Life at the condo

Book three: The Knitter's Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes

2012-01-27T20:48:00.000-08:00

This is sort of cheating since a large portion of the book is dedicated to patterns but I'm counting it as I now have read a lot, dare I say far more than the average person, about yarn. First, I knew wool was cool but I didn't realize how cool until I read about it in depth. Can you say "hygroscopic"? Wool is hygroscopic, which means it is able to "absorb up to 30 its weight in moisture while still feeling warm and dry against your skin". When set on fire "wool extinguishes itself without a peep" because it is naturally flame-retardant. And wool can be stretched "a third of its length, or two-thirds when wet, and it'll recover to its original shape". Awesome.

Want to pamper yourself? Try knitting up a pair of cashmere socks. (They'll be the most expensive socks you ever own, but the author notes if you're feeling a bit under the weather, "a pair of handknit cashmere socks is like chicken soup, only better.)

Also, some aspiring yarn producers have developed a new yarn called cashgora - the result of cross-breeding the cashmere and angora goats. So we don't confuse ourselves here, let me add that angora goats produce mohair. Angora rabbits produce angora fiber. This fiber is so clean, many manufacturers don't process it at all before spinning. But, wait, there's more... Angora fiber "keeps you eight times warmer than wool" and can hold "twice as much moisture as wool." (Damn, I was just thinking wool was all that.) Please note, no bunnies were killed to make the skein of angora at your local yarn store.

3 down plus 49 to go.

Darr's ski vacation: Day One

2012-01-26T23:19:00.000-08:00

Darr left last night for his annual ski vacation with a few of his ski buddies but today was our official first day sans the second parent. Truth be told, now that Hen is falling to sleep in a more predictable manner (thank you, Melatonin!), it is a lot like a day when Darr has to work late at the office. We were jam packed with activities - preschool, play date, swimming - so the day flew by. Darr left a message to let me know that the skiing was great and that the cell service sucked so I shouldn't assume death has occurred if I don't hear from him tomorrow.

Twenty-seventh Wordless Wednesday requires glow sticks

2012-01-25T19:59:00.000-08:00

He's a 14 Percenter!

2012-01-24T08:58:00.000-08:00

"The returns show Romney paid a smaller proportion of his income in tax than most Americans because his income is from investments from his $200m-plus fortune, which attract a lower rate than earned income.

In 2010, Romney earned more than $21m and paid $3m in tax, a rate of less than 14%. He expects to pay $3.2m in taxes on his 2011 income, a rate of 15.4%."

Hat tip: The Guardian

"The former Massachusetts governor shelled out approximately $3 million in federal income taxes on $21.7 million in income that year.

Because Romney gave about $3 million to charity — about half of which went to the Mormon Church — his tax rate was lowered to a meager 14%.

Romney hasn't drawn a real salary in years, and the numbers confirm what most analysts believed: The bulk of his income comes from investment gains.

Because capital gains are taxed at a much lower rate — 15% — than the levy on the salaries of the wealthiest Americans — 35% — Romney has an annual income in the top 1% of Americans paired with a relatively low tax rate."

Hat tip: The New York Daily News

"Romney's tax rate is below that of most wage-earning Americans because most of his income, as outlined in more than 500 pages of tax documents, flows from capital gains on investments."

Hat tip: The Huffington Post

Therein lies the problem - WE NEED TO CHANGE THE WAY INCOME IS DEFINED. You should no longer get a preferred tax rate because you invest.

Listen at NPR for a quick overview of the numbers. Also, did you realize Gingrich is calling for a 15% flat tax rate and he wants to eliminate all taxes on capital gains. This would mean Romney would pay almost nothing at all in taxes. Holy fuck.

Vegetables and fruits, week one: The Cucumber

2012-01-23T22:00:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to learn more about the vegetables and fruits we feed Hen so when he asks why he has to eat something I can say something more specific than, "It's good for you."

Why is it good for you?

It is a very good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and Potassium.
It is low in saturated fats, cholesterol, and sodium.
It is a good source of Vitamin A, Pantothenic Acid, Magnesium, Phosphorus, and Manganese.

Interesting fact:

The English cucumber is known as the "burpless" cucumber - the seeds and skin of other cucumber varieties are said to give some people gas.

Cool bits from Wikipedia:

Vitamin C

--good for preventing scurvy - Arg!

Vitamin K

--plays a role in bone growth and the maintenance of bone density

--it has been hypothesized that vitamin K may hold benefits to treating Alzheimer's

--it is a true antidote for poisoning by rodenticides

Potassium

--chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19

--necessary for the function of all living cells

--makes up about 2.6% of the weight of the Earth's crust

--is the eighth or ninth most common element by mass in the human body

--triggers three of the five types of taste sensations

Book two: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

2012-01-22T22:32:00.000-08:00

Set over twelve days, Ms. Ward's book chronicles the lives of one very poor, African-American family in the days leading up to and immediately following Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact with the coastal town in which they live. The deft way in which Ward approaches the subject keeps it from falling into a stereotypical cliché. Ward's characters feel honest and are written with stark clarity. Their trials - being motherless (the mother died shortly after giving birth to her last child), poverty stricken, and, for one, pregnant - give them a sense of vulnerability that is lined with rugged determination to survive.

I could not recommend this book to any of my friends who take issue with animal cruelty. There is a very brutal scene in which pit bulls fight.

2 down plus 50 to go.

Book one: Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary

2012-01-22T21:58:00.000-08:00

As good now as it was when I was a kid. Hen loved the sound made when Ramona pulled her classmate's curls - "Boing!" He also thought being a kindergarten dropout was pretty hilarious. Hopefully this is not indicative of his future educational aspirations.

One down plus 51 to go.

The gall of some people

2012-01-22T09:30:00.000-08:00

Again, I know I should not read the Religious Clause blog because all I do is go ape when I read something I think is completely ridiculous, like one of the latest posts in which a woman convicted of embezzlement asked that 10% of her monthly pay be excluded from garnishment because she wants to continue to tithe to her church.

Um.

Wait.

You embezzled funds from your employer. Is that something a devout religious person does? Perhaps she needs to read a little more of the good book. I'm fairly confident stealing from your employer is a no no. It's not as if she took a loaf of bread to feed her starving children - she stole money, and a lot of it. There is a $1.86 million dollar balance on her restitution order. Calculating average attorney's fees and the like, that puts her haul at just over $1 million.

I think that's fair

2012-01-21T15:50:00.000-08:00

Darr wants to ski two days in a row this weekend. To agree to this I gave him a list of things to accomplish that includes grocery shopping and returning books to the library. It also means he'll be on kid-duty when he returns so I can (hopefully) finish my latest knitting project. I think that's fair.

Also, today Hen and I played with his "little Legos" (meaning not the Duplo sets) and made one gigantic monster and one very cool monster sidekick alien dog-type thing. Hen is funny when involved in this kind of play. While he can't always verbalize what he does want, he definitely knows exactly what he does not want and he can tell you about that, loudly.

The Internet, serving up one more addiction

2012-01-21T10:10:00.000-08:00

Now I can waste even more time on the web. WhoSay, where you can "get the latest photos, videos and news, directly from your favorite celebrities, athletes and influencers."

Uh oh

2012-01-20T23:22:00.000-08:00

"While drilling in 1971, geologists tapped into a cavern filled with natural gas. The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of 70 metres (The Gates of Hell). To avoid poisonous gas discharge, it was decided to burn it off. It’s still on fire."

Hat tip: Darr

This garbage disposal is clean

2012-01-19T21:17:00.000-08:00

We had a very unpleasant smell emanating from our garbage disposal. It was an assault on the olfactory system. Thank goodness for Google. I typed in "how to get rid of garbage disposal smell" and found an answer. It was as simple as pouring a little baking soda and vinegar down the drain. Should you ever find yourself in the same situation with a similar unfortunate odor wafting through the kitchen and into all the little corners of your abode, here's what you should do.

Sprinkle baking soda in your garbage disposal, enough for inside of the drain to be covered
Pour half a cup of vinegar into the disposal
Let sit for an hour
Run cold water down the drain while running the disposal

Voilà! The vinegar smell and the bad odor it was hiding will both be gone.

Twenty-sixth Wordless Wednesday requires snow

2012-01-18T01:22:00.000-08:00

Shutter 1/80 Aperture f/2.0 ISO 5000 - No flash

Books!

2012-01-17T20:02:00.000-08:00

We are now reading regular, full-sized books but that doesn't mean we've given up the awesome illustrations and much-shorter plot lines of story books. Here is a list of some of our favorites:

A Sick Day for Amos McGee
What I love: This story of friendship warms your heart.

What Hen loves: He finds the thought of animals riding the bus pretty hysterical.

The Story of Ferdinand
What I love: The little bull wants to sit just quietly and smell the flowers. What is not to love about that, eh? Also, that there is no animal cruelty because Ferdinand doesn't want to take part in the bull fight.

What Hen loves: The bee stinging Ferdinand on the butt, of course.

Memoirs of a Goldfish
What I love: All the swimming (and attempted swimming) around the bowl, 'cuz that's what goldfish do all day.

What Hen loves: Mervin the snail who eats all the slime on the fishbowl.

Iggy Peck, Architect
What I love: That little Iggy's talent is finally recognized and fostered.

What Hen loves: The construction of the bridge when Iggy - SPOILER ALERT - saves his teacher and classmates.

Little Oink
What I love: Little Oink's relief when he finally gets to do what he wants...clean.

What Hen loves: The following line - "Fine," whined the swine.

Our MLK day

2012-01-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

Hen and I had a chat about Martin Luther King but as he's four this didn't last long and I'm not quite sure he understood any of it beyond that Martin Luther King was a person who once lived on the planet. We watched an episode of Curious George, played Legos, ran around outside with the dog - this also didn't last long 'cuz BRRRRRRR!, and came inside to play sea creatures. How is it that a day of basically all play goes by so quickly? It only took three books and the kid was out. I'll have a few hours to work on the first of this year's Pay It Forward projects before bedtime. Nice.

Reading update

2012-01-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

I am not reading. In fact, thanks to Netflix's ridiculous collection of nearly every t.v. series known to humankind, I've gone through the entire Felicity series, the entire How I Met Your Mother Series, and am now currently working my way through, wait for it, The Vampire Diaries. I feel the appropriate level of shame. But, seriously, I may need to put the computer up for a week so I can get through one book. If I don't start reading now, there's not a chance in Heck I'll get to 52 books this year. I might not even make it to 38 like I did last year.

House projects

2012-01-14T21:59:00.000-08:00

When I review the list of things I wanted to accomplish last year I start feeling pretty bad. About half of the things listed I didn't really even think about after writing them down. But then I think about the things I did do and, while I might not have been as productive as I had hoped to be, I did manage to get some things done and others started. I'm not going to waste time beating myself up about the rest. The largest project* was having all of our flooring replaced. Unfortunately, we are still having buckling issues with the bamboo. They have attempted to fix it once before, the floor guy just missed the second appointment to come out and see the new problem areas, and I fear they may have to replace the bamboo. All of it. Yuck.

I started decorating the living room but this action item was placed on hold because there were quality control issues with the shelving we selected and they won't ship to us - this is a good thing, I realize - until they work them out. The expected ship date is later this month. I did, however, paint the wall in the living room, order art, and buy a couch. As for the laundry room, not only did I rearrange it, we replaced the flooring in there, painted it, and installed new shelving.

Other things completed include:

hiring a handyman to fix our doors
researching feasibility of converting regular cabinets to pull out cabinets (It can be done to a few of them!)
donating stuff we have no use for

Looking ahead, the leftover projects from last year I'll carry forward to 2012, and hopefully have better luck completing, are as follows:

buy a new bed frame (and possibly headboard, although if I can figure out the logistics, I might try to make this)
tag all the wires (this requires Darr's help)
spackle the walls (and retouch paint)
paint the base trim in all the rooms

Last, but certainly not least, we have the new projects for 2012:

decorate bedroom
remove ring o' crap in the bedroom (finally)
file old paperwork
clean front room closet
donate stuff we no longer use

*This wasn't even a project on the list.

An update on all things

2012-01-13T20:24:00.000-08:00

Melatonin - We had high hopes for melatonin and it is very much making bedtime an easier affair. But there are some cons to using this stuff and the big one is that often Hen will wake up in the middle of the night both wide awake and hungry. Once fed he doesn't want to return to sleep. We figured out this is probably because Hen used to stay awake so long - not going to sleep until anywhere between 9:30p.m. and 11p.m. - that he would request and receive food for what can only be called Second Dinner. Drat.

Car - A few months ago we sold Olive (a.k.a. the dog car) and turned ourselves into a one-car family. The transition was easy as it is rare when Darr needs the car. Enter ski season. We knew it was coming and we knew Darr's taking the car for the day would inconvenience me. So far, I've only had to wake Hen up to take Darr to his friend's house to catch a ride a couple of times and Darr's only taken the car a couple of times but I find myself perusing car sites to pick our next vehicle. As Darr, himself, pointed out, Sophie is seven years (110,000+ miles) old so it isn't crazy to think about getting a new vehicle and rewarding her with a post retirement job that is less demanding. Cars I am currently considering include the Fiat - because, seriously, how cool is it that we can go smaller?, another Mini Cooper (Darr thinks the 4WD model is awesome), the Volvo C30 (yep, it was Edward's car in Twilight), and a Honda Element (probably used since they stopped making them a year ago). I am torn. I believe we can totally manage with just one car but I also feel as if having a second shiny new car would be fantastic. Vroom! Vroom!

Photography - Despite the beautiful blue skies we've had the past couple of days, I am feeling very uninspired. I can't work on the strobist techniques I learned because I have none of the gear. Thankfully, a lot of the gear doesn't cost all that much - an umbrella is $19, an umbrella adapter $28, a stand $52. The piece that does cost a lot, the flash, is around $400-$800 depending on which model you get. Sigh. This is not an inexpensive hobby.

Knitting - I have learned the box stitch. Or at least I think I have. As explained in this book, the box stitch is as follows: Rows 1-2 K2, P2 / Rows 3-4 P2, K2, repeat. But if you have a row that is or is not divisible by 4, the rows aren't going to line up the same. Also, as Darr commented after hearing my confused ranting whilst in the middle of a knitting project the other night as yet another mistake was found in the pattern, there appears to be very little quality control when it comes to fact-checking the accuracy of the pattern. I find this highly annoying. Hen loves his jellyfish, though. He has named her Flower.

Pets - We have them, they are getting old, they are puking around the condo A LOT. I took one cat in a month ago and the doctor determined there was nothing wrong with her. So we changed cat food per his suggestion and everyone continued to randomly puke. The most disturbing thing is that now that they are so old, they can't move very fast. We will often wake in the middle of the night to find them hacking and vomiting all over the bed. Despite all of this, we are contemplating getting a gerbil/hamster/guinea pig because one of the preschool pets is pregnant and there will be babies. Ahhhh...cute gerbil/hamster/guinea pig babies...

Travel - Hen is so very excited about the Mexico! He is packing for it every day. Which basically means he packs one set of sea creatures in his backpack, unpacks them throughout the course of the day, and packs a new set of sea creatures the following day. Also, I had thought I might need to make Mr. S Hen's guardian so that he could travel with Hen but, after checking with the Mexican Embassy, I learned a travel authorization letter signed by Darr and myself will be enough. Hen has, of course, his passport and I will be at the airport when they arrive lest there be any problems. I guess the airline thought it was a bit weird for a grown man to be leaving the country with a kid that was not his own and who was not traveling with either of his parents. Go figure.

Dreams and nightmares, preschooler-style

2012-01-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

Hen: Mama, I had a dream 'bout a cat who, who turned into a monkey to chase me and papa. That was a super scary dream. Right?

Me: A cat that turned into a monkey to chase you and papa? Yes.

Hen: Mama, Legos stabbed me one day, too.

Me: Yikes.

Hen: I had a dream about a forklift. Nothing else.

Tired

2012-01-12T23:48:00.000-08:00

I am too tired to blog. That is all.

Twenty-fifth Wordless Wednesday requires a look back at prom

2012-01-11T22:42:00.001-08:00

Beds

2012-01-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

We need a new bed. The above photos are beds I'm considering that range in price from around $400 to $4500. It seems like we are far too old and established in adulthood to buy a $400 IKEA bed frame and far too reasonable in our middle income-hood to buy the $4500 DWR bed frame. Sigh.

Consumerism at its best

2012-01-09T15:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Husband,

I predict we are going to spend a small fortune on Legos this year.

Love,
Da Wife

Photography: Getting my strobist on

2012-01-08T21:57:00.000-08:00

Today, I went to an all-day strobist photography class. The first two hours (approx.) was spent going over terminology, light theory, set up, equipment, and the like. And then we split into two teams and got down to shooting. We used an umbrella and, when necessary, a reflector. Oh, and we also had to be each other's models, which sort of sucked - I hate having my photo taken - but at some point during our many hours of shooting, we became ultra comfortable with being in front of the camera. We were also a little goofy. There is a lot my brain is still working through so I won't post specifics right now. What I can say is that post-editing was a breeze. When you can control your camera through your settings (e.g., aperture, ISO, shutter speed), it is awesome. When you can control your camera and the lighting, it is FAB-U-LOUS.

Janice and the Beauty lighting - The lighting is overhead but slightly forward (so as not to cause weird shadows to fall on her face) and to the right. Since she is set against a black backdrop, you don't have to spend any time worrying about what to do with the background.

Janice & the City - I'm about 95% there with this picture. I need to know how to lessen the reflection in the window - my theory to get rid of the reflection in the window is that you would 1. bounce the umbrella's light off a reflector to illuminate her face or 2. move the umbrella slightly more to the side - but other than that, this is actually a really cool shot. Want to know why? I'll tell you. I had to get a base reading by metering off one of the buildings in the back, go three (four?) stops past that to underexpose the shot, position Janice, bring the light close in, and fire away.

Ah, Lee. The light is coming in from the right. We have catchlights in both eyes, there are no shadows on the wall because our subject is far enough away from it and, well, that's pretty much about it.

UPDATE: Notes on my hand from tonight's review - Flash-SB700 (or above); for gritty sports shot, use two lights (one umbrella and one snoot) and set aperture to f/5.6, shutter to 1/250, and place second light on the opposite side of the umbrella so it illuminates the jawline.

The Mexico! 2012 prep is underway

2012-01-07T22:28:00.000-08:00

It's not all that surprising that when we took our Moms Only trip down to the Mexico! last year, we thought it a splendid idea to make the trip an annual event. What is sort of surprising is that we actually managed to make it happen again. In less than two months, four of the original five* will be heading south to the lovely casa by the sea. Ahhh... I do believe Amber and I have made an agreement to do more drinking this trip. So, yay! (What say you, Amber? Do we have a gentlewomen's agreement? Do we? Do we? Also, Stacey, you want in on this or what?)

This trip is even more awesome because I'm going to stay with Megan on the day everyone else returns home, and Damian - that brave, brave man - will fly down to join us for the week with both Avery and Monsieur Henry! Yeah, you read that right. He's going to fly down with the kids by himself. The only sort of hiccup we can see is the possibility that Hen might have a teeny bit of a freak out when it comes time to leave Darr and go with Damian at the airport. But we figure we can mitigate the severity of any such incident with the use of technology - thank you in advance Skype (and other Skype-like products). It's really hard to imagine that our kid, who is so in love with sea creatures, isn't going to be super excited about 1. flying on a plane, 2. flying on a plane to the Mexico! where there are sea creatures, and C) flying on a plane to the Mexico! where there are sea creatures and his mama.

As far as prep goes, thanks to his swimming lessons, Hen now has both goggles and ear plugs. He also has his shorts and, well, other than a bucket and shovel, that's all he really needs to vacation in the Mexico! Although I am also on the lookout for a new pair of sandals for him. For me, I just need my camera and to get the travel authorization letter written, signed, and notarized. And for Darr, I should probably plan a few activities so he has something to do with Hen while I'm gone.

*Sadly, Rachele opted out of the trip this year, but who can blame her. Cute baby at home. Cute baby!

Goodbye Paris vacation

2012-01-06T15:40:00.000-08:00

In other news, David Beckham is not moving, he's staying! Which means I get to see him (for real, ya'll) when he comes to town to play the Timbers. If I was Barney Stinson I might say "It's goona be legend-...wait for it...and I hope you're not lactose intolerant because the second half of that word is-DAIRY!"

Digital SLR camera Nikon D4

2012-01-06T15:33:00.000-08:00

Dang. I want one. But it'll be, what? At least one more year before I can upgrade. Right, Darr?

Translation, please

2012-01-05T22:40:00.000-08:00

Slip all 16 (18, 22) instep sts onto 1 needle.
Next row, k across 5 (5, 6) heel sts.
Using another needle, k across the other 5 (5, 6) heel sts.
Using this same needle, pick up 10 (11, 12) sts along the side of the heel.
Using another needle, k across the instep sts.
Using this same needle, pick up 10 (11, 12) sts along the side of the heel and, using the same needle, k across 5 (5, 6) heel sts.
The middle of the heel is now the beginning of the round.
There should be 15 (16, 18) sts on the 1st needle, 16 (18, 22) sts on the 2nd needle (instep), and 15 (16, 18) sts on the 3rd needle.

Ugh. It might take me until 2013 to figure out how to do this when I'm already knitting on the round.

Twenty-fourth Wordless Wednesday requires a better hiding spot

2012-01-04T23:33:00.000-08:00

Shutter 1/160 Aperture f/2.5 ISO 200

Bad Poetry Rocks

2012-01-04T17:38:00.000-08:00

OK, so for some reason I stumbled upon http://verybadpoetry.com/. The first randomly chosen one:

When the
Shit
Hits the fan,

Step away
from the fan.

I almost lost it. So funny!

Everybody Reads 2012

2012-01-03T22:42:00.000-08:00

There's a community reading project! How awesome is that? Visit your local library to get your hands on a copy of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi Durrow. If they are all gone, call me up and I'll send it your way when I'm done. And then we'll all be reading! Yay!

Questioning the logic

2012-01-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

Hen: Ouch.
Me: Are you okay?
Hen: I have a bellyache.
Me: You do?
Hen: Yeah, and I didn't have too much candy. <pauses and then continues, incredulously> How can I have a bellyache when I didn't eat too much candy?

I am pretty sure he's thinking, Lady, just give me piles of candy and let me at 'em, I've already got the bellyache.

Science and 2012

2012-01-02T16:17:00.000-08:00

I love that NASA has a FAQ page that addresses concerns regarding the end of the world in 2012.

Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.

Go, Earth!

THEY BE GENIUSES!

2012-01-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

The laptop has been saved! The laptop has been saved!

So, Darr will back up the hard drive later today and make sure the system is up and running, and I will be extremely happy for the rest of the day.

These Apple Genius people are awesome. The culprit was a cable in the laptop that was faulty. Phew. Cost of repair approximately $50. Sweet. (That is so much better than the $750 you have to pay to have them send it out for repairs.)

Happy New Year to me! Also, I'm totally doing Blog 365 again since I know two other people who are participating. Feel free to remove me from any feed if you don't want to receive daily Life at the Condo. (365 is a whole lotta Life at the Condo. I won't take offense.)

Books read in 2011

2012-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Freedom
A Painted House
Free-Range Kids
Death with Interruptions
The Lonely Polygamist
The Passage
The Two-Income Trap
Atlas of Remote Islands
Imperfect Birds
Dirty Words of Wisdom
Life from an RNA World
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Torrents of Spring
A Really Short History of Nearly Everything
I'd Know You Anywhere
Battle Hymn of Tiger Mother
The Art of Photography
Punished by Rewards
The Almost Moon
Uglies
Lost on Planet China
Rescue
A Visit from the Goon Squad
My Passion for Design
The Uncoupling
The Three Weissmanns of Westport
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
Little Pink House
The Siege of Trencher's Farm
Are Women Human?
Overbite
Sunday at Tiffany's
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
Winner-Take-All Politics
Charlotte's Web
The Family Fang
The Whole-Brain Child
Tollins: Explosive Tales for Children

2011 in photos

2011-12-31T20:30:00.001-08:00

Book thirty-eight: Tollins: Explosive Tales for Children by Conn Igguiden

2011-12-31T20:25:00.000-08:00

Phew. I was able to finish reading this book to Hen tonight and, yes, I'm counting it, too. That brings my still-sluggish and not-at-all impressive number for the year to 38. That means it took me approximate one and a half weeks to finish each book. As stated previously, I shall try harder next year. I have a plethora of books on hold at the library and just got another nine for Christmas, not to mention the six I currently have checked out and two unread books on the iPad and the rest of the Uglies book on loan from a friend. There is no reason I should not be able to hit the ground running tomorrow.

38 down and this is really the last for this year. A mere 14 shy of the goal. Drat.

Double D A N G .

2011-12-31T12:26:00.001-08:00

I just realized that I have probably lost all the photos I've taken of Hen on school days. I was keeping a photo journal of his outfits for the year but if the hard drive is gone, so are those pics. (Only a handful made it to the back up drive.) D A N G .

Book thirty-seven: The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.

2011-12-31T11:48:00.000-08:00

Sweet. Got one more in and I even gleaned some tips for dealing with the young one. Here they are:

Connect and redirect: Surfing the emotional waves
Name It to Tame It: Telling stories to calm big emotions
Engage, Don't Enrage: Appealing to the upstairs brain
Use It or Lose It: Exercising the upstairs brain
Move It or Lose It: Moving the body to avoid losing the mind
Use the Remote of the Mind: Replaying memories
Remember to Remember: Making recollection a part of your family's daily life
Let the Clouds of Emotion Roll By: Teaching that feelings come and go
SIFT: Pay attention to what's going on inside
Exercise Mindsight: Getting back to the hub

Also, we can blame a lot of the crap our kids put us through on the amygdala - the tiny almond-shaped part of the limbic area responsible for quickly processing and expressing emotions, especially anger and fear. So, yeah, Hen's amygdala, this is me shaking my fist at you right now. This thing can hijack your child's ability to respond in a reasonable and rational and peacefully, socially acceptable way and turns your lovely child into a rampaging, book-flinging lunatic. For someone's Hen's age, the redirect method is still highly recommended as a means to get past the anger and/or fear that is overtaking your little person.

Siegel discusses the left and right sides of the brain and why each are important to nurture, and explains the upstairs and downstairs brains. Most probably already know this but here's a quick overview...
The left is logical, literal, and linguistic. The right is nonverbal, holistic, and focuses on the meaning and feeling of an experience. The downstairs brain (brain stem, limbic region) is primitive, responsible for basic functions (like breathing and blinking), for innate reactions and impulses, and for strong emotions. The upstairs brain (cerebral cortex and its various parts) is more evolved, where more intricate mental processes take place, like thinking, imagining, and planning. The upstairs brain is "responsible for producing many of the characteristics we hope to see in our kids:

Sound decision making and planning
Control over emotions and body
Self-understanding
Empathy
Morality"

The premise of this book is integration - you have to balance the left and right brain (Siegel uses the metaphor of being in a boat and wanting to stay mid-stream, not venturing too close to either bank) and develop the upstairs brain so that it can effectively "control" the downstairs brain in times of stress, anxiety, fear, anger, etc. (For this, he uses a closed fist showing the upstairs (fingers) covering and protecting the downstairs (thumb) so that your child doesn't (open fist) flip his lid and be overtaken by his emotions.

Like most parenting books I've read, there is a lot of useful, common sense information. Thankfully, he admits at least once that sometimes the unpleasant scene just has to play itself out, that you can't always navigate your child back to his/her "happy place" so they can be less grumpy/annoying/disobedient/etc. Children aren't automatons. But it is - doh! - our responsibility as parents to help them develop the skills necessary to get through life.

Anyway, I don't know if I'd recommend this book over any other book I've read but it was an easy quick read. If you're looking for one last book to finish in 2011, this just might fit the bill.

37 down and that's all folks.

Borked

2011-12-30T22:15:00.000-08:00

D A N G .

My laptop crapped out on me tonight and DH wasn't able to fix it. A trip to the Genius Bar at the Apple store is in order to see if the thing is borked.

D A N G .

But, hey, on the bright side I learned the word "borked" so all is not lost, only (rough estimate) about a month or two worth of photos. This does mean, if the geniuses can't get it up and running, that our daily photo run will have been interrupted.

D A N G .

But, hey, on the bright side, I might just kick off 2012 with a new computer, which I'll be able to use until, well, the end.

Apparently, I'm not the only one having computer problems.

Book thirty-six: The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

2011-12-30T21:21:00.000-08:00

This is one crazy and entertaining book. Annie and Buster (a.k.a. A and B) are the children of Caleb and Camille. Caleb and Camille are artists, artists who create art through manufactured moments (scenes?) they invent ahead of time and play out, typically in public places. The story moves along at a fairly brisk pace, which is a must these days or I never manage to finish, and is interspersed with chapters that outline past art pieces they have performed. I am doing a disservice trying to explain it. The book is about family and loyalty and becoming independent and moving on. It is about surviving childhood and discovering self. It is a good read. You should read it.

36 down and 16 I'm not going to read by midnight tomorrow. Sigh. Better luck next year, I guess.

Cooperative preschool preparedness

2011-12-29T22:05:00.000-08:00

three books of stamps
one pen
40+ procurement letters
one horror flick queued up on the laptop
one libation
two pieces of huckleberry saltwater taffy

My evening plan is to address all the procurement letters. So far, I'm feeling pretty good. I've asked six businesses/people/etc. for donations and received four items, including this super cute picture an artist I've purchased art from before donated. Technically, I've already satisfied the donation requirement but I see no reason to stop there. I have a few friends who might be able to hook me up with Adobe products and EA games so how awesome is that, right?

UPDATE 10:48 P.M.: Typo spotted and reported to preschool president so information can get to the person it needs to. Process is stopped until I can reprint letters. Am now trying to decide if I should send out the 15 letters I have ready to mail.

Christmas! (part three, comprised of more pictures)

2011-12-29T03:48:00.000-08:00

Offering for Santa - includes salami, olives, cookie, orange, egg nog, and some gluten-free crackers for the reindeer

Fireplace app

Christmas tree lights

Hen's jellyfish, knit by mama

Helicopter, ya'll

Hen hanging with Beauts on her new bed

Click here to view the rest of the pics.

Siri horror movie trailer

2011-12-26T11:37:00.000-08:00

Sister-in-law Megan told me about this on Christmas Eve. You've probably already seen it but I think it's hilarious and going to post about it anyway. I love people who have the time, creativity, and means to do this kind of thing. Awesome.

Interview with a four-year old on Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T22:54:00.001-08:00

Christmas is coming! (part two, comprised of pictures)

2011-12-24T17:24:00.000-08:00

The night before last I stayed up far too late to start and finish this project for Hen.

I know two kids who are ready to unwrap some presents.

Huh. A book and a knitted hat. Come on, Aunt Christie. Where's the good stuff?

A book about a snail and a whale. For Hen, it does not get any better than this.

Uncle Darr scaring the children.

Cousin picture

Hen placing a shark on Mia's head before backing away and laughing maniacally.

Book thirty-five: Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

2011-12-20T23:42:00.000-08:00

We were super close to finishing last night but he fell asleep right as Templeton was going to retrieve Charlotte's sac of eggs. It is the second time I've read this book to him but it is hard to count the first time since he was just a baby.

And, yeah, this is sort of a sad, pathetic attempt to up my numbers for the year.

35 down plus 17 to go.

Christmas is coming!

2011-12-20T23:14:00.000-08:00

Little but cute. Hen put the angel topper on. And he added some Lego shovels as decoration.

I broke down and bought one of these from a kiosk at the mall.

How could I pass up this adorable whale given Hen's love of all sea creatures? (Answer: I couldn't.)

Hen selected this one for the tree. The cats are enjoying batting at the bells.

Clothing is optional

2011-12-20T10:28:00.000-08:00

Hen, in the process of getting dressed: Socks go on your penis, right?

Me: You sure?

Hen, holding sock to appendage: See. It stays on.

<at this moment said sock falls off and Hen crumbles to the bed laughing at the hilarity of it all>

Hen, chortling: It falls off.

Now the lad is running around the condo nekkid but for the socks on his feet.

Conditions

2011-12-20T09:44:00.001-08:00

Hen, talking to Mabel: If you don't scratch me, I will love you.

<pause>

If you do scratch me, I won't love you, Mamoe.

Snowman Lennon

2011-12-19T20:13:00.000-08:00

Hen did a Christmas-themed art project the other day and when the glue finally dried, this is what we were left with. I can't help but think of John Lennon. And every time I see this little guy, I hear ... "Imagine all the snowmen living life in peace. You, you may say I'm a snowman, but I'm not the only one..." This is a keeper.

Work Happenings

2011-12-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

Yep. That happened.

Pretty good too.

Book quote #7682

2011-12-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

"On the bus to St. Louis, a man with a ukulele stood in the aisle and offered to play requests. Someone shouted out, "Freebird," and the man sat back down, visibly angered."

Hilarious. 'Cuz can't you just exactly picture how this would look and hear the sound of the heckler shout out "Freebird." And how excellent is that choice of song? For me, everything about this sentence works and is comically awesome. I'm not close to being done with this book yet but am absolutely loving The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson.

Book thirty-four: Winner-Take-All Politics by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson

2011-12-17T00:56:00.000-08:00

"Democracy is based on the ideal of political equity. Every citizen is supposed to have the same potential to influence what government does -- even if, in practice, some choose not to exercise that potential or exercise it poorly. Money should not matter in this calculus: the rich and poor are equal before government... In the marketplace, by contrast, money matters a great deal. Markets respond to what economists call "effective demand" -- that is, preferences backed by dollars. The rich and poor may be equal politically. They are not equal economically." -- pg. 74

"...in a democratic society the existence of large centers of private power is dangerous to the continuing vitality of a free people." -- pg. 81

"Property and markets rest on government and law....They had to be restrained and limited by government and law. Without such restraints and limits, greater economic inequality would lead to greater political inequality, which in turn would lead to government policies that reflected the interests of those at the top. Swamped by tides of inequality, democracy would give way to oligarchy -- the very concern that recent economic events have cast in stark relief." -- pg. 82

"More than most societies, Americans believe that people rise or fall as a result of their own efforts, and therefore get what they deserve... Underpinning this ethic is a tendency to interpret the world in highly individualistic terms. We distribute blame and praise to individuals because we believe that it is their individual actions, for better or worse, that matter. People get what they deserve." -- pg. 103

"Most of the famous 'swing voters,' whom journalists tend to idealize as standing above the fray, carefully sorting among the strengths and weaknesses of each party's offerings, are actually the least engaged, least well-informed citizens, reaching a final decision (if at all) on the flimsiest grounds." -- pg. 109

"Are the opinions of wealthier Americans more likely to be heard and heeded than those of less affluent Americans? ... When the opinions of the poor diverged from those of the well-off, the opinions of the poor ceased to have any apparent influence: If 90 percent of poor Americans supported a policy change, it was no more likely to happen than if 10 percent did. By contrast, when more of the well-off supported a change, it was substantially more likely to happen." -- pg. 112

"I believe leaders of the business community, with few exceptions, have chosen to wage a one-sided class war...against working people...and even many in the middle class of our society. The leaders of industry, commerce and finance in the United States have broken and discarded the fragile, unwritten compact previously existing during a past period of growth and progress...Our tax laws are a scandal, yet corporate America wants even wider inequalities...The wealthy seek not to close loopholes, but to widen them by advocating the capital gains tax rollback that will bring them a huge bonanza." -- pg. 132

"Republicans had criticized Democrats during the 2000 campaign for only supporting "targeted tax cuts." "Targeted" was GOP code for tax cuts that were smaller and more focused on the middle class. But the GOP's 2001 tax cuts were also targeted -- on the rich. First, they focused only on the progressive income tax, rather than payroll taxes, which hit the working and middle classes much harder. Then GOP leaders said that an "across-the-board tax cut" meant that everyone should receive a proportional reduction in their tax rate, which meant in practice a much larger tax cut for people in the highest brackets. Then they insisted on the elimination of the estate tax, new incentives for high-income Americans to save, and the elimination of limits on itemized deductions for those at the top. (In 2003, they would add to these goodies for high-income taxpayers steep cuts in the capital gains and dividends taxes.) All told, more than a third of the 2001 tax cuts went to the richest 1 percent of Americans -- a staggering $38,500 per household per year when the tax cuts took effect. The average taxpayer in the bottom 80 percent of the income distribution received a slightly more modest $600." -- pg. 214

"By front-loading benefits to average Americans while back-loading benefits to the well-to-do, they could also camouflage the winner-take-all nature of the new laws." -- pg. 215

"Without an organized, persistent capacity to pressure officials, outrage alone was unlikely to produce fundamental change." -- pg. 220

"Within months of triggering the greatest economic crisis in three-quarters of a century, an obscenely profitable financial sector had reinstated many of its standard lavish practices, once again backed by explicit and implicit taxpayer subsidies. Recessions, it turned out, were for suckers, not bankers." -- pg. 292

"Political reform geared at diminishing the advantages of the privileged will also be essential. The aims should be threefold: to reduce the capacity of entrenched elites to block needed reform; to facilitate broader participation among those whose voices are currently drowned out; and to encourage the development of groups that can provide a continuing, organized capacity to mobilize middle-class voters and monitor government and politics on their behalf." pg. 303

Read this book.

34 down plus 18 to go.

Cookie Exchange 2011

2011-12-16T14:50:00.000-08:00

In a word, this year's cookie exchange was brilliant. It is awesome to be friends with so many amazing women who bake and do it well. Our haul includes gluten-free chocolate chip, gluten-free peanut butter chocolate chip, gluten-free pumpkin oatmeal bars with cream cheese frosting, apple pie cookies, peanut cookies with chocolate kisses, cream wafers, sugar cookies, orange cookies dipped in chocolate, and two types of cookies from Caroline I can't remember the names of. It's always fun to hang out with these ladies. One Henry Finn was a bit out of control - a melatonin update is in order - but he fell in line after I spoke with him briefly. I learned we might have entered the "fucking fours," which can be worse than the "terrible twos" and the "frustrated threes". All moms assured me that five - Yes, FIVE - is the magical age. One more year to go, I guess. I can't complain, I was thinking it would be horrific until Hen left for college. Anyway, Darr has informed me he isn't going to eat anymore ever again because his lunch was too big so I have to get cracking on this box o' goodies all by myself.

Travel like Beckham

2011-12-15T19:33:00.000-08:00

Darr: Paris St. Germain deal is 95% complete. Beckham's going to Europe.

Me: Wait? I won't be able to see him play?

Darr: Not unless you want to go to Paris and watch a soccer game.

Me: I do want to fly to Paris to watch a soccer game.

Trip #2 for 2012 has been decided.

The assholocracy & monkey butts

2011-12-14T21:40:00.000-08:00

Language Log has been on an absolute tear lately.

Post the First:

I had been talking to [my son] Calvin one day about the ghastly crew of obnoxious multi-millionaires who dominate the newspapers, and how they keep threatening to achieve success even in the political arena. Calvin pointed out to me both that we need a new political term for the concept of being ruled by such men, and that there already is such a term. We are living, he observed, in the age of the assholocracy.

Read more about assholocracy

Post the Second:

[Obama advisor] Axelrod wasn't comparing anyone to a monkey's asshole; he spoke in parables, but he appeared to mean that Newt is a rich ethics violator who's done many nasty things, and a member in good standing of the assholocracy, and the press will soon be all over him like a pack of hounds.(*)

More Gingrich is a monkey butt Yeah. I said it.

Most of their writing is about linguistics, language evolution, popular misuse of language and such and sundry. I love it mostly b/c they are absolutely dedicated and passionate about their work -- and (by my judgment) quite good. A feeling of technical fellowship perhaps? Anyway, where else are you likely to see the phrase: sentential overlap portmanteaus. Where?

(*) I do hope so. But really: a pox on all their houses.

So far, so good

2011-12-13T14:34:00.000-08:00

Some good things about work:

There's beer in the office.
We celebrate with ice cream cake.
This: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=JIVE&ql=1

Woot!

Belated birthday pictorial

2011-12-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

The day began with presents in bed. This birthday boy's mama was extremely happy she found sea creature-themed wrapping paper.

Followed by the obligatory photo by the wall shot on school days.

Then a school celebration - woot!

By then, the birthday boy was tuckered out.

We came home and decorated with balloons, ya'll!

Then I had to take a picture of Hen's sea-creature-themed cupcakes from Helen Bernhard's. (Sshhhh, I totally stole this idea from Amber.)

Hen choose the green octopus cupcake. (Photo taken by Amber)

A few days later, we had a family birthday celebration!

One cousin in attendance was Cousin Gavin.

Yeah, cake decorating isn't my forte but I'm still pleased considering I used plastic bags for the frosting since the pastry bag tips I have were far too large for such delicate things as sea creatures. By the way, that pink thing is both an octopus and a jellyfish.

Later that evening, sea creature play commenced with one ginormous but friendly octopus.

Oh, and there were a lot more photos taken than just these. You can view them here, if you feel so inclined.

He sleeps

2011-12-08T20:25:00.000-08:00

Hen fell asleep at 7:23p.m. tonight. After much consideration and a conversation with his pediatrician, we decided to give melatonin a try. I gave him one quarter of a 3mg tablet. Within fifteen minutes, he had yawned three times and was ready to cuddle. After five minutes of cuddling, he was asleep. They are doing work on our building and just informed us they need to test the fire alarms. The boy has slept through the first alarm test. This may very well be the answer we have been looking for. I'm not at all excited about using medication to help him sleep. It seems like this should be something he does on his own. We have had a few nights here and there when it seemed as if we had cracked the sleep code but it always reverted to Hen being unable to wind down. He would stay up much longer than he should given his age, and he would wake the next morning and be irritable, which in turn made me irritable, which made my husband not want to come home. But what I saw tonight was magical, although the boy denied being tired even as dark circles were forming under his eyes and his yawns were echoing through the condo. He doesn't give up easy, this one. I'm curious to see how tomorrow goes. I'm hoping this will help our little one get the sleep he so clearly needs.

Knitting

2011-12-06T23:26:00.000-08:00

This box of knitted goods completes my Facebook homemade crafts giveaway. I sewed something, I made something out of paper, and I knitted two dish cloths and a hat (in the round, people!). I'm sending this box to my aunt. I'm most happy that I learned how to do this yarn over move to create that little border you see on the top dish cloth. Here's me and how my knitting goes - open book to pattern, wtf are these abbreviations?, research abbreviation and decode pattern row by row, find YouTube videos that explain all the new things, like yarn over and w&t, make a mistake, tear it all out, start again. It's not much of one but it is a process.

My current project is for Hen from this book. I wish I could make them all but I'll be lucky to get one done before Christmas. I'm also knitting scarves for several of Hen's boy cousins and friends. And I have two sewing projects to finish in the next three weeks. How did Christmas sneak up so fast?

Bullying

2011-12-06T11:35:00.000-08:00

I guess this has been online for several months now but I just caught it the other day. It breaks my heart. I'm happy to hear Jonah is getting counseling and has found support.

I also really love this guy for his video response.

Book thirty-three: The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary

2011-12-02T21:40:00.000-08:00

I loved this book as a kid. Loved, loved, loved it. The kind of love that has you read it a gazillion times, so many times that the opening sentence is forever etched in your brain...

Keith, the boy in rumpled shorts and shirt, did not know he was being watched as he entered room 215 of the Mountain View Inn. Neither did his mother and father, who both looked hot and tired.

Totally from memory, people. Anyway, this was read out loud to Hen over a few weeks so I'm counting it. I'll also do the same with Charlotte's Web, which I read to Hen once already when he was a baby and am rereading to him now. Books, books, books. I love 'em. And so far, Hen seems to be loving them, too.

33 down plus 19 to go.

Someone is a year older!

2011-12-02T19:57:00.000-08:00

Hint: It's not either of the cats, not the dog, not the recently turned 4-year old, not Frederic Von Hausen III, and not the person responsible for this post. It's the Canadian at the condo! Happy birthday, hoser!

To satisfy my need to buy gifts, I grabbed some liquor for the old man. It's always a safe bet. And Sesame Blues, one of his favorites. I also made Darr fried chicken (Hen's pick for papa's birthday dinner) with baked potatoes and corn. Dessert, per Darr's request, is a flourless chocolate cake. I used this recipe but since we have not yet tried it, I can't give you a rating on the recipe, although it did receive a 4-fork rating with some 283 reviews by strangers.)

My bouldering Bug

2011-11-30T20:34:00.000-08:00

We have had such great luck with Hen's swimming lessons - he's taking semi-private lessons with Avery and is enthusiastically participating - that I signed him up for bouldering classes when I saw they were being offered at The Circuit Bouldering Gym. Tonight, he had his first of three sessions, and he loved it! You'd have thought he had been bouldering since his days in the womb. The kids had two minutes of rule review and then were set loose. Less than a minute later, Hen had already completed his first ascent. He went up, he went down. He went up, he went down. For an entire hour. Of course there were pictures, and you can see those by clicking here.

Hot Chocolate Tutorial brought to you by Bean

2011-11-26T20:10:00.000-08:00

To make the hot chocolate you must get the ingredients - milk, hot cocoa mix, and marshmallows. My mama says if you have cool Christmas-themed mugs from Brother Nick you should break those out, too.

Put the milk and hot cocoa mix in a small pan and stir. Be careful of the flame. It is hot.

When the hot cocoa mix has dissolved and the milk is warm, ask your mama to pour the hot chocolate into the mugs.

Now you need to add marshmallows. Do not use too many marshmallows or too few. Add just the right amount.

Examine the end result to ensure maximum hot chocolate happiness upon consumption.

Yep, looks amazing. And good.

Drink and be merry.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

Teacher Amy went around and asked each of the kids what they were thankful for. This was Hen's response. I bet that is the first time sea coral polyps has been at the top of the list.

Sense of proportion

2011-11-21T16:27:00.000-08:00

For me, this pretty much sums up how ridiculous it is to gripe and complain about any mess the protestors allegedly cause. I have many more thoughts on the Occupy movement but no time to blog about 'em now.

Dad's Saturday breakfast

2011-11-19T11:39:00.000-08:00

Hen: Eggnog is a treat.

<pause>

Hen: Cookies are a treat.

<pause>

Hen: I have two treats!

Twins, part two

2011-11-19T01:00:00.000-08:00

Um, uh, yeah, I'm not sure who this is.

Without knowing the other one (see above) I'm sort of stuck here, too.

Methinks this is Nica.

I know this one - it's Mila!

And this is Nica.

Darr helped set up this shot. You're welcome.

The swaddle - Yep, I've still got it.

Ahhhh...these parents have two babies. TWO!

Here's how it went - we drove up to visit Rick and Anya and meet their super adorable twins. We got a hotel room because 1. we wanted to get some sleep and 2. you can't expect to crash at someone's house when they have newborn twins. (Says so in the How to Act When Your Friends Have Multiples handbook.) We brought food (pumpkin bread, mushroom barley sage soup, pasta Bolognese, and apple pie). We visited for quite a bit. We tried to get them to nap. I helped wash a couple dishes. We ate some of their food. We headed to our hotel, about 12 minutes away. 11.5 minutes later, the clutch stopped working. We pulled the car over, quickly decided to push it into a nearby restaurant parking lot, paid the guy (owner? manager?) so he wouldn't have it towed, and walked the rest of the way to the hotel (about two blocks).

One thing Darr and I quickly agreed on, whatever happened we could not call the new parents. Because even though they were working in sleep deprivation mode, they'd be silly enough to offer help. The next morning was spent figuring out the logistics of our situation. Originally, we thought I'd stay with Hen in Seattle until the car was fixed. But since some many things were closed on Sunday and we had trouble getting a rental car (Enterprise says they'll come and pick you up but they won't), we decided we'd all take the train home and head back up to get the car the following weekend. So, that's what we did. This worked out surprisingly well. Hen couldn't have been happier - a tow truck ride, two taxi rides, and a train ride all in one day! The kid was on a transportation appreciation high. Turns out the slave cylinder needed to be replaced (approx. $400) but the estimate they gave us to repair every little nick, dent, and scratch was $5200. Um, no thanks. We'll take the bare minimum required to get our car home. The best thing, though, was that we got another chance to see those babies. Oh my Zeus, are they ever cute! I was like the baby whisperer for about 20 minutes. Nica and Mila were quietly laying on the bed so I could take some pictures, then they let dad hold them so I could take pictures, and, well, they are just lovely. So I took more pictures. You can view more of those pics here.

Occupy my blog

2011-11-19T00:09:00.000-08:00

Month forty-nine

2011-11-18T20:04:00.000-08:00

Dear Henry,

If I had to declare a worst month on record to date, this past month was it. Oy vey, are we ever butting heads. But here's the thing, you're still an awesome kid. I mean, seriously, I wouldn't trade you for anyone else, not even one of those kids who tell their parents they are tired and then go up to bed by themselves at 7P.M. I might trade you for a million bucks, though, so keep that in mind the next time you want to be difficult. (Difficult in my book means not immediately doing what I ask you to, which admittedly is a pretty high expectation for someone your age. And I'm joking so don't lose any sleep over what I just said. Please.)

Beyond your ever-growing independence streak, you are doing just great. It feels like we're on month ten of your love affair with sea creatures but it hasn't been nearly that long. I can't wait for you to discover new things that catch your fancy. Hopefully, the biology book I got you for Christmas will spark a love of all things necessary to become a doctor. (Do parents still wish for their kids to grow up and become doctors?) You're actually sort of merging the two now that I think of it a bit. I mean, you always have the EMTs arrive at the scene to save the divers from whatever sea creature turned vicious and attacked.

Perhaps the most disturbing bit of news is that you are resorting to throwing things when you get upset. The positive spin on this is that your aim is remarkable and, if I had to guess, you're pitching that stuff at my head at about 70 mph. So, you know, maybe sports will be one of your things. It'll be The Curious Case of Henry Finn. (Yeah, you should marvel at that, Bean. Your mom can pull out obscure sports literary references like that <insert snap of fingers here>. That, son, is what going to a liberal arts college can do for you. You're welcome.)

You are a ham. And you pose for pictures making funny faces. You have a vivid imagination. We while away the time in the car creating stories. Here's the process: You'll ask me to tell a story about something. I'll ask you to give me the elements of the story. You'll give me a list of characters and actions. I'll put together the story as outlined. Then, I'll conclude with a "And they all lived happily ever after. The end." Alas, that is not the end because as far as you're concerned there is always a morning after and so you'll keep it going with a "Mama, and the next morning ---". It's pretty cool but also sort of exhausting because you won't let the story end. Ever. The normal restrictions don't apply - the story can be about your real life friends but then Batman makes an appearance and the bank robber is placed in the paddy wagon after a tree falls down and blocks the road and the SWAT team catches up and nabs him. I mean, not in a million years would I have brought that all together on my own.

You're so grown up! You can zip your jacket all by yourself. You are practicing gripping a pencil because you know it makes me so, so happy. And drawing lines from point A to point B, well, you have that down pat. (Most of your friends are reading Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment and writing soliloquies that rival work from The Bard. To be fair, though, in a foot race you'd kick all their asses.) The thing I've learned about you, Bug, is that you'll do it when you're good and ready. Take swimming, for instance. I signed you up for semi-private lessons with Avery figuring you would sit out and Avery would basically get private lessons with a built-in audience. But! You got right into the pool as if it was the most natural thing to do, as if you hadn't previously declined to even touch a toe to the water during our summer lessons, which I ended up canceling because you wouldn't get into the pool.

You giggle when I tickle your neck and run away but then come right back and beg for me to do it again. You are demanding but acquiesce when pressed. You like hugs, but not the squeezy hugs your papa wants to give you all the time, unless it is one of those times when you do like the squeezy hugs. And you're a huge fan of peppermint chocolate milkshakes. What's not to love about those, eh? Thanks for being you, Bean.

Love,
Mama

Project Mustache

2011-11-17T23:42:00.000-08:00

The grandpa

The weasel

The Hollywood

The sheriff

The hero

The bruiser

The square

Vehicular cycling in the rain

2011-11-17T21:19:00.000-08:00

It has been about a month and a half since I started biking Hen to school and I am liking it. I don't appreciate the hills I have to tackle on my way up the mountain but everything else is pretty great. Darr is awesome and has been biking with me so I get off easy for the first three miles of the journey as he trailers Hen during our ride downtown. When we get to the nice hilly part, I take Hen and he jets off to work. Ah, me and the hills. What can I say? I hate them. Hate. Them. They are mean and big bullies and no good can come from them, unless you are traveling down them at high speeds. Then they are fun and they are your friends. Can I take a moment to tell you the story about how, during our half century Tour de Whidbey bike race, I got my bike up to 40 mph going downhill. 40 mph, people. On a frakken bike. I am just that awesome.

It takes us/me about an hour to get from our house to the school and I shave about 15 to 20 minutes off that on the ride home. Since it would be Crazy (with a capital "C" Cah-razy) to ride back home after dropping Hen off and then ride out there a second time in order to pick him up, I've been taking full advantage of TaborSpace. Sometimes I grab a carrot and zucchini muffin, sometimes I order a tall glass of o.j. and, heck, I've even napped there - setting my alarm clock so I wouldn't be late to pick up Hen. Did I mention there is free wi-fi and there are comfy couches? I'll say this, though, setting up your coffee shop with suggested donations instead of actual prices is genius. I paid $5 for a glass of o.j. because that is all I had on me. (They don't give change, you put your donation in the provided box.) And I don't have the balls to go in and ask for another glass of o.j. to even out the score. TaborSpace 1, Me 0.

Here's what I've learned/observed/etc. about biking so far...

Portland is awesome for biking what with all the sharrows and bike boulevards.
It is cold in the morning in November in Oregon. Often it is raining. This makes roads slippery.
The trees are shedding their leaves right now, which makes the road a bit treacherous for us bicyclists. If you're ever driving behind one and get pissed because he/she isn't riding closer to the curb, it is probably due to the huge pile of leaves there. Might as well be riding on ice with as much traction as I'm able to get when on those dang leaves.
I like using my turning signals.
I have no problem taking a lane.
I will ride on the sidewalk if necessary.
It takes a lot longer to stop when you have 50 pounds of trailer and kid attached to the back of your bike.
If you do not have fenders and it is raining outside, your butt will get wet.
Second to hills, I hate headwind.
I really enjoy my bike. Her name is George.
My toes are frozen by the time I get to the end of the Springwater Corridor near OMSI. It might be time to invest in new, weather-appropriate shoes.
Market Street and Stark Street are relatively flat and provide a much-needed reprieve from the never-ending climb up to Hen's school. There's a reason they don't call it Tabor Hill.
Your tires can and will get caught in the railroad tracks at some point and you can and will go down and it will hurt. I did that this morning, attempting to give an oncoming biker some space to cross I turned the wheel at exactly the wrong moment and angle and I crashed hard. Now, I am sporting a bruise on my arm (near the elbow) and on the palm of my hand. I fear a bruise on my thigh will follow shortly. The palm bruise is creeping me out. Turns out my palm hitting the unforgiving ground is defined as blunt trauma. I just brushed my arm against the blankets on my bed and it feels as if my arm is ON FIRE. Ouch.
If you have a Darr of your own, he will be so excited you're biking again he'll do your bike maintenance and even buy things (like fenders and tires) and put them on your bike for you.
Hen eats lunch and naps in the trailer on the way home. The one time he didn't nap on the way home he had already napped on the way to school. Apparently, all we need to get this kid to sleep is to put him in a bike trailer.

Two!

2011-11-14T15:18:00.000-08:00

There is a much longer story but for now, feast your eyes on this...

Miss Mila (a.k.a. Amelia or Baby B) is on the left and Miss Nica (a.k.a. Veronica or Baby A) is on the right. Only three weeks old and already waiting for their close ups. Mila and Nica were born on October 20, 2011. Both girls weighed in over six pounds, which means mama was carrying around a whole lot o' babies. Congrats, Rick and Anya! Welcome to parenthood.

Future job prospect #874: Sous chef

2011-11-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

Note: No thumbs or fingers were harmed during the making of this short film.

Facelift

2011-11-10T23:23:00.000-08:00

We recently had our floors done at the condo. We moved the oh-so-soft-and-lovely cork from the living room to Hen's room, got matching cork in our room, laid bamboo in our dining, kitchen, and living areas, and replaced the tile* in the bathrooms. While the guys were pulling up the old flooring, they accidentally broke the tile in the laundry room, so that was pulled up, too. We decided since we had done some cool stuff in the rest of the place, the laundry room shouldn't be forgotten. We went linoleum, folks. Black and white mottled flooring from Armstrong. I love it. I also love that right after they put the flooring in I got a flyer from The Container Store highlighting their sale on Elfa shelving with, you guessed it, laundry rooms featured in it. What luck! Darr picked out the color and I painted the evening away - took all of 20 minutes after taping, it isn't a large laundry room. The next night, I hit The Container Store about an hour before closing and picked out the shelving and accessories I wanted to store all the stuff we have crammed into that little space. We still have one bar to cut to fit on the wall but everything else is pretty much done. I wanted to enjoy being in that space - I do a surprising amount of laundry given there is only three of us - and I also wanted to check out this local place that mounts photos on bamboo (as an alternative to traditional framing), so I selected a couple of my non-Henry photos and sent them over to Plywerk. I couldn't be happier with the quality and I'm thrilled at the way the photos turned out. For those who picked up Chinook Books, there is a 20% (I think) coupon from Plywerk in there. I highly recommend using it or giving it to me if you aren't going to because I definitely will. As a result of this burst of almost creative and slightly industrious energy, I now truly enjoy opening the laundry room door and looking inside. If only I could figure out a way to get rid of that dang litter box smell. Ewww. And, yeah, because I'm excessive, there are far too many pictures to go along with this post. Here is our new and improved laundry room in all its glory...

After flooring was laid, painting was complete, and base trim was installed.

Shelving on one side, appliances on the other.

Since I have leftover paint, I'm thinking of making a faux wall for the one shelf that has all the washer/dryer cords in it. How hard would it be to cut and paint a piece of cardboard to hang from the shelf above to hide all that?

Ah, so pretty.

Plant with green leaves taken at Sellwood Park, cactus taken during my last trip to the Mexico!, rose from Portland Rose Garden. I'm a huge Plywerk fan.

Makes you want to do laundry in there, doesn't it?

*And carpet in the master bath, because running carpet all the way down the bathroom makes total sense. Not.

Book thirty-two: Sunday at Tiffany's by James Patterson

2011-11-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

Excellent fluff read along the same vein as The Time Traveler's Wife. Loved it.

32 down plus 20 to go.

Book thirty-one: Overbite by Meg Cabot

2011-11-03T23:57:00.000-07:00

A vampire novel. Sort of silly but entertaining. That is all.

31 down plus 21 to go.

Halloween!

2011-11-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

These pics were taken the Friday before Halloween. Darr's company was having a party and Hen got invited to come in for some early trick-or-treating. You know, 'cuz the kids need more candy. I finished the tentacle cape the night before but had to wait for hours and hours before Hen could try it on since he was already asleep. It was fairly easy to make, and Hen was quite happy with its versatility, changing it from an octopus to a jellyfish to an octopus/jellyfish/dog whelk* as the evening progressed.

*I'm not sure how a dog whelk is connected to the octopus and jellyfish but sometimes you just gotta go with the kid's imagination.

Street!

2011-10-31T00:37:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was involved in an intense photography workshop focusing on taking photographs of people on the streets of Portland. It actually started on Friday with an evening meet and greet at Joni Kabana's studio, which I learned you can rent so guess what I'll be doing at some point. (Answer: Pics of Hen in a studio.) There was wine and cheese and bread and slideshows with some instruction on what was to come. The class was co-taught by Joni and my favorite photographer, Jan Sonnenmair, with special guest instructor and lighting extraordinaire, Michael Schoenholtz on hand to help with strobist.

Joni and Jan use very different techniques when photographing subjects. Joni engages her subjects, she might take some time to talk with them, and then she will probably move them to whatever interesting background is nearby and, once in place, she'll pose or direct them as needed. I ended up with a lot of portraits of people using her method. Jan is more subtle in her approach, a shoot first and ask questions later sort of method that she refers to as a dance. Her photos capture real life moments. Both are valid and both are fun to do. The group I was in shot with Jan Saturday morning, Joni in the afternoon, and the small group of us that made it out for the evening portion of the workshop shot with Michael, who was kind enough to let us Nikon users borrow his remote flash. Following are a few of my favorite pics...

Saturday morning, Pioneer Courthouse Square

Saturday morning, Occupy Portland

Saturday afternoon, Hawthorne

Deemed "best picture of the day" by Michael et al, thankyouverymuch!

Saturday evening, Burnside

Zombie, natural light - Shutter 1/80 Aperture f/2 ISO 2000

Partygoers, TTL built-in flash - Shutter 1/80 Aperture f/2.5 ISO 1000

Love couple, Commander mode with remote flash - Shutter 1/80 Aperture f/2.0 ISO 1000

Things I learned...
As awkward as it feels to ask people to stop what they're doing to let you take a picture, Joni's style was much easier for me to mimic. I told people, who appeared a little stiff or ill at ease, that I was feeling the same way. And I was. It is intimidating to get in a stranger's face for a close up shot.

TTL stands for through the lens.

Chimping is what it is called when you take a picture and look at your LCD screen to immediately assess how the photo looks. While shooting with Jan, we were not allowed to chimp. I found this immensely frustrating. As a result of not chimping, several of my photos were over/under-exposed because I would forget in the moment to adjust my settings before taking the picture. Argh. I definitely rely on chimping too much.

To use the Commander mode with remote flash, go Custom Setting Menu > Bracketing/flash > Flash cntrl for built-in flash and select Commander mode. Of course, to do this you need to have a remote flash, which I currently do not. Before you set it to Commander mode, you need to adjust your settings so that you capture a little bit of the background. Then, when the picture is snapped, the light from the remote flash highlights your subject while your camera, set for the background, picks up the background light. It sounds sort of confusing because I'm not much of a student and specifics escape me. Here's an example of a night shot taken using the built-in flash. If interested, you can compare it to the last photo above to see the difference. As an aside, that guy was wearing a most excellent pair of skin-tight, animal print pants, took some serious balls to put those things on. My hat's off to him.

I suck at shooting from the hip. But I learned a trick! My problem has always been that when shooting without looking through the viewfinder, my camera takes too long to focus when I depress the shutter button because I don't know precisely where my camera is focusing. The solution to this is to find where you want to stand/sit/wait and manually focus your camera a certain distance away. When someone walks into the plane/field where you're focused, you take a shot. It doesn't mean you'll catch the pic you're looking for - a lot depends on the lens you are using, too - but it does mean there is a greater chance your pic or a portion of your pic will be in focus. It's almost too easy...

Crazy people you avoid might seek you out. There weren't that many people moving about Saturday morning but I still gave a wide margin around this one woman who seemed a little out of sorts. Then she saw me and came over to harass me, asking me if I wanted to take her picture - I did not - and then shoving me, while telling me she wanted to throw me "in there". I'm not sure if she was referring to the garbage can or on the tracks of the MAX line. Either way, she wasn't very fond of me even though I had done nothing to her or even around her. I repeatedly said I was sorry and got the hell out of there. It seemed the prudent thing to do.

Sometimes people you think look great don't photograph well at all. If they aren't engaged in the process and you can't help break through to them, it's going to be hard to get a picture you're happy with. There needs to be some sort of connection, this is more true for portraiture than candid shots, or you'll get a photo that's disappointing.

On Sunday...
we reviewed everyone's work. We started at 11a.m. and finished close to 5p.m. After seeing the first guy's photos, I was thinking something along the lines of "oh shit, my stuff s u c k s." I was pretty sure I was about to be hit with the worst critique of any work ever in the existence of work critiqued. To make matters worse, my photos were the last reviewed nearly six hours after we began. By this time we were all, myself included, ready to be done. We had seen all the major players (a lot of us photographed the same people - we descended on those folks that said yes to having their pictures taken like locusts), the most used backgrounds, etc. I need naught have worried. In two words, um, my photos kicked ass. They liked 'em. They really, really liked 'em. I got props for my angles, for my layering, for my editing, for my color, and my composition. Yay, me! Lest you think me a bragger, I did have photos that didn't work, like the following:

Background is good. Composition is fine. But I'm bored. Yawn.

First two guys I captured on my own. I didn't know what to do with them and they didn't know what to do with me. All that equals one lame picture.

Miss Dead Eyes. Not her fault, mine. Everything about this photo should work but because I didn't make a connection with her, the photo doesn't work.

She's cute but the shot looks like it was taken in a studio, which is fine but not for trying to convey a sense of location. You wouldn't look at this and think "Yep, that's Hawthorne for you," like you would with some of the other photos.

Finally, I am totally excited because Michael pulled me aside at the end and invited me to participate in 100 Strangers. With my newfound approaching people skills, I feel completely prepared to do this. All in all, this was a most excellent workshop.

Gardasil vaccination for boys

2011-10-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

I'm on the fence about this vaccine. I want to be informed but I don't always understand the various numbers thrown out. For instance, the CDC reports that "about 1% of sexually active adults in the U.S. have genital warts at any one time." Presumably, this includes men of ages outside the scope of the vaccination. (As an aside, are nine year old boys actually sexually active?) Merck, the makers of Gardasil, reports that "in boys and young men ages 9 to 26, Gardasil helps protect against 90% of genital warts cases." So, um, aren't we talking about a fairly insignificant number? The 2000 Profile of General Demographic Characteristics from the Census Bureau doesn't completely match up with the age categories but this would mean vaccinating approximately 90,000,000 boys and young men for genital warts. At a cost of $300 per person. That's a lot of money. When only 1% of sexually active males have genital warts.

Month forty-eight

2011-10-25T04:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Henry,

You. Are. Four. What an adventure this has been! You have gone from being a human baby blob incapable of all but the most basic of functions, and even some of those you couldn't do without assistance, to being a super independent and vocal mass of energy. You have your own wants and needs and know precisely how to express yourself. You can be extremely defiant but often really pliable. It's the extremes that throw me. We're both learning how to live in a world where you can do the things you want to do (i.e., visit the toy store and play) while I get time to do the things I need to do (e.g., clean, cook, blog, etc.). As your papa would say, "it's a process". He would say that with the long O sound since he's Canadian. Silly, papa.

One day, when you have a kid of your own, people are going to talk about how kids are like sponges and soak up everything. You might be inclined to not believe all that, I mean, how much can a kid pick up anyway? Answer: Everything. Which is why when I comment about how the person driving in front of us is from Washington and then ask you what we know about Washington drivers, you'll say "They're bad." Yes, son, they are. It also means that you had your first recorded f-bomb. It was casual and appropriate given that I'd just dropped a bunch of stuff on the floor. I'm proud to say that not only did I not laugh, I was able to explain about mama words and Henry words and where the f-word falls on that spectrum. Little boys shouldn't use that word in polite society. I suppose mama shouldn't either but, really, when am I ever around those folks?

Did I mention you've started calling me mom? Methinks you recognize the efficiency of using the shorter name, but I lament the loss of the mama moniker. I mean, it wasn't that long ago when you couldn't call me anything at all and a few short years later you're already doing away with the first name you gave me. On the other hand, I can totally imagine you coming home from college for Thanksgiving, bursting through the front door yelling, "Mom! I'm home!" And that is so awesome. Let me just say in advance that, yes, you can bring your laundry with you and I will wash it. That is what a mom does. Well, that or at least show you where the washer and dryer are so you can get cracking on your own laundry. I have pies to bake, Bean.

Things I discovered about you recently - you like to build rock shelters around slugs so that they can be protected from the elements. You bring your own flair to playing dress up with your girl friends, like the time you were at Cousin Mia's and you both got dolled up in your princess finery only to have you turn to Mia and say, "I'll be the baby octopus and you be the mama octopus." The idea that chocolate O's cereal turns your milk into chocolate milk blows your mind. Every time. You like to win but you're a sore loser. We're working on that because no one wants to play with a sore loser. You appreciate humor. We'll be reading a book or watching a movie - you are a great theatre companion, by the way - and you will hear or see something that tickles your funny bone. The laugh you have at these moments is one of my favorite laughs because it comes from a place that isn't forced or directed by anything other than your pure response. But your fake laugh, the one you break out when you want to join in on the fun but aren't sure what the heck we're laughing at, that laugh is pretty good, too.

It isn't always easy being the parent of a feisty four-year old, just as I'm sure it isn't a breeze being four. Expectations are higher, we're moving further away from the Hen-centric world we lived in for so long, and your mama and papa don't always want to play sea creatures or Legos or cars or... You get the picture. But taking everything into account, you make our lives way better than they ever were before you arrived. We're so glad you're here doesn't begin to explain it but we really are so very glad you are here.

Love,
Mama

Well preschooler

2011-10-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hen's current stats:
Weight: 31.4 / 10%*
Height: 41.25 / 75%

*Hen's weight was taken with his clothes on and shoes off. In the past 365 days, Hen has grown 2.5 inches and gained over four pounds! He is firmly situated in the 10%-ile for weight and his doc predicts he'll continue on trend and maybe eventually hit the 25%-ile. She is happy where he is. She also said he is very communicative but needs to work on his fine motor skills. Not the fine motor skills that come from snapping Legos together, but rather the fine motor skills that come from drawing, tracing, writing, etc. This means one little Bean has got to start holding and using a pencil/crayon/etc. soon.

Belated birthday greetings to Hen's friend in Cali

2011-10-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

Hen met Miss E (and the rest of the McMillers) during his first day on the planet, literally hours after he was born. She is three days older and is cute and smart and vivacious and friendly and good at sharing her toys and fun and we love her. We hope she had a very extremely awesome birthday.

Twins and quintuplets

2011-10-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

Our friends, Rick and Anya, go in tomorrow to have their babies. Babies! As in twin girl babies! We are very extremely excited for them. And also, 'cuz it's the season, we're visiting pumpkin patches. And taking pictures like this one...

As I walked around the patch I saw a particular something - this will all tie in together in a moment - and, as Hen would say, I got an idea.

And that's how I ended up with the Henrys. This is what it'd look like if we had quintuplets four years ago instead of just one.

Year Four

2011-10-18T02:15:00.000-07:00

Take Note, Fidelity.com

2011-10-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

Passwords are always silly, so I try to use one-off passwords. I'm resetting my password at Fidelity.com and they have a max of 12 characters with no spaces or punctuation allowed.

WEAK.

Plus, they have pre-set security questions.

DOUBLE WEAK.

This is insecure. Not horrible, but silly. I understand these are here for the convenience of the company -- not having to store question text, reducing the number of phone calls to reset passwords, but still.

WEAK.

I hope we, as security professionals, can do better. Here's a tip: If you have a password policy that requires say, numbers and has maximum length, and you publish that policy on your website, you have *reduced* the amount of work a hacker has to do to brute-force a password. You've helped them understand the key space to search. Sigh.

For now, I use random passwords and random answers.

A busy fall morning

2011-10-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

Things we did before lunch:

took Darren/papa to work (he prefers biking, methinks I was a bit of a chatterbox)
ordered sea creatures cupcakes for tomorrow's party (someone's having a birthday!)
visited the pumpkin patch (where we held baby chicks!)
shopped for party supplies (pickings were slim, thanks to the bad economy)
bought groceries (and organic ESB, Darr!)
mailed packages (Naomi and Miss E, your packages are on the way)

Things we plan on doing after lunch:

baking (buckeyes, Nanaimo bars, and roasted apple pie - the Cox Pippin apples are here!)
cleaning
decorating (someone's turning 4!)
carving pumpkins (at least one, Hen's not sure he wants to carve his)
prepping food (what can be done early, should be done early)
wrapping gifts (after Bean goes to bed)

I got a new job!!!

2011-10-13T00:50:00.000-07:00

I was happy at my job, but quit anyway. This is my effort to explain.

[I don't name either company in hopes this won't show up in anybody's Google search. Please respect this choice in your comments.]

I write software. We have an aging application, and I advocated and got the opportunity to rewrite a good portion of it. This was amazing. Doing something like this requires organizational courage and commitment, and I salute them for sponsoring that effort.

I built my new thing, investing my whole person over 18 months and, well, it didn't get used. Not one line of code has been written by any team other than my own so that my baby might get launched. Without that support, I have built shelf-ware. Ouch.

Then, I saw the next year plan. I'm not on it. Uh-oh, not the commitment I thought there was. Bummer.

Up until this point: basic business stuff. No big deal. You win some, you lose some. But … but ... it's not going to get killed either. Everybody agrees "it's the future".

I think in a year or two it will still be the future. I'd kill me to watch that.

So I lost my faith in the organization. When you do that, you get out.

-------------------------

But since I was quite happy where I was, I looked around for something similar, and I found it. There are some differences, though.

1. Old: 300 employees. New: 350.

2. Old: Executives a few floors up. New: Executives in Palo Alto. Feels like the same distance, really.

3. Old: Super nice gear - 4 CPU, 8 GB RAM, dual 19 inch displays. New: Super nice gear - 4 CPU, 12 GB RAM, dual 23 inch displays. Better.

4. Old: Linux optional & unsupported. New: Linux default & supported. Yeah!

5. Old: Underground bike locker, plus showers. New: same, plus towel service. Towel service!

6. Old: free soda & M&M's. New: same, plus perrier (I'm not joking) and power bars and chips and nuts and raisins and licorice and jerky and fruit. Fresh fucking fruit every day. Damn.

7. Old: Big creaking ball of wax code base built like mad over 10 years. New: Big creaking ball of wax code base built like mad over 10 years. Ah well.

8. Old: Consistent patterns across entire code base; the whole thing looks the same. New: How the code looks is a good proxy for when the code was written. That means innovation, I hope!

9. Old: Allman C-style dropped braces and member prefixing. New: One True Brace Style -- actually Sun's variant of 1TBS -- and no prefixes. Manna from heaven!

10. Old: cubes, albeit with very low walls. New: tables arranged in a big line. The former felt office-y, the latter startup-y. It's nice.

11. Old: VP has open office. New: VP has no office. He sits at the tables, like the rest of us. That works for me.

12. Old: One half of one person on "architecture". New: Six full time. The best six. Writing code!

13. Old: updated the 1995-vintage application's colors so that it didn't look quite as horrible. New: updated the entire user interface so that it looks like it was built in 2010. That's a difference which speaks to management quality.

14. Old: can use the stairs down -- no inbound key card access. New: can use the stairs up and down. That really bugged me! It did!

15. Old: vending machines. New: kegs. I do not jest, people. Actual beer.

16. Old: Corporate policy prohibiting beer at lunch. New: nope.

17. Old: Vacation days + sick days, with no accrual. New: Accrued PTO. The thing I'll always remember about my old company is the 237 hours of vacation time I left on the table at exit. What a shitty thing. Just shitty. (I'm glad it's illegal in Cali, I'll tell you that.)

18. Old: App aborts horribly if DB is not configured. New: App shows configuration screen if DB is not configured. Nice!

19. Old: Drop tables & recreate database when things change. New: automatic in-place migration when things change. Awesome.

20. Old: Compile, deploy & restart when making code changes. New: run the entire app in the debugger and let the JVM swap in modified classes on the fly. OMFG. Magical.

21. Old: Meetings & email. New: Discussion software & document management. (We use our own software!!! And it's business critical!)

22. Old: Huge nasty ant build, with a parallel build system in Intellij IDEA. New: huge nasty ant build system that can run inside Intellij IDEA. What a concept!

23. Old: Automated builds that work. Code review that works. Unit tests that test things. Automated integration tests. New: Yeah, not so much. Poop. Poop. Poop.

24. Old: QA. New: Where are you, Eric!?

25. Old: Friends I miss already, plus a lot of dead bodies from old battles. New: promise.

-------------------------

I'm sad & discouraged & disappointed & well, disheartened that I had to leave. It's hard to let go of five years of investment. It's just shitty.

I'm very happy with my choice.

-dg

Book thirty: Are Women Human? by Dorothy L. Sayers

2011-10-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

I'm going to have to read more of Sayer's works.

"We have, I think, allowed ourselves to drift into asserting that "a woman is as good as a man," without always pausing to think what exactly we mean by that. What, I feel, we ought to mean is something so obvious that it is apt to escape attention altogether, viz: not that every women is, in virtue of her sex, as strong, clever, artistic, level-headed, industrious and so forth as any man that can be mentioned; but, that a woman is just as much an ordinary human being as a man, with the same individual preferences, and with just as much right to the tastes and preferences of an individual."

30 down plus 22 to go.

That's what they are trying to tell you!

2011-10-12T22:03:00.001-07:00

HT: Doghouse

Read Paul Krugman

2011-10-10T21:52:00.001-07:00

Panic of the Plutocrats

The way to understand all of this is to realize that it’s part of a broader syndrome, in which wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is.

Please, please please read Paul Krugman

Book twenty-nine: The Siege of Trencher's Farm by Gordon Williams

2011-10-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

This is the novel that inspired the movie Straw Dogs, which I recently saw and enjoyed because True Blood's sex-on-a-stick vampire, Eric Northman, is in it. I hadn't realized at the time that the movie was an adaptation of the book, nor did I know that it was also a remake of a 1971 film starring Dustin Hoffman. The things you learn by watching the credits, I tell ya! Anyway, the book is quite good but I could never get a handle on the accent. The movie remake is set in the deep south and pits the stereotypical backwards conservative Southerner with a pacifist liberal Dem from the West Coast. The book is set in some corner of England "where lived men and women who had never travelled more than fifteen miles from their own homes" and where "the two hundred mile journey to London was an almost legendary experience, something that might happen once in a lifetime, if at all." Here's a sampling: "You prefer him to the likes of we, don't you? Us be just yokels to you like, that's it, innit?" It's not that I can't understand what he's saying but typically with accents, I can hear in my head where the emphasis would fall and with this, I can't hear anything. So, assessing whether the accent is true to the land is impossible for me. I have no clue if they would substitute "us" for "we" or vice versa.

Basically, the story is about the outsider (the pacifist liberal) who is pushed too far and becomes something unrecognizable and primal in an effort to survive. A pretty common theme, really. But since I enjoyed both the movie remake and the book, I'm giving this one two thumbs up. The original movie is currently in the Netflix queue.

29 down plus 23 to go.

Invites, the Silhouette way

2011-10-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

I was able to kick the birthday invites up a notch this year thanks to the Silhouette loaner from Megan. Here's a look at past and current invitations...

First birthday - designed the theme around the owl stickers I found

Second birthday - used the dinosaur sticker as inspiration, everyone received a different dinosaur and each invite had its own color scheme

Third birthday - found a super cute monster illustration on iStockphoto.com and designed the sleeve to go with it. This was one of three color schemes used. The info for the party was printed on the monster.

Fourth birthday - sea creatures à la Silhouette!

Dang.

2011-10-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs
1955 - 2011

Sting

2011-10-04T22:26:00.000-07:00

A bee/wasp/flying insect with murderous intent stung Darr on the forehead during his bike ride home yesterday. By the time Darr went to bed last night, one eye was swollen shut, like this...

Swollen, first evening

And when he woke this morning, the man could not see because both eyes were swollen shut, like this...

Day two, at the hospital

Needless to say, Darr not only went to the emergency room but got invited to stay for observation after he did not respond as well as expected to the drugs they administered. He can see now but his face is still overly puffy and it appears as if the effects return when the medication starts to wear off. Stupid bug.

Luckily, Darr hasn't lost his sense of humor...

Book twenty-eight: Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage by Jeff Benedict

2011-09-27T23:29:00.000-07:00

Quote 1: "To The Honorable Mayor Beachy and City Council: I am 85 years of age, have lived here all my life, and at this stage in my life I cannot even think of moving. I do not want to move. Respectfully, Helen Ballestrini pg. 85

Quote 2: "Bruising political fights tended to obscure the fact that the people on the other side were human beings." pg. 263

Quote 3: "Economic development was a valid public-use purpose for exercising eminent domain. Cities, especially depressed ones, had to be allowed to take private properties to stimulate private development that would ultimately produce jobs and tax revenue." pg. 296

Quote 4: "In County of Wayne v. Hathcock, the Michigan Supreme Court had just overturned a prior decision allowing the City of Detroit to bulldoze a neighborhood with more than a thousand residents and six hundred businesses to make way for a more lucrative occupant -- a General Motors plant. The Michigan justices had ignored decades of precedent and declared it unconstitutional to take private land through eminent domain and then award it to someone else who could generate more tax revenue for the city." pg. 302

Quote 5: "Today the Court abandons this long-held, basic, limitation on government power...Under the banner of economic development, all private property is now vulnerable to being taken and transferred to another private owner, so long as it might be upgraded. ... The specter of condemnation hangs over all property...Nothing is to prevent the state from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall or any farm with a factory." pg. 323

Quote 6: "A group in Los Angeles had started a national campaign to have Justice Souter's home in New Hampshire condemned and taken by eminent domain." pg. 344

You buy a house, you live in it, then the State takes it from you and gives it to a wealthier person because the house they will build will bring in more tax revenue or they give it to a private developer who is going to add a block of row houses or they don't do anything with it other than take it from you. If that doesn't scare the heck out of you, it should. Thankfully, as a response to the disgraceful outcome of Kelo v. City of New London, many States have created stricter requirements for when eminent domain can be used. Still doesn't mean it can't happen, just means it is a touch harder.

28 down plus 24 to go.

Blurry

2011-09-25T04:09:00.000-07:00

I ran across these motion pics of Hen when I was perusing the photo library for pictures needed for a school project. For whatever reason, I like 'em. Not only was Hen moving but I was, too.

Walking Beauty the wonder dog

Riding his scooter in the park

From the vault: Avery and Hen hit Haggis McBaggis

2011-09-24T19:29:00.000-07:00