The Comedy Stylings...

Jokes from Isaac:

Why did the house go up in the rocket ship? BECAUSE IT HAD LEGS.
Why did the Pig open the door? BECAUSE IT COULD

The next joke will be the FUNNIEST EVER:
Why did the Pancake get up and move? BECAUSE IT WANTED TO JUMP UP TO THE ROOF!!!! THAT'S WHY!

I must share

I need to share with you this very odd Japanese thing: THIS PERSON plays with tiny fake food and makes fake food from japanese kits. And it is absolutely captivating. I recommend the ones referring to "Re-Ment" with the sound up - the tiny click clack sounds he makes with the tiny food is strangely relaxing.

That is all.

Came down this am...

Good morning! I came downstairs this AM to find Isaac quietly playing at the kitchen table: He had a 3 hole punch, a 2 foot dowel, and two pencils.

"They're SUPERHEROES, Dad! This one is Long-ey (the dowel), this one is Clamp-ey (the punch), this one is Girl Draw-ey (a pink pencil), and this one's the BAD GUY (a green pencil)."

Now he's in the basement setting up cars. It's nice to see him being creative!

Ch-ch-changes

Farewell Lord Landshark - the Jaguar XJ is no longer in the driveway. After almost 8 years, it was time to say farewell to the royal beast. Things were starting to happen. A bit of trim came loose,the shocks started feeling a bit stiff, a puff of blue smoke when firing it up... it could have gone for another year or five no doubt, but not without cost.

And as time has passed I have come to realize that perhaps as a 43 year old father of two kids under 10, I may be in a "valley" of Jaguar's target market - between the young money and the kids-in-college treat. Right now I need practical. And I'd still like FUN, but not necessarily "high performance".

So say hello to the Shuttlecraft, my new white Honda Fit Sport. It's fast enough, very roomy, very cool looking inside and out, and has room to haul. Plus it has an iPod jack for my music and language lessons. It's smaller than the Mini on the outside, and bigger than the Mini on the inside. And I could have bought FOUR of them for what that XJ cost years ago.

So I'm back to practical. There were three key moments that led to this change:
1) Going up north with my bosses to assess a hospital in Hibbing - the CMIO saw my car and said "I do not see that as a jim car: There are at least 8 other cars I see as Jim cars. That one is not even on the list. I don't understand".

2) Winter: Losing a tire EVERY SINGLE WINTER to the cold and having the tire separate off the rim, usually while driving. Getting it beached in a snowbank last winter was the last straw.

3) While parked for a long weekend in my dad's driveway, he noticed an ominous stain left behind: "If you're not already having some oil troubles, you will be soon".

Now, these are negatives. But there's a huge positive in that Fit. It just makes me smile. It simultaneously reminds me of my old VW GTI, and of the longing I had in my heart for the 1984 honda civic hatchback - same one my friend Dean had. It was such a cool car, and it never seemed to be in the shop. The Fit is a lot like that car.

So out with the old, in with the new. I'm excited. I'm happy, and I'll be getting over 30mpg, suckers.

Heavenly

Just got back from four delightful days near Madison seeing many cousins for a family reunion. Four days of the dogs running loose on a big farm, not able to believe how much space they get to run in. Four days of a bunch of playmates for Isaac and Bella from dawn to dusk. Four days of chillaxing with New Glarus brews by the lake, with a cool breeze blowing in. Four days with no TV, very little internet, and a surprising number of Words with Friends games. No books were read or attempted. Several naps were taken.

Poor Pamela sprained her ankle BUT GOOD the day before we left: She's been doing a "get fit" nutrition and cardio bootcamp program at Lifetime Fitness, and as it always happens, she stepped on something just a little wrong, and her ankle collapsed... and a short wait at the Orthopedic ER later, and she's got an aircast. The pain laid her up for a lot of the trip and kept her out of the water too... So I pulled double duty, helping her, and keeping an eye on the kids as they spent every possible moment in the lake. Also, I was the chauffeur, so the driving was up to me... though it's Pamela's left ankle that's hurt, so she will be able to drive the kids this week, have no fear people.

The dogs were pretty good on the trip: They're not welcome at the lake house, but the farmhouse where we sleep had plenty of room for them... they just needed to spend the hours we were at the lake in the kennel, which they found frustrating. Also, Zinsser is a bit of a neurotic animal, and was very barky. We need to work on him, Gesso was a saint because he is the perfect animal, even if he does poop where he shouldn't.

I was a LITTLE bummed about Pamela's ankle, because it would have been fun to go visit Epic, which is about a half hour from the lake, and would have been a fun afternoon diversion, but we are going to do it next time... and by that time, the campus will have doubled in size YET AGAIN, I'm sure.

And it's worth mentioning that I didn't do a single lick of work while on vacation. Oh, I took some calls and responded to an email or two, so call that a lick of work if you will... but the laptop stayed in its container, only coming out to print a recipe from Epicurious.

And that was the weekend that was. And I was right back at it today, with a drive to Rochester for a 4 hour meeting in the AM (90 min drive each way), and a full afternoon back at the Minneapolis client.

While in the halls of the Mpls client, my old boss stopped me and gave me a wide eyed look and said "Jim.... Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim. You got out at the right time, my friend. You are a lucky devil". Then he shook his head and kept walking. I guess the big Epic project is hitting some bumps in the road... I'm happy to be on my PACS project, where all I need to worry about is how, if we pick a different vendor from the one we're on right now, we will will migrate 100 terabytes of images through a pipe that can only handle 80 gig in a day (hint - it will take four years).

And that's about it for right now: The kids are asleep - Bella has just learned about Horcruxes, and I have given her a STERN warning that she is not to go about making one. Isaac is incredibly Daddy-focused right now, so as I was reading to Bella, he was screaming at the top of his lungs at Pamela about how "GIRLS ARE BORING I WANT DADDY".

I'm sure I can go back and find some Blog posts about frustrations when Bella wouldn't let me comfort her in the past... but for right now, my poor gimpy wife is just a little sad that her little boy doesn't want her hugs. This will change, as things always do. But for a lady whose ankle is killing her, she needs a little extra TLC.