Two gems from the "going to sleep" mind of Bella the last few nights.
Two Jokes (Related)
Why couldn't the egg jump on the trampoline? Because it would CRACK.
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Egg.
Egg who?
Egg who couldn't jump on the trampoline. I have a question. WHY can't I jump on the trampoline again?
A Dream:
I dreamed that if people touched their butts together, that there would be a tube connecting them and it would stretch, and a hole would open in their pants to let the tube through. And when you're connected, you have powers: If you snap your fingers, you can make everything STOP.
So if there was a bank robber, you could just SNAP, and they'd freeze, and you could carefully take the money out of his hands and put it back in the bank. And then you could grow big and pick him up with your fingers and drop him right in jail.
And then when you snap the tube, it goes away, and the hole in your clothes just closes up like nothing was there.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Back to Normal
I'm sitting here, and my whole family is asleep. Pamela is zonked out in Isaac's bed with Isaac and Zinsser, and Bella is murmuring in her sleep from her room. And it's just after 9pm. YES - Googy is home, and she's just plain exhausted. We went out to the airport to pick her up - the plane was early, but late getting to the gate thanks to a "no room at the inn" situation... which gave Isaac and Bella time to slurp down some hot cocoa from Starbucks. And still they sleep.
On the ride home, we blasted "I got a feeling" by Black Eyed Peas, which Bella sang along with, and Isaac did the hollering parts. He loves to shout "tonight's going to be a GOOD GOOD NIGHT!!!" Yes, it's a simple song and over played, but we have fun with it. Unlike Boom Boom Pow, which the kids also love, but is filled with the "S" word, which just bugs me. And there's not a "clean" version available. Dang it. Both songs are prominently featured in the Secret Agent Guinea Pig movie G-Force, which both kids love.
When we walked through the door, the kids ran up and let Zinsser out, and he beelined right down the stairs, around the corner, and up into Pamela's lap, where he just parked himself, unbelievably happy that his mistress had at long last returned.
Thursday will be back in the swing of things: I've done my best to stay on top of things at work this week, but there have been big windows of "doing things with Isaac" time in there where I have been quite off the clock. And I wasn't willing to just park Isaac in front of some shows to get work done - it doesn't seem fair, and frankly it seemed a waste of the opportunity to cuddle and wrestle with him.
In some ways, Isaac and Zinsser are very close in age: Today I spent 45 min in the basement playing catch with Isaac and fetch with Zinsser at the same time. and Isaac was doing "two ball catch" which meant we both had to throw/roll our balls at the same time, and try not to have the balls hit midway. It was pretty advanced, and Isaac was focusing on aiming his ball just to the right, so it would pass the other ball coming at him. Later, upstairs, Zinsser insisted on a round of Fetch/Chase, where fetch is just the start, then a raucous run around the coffee table a dozen times before he lets you have the ball back. Isaac wanted to be the fetcher too, so we did "every other" round - Isaac would fetch/chase, then it was Zinsser's turn.
Zinsser understood that they were taking turns, and when it was Isaac's turn, he'd run a little slower to let Isaac "win". Really. That is a smart dog.
Anyway, back to the house - Pamela apparently had a wonderful trip, and I've heard bits and pieces over the phone these past days... and was looking forward to a little debrief. But Pamela flat out passed out when putting Isaac to bed, and resisted several wakeups. So I'll just let that ride.
In the end, it was 7 days, 6 nights without my googy. That was a long time, and it helps me keep in perspective how things are when I'm on the road. it sure felt like the kids and I fell into an ok routine and we worked together to keep things going. As I hear her snoring in the next room, I'm just happy to have her home.
On the ride home, we blasted "I got a feeling" by Black Eyed Peas, which Bella sang along with, and Isaac did the hollering parts. He loves to shout "tonight's going to be a GOOD GOOD NIGHT!!!" Yes, it's a simple song and over played, but we have fun with it. Unlike Boom Boom Pow, which the kids also love, but is filled with the "S" word, which just bugs me. And there's not a "clean" version available. Dang it. Both songs are prominently featured in the Secret Agent Guinea Pig movie G-Force, which both kids love.
When we walked through the door, the kids ran up and let Zinsser out, and he beelined right down the stairs, around the corner, and up into Pamela's lap, where he just parked himself, unbelievably happy that his mistress had at long last returned.
Thursday will be back in the swing of things: I've done my best to stay on top of things at work this week, but there have been big windows of "doing things with Isaac" time in there where I have been quite off the clock. And I wasn't willing to just park Isaac in front of some shows to get work done - it doesn't seem fair, and frankly it seemed a waste of the opportunity to cuddle and wrestle with him.
In some ways, Isaac and Zinsser are very close in age: Today I spent 45 min in the basement playing catch with Isaac and fetch with Zinsser at the same time. and Isaac was doing "two ball catch" which meant we both had to throw/roll our balls at the same time, and try not to have the balls hit midway. It was pretty advanced, and Isaac was focusing on aiming his ball just to the right, so it would pass the other ball coming at him. Later, upstairs, Zinsser insisted on a round of Fetch/Chase, where fetch is just the start, then a raucous run around the coffee table a dozen times before he lets you have the ball back. Isaac wanted to be the fetcher too, so we did "every other" round - Isaac would fetch/chase, then it was Zinsser's turn.
Zinsser understood that they were taking turns, and when it was Isaac's turn, he'd run a little slower to let Isaac "win". Really. That is a smart dog.
Anyway, back to the house - Pamela apparently had a wonderful trip, and I've heard bits and pieces over the phone these past days... and was looking forward to a little debrief. But Pamela flat out passed out when putting Isaac to bed, and resisted several wakeups. So I'll just let that ride.
In the end, it was 7 days, 6 nights without my googy. That was a long time, and it helps me keep in perspective how things are when I'm on the road. it sure felt like the kids and I fell into an ok routine and we worked together to keep things going. As I hear her snoring in the next room, I'm just happy to have her home.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Notes from the Bachelor Pad
Pamela has been gone 2 nights now, with 4 to go.
1) Zinsser needs a lot of playing, and he sees me as "the guy who plays fetch with him", not "a guy I can cuddle with". Last night Uncle Ant was over for a little bit (he brought dinner for the four of us, and we had a small bit of dessert single malt before he left and I put the kids to bed), and Zinsser passed out on Ant's lap. I have had maybe 10 minutes total of Zinsser cuddles. I'm maybe feeling a little jealous.
2) The kids have been a blast. Bella lost another tooth yesterday (eating popcorn), so we got ready for the Tooth Fairy, but this morning was so busy that she didn't check to see if the fairy came through with the goods (which I believe he did). Today was a bit wild with getting Bella off to Synchro, doing a handoff mid-practice to Grandma and Grandpa, then spiriting Isaac clear across town to HIS swimming lesson.
3) After Isaac's lesson, he was VERY hungry and insisted on going to Perkins, where he devoured a plate of Mickey Mouse pancakes, 3 strips of bacon, a handful of my american fries, and a cup of apple juice. I had a classic breakfast (eggs, bacon, pancakes), and it was good.... BUT when I walked in the house to find G&G with Bella back, I discovered they had gone to Cosetta's for lunch AND brought me back a sausage and peppers entree with a side of mostaccioli (however that is spelled). I resisted for 2 hours, thinking it might make a good dinner... and then just devoured it. And now I'm a bit woogy from the overstuffedness.
4) What, can it already be time for Pamela's computer to die? The current model lasted for 3.5 years, and I don't recall there being big problems with it... maybe one hard disk crash? Certainly nothing like her previous one which we took out back and buried behind the garage in 2006. But the motherboard is on the fritz and it's been spontaneously rebooting and giant strange lines going across the screen, and really really long waits for things while the spinning wheel of death goes. It hasn't truly DIED in the strictest sense, but if it were a human, we'd be looking at palliative care around now.
Since I'm on the road so much, Pamela's iMac is something of her lifeline to the world - she's more active on Facebook, her forums, keeps in touch with church and synchro, email... it's important. And almost every evening's call with Pamela had some sort of "I'm worried about my computer" talk, which is just extra stress we don't need. So I decided (and cleared with her too - no surprises!) to replace the mac during her vacation. We got the low-end iMac (21"), and I moved everything across. And it is wonderful.
The new keyboard is super tiny and cool, and the new mouse is just amazing - it senses finger gestures across its smooth top - so you sort of "pet" it with two fingers, and it scrolls up or down. Very surreal. Anyway, the kids love it, the screen is better (we didn't go for the BIG screen - it's not needed), the iChat camera is better, and it's not going to die anytime soon (knock wood).
As to the other one - with it in such shaky condition, I have qualms about selling it (hard to say "dying computer, not sure how much time you'll have with it" in an eBay ad) - I'm thinking about setting it up on the 3rd floor as an 'extra' work computer (for kids videos too) until it dies (and make sure everything I do on it is backed up). Maybe not.
5) Isaac is definitely showing interest in toilet training now - he's at around 50% participation now, as long as it's convenient. He does like to get M&Ms as a reward.
6) With all of the busy-ness of the past weeks, it's a bit of a quiet one here, even with Pamela away. The kids are doing a LOT of playing (I think that Carly from up the block actually lives here now), and all are getting along pretty well. I'm staying on top of the chores, and playing a lot with the dog... so I'm pretty happy. All that play gets the kids are pretty tired, so 7-8pm bedtimes are not a problem, which lets me get caught up on shows...
The new Ricky Gervais Show on HBO (download for free through iTunes) was absolutely hilarious - It's just an animation of his podcasts from years back so I'm late to that game, but it's truly funny stuff. I'm not going to get started on Lost, though. Nuts to that. But with Dollhouse done and Fringe on hiatus until April, I actually don't have THAT much to watch.
Allright, that's enough updating for now. I'll go see what that scream was all about now.
1) Zinsser needs a lot of playing, and he sees me as "the guy who plays fetch with him", not "a guy I can cuddle with". Last night Uncle Ant was over for a little bit (he brought dinner for the four of us, and we had a small bit of dessert single malt before he left and I put the kids to bed), and Zinsser passed out on Ant's lap. I have had maybe 10 minutes total of Zinsser cuddles. I'm maybe feeling a little jealous.
2) The kids have been a blast. Bella lost another tooth yesterday (eating popcorn), so we got ready for the Tooth Fairy, but this morning was so busy that she didn't check to see if the fairy came through with the goods (which I believe he did). Today was a bit wild with getting Bella off to Synchro, doing a handoff mid-practice to Grandma and Grandpa, then spiriting Isaac clear across town to HIS swimming lesson.
3) After Isaac's lesson, he was VERY hungry and insisted on going to Perkins, where he devoured a plate of Mickey Mouse pancakes, 3 strips of bacon, a handful of my american fries, and a cup of apple juice. I had a classic breakfast (eggs, bacon, pancakes), and it was good.... BUT when I walked in the house to find G&G with Bella back, I discovered they had gone to Cosetta's for lunch AND brought me back a sausage and peppers entree with a side of mostaccioli (however that is spelled). I resisted for 2 hours, thinking it might make a good dinner... and then just devoured it. And now I'm a bit woogy from the overstuffedness.
4) What, can it already be time for Pamela's computer to die? The current model lasted for 3.5 years, and I don't recall there being big problems with it... maybe one hard disk crash? Certainly nothing like her previous one which we took out back and buried behind the garage in 2006. But the motherboard is on the fritz and it's been spontaneously rebooting and giant strange lines going across the screen, and really really long waits for things while the spinning wheel of death goes. It hasn't truly DIED in the strictest sense, but if it were a human, we'd be looking at palliative care around now.
Since I'm on the road so much, Pamela's iMac is something of her lifeline to the world - she's more active on Facebook, her forums, keeps in touch with church and synchro, email... it's important. And almost every evening's call with Pamela had some sort of "I'm worried about my computer" talk, which is just extra stress we don't need. So I decided (and cleared with her too - no surprises!) to replace the mac during her vacation. We got the low-end iMac (21"), and I moved everything across. And it is wonderful.
The new keyboard is super tiny and cool, and the new mouse is just amazing - it senses finger gestures across its smooth top - so you sort of "pet" it with two fingers, and it scrolls up or down. Very surreal. Anyway, the kids love it, the screen is better (we didn't go for the BIG screen - it's not needed), the iChat camera is better, and it's not going to die anytime soon (knock wood).
As to the other one - with it in such shaky condition, I have qualms about selling it (hard to say "dying computer, not sure how much time you'll have with it" in an eBay ad) - I'm thinking about setting it up on the 3rd floor as an 'extra' work computer (for kids videos too) until it dies (and make sure everything I do on it is backed up). Maybe not.
5) Isaac is definitely showing interest in toilet training now - he's at around 50% participation now, as long as it's convenient. He does like to get M&Ms as a reward.
6) With all of the busy-ness of the past weeks, it's a bit of a quiet one here, even with Pamela away. The kids are doing a LOT of playing (I think that Carly from up the block actually lives here now), and all are getting along pretty well. I'm staying on top of the chores, and playing a lot with the dog... so I'm pretty happy. All that play gets the kids are pretty tired, so 7-8pm bedtimes are not a problem, which lets me get caught up on shows...
The new Ricky Gervais Show on HBO (download for free through iTunes) was absolutely hilarious - It's just an animation of his podcasts from years back so I'm late to that game, but it's truly funny stuff. I'm not going to get started on Lost, though. Nuts to that. But with Dollhouse done and Fringe on hiatus until April, I actually don't have THAT much to watch.
Allright, that's enough updating for now. I'll go see what that scream was all about now.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Chillin'
Here I am in a quiet house. The kids are asleep as is the dog, and Pamela... well her day is still going strong far from here. I came home "early" from Cleveland yesterday and got everything ready for Pamela's big trip: Off for 7 days to an art retreat and then a couple of extra days of fun. I pick her up on Wednesday night, and I fully expect her to be ridiculously happy and rested. I was happy to use the fruits of my labor (miles and points) to get her first class for her flights, a free hotel and a mustang convertible for transport. She's out with a good friend (who she had a Vegas Adventure with 2 years back too), so I know it's going to be a good time.
In the meantime, while I'm not IN Cleveland, I have a few meetings I need to attend remotely. So people have been very good about helping me wrangle the Isaac (Bella is a) in school, and b) a bit easier to distract when around). He's making the rounds of playtime - having spent some quality time at the "all moonwalk" playground today with grandma, and will be playing with a neighbor buddy tomorrow while...
My mom (aka the serial commenter "anonymous" on this blog - hi mom!) is taking a fun adventure, getting rid of 75% of her things, storing 20%, and taking 5% while she relocates to the family homestate of Colorado for a few months. Part of it is pure pattern disruption (changing a routine), and part is financial, as she waits for some more flexible housing options (she's been swimming in a big old northeast 2 bedroom duplex, and could probably get along great in an efficiency closer to public transit...). Anyway, it's something I'm supporting her in, and she's up and leaving next week. So Friday the dutiful children will be helping her with her 20% in storage by loading it up and putting it into Carrie's basement (which is very kind of her - because our basement is already fit to burst). So I have a couple of hours of Isaac being watched AND my not having work calls to be on, so I'll be helping out.
Cleveland... It was a good week. I got to do my geek thing. So that's good.
Oh - a Bella joke from last night:
Why did the bugs get jobs in a bakery? Because they wanted to get at the dough. And in case you didn't know, another word for "dough" is... "money".
In truth, I'm not sure what bugs have to do with anything, but I also remember tormenting my friends and family with a "101 hamburger jokes book" that I got from the scholastic book fair in 3rd grade, so I know that the subject of the joke can be quite variable depending on what noun they're shaping the joke book around. So it's likely this came from a "101 bug joke" book.
Bella's at an age where I now have somewhat clear, and sometimes painful memories of my life. I recall my Emergency lunchbox, and for some reason, the pictures of Gage and DeSoto on the side looked particularly well drawn, so I boasted to my classmates that these were "ACTUAL" pictures of Gage and DeSoto. The key word "ACTUAL" being repeated over and over for emphasis.
I also remember getting in a fight with Tony Mingo because I had just learned a joke (What did the Pink Panther say when he stepped on an ant?), and was proudly telling it to Mrs Rasmussen's class , and Tony not only knew the punch line, but ran up to the front of the class and shouted it out for everyone to hear - literally stealing my thunder. We had a moment on the playground that ended up with me in the Principal's office. I understand they're much better at conflict resolution in school these days.
But anyway, I remember now how my brain worked back then, and it's a thrill to map that to what I'm hearing from Bella. And it makes me happy.
And so, with that I think I'll call it an evening.
In the meantime, while I'm not IN Cleveland, I have a few meetings I need to attend remotely. So people have been very good about helping me wrangle the Isaac (Bella is a) in school, and b) a bit easier to distract when around). He's making the rounds of playtime - having spent some quality time at the "all moonwalk" playground today with grandma, and will be playing with a neighbor buddy tomorrow while...
My mom (aka the serial commenter "anonymous" on this blog - hi mom!) is taking a fun adventure, getting rid of 75% of her things, storing 20%, and taking 5% while she relocates to the family homestate of Colorado for a few months. Part of it is pure pattern disruption (changing a routine), and part is financial, as she waits for some more flexible housing options (she's been swimming in a big old northeast 2 bedroom duplex, and could probably get along great in an efficiency closer to public transit...). Anyway, it's something I'm supporting her in, and she's up and leaving next week. So Friday the dutiful children will be helping her with her 20% in storage by loading it up and putting it into Carrie's basement (which is very kind of her - because our basement is already fit to burst). So I have a couple of hours of Isaac being watched AND my not having work calls to be on, so I'll be helping out.
Cleveland... It was a good week. I got to do my geek thing. So that's good.
Oh - a Bella joke from last night:
Why did the bugs get jobs in a bakery? Because they wanted to get at the dough. And in case you didn't know, another word for "dough" is... "money".
In truth, I'm not sure what bugs have to do with anything, but I also remember tormenting my friends and family with a "101 hamburger jokes book" that I got from the scholastic book fair in 3rd grade, so I know that the subject of the joke can be quite variable depending on what noun they're shaping the joke book around. So it's likely this came from a "101 bug joke" book.
Bella's at an age where I now have somewhat clear, and sometimes painful memories of my life. I recall my Emergency lunchbox, and for some reason, the pictures of Gage and DeSoto on the side looked particularly well drawn, so I boasted to my classmates that these were "ACTUAL" pictures of Gage and DeSoto. The key word "ACTUAL" being repeated over and over for emphasis.
I also remember getting in a fight with Tony Mingo because I had just learned a joke (What did the Pink Panther say when he stepped on an ant?), and was proudly telling it to Mrs Rasmussen's class , and Tony not only knew the punch line, but ran up to the front of the class and shouted it out for everyone to hear - literally stealing my thunder. We had a moment on the playground that ended up with me in the Principal's office. I understand they're much better at conflict resolution in school these days.
But anyway, I remember now how my brain worked back then, and it's a thrill to map that to what I'm hearing from Bella. And it makes me happy.
And so, with that I think I'll call it an evening.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Blood Money
Bella lost another tooth - this time it left a little blood:
Bella: "I know what blood tastes like: It tastes like money". She and Casey had put pennies in their mouth last summer to see what money tasted like... and she remembered the feeling on her tongue when she had blood in her mouth. INTERESTING girl.
Bella: "I know what blood tastes like: It tastes like money". She and Casey had put pennies in their mouth last summer to see what money tasted like... and she remembered the feeling on her tongue when she had blood in her mouth. INTERESTING girl.
Vindicated!
Some days, I get to say HA! I was RIGHT!
Today it happened three times.
1) In Cleveland, I had made a strategic structural recommendation over 4 weeks ago that was roundly rejected by the powers that be, who claimed I simply didn't understand how things worked at this site, and that I'd need to revisit all of my assumptions before bringing that sort of recommendation forward.
Today, I got backup from the vendor AND two other teams that my recommendation was the best way to move forward. HA!
2) Again in Cleveland, 3 weeks ago I made a comment in a meeting that two projects (owned by different sponsors) seemed to have some similar end goals, and that perhaps we should consolidate the teams to get both projects done faster and build on the experience. I was cautioned after the meeting that I had raised a highly political issue, that's not how we do things here, and that I was thin ice with making statements like that. I was encouraged to cool it.
Today, the owner of one of the two projects (who was in the meeting 3 weeks back) delivered the SAME OBSERVATION as her own, and it was taken as a reasonable move-forward strategy.
Do I seek credit? No. I don't seek credit. I just know I was right. HA!
3) In 2008 I made a series of presentations in which I proposed that for 98% of uses, there's no need to build a data warehouse, that data could be queried and joined in a just-in-time basis, creating a virtual warehouse on demand. I drew up designs on how it would work, and how it would essentially save on disk space and create a more nimble environment for end-users. I got pushback from people saying "it'll never be fast enough", and in a sad moment for me, I saw a project I designed in Tacoma get transferred to the Database Team, who never entertained my Virtual concept and went ahead with a traditional data warehouse project.
Today I spoke with a company that actually makes this concept work, and they have it installed at 100 clients. I can't say I knew of them back then, but they must have existed. So while I don't take credit for making it happen, I take credit for proposing the possibility (which was actually possible):
HA!
Some days, it just feels good to know your ideas were right, even if it took the world a little while to catch up.
Today it happened three times.
1) In Cleveland, I had made a strategic structural recommendation over 4 weeks ago that was roundly rejected by the powers that be, who claimed I simply didn't understand how things worked at this site, and that I'd need to revisit all of my assumptions before bringing that sort of recommendation forward.
Today, I got backup from the vendor AND two other teams that my recommendation was the best way to move forward. HA!
2) Again in Cleveland, 3 weeks ago I made a comment in a meeting that two projects (owned by different sponsors) seemed to have some similar end goals, and that perhaps we should consolidate the teams to get both projects done faster and build on the experience. I was cautioned after the meeting that I had raised a highly political issue, that's not how we do things here, and that I was thin ice with making statements like that. I was encouraged to cool it.
Today, the owner of one of the two projects (who was in the meeting 3 weeks back) delivered the SAME OBSERVATION as her own, and it was taken as a reasonable move-forward strategy.
Do I seek credit? No. I don't seek credit. I just know I was right. HA!
3) In 2008 I made a series of presentations in which I proposed that for 98% of uses, there's no need to build a data warehouse, that data could be queried and joined in a just-in-time basis, creating a virtual warehouse on demand. I drew up designs on how it would work, and how it would essentially save on disk space and create a more nimble environment for end-users. I got pushback from people saying "it'll never be fast enough", and in a sad moment for me, I saw a project I designed in Tacoma get transferred to the Database Team, who never entertained my Virtual concept and went ahead with a traditional data warehouse project.
Today I spoke with a company that actually makes this concept work, and they have it installed at 100 clients. I can't say I knew of them back then, but they must have existed. So while I don't take credit for making it happen, I take credit for proposing the possibility (which was actually possible):
HA!
Some days, it just feels good to know your ideas were right, even if it took the world a little while to catch up.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Ugh.
Stomach Flu or Food Poisoning - whatever it was, it appears to have come and gone in 24 hours, and I am grateful.
I did NOT go to Cleveland this morning, but will be trying again Tuesday.
That is my short update.
I did NOT go to Cleveland this morning, but will be trying again Tuesday.
That is my short update.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Remarkably....
From the frustrat-o-gram on Tuesday, by Thursday there was a lightness in my gait - Somehow out of the troubles came some peace of a sort? At least part of it was a decision by our sponsors that we really really need to be done with the high-level stuff and get to work on the real project, so we wrapped things up. By Thursday we had transferred ownership of the documents we'd been creating and endlessly revising to new people who will care for them going forward, and we have a new set of challenges laid out.
Not that the new challenges aren't hard, but at least they're new.
Also as of Monday, I have ONE CLIENT. I haven't had that since July of last year... up to a peak of 4 in October. So I actually worked something resembling a 40 hour week last week, and fought all temptations to "fill in" with other work. I spent a lot of time with Isaac these past two days, in part because of...
The St Paul Stars Synchro Invitational! Bella's synchronized swimming team hosted an invitational and it was 2 days of competition. Pamela as a host parent was running around like mad getting things ready, so I saw her only as I either loaded or unloaded her car... Bella got the "synchro hairdo" - a helmet-like bun held in place with gelatin and glitter, hardened the night before.
It was wonderful to watch my little Esther Williams in the pool, where her group (ranging in age from 5-8) did their semi-synchromized routine - the mob of girls moved from one end of the pool to the other, and then back, pausing to form rows or rings (or both-ish), with arms and legs and flips in there. They were dressed in hot pink suits with little mouse ears, swimming to a hard techno version of the Mickey Mouse Club theme. It was 4 minutes of amazing.
Before and after, the pink mouses were here there and everywhere together, giggling and just BEING in the day. Pamela likened their movement to a school of fish, where they all would go one direction then another, then another, with no seeming destination or leader, just following the flow of pure whim.
As I said, I spent a lot of time with Isaac, since the girls were off doing this. We did spend a couple of hours at the meet, so we watched Bella's routine. But the rest of the time was a whole lot of playing, with some errand running in there too. Friday night, we went to Edinborough Park for climbing and jumping. Isaac went for over 25 minutes of straight moon-walk jump time, and showed no signs of tiredness. Where the energy comes from... I do not know.
Isaac's brain is growing and he's been talking non-stop and asking questions. Where do cars come from? Who makes them? What kind of store sells them? Where does the sun go at night time? What is the name of this street? What time is it? One of my favorites is when someone tries to tell him something in for form of "You know, some people might say that..." His response is always "Who said that? What were their NAMES?" He's very into finding out the real story.
Or the story he can understand at least. Driving through a neighborhood we've never been in, he shouts out - "this is near my school" - I try to tell him it's not, but what it IS near, and he insists "NO. IT IS NEAR MY SCHOOL." And on a cosmic scale, I can't argue with that. Also in his discoveries: We drove past a guy snowblowing, shooting snow high into the air. "OH - THAT'S where all that snow came from" was his conclusion.
It's 8:45 and all is quiet in the house - everyone's asleep but me. Pamela finally collapsed after being a supermom for the synchro girls. Zinsser is asleep after pestering ME to play fetch all afternoon. Isaac is asleep with his dreams of how everything in the world works. Bella is asleep after a long two days, and one silver medal for her team's hard work.
And what makes me happy is that I'm 2 days into my 3 day re-charge: I have all day tomorrow with the family before headed back to Cleveland on Monday, and I'm NOT dreading being there now. Things are a-ok.
Not that the new challenges aren't hard, but at least they're new.
Also as of Monday, I have ONE CLIENT. I haven't had that since July of last year... up to a peak of 4 in October. So I actually worked something resembling a 40 hour week last week, and fought all temptations to "fill in" with other work. I spent a lot of time with Isaac these past two days, in part because of...
The St Paul Stars Synchro Invitational! Bella's synchronized swimming team hosted an invitational and it was 2 days of competition. Pamela as a host parent was running around like mad getting things ready, so I saw her only as I either loaded or unloaded her car... Bella got the "synchro hairdo" - a helmet-like bun held in place with gelatin and glitter, hardened the night before.
It was wonderful to watch my little Esther Williams in the pool, where her group (ranging in age from 5-8) did their semi-synchromized routine - the mob of girls moved from one end of the pool to the other, and then back, pausing to form rows or rings (or both-ish), with arms and legs and flips in there. They were dressed in hot pink suits with little mouse ears, swimming to a hard techno version of the Mickey Mouse Club theme. It was 4 minutes of amazing.
Before and after, the pink mouses were here there and everywhere together, giggling and just BEING in the day. Pamela likened their movement to a school of fish, where they all would go one direction then another, then another, with no seeming destination or leader, just following the flow of pure whim.
As I said, I spent a lot of time with Isaac, since the girls were off doing this. We did spend a couple of hours at the meet, so we watched Bella's routine. But the rest of the time was a whole lot of playing, with some errand running in there too. Friday night, we went to Edinborough Park for climbing and jumping. Isaac went for over 25 minutes of straight moon-walk jump time, and showed no signs of tiredness. Where the energy comes from... I do not know.
Isaac's brain is growing and he's been talking non-stop and asking questions. Where do cars come from? Who makes them? What kind of store sells them? Where does the sun go at night time? What is the name of this street? What time is it? One of my favorites is when someone tries to tell him something in for form of "You know, some people might say that..." His response is always "Who said that? What were their NAMES?" He's very into finding out the real story.
Or the story he can understand at least. Driving through a neighborhood we've never been in, he shouts out - "this is near my school" - I try to tell him it's not, but what it IS near, and he insists "NO. IT IS NEAR MY SCHOOL." And on a cosmic scale, I can't argue with that. Also in his discoveries: We drove past a guy snowblowing, shooting snow high into the air. "OH - THAT'S where all that snow came from" was his conclusion.
It's 8:45 and all is quiet in the house - everyone's asleep but me. Pamela finally collapsed after being a supermom for the synchro girls. Zinsser is asleep after pestering ME to play fetch all afternoon. Isaac is asleep with his dreams of how everything in the world works. Bella is asleep after a long two days, and one silver medal for her team's hard work.
And what makes me happy is that I'm 2 days into my 3 day re-charge: I have all day tomorrow with the family before headed back to Cleveland on Monday, and I'm NOT dreading being there now. Things are a-ok.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Old Dog New Tricks
A quick one: As I've become a serial renter of vehicles on the road, one of my least favorite things has been trying to remember which side of the car the gas cap is on. Heck, I forget it with cars I OWN. I pull up, get out, see that I've decided incorrectly, and have to restart the car and move it. It is a regular dance of frustration.
So imagine my amazement when my co-worker in Cleveland pointed to the dashboard and gave me this ancient wisdom:
"There, on the gas gauge: There's a picture of the gas pump, and there's a triangle next to it. The triangle points to where the gas cap is on the car".
Sure enough, it's right. And it's on every car.
NOW, there's an internet legend that says that the side of the pump icon that the hose is coming off of matches the side the gas is on. That is NOT true. But if there's a little triangle icon next to that fuel pump, it's telling you where the gas cap is. REALLY.
I'm 42 years old and learned something new AND useful.
So imagine my amazement when my co-worker in Cleveland pointed to the dashboard and gave me this ancient wisdom:
"There, on the gas gauge: There's a picture of the gas pump, and there's a triangle next to it. The triangle points to where the gas cap is on the car".
Sure enough, it's right. And it's on every car.
NOW, there's an internet legend that says that the side of the pump icon that the hose is coming off of matches the side the gas is on. That is NOT true. But if there's a little triangle icon next to that fuel pump, it's telling you where the gas cap is. REALLY.
I'm 42 years old and learned something new AND useful.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Some Days...
This is my 3rd week in Cleveland with only 2 weekend days to recover, so I spent a good bit of Sunday NOT looking forward to Monday. These travel weeks, I need 3 days with the family to reconnect, and if I don't get it, I feel very sad.
It would be different if I thought I was away providing some great value to the world, but in the past 2 weeks, things have just been strange and political at the client. At one point, a coworker said he'd not seen a place where people put turf protection over the well being of the company. There are some anecdotes I'll share only much much later. Much. But the bottom line is that there is a greater emphasis on how you say something and who you say it to than what you're saying... to a greater degree than I've seen at any other client ever. And that includes some of the places I worked for in the 90's.
Last week, I finally ended the project in Jersey, and I felt sad about that too: By the end, it was hard to manage because as a whole group they were terrible at followthrough on remote items, so if I wasn't there, I couldn't make things happen by email or phone - just didn't work. So there were frustrations... but I also thought the work was good, and they TRUSTED what I brought to the table. Plus, great food out there. I'll miss Masso's cheesesteak and La Posata's Gnocchi.
So what's next? Many more weeks here at this client, and I can only hope that my role morphs into more of a "problem solving" one rather than a "eggshell walking-upon" one. I have hope. Plus, I come home Thursday and my remaining scheduled trips are shorter, so I'll have my 3 days at home.
Allright - no more gloomy Gus. I just needed to get that off my chest! There are good things in life: Dollhouse ended very nicely - I watched the finale twice and knuckled away tears each time. It's still not a show I could recommend to a stranger - but over the two seasons (26 episodes), it started as a vapid dull show with an interesting premise, and morphed into a VERY compelling "express train to doomsday" show. And they let the characters develop beautifully and believably. I was very happy I decided to watch it (thanks to Terminator Sarah Connor for getting me to Tivo Friday Fox last year I guess!)
iPad: Boy that Reality Distortion Field that Steve Jobs emits does wonders. I would have bought five of them if they had a buy it now button last week. This week, I've been watching my activities, asking "If I had an iPad, what would be different about this moment?" I'll be tallying those thoughts and hope to make a measured and reasonable decision in 8 weeks when it actually comes available.
Kindle: I've been reading a good amount, and this weekend's spat with MacMillan was pretty unpleasant for me to watch - especially since one of the authors who was delisted was one of my favorites - John Scalzi. I love my device, but am no fan of monopolistic behaviors. Of course I'm not miffed enough to switch - I still love the convenience of Amazon, darn it.
And that's about it. I could work tonight, but I think I've done my time for the day. Time to relax.
It would be different if I thought I was away providing some great value to the world, but in the past 2 weeks, things have just been strange and political at the client. At one point, a coworker said he'd not seen a place where people put turf protection over the well being of the company. There are some anecdotes I'll share only much much later. Much. But the bottom line is that there is a greater emphasis on how you say something and who you say it to than what you're saying... to a greater degree than I've seen at any other client ever. And that includes some of the places I worked for in the 90's.
Last week, I finally ended the project in Jersey, and I felt sad about that too: By the end, it was hard to manage because as a whole group they were terrible at followthrough on remote items, so if I wasn't there, I couldn't make things happen by email or phone - just didn't work. So there were frustrations... but I also thought the work was good, and they TRUSTED what I brought to the table. Plus, great food out there. I'll miss Masso's cheesesteak and La Posata's Gnocchi.
So what's next? Many more weeks here at this client, and I can only hope that my role morphs into more of a "problem solving" one rather than a "eggshell walking-upon" one. I have hope. Plus, I come home Thursday and my remaining scheduled trips are shorter, so I'll have my 3 days at home.
Allright - no more gloomy Gus. I just needed to get that off my chest! There are good things in life: Dollhouse ended very nicely - I watched the finale twice and knuckled away tears each time. It's still not a show I could recommend to a stranger - but over the two seasons (26 episodes), it started as a vapid dull show with an interesting premise, and morphed into a VERY compelling "express train to doomsday" show. And they let the characters develop beautifully and believably. I was very happy I decided to watch it (thanks to Terminator Sarah Connor for getting me to Tivo Friday Fox last year I guess!)
iPad: Boy that Reality Distortion Field that Steve Jobs emits does wonders. I would have bought five of them if they had a buy it now button last week. This week, I've been watching my activities, asking "If I had an iPad, what would be different about this moment?" I'll be tallying those thoughts and hope to make a measured and reasonable decision in 8 weeks when it actually comes available.
Kindle: I've been reading a good amount, and this weekend's spat with MacMillan was pretty unpleasant for me to watch - especially since one of the authors who was delisted was one of my favorites - John Scalzi. I love my device, but am no fan of monopolistic behaviors. Of course I'm not miffed enough to switch - I still love the convenience of Amazon, darn it.
And that's about it. I could work tonight, but I think I've done my time for the day. Time to relax.
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