Pleased to Meet You...

Hi! I’m Jim and this is my Blog “JimVentions”. Please welcome me back to the real world.

As you may have noticed, I’ve been somewhat focused on my work in the past few months. I’m pleased to announce that the impossible job I was handled was put into production a week and a half ago, and it seems to be going relatively well. Yes, we’ve had some problems, but nothing unrecoverable, and in general it looks like the organization sees this as a “success”.

My hours are starting to go back down to earth: by Friday I was back to 9 hours, and no midnight shifts are in sight. I had a meeting in which we were talking about what’s coming up in the next few months… and it was refreshing to start being planful again, to get out of the “Now Crisis”.

All indicators are I’ll be at this client to help with more work well into 2007: I’ve got very nice notes from VPs and the CIO thanking me for pulling this all together. And I am still sorting out exactly HOW I did it, but somehow I did get all those people moving in the right direction, movitated and believing they could make this deadline.





So I think life is starting to come back down to normal, which I need, Pamela needs, and Bella and Isaac need.

So look for more of the classic Jimmy stuff to come again in the next few weeks – lots of cute Bella and Isaac stories, more crazy schemes, more Language adventures, and more nerd-tasy.

Also, please do enjoy these fine pictures of my lovely family. My job in the next week is to get a picture of Isaac where he doesn’t look goggle-eyed and stupefied. He really does smile and laugh and coo – he’s a wonderful boy. He makes me smile and sing.

And yes, TODAY is Zero-Day: On Monday they’ll check with the courts to see if any unexpected challenges have been filed prior to today, and barring that VERY unlikely event, Isaac is officially a Balabuszko-Reay (after the formality of a court appearance sometime in the next 2 months).

I can’t help but update that things with Brainready.com are going very well too: We have over a hundred interested readers, people like the puzzles and the podcasts, and we’re starting to get some advertisers together (we may have a green tea partnership firing up….). Crazily, Brainready really does look like something could happen with it, and if I hadn’t been so completely swamped, I think I would have been crowing about it a bit more.

And that’s the update tonight! It’s good to be back!

Mad as heck

Somebody egged the Mini last night. Of course I didn't figure it out until I got to work, so I drove to a gas station and used their "mystery blue fluid" to clean it up... and it may still have some on it...

What a terrible way to start the day. GRRRRRRRR.

Still Alive...

Sorry about the no-posting: It's been a very busy week. The golive is still going well, though not without it's bumps... but in all much better than could have been reasonably expected in the shaky run-up. But it's been taking 12 hour days, and by the time I get home, I need to spend a lot of time with the family to recharge.

I'm thinking this schedule will start to ramp down by the weekend, and I'll have fun stories and (more importantly for some of you) more pictures!

Thanks for your patience and support!

Silent Night...

All's quiet here on the go-live front. No major issues, the phones aren't ringing... It's going well.

Yesterday, as I took my two hour nap prior to the all-nighter, I had a very vivid visualization of what would happen if gravity stopped working in the command center. I saw all the loose papers, pens, computers all drifting, and then I grew nervous about the file cabinets. I resolved to steer clear of those in case gravity came back on... Then I got to thinking, how long after gravity stopped working would you continue to brace yourself for it coming back on - 5 min? 30 min? When would you let your guard down, and possibly fall in an unpleasant manner?

These are important things to consider. Of course, then I started wondering just how gravity would get turned off, and the most obvious solution is that the hospital would be hurtling through space, which got me thinking about how airtight the facility really is, and if the lack of gravity would really be noticed if there was no air. VERY important. So welcome to my mind I suppose.

Time for a BellaQuote:
She visited the doctor and got some DumDum lollipops for her treat. She unwrapped one and announced it's "Can Flavored". We looked at the wrapper, and it was a barrel - Rootbeer flavor.

She unwrapped another an announced it was "Think Flavored". Puzzled, we looked at the wrapper: It was the "mystery flavor", and it had question marks all over it. She pointed to the question marks and said, "See? THINK flavor".

She's back to full health (as am I), and she's sleeping through the night again... it's great to have my girl back!

The world did not end, apparently

From my early AM dispatch yesterday, things went from bad to worse, then better, then worse, then pretty good. People were being pretty good and working together well... and by 9am we had most of the critical issues well in hand. I wrote up status reports, padded around the floors, and generally tried to be useful... but by 11am, it was clear I was getting fried (that two hour nap didn't quite do the trick of a full night's sleep). I was in slightly better shape than my counterpart, who worked the same shift but did NOT take an early evening break... zombie!

So I got sent home, and I took a 5 hour nap in the afternoon, to get myself ready for another shift tonight from 10pm to noon. After tonight, I'll move to day shifts for the weekend... yep, no weekend for me! This is what we've been working for, the crunch is inevitable, and must simple be endured.

The 75 tubs of Donut Holes fit handily in the mini - I could have maybe fit 25 more for a good 100.

Since 5:30, I've been up and playing with Isaac and Bella, and it's been wonderfully recharging - they definitely help me remember what the big priorities in life are!

Dispatch from the Command Center

This is what we've been waiting for.

It's 1:45am, and we're going live with the big project. Issues, of course. The hospital has their largest census of the year, a full surgery schedule starting at 5am, and a full Emergency Room. We were only planning to go down for an hour to convert, but have been down for two and a half. We just made the call to bring everything up for in-house patients, but our interfaces are still down, so any transfers or new admissions will not appear in the pharmacy or lab systems...

One key team member gave her two week notice today, another got into a screaming/crying match with her team. Everyone's got glassy eyes, but improbably, spirits are high... We'll see how things go by 5am.

The phones are ringing off the hook!!!!

I worked the full day, crept home, played with Bella and Isaac, had dinner, then a two hour nap, before showering, caffeinating, and now I'll be here until the afternoon.

I'm off at 5am to pick up 75 buckets of donut holes for the departments... I need to get a picture of the Mini full of donuts!

And now I need to go chase down more issues.

Birthday Girl

Bella finally turned FOUR this weekend, and the celebratin' was out of HAND. From presents in the morning on Saturday, to a party with 17 friends on Sunday, to family over tonight, the people have been parading to see Bella.

Which makes it pretty sad how under the weather she remains. While the cold has finally left her, she remains a bit bedraggled and low-energy. Last night, she got her best night of sleep yet - and still had two hours of fitfulness. As a change, while the previous nights she woke screaming about being scared and her head hurting, last night she awoke screaming about needing certain toys she had got for her birthday to be brought into bed with her. Tonight, as I put her to sleep, she had a dozen dogs and cats arrayed on her pillow, with her in the middle, with a sleepy smile. Perhaps tonight will be a better night.

Tonight Isaac seems to have discovered some new gas pain, because he's letting us have it with some worldly complaints. Still, I got some good cuddletime in.

Sunday, Bella had a party at an indoor gym called "JW Tumbles" - it was a two hour party with two young ladies who led the festivities. They started by letting the kids run around in the gym, doing the climbing wall, bounding on trampolines, rolling on mats, etc etc etc. They'd break it up with getting the kids together for activities, like an obstacle course, and Limbo, and singing... They were GREAT at keeping 18 kids from 2-8 going - there were no fights, no whining, just a great time had by all. BEST party we've thrown in a while, and we didn't have to do very much!

This is the big week at work, and we're all steeling for it: Go-Live is Wednesday, and I'm looking at meetings from 8am-4pm, then the whole golive sequence starts up at 10pm.... through to morning, to a 7am meeting for status, and so on through the weekend. Fortunately I get to wear a jumpsuit made of the same futuristic material as the uniforms on Star Trek and will not stink after all of that time.

Say, it's the year 2006 - where IS my jumpsuit? And my food pills and flying car? I feel VERY let down by this future, as much fun as the internet is.

Anything else? Hmmm.... Nope - I think I'll grab my sleep where I can!

The party animal

I've got to get better sleep. Last night I woke up and was convinced that somehow Isaac had wound up in bed with us, and I needed to get him back into his Bassinet. I got up and started to wrap him up in a blanket when he moved up and over Pamela's chest... which shouldn't have been possible. Except for one fact. I was ACTUALLY trying to put Pamela's ELBOW into the bassinet. Good old sleep deprivation hallucinations!

No illusion here, Isaac is a VERY alert young guy. He really likes being awake and loves stimulus. Cuddles, talking, rocking, you name it. Just last night, we discovered that at two weeks, we could shake a rattle to the left, and he'd look left, shake it to the right of him, and he'd look right.

Tonight I was wagging my fingers and moving my hand slowly across his field of vision, and he was tracking it like a hawk.

It's just remarkable to see these stages of development! He's just outgrown his tiny "going home" outfit. Fortunately, we were gifted a larger size as well, and since it's covered in rocket ships, saucers, and planets, I'm relieved.

We have a new name for him: Babatron2006 - the guy can DEMOLIST bottles. Especially since we switched him to a low-lactose formula...

Papabam are here for a visit, and we're having a lot of fun - Isaac's room will be painted this weekend with a space/robots theme of course. But recall that the last time Papa painted a room for a baby, we moved not 6 months later. We're not moving this time.

Finally, I should just mention to my loyal fans: NO I have not done any language ANYTHING since this little guy showed up. The brainspace just isn't there yet. Also, I have not worked out... which does make me sad. On the other hand, i'm inclined to cut myself a LITTLE slack since I'm working 50 hour weeks, just had a horrible multi-day cold, Bella's still sick, and a little creature called Isaac in the house. ;->

Quick - the boss isn't looking

An unprecedented at-work update for today.


First, a Bella quote: Holding a magnet, she said "DAD, this it totally MAGNETIVE. It can stick to the fridge. Look. MagNETive." I'm not sure how she made that up, but it just sounds so cool.

Also, here's a picture of Bella, lest you think that all I talk about is Isaac.


On the subject of the little guy: He's two weeks old today! He went to the doctor yesterday, and has BALLOONED up from 6lbs6oz when we brought him home to 7lbs12oz. He's packing it away. The doctor looked at his bellybutton and his willy and declared he's healed enough for a full BATH.

So he got a bath. Here's the evidence.

I'm much better from my cold, but Bella has it pretty bad. She napped much of yesterday, and needed cuddles all night again. Isaac on the other hand is a PARTY ANIMAL: He was up for over 8 hours straight yesterday afternoon, demanding playtime. He did sleep VERY well, however.

And that's the quick at-work update for the day.

The cold from....

Monday morning I woke up not feeling 100%, but made it off to work anyway. By 10, it was clear that I was NOT in good shape, so I fled for home and dove under the covers. I had... a COLD.

Last night, Pamela encouraged me to take the 3rd floor bedroom, so I could be well rested for today. So I did, but rest was not in the cards. Bella had gone to sleep around 8pm, but woke up around midnight crying for mommy. As the 3rd floor bedroom is right above Bella's room, I got to hear it all.

At 3, I got a call to come downstairs, Bella needed someone to cuddle and Isaac was hungry. So I climbed into Bella's bed, and noticed that she was not actually falling asleep - for a good half hour, she was just lying there semi-awake. Her breathing never lapsed into that good sleep sound. Sure enough, after that half hour, she started crying for Mom, not me.

I trudged back upstairs, and heard Bella wake up every half hour or so all night. When my alarm went off at 6:30, I came down to find Bella in bed with Mom, but still not fully asleep. Isaac was hungry, so I took care of him. Around this time, I realized that my cold was in no way better, in fact worse. So after packing a few ounces into Isaac, I called in sick.

Both Pamela and Bella looked like sleepy zombies this morning, and I did what I could to help out... before passing out for the rest of the day. Now Pamela and Bella are taking a good nap, I'm puttering around a little bit, feeling a TOUCH better, Isaac has a full tummy again.

Hopefully we'll be back on an even keel by tomorrow (and hopefully Pamela will not get this cold - it is EVIL). I need my health back to prepare for the big golive in just 8 days at work!!!!

Also, with BrainReady launching, I need to do more worksheets for the people! Apparently there are people signing up who we do not know... it's getting out there beyond out immediate sphere! How cool!!!!

Sunday Morning

An update to last night's multi-post.

Pamela's party roared until after 1, and she crawled into bed around 2 (after taking Kari back to her hotel). I took all of the night feeding shifts to help her recover, and she was up and at'em by 9 today.

Of course, Bella and Isaac and I were up and at'em around 7:30. ;->

Details: Isaac is starting to fill out and is taking a lot more bottle: While even Tuesday, he was an ounce-per-feeding, he's up to 3.5 per feeding now! He's grown very intolerant of even a slightly wet diaper, but I would not call him a fussy baby. In fact, he's remarkably easy going... lots of smiles, likes to be held by just about anyone, and only cries if he's gassy or hungry. Otherwise, he's a little owl baby, looking around with wide eyed wonder at the large, luminous shapes that seem to surround him.

One thing I love is that he throws his arms around like an orchestra conductor - I started singing "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's 9th, and he was waving them around and had a very serious, Maestro-esque look on his face. I'm thinking there's a chance that the spirit of Herbert Von Karajan may have landed in this one.

As we were walking around yesterday, Tyler was enjoying carrying Isaac in a sling. As he was waiting for us near a door, a pair of pinched ladies walked by, and asked rather horrified "is that YOURS young man?" Ty (14) took it well, but was pretty taken aback by their tone... Takes all kinds I guess.

And now that little Ike is stirring and seems intent on demolishing another bottle, so off I go!

Busy Busy Bones

Sorry about the long delay in posting an update. You may have heard about the business of late in our house... Here's a bunch of stuff:

1) Bella has been adjusting better and better - she's still pretty defiant, but the last few nights have gone much smoother, and she's spending more time being a sweet older sister than a competing baby. We're so proud of her, and of course we know there'll be continued adjustments. But we're here for her.

1a) In the surreal category: Bella said "I'm going to UPLOAD my boots... with FEET!" She'll be a nerd allright.

2) Bella and I had a burrito date the other night, and we met Nick (Soopahman, uncle chicken) out at Guitar Center. This evening Bella played drums very well, watched Nick pound the skins like the pro he is, played keyboards very nicely with both hands going up and down the keys, AND decided to start holding and playing guitars - right now a very rough strum and no fretting, but she was VERY into it. So I think our little instrument are needs a little guitar too!

3) Pamela's actual 40th was a rough day - I had to work from 7 to 7, and it had been a rough night before, so we were a little comatose. I promised to make the weekend better... so...

4) Today we celebrated with Carrie, Scott, Grandma and Grandpa at Ike's for brunch, where we decided that if we NEEDED a one-syllable nickname for Isaac, it could be Ike. We have that out to a committee right now. When we got home, we got a surprise visit from Kari, Rick, Bailey and Ty from Chicago - they came up for 1 day to meet Isaac and celebrate Pamela's B-Day. Pamela was so amazed, she LEPT from her chair, ran to the back of the room with her hands over her mouth, then ran forward to hug everyone, crying with joy. It was a great surprise (that I helped coordinate), and we had a great day with them, running around St Paul, eating well, visiting my old College, Macalester, and enjoying the colors of fall.

5) Right now, Pamela is downstairs with bottles of Veuve Cliquot, two cakes from Caffe Latte, assorted truffles, and 10 good friends who are feting her properly, while I am taking care of the critters. Bella went down an hour back, Isaac is settling down after another bottle. I'm doing laundry, folding clothes, and generally being helpful.

6) Work is crazy, and will only get more so until November. That's all I have to say about that.

7) I'm hearing nice things from people about the BrainReady concept. Thank you all for checking it out!

Different with a Boy

The night wasn't too long: Pamela took the 1 and 3am feedings, I took the 5:30, and stayed up to go to work. The good news is that Isaac is taking his bottle much better - making up for lost time with 2-4 ounce feedings, punctuated with lots of napping. There is no bad news.

We had some mystery soakings: dry diaper with a soaking wet armpit and sleeper somehow? Our neighbor Gwen solved the mystery: You need to position the willy when doing the diapers. AHA! A little different than Bella.

We went to the lawyer's today, and got things going for the formalities... it's sounding like the legal bit will be over relatively soon, but we still need to wait out the 31 day window no matter what. So help us count to Oct 21st, won't you?

Bella remains with Grandma - by her choice! She's having a blast "on vacation" with the Grandparents, and we'll get her back tomorrow...

The neighbors are parading through, all very excited! And people at work were beside themselves, looking at the pictures and hearing the stories... People they do love the babies.

I can't blame anyone for thinking BrainReady isn't as exciting as a little baby and all... ;->

BrainReady

Isaac's not the only thing happening these days. I was hinting a few weeks back about a project Paul and I have cooking.

It's ready.

www.brainready.com is the link. It's a cooperative effort: The total concept is both of us, but I make the BrainFlex worksheets, and Paul does the Podcasts.

Just check it out and let me know what you think!

Isaac Nikolai Aleksei

That's his name! Here's the breakdown:

Isaac is for Asimov (Genius), Hayes (Soul), and Mizrahi (Taste and Sass).
- Isaac Asimov was a famous science fiction author in the 20th century, very prolific and renowned for his mensa-qualifying intellect.
- Isaac Hayes wrote the theme from Shaft, and many other funk opuses in the 1970s. His 1990s detour as the voice of Chef in South Park and his conversion to Scientology are hopefully not indicators of future paths for our Isaac.
- Isaac Mizrahi is a clothing designer and talk show host, who is very sassy and stylish. His sass rarely goes to the side of mean...

Nikolai: A double on this. First off, Nick has always been a favorite name of mine, much as Isabella was an "always favorite" of Pamela's. Secondly, Bella's Uncle Chicken (aka Soo-pah-man, aka Nick) is a good friend and a surrogate member of the family, so he's a good person to be named after.

Aleksei: This is a nod to his older brother Alexander, who passed away in 2000.

Today has been a whirlwind: The night was punctuated at 2 hour intervals by mister squawker... It was easy to fall back into the habit. Bella woke up this morning and was very annoyed that we had moved Isaac back into our room for the night. She wheeled the bassinet back into her room and slammed our door.

Pamela and Bella went off to church this morning, and spent some one-on-one time. When they returned, Auntie Carrie was visiting... then Anne and JeMae and Jenny came by, and Bella got VERY envious of the attention her best friend was giving to Isaac, and we had a full blown regression - baby talk and pouting. That eventually blew over and the girls were able to play for a while. Bella really is being a good sport, but this is bound to be hard!

Bella is back with Grandma and Grandpa for the night, who will take her to school tomorrow, mostly so that we can get in to see the lawyers right away and not have to worry about finding things to do with Bella.

I did send the notice out to my coworkers... and one wrote back with a cute bit of verse incorporating all of our project phases into the rhyme! Alas, with only 18 days to go before we go live, and up to two weeks of 24-hour support after that, I will not be able to take a whole lot of time off... we'll be counting on our family and neighbors to help us make it through!

In all, day two with Isaac is going very well: Right now, we have no visitors, Bella is off with grandma, Pamela and Isaac are having a nap on the couch, and all seems right in the world.

It's a boy!

As you know, our little Isabella came to us via Adoption some four years ago. Last October, Pamela and I finally got our act together to get "back in the book" to be eligible. No nibbles for 11 months, and we started getting ready to re-up our adoption eligibility for another year.

Thursday AM, I packed Pamela off to a spa in Arizona. Thursday NIGHT, I got a call: A baby had been born, the birthmom had picked US from the Adoption book, and are we interested? Several hours of panicked attempts to reach Pamela ensued. She was enjoying the desert, the dinner, the skies... her Cellphone didn't work out there, and she hadn't been to her room... Finally at 10:15, she called, and we decided to move forward.

Friday we got a little more information: a boy, 6lbs 9oz, 20" long, healthy, mixed race (1/4 african american, 3/4 caucasian). The mom is 18, and is VERY firm that adoption is what she wants. Both Pamela and I spoke with the Birthmom, and she was very sweet. By Friday night, we knew this was going to happen.

Today, Pamela got an early flight (3 days early)... Northwest was relatively helpful in rebooking her. The Spa was wonderful - they let Pamela out of her reservation without any penalty and heartily wished her luck.



Pamela wasn't due to get home until 5pm, and discharge was NOON today. Fortunately, Isabella was with Grampette, and Dad came with me, chauffeuring the Jag. We picked him up in the same room of the same hospital we got Isabella at almost 4 years earlier. While I waited for Pamela's flight to arrive, people came and visited us, and I had a very nice hour of napping with him on my chest - it was like a dream.

When Pamela and Bella came home, I got to see BOTH of their reactions at once, and it was fantastic! Bella took to the boy immediately, insisting on holding and feeding him, she pushed his bassinet into her room, and kept watch on him until her eyelids finally gave way to gravity. I think she is really loving this. Pamela has now taken the boy on her lap as she calls friends and family.

We don't have a name for him yet, but we're working on it. And given the way adoption works, there is some risk for 1-2 months where the birthparents can change their minds, but after we weather that, it'll be totally done. For that reason, we're not saying that this boy is a "baby brother" to Bella: We're saying that we're "babysitting" until things get finalized.

So that's what I've been up to this weekend!

Oof... crazy buffet.

I can't say what has possessed me, but I have now gone to CRAZY BUFFET three times in a row. Day one, it was me checking it out. Day two, we had 45 minutes to eat, and I brought one co-worker. Mongolian BBQ loaded with Peapods and Broccoli. Day three, we had 40 min to eat, and I brought two more. Day three I did not get the Mongolian BBQ.

I do not believe I will be going to CRAZY BUFFET tomorrow.

Pamela's iMac has AGAIN died: This is just a terrible computer, and I have vowed that this machine will not grace our counter again. This is its fourth death (third related to hardware), and horribly atypical of my Apple customer experience. It's 2.5 years old now... but come ON. Fortunately, after my experience back in June, I've been a total nut about backing up, so everything's there. I mean, I'm a total Apple evangelist, and this just irks me. When Pamela comes back, a different computer will be on her counter.

"Comes back?" you ask? Ah yes, Pamela is turning some special year next week, and to celebrate, I'm sending her off by herself to a spa in Arizona for 5 days. I used miles to get her there and back in first class (thank you flight attendants for NOT striking - I owe you one!)... And she'll have healthy activities and spa-liciousness to keep her occupied. I do NOT believe she will be attempting to learn any languages, nor any sudokus, nor crosswords.... we're just a little different.

I'm tapping into the wide area network to help with Bella, from neighbors and playdates to Grampette and overnights... and of course LOTS of one-on-one time with just the two of us. It'll be wonderful.

CRAZY BUFFET!

It's been a while since I've talked about food (forgetting for a minute my obsession with Egginahole). So here goes.

In the months I've been at my current client, I've had a hankering for chinese food which has gone unsated. There's a suspicious place 100 feet away called "Panda" which never seems open, and the one time I did see it open, there was a single grim man inside. Panda seems doomed, and I'm not the one to help them. Sorry Panda.

But with some interest, I saw a sign a few weeks back in a strip mall 5 min away from work: "CRAZY BUFFET COMING SOON!!!!" My mind danced with what this crazy buffet could possibly entail. Well, they opened, and let me tell you, it's crazy. CRAZY EXCELLENT.

Here's what you get: Mongolian BBQ (you pick the ingredients for stirfry basically), sushi, salad bar, authentic chinese food (Shu Mai, potstickers, ribs) thai food (coconut curry shrimp, chicken), american chinese food (general tsos, sesame chicken, mongolian beef, Dan noodles, etc), american food (corn on the cob, fried chicken, bbq ribs, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes), desserts (cream puffs, pie, jello cubes, fruit), beverages, ice cream.... and so much more. There were 6 hot steam tables, 2 cold, the BBQ stand, the freezer...

The place is HUGE and clean, the waitstaff all wear red imperial dragon brocade jackets and keep everything clean and fresh...

AND it all cost $6.70 with tax. COME ON PEOPLE. In was in and outta there in 30 minutes. And it was DELICIOUS - at least better than any of the chinese buffets I've been at recently. This stuff's not going to win any world records, but it's very passably good. My stir fry was loaded with peapods, and the sauteed green beans were dee-lish too (yes, I did try to eat somewhat "well" there).

I know this is the new "fad" in chinese food eateries - there are a few others in town (China Moon is one), and I know they're in other cities too... but there is only one CRAZY BUFFET, and it is MY CRAZY BUFFET.

Sunday Updates

1) As we were driving to Grandpa's house this morning, Bella saw a sidewalk all ripped up, and said - "uh oh: Sidewalk Closed" I asked her how she knew, and she said "It says it on that sign there". I looked over, and sure enough, a big orange sign saying "Sidewalk Closed". "Did you READ that?" I asked....

"Yes... you know I CAN read SOME things, Daddo. I can read books to Jenny too." Remember, not yet 4 years old, this girl.

Grampette was noticing that she's already moving to the top level of a memory/matching game she bought(3 levels provided, intended for up to age 6, and she's now bored with level 2). She's sort of alarming me... in a good way.

2) This morning, I did another Egg-in-the-Hole experiment: Olive Oil, not butter or bacon fat... and it was wonderful. And it didn't taste nearly as heavy/evil. Bella asked for a bite, then had me make HER one, which she ate almost all of. She really liked it!

Tuning the recipe: I think I need thinner bread (I'm using thick english muffin toast) because it's hard to get the center solid without burning the bread... The experiment continues.

3) My work is sadly invading my dreams. My reassuring green LED from the smoke detector has turned into an automated testing planning device, which grills me on exactly what order things need to be done in for my project. Bella cried out in the middle of the night, and in my dream, it was my security coordinator asking me for user lists and passwords. I'm not sure if Pamela heard me say "can't this wait until the morning, Julie?" The other night I woke up convinced I had dozed off at my desk and was getting out of bed to get to my meeting... when Pamela woke me up and reminded me it was 2 AM.

4) This is the week Pamela goes off to her Spa weekend for her (mumblemumble)ieth birthday... And we have fully synchronized schedules between my work and Bella's classes... And out of it I get a night off/out too, so here's hoping there's another "LDG" evening (The League of Distinguished Gentlemen).

Islands of sanity

Right away this week, it's been 10-12 hour days with my golive still on-target for 10/12. The mini joys and defeats are all blurring into a manic buzz, and I'm finding myself just tapped.... but I'm trying to find time. I've almost blogged little frustrations from work, and honestly, they come and go too quickly...

One thing that IS important: When I leave too early, I don't see Bella, because her mom is teaching her the fine art of sleeping in. On those days, i must come home at dinnertime, and I want to put her to bed. When I leave LATE, and have my breakfast with Bella, I can work a little longer into the evening if needed.

Today was an early day: I got up before 5 so I could work out (because exercise is also keeping me sane), and got home at 6pm... and Bella and I got a date night out: Burrito Store, Guitar Center, and Barnes and Noble. By Barnes, she just wanted me to carry her... and when we got home, she asked to go straight to bed, no stories please, just cuddles. It was a wonderful evening.

I'm trying to figure out what to do for Bella's music love: She said today she wants a keyboard, a drum set, and a guitar, and yes, she'll learn how to play them all. She's actually getting pretty decent on the drums at Guitar Center. I'm thinking perhaps a little Band Space in the basement, with keys, drums, and a guitar all at kid height, run through a little stereo (not too loud), and the neighborhook kids will all form a band! The guitar needs to be red or pink - that's for sure.

One final detail: As Pamela had been painting Bella's room, we had her moved into her old room... for the last 4-6 weeks. The goal was to keep her there until the room was totally done, so that Pamela could paint in the evenings. But for over 3 weeks, there hasn't been movement on that front, and tonight Bella in her sleepiness asked very nicely if she could please sleep in her big girl room because she's a big girl and she likes her room so much.... I couldn't say no.

I just need to figure out what to tell Pamela... ;->

That Additional Info

To make Egg in the Hole: Take a hot greased pan - buttered, or you can use SOME of the leftover grease from making bacon (not all of it for god's sake). Take a small juice glass and cut a circle out of the center of a piece of bread.

Put the bread into the pan. Then crack a single egg into the hole. Let firm up a bit and crisp (like a good grilled cheese), then flip the whole thing over.

The egg fills the hole and fuses with the bread. The whole thing is crisped up, and you can pick it up and nibble on it - no need to use a fork and knife!

Perhaps it could be done with olive oil? Bacon grease is probably a bit heavy.... but that's how Papa likes it, so i figured I'd try it.

And that's the detail I'm SURE you've all been clamoring for.

Egg in the hole...

It was another Jenny and Bella overnight last night, and the squirrels were again a pleasure to have together from 9am Saturday to 9am this morning. This time out, they were a little more "visible" than usual - we had to intervene a few times and lead activities. This may be because both of them started up their school this week, and may have been just a little tired out. Bella was playing "Baby" a lot, and horror of horrors, she found a secret Pacifier cache in the house, and was pacifier baby. I have no idea where those came from...!

Even though I was invited to another BodyJam practice session, my daddy skills were so much in demand that I DID NOT GO to the wonderfulness. If that can even be believed. (To be fair, I did get my weights workout in... this would have been extra. And at the morning workout, they put me front and center in class and really worked on my technique - I got a brutal workout! I told them I really don't like attention at all, and that I was very shy. RIGHT.)

Daddo and the squirrels went to the car wash, and to Petsmart (to look at adoptable kittens - breaking my heart - and get fish food, as well as advice as to why our black goldfish suddenly got religion and turned gold (the answer: "Dunno")). Then to Target's cafeteria for Mac and Cheese and Cinnabon pretzed... such horrible decadance. I think Pixy Stix are actually better for you than Cinnabon. But the girls loved it.

Pamela worked on flowers for Alexander for church (we do this yearly around this time), and we went to the sanctuary as she set it up: We played hide and seek in the pews for over an hour while Pamela arranged the flowers. Here's what she was doing -

An 8 foot rod, hanging horizontal around 10 feet up across the back of the stage. Divided into thirds - the right and left third are shades of blue and violet ribbon forming a cascade. The middle third has some blue ribbons, but it mostly made up of white ribbons with small vials tied into them at 9-12 inch intervals (staggered) and in each vial is a white flower (snapdragon or rose). It's like a techno flower waterfall. Simply the most innovative arrangement I've ever seen constructed.

Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory - We tried to eat well, I had grilled salmon, Pamela a salad, the girls split a pizza... And the Apple store had no 24" iMacs for me to drool at, alas. Off to bed, and the girls had a harder time than usual winding down, but were asleep by 9 nonetheless (as was Pamela!)

This morning, the girls slept in to 7:45 and demanded pancakes immediately. We obliged. I also made bacon and Egg in the Hole (or Eggie in the Basket as it was referred to in the movie "V for Vendetta") I've never had this dish, but Evie sure seemed to love it in the movie, so I wanted to try it. AND IT WAS DELICIOUS. But now I'm feeling very logy from all of the grease and need to relax for a little while. As I was eating the egg-toast treat I was stating proudly that "I'd never eat eggs any other way". I think I can back off of that statement now. "Egg in a Hole is a Sometimes Treat."

It's been a good weekend so far!

Movie Report

In my life, there have been a few movies that for one reason or another I have not been able to finish. Usually, it's been the third movie of a night and I'm just too tired...

Unlike many people, I don't take not finishing a movie lightly. My mom in law is a total movie sleeper. I can't even wonder what percentage of rented movies she can claim to recall the ending of. No, for me, a movie is a sacred trust: If they're going to make it, I'm going to watch it whatever it takes.

The following movies are my hall of shame:

- XTRO: The not-so-friendly extraterrestrial. Rented no fewer than 5 times before I actually saw the end of it. Oh god why did I even bother. Such a terrible Alien ripoff with hints of ET.

- Videodrome: Rented 4 times before I saw the end. That was actually pretty interesting.

- Scanners: Rented 3 times, have not seen the end, as far as I can recall.

- Crocodile Dundee: Rented once. Have not seen the end.

- Dream a Little Dream: Rented once. Gave it 20 minutes before the Coreys wore out their welcome.

- The Libertine: No guilt about this one. You read my review a few weeks back.

- THX1138: Tried twice back in the late 1980s. FINALLY watched the new re-release tonight and loved it. George Lucas actually CAN make a good movie.

And that's the story.

(PS - Pamela asked what movie I was watching: I said "THX1138". Without knowing what that was, she just said "that sounds like a movie I would not be interested in". She knows her taste, that lady. And she's right in this case. It it was about two robots in Victorian England who are afraid to show their emotions because they come from different social classes, with lots of dropping on cyber-hankerchiefs and techno-bustles, perhaps. But as for dystopian futuristic psychodramas, meh, not so much for the Pamela.)

Fragile Flower

Poor little Bella has had so much this week, she's been a bit bruised as a result:
- Lots of activity last weekend with PapaBam in town, lots of Freddie the Dog, and lots of Daddy being around.
- Then Tuesday, Daddy's back to work, Papabam are gone, and Jenny got sick...
- Wednesday she was under the weather herself, and stayed in her PJs the whole day!
- Thursday, she went to swimming (with a great new teacher) AND a new Spanish preschool class (with Mommy - we'll be a spanish speaking house soon enough!)
- Today, she had her first day of preschool. And when she walked in, her favorite spot on the carpet was taken, and she just stood and cried. But by the end of class, she was right back in the action!

The past few nights, with all of these changes, Bella has had a rough time going to sleep - she's been on her way down, and then wakes back up suddenly full of sadness and concerns: They changed the playground at school, replacing the rocks with a spongey surface and she misses the rocks. Georgie said something. Daddy wouldn't read a 5th book for bedtime. Mom didn't do something exactly right... all very dramatic and tragic stories, with whole body wracked sobbing.

And sadly, when she would rev up with her concerns, she'd demand Mommy to help her out - Daddo just wasn't cutting it. So the week was a little long for me too...

Today, as she played in the neighborhood, she pretended that the Arm Eating Monster had eaten her arms (as it is wont to do) - and she pulled her arms into her dress. Then she decided to run away from said monster (despite the fact it had got what it needed - her arms). Of course, she tripped on the driveway and fell straight down, unable to catch herself with her arms (which were trapped in her dress).

Not to worry, nothing broken, nothing chipped, nothing too scraped. But her forehead and nose got a bit scraped up. I'm calling her Rudolph the Red Nosed girl.

But tonight, she was all cuddles and ready to snuggle down to sleep with Daddo, and it was just wonderful. I'm looking forward to a fun weekend with my little Rudolph.

Back at it.

After a nice weekend, Papa and Bam are back in Chicago, driven this AM by their kind chauffeur (that would be me). I got to work around 7 and slogged through to 5:30 - the days are chock full of stuff to do every day, and I can't see it slowing down.

Had an odd thing: We were scrambling for a "freeze" on the 11th - get it done. That would give me two weeks to prep before we do the pre-release to limited users. But my math says we need less than a week for prep. So I figured I could do my freeze on the 18th, give my people one more week....

I wasn't sure if they were going to kill me or kiss me. I wonder if I shouldn't have just held that reveal off for a few more days... ah, it would have been 50-50 either way. No pleasing folks. Not insanely stressed folks who are running to a deadline i suppose.

Bella loved having so much attention this weekend - Papa and Bam were here, we saw auntie Carrie and Scott and Freddy the Dog, and others.... Last night, near bedtime, Bella said "I have an idea - let's go over to Auntie Carrie's house and see Freddy the Dog!". We said it was a bit late to be going out. She said "Ok, let's call Carrie and see if she can bring Freddy OVER right now!" She loves that Boston Terrier.

As we were bedding down, Bella said: Daddy, your whiskers are scratching my pillow". Yes, I said, they're definitely scratchy whiskers. "Like a CAT's whiskers" she said. "But Daddy, can you please NOT scratch my pillow with your whiskers?" Why? "I don't want you to leave big black marks on my pillow." I'm still trying to figure that out... Maybe she thinks I draw them on with markers through the day?

Last night was fun: Uncle Chicken came by and regaled us with stories of his travels: His adventure in Scotland last month (distillery tours, yes. Haggis for breakfast, check), and story of a wedding in Seattle last month where he was relentlessly pursued by an elderly drunken Japanese man who was convinced that Nick was Superman (or "SoopahMAN!") and was insisting that Nick fly out next spring to see Sakura, marry his Granddaughter, and eat a special Japanese Radish. All this is true. He had us in stitches - we've wondered what Nick will finally do in life, and I think he needs to go have his adventures and tell the world about them. He should be blogging.

An early bedtime, as I need to get up and do my 6am workout: There aren't very many of us at 6am (usually 3, sometimes 5), and I have been so vocal in my love for the timeslot that they're expanding it to TWO 6am classes a week... but if I miss one, I feel like I'm letting the whole "early morning" cause down, and they'll just cancel them outright. I need to keep the faith! Also, it's a great way to wake up! But it's a lot of pressure, no?

Finally, some Japanese: When you enter someone's house you say "ojamashimasu" which translates to "I'm going to trouble you now". In such a polite society, you're apologizing just for walking into their house. I love the insanity.

Minor Details

1) As Bella tried to wind down to sleep tonight, she revealed a few concerns:

- There's a purse that looks like a watering can that she wants, and she cannot understand why we haven't got it for her yet (hint - BIRTHDAY planning). But she says she's worried that by the time we DO say yes, they'll be all out of them - that everyone will have one but her.

- She's VERY concerned that even IF we got it for her, the FISH might say no, and she'd have to return it. We tried to explain that the Fish have very little say in household decisions... but it took some doing.

- A few weeks back, she dropped a tiny piece of plastic into the drain of the shower, and whoosh, it went away. She was inconsolable. And even weeks later, she is still leery about taking showers, let her precious toys get sucked into the nether. Tonight as she fell asleep, she decided that IF we got an Elephant in, he could stick his trunk down the drain and suck the toy back out.

2) Last week at the lake, Bella asked me if I could cut the tag off of one of her dolls. I said "Sure... I just need a mushroom. I mean scissors" But the damage was done. Pamela heard, and I'm afraid that scissors have become mushrooms in our home. And I don't know why I said mushroom. Why did I do that?

3) I just realized that what with the extra workout today, I exercised for around 2.5 hours today, and I'm not collapsing. Wow.

The Golden Ticket

Papa and Bam are here, and we went off to the State Fair yesterday. for the first time, we went EARLY in the day - 8am out the door, 8:30 arrival. We had breakfast, and got into the miracle of birth barn right away (and yes, it was amazingly crowded even at 9am - we just loooove the baby animals, I guess.) Since you never know when a cow will start calving, they have greatest hits playing on huge 42" monitors hanging from the ceiling, so you had people clustered watching the miracle of birth, while it was actually quite easy to cozy up and visit with the miracles themselves (the newborn calves).

After the barn, we went to see the animals. In previous years, we'd hit these barns around 6pm. Seeing it at 9am is much different. For example: In the poultry barn, the roosters were all CROWING non-stop. It was a glorious cacophony. I halfway want a few roosters in the house just for the sound. One of my favorites was an ENORMOUS rooster, who crowed with a lusty, throaty warble, not unlike Fat Albert or Louie Armstrong. I got a little video of it.

The rest was standard State Fair story - lots of food consumed, Bella ate TWO corn dogs, was a bit relaxed in her stroller for the day, wasn't into the rides too much (just 4 rides, thanks), and dozed off near the end. We were home by 4:30, and many of us napped, while Papa and Bella did a project - making a cardboard house for small ceramic figurines.

A highlight for me at the fair was watching the nerdy teens cutting rugs on the Dance Dance revolution machines - there is a variant which was very scary - not just front, back, right, left, but a middle square, AND a whole second board you need to dance across to. 10 different dance pads to fast fast techno music.

I was pleased to note that the song that Bailey and Tyler were hooked on when they were up here (Roll over Beethoven) was selected quite frequently by the superdancers. So that's that cool song. (I'll also comment that Bella STILL dances like a maniac any time we put on that Butterly song from DDR... she gave us quite a show today).

In the evening, Bella went to a B-Day party and had a blast. I went out to meet a friend of a neighbor's who is in town from Finland and wants to know about the IT Job Market in town to see if he wants to move back. We hit it off well, chatting for a good half hour beyond when the neighbor had to leave. We may keep in touch!

Today, I went off to my AM weights workout (I had ramped down in the past weeks - once a week for 2 weeks, then a 10 day break - I'm right back to square one really). But it was very fun, and they asked if I had time this afternoon to come back for a practice session....

My little workout place is starting something called Body Jam, which is just dancing based, with some jazz moves, some hip hop style (yes, there is "crumping" as well as something called "chicken wings"), and lots of wiggling of hips. For 90 minutes, it was non-stop dancing (usually it's 60, but we had 30 min of learning basic steps). I LOVED IT. It's going to be in regular workout rotation in 3 weeks, and I can hardly stand it the waiting. I felt very uncoordinated and TRES BLANC, but mark my words, I will be a funky creature by the end of this!

I felt very happy to have been invited to the preview, and i really felt like I had won a golden ticket (see: Willy Wonka).

Tonight we're off to dinner out, and then a relaxing evening in (I'll probably work on my secret project a little).

Warning - Geeky

1) My new secret project will probably launch next week sometime. What's cool about it is that the content is totally being done by Paul and me, and we're not dependent on anything to make this work - we have a real product, we can make it, and we don't need to hire programmers, nor get startup funding... we're just going to put it out into the world. We're kind of excited. But wait a little longer.

2) I love the Ebay. A million years ago (ok, 1983-85) I would bus downtown and buy british music magazines. One was a technology mag called One Two Testing (which I think I've mentioned before) that I loved beyond all reason. I got one copy on the eBay a few months back, and it brought me right back to programming my DX9 to make analog blippy noises so I could do the riff from Axel F by Harold Faltermeyer or Only You by Yaz, looking at photographs of Simmons electric drums and Jupiter 8s being leaned on by Howard Jones or Thomas Dolby...

I just got a package from England - I won 4 more issues. And they're true gems: Interviews with Depeche Mode, Heaven 17, OMD, Howard Jones, TWO with Thomas Dolby (one is a "primer for synthesizer nuts" before he was famous, the other post-fame with pretention and success all over it. It's just divine. I need to find more.

One of the best parts of the magazine was they'd ask exactly HOW my synth stars did stuff. There are drawings of the settings of Vince Clarke's synths for Only You, and production details for Heaven 17 songs (my god, they used a Synclavier? I swore they were Fairlight Men to the core.)

And that's the nerd report.

Taco Nite

Love the Taco Nite at the house. Usually, we play Kool and the Gang's "Ladie's Night" and sing Taco over the top. Bella, as you know, loves her Chipotle Burrito bowls. What you may not know is she's a taco fiend. She loads up a tortilla with spiced beef, sour cream, and cheese, and wolfs it down. Taco Nite is one of our few reliable ways of getting protein into that girl.

Tonight, as we sat in slack jawed amazement, Bella downed 1 hard shell taco and 3 soft shell ones, all loaded with more meat and cheese than either Pamela or I put on ours. We both had 3 each and were stuffed. Bella kept on going, making growly sounds of food lust. Add to earlier in the week when after a full dinner, she insisted on two yoghurts prior to falling asleep, and I'm afraid I'm looking at a biiiig growth spurt coming ahead.

Papa and Bam are coming to town for the weekend, and I'm playing hooky Friday to go to the Fair. I'm very much looking forward to the delicious fair food. In preparation, I restarted my exercise program after 10 days away (things got... busy). And I'm oh so achey. My quads just feel like I took a ball peen hammer to them for sport. But on balance, I still believe Exercise is a "Good Thing"

Work... Meh. I have good days, and bad days, and lots of ups and downs across those days. We are 42 days from golive, and we still have many issues, PLUS the final planning is kicking into full gear. Today I had non-stop meetings from 8-5:30, with 2 15 minute downtimes. In one of those downtimes I ran to Rainbow to get food. On the other downtime, I ate that food.

Language is going VERY well: I finished Level 1 of Japanese and have started Level 2: So sum total, we're talking I just did Lesson 31 of 90. I still love this language, but man, it has some VERY silly conventions. All of the politeness levels, the couching terms, the word order, the modifiers... and the fact that they use different NUMBER words when referring to Tall thin objects, flat objects, animals, people, round or cup shaped objects... It's like a crazy secret club where to kill the boredom they come up with impossibly obscure distinctions - like Cockney Rhyming Slang or something.

With every little bit I learn, I realize... German's not so tough. Spanish is a breeze. And even though I'm at least 2 months out from finishing Japanese, I think my birthday present to myself MUST be the Mandarin Chinese series of lessons...

And that's my update.

Relaxomatic

First off, let me assure you all - things DID get a touch better for my work by Friday. We had a few more scripts pass through testing, and the emergency scheduling issue may not have been as critical as supposed... There are still substantial hurdles to overcome, but I think that things were better Friday than on Thursday. But I took off early on Friday, and lord knows what could have transpired... I do note that there are over 40 new messages in my inbox from between 1-4pm, my "hooky time" from Friday.

But Hooky was worth taking because it was a great weekend. Here's how it went: We had a quick sammich at Potbelly in Maple Grove, then up to Ruttger's in Garrison, just off of MilleLacs. 120 short miles (measured by one-Pooh Heffalump Movie and one-Dora episode). We got a nice small cabin right on the lakefront - clean, not musty, and cozy.

And then we relaxed. And ate very good food. And relaxed. Bella was unstoppable with the swimming action. Friday Night, Saturday morning, noon, and night we swam. Sunday morning we swam. Thank you to Grampette and the Foss swim school, Bella is VERY comfortable in the water, and boy, Pamela and I sure got our share of swimming in too. I do want to say the food at Ruttger's was very good - I had a fantastic pan fried walleye last night that I'm dreaming about now.

Bella loved the lake, and we came home with a full bucket of rocks and shells she collected. And she loved looking for bugs, peering at them from a safe distance with her hands on her hips, pitched forward, with her nose crinkled up.

I re-read an old favorite book, Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. What was interesting was that when I FIRST read it, I had read very little by either man, and since I've read LOTs by both, so I was expecting to be able tell who wrote what, but boy, that book was a real synthesis. And still VERY funny. But other than that I can't say that I did anything productive - my language books and tapes sat unread/unlistened. My computer stayed at home. This was all about play.

We got home around 4, after checking out and chilling out for a few extra hours up there. Bella went STRAIGHT over to Jenny's, where they just giggled and laughed with eachother for hours. So us adults got to thinking about having dinner together. But after all of the great food we'd eaten (and recently), I couldn't think of anyting to eat.

So I ran home, made up a plate of peanut butter and jelly sammiches, grabbed a bag of pretzels, and we had a great little picnic in the warm summer evening.

Prepping for the Weekend

This weekend, we're off for a SHORT 3-day getaway to a lake place up north. Water park, lake, meals included, the air of the north woods... it'll be a wonderful recharge.

Sadly, Pamela seems to be on the ill side (she started a Z-Pack, so I don't think she's messing around). So Bella and I had an evening together - burrito store, Guitar Center, and a drive home in a flash flood which was quite gripping. The mini handled well, however.

Once home, Bella took off to do more Packing. Pamela weakly pleaded with me to distract her, because everything she packs, Pamela must unpack. When I made it upstairs, Bella proudly showed her handiwork: Every pair of glasses and sunglasses in the house was put into individual ziplock baggies, and laid out in a row. "Now you're ready for your trip!" she exclaimed.

This vacation will be very needed for me: It's been a rough week at work - things started well, but by the end, if I'm reading this right:

- I was asked for the same information for the 5th time from a co-worker, who already had the info (I've sent it twice!), and implied his work couldn't be done without it. I snapped and yelled at him in the meeting.

- Our vendor JUST figured out that we MIGHT not actually have a legally compliant billing system built. And they might not have a fix for me.

- My interfaces team JUST figured out that oh, they didn't actually test anything back in May like they said they did, and we're back at square one, and they might not be ready for live.

- All of the test scripts we started this week might not pass because of the way they entered them ("old" versus "new as of 4 days ago" thanks to the vendor again)

- And we're going live in 49 days.

I need a break. Thank goodness for the lake!

Also, I promised Pamela I'd be "unplugged" this vacation, so mister laptop stays at home, and you'll just have to read about this when I get back!

So much better.

The cold was miserable, but by spending the entire day asleep, I wound up scaring it away - I can only imagine it's little virus thoughts "I wanted to see the world and meet new people, but this host just lies around? I'm finished!"

So I was back to work on Friday, and again today, with no ill effects, though the allergens flying around are making me feel a bit woozy whenever I'm between climate controlled zones. Come ON, future, where are my underground cities of steel? I'll take it!

Over the weekend we did many fun things - Bella was on an overnight to Jenny's so Pamela and I did things like have a long breakfast at the Original Pancake House, and dinner out with friends Rita and Jeff, and a movie....

Taladega Nights. I blew it. When a guy picks a movie, it's always a risk. And as we walked out, Pamela said "I'm picking the next one". Our reviews:

Jim: "It was a parade of buffoonery, with largely unsympathetic characters but some exhilirating moments of slapstick. Funny at times, but ultimately not as satisfying as Anchorman."

Pamela: "It was dreadful".

In truth, I found around 15 minutes of GOOD laughing in it, but was disturbed by the rampant product placement (even if it was "meta"), the homophobic bits, the strangely alien and awful performance by Sasha Baron Cohen (who seemed to be fighting a battle the entire movie with his tongue, which would NOT behave and allow him to form words in a comprehensible manner). Plus, it was NASCAR, which was horrid in it's own way.

So next time, we'll be doing some sort of period piece about people who are afraid their emotions might spill out and they might accidentally use the wrong fork for salad and be shamed out of Whillfordlainesshire Manor House, where their servants have a rich, yet bittersweet existance right under their noses that they're sadly oblivious to....

Moving on.

I'm happy because I'm cooking up a fresh scheme with my buddy Paul out in Seattle - the invention train is rolling again... and this one is pretty different. It's actually a podcast and I think within a week I can share it. Until then, mum is the word, see? But unlike the previous ideas which were largely paper, this one actually has a first revision, and it's GOOD. It's a frothy cocktail of quest for knowledge geekiness, with some science and high production values. No more. I've said too much.

And that's it for the night... keep those cards and letters coming!

Cold. I have one.

Last night, as Pamela was out with friends and I was watching Bella, I grew aware of a weariness in my bones... All of our games had to involve Daddy lying down somewhere (hence, I was a restaurant patron AND a medical patient as the evening went on). I chalked it up to just my standard "extreme" lifestyle, and went to bed by 10.

This morning, I realized this was no mere fatigue, I had a full on COLD. Sniffles, coughing, aching, classic NyQuil ad fodder. I tried to deny it - I showered, dressed, had breakfast, fed Bella jelly toast....

But in the end, it was futile: I would not have been able to point the car towards work without winding up in a ditch, my asleep forehead comically "laying on the horn". So I sent out some notes and set myself up on the 3rd floor for "sickland" - I got books, puzzles, everything for a sick day.

And promptly slept the entire day, save for a few minutes to eat and drink at two hour intervals. My "sick kit" went unused. I did get a good picture of how things go here when I'm not around: At one point, I came downstairs, and there was an art gallery throughout the house of playing cards and flash cards taped to every surface at Bella height... It sure sounds like Bella amd Mommy have fun, and I understand why Pamela can look sooo tired at the end of the day!

Pamela has another evening out, and I'm now watching both Jenny AND Bella for a few minutes until Randy comes home to relieve me... And I am hopefully feeling better. I had better be better: I have over 100 "urgent" emails in my "Client" email box, seems there are decisions and issues and all the other great stuff I do and it piles up surprisingly quickly.

Go Go Gadget GREEN TEA!

Current Statistics

Lessons in Japanese completed: 23
I can talk about family (wife - Kanai, daughter - on'na no ko), size (Oh-ki = big, chi-sai = small), ask to fill up (Man Tan) my car (watashino kuruma) with a litre (lee-tah) of gas (ga-so-reen - yes really). I can count just up to 100 (99 = ku juu ku), then jump to 1000 and up. I can ask where things are, say where they are, ask if they're far away or not, express a desire for food, drink, or shopping in two levels of politeness... and so much more.

Days till my project goes live: 58.
Successful system tests so far: 0.
Yes, this is a bit nerve wracking, but we are waiting on some KEY fixes from our vendor, and we can get pretty far in the process. My current headache was that the big issue I chased last week where we escalated to all levels of management, was revealed to have impact to.... wait for it:

Cases a month affected by this bug: 3.
This is so far beyond the 80/20 rule, or even the 98/2 rule. When that little tidbit was revealed, I almost lept across the table. 3 cases a month, I don't care if the system handles it elegantly. I'll personally engrave those cases onto granite tablets.

Tomatoes in our house: 100000000000 (or so)
Our vines are bursting with maters of all sizes. AND our veggie co-op appears to be running over too, because we have more tomatoes than I can shake a stick at (and I wouldn't shake that stick, they clearly outnumber me. I'm no fool). So last night was a big tomato salad. Tonight was roast beef sammiches with big slabs of tomato. TOMORROW will be gazpacho, which done well is maybe my favorite soup (not to be confused with Minestrone, which is the devil's own soup. It took me several years of practice before I was able to differentiate those on a menu).

Little Binxes in my house: 1.
She met me as I came home tonight - late after working out too. She was on the front step wearing a duck towel and nothing else. She was very excited to see me, and I got lots of hugs and smooches. I put her to bed, and she took a looong time to wind down, but in the end, a back scratch and some stories got her to rest.... and I loved ending the day with that.

And now, full stomach, exercised bones, and full brain, I'm off to an early bedtime!

Dancing FOOL

Yesterday, Bella was definitely under the weather, the poor thing. But today she got up a the crack of 6 with me and we had breakfast together and cuddles. She insisted on Pancakes for breakfast, and I made enough to surprise Pamela with breakfast in bed... a wonderful start to the week I hope!

At work, I had heard from some of my team leads that they're not feeling terribly appreciated, so I decided to help out. I found out who has been working lots of hours (over 50 a week) and gave them thank you cards with Superman stickers in them. A couple of them were too cool for school to mention it, but I got teary-eyed smiles of appreciation from the ones that I think mattered.

I'm going to keep the good feeling going at work somehow. It certainly made the day fly by!

When I got home, there was a package for me: One of the songs in Dance Dance Revolution is "Butterfly" by Smile.DK. It's sooo catchy, and it's classic late 90's swedish dance pop with crazy fake Japanese lyrics. And of course it's not for sale in the US for love nor money (see: Mr Timothy).

I found the CD on E-Bay, and won the auction. I popped the CD on here at 7pm, and Bella and I danced straight through the first 6 tracks - a good 20 minutes of hoofing it. This is just perfect pop stuff, and Bella loved it! I think I'll be hearing a bit more of it.

And of course my own D.A. Pennebaker (Pamela) filmed 12 minutes of it... so we have important stuff to store in the nation's Strategic Cuteness Reserve (fear not, Daddy was only dancing for part of it - there's plenty of solo material there. There's no need to call the police).

Bella's having a nice long shower now, and I'm hoping for a good night's sleep for my little girl.

Living SO large

Last night, Bella was with the grandparents and we set out for a massive night on the town with 4 friends. We went to Campiello, which is a nice northern italian sort of place, and had cocktails, appetizers, salads, mains, and dessert... and after a good 3.5 hours of feasting, we started talking about "what next?"

Perhaps bowling? Perhaps a movie? Or another bar?

Or maybe we will all just go home and go to SLEEP. Which is what we decided upon by unanimous decree. We're all so OLD... ;->

And our ambition to have a big breakfast out with out Bella still at Grandma's was foiled by our default Sunday behavior - Jim up at 7 and started on the puzzles, Pamela up at 9 and sleeeepy.

Bella went to Jenny's for her 5th birthday party, but she was sufficiently tired that she was more of a spectator. Upon returning, she had a short nap and is now lolling around in pajamas. And Pamela's back up for a nap.

All this is fine - I needed to do some prep work to get some equipment ready for sale. Always fun deleting emails, pictures, and other personal info!

Hey, it's a VERY lazy Sunday, so this is a lazy post. No deep thoughts, no crises... just... relaxing.... ZZzzzzzzzzz.

Scotch Night

Nick and Rich and I had another "Scotch Night" last night: We all bring a bottle or two of something interesting, and we set up small tasting glasses of each and have a discussion of each fine spirit, followed by a movie. As before, the quantity is small, the quality is high, and we approach it with a scientific spirit.

Last night we enjoyed some Lagavulin (from Islay), Talisker (from Sky), Oban (West highlands), Scapa (from the north Orkneys), and my new Suntory Hibiki (from, well, JAPAN). What was amazing was that as we went around, we had tasted some of these before, but in comparison and contrast, new flavors were brought out: For instance, while we love the Suntory for it's smoothness, after some Talisker and Lagavulin, it's almost criminally bland... though still respectable.

Our palates are developing as well, and things that just didn't work earlier this year (Lagavulin again) now are tasty and actually preferred.

We agreed that this is absolutely the best way to develop our knowledge, and want to do this monthly... Last night's movie was V for Vendetta, which even on the 4th viewing for me was amazing. Such a powerful movie!

And I discovered anew that Rick and I are kindred spirits in another way: He's a language junkie like me: He currenly has Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish in his repetoire. I have French, German, Spanish, and a little Japanese and Russian... But listening to him speaking Mandarin Chinese really made me realize I NEED to know this language - it's just so cool sounding.

Rich and I have been FRIENDS for just over a year, and acquaintances for over 10 years, and it's so cool to discover new things about people.

In the meantime, Pamela was busy doing completely unique flower arrangements for Jeff and Rita's home tour - They're opening their house to visitors for a designer's showcase (in this case, they're the homeowners AND the designers), and Pamela dressed the place up with some truly artistic arrangements using unique ingredients... Let's just say she bought out Byerly's entire stock of Radishes last night. Yep.

It's a gorgeous day... time to go see what's up out there.

Much better!

So my little stress post yesterday... I want to report that I did take my own advice, and I had a better day. I was smiling, I had a spring in my step, and even though I had my share of issues and crises to deal with (which IS of course my JOB), I didn't get worn down. I hope it'll last...

This evening, we had indian takeout and started watching The Libertine with Johnny Depp, but it was just too horrible for words. It was dreadful. It was fun watching Johnny Depp leer and roll his eyes and scowl of course, but that out of the way, it was just a tiresome exercise. We gave it 45 minutes of our life, then said NO MORE.

We refreshed our souls with an episode of All Creatures Great and Small, and had great belly laughs at Sigfried's antics, and the strangeness of Yorkshire.

And that's the update.

Comments and my Rules...

Just some quick notes to both of my readers: You can leave comments on any post by clicking on the "comments" at the bottom of each post. You need to type in the answer to a little optical puzzle to post (to prove you're not a mindless robot), but you don't need to register - just select "Anonymous" or "Other", not "Blogger".

And I am growing curious as to how many people actually DO read this - comments will help. I think I might actually have as many as TEN actual humans... but maybe that's just my crazy champagne dream. No way would I have that many.

Secondly - I promise to keep this blog readable by anyone over 12 years old.... and ALL that entails.

Thirdly - I try to keep things somewhat anonymous - no last names, no actual place or client names. I realize it makes me sound a bit like a 1920's Russian short story writer at times, but I think that by keeping specifics out of it, I get to talk about what is really HAPPENING without people feeling like I'm airing laundry. I could NOT tell much about my work if it wasn't anonymized.

My pledge - if you do feel I've revealed something I shouldn't have (as I did a few weeks back when I used a last name), please let me know and I'll modify it. We're friends, right?

Secrets and Me

Oh I hate being the keeper of a secret. Especially the kind I had to have since Friday when our Gang of Four conspired to change the project. It really wears on me to interact with people who will know in a few days or minutes that I have kept things from them. It makes me feel like they have reason to suspect my truthfulness in non-secret-keeping intervals.

In short, when there's stuff like this, it affects me, which I really try not to have my work do as a rule. I am usually very good at leaving work there, and coming home, but at times with this big project, it has been stowing away in my trunk and sneaking in, waking me up at 4am with ridiculous worries about project plan updates. And this restructuring was a big stresser.

The good news is that the project WAS restructured, but that we were able to reasonably salvage and re-order things to the point that really nobody is out of work, and nobody has wasted their time... and the clients are supportive. It all went public today, and I wound up almost collapsing once I got home, the air let out of the bubble.

I promised myself that the stress of the past week will not hold, that I am allowed to recover, and that from tomorrow on, my shields are back up and this is just work again.

And let's admit it - that whole reunion thing - that was a bit of an emotional trip too, and that's probably been a contributing factor for stress and exhaustion. I might also be a bit tired in that I did work out for the first time in a week, and it was at a 6am class... Nah, that's probably not it.

"The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long... and you have shone so very bright, Roy" - Eldon Tyrell

On a Monday

1) When Bella woke up, she grabbed her coin can and came downstairs, and laid out coins in the shape of a "humpback whale" on the whole kitchen floor. She must have been planning this one.

2) The "Big Plans" I helped concoct at work are now fully underway, but it has not been communicated with the team yet. But at least today I'm not only one of four people who know it - there'a a good two dozen of us in management, and it will be announced on Wednesday. My biggest concern is that one part of my project will be delayed a year, and the person doing it is probably going to take it pretty hard. So my guts have been a little knotted up.

3) Geek Fest: Got more textbooks today: Some short story collections in German and Spanish, where the language is on one page, and the english translation is on the facing page, so you can just look across to translate. Also, a remedial algebra/trig book, because I was disturbed about my inability to remember equations for compound interest, and that opened a whole world of math insecurity for me. So I want to relearn it.

4) Tonight Bella and I had a date... NOT at the burrito store, but at Punch Pizza. She ate her whole cheese pizza. What an appetite! As we sat there, a man walked by with two high tech false legs (shiny aluminum ankles). I watched Bella. She was very casual as she leaned over to take a better look as he walked by, then went right back to Pizza - no explanation asked for, no shock and amazement. Not even the Reay raised eyebrows. Though I suspect this will be a time release event... Out of the blue she'll ask something about getting new body parts or something.

Reunion Part Two

Some general impressions:
1) People are still looking great. I've hear people say that at the 20, the ladies look good, but the men are looking middle aged. I'd say that at Washburn, we beat the curve pretty well - people were in general looking fit.

2) Only two people from class were known to have passed away in the intervening years. One was a friend back then... We were doubledates at Prom, and we did an interesting piece for AP English where we read poetry in a graveyard, sitting on tombstones with our names on them. I think that would be a hard picture to see now.

3) We have people from all walks of life: My friends are photographers, drummers, firemen, Navy officers, lawyers, substitute teachers, professors, IT professionals, house painters, day laborers, flight attendants, investment bankers, moms, dads, line cooks, restaurant owners, artists, molecular biologists... It was amazing to sit with people and realize the multitude of paths we all took out of school. Strangely, nobody batted an eye when I said I was an IT Project Manager. Sort of like when the class closet case comes out, everybody says "no big surprise there, guy". I was always meant to be a geek.

4) A LOT of us took the later paths in life: Most were talking about being married in the last 10 years, and a LARGE number had kids under 5... I guess people really are getting started a little later. IT'S NOT JUST ME.

5) There are still some cliques - and some people who didn't make an effort to socialize outside of that... I kept my eye on a few. But they were the exceptions. And actually, I felt kind of bad for them. But it's their life.

6) There was rekindling of friendship from much further back than High School - there were friends I went to elementary with who had falled into different groups by HS and I never spoke with, and at the reunion, we were all geeking out about the comic books I used to draw in 5th and 6th grades... many people want scans of that old artwork - I only hope that some faithful reader might remember where those old "Cyclone Seven" comics are....

And that's the writeup on the 20-year. I may think of a few more tidbits, but that pretty well covers it.

About being President

First, a note about being class president. Really, when I got into it, it was just as a lark: Senior year started, and the morning announcements were done by one of the secretaries, and were very dry, but I remembered the year before (which I entered 1/4 of the way through) a student got to do them. So I inquired about who gets to do this, and found out it's a duty of the Senior Prez. Oh, I wanted to do those announcements.

The campaign was wild - I took marketing to a whole new level - posters everywhere, my name in the cafeteria on 3 foot high letters, bedsheet-sized signs hung out windows. Pure insanity, and somehow I got people to notice enough that the voter turnout went WAY up and I got into a runoff with Jeaner - my old best friend.

I don't really remember the runoff very well - It was an assembly and I had a few minutes to speak. I don't remember the speech, but it was probably a "vote for me because I'm NOT cool" sort of "revenge of the nerds" screed. And it worked. When I won, I lept up and yelled "This is the happiest day of my life", and it was, actually.

But getting back, I didn't really know what the job WAS, either. I was only in it for the announcements. Turns out there were a few more duties. I knew about the duty of making and showing a Senior Movie. Check. But apparently this also put my parents on the hook for running the Senior Night Party. AND it put me up to organizing reunions - which was something I didn't learn until much later.

Fortunately, my parents were able to corral their friends and put together maybe one of the greatest senior night parties ever - dinner at the Freight house in Stillwater, then all night bowling and dancing at the Diamond Lake Lanes with giveaways... I'm still amazed at what they pulled together, and because they knew I was such a blabbermouth, I was not involved in the least lest I give it all away.

Reunions... I totally whiffed on that. At five, I was a nervous wreck of a being, dancing at First Ave nightly, being in a band, and being dumped by a girl I was sort of engaged to. Thankfully Pamela came along the next year and we started straightening eachother out.

At 10, I just completely missed the concept. So when 20 came along, the reunion committee contacted ME, and by the time I got involved, they had it all planned. So I have made a vow that for the next one (be it 25 or 30) I'll be in the lead, and they can count on me to take them on out to 50.

So that's the President story: And let it be a lesson to others - read the fine print. On the other hand, I had a GREAT time doing those morning announcements. I bought a xylophone and did little 80's synthpop melodies (I just can't get enough, Nobody's diary) to start them. Then a fake announcement, then the real ones. So every day I came up with my melody and my joke.

Fortunately, i have totally outgrown my need to express myself in such a manner. HA!!!!

The Reunion part one

This will need to be a few posts... as I process the whole 20-year highschool reunion thing. It was last night at the Depot in downtown, a nice hotel-ish space. I took the bus down (so that drinking wouldn't be an issue). I also bussed back, though mostly because a bus came along at just the right time. My feet are killing me: My fashion choice was skinny pants, fitted shirt, and italian boots, which looked the business, but did not offer support for 5 blocks of walking and a full night of standing.

Right off the bat: Saw Jeaner my oldest friend right away. We had been best friends through 8th grade, and drifted from there... culminating in a little bit of a tiff when we were in the runoff for senior class president, and I won. I saw her once 2 years after HS, and not since. We started emailing based on a tip from a mutual friend, and I was very happy to hear she was coming to the reunion!

We were buddies throughout the reunion - we both had so many people to catch up with, but we checked in frequently, and she saved me a spot at her table. She'll be coming back into town occasionally in the future, and I'll be having her over when she comes next.

The President tiff was mentioned by some of Jeaner's best buddies - who flat out said I shouldn't have won... and in the spirit of conciliation, I agreed, and said that in truth, I just ran an outsider campaign to shake things up, and that I was as surprised as anyone that I actually DID. Jeaner looked pained that it was even being brought up... that's really not any blood between us anymore!

The dynamic at the reunion was interesting: There were lots of clumps of people who weren't really cliquish, but they were re-gravitating to their high school buddies. And since I was the outsider back then, I was the butterfly going between the groups, checking in with everyone!

One more little story: I was chatting with a guy who honesty I didn't remember that well, and he mentioned that he runs Zelo, a restaurant in Downtown that I love. So I told him about my love for his place, and he said "I know - you love the Lasagne, you're mostly at lunch, sometimes alone with a book, sometimes with a friend - you're a great customer!" I asked him why he hadn't dropped by to say hi - he said he's usually busy, but next time, he'll definitely say hi! But it's interesting to know when you've been "noticed", eh?

More stories as they come to me.

And into the future!

A busy week at work, that culminated in a couple of closed door meetings where the entire shape of the project for the next few years was dramatically revised. As I drew up new timelines, I paused and said - "I suppose I should clear my calendar for next year then?" "You're not going ANYWHERE for a LOOOONG time" was the answer.

You may recall this was the 3 month vacation gig that turned into the 9 month rescue-the-project gig that is possibly turning into the 20 month design-it-all gig. Sounds a bit like what happened at the previous clients? We'll see.

Last night Bella and I got a burrito for her, and here's a snippet of the conversation:

"When I'm older, can I drive your Mini? I keep having dreams about your Mini, and me driving it. I dreamt about us racing around in a big circle, like in the CARS movie - and we were beating everybody, because your Mini is the FASTEST car out there. You could beat everybody, I just KNOW it!"

This AM, she went to play with Jenny in her PJs. It's a busy day ahead - a birthday party later in the morning, the block party this afternoon (with a moonwalk OF COURSE), and my 20 year reunion tonight. Should be a blast! More on that later, I suppose.

Date Night

Pamela got everything ready to have a bunch of mom-friends over tonight, which meant that Bella and I got to have a date night. We started with Burritos at Chipotle, which she always loves. Today her appetite wasn't so great, but that just means more for tomorrow's lunch.

After dinner, it was off to Guitar Center for us. She loves that place. Today we went straight to the Drums room. The young man gave me the sticks and acknowledged that I'm one of the "good parents" who stays with and watches his kid in the store - there are a lot of parents who let the kids run wild, which makes the store guys crazy.

Bella has a natural love for the Roland V-Drums, a very good sounding electronic kit... I may need to get one.... just for her of course (though perhaps I could play it sometimes?). I have tried to interest her in the cheaper models, the yamaha, the ion, but she will have none of it. She knows quality.

Today we also played for a while with Daraboukas, which are middle eastern drums that you can change the sound of by putting your hand up in the back of it.... You make this cool low-to-high sound. Bella thought it was cool at least. She also loves how the congas make different sounds depending on how you play them. She's going to be a drummer, no question.

One of the guitar salesguys hijacked us and tried to get Bella to try a mini Martin acoustic guitar. She was having none of it. But later she thought perhaps she'd like a pink electric guitar. Of course.

Today I couldn't get her to groove on any keyboards - she was very focused on percussion. But there's a new-ish Roland that is sort of cheap, and looks VERY easy to use while sounding good, and it looks spot on like an old Juno 106 I had back in high school. I almost got it for her own good. But I think it would need to be painted pink in any case.

We got home and the party was in full swing so we went upstairs to get ready for bed. At one point I said "it's time to brush teeth and get in your pajamas..." to which she responded while running back and forth "I can't hear what you just said, I'm doing KID STUFF!!!!"

It was a pretty good comeback, actually.

I'm not the only busy one....

Pamela had a little project she had to whip together: She did some creative table layouts for a photo spread in a magazine! They're photographing it all today, and she had spent all of yesterday pulling it all together. It's very cool work, but exhausting, I can imagine.

Last night, it was Pamela's turn to put Bella to bed. I helped with the prep work and even read the stories, while Pamela took "cuddling duties". The lights went out at 8. Pamela never came back downstairs... she was out COLD!

When I skulked out of the house this morning at 6:45 for a dentist appt (yeah, I need to replace a filling, but all else if good in Jim-MouthLand), she was still out, which means she got over 10 hours sleep... that should recharge her batteries!

And to respond to those who say I'm a busybody: I did not do any language lessons, nor did I build any robots. I did watch some TV, and I did a few sudoku, but that's not work, is it? The way I see it, I've got so much to pay attention to at work that it's the equivalent of a roaring fire. So I've got to keep that fire stoked - I can't just extinguish it at the end of the day, or it'll take to long to rekindle the next day.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Major Seventh

I work in a 2-story converted department store with nice high ceilings. It has been refitted to house a data center as well as our offices, and as a result there is a massive cooling unit parked right on the roof. I heard that they decided against the cost of rubber footings, so there are some areas in the office that have an oppressive "thummmmmmmmmm" that gets right into your bones. Fortunately, my office is not near it.

The AC unit can be heard in full roar as you approach the building from the employee parking lot. It's loud, but not unpleasant as you walk up. The other day I figured out why it's not so bad.

It's playing a Major Seventh chord - C, E, G, B (though I don't have perfect pitch, so I don't know the exact key it's in). This lush open stack of triads was a big part of my favorite 80's music - think of some of the open chords in Kajagoogoo "Hang on Now", or Prefab Sprout's "When Love Breaks Down"...

Anyway, it was a fun discovery. And now I hum up and down the chord every morning as I walk in.

A cool weekend

Well, we kept the house cool at least - outside the temps hovered between 90-100 degrees as we had the visit from our dear friends from Chicagoland, Bailey and Tyler, and their mom Kari. They came on Thursday... and we had all manner of adventures:

Friday, I played hookey after 2pm and we went to the Mall of America - all of the kids rode in the Mini (I had flashes of being crammed into the back of my dad's Porsche at age 13 for a road trip to Colorado as I saw Bailey's lanky 14 year old legs near her ears in the back on the Mini...). They love to come up here and shop for school clothes, enjoying the no-tax-in-MN-on-clothes thing. They shopped at Abercrombie, Aeropostale, Hollister, and PacSun... and I'm going to show that I'm an OLD MAN here: I could not tell the difference in the merchandise offered between the stores, save the logos proferred. BUT DON'T TELL THEM. I don't want them to think I lack discernment and distinction. ;->

Into the evening it was Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution. Tyler gravitated toward the guitar, and Bailey to the Dancing, but to be fair, they both did VERY well in both games. The keyboard game proved inpenetrable, so we left that alone. I think it has a massive ramp-up time (like 10 rounds) before you can even be mildly effective in it, and with other fun games on tap why bother?

Saturday was hot and lazy... In the afternoon we ran off to watch Superman (my second time - everyone else's first). We agreed - there was much to love (including Parker Posey's every screen second) - but there was one fight scene that took it a bit too far. In the evening, we watched X2 for more Brian Singer-y goodness. I can see why Alan Cumming didn't return for X3 - that makeup looked nightmarish to apply - I think he should have just pulled a Gollum and been all CGI.

Sunday was out by the pool all stinking day. We had the neighborhood over in the late afternoon, and had sandwiches while the kids frolicked in the heat with sprinklers and kiddie pools and lots of sunscreen. Everybody slept well. And today I had to go to work!!! The Chicagoans took off around noon, and made it home safely. A good time was had by all - and I loved having them here!

Oh, and one of the surprises was that I had got the NEW Lego Robots kit (NXT), with the advanced brain and better software (from what I had used when I betatested the original kit 5+ years ago). Ty and I had fun building and programming and troubleshooting. Also, the whole gang got into my Brain Age software for Nintendo - small puzzles meant to increase your brain acuity. My most recent test showed me to be... my age.... But I can see getting down to 20-year old level soon!

And that's the big update from the weekend!

Morsels

1) I'm loving a song by "The Sounds" called "Painted by Numbers" - heard it on the radio and bought it on iTunes. Then I find out, they're the superhip new thing. Yay, I'm ever so slightly au courant!

2) I'm loving Japanese - I finished my 12th lesson, can count 1-10, as well as 1000-7000 (with a yen more like a penny, you need big numbers fast), can politely ask someone out for a drink or dinner, demur or accept if asked, comment on nice or not nice weather, greet and thank people, and say whether I can understand you, where are things, there they are... There are a few more things.... but that's pretty much the gist.

What's cool is the logic of the language - it's VERY economical. The verb is always last, and you stack stuff up to the left. Words stay the same, but adding little modifiers like Ka (question), Wo (identifying the object), Wa (identifying the subject), To (with), No (denoting ownership), and other things I haven't learned yet make it so that you can know one word like "watashi" (meaning "I"), and you can say "with me", "my", and "I" with just a watashi to, watashi no, or watashi wa. The rules don't change.

So that's me being a language nerd. I'm mentally comparing the rules to French, German, and Spanish... and god help me I'm seriously thinking about refreshing my Russian (two years in college), just to keep the comparisons going. Later this fall, I'll be hitting Mandarin Chinese... because you KNOW that I have a fantasy of going to Shanghai and having hand made suits made on me. And I'm going to make that happen in 2007. That's what turning 40 will do to me.

3) Dance Dance Revolution is so much fun, I think my head a-sploded. Bailey (one of the twins) did a marathon hour long danceathon, and it was fun to watch, but several times a day I snuck off to do 3-4 tracks on my own. It's a good workout, and hey, after a few tries, you do get the hang of it. If you're not aware, this is the game where it plays fast techno trance music, you're standing on a pad with arrows on it, and you need to step on the arrows in time with the music - so it's not really so much dancing as synchronized stepping, but it'll do in a pinch.

More in another post.

The Pitts

As I was driving the parkway to work, I saw one car parked, and another pulled up behind it. Both doors opened, and the drivers jumped out and greeted eachother warmly with a high five and grins.

The drivers were both impossibly stylish men, both sporting the Brad-Pitt-in-Oceans12 handsome-man look.

Both were driving Maserati Quatroportes - one Silver, one Black.

It was just a surreal moment. I had to slow down and yell "Love the style, gentlemen!" as I drove by. But it sure raised a few questions - like where ARE these people? Who is driving $120k Maseratis, and how does a 20-something fashionboy get one? And why were they even UP at 8am?

But such questions only cloud what was a truly nice vision in the morning.

Techy Goodness

Got a pair of 14 year olds coming to visit tomorrow through the weekend, and I'm sooooo excited! I got some treats that I won't reveal because they just might read this. Ok, one thing - we're borrowing a Playstation2, and I got a game for it: Beatmania. It's like Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero, only it has a 7-note keyboard and a scratching wheel. And MAN, it is hard.

Really it's a sight-reading exercise - just need to play the notes it shows you, and sometimes it's a melody, sometimes it's drums, and sometimes it triggers samples... but it forces you to just push the buttons and focus on the rhythms and timing. And as anyone knows, I'm a TERRIBLE keyboardist - I can program, but I can't play, and part of it is that when I get stuck I just STOP. You can't do that in this game, and I can't help but wonder if it might MIGHT help me be a better musician - forcing me to keep my head in the game?

Getting ready for the kids is a multiday affair, with shopping, cleaning, rearranging, and I always get to do the techy bits, as noted above. Tonight, Bella was VERY excited to be helping with the cleaning. She had a dusting rag and was like a dervish. It was actually pretty hard to pull her out of it. Tonight she was COMPETING with me: She wanted to race me everywhere, and when we read some nursery rhymes that were also songs, she asked me to sing them, then wanted to sing them BACK to me... "only better".

Finally, Japanese lessons are going VERY well. I'm finding that with this being the third new language in a 1 year span, I'm getting these strange cross-relations between the languages building in my head - I'm seeing matrices: Which languages rely on between-word modifiers for meaning (like at, to, from, ownership, location, etc), and which ones rely on word-addons (suffixes, previxes, cases)... just interesting how the languages are all saying the same things, but taking different routes there....

More soon!