t know, but I will always wonder.

I was driving, so I could not take any pics, sorry.

Back Home Now

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I am working a 4 ten hour days, so I get 3 days at home.

Still trying to get my head around all this and figuring out how to balance blogging with all this.

Needless to say, this blog is not at the top of my work/family priorities, but I’ll try to stay on top of this.

And There Was Much Rejoicing……

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My new laptop, a birthday gift from DoD (Dear old Dad) has arrived, which means that I will be WiFi enabled down in Northern Virginia, which means that I can get my daily dose of Maddow online, and blog more.

So you will see more writing, but, as is my tradition, shamelessly swiped from the brothers Magliozzi, it will remain “unencumbered by the thought process.”

Still, being able to video phone back home on the weekdays via Skype is nice.

I am Completely Wiped

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Between my daughter’s bat mitzvah yesterday, and her reception today, I am completely wiped. Everything went pretty much to schedule, but the last minute running around was completely nuts.

I’m starting a new Job on Tuesday,* so I am hip deep in continued preparations, and adjustments for some days, as I will be away from home 4 days a week.

Hopefully, I’ll try to get back into the proverbial groove over the next week or so.

*And there was much rejoicing

Light Posting for a While

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I’ve got some stuff queued up, but I am heading off to a family get together on the Delaware shore, and then my Daughter is having her Bat Mitzvah this Saturday, so I will generally be away from the computer.

I have some stuff queued up, but volume should be light.

I have post dated this post until Sunday, after her reception, so scroll down for new posts.

Yes, I Posted Nothing Yesterday

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Brains!!!!!


Brains!


Brains…………


You know………


Hot Marshmallow, Hershey® Bar, and Graham Crackers would do nicely too…


Giant animated food, sounds like another horror movie…


But the kids are happy.

Natalie had a music competition in Hershey, PA which included entrance to the Hershey Park, so the rest of us got some (discounted) tickets to the amusement park, and we made a day of it.

It was a lot of fun, even if the Boardwalk, where most of the water rides are, was not yet open.

We had a lot of fun.

I made an interesting observation: The appearance of a child eating fresh, hot, S’mores is almost indistinguishable from that of a Zombie eating human brains.

Why the Religious Right Opposes Abortion

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Because the Talibaptists make good coin selling babies, and so they want to have a good supply of pregnant women, particularly white pregnant women, without options, so that they can cover a few medical bills, and then extracting fees from desperate parents:

American websites currently offer[ ] mouth-watering
incentives to would-be buyers. “Delivery within four months”, “Discounts of up to $19,000”, they proclaim. If it were cars they were selling this would not seem
odd, but it’s babies that are for sale – bright, smiling newborns to tempt the childless into parting with about £20,000.

There is no shame in treating babies like any other purchase in America, where the adoption industry is largely privatized… (“Why adoption is so easy in
America” Telegraph.co.uk 10/31/07)

………

The Brits have also rightly pointed to U.S. restrictions on birth control and abortion as a contributing to “marketable” infants in the U.S. The religious right’s imposed morality is perfectly partnered with those whose livelihoods depend upon the redistribution of children.

In May, 2007 Evangelical Christians organizations such as Focus on the Family and pastors from across the nation held a three-day summit in Colorado. members of to promote adoption via a media blitz.

While there are any number of people who do good work in adoption, there is a lot of money sloshing around, and it’s driving the way that business is done, and the Mega-churches and their ilk are taking their tithes, which keeps the pastors in SUV’s and business jets, I guess.