A crazy weekend. SERIOUSLY.

Friday:
- Went to court to finalize Isaac's adoption! Bella was beside herself with excitement about going "To Courts", and was the proudest big sister ever. Isaac was well behaved, but giggled at the court clerk non-stop. So Sir Squirms ESQ is 100% irrevocably one of us. YES!

- Got home, and sent Bella over to JeMae's for a long weekend slumber party with Jenny. Then, CLEANED THE HOUSE. Got us down to 5 zones of chaos (3rd floor closet, 2nd floor workout room, 1st floor dining room (back half), 1st floor Computer Room (Couch only), and basement Tool Room. Each zone can be attacked.

- Caesar and Miho arrived at 10pm from Seattle. Caesar was one of my Tokyo buddies, and a musical collaborator on the Project Manager super-group. He's in town to speak at a school, since he's a super high-up game developer guy. They arrived safely, brought their rented SUV (they heard about the weather), and we had a total blast together until 2am.

- Pamela took off at 1am to get in line for preschool registration for Bella and Isaac. It's totally first come first served, and it's a "cherished" tradition to start the line at midnight. Even at 1am, Pamela was 10th in line. Fortunately, there is honor in the line, so people can sign up their place in line and go back to sleep in their cars. Which Pamela did. She got all the classes she wanted!

SATURDAY:
- Pamela came back to us at 9am, and had breakfast with me and the guests, and conked out at 11. Caesar, Miho, Isaac, and I went out to Target (They have them in Seattle, but Miho was curious if the "Home State" ones were any different), then to lunch at the new France44 deli. Miho, a scotch fan, picked up a bottle of Caol Ila 18 year from the France44 liquor store, too... though I didn't get a taste, because...

- At 3, Caesar and Miho headed out to the Mall of America, and I took Isaac over to Grandma and Grandpa's for the night. I came back and got Pamela for our Night Away. (Caesar and Miho went to the Orchestra to see The Bear conduct and see Uncle Chicken, then housesat for us and watched depeche mode videos until 2am again).

- At 4:15, we checked in to the Graves 601 hotel in downtown Mpls just as the snow was starting up. Turns out a foot fell in the next 20 hours, and we were oblivious. Because we never left our sanctuary. Yes, we had dinner downstairs in the Cosmos restaurant (Deelish - I had foie gras and Char, Pamela has Scallops and Bass - among other things...). Then to relaxing-land. We watched the snow fall from our 18th floor window, watching the ant-cars sliding around the ant-trails...

SUNDAY:
- We slept until 9, had breakfast at 10:30 in the room, Pamela napped again into the afternoon, I read a book and did the crossword and sudoku. We left at 3, got Isaac, got Bella, came home, and are about to eat some food and prepare for the Oscars. Caesar and Miho are now in a hotel in Roseville for the rest of their stay... back to normal around here!

And that's how the weekend went. WOW.

The Portable Dream

Most of you know I'm a musician... I've been doing electronic, computer-based music since the 1980's, and as computers have got more powerful, I've been able to move my gear from a room full of synthesizers to a single laptop with some very clever software - and my music keeps sounding better and better (production-wise - I could argue that some of my earlier songs have not been bettered - especially Chocolate Earl)

But even as computers got better, I've always been tethered to a "workspace" - and that's because until 1 year ago, there were no laptops that were QUITE powerful enough to do the music I like to do. So I've always had to have a big desktop computer that was my "music machine"...

When we flew to Tokyo in April 2005, Caesar was writing music back in coach class with his Powerbook, and I was watching movies. I just didn't have the portable thing WORKING for me.

Well, last summer, I upgraded to a Macbook, sold the desktop, and was finally ready to be the portable musician. The new Macs finally had the horsepower to do what I needed. But psychologically, I still needed to "plant" myself into my studio, hook up the laptop to the rest of the gear. I had just replaced the big server with a little white box, but the rest was the same. Then Isaac came, and no music was being made.

It wasn't until 2 weeks ago that I finally got an old mini-keyboard (regular keys, but only 2 octaves) back from someone who had borrowed it 2 years back. And I took the laptop and the mini keyboard, and a set of headphones, and wrote a song in the living room. Then another. Then one at the kitchen table. Then one in Bella's room as Papa and Pamela were painting.

And I think I'm finally living a portable dream - I really can write music anywhere. I think it's really cool to be using this technology this way. Viva! And the best part is that, like when I blog, I get to be creative WHILE being in the same room as my family - I don't have to feel like I'm sequestering myself away to pursue my arts...

That's the update.

The real story of the Dinosaurs

This evening, we were reading a pop-up book about Dinosaurs for bedtime. At the end, Bella asked me about what happened to the dinosaurs. I gave her the unvarnished truth about the asteroid, and the climate change, and how reptiles can't regulate their body temperatures, but how mammals survived... I like to give the whole story.

She offered her own opinion, and here it is:

"Space creatures came down with spaceships and took the dinosaurs before they all froze to death. They had REALLY BIG spaceships, with holes in the roof so that their heads could pop through. And it was space creatures, NOT the dinosaurs who made the spaceships."

So why did they take the dinosaurs, I asked?

"They took them to play with them. They play with the dinosaurs every day from morning to night, and they never have to go to bed if they don't want to. And sometimes, they go to the Burrito Spaceship. That's where all the burritos are made."

So, at this point, I don't think that her theory is in conflict with accepted theories of dinosaur extinction. There's no reason that our fossil record wouldn't be of stragglers, while a lot of the dinosaurs are living it up out in space.

I don't know where this kid is getting her ideas, but my job is clear: Listen, record, and share.

Primo Bella Quotage

Bella came out with a few good ones recently.

Her one cute speech impediment is to say "Perfect" as "Perf-Tect". So a week back, in describing Isaac, she said "He keeps getting perftect-er and perftect-er". It was a sweet thought, delivered with maximum cuteness.

Last night she asked "What do bad guys look like?". I tried to say that you can't always tell the bad people by how they look, but more how they act... sort of the good cautionary line. Her response:

"No - I think they have red eyes. And turquoise skin. And they dress all in black. AND they're invisible, so you can't even see them. They only appear when no one is around to see them. Like Dinosaurs. They're still around, but they only appear when no one is looking. Also, like Party Balloons."

(Not sure exactly how "Party Balloons" fit into that equation.)

This morning, Pamela reported the following quote:
"If blankets were spoons, they could carry a lot of soup".

Finally, her word of the week is "Turquoise" which she has been using instead of "Blue" in all instances. She says it perftectly, however.

God's Neighborhood

Tonight Pamela was putting Bella down, and read a book called "Old Turtle", which involves talk about God. Now, I'm a registered agnostic, and Pamela's a Unitarian, so we don't have a whole lot of literature about the Big G around, but are prepared to treat the subject respectfully.

Bella asked "what's God?" at the end of the story. Pamela gave a good UU talk about how people have different ideas, but that in general, it's a warm spirit that unites us all and helps give us strength (which sound a little like "The Force" from Star Wars, minus the Midiclorian aspect they tried to shoehorn into Episode I which totally ruined the whole concept by introducing a biological aspect. But I digress.)

Bella said - "No, I think God is a people. He just lives in a different neighborhood".
Pamela asked what neighborhood?

"I don't know - China, or Milwaukee or something. What does Milwaukee look like, anyhow?"

I think that we may have a prophet on our hands.

The Lair is open...

I had Rich and Uncle Chicken over last night for another Scotch and Movie night: These are truly turning into a highlight for all of us - we're bonding well, sharing good stories, and having a great time. The scotches included Oban, Springbank, Lagavulin (as always), Caol Ila, and a taste of Jameson Gold to start. The movies were Idiocracy (even funnier the second time for me) and Run Lola Run (a classic).

The Basement Lair is well secluded from the house, so our belly laughs, screams, and techno music did not disturb the sleeping family.... though the family is still reeling from the sicknesses:

Yes, Pamela has her annual sinus infection, and got completely wiped out starting Friday and really presenting today, with her sleeping til 10, and taking a 4 hour nap in the day too. But she need to heal - I'm not complaining. I'm just glad that my post-scotch fuzzy wasn't too bad - since Isaac had decided that 6 was a perfectly reasonable wake-up time.

With Pamela down, I managed Isaac and Bella... when Isaac went down for an early nap, Bella and I snuck out to do some errands, starting with bagels at Brueggers. I love doing errands with Bella. Isaac seems to be mostly better now, but is now having trouble not getting all of the same attention: He wants a lot of holding, especially while falling asleep. So we're working on getting him back to his normal "sleep when sleepy wherever" self he was. Also, his appetite is back, and he's making up for lost time.

Oh, the Jag is back in the shop: a second tire fell off the rim, which has created a crisis of confidence in the house. This is unfortunately a side effect of not having a garage: Exposing tires and alloy rims to sub-zero temps for 2 weeks straight has resulted in the seal between tire and rim getting brittle. So the tire just sort of wanders off of the rim. this is very bad, but with the cold snap behind us, this will be done with. This same thing did happen to my Beetle many years back, and the only real solution would be to do snow tires on steel rims. But that would be hideous, so nuts to that. More likely, after a coooold snap, a visual inspection of all 4 tires prior to leaving the driveway is the better move.

Ok, enough about that.

This weekend, we'll have a visit from Papabam, which should be wonderful. The "cover story" is that they're going to be primary for the Kids while we finish whipping the house into shape. Over 3 days, we will get a LOT done. Or else.

Off to bed!

A JimVention for you

I was thinking about this idea: "GetMeOuttaHere.com". You go to this website, and for a fee, you can have a text message sent to your pager, or a telephone call placed to your cell with a short recorded message at the time you indicate.

So if you're going to be on a date, or in a meeting, and want a possible out, 30 minutes in, beeeeep you get a page. You stand up and say "sorry, something's up with the server", and you're out. Or you get a call, and you have a short conversation with your previously recorded self, and if things are going poorly on the date, you can say you've been called in to work, or the kid is sick, or whatever.

On a less "sneaky" note, you could use the service to use your cell phone or pager as a wake up service, no matter where you are.

I actually had this idea many years ago (in talking with Eh Xiong back at Ameridata, of all places), but back then, the idea would have relied on a bank of analog modems... but now we have internet phones, and it would be as easy as sending an email...

The drawbacks I see to the plan are several:
1) The most obvious applications are just a little dishonest, and I wonder if that's really a "growth" industry. Is it worth $1 to get out of a meeting? REALLY?

2) It would be so easily abused by people to harass others - imagine programming 20 3 am "wake up calls" to your ex-es cellphone?

3) Suddenly I think about that whole "remote detonation of a bomb with a cellphone" scenario that Jack Bauer is always working against - only instead of a shady arab triggering it with his cell, it's the innocuous coffee bar patron on the web hitting "send"...

So that's a Jimvention that's been on my mind and i figured I'd just lay it out. Run with it people.

And better still

Isaac slept pretty well last night - only one wakeup. He is starting to get his appetite back, and he's definitely clearing up on the wheezy front - I hope this is starting to move beyond us... but will not be counting any unhatched chickens just yet. It's just not smart. Anyway - he's a lot more "consolable" - the crying jags are much less, but he still needs extra cuddles, and likes to fall asleep in our arms, not the crib. We're also weaning off the nebulizer - that stuff was probably making him cranky too - what with it being basically speed. We're down to one a day now, and will probably end it this week.

At which point the Penguin air compressor will be used only to blow up balloons for balloon animals. HA!

So with this crisis nearly behind us, i'm starting to try to get my head back into the world again. I was in meetings today back-to-back, and actually did not almost fall asleep in any of them. I am starting to read my German magazines again, and my spanish novella - use it or lose it! And yes, the next brainready products are in the hopper - but first I need to re-sharpen my brain from the collective "dulling" of the past two weeks of sick kiddage.

A quick correction on my previous numbers on Brainready - while we're doing pretty well, the page hits numbers were artificially inflated: It turns out we have 4000 subscribers to our audio podcasts. Each of them has software that is checking our website once a day for an update. So 4000 x 30 days - 120,000 "hits" and they're all legitimate, but they're not 120,000 people reading us.

Still, that 4000 is twice as many as hit us in December, which is twice as many as in November... it is growing at a decent rate, and considering that we have not actually advertised anywhere, I'm pretty happy.

And it makes me think that we're building something people enjoy: If we had gone from 0-100,000 I feel we could have gone right back to zero as quickly - the slashdot effect - a very popular website links to you, and suddenly you have a million hits, but then once that day is passed and they're on to something else, who remembers you?

Sales of the book are somewhat slow... I think that the key will be to have a few books out there (working on #2 now), and even better, I think that a GAME with our exercises might be a breakout product. I'm drawing up some ideas on that.

So I'm back to my one-million ideas thing. It's good to be Jimmy.

Getting Better

A long long night - Isaac didn't sleep too well, so neither did we. He's more crabby now than wheezy.. we think a tooth may be popping through now. But he's breathing pretty well, save from the occasional coughing fits.

So keep those candles burning, but it sounds like he's on the recovery. I just wanted everyone to know.

An Open Letter

This is an open letter to all bands who have a superfantastic single and then have an album that sounds nothing like that single. I have been burned too often.

1) If your single has a fabulous female singing lead vocals, I will not want to buy your album to discover that that singer is either a guest vocalist or a back-up singer and that all of the other songs are sung by a guy who sounds like he learned by studying songs by Mister Mister. (I'm looking at you Royksopp and Shiny Toy Guns).

2) If your single is a quirky electro masterpiece, I will be very disappointed if the rest of your album sounds like a bar band from Boston circa 1978 (Again, Shiny Toy Guns, the Sounds...)

3) If you get Trentemoller to remix your song, and that's my first exposure to you, then you simply will never be able to live up to my expectations (The Knife, Royksopp) Trentemoller is a god.

I really don't think it's out of line for me to expect that a song that is being promoted by a band SOUND LIKE THE BAND IN QUESTION. To have these singles out there that sound entirely different than the rest of the album brings to mind a few options of what may have happened:

Theory A: They got a record deal based on that new song they wrote, and then when they needed to fill an album they used songs from their bar band past, instead of confidently writing new material.

Theory B: All the hip people know that it was a guest vocalist, and I'm just last in line - and I'm the only sucker in this deal.

Theory C: Kids these days can't write albums like they did back in the day, when Duran Duran would knock out an album in Montressat, hitting the night life, flying airplanes, and touring stadiums, all while looking fantastic.

And that's my rant.

Not RSV related

It has yet to break 0 degrees Fahrenheit out today - it's a cold one. But in spite of it, Bella and I bundled up to go work out to Body Jam this afternoon. It's very fun to bring her... but I've been puzzled: The first time we went, she was very serious about learning the dance moves and really trying to do them all. She's come 3 more times, and each time, she's sort of hung toward the back, or gone off to the side to play with the workout mats.

Today, I finally figured it out: She asked where the BOY instructor was - our first time, Alan was teaching, and she followed his instructions to the letter. Every other time, it has been Maddie, a 16 year old dancer (and daughter of the studio owner). I'm not sure why that would make a difference... but she mentioned it, and it may be a key...

Afterward we had a bite at Patrick's, where the girl who won't eat eggs or vegetables will wolf down a spinach quiche with abandon. Then off to the Hub Hobby center to get model glue for me to build a robot for Isaac's room. (and a horsie for Bella, natch).

Now, as you know, I've built a LOT of robots in my day - I love the Bandai Gundam series, but once you've built one or two (or eight), they're all pretty much the exact same robot. Hub was blowing out their robots for half price, so I got something that had a somewhat mysterious picture on the front - it looked like a bright, dynamic robot with a drill arm.

Having assembled it, I must say that the cover was faulty advertising at best. It's maybe the dumbest looking robot I've ever had in my house. I'm torn about whether it will be staying. Dumb robot.

RSV

Poor Isaac appears to have RSV - which is a respiratory virus, so he's coughing up wet phelgmy coughs, is off his food, and is generally unhappy. But the kicker is that the RSV has exposed a latent Asthma in him... so he's also got a wheeze. We got a nebulizer and some albueterol to help him.

The Neb is an air compressor shaped like a Penguin, and it bubbles the liquid albuterol into a fine mist which he breathes in through a tube we hold down near his nose - we don't have him in a face mask or anything.

We were so worried about him yesterday - he's not sleeping very well, and is so crabby, and around 10pm he got into a coughing fit that wound up with him puking a bit. We got all packed up for the emergency room, when our pediatrician on-call returned our page. Turns out, with RSV, there's really not much they can do at the hospital that's different than what you can do at home. They'd apply the albuterol, and maybe give him some extra oxygen, but there's no magic they can do that is any better than the TLC we can give.

As if on cue, Isaac started smiling and laughing. And he did sleep pretty well in the night. Today, he's still sad and grumpy and doesn't want to be put down, but his rattle does seem to be getting better. We're still nebulizing him. And I finally remembered the "Car Seat trick" for keeping him napping, since he has woken up every 15 minutes during naptime. But pop him in the seat, keep an eye on him, and when he stirs, just rock the seat again, and he stays down. I'm into my second hour of his nap now, and am pretty happy he's getting this rest.

Bella has the cough too - but it's more of a mild, dry one.

It's such a cold day, we're warming ourselves in front of Mr Rogers with no intention of going out again.

Still Standing

No idea what was keeping Isaac going today. He was up a few times in the night, and woke up at 7:30 sharp. Then, according to Pamela, he had 3 15 minute naps before I got home at 6... And he was alternating between partying and coughing. Oh, and he was not eating either. Pamela was a wreck, and I was happy to take over.

Nerd Alert:
I helped Jeff and Rita configure their new Dell laptop - a 17" screen brute that they're sure to love. We used a 3rd party "data mover" application, which was hardly worth the $20 we spent on it, and certainly not as complete or elegant as Apple's (free with every mac) migration assistant. I also spent a few long minutes not able to connect to their wireless network, before learning that a paranoid brother-in-law had come and locked down their router to MAC addresses only - a security precaution that we don't even use on our networks at the HOSPITAL. Complete overkill and it locked out their new computer...

Fortunately, I was able to quickly defeat that security "feature" and all went well from there.

I really don't mind helping people set up Windows computers - it reminds me every single time that Apple is sooo much better and easier... But I do charge money to work on Windows. Macs, I do for love.

Nerd Alert over.

So now I'm home, Isaac is crying, and i'm off to help. Night night!

The Saddest Thing

Is there anything sadder in the whole world than a little 4 month old boy coughing and sniffling, but still smiling when he sees you? It's going to be a looong night - he's been waking up coughing every hour so far.

See you on the other side of night, people. And I can't promise I won't be groggy.

Movie Report... More!

One of my favorite movies is Office Space, which was a spot-on examination of cubicle life. The maker of this movie surprised me, since he's also the maker of Beavis and Butthead, and King of the Hill - two animated ventures that I just didn't like very much. So I heard about this movie he did last year - Idiocracy. And it was well reviewed, but only opened in 7 cities and closed immediately. Word out there was that Fox tried to "kill it" somehow.

I rented it, eager to see what the fuss was about. And I was delighted.

It's a completely ridiculous movie about how mankind has gotten progressively dumber, so by 2550, a completely average slacker who was frozen in 2005 winds up being the smartest person on the planet. Luke Wilson brings his best "Aw Shucks" naivety to the role, and everyone else brings their aggressive insanity to it.

The special effects mostly consist of VERY obvious Matte paintings of the world of the future, which only adds to the charm. The only CGI is used for some unthinkably equipped monster trucks.

The only conundrum is that in many ways, it appeals to the base humor that was the target of Beavis and Butthead - and it's that ethos that is mocked in the movie (the top TV show of the future is called "Ow, My BALLS!", and consists of one blunt force injury after another. So he's mocking lowbrow, but many of his best gags ARE lowbrow. So I recommend it with the STRONG caveat that it is very crude and obvious and ridiculous... but the gags wound up creating a cascade effect of laughter, so that by the time the President is addressing the House of Representin', and is singing Gospel style about how the smart man will solve all of their problems, I was on the floor with tears.

On a different note - we tried to watch Prairie Home Companion, and were stymied. Perhaps it had been too long of a week, but we were unwilling or unable to be swept away - The characters never gelled for me - they were always Garrison and Meryl and Lily and Woody and Kevin, all having a lark. So we gave it up after 40 minutes, deeming it "too precious" for us. I know many did love it, and I begrudge them nothing. But it was not the movie for us. And no, it wasn't just before or after Idiocracy, so that didn't taint us. Really.

Finally, on a kid note (since they are so central to my life, how can I post without mentioning them?) Isaac has been experimenting with solid foods for a week now, and will take or leave oatmeal. But this afternoon, I was holding him and enjoying a meaty Wisconsin BEEF STICK (a gift from real life Wisconsin people), and he grabbed it out of my hand and popped one end into his mouth and started gnawing on it.

He did a pretty good job with it, but I had to stop him from actually biting off a piece on account of him not having any teeth and his likely choking from that. But we did switch to club crackers, and he was really enjoying holding them, bringing them to his mouth, and gumming them. I'm not sure how much was actually ingested, versus being "Cookie Monstered", but he seems to be pretty interested in "human food", so those bottles will be on the way out.

A plus to this is that with real food in his gullet, he's sleeping a little better - after a few 2-3 wake nights, we're back to one wake up, and it's closer to 1, which means that both of us can help out. I can start to see a time when I will not be entirely exhausted. It's still a ways away, but I can see it. With a telescope.

How are the kids?

Isaac is suffering from a pain trifecta right now: He seems to be growing massively (as evidenced by his now THRICE nightly feedings of full bottles), we're seeing his first tooth starting to surface, AND he caught a cold.

In spite of it all, and between jags of crying with rage at a cruel world, he somehow manages to smile and coo and cuddle all the same. But Daddy is a bit bleary eyed at the extra feedings.

Bella has started coughing like Sparky the seal last night, and had to be cajoled into taking cough medicine: It started with a promise of extra videos is she just took the dang medicine, and I think where we left it is that she gets a Miata on her 16th birthday and a Pony and two golden retrievers. There is nothing like the bargaining power of a sick child against sleepy parents.

One quick "making it all worth it" quote: Two nights ago, I was putting Bella to bed, having a cuddle and some jokes, and I asked her to tell me something nice about her day. She thought for a little bit, and she turned to me and said:

"This is my favorite part of the day. Right now."

I had to tell her it was mine too.

Heckuva Weekend!

With four grownups and five kids under 5, the Balamo was a packed house indeed this weekend. It was of course for the 6th annual posthumous birthday party for my dear Grandmother, held at the Lexington in St Paul. The meal was great as always, as was the selection of scotch (started with a little Highland Park, ended with a little Talisker).

There was a LOT of good laughter, much of it this year courtesy of sister Carrie's attempt to sing "Little Jeannie" by Elton John. There is video, and there will be blackmail.

On Sunday, a few of us went off to Hub Hobby, which has been cleaned up pretty well in the past year - and it was kid and dad heaven. Bella came home with many small plastic animals, and a sack of agates that she spent a loooong time selecting.

Yesterday was back to work: I skipped the AM workout because I wanted to help with the full house (the relatives were leaving in the AM), but alas, my help was not needed - everybody snoozed in, and I was out before anyone woke up. I made up the session at 6pm, and wore my "ROFL" workout shirt: It's puff blue and says "You can't buy these Pythons in a Pet Shop" with arrows pointing to my biceps. The 6pm crew is a bit bigger than the 6am (30 vs 5), so it got a bigger laugh. I didn't cry... too much...

With the guests gone, we're always faced with the task of recovering the house. This time, it started coming together well, BUT we were faced with a load of laundry that makes the Augean Stables task of Hercules seem like a minor tidying. What to do?

Well, Tuesdays ARE our date night, and Justin was on his way over. We decided that perhaps it would be romantic to get some stuff DONE - so we packed 10 laundry baskets over to a coin laundry and got the whole mess done in 2 hours and $45 in quarters. We brought in sandwiches for dinner over the Ms PacMan machine, and finished the evening at Starbucks for a cuppa to relax.

And with my bones a bit tired from standing and hauling and folding (it's a workout in itself), I close my laptop and dream good dreams.

Bella

She says "Accidentally" as "Ann-si-dentally". And it's a word she likes to say. And I love to hear her say it.

Depressingly Authentic

Alert to all fans: It's a Jimmy FOOD POSTING.

Going out to lunch today, I had a feeling for something new. There's an indian place near where I work that has garnered very good reviews for it's authenticity. My own favorite Indian place is somewhat scoffed at by afficianados as "good, but not Indian". So I went to this place. And it was packed with real live east indians... and it was a bigger buffet that my favorite place, so I'm thinking "hey now, this is SOMETHING".

Except the meat.. it was a bit fatty. And more dark meat, and skin on. And the sauces were more savory than spicy. And one of the trays contained "Goat Curry". So I politely loaded my plate, once, ate the food and hightailed it out of there. The words "Depressingly Authentic" entered my mind as I walked out. I'll stick with my Fake Indian, alas.

On a more authentic note, I met Uncle Chicken for lunch yesterday at what appears to be the current "best Pho Joint in Town" - Pho Tau Bay. Pho, as I know you know, is a Vietnamese beef noodle soup. Pho Tai has sliced beef, cellophane noodles, onions in broth, with a side plate of Bean sprouts, basil leaves, lime wedges, and peppers. There are other variants with tripe, flank, meatballs, and god knows whatelse, but I stick with Tai, since it's pretty lean meat.

And it was wonderful, and it was great to see the Chicken in daylight. And it was the best Pho in town to my knowledge. After 9 months of being at my current client, I finally broke down and asked the Hmong workers where to get some Pho, and they pointed me there, as well as to a few less excellent but closer to work places.

Finally, I should add that I stopped in for some coffee on the way from Lunch today. The Caribou corporate headquarters is one freeway exit from my work exit, so I popped over: It's a big factory building, with a store popped right in front of it. I went in and sat down with a cuppa. Sitting by me were two "Management Trainees" who were killing a few minutes before going back into class for a final test.

Listening to the conversation was just surreal - one woman was free associating about her brother stealing her socks, and her remedial high school where this teacher from "Manhattan" was yelling at ESL students. She just sounded Cray-Zay. But the key was that both women were confessing their difficulty in understanding these coffee terms - "I can't tell French Roast from French Press". Neither were coffee drinkers.

I was just imagining back when I was managing a Dunn Bros coffee in the early 1990s. At that time, you hired people who were hanging out enough to become fixtures in the store - it was sort of an upgrade from customer to server. And the leader of the store, Ed Dunn, was a true coffee evangelist. "There is no such thing as a large cappuccino - it's a double shot of espresso with light foam - that's IT - HOW CAN YOU MAKE THAT LARGE????". He would have his friends come in and try the coffee and quiz you, and you needed to KNOW your coffee. He instilled in me a snobbery and discernment that I hold to this day.

I am trying to think of him having to interact with these two management trainees, watching him get redder and redder, until he would abruptly stand up and declare "Thanks for coming in - we're done here".

Of course back then, there weren't as many coffee shops, and you could afford to hold out for and cultivate mavens. With shops on every corner, you need to take what you can get, and try to train them up I guess. Crazy.

DPD

My beloved Pamela has a very unique singing style - she really has a sweet and powerful voice, but suffers from what I like to call DPD, or Disassociative Pitch Disorder. What this means is that she starts on a certain pitch, and does a phrase pretty much in key... but then starts the next phrase in an entirely different key, and then sings THAT phrase pretty much perfectly, then the next phrase is in a different key again...

It makes singing along with her quite an exercise. Make no mistake, I love to hear her sing, and she can attack a song with quite a bit of gusto... but the DPD is there.

We were watching American Idol tonight (out on a date, at Big Bowl, sitting at the bar), and I discovered that DPD is pretty common actually - along with GWP (General wobbly pitch) and LF (Lyric Forgetfulness). I can't imagine wanting to watch the show in a non-tryout context - watching warblers go at standards is a bit much...

Now I'm going to go on a tangent...

I can't help but think that my old friend Mike from my musical adventures could walk in there and blow them all away. And he'd make it to the final round, and I'd see them ask him to do some country or something, and he'd just walk away... He could win it - no doubt (especially after I saw him last month - he keeps sounding better and better), but there's no question, the man would not want to win - it would just be a compromise.

I sometimes think the same about my songwriting - more than once, I've had a perfect pop song written, ready to make a demo and have it sent off to my friends in "the business"... but when I sit down to start to put it to tape... well... just about everything in the world seems more interesting - organizing my taxes, anything.

My friend Paul and I have almost started a dozen companies, and we have watched as a year later, somebody with the same idea gets millions in venture capital. But each time we're able to say "that wasn't what we wanted to do". Heck, we're smart - if it was just about the money, we could go to law school and learn real estate law. We want to make it... on our terms.

So just like Mike could probably win American Idol if he wanted to, I know I could have made a venture or two fly too... but it's not what we wanted to do. That's why I'm pretty excited about BrainReady: It's something Paul and I just enjoy doing - we have no grand scheme, no prospectus, no plan for venture capital. Just a website and some creative things we've made.

And we got over 100,000 visits in December, and our mail list grows by a hundred a day, and we have a book for sale, and 2 more products in the hopper, and guest bloggers starting up... and this just might take off, in it's own sweet time. And it's FUN, and it's what we want to do right now.

If I was a newspaper columnist or a preacher, I'd find some way to bring this back around to DPD, and I probably could if I worked real hard at it... but I think I'm happy with this post as it is, so let's just leave it there.

The Lair goes BOOM

Did a volume test tonight in The Lair - was CRANKING the 5.1 remaster of Depeche Mode's "Some Great Reward" (Track 7 - Master and Servant), full subwoofer. Bella was dancing, as was squirmy (horizontally). I ran up to the second floor to check, and I had to really strain to hear anything... the soundproofed lair is fantabulous.

It will be excellent for the movies with the booms and whatnot.

Also, to the question "is a 5.1 remaster of a 22 year old album any great shakes?" The answer is OH YES IT IS.

The Brainready Book: Monitoring our progress, it appears we have SOLD ONE BOOK. YES. AWWWW YEAH!!!! Big money, baby.

Tomorrow AM will come early - and I'm excited: It's a new workout tomorrow! We're moving on to BodyPump 60. We'll see if any tracks are standouts... I know I'll be a little sore. But hey, I've been schlepping furniture like nobody's business (getting the Lair ready).

Quick Update

1) So that night Bella decided she's a big girl and doesn't need us for bedtime... it was all talk. She's welcomed us back to night-night land every night since. HA!

2) The Basement is finally together (with some tweaking necessary). Surround sound and subwoofer set up, couch and chairs, comfyland made for movies and socializing. I call it "The Lair". The other 2/3 of the basement is bella's playland, with a curtain dividing it between bella's "house" with a kitchen, table, and doll stuff, and the creative/building area with a table, legos, blocks, and little people toys.

I was amazed at how it all came together. When I went to bed at 11, it all seemed so far away, but Pamela got her groove on and made it happen.

3) Headaches: Pamela was sidelined yesterday with a headache and exhaustion, so I tended the kids and tried to keep things moving along (with limited success). She took a good long nap and we finally got going again around 6pm. We chalked it up to exhaustion or something... but today I woke up a bit groggy, and here we are at noon, and I have a raging headache. UGH. Must be some sort of short-term ick. (and yet, I update FOR YOU, my friends).

4) Despite me saying it's almost ready how many times... the book is actually published and ready for ordering HERE. We are also revamping our site - the ads weren't working so we took them down (except for one that we're keeping because we have a direct reciprocity thing with them), and we have guest writers starting up - starting with the guy who wrote the FISH series of motivational books... we're pretty lucky!

5) My favorite defunct synthesizer company Waldorf has been reborn, and I'm excited to see their new products. Their first two new synths are named after Bond Villains - the Blofeld and the Stromberg. How cool is THAT? Beats calling things "JX30" or "Alpha". They'll be showing them in 1 week at that trade show in Anaheim that I've done twice but not this year... Perhaps next year.

6) Bella has been running around the house saying "Yippee Kai Yay.... FLOCK!!!" I don't know where this came from, since I have not watched Die Hard for a few years... You may remember that key line from that movie - and "Flock" is not far off from the explicative at the end of that line. She is not fessing up to where this came from either. But she's been replacing the "Flock" with "Rainbow" and "Flower" - which she seems to think enhances things.

But she is a sponge: Yesterday I was testing the surround sound and subwoofer in "The Lair" with The Incredibles, and she picked up on Mr Incredible's tagline "It's Showtime". She's been using it a lot in the past day.

7) Heck YES I'm getting an iPhone. As if.

Yet another weekend!

Friday night was another scotch night with Rich and Uncle Chicken (or Tio Pollo, as we are now calling him). This time, there were SIX on tap, which was sort of ridiculous - we were tasting for a good 90 min before we made it to the end and could start the movie... Superman Returns, which was just fantastic. But the star of the evening was a Laphroaig 15, which was good and smoky neat, but add a spash of water, and it opened up into something else entirely - very delicious. We tried the splash of water with our previous favorite - the Lagavulin 16, and it just made it taste weak and watery. So water - use it sparingly. As is our rule, even with 6 bottles on tap, pacing and portions are the watchword - nobody gets loopy, and there's never a hangover...

Yesterday we went to Bella's Birthfamily for a late Xmas - it was a great time as always and we actually got to see her birthfather too, who we haven't seen for a couple of years. Isaac and his little birthcousin (who is 5 days younger) had a lot of fun checking eachother out and squawking... and of course there was food. Bella has learned to be very polite with presents now, and gave a good thank you on each, and was even pretty methodical in opening them.

On the way home, we stopped in to Dad and Karen's place (Grandma and Grandpa, of course), where they had a gift for us - a Blue Meanie rug (from Yellow Submarine), and a pot of ham and bean soup they were willing to share, and a roaring fire too...

Between the birthfamily (two terriers) and Dad's (two cats), I continued my "no allergic reaction" string - though by the end of Dad's I was a little wheezy, but probably more from the fire smoke backing into the house (the fire alarm went off and everything...) So it's really starting to look like the allergies MIGHT be in the past? Who knows.

Today was nothin' but work. WORK. Around the house that is. Around 10 loads of laundry. And LOTS of work on the basement: We're re-orging the whole works, moving the exercise equipment up near our bedroom, and turning half of the basement into a surround sound video "Lair" (no new gear here, just better use of our existing stuff), and a better organized play area for Bella. We're imagining we'll be living in the basement a lot more with two kids now.... Justin was watching the kids while we were hauling and hauling... but it'll be great when it's done. We just need to find someone who can move huge equipment around... time to call the movers.

And now it's off to bed - the morning will come quite soon, and I need to be at the gym by 6 to keep fit!

My Big Girl

One nice way we end our days is to cuddle up with Bella until she falls asleep. Pamela and I trade off nights. We do back scratches and foot rubs and scalp massages, it's just a nice night. It's also a nice excuse to close my eyes for a few minutes before doing nighttime things.

Tonight, after I finished reading our bedtime story, Bella told me "I think I'm ready to be a big girl and go to sleep without anyone else in my bed tonight".

I told her I'd be right outside if she needed me. "Sure, if I need a back scratch, or a foot rub, I'll call you. Good night Daddy!".

I walked outside and felt a little sad. Happily, Isaac woke up and distracted me for 15 minutes while I got him back to sleep. I poked my head in and saw that Bella was fast asleep, with a sweet smile on her face.

I came downstairs and I needed a hug. Bella's getting too big. Awww I got something in my eye.

Back to work you lot.

First day of "work" since the 22nd... and I realized that it was the longest I had gone without holding my kids. I went through a little withdrawal. The kids were so cumulatively exhausted that Bella slept from 4pm-9pm, then 11-8am. Isaac went down at 10, and slept through to 7am. Pamela's so wiped she went to sleep with Bella at 8:30 tonight. I was supposed to be working, but Uncle Chicken had to come celebrate the new year with me, and we were surfing insane Youtube videos (the Infomercial for Quintron, Miss Pussycat and the DrumBuddy is the best ever)... now I'm ready to go sleepy.

Fortunately to get me through the day, Pamela was emailing with some commentary from Bella. They were watching President Ford's funeral. Here are the quotes:

"Is that him with the silly haircut?"
About the hearse..."Is that a taxi?"

And when told they were going to bring the casket into the church... she asked"What are they going to do in there" Pamela said "People are going to talk about his life and say prayers and sing special songs" Bella said " You mean like Itsy Bitsy Spider and stuff?"

I got a vision of a church choir doing a very solemn "itsy bitsy spider" as the pallbearers (or "The Bears" as Bella called them) did the processional....

Did I forget to mention that I did get a Wii-related injury last week? As I was doing the bowling game, I lept up with excitement at a strike, and banged my hand into a ceiling fan. It left a good welt. I was reminded of the time in college when I lept up in my room at the French House in an overenthusiastic reaction to The Human League's soporific version of "you've lost that loving feeling", and sliced my hand open shattering the overhead light. I tend to have injurious reactions. Still, better to hurt me than hurt Pamela with a poorly placed elbow or knee...

At BodyJam yesterday, I was up near a mirror as I was dancing, and came to the realization that I'm basically the tin man, or a collection of rulers and rubberbands. I can not be as funky as a stocky little guy (Isaac), but I can perhaps use my lankyness to some advantage.

Two final points: The test printing of our book arrives tomorrow, so we get to see what it's all about. Secondly, I really don't know why I had to tell you all my theories about clock selling. But it IS called "JimVentions".

Farewell to 2006

This evening, Jenny was over with her Dad Randy (Mae has a cold, the poor dear) and we had a long playing fest and chili feed. We had "Midnight" at 9pm, where we all ran outside and yelled "HAPPY NEW YEAR" and banged on pots and pans in the several inches of fresh snow that fell tonight.

We took pictures, and every one is filled with giant snowflakes lit up by the flash like little christmas lights.

Isaac was bundled up and made his first snow angel. The girls stayed outside playing in the snow for over an hour, while the grown ups relaxed inside with the door open listening to their laughs and squeals.

It was a wonderful way to see the year off - one that brought Isaac to us, and a magical trip to Disney, and a great summer break at the lake, and BrainReady, and some great scotches...

So I raise my glass of Lagavulin 16 to the world and say HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2006 was a great year - 2007 has a lot to live up to!

In the morning

The kids both slept very well in their own beds - Isaac back to 3 and 6 for wakeups.

Bella woke up after 12 hours of sleep. I brought Isaac into bed with her and she cuddled him and said "OH I just love this magic STUFF!"

About selling clocks

The following are my thoughts on selling clocks:

I don't think they should be running in the store, but if they ARE, they should not be set to the current time. You don't want a customer running out because they suddenly realize they're late. You should be able to sell timepieces in a time-neutral environmant. Importantly, set the clocks RANDOMLY to different times. This will create a fun variety for people.

The a downside to the running clocks is that a person may react positively or negatively to a particular time that's showing on the clock (major event in life, or perhaps just reminding them of what the clock looks like when they need to be at work. Or at home). As a retailer, you should be more in control of your customers and not allow their neuroses to kill a sale.

So I recommend the stopped clock - and having all clocks at the same time. That says "these are all fine timepieces, stopped for your convenience, so please evaluate them on their own strengths and merits, and not by the whimsy of what time means to you". It also prevents the customer from making a decision based on the loudness of "tick" on the second hand.

But what time? I am a fan of Ten after Ten. It looks very optimistic, sort of "Wave your arms in the air". Five after Eleven is a little too much "Stick em UP". Six PM may appeal to people who see things in black and white, but it's a bit too "put on", and people may feel like you're pulling one over on them. Same goes for 9:15, though the inevitable creep upward of the hour hand on that one perhaps adds a little character.

Twelve noon is just terrible, as it doesn't allow people to see and appreciate the difference between the minute and hour hands. You might as well just be selling clock FACES. Any of the downward pointing times (20 past 7, 25 past 6) are depressing - showing a figure that has given up and can't even raise it's arms. It shows weakness. Not something a timepiece should convey.

And that is I think all the advice I have for the clock sellers of the world.

Home.... and life is good

We left IL yesterday afternoon after a delicious and huge breakfast at the Palatine Inn, which is my all time favorite breakfast joint (sorry runners-up Original Pancake House (many locations) and Mickies Dairy Bar (Madison)). We took a leisurely drive up Hwy 12 to Fort Atkinson to visit Cousin Jen, Harman, and the boys Seeger, Liam, and Julian.

Bella spent about 1 minute sizing up the cousins (who are 4, 2.5, and 9mos) and decided yes, these will be excellent playmates. We saw very little of her in the ensuing 20 hours. Which left a good bit of time for us to hang out and play with Isaac, and generally relax in front of the fire and share stories of parenting and wild youths.. (youths in both senses of the word).

We hit the road around noon today for the final journey home - a mid-day 5 hour grueler. Isaac did spend 4 of it asleep (much needed catchup sleep) and one hour of it yelling "Get me OUT of this SEAT - it is CRAMPING MY STYLE". Bella was pretty good - she watched videos and got grumpier and grumpier... until by the time we hit the MN State Line, she was just moaning random songs of discomfort and woe.

Fortunately, when we got home (around 5:30), her best friend Jenny was ready to come play, and Randy and Jemae came by for (takeout) dinner too, so we re-integrated into the house and neighborhood, and Bella got 2+ hours to reacquaint herself with her best friend... All the kids were asleep by 9, and now I'm retelling the tales.

A few random details from the trip:
1) Minivan living is not for us: We'll rent these things when we need to roadtrip, but it needn't be a part of our life. Still, it WAS handy to be able to go with PapaBam and the whole family places.

2) In the final analysis, there was relaxing, but not kicking back: There was very little time for reading, puzzles, playing video games ("kicking back")... but there was time to lay back on the couch and stare at the ceiling and feel our bones a little ("relaxing").

3) I did stay unplugged from work: Yes, I checked messages, but I didn't RESPOND unless necessary, and I fully stayed out of things that I saw that someone else capable was copied on.

And now Isaac has woken up again and I must go settle him.

An interesting day

It was a long night with Isaac, who wanted attention every TWO hours, which left us a bit groggy in the AM - so it was a slow morning. Bella and I snuck off to the book store for some espresso, a brownie, and some more books. Since it went un-fulfilled on my wishlist, I got the Joy of Yiddish. Bella wanted to find magazines that would be good for her, so we found two nature-oriented ones.

Then it was off to visit the great grandmas. The visit to Grandma K was nice as always. The visit to Grandma B was a touch more eventful. We brought McDonald's (which she loves) and watched in amazement as Bella wolfed down 9 McNuggets. Then both Julie and I stepped out of the room to make phone calls...

And Grandma choked on a Filet-o-Fish sandwich. And Pamela heimliched. And the paramedics showed up, and took her to the hospital. It all turned out well - she's back at home and healthy - but a hospital emergency room was not on the original itinerary. Bella loved the fire trucks and the paramedics.

Afterwards, we went out to see Bailey and Ty, have some dinner, and play the Nintendo Wii. We convinced Pamela to try it out, and she bowled a 177 game on Wii Bowling, and gave Tennis a try... She was very game! The Wii was an absolute kick to play. What a cool system!

We stayed out too late - Bella stayed up until we got home, and passed out quickly at 10 - just 3 hours past her normal bedtime.... and it looks like Isaac just woke back up at 10:45... oh no....

Christmas Miracles Continue

Earlier in the week, I was talking to Ty's mom. (Ty and Bailey being the 15 year old twins who I've known since they were 3 months old... You've read about them before). Apparently Ty has been pining for a Nintendo Wii - the new game console that uses a really cool gesture controller, so when you play tennis, you're actually moving your arm and the racket on the screen matches...

Along with the Playstation 3, the Wii has been one of THE hot items this year, with them going for hundreds of dollars over retail on Ebay, and impossible to find. Ty had been asking relatives for money or gift cards for xmas to help fund a Wii... if only he could find one.

Today I went to Target with Bella and Isaac - my goal was to get more Mylocon anti gas drops for Isaac, who has had some gut troubles these past few days (poor guy). Long story short, they had a few Wiis left. They had got 18 in that morning, and were down to the last 6 by 10am. I got the 3rd to last one. I just had to get it - I figured if Ty already had found one, I could return it, or check with another family... But if he didn't... how cool would THAT be? When fate gives you a door, you need to go through it.

I called them up... and after a little phone tag, I got to tell Ty that he got a Wii. He almost dropped the phone, he was delirious with excitement.

So this evening Bella and I ran over to their house. Ty and dad Rick and run out to the store to get a second controller (unsuccessfully), and when he came home, I gotta give him credit - he did look me in the eye and say hello before he lunged at the box. So we wasted no time and raced upstairs to set up the Wii, and Ty paid me in cash and gift cards. It shipped with sports games, so we got started. I bowled a spare in the bowling game and left them early to an evening of fun. Fortunately I get to visit for the whole evening tomorrow night, so I'll have another chance to play with this.

It was just such a crazy coincidence to be at the right place at the right time, and to be able to help make someone's Christmas even that much more excellent...

Add to this, my Allergies are staying in check - I've had a few more sniffles today - I figure the histamines are breaking down the barricades, but it's being kept well in check by Sudafed (the real stuff, not that horrible PE formulation that does NOTHING. Look, I'm sorry that Meth is out there and that people are having problems, but please do not make the one drug that works for my allergies illegal because people are using it for that purpose. I'm glad to show my license, sign a voucher, whatever, but keep it on the market. PLEASE).

Whoah, that was a tangent. Anyway, the trip continues to be wonderful.

I should mention that my Chicago food "around the world" was almost made complete today: Having had an Italian Combo and a Gyros plate on Saturday, a Portillo's Burger and Maxwell Polish yesterday, I was only missing a Chicago Dog and some Lou Manatti's pizza. I snuck out to get the dog tonight (don't tell anyone), but the Pizza will likely go undone.

Oh man, I will need to hit the gym when I get back. This is craziness.

Further Update

Warning: VERY CUTE PICTURE:



Allergy Update: Spent 3 hours in a house with two golden retrievers and a cat. No ill effects. Something is definitely different this time around.

Bella came up to me and asked "Daddy, are you allergic to Geckos?". No I answered honestly. "Then we can get a Gecko. I love them". Pamela said we could only do that if Kaitie (Bella's animal and lizard loving birth mom) came over every week to handle the feedings and cleanup, because Mommy's not helping with that one.

Another comment from this morning from Bella: She was starting to get a little sassy, and someone said "Santa's still watching". Bella said, "well, we already GOT our presents." We had to add in that he's starting the list for next year. The girl's a little to sharp some days.

Isaac has been passed from person to person to person these days, and tonight he finally just needed some quiet time. I think he's earned it. Also, he has decided to learn how to flip over: He can do back to sides, and belly to back in a flash.

Tomorrow will be another lazy day - though work will be back on, so I imagine I'll be seeing quite a few emails come across... I'll need to filter it a little, but there are some big things happening on my project this week...

A Christmas Miracle

A quick health update: Papabam have a cat (Nissa), and every visit we've had, I've been suffering almost immediately, planning my days between doses of Sudafed.

This visit is different:

I've been here since Friday night, and I have not had a single sniffle. And I have not taken a single dose of allergy medication. I even went to a house last night with two beagles, and again, no sniffles.

Somehow, my allergies got put on hold for this visit. It's amazing. I wonder if I can give credit to my new workout regimen? Or just take it as a Christmas miracle?

Xmas Morn

Bella was full of amazingness this morning. Santa had laid out everything last night, so that there would be no morning assembly. The "Cadillac" gift was a huge 3-foot unicorn. The smallest gift was sets of "Littlest Pet Shop" toys. The educational gift was a how to lace your shoes toy.

Bella walked into the room, wide eyed, walked up to the shoe and said what is a SHOE doing here? Eyebrows were raised. Then the big gasp - we thought for sure the unicorn was being acknowledged... but no:

OH MY GOODNESS - A TURTLE!!! She had keyed into the very smallest toy from the littlest pet shop, and wanted to spend quite a bit of time with it... until I asked her to just look... up.... she literally had not noticed the giant unicorn!

Well, the rest of the opening went very well - she noticed a Groovy Girls DOG and and shrieked that she TOTALLY WANTED THAT, and that she had seen it in a catalog and everything! Then the stocking offered up nail polish and a stationery set - she immediately started a letter to Jenny, then insisted on being nail polished. We said she could have her nails done when we got dressed later in the day...

So she ran off, got dressed, then sat down to have her nails done!

It's been a fun morning - she's full of wonder and excitement. I'm full of smoked salmon and coffee, so I'm very happy too.

One little comment: Papabam live in an apartment building, and Bella demanded to know last night "WHY do Papabam live in a hotel????"

Chicagoland Update

So we picked up the rental minivan Friday, and loaded it up... well beyond the point of sanity. As we loaded, I couldn't help but wonder HOW we would have managed without the extra space. As we drove down, I told Pamela that I knew what she was thinking, that no, we were not going to trade the Jag in for a minivan. We had a good laugh as the crosswinds buffeted the boxcar, the road noise created a roar.... HA! The drive was pretty good, though there was terrible weather for about 100 miles. Of course, Pamela was driving for that stretch.

On the way down, we stopped at Culvers, and Pamela discovered the joy of the Eggnog Shake. Mmmmm (or so I hear).

Bella and Isaac were pretty good road warriors, considering it was 7 hours. When we arrived at ten, both kids got a burst of energy, but by 11, everyone was back asleep. Lilli spent the night, so the girls got up early and started their adventures... Bella loves Lilli so much, it's great to watch them together.

Saturday was a lazy day, with lots of baking and snacking, with Lilli and Bella playing, Isaac was passed around all day. Papa and Jimmy went out to have Johnny's Italian Beefs (actually, I had a combo) - BEST I've eaten in a long long time. This place (Johnny's) has their own recipe, and they were grilling the sausages over a fire, it was too good to pass up. It was only with great fortitude that I decided not to have a second Combo. Rich said it was just as well, that would have been unprecedented, and the news media would have got involved.

In the evening, we put in National Lampoons Xmas Vacation. That's one of the funniest holiday movies ever, but we had all collectively forgotten about all of the cussing in the movie, and we're all waiting for Bella to bust out with the S-word, and the A-word, and the Q-word. Also, I had forgotten how strangely womanly Chevy Chase was in that movie - all of those long shots of him gazing at things... made up with such caked-on makeup...

Bridget and Rich hung out in the evening - it's fun to hear Bridget's tales of the Apple Store, where she is some sort of manager-type. Turns out, their store is not TOO insane this season - it attracts a good clientele. Apparently people are buying these things called "EyePods" or something - it's like a "digital" record player. I should look into those.

Sunday is another lazy day so far, but it'll kick into high gear soon enough - Xmas eve starts at 3:30, then it'll be time for Santa to show up... he likes to spend a little time and set up all of the toys in advance - Santa knows there's nothing sadder than watching Daddy try to undo the packaging on toys with an expectant child waiting....

The love, the horror

The Love: Upgraded my phone to a Samsung Blackjack. SEXY PHONE. Love the phone. Email, Calendar, Contacts, Messaging, Web, it's all there, it's all good. AND it's small. So in summation: I love my phone.

The Horror: The client had their Xmas party today, so everyone left at 3pm to go to... the VFW hall just up the block. I walked in, and it was pretty much EXACTLY how you might imagine a party at a VFW hall would be: Brown carpet, brown chairs. Fried chicken in a buffet on styro plates, Buy your own beer in the bar next door, by the pulltab window. Oh, and it's exempt from the clean air act apparently because the smoke of a thousand ages decided to adhere to my sweater the instant I walked in.

I spent my polite hour and hightailed it. The sweater was thrown out the window somewhere outside of Golden Valley. (not really, but it will be laundered.)

Oh, the book is going to the printers TONIGHT - not last week, since my partner got swamped (literally) in the Seattle storms and only got back into town today. But it's gonna happen.

It's a date night tonight, and that makes it allright. Dinner? Movie? Not sure. We'll see. But no work, please. We need some fun!

(PS - no I did not get that nap Sunday)

Lazy Sunday

We went to the christmas pageant at church today - in typical UU style, it was a fun and slightly irreverent take on the whole business. The adoring animals included fish, a dinosaur, and a skunk (all kids in costumes). Many of the chorus of angels were wearing stripey tights and/or cowboy boots, and the baby jesus was delivered by a gaggle of kids on scooters, skates, and a unicycle, and Mary had to sign for Him.

Afterwards, it was arts and crafts for the kids, and Bella made several ornaments, a candy cane out of beads and pipe cleaners, a colorful votive holder, and a paper dreidel. Then to brunch, and home.

I went to help neighbors buy a computer, and when I got back a mere hour later, Pamela was asleep, as was Isaac, and somehow Bella had the VideoiPod, and was playing WonderPets. I looked at the snoozing Pamela, and she shrugged. Now I'm afraid I'll need to find something ELSE magical for the trip! On the plus side, Bella is giggling like crazy - the wonder pets are working for her!

I need to share that a teenager has joined our family. Occasionally, Bella will move with slightly more poise, and have a more detached, aloof look to her. She asks us to call her "Annalise" and claims to be 18 years old. When she is Annalise, she is very helpful. Last night when Jenny was over, they got Annalise ready to go off to College. Fortunately they came back pretty quickly. It was a wild preview of 14 years into the future.

I wonder if I can get in on the napping action around here? What's a guy got to do?

It's See-wee-us

To prep for the road trip to Chicago next weekend, I got some videos for Bella that she doesn't know about. She has ravenously consumed all of the episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins I could find, so I needed to keep these in reserve. But I've been watching them myself - it's a show called "Wonder Pets".

It's maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen. A kindergarten class hamster, duckling, and turtle go out to save animals "in trouble". The whole show is sung like an opera, and there are crazy little jokes throughout it. It's done with animated pictures, not really drawings, so it has a very cut-and-paste look to it. And it is cute cute cute. The songs won't leave my head. And every episode, when things are getting tense, the duckling says "This is SERIOUS!" but of course it is said "see-wee-us".

Allright back to life: Today was BodyJam, and I brought Bella in her special dance outfit. The problem was that it was VERY full today, and Bella got nervous about performing amid 20+ adults. So she played by the sidelines and was totally shy. But they were previewing the next release, with latin dance numbers which I was loving beyond reason. This will be fun. I'm lobbying the management to add a Jam class at 6am, because it's very easy for me to sneak out for 6am, and be at home at 7:15 for a half hour of family time before getting to work by 8. It's a win-win-win.

Speaking of rest - I was officially busted nodding off in a meeting the other day (not by a boss). Fortunately they're chalking it up to me having Isaac in the house. If I'm leading, note taking, or actively participating, there's no problem. But if I'm there in a FYI capacity, and they're talking about finance things, boy, I'd be hard pressed to stay awake even WITH more than 5 hours of sleep. But don't tell them that. I just got extended to the end of 2007.

Other details - I got the final proofs of the book off to my partner, and we should have it at the printers next week... though he may be a tad unfocused because he just had to evacuate his neighborhood outside of Seattle, which is now a disaster area. And I restarted Japanese after a 3 month break (hello Isaac!). So that's fun.

Now I'm going to go curl up with some Sci Fi and fall asleep after 10 pages. See ya!

Correction and a Fairy Tale

1) The correct Pamela quote is "It was F**KING AWESOME". Which is doubly funny because "awesome" is not in her daily vocabulary.

2) Once upon a time there was a little boy named Isaac who got his parents up every single night at 3am for a bottle. I'm not sure how that story goes - I'd like to think that at some point, he decides to let his parents sleep a little, but I can't be sure.

3) Pamela is a frickin' genius. Her business is really starting to get going: She had another magazine spread 3 weeks ago, another arrangement for hire last weekend, and a set of centerpieces were finished last night for a highfalutin' brunch. Her arrangements continue to amaze me. Huzzah!

Now I'm off to work.

Bond... James Bond.

Oh did we have a good evening out. Saw the new James Bond finally. Here is Pamela's review:

"The theme song was terrible. The rest of the movie KICKED F****ING ASS!!!!" (Parents please assume the F means "Freak" or "Funk" or "Flannel". Pamela does not use bad language).

I agree. Daniel Craig was fantastic - I will watch him in movie after movie now. I am a fan.

I did note that both Sony and Ford were well represented: Ford makes the Jaguar, Aston Martin, and Land Rover vehicles that were present throughout. At least it was classy - I'm reminded of the horrible Pierce Brosnan one a few years back where Smirnoff bought sponsorship, and we were faced with Bond drinking cheap vodka... Oh the horror.

Geek OUT.

Two more details

1) I did get up and do bodypump at 6am this morning, and after the massive MDF Ikea building project yesterday, it's fair to say I was a bit sore this morning... Ooof!

2) Some rules from Bella:
- Cracks on the road are filled with Ants
- Cracks on the sidewalk are filled with Spiders
- You should not step on these cracks.
- But if you do, you should apologize to the ants or spiders.

Much better than the "Break your mothers back" nonsense.

Ikea Power

Saturday we had babysitting all day - Bella out with Jenny, Isaac with Grandma and Grandpa. So we each carpe diem'ed the best way we knew how: Pamela had a good snooze-in and a spa morning, and I did errands, ate a meatball sub, and went to BodyJam. We re-convened around 2, each refreshed in our own way. We had a few hours left kidless... so what to do?

Ikea.

Pamela had another one of her grand plans: This time, to find a computer desk and filing cabinet for the room off of the kitchen - move the computer off the couch, move the toys down to the basement, and make that more of a work/lounge area. As luck would have it, we found just the right stuff, and even better, they have a delivery service that will bring it right to where you need it. Easy money to spend, if you've ever hefted a single flatpack of MDF "wood".

The goods arrived Sunday at 11, and I spent the whole day schlepping stuff OUT of the room, and building new furniture IN the room. It was all ready by 11pm, though the rest of the house looked as though a bomb had gone off... AND after that bomb went off, some bears and squirrels decided to re-arrange things even further.

When I came home from work today, I was shocked and delighted to find that Pamela had made it "all better" - I can only imagine that she has some way of wiggling her nose that makes things get re-arranged. It was wonderful. AND dinner was on the table. TACO NIGHT - Bella's favorite.

Tonight, Bella had two soft and two hard tacos. She made them herself with generous helpings of beef, cheese, and sour cream. This is the ONLY medium in which she will consume ground beef... but consume it she does.

Pamela ran off into the evening to be a good samaritan and decorate the tree of a woman who is recovering from colon cancer, whose husband had a debilitating stroke just a year ago - they're such a sweet family, and these woes are just too sad... especially considering they're pretty close to our age! But Pamela and her church gang are out there helping.

It was up to me to Mister Mom tonight, and I got a doublewhammy of Bella having a LOT of energy and Isaac having a stomach ache and alternately giggling, puking, screaming, and then demanding more bottle... lather rinse repeat. To her credit, my very mature little Bella understood the Isaac score, and was very helpful for bedtime, though she did get distracted by arranging a 10-dog birthday party in the bathroom, with place settings for each. She said the party wasn't for her, but for "Cassandra". She also gave me a gift bag with a clock in it, and I was to give it to Cassandra.

Pamela's home, and she has finally got Isaac to chill out again (though I did get close twice in her absence), and I think it's an early bedtime...

Spaghetti Night

Seeing my old buddy Mike the other night reminded me of an adventure we undertook... with very mixed results. Back in high school (around 1985 here), we were convinced that we were vastly more intelligent and cultured than just about anyone else... period. We'd sit around his house and listen to The Style Council, knowing all of the neo-socialist words and we'd drive around looking for coffee shops that nobody knew about (this was before coffee shops were ubiquitous).

We decided that we were do sophisticated, we had the ability to literally BLOW SOMEONES MIND. We crafted a plan: We'd invite someone over... someone who we had reason to believe was not as cool and cultured as we were... and we would wow them with our utter sophistication.

So the plan was hatched: We'd invite Greta over, have spaghetti (mom had a great sauce recipe), listen to the Colourfield, Everything but the Girl, and The Style Council, and get into discussions that were sure to raise her conservative hackles, at which point, our cleverness would somehow show her a thing or two. Greta was a popular girl from a different school.

The only problem was that we took a good week concocting this plan, and when it came time to execute it, we failed utterly. See, Greta turned out to be pretty smart, and charming, and liked that music too, and hated Reagan too, and instead of a battle of the wits, we wound up having a pretty pleasant afternoon. And she went off into her evening, and we just sat there and realized that maybe just maybe that really wasn't such a good plan. In fact, the entire idea was patently ridiculous, and that for all of our talk, we really just wanted to spend some time with Greta who was very cute. And we did perhaps learn that maybe people were a bit more than they seemed sometimes.

And we did enjoy the spaghetti, because THAT part of the plan was foolproof.

Big Kids

I'm just going to say it: My kids are getting bigger. Appreciably so. Bella put on 4 lbs in the past 2 weeks... and is looking a touch chunky. She's eating like a maniac - fish sticks, chicken nuggets, pad thai, burritos, spaghetti, egg rolls you name it. She's trying new food - she's up to over 20 new things tried in the past 4 weeks. Isaac is putting away the bottles like nobody's business. They're both revving up for growth spurts, I can just TELL.

Last night was a pleasure: We went to see the Blind Boys of Alabama at the new Guthrie, and thoroughly enjoyed the old gospel sound. They were just a riot to watch - they kept standing up and wandering around, being all blind and whatnot. After one song that was perhaps a LITTLE flat, the leader paused and said "well, that one is basically still in rehearsal. But we hope you liked it anyway". The end was a good 20 minute gospel stomp with the leader wandering up and down the aisles while his sighted "minder" kept losing track of him and making exasperated gestures - great comedy.

Warming up for them was my old buddy and bandmate Mike Mattison, and his duo Scrapomatic. They did old mississippi blues and other soul/blues sort of stuff. Mike is graced with an AMAZING set of pipes that just keep sounding better every year - he has developed a gruff rumble that is somewhere between Tom Waits and someone human... but he can also clear it up and sing just like he did back in the 80's with our fabulous INXS-style band. He was funny and the audience loved them.

Most bizzarely, they would occasionally break into little "Yah-dee-dah-dee-dah" lines that sounded like 1930s black and white cartoons - it was a bit jarring, but very amusing. We tried to see him after the show, but it seems he escaped with some old cohorts... the same ones he tended to escape with back when WE were in bands together. They are not good influences, these cohorts. I did scan the papers and he didn't get into any trouble I could see, or at least he was able to hush it up.

A funny thing - when I saw his mom, I could not bring myself to use her first name: I introduced her to my wife as "Mrs Mattison". That's the sort of thing we did as kids - parents did not have first names. I'm still not sure mine do, other than as part of email/mail addresses. It just doesn't seem right.

Tonight was all about the work: We got a LOT of cards done over coffee, and most readers of this will probably be GETTING the results of our labor shortly. I was reflecting on the seinfeld where George's fiancee Susan expired from licking toxic envelopes. That was me. I am expiring.

Finally, Bella's just killing us with this new "blase" act: She has a great time doing something, and then after the fact she'll state "that was BORING". "I wish I was playing with JENNY or something". It's all we can do to keep from giggling at our little world weary creature... so we tease her, as any loving parent would do.

Perhaps I'm done for...

Yesterday I wore a suit to work. It attracted no end of attention - comments, catcalls, etc from my co-workers. Some were actually concerned I was out interviewing (which says a lot, given that I'm "just" a consultant), others were making HR-questionable comments about how well I "clean up" (again, as a consultant, I am fair game for the meat market commentary... ;-) ) The best was that I had two meetings with the CFO, and he is traditionally a sharp dresser, and for some reason had decided on a casual look for the day. So I ribbed him for not bringing his game. Mercilessly.

Turns out I was dressed up for a schmoozefest for the company I sub for: They had an evening planned at the new Guthrie Theatre - tours and food (but no show), and wanted all their manager-level consultants to be there to chat up the clients. It was all current clients, so this was not so much a sales opportunity as much as a thanks and let's be friends sort of evening.

And I'm ashamed to say, I actually had a pretty good time. Usually these sorts of obligatory evenings are just my worst nightmare, but I got my chat on, and had a good time. And yes, I even stayed off the social lubricant - it was just chatty Jimmy. In fact, I spent most of the evening hanging with the clients, not gravitating toward my co-consultants... so I even did my JOB.

The new Guthrie is just an amazing space. The building is flat out hideous from the outside, but inside it feels like a slice of the future, in a good way. I half expected to turn a corner and find someone walking towards me on the ceiling. But what's craziest is that they literally planted the OLD Guthrie right in the middle of it - it looks exactly the same inside. Honestly, it reminded me of the Star Trek (Next Generation/Scab Crew) Holodeck. I half expected Picard and Data to be spouting some shakespeare before being interrupted by some Romulan nonsense.

When I got home, poor Pamela was at wit's end: Bella was asleep, and then got UP with a second wind, and Isaac was overtired and crabby. I slipped out of the suit into jammies and played "child whisperer" and got them down, while my grateful wife retreated to her sensory deprivation chamber to decompress... ;->

Tonight, Pamela was at church decorating, so I took the young'uns to a mall, we had dinner, played in the playpark, and I brought them home, exhausted, and tucked them in. No muss no fuss tonight...

I did break down and get a toy for myself tonight, however... you can't expect daddy to be out playing and not get something. The Dyson hand vacuum. LOVE it. It was that or "Butterscotch" the 3 foot high robot pony, which Bella played with, enraptured, for 15 minutes at Target. What I loved about Butterscotch was that while it did have "realistic" reactions, it also had VERY loud servomotor sounds, and it reminded me of when me and my buddy Mark would pretend to be robots, making whirrr sounds as we moved... yeah that was around 6 years ago, not in my youth. I know.

So now I'm going to finish up my intro to the Brainready book: I've tweaked all 28 worksheets, and we're ready for the printer, I just need to make a cover and an intro. If you haven't seen my worksheets, you really should look. There are 12 of them out on the website now (www.brainready.com). I'm kind of proud of them.

Two in One

Isaac continues to amaze as wonderbaby. Last night, he was clearly tracking action on the TV as we watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (which was just a crazy movie - I had forgotten much of it!). Then he delighted us with but one wakeup in the night... Today, however, we're seeing him gnawing on things and the drool is starting... can teething be far behind?

This morning I had a bit of a jump on the rest of the house, so I took advantage of the window to go do some exercising. I did my weights course, and then I don't know what possessed me, but I decided to stay and do another hour of step aerobics. So it was two hours of high intensity workout. I thought I was going to pass out. Luckily there was a quiche right across the street to help me through the protein crisis. Then I skulked off to home for a short nap (though unusually, there was no actual sleep - just me lying there thinking while my body did it's very best to NOT BE MOVING).

Tonight was the final round of Leftovers as far as I'm concerned, and they were great. We watched Elf, which is truly Will Ferrill's finest work as a spaz. Bella was laughing throughout, which was fun to see. When we watched Rudolph earlier, she simply steeled herself from the get-go for the inevitable appearance of the Abomnable Snowman, who she is no great fan of.

PapaBam and Lilli will head back to Chicago tomorrow, with full bellies and hopefully having had a great trip. I've loved having them here, and I appreciated that they let me have space to take this vacation weekend as decompression therapy. I'm really starting to feel leveled, which is nice. I'm feeling a bit bad about my B-Day proper, where I feel like I was still in high-stress mode, and maybe didn't loosen up to celebrate properly. I think that if given a do-over today, I would definitely loosen the tie and have some more giggles.

And now, it's late and I'm off to bed!

Sweet Downtime

It's only Friday and it feels like a Sunday. I took off a little early on Wednesday to get a little rest in before my Birthday festivities (dinner at Oceanaire - nothing can compare!). Thursday was pure mayhem from start to finish - we had sort of forgotten to pre-make any of the thanksgiving food, so we made it ALL happen just like THAT.

It was a good group last night: Carrie and Scott and Freddie, and a swedish family who didn't know what all the fuss was about... so we showed them! Plus Papa and Bam and Lilli, who is such a big girl now our minds are all blown. The Turkey was perfect, as was the stuffing and potatoes. Other things that I don't like to eat were also reported to be fantastic, but I cannot vouch for their excellence directly.

The swedes brought a pair of little girls, and Bella, Sara, and Lisa (ages 3-5) were a pack of nordic blondies running around giggling all night. We got some footage of a dance party (Dancing Queen, of course).

Today was much mellower - Bella and I went off to Body Jam again (she really loves it!), and enjoyed quiche afterwards at Patrick's. All evening, Bella amused and tormented us by singing some of the Body Jam cues (Paaah-puh-PAAAH-PAAAH). She also got a t-shirt, and was very very proud. Pamela, having done a bravura performance the day before, konked out on the couch for a well deserved day of rest, after working with Bam to somehow completely clean the house.

I've been working on the BrainReady worksheets - the book is almost complete... Things keep going well with that: We are getting over 2000 readers a day, and our podcast is in the top 20 of iTunes now. We are getting some wonderful emails too. Here's a sample:

"Hi to the folks and Brainready.com. I think you are great and I have already begun passing your site on to family and friends and even business contacts.
I work with folks in the beginning stages of Dementia and Alzheimer's creating video documentaries of their lives. Your podcast, blogsite, and mental exercises are a wonderful contribution to my clients and their families who worry. Thank you so much for not only providing this info but doing it for free. May all your good come back to you 1000 times over."

When I read things like that, it really puts a spring into my step!

And I'm off for the evening. But I have TWO MORE DAYS off of work! I'm just awash in luxury right now. I can hardly believe how good this "relaxing" thing feels. I'll keep the posts-a-coming.

Family Fun

With Birthday Season well under way, we had a fun change from our typical "have a blow out in a restaurant" affair - we went to Dad and Karen's, and had the pleasant surprise of Steve and Lorna, good family friends to celebrate an evening with a fire, steaks, crab legs, key lime pie, coffee, and a touch of good port. It was very relaxed and we loved the evening!

During the day Saturday, we were out most of it, seeing Santa's arrival at Bachman's: He was drawn by a sole reindeer, but it was dramatic. Then his annual comedy show, and pictures with the kids. As usual, Bella refused to smile with him, so the pictures had the look of duty more than joy, but they'll do the trick!

Afterwards, I was off to "Body Jam", which is an aerobic workout with dancing rather than working a step. THIS is what I was going off to when I got the call about Isaac, and I hadn't made it to a Jam session since... (Side note - for 3 weeks now I HAVE been back on the exercise wagon, going 2-3 times a week to my weights class - and I feel GREAT). Back to Jam. Around 1/4 of the way into it, Pamela and the kids showed up to watch daddy prance and crump... and within minutes, Bella joined me out on the floor. She was watching the instructor intently, and really working on her dance moves. She approached it very seriously, and she was actually pretty darn good at it. So now I'm thinking she can join me for Jam every week... perhaps?

Today, Bella and I had a date to go see Happy Feet. What a great movie. The trailers made it look like "Cute Robin Williams Penguin Movie", but really it was so much better: Tapping by Savion Glover, and a really good ecological message... and boy, I'm going to have a hard time going to a zoo ever again. Made by the same guy who did Babe, which had it's own subversive messages, this one takes stabs at religious orthodoxy too, and hugo weaving was spectacular as the penguin "pope".

Allright, a quick update, but I have to go clean the house - we have guests coming this week: Papabam and Lilli arrive Tuesday for the holidays!

A week already?

Yes I'm still alive. Unfortunately, work is being very busy again for me (the slowdown was much less than imagined), and when I get home, it's one kid or the other... and when I help put Bella to sleep, more often than not, I'm falling asleep too for an hour or two..

So the upshot is: Yes, we're ok, we're happy, we're healthy. But we're not good for much else outside of the home - I know I've missed some events and I feel bad, but only for a moment, because my little boy laughs with me every night, and somehow that's feeling like a priority. So to those of you who have felt snubbed - I am very sorry - and I'll try harder! Really!

My slow re-entry into the normal life will continue and I'll keep you updated.

Wednesday

First off... let me just say WHEEEEEEE what a great day after the election! I'm very excited to see the what's going to happen with some real checks and balances back in place in government. I'm a little sleepy from watching the races all night... but it's a happy tired.

Moving on...

Today while watching Oprah with Mommy, Bella asked "Why is she always talking to people she doesn't even KNOW?" Good question.

Pamela called me at work today announcing she was getting sick, so I rushed home and took the kids while she napped. We had a great evening out, going to the burrito store, grocery store.... but NOT the Apple Store nor Guitar Center today. I still haven't figured out the Isaac dimension for those two.

We got a new stroller today - which was only a few days too late: On Friday, I had taken the kids out for the afternoon, and almost broke my arms clear off holding Bella AND the baby seat with jumbo Isaac. At the end of the day, I was pushing Bella in a stroller while toting Isaac on the arm... it was a good workout I guess.

The new stroller is a double, with room for two kids strapped in, or one kid and one car seat. It collapses and sets up very easily, and feels very solidly built. So we took it for a test drive tonight - it did well through Babies R Us and Best Buy. Bella wanted me to bring it into the grocery store, but I tried to explain how I would also need to push the cart. Bella offered that she could sit in the front of the stroller and push the cart for me. What a train that would be.

Finally, the shoe finally dropped at my work: one of my team members was let go. She was the kind of person who worked 70 hours a week, but could never tell you when something was going to be done. We had really hoped that things would work out, but when we went live, her part of the application was revealed to have been rather poorly built in the financial area, and 3 weeks later there are still charges that haven't posted, and the CFO is hopping mad. It didn't help when he came to a meeting and asked WHEN things would get better, and she wouldn't commit to a date.

So she's officially pursuing other opportunities, which I believe means she was cashed out of 3 months of PTO and given 3 more months of severance... and we'll just have to go from there.

And now it's back to my brainflexes - I need to get caught up, after this election mayhem!

In the sweatshop

I now have a system for making Brainready Worksheets - several at a time. The goal is to have 28 ready for publication in an actual BOOK pretty soon... I'm having a lot of fun. There are 9 on the website now, 11 in the hopper, and I'm working on the final 8. Then I need to reformat them to greyscale, remove the color-based puzzles, add a new puzzle for the back (since a book of them doesn't need the intro to Brainready on every page), create an introduction and some tips for getting the most out of it, design a cover... hey that sounds like work. But FUN work, and I think the proof will be together within 2 weeks.

Tonight, I put some GEEK terms in for the vocabulary on one sheet - and one of the terms is "1337", which is number-speak for LEET, short for "Elite", which then means "Cool" or "Superior" in geek parlance. I bring this up because I went the grocery store to stock up on some supplies and was near ecstatic when my total was $133.37, and I exclaimed "I'm LEEEET!" The cashier sort of raised her eyebrows, which naturally I took as an opening to explain the whole thing. I don't think she was terribly impressed, but the bag boy gave me a knowing nod... he knew I was 1337. Or 13337.

I only wish my wife could have been there to see the geekiness first hand.

Tonight, as I'm working on my worksheets, I have Isaac on the swing before me, where he has alternated between gazing at me, smiling and cooing, nodding off, and doing a crazy fish thrashing move which seems to indicate "DAD, Look at my neck muscles - NEVER leave me alone on a changing table because I will TOTALLY somersault off." He's also enjoying standing up... With all his verbal cooing and physical ability, I'm afraid he's going to be walking by 4 months and joining debates by 6.

Still, it's just wonderful to be sitting here working on puzzles to help stimulate the brain with an audience... whose brain I can only wonder and marvel at.

Finally, we're going to get a visit from Justin the ex-Manny this week, to allow Pamela and I go see Borat and get some dinner... I just cannot wait!!!

Back to the digital sweatshop now - must make more brain exercises!

Clown Family

We have Jenny here again for an overnight - Once a month, Jenny stays here, and Bella stays there. They're having a wonderful time together.

Today as we were driving home (Jenny, Bella, and I) from a birthday party at a roller rink, Bella was telling Jenny a joke and I was laughing... Bella said "no listening - I'm talking to JENNY!!!!" and I covered saying "Oh, I'm just laughing at something else." Suspicious, Bella demanded to know WHAT I was laughing at then... I said "I just saw a clown driving a car".

Bella reflected for a moment and asked "What if WE were clowns? All of us? Isaac could be Baby Clown, I could be Big Sister Clown, Jenny could be Other Big Sister Clown, you could be Daddy Clown, and Mommy would be Mommy Clown!!!!"

I laughed at the idea, especially considering Pamela's morbid fear of clowns.

Bella paused and said "Hey - we already ARE a clown family. I mean, we ARE pretty funny".

We had the first of the November Birthday Dinners at El Meson in Minneapolis, an Iberian/Carribean restaurant. We had Paella, and many other delicious things, including the best Flan I've had ever. Bella and Jenny were in tow, and were PERFECT restaurant girls. There was a guitar and conga combo playing behind us, and Bella was quite fascinated: When we go to the music store (Guitar Center), she always loves playing the Congas, so she really was watching the man playing that wonderful hand drum. Isaac was pretty good, but got into his 7pm Cranky Phase.. we had to do some bouncing to help him chill.

Everyone's asleep in the house but me now. Isaac passed out on my chest after a baba, burp, poop, baba, and burp as Pamela put the overtired girls to bed, then herself. Now I'm going to finish a few more BrainFlexes!

A Brainready Update

Ok - so you know that little website project I'm working on with Paul - the brain training exercises with the podcasts and worksheets? Well, we have 3 podcasts out there now, and 9 worksheets, and a bunch of health updates in the "Blog" section, so go check it out at www.brainready.com if you want.

But what's cool is this: It's getting popular. We're getting over 1000 hits a day, and it's not all from robots. We have several hundred people getting the emails now, and our Podcasts have been downloaded 15,000 times. It was just picked by Apple as a featured podcast and put on a feature page...

We also have some "fans" who are spreading the word to other sites, like EONS.com (which is like a Myspace for silver foxes) and others. We're starting to get partners, like ZenMatcha and some others in the works...

So for all of the plotting and planning, it turns out that this little project that Paul and I did just because we had an INTEREST in the subject matter, but without a grand business plan is looking to be taking off all by itself. It's really remarkable.

My next step is to work on a few more Brainflex worksheets and we'll be assembling a book for purchase of them - sort of a go-anywhere product. That'll be ready by Xmas for sure if not sooner (I have a "system" for making these now... I can do 2-3 a day without hurting my mind!)

Anyway, I'm just glad that my work has started to ease up so that I can really jump in and make this crazy thing WORK! Wish me luck, people. Oh, and Paul and I are keeping our day jobs - this is still for love... we put some ads on the site, and maybe we'll make something on the books, but for now, it's two geeks sharing our love of knowledge with the world.

Recovery

1) My Macbook got it's fresh hard drive, and all has been recovered. It's working like a champ, and it's good to have my buddy back.

2) We've attacked the clothes piles upstairs, and I believe we're now winning the battle against laundry. Adding in one more set of jammies wasn't the problem, it was all of the blankets and towels we're blazing through with little mister mcspitty. Also, in the past weeks, we've sort of deferred some of the clothes "filing" so there were a couple of outposts of not put away things... but we've caught up!!!

Vigilance must be our watchword going forward, never let our guards down.

3) Isaac again proved a champion sleeper - over 6 hours last night! What a guy! Tonight as I bounced him to sleep on my lap, he held onto my fingers as he drifted off, and it was actually pretty hard to pry his little grip off! Not that I really wanted to - he's just soooo sweet. We tried to move him to a different bottle today - but he's not as "effective" with it, and he got pretty frustrated. We'll need to keep trying, however, since what he LOVES are the sample nipples we got from the hospital which were supposed to be disposable, use once, and I cannot find them in the wild!

4) If all goes according to plan, I hope to be working out again tomorrow - assuming they haven't canceled the 6am Mon-Thurs class, I'll BE THERE! It's been over 5 weeks... alas...

5) I got to be solo daddo for a few hours today with Squirmy (or "Squrims" as Bella calls him), and I have to say I'm amazed that Pamela was able to get ANYTHING done in the past month - he just occupies your attention, and time passes, and I imagine adding Bella into that mix, and I have a true appreciation for what an amazing job Pamela did in keeping our life together with the kids, and the big illness a couple of weeks back, AND my crazy work life in the past 2 months... I can only hope that with things slowing back down I can really give her some breaks and pay her back for the great work she's been doing!!!!

Time for bed!