Category: family

Likely Record Snow Today

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Click for full size

Apologies for the crappy cell phone camera pic

Well, we’re getting a lot of snow here, it’s still coming down, and the estimate is that it will be in the range of 18-24 inches when all is said and done should beat the December record of 11½ inches in a single day and 14 inches in a 2-day storm, and may actually break the all-time record set in February 2003 in the North American blizzard of 2003 of 28.2 inches if it exceeds what the weatherman are reporting by a bit.

We still have not seen a snow plow on my street, though it has seen the more heavily traveled streets in the area.

Snow is expected to continue until tapering off sometime tomorrow.

[on edit]Not a big deal for me, but with 1 week left to go before American Greed and Conspicuous Consumption day, it looks like this will hammer retailers, because for much of the Eastern seaboard, this weekend is done, and there may still be a lot of closings, etc. on Monday.

It Snowed Today

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And Natalie managed to dragoon Charlie into helping her with a snowman that they named “Todd.”

(click images for full size)


Natalie with a chunk of Todd.


Charlie with another chunk of Todd


Natalie and her new friend.


Charlie giving bunny ears to an amused Todd.


Natalie and Charlie giving bunny ears to everyone.


Todd in all his majestic glory

We All Went to Manhattan Today

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We drove down from my mother-in-law’s to Washington Heights, where we parked, and took the subway (the A train) down.

Natalie wanted to go to the American Girl® Place on 49th & 5th Avenue. She wanted her doll repaired, an arm need to be reattached, and she hoped to have it addressed at the doll “hospital”.

Unfortunately, between a computer glitch, and the fact that it was one of the original style dolls, we had to leave it there, and they will mail it to us.

To say that Charlie was less than amused to be in the store would be a gross understatement.

He was in a state of blind panic and revulsion at having to cross the threshold into that problematic palace of pervasive pinkness.

By way of apology, I took him to the Sony Wonder Technology Lab at Madison Avenue and 56th St.

It was a sort of digital playground, with robots, and motion capture dirven dancing avatars and suchlike….Best of all, it was free.

We had some quintessentially New York moments:

  • We bought hot pretzels from a street vendor.
  • On our way back on the subway, some guy shouted that he was Jesus Christ, then apologized, and got off at his stop.

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Out of the Mouth of Babes

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Richard is a friend of my son, and he was playing with Charlie today, and they wanted to play on the computer.

I was in the middle of doing my Sarah Palin book ad on my blog post, and they were asking why I was doing a screen shot of the image, and I explained how the ads paid me a few bucks, but they did weird stuff like this all the time.

Well, Charlie has been thoroughly indoctrinated by me and Uncle Keith (Olbermann), so he started ragging on Palin and the book, and Richard, who has similarly proper parenting joined in, and then he let fly the best review ever on Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue

The book will probably fall apart, just like the Captain Underpants ones do.

–Richard S. Age 9

While I have no knowledge of the quality of the printing and binding, this is almost certainly accurate about the book so many levels.

I think that I hurt myself laughing.

The kid has a future in stand-up comedy.

The Joys of Children Are Without Number

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Last Wednesday, Charlie went on a field trip to Biztown, a Junior Achievement sponsored program for elementary school students.

We pretty much had to use explosives get him out of bed, and off to school.

He has been complaining about the program, which is a part of his curriculum, for weeks. He thought that it was a complete waste of time, and he has been scheming the whole time to find a way to ditch this.

Eventually, we made it clear to him that he wasn’t going to get out of it, and when I dropped him off at school (his delaying tactics made him miss the bus), I explained to him that whether he liked it or not, he’d enjoy it a lot less if he went in to the experience determined to be miserable.

I spent the entire day expecting a call from administrators about him having a melt-down.

When he got home, he said that he loved Biztown, and he wants to do their summer camp.

Great googly moogly, this was a lot of tsuris (aggravation) for nothing.

Excuse me now, while I bang my forehead against the monitor.

Purse Recovered

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Remember when I said that my daughter’s purse had been stolen?

Well much to the relief of everyone, particularly Natalie, her purse, which held her phone and her inhaler, as well as her song book/journal were recovered.

It turned out to be a taking for practical joke, as opposed to a taking for the purpose of theft. They took her stuff from her cubby in her after-school music class, and put it in her desk for art class, where she would find it.

Nasty joke, but less nasty than an actual theft.

Family Fun

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So, I needed to get gravy and lamb off the roof of my car (long story), and so I needed to through the car wash.

It’s something to share with the kids, so I took them through the car wash, one of the little ones that you can get at some places with a fill-up.

My kids enjoyed themselves.

OK, This is Just Weird

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Because I prefer Sinchronicity II to Sinchronicity

I’m talking with Sharon* last night, and we are talking about something, I don’t remember what, and I turn to her and deliver her the Samuel Jackson line from the movie The Incredibles, “Honey, where is my super suit?”

Today, I’m watching TV, and flipping, and there it is, and only about 5 minutes from the “super suit” line.

Stuff like this, where I’m humming a song that I’ve not heard in years in the morning, and hear it on the radio that evening, seems to happen to me about 2-3 times a month.

This is weird. Not only do I think that ESP is crap, but if it did exist, I would be a psychic black hole, I’m just not that sensitive.

I’ve got this weird Jung synchronicity crap going down.

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

Well, That Explains all the Bullsh$# When I Was Single

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Someone asks behavioral economist Dan Ariely if she should put out to a guy that she is dating. She “Unsure” is seriously into “George”, and wonders if the rule about making him wait is true.

Well, Dr Arieli says that according to behavior economics research, the rule is true:

The classic experiment here comes from psychologists Leon Festinger and James Carlsmith, who had participants perform a boring task and then paid them either $20 or $1 to convince someone else that the task had been great fun. Everyone then rated the task, with the result that the $1 participants rated the task more positively than did the $20 crew. While the $20 group could explain away the dissonance between their action (“I told someone the task was riveting”) and their belief (“It actually bored me to tears”) via money (“I was paid to promote the task”), the $1 individuals could not because they could not justify misleading others for such a small amount of money– so they changed their initial belief (“I must really like the task, to have promoted it”) and they ended up rating the task more positively.

To give you an example that is closer to our social life, look at fraternities: loyalty to frats increases with the amount of hazing, since pledges tell themselves, “I did a lot of embarrassing stuff for my frat – it must really matter to me.”

So, the advice to, “In other words, make him work, and he will rationalize it by deciding he loves you,” is supported by studies.

It does explain my favoring women who are can sometimes be described as “high maintenance,” though I feel compelled to note that each moment with Sharon,* is unalloyed bliss.

*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.†
†I know what you are thinking, he’s just writing that because he knows that she could read this on the net. My response is that Sharon* is a deeply passionate woman, and she has knives, and some of them are dull…..Mama did not raise no fools.

And Then My Head Exploded

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So, I’m getting Charlie up for school, and he wants to talk about NASA’s decision make its new Orion crew capsule reusable.

I told him that it really did not make a whole bunch of sense: It’s a minuscule part of the cost of a launch, but if it were not reusable, it would be a very public admission by NASA that the entire shuttle program was a failure, and that they were unwilling to do this as an organization.

He asked why this would be a problem, since everyone else saw that this was a true, so their admission would not materially effect their budget (not an exact quote, but the gist is the same. He turns 10 tomorrow, which means that yes, he is scary smart).

I explained that, like many stupid decisions, this was driven by pride: NASA was unwilling to admit that the Shuttle was a failure because this conflicted with their self image.

They think that they are Captain Kirk.

His reply:

Who is Captain Kirk?

Excuse me, while I scrape bits of my skull off the ceiling.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

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So, I was eating dinner with the family, and I happened to express the exquisite lust that I feel for Sharon.*

This is not an uncommon occurrence. The expression of affection, including physical affection, is something that occurs in our house…..It’s not like we are making love on the dining room floor.†

In any case, my son, Charlie, who is not quite 10, his birthday is in September, rolls his eyes, and says, “I cannot believe that I’m going to be that way when I’m 15.”

He has no idea whatsoever as to the hormonal roller coaster that awaits him.

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

†At least not while the kids are in the house.

Well, Today Sucked

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It pretty much started out as a normal unemployment day, I was calling recruiters, and just before I was about to make myself lunch, I get a frantic call from my daughter, Natalie.

Camp had ended early, noon instead of 2:00 pm, because they are having an afternoon/evening outing, so I had to rush out to pick her up, which I did.

Unfortunately, in the rush, I did not look at the gas gauge, and on I-795, I ran out of gas, and I called Sharon* to pick up the Jerry can from the shed that I use to fuel the lawn mower.

So I spent an hour on the shoulder, in the sun, having had nothing to eat or drink since I woke up.

I still don’t think that my blood sugar or electrolytes have recovered, so I’m not posting any more today.

I’d be even more incoherent than usual, which is saying something.

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

Major Suckage

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Srsly.

My contract with BD ended on Thursday, so I’m looking for work with unemployment (U-3) approaching 10%.

Tonight, we went down to Catonsville to see fireworks, and our car got towed.

We’re waiting for a cab to take us down to bail out our car.

July is not starting well.

Father’s Day Has Never Been a Big Thing for My Dad and Me

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My mom was killed by a drunk driver when I was 14, so we’ve always made a bigger deal over “Mutha’s Day,” since he raised me from that point on.

I always call him on Mother’s, and it’s usually an overseas call, as he typically hits Europe that time of year.

I’ve been doing that for years.

We actually got together for a cookout today, though his and my step-mom’s being here was about their annual trip out east for a conference in DC and not Father’s day.

Neither of us remembered until my daughter, Natalie, made mention of it.

I did up lamb chops for everyone but Charlie, my son, who is not a big fan of meat, so I did a Cornish game hen for him.

Of course, I used my Indian spice rub and plum barbecue sauce.

We hung out, shot the breeze, he gave lots of advice (he is my dad, after all), and a good time was had by all.

My wife and kids are going out for ice cream in a bit.

Yes, I Know, Posting Has Been Light

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I went up to New York at noon on Friday, to be up in time for Shabbos for my nephew Shlomo’s wedding to Shira, and juxtaposed with that, the car charger for my Palm® Centro™ went South, and first thing Monday morning headed back to Baltimore, heading directly to work.

The wedding, held Sunday evening, was a lot of fun, with lots of (non-mixed) dancing, though, as always, my experience with very Orthodox life events, particularly those that are done to New York standards, is that I feel a bit like I’m in a room full of aliens.

As Shlomo hails from Memphis, the band rolled out an Elvis impersonator at one point.