Well, this has been an enjoyable Christmas. I've really started to like the holiday since I've had kids, and it's getting more and more fun as they get older. Anisa was REALLY into it this year and Jasmine started to more at the end. Next year is going to be a blast when they're both old enough to be fully into the Christmas swing.
Santa came through for them with a bike for Anisa, a Sit'n'Spin for Jasmine, a Koby bear that listens to the kids and interacts with them, and some books and movies, too. I'm always amazed that Santa makes the rounds as much as he does and that he manages to stay as relatively slim as he does. He must have some awesome workout program to stay in shape after eating millions of cookies and drinking tons of milk!
I hope you all had a happy holiday season!
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Is it February yet?
Whine of the day:
What really sucks at work lately is the fallout of recent layoffs. It was sad to see people go, but I could understand the reasoning behind it and at least most of them volunteered for it. What I don't understand is why my department didn't lose people and yet is having to shoulder the brunt of the discomfiture. The thing is, the way it's all shaken out, my department actually is "losing" a person since they're being shifted to doing different work and yet we're not allowed to do anything less. So the desk with the smallest staff in the room is expected to "do more with less" and nobody really seems to care. And somehow, it falls on me to *cue Tim Gunn voice* "Make it work!" Yeah, doesn't that make sense? Stick the guy who's been in management for less than three months with the responsibility of doing 5 people's worth of work with only 4 people. Awesome!
Now, it does make me feel good in a way, knowing that they trust me enough to pull this off after the short time I've been doing what I do. And I'm managing to find ways to sort of make it work, but it just means the next month is going to suck. And what really sucks about that is, I've really been enjoying the actual "work" part of my job lately. I've been doing some fun things with coding and data that I think will make things present better all around and has let me really tap into the computer geek I am a lot more. But, when I can only find time to work on that stuff maybe 30% of the time while I'm dealing with everything else, it's just hard to enjoy it as much as I should.
Non-whiny stuff:
I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year. The girls are getting so excited about Santa coming. At dinner last night, Anisa looks over at me and says, "Only two mare days until Christmas Eve, daddy!" and had the hugest smile on her face and a twinkle, a gleam, and maybe even some sugar plums dancing in her eyes. Jasmine is still not quite old enough to really "get" it all yet, but she's feeding off everyone else's excitement and is bubbling about it too.
I can't wait until we put the presents out tomorrow; they've stayed in our closet so far since the first present we put out didn't last more than a couple of hours before the girls decided it needed to be unwrapped. I guess we'll just have to wait until next year to try having presents stacked out there for a couple of weeks. :)
Alright, time to head to work. Whee!
What really sucks at work lately is the fallout of recent layoffs. It was sad to see people go, but I could understand the reasoning behind it and at least most of them volunteered for it. What I don't understand is why my department didn't lose people and yet is having to shoulder the brunt of the discomfiture. The thing is, the way it's all shaken out, my department actually is "losing" a person since they're being shifted to doing different work and yet we're not allowed to do anything less. So the desk with the smallest staff in the room is expected to "do more with less" and nobody really seems to care. And somehow, it falls on me to *cue Tim Gunn voice* "Make it work!" Yeah, doesn't that make sense? Stick the guy who's been in management for less than three months with the responsibility of doing 5 people's worth of work with only 4 people. Awesome!
Now, it does make me feel good in a way, knowing that they trust me enough to pull this off after the short time I've been doing what I do. And I'm managing to find ways to sort of make it work, but it just means the next month is going to suck. And what really sucks about that is, I've really been enjoying the actual "work" part of my job lately. I've been doing some fun things with coding and data that I think will make things present better all around and has let me really tap into the computer geek I am a lot more. But, when I can only find time to work on that stuff maybe 30% of the time while I'm dealing with everything else, it's just hard to enjoy it as much as I should.
Non-whiny stuff:
I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year. The girls are getting so excited about Santa coming. At dinner last night, Anisa looks over at me and says, "Only two mare days until Christmas Eve, daddy!" and had the hugest smile on her face and a twinkle, a gleam, and maybe even some sugar plums dancing in her eyes. Jasmine is still not quite old enough to really "get" it all yet, but she's feeding off everyone else's excitement and is bubbling about it too.
I can't wait until we put the presents out tomorrow; they've stayed in our closet so far since the first present we put out didn't last more than a couple of hours before the girls decided it needed to be unwrapped. I guess we'll just have to wait until next year to try having presents stacked out there for a couple of weeks. :)
Alright, time to head to work. Whee!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Late night ramblings
• Man, there are a lot of crazies out there in the world of blogging. Every so often, I'll go through the Feedjit link here on the blog to see what else is being written around the area or browse the Google blog search and just read. Maybe tonight was abnormal, but I found several blogs that just sounded like the rantings of paranoid schizophrenics in the midst of a meltdown - only the posts have been coming for months now! With some of the hatred and prejudice I encountered, it made me a little uncomfortable seeing the dark underbelly of the First Amendment. I'm not of a mind to want to silence these folks by any means, but wow there's some crazy shite out there on the Wild 'n' Wooly Interwebs.
• I hate upset stomachs. I went to bed almost 2 hours ago, and couldn't sleep, which led to my stroll through Blogland. I should know by now not to eat snacks before bed!!
• Anisa was so funny on the phone when I called home during my lunch break. "Daddy, we got the good cheesy poofs! Not the ones that taste awful, like at Jake and Jenny's!" I was glad I was stopped at a red light at the time; I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. We spent the weekend up in Columbia with our friends. Their daughter is about nine months old now and had some of the baby cheese poofs as a starter food. As you can tell, they were not a big hit with Anisa. Jasmine, however, LOVED them. I think she likes the "good" ones even better, though. It was a fun weekend all around, though. I just wish I'd been in a better frame of mind so I could enjoy it a bit more. Everything that came down last week at work was just weighing on my mind.
I mean, could I have picked a worse time to be promoted? Well, I'm sure there are worse circumstances than this, but it still sucks. I wanted to be playing with numbers and coding some stuff up for the web, not jostling job duties and telling people that, like it or not, you're going to be moving to some night shifts. Maybe it's just me, but if there are 4 fewer people working at putting out a product, shouldn't that product be reduced by something close to 4 people's worth of work? Instead, we get to "do more with less!" Sure, we're cutting our output a little bit, but I'd bet that it isn't even close to 40 hours a week worth, let alone 160. Instead, we focus on efficiency and workflow. Layoffs are a big enough hit to employee morale, but working them harder when they were already being asked to do a lot is not going to make things better. I just hope that three months from now, everyone at work can look back and see this as the low point.
• At least there looks to be some hope for an auto industry bailout. On an objective level, I'm not overly thrilled by it. There's a reason why the U.S. companies are in the position they are, while foreign auto makers are still thriving (though not without suffering in this economic climate). They've made bad choices for years - decades even - and didn't have a plan on how to survive if everything went in the crapper. So now, the taxpayers should foot the bill? Ugh, how crappy. I understand there is a bigger picture here that it affects and it's probably in the best interest of the economy as a whole to try and prop them up until things get better, much like bailing out AIG was probably a good thing for the long-term health of the economy. It doesn't mean I have to enjoy it.
On a purely selfish level, I'm absolutely ecstatic about this. The one thing the print media industry can't afford is an even bigger loss in ad revenue from the auto companies. There's already been a big drop, and if any of the Detroit Three had gone under, that would have been a huge loss for us, too. We probably would have been looking at another round of staff cuts in our near future, and that's something I don't want to see again for at least another decade.
I keep hoping that the plan that was put in place factored in the projected troubles of the next year (and that those projections are either accurate or overestimated the troubles we'll face). I just want to be able to hold on to what we have, make it through this rough patch, and come out on the other side better for the experience. I don't want to be part of a company that goes through bankruptcy like the Tribune company has. I'm still shocked that the company that owns the LA Times and the Chicago Tribune is hurting that bad. I hope the commentary that they're the exception rather than the expectation for newspapers holds true.
• I hate upset stomachs. I went to bed almost 2 hours ago, and couldn't sleep, which led to my stroll through Blogland. I should know by now not to eat snacks before bed!!
• Anisa was so funny on the phone when I called home during my lunch break. "Daddy, we got the good cheesy poofs! Not the ones that taste awful, like at Jake and Jenny's!" I was glad I was stopped at a red light at the time; I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. We spent the weekend up in Columbia with our friends. Their daughter is about nine months old now and had some of the baby cheese poofs as a starter food. As you can tell, they were not a big hit with Anisa. Jasmine, however, LOVED them. I think she likes the "good" ones even better, though. It was a fun weekend all around, though. I just wish I'd been in a better frame of mind so I could enjoy it a bit more. Everything that came down last week at work was just weighing on my mind.
I mean, could I have picked a worse time to be promoted? Well, I'm sure there are worse circumstances than this, but it still sucks. I wanted to be playing with numbers and coding some stuff up for the web, not jostling job duties and telling people that, like it or not, you're going to be moving to some night shifts. Maybe it's just me, but if there are 4 fewer people working at putting out a product, shouldn't that product be reduced by something close to 4 people's worth of work? Instead, we get to "do more with less!" Sure, we're cutting our output a little bit, but I'd bet that it isn't even close to 40 hours a week worth, let alone 160. Instead, we focus on efficiency and workflow. Layoffs are a big enough hit to employee morale, but working them harder when they were already being asked to do a lot is not going to make things better. I just hope that three months from now, everyone at work can look back and see this as the low point.
• At least there looks to be some hope for an auto industry bailout. On an objective level, I'm not overly thrilled by it. There's a reason why the U.S. companies are in the position they are, while foreign auto makers are still thriving (though not without suffering in this economic climate). They've made bad choices for years - decades even - and didn't have a plan on how to survive if everything went in the crapper. So now, the taxpayers should foot the bill? Ugh, how crappy. I understand there is a bigger picture here that it affects and it's probably in the best interest of the economy as a whole to try and prop them up until things get better, much like bailing out AIG was probably a good thing for the long-term health of the economy. It doesn't mean I have to enjoy it.
On a purely selfish level, I'm absolutely ecstatic about this. The one thing the print media industry can't afford is an even bigger loss in ad revenue from the auto companies. There's already been a big drop, and if any of the Detroit Three had gone under, that would have been a huge loss for us, too. We probably would have been looking at another round of staff cuts in our near future, and that's something I don't want to see again for at least another decade.
I keep hoping that the plan that was put in place factored in the projected troubles of the next year (and that those projections are either accurate or overestimated the troubles we'll face). I just want to be able to hold on to what we have, make it through this rough patch, and come out on the other side better for the experience. I don't want to be part of a company that goes through bankruptcy like the Tribune company has. I'm still shocked that the company that owns the LA Times and the Chicago Tribune is hurting that bad. I hope the commentary that they're the exception rather than the expectation for newspapers holds true.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Day of reckoning
Well, I did my duty and went out to vote this morning. The polls opened at 6 a.m., and the whole family was out of the car and in line at 6:05. There were probably 200 or so people ahead of us, with maybe 30-40 of them were standing outside. It moved pretty quickly, only taking 33 minutes to go from joining the line to putting my ballot in the box and leaving.
The girls were so funny while we were waiting. You can tell they've been listening to their parents, because they quite often will ask, "Can we go see Obama? Is that Obama? Where's Obama?" and this morning was no different. We had talked to them about keeping who we're voting for a "secret" so that they wouldn't be inadvertently electioneering at the polling place, but several times in line they asked, "Mom, can we get an Obama sticker? Are we going to see Obama yet?", which drew chuckles from everyone around us in line.
Now it's time to sit back and wait for results while I spend the whole day working my butt off. This is the one part of election days that is so bittersweet for me - I'm always so excited to exercise my right to vote, but it's dampened by the fact that election days are some of the longest, most hectic nights of work for me. And that's just based on being in Wyoming, where elections aren't even that hotly contested or have any where close to the population of Missouri.
I'm amazed at the predictions of turnout. Several places have predicted 70% or higher turnout in Missouri - if that holds, that would be 2,805,021 based on the Secretary of State's numbers from 2006. That's huge! And it doesn't even include however many new voters have joined the ranks in the last year as part of the most interesting election of my lifetime. After bottoming out in 1996 with less than 50% voter turnout, I hope to see us smash the national record of 63.06% set in 1960 - I think it's going to be easily surpassed. And the 122 million that turned out in 2004? Easily going to blown away. I wouldn't be shocked to see it come close to or even pass 200 million!
The girls were so funny while we were waiting. You can tell they've been listening to their parents, because they quite often will ask, "Can we go see Obama? Is that Obama? Where's Obama?" and this morning was no different. We had talked to them about keeping who we're voting for a "secret" so that they wouldn't be inadvertently electioneering at the polling place, but several times in line they asked, "Mom, can we get an Obama sticker? Are we going to see Obama yet?", which drew chuckles from everyone around us in line.
Now it's time to sit back and wait for results while I spend the whole day working my butt off. This is the one part of election days that is so bittersweet for me - I'm always so excited to exercise my right to vote, but it's dampened by the fact that election days are some of the longest, most hectic nights of work for me. And that's just based on being in Wyoming, where elections aren't even that hotly contested or have any where close to the population of Missouri.
I'm amazed at the predictions of turnout. Several places have predicted 70% or higher turnout in Missouri - if that holds, that would be 2,805,021 based on the Secretary of State's numbers from 2006. That's huge! And it doesn't even include however many new voters have joined the ranks in the last year as part of the most interesting election of my lifetime. After bottoming out in 1996 with less than 50% voter turnout, I hope to see us smash the national record of 63.06% set in 1960 - I think it's going to be easily surpassed. And the 122 million that turned out in 2004? Easily going to blown away. I wouldn't be shocked to see it come close to or even pass 200 million!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Mish-mash
• Hmmm, Phillies and Rays in the World Series? I'm not overly surprised by the Phils, but the Rays are just such a shock. I know, I've had the whole season to come to terms with the fact that they are for real, but I'm still shocked. Having no real preference for who wins, I'll have to throw my support behind the Rays just because of their story. "Worst-to-first" is such a cool thing to see that it makes me smile a bit.
• NEWS ALERT: The Cowboys didn't lose this week! Despite 73 turnovers and 0 yards in offense, Wyoming managed to eke out a 0-0 tie against their Bye Week.
• Bullet points make it look like I have a lot to say even when it's just a bunch of random crap I feel like talking about. This is one of the key points I learned in college. Aren't edumacation great and stuff? Still, I've enjoyed being able to write on here, even if a lot of it is just random and inconsequential stuff like this. It's a good outlet for stuff I think about and mean to say, but just never remember to.
• As much as the thought of her being president scares me, I thought Sarah Palin did well on Saturday Night Live this weekend. And it's sad to me that she seems more qualified to be on a sketch comedy show than in the White House and yet is still a nominee for vice president...
• We had a ton of photos taken at the park this weekend. One of Kim's friends is looking to break into photography and was willing to do them for free to help build her portfolio, so we said sure. I'll have to post a couple photos when we get them back - some are SOOOOOO cute! For the last bit of it, we got Anisa (flying unicorn) and Jasmine (Minnie Mouse) into their Halloween costumes and let them run around and play in the park while snapping pictures. As we were getting ready to leave, a handful of ducks walked up out of the pond/lake to check us out and see if we had any bread to feed them. The girls were just thrilled that the ducks had come up to say "Hi!" to them! :)
• NEWS ALERT: The Cowboys didn't lose this week! Despite 73 turnovers and 0 yards in offense, Wyoming managed to eke out a 0-0 tie against their Bye Week.
• Bullet points make it look like I have a lot to say even when it's just a bunch of random crap I feel like talking about. This is one of the key points I learned in college. Aren't edumacation great and stuff? Still, I've enjoyed being able to write on here, even if a lot of it is just random and inconsequential stuff like this. It's a good outlet for stuff I think about and mean to say, but just never remember to.
• As much as the thought of her being president scares me, I thought Sarah Palin did well on Saturday Night Live this weekend. And it's sad to me that she seems more qualified to be on a sketch comedy show than in the White House and yet is still a nominee for vice president...
• We had a ton of photos taken at the park this weekend. One of Kim's friends is looking to break into photography and was willing to do them for free to help build her portfolio, so we said sure. I'll have to post a couple photos when we get them back - some are SOOOOOO cute! For the last bit of it, we got Anisa (flying unicorn) and Jasmine (Minnie Mouse) into their Halloween costumes and let them run around and play in the park while snapping pictures. As we were getting ready to leave, a handful of ducks walked up out of the pond/lake to check us out and see if we had any bread to feed them. The girls were just thrilled that the ducks had come up to say "Hi!" to them! :)
Friday, October 17, 2008
Kiddo cuteness
The girls have been so cute lately - Anisa has grasped the concept of singing and has been learning the words, so I keep finding her singing as she goes around the house. I had to go into her room last night after bedtime and tell her to sing in a whisper because she was going to wake up her sister! And Jasmine is trying to be just like big sister now - she's only picked up words to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" so far, but any time I sing it or it's playing in the room, she'll jump right in with her sister and try to sing away. It's so awesome to hear them both crooning away in their cute little girl voices!
I keep being amazed by just how much information Anisa absorbs from everything around her. This week, she's been fascinated with bones and wants a skeleton for Christmas to learn more about dem bones. There's some show on On-Demand that takes "Dry Bones" and has dancing skeletons illustrating each bone they're talking about in the song and then it goes back and gives an explanation of just what the foot bone is made of and what it does to help us stand, walk, etc. Well, Anisa just keeps dropping little knowledge nuggets that she picked up from that on me - "You can't stand without your backbone, daddy!" - and it's just so cool.
I keep being amazed by just how much information Anisa absorbs from everything around her. This week, she's been fascinated with bones and wants a skeleton for Christmas to learn more about dem bones. There's some show on On-Demand that takes "Dry Bones" and has dancing skeletons illustrating each bone they're talking about in the song and then it goes back and gives an explanation of just what the foot bone is made of and what it does to help us stand, walk, etc. Well, Anisa just keeps dropping little knowledge nuggets that she picked up from that on me - "You can't stand without your backbone, daddy!" - and it's just so cool.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
A little bit of everything
• Well, the 'Pokes took on another Top 20 behemoth from the land of Mormon. And the result was similar to last time - a 40-7 walloping by No. 14 Utah. Hey, at least they scored this time, right?
• I might have been just a tad early on the Dodgers bandwagon. Going down 2-0 to the Phillies is not a good way to start the NLCS, but it's not over yet. If anyone other than Manny and Ethier could get some offense going, the Dodgers still have a shot. And if the Rays and Sox keep beating up on each other they way they are and go to seven games, that might open the door for whoever comes out of the NL to steal the Series.
• I'm thinking the Broncos really need to invest in some Super Glue™ after their first half against Jacksonville so far. It's pretty sad when you're this offensive juggernaut and have dominated the game, but turnovers have sent you into halftime down 10-7. This should easily be a 21-10 lead for the Broncos but they're taking notes from Wyoming on how to kill any chance of winning by turning it over whenever they get a chance.
• I have to give John McCain credit for the exceedingly noble and humane gesture of having the courage to stand up and publicly admit that, no, Barack Obama is not actually an Arab. No other politician would have had the intestinal fortitude to, you know, actually admit the truth and correct one of the lies out there that has been boosting his support. And yes, there's just this tiny, eensie weensie bit of biting sarcasm there. I mean, c'mon, when his own ads have been doing everything they can to cast this mysterious light on Obama's background (when there's two full memoirs in print and widely read that document his background), how can he expect the less-than-diligent followers out there to think anything else?
With all the hate and anger the McCain campaign (not necessarily McCain himself) has been pumping into this race, McCain should have been putting out the word a month ago that the sort of hate and rhetoric that's been circulating was simply false and way over the top. Instead, he corrects some ignorant bumpkin lady that states Obama is an Arab and I hear pundits calling him such a good guy for doing it. Ugh.
• Following up on my earlier post about the electoral college race, I've been taking a look at fivethirtyeight.com the last couple of days. It takes a much more computational approach to interpreting the polls, with various polls weighted based on past performance and agreement with simulations of outcomes. These guys cut their teeth working on statistical analysis of baseball and have done some impressive work there, so I'm interested to see how close their projections come to the poll predictions and to actual results.
• I wish I would have had the camera with me a little bit ago. On the way home from Wal-Mart, Anisa found a red pen and managed to almost entirely cover her legs with red ink... sooo funny! The best part was when she was trying to pull her skirt down on the walk to the front door to try and cover all the pen on her legs, saying, "Jasmine is going to be mad when she sees what I did."
• I might have been just a tad early on the Dodgers bandwagon. Going down 2-0 to the Phillies is not a good way to start the NLCS, but it's not over yet. If anyone other than Manny and Ethier could get some offense going, the Dodgers still have a shot. And if the Rays and Sox keep beating up on each other they way they are and go to seven games, that might open the door for whoever comes out of the NL to steal the Series.
• I'm thinking the Broncos really need to invest in some Super Glue™ after their first half against Jacksonville so far. It's pretty sad when you're this offensive juggernaut and have dominated the game, but turnovers have sent you into halftime down 10-7. This should easily be a 21-10 lead for the Broncos but they're taking notes from Wyoming on how to kill any chance of winning by turning it over whenever they get a chance.
• I have to give John McCain credit for the exceedingly noble and humane gesture of having the courage to stand up and publicly admit that, no, Barack Obama is not actually an Arab. No other politician would have had the intestinal fortitude to, you know, actually admit the truth and correct one of the lies out there that has been boosting his support. And yes, there's just this tiny, eensie weensie bit of biting sarcasm there. I mean, c'mon, when his own ads have been doing everything they can to cast this mysterious light on Obama's background (when there's two full memoirs in print and widely read that document his background), how can he expect the less-than-diligent followers out there to think anything else?
With all the hate and anger the McCain campaign (not necessarily McCain himself) has been pumping into this race, McCain should have been putting out the word a month ago that the sort of hate and rhetoric that's been circulating was simply false and way over the top. Instead, he corrects some ignorant bumpkin lady that states Obama is an Arab and I hear pundits calling him such a good guy for doing it. Ugh.
• Following up on my earlier post about the electoral college race, I've been taking a look at fivethirtyeight.com the last couple of days. It takes a much more computational approach to interpreting the polls, with various polls weighted based on past performance and agreement with simulations of outcomes. These guys cut their teeth working on statistical analysis of baseball and have done some impressive work there, so I'm interested to see how close their projections come to the poll predictions and to actual results.
• I wish I would have had the camera with me a little bit ago. On the way home from Wal-Mart, Anisa found a red pen and managed to almost entirely cover her legs with red ink... sooo funny! The best part was when she was trying to pull her skirt down on the walk to the front door to try and cover all the pen on her legs, saying, "Jasmine is going to be mad when she sees what I did."
Friday, October 10, 2008
And now for something entirely dif... well, not really all that different
Yeah, I've been focusing on the economy a lot lately, but it's been kind of hard not to. Not only is it a financial crisis of truly historical proportions (not to mention a perfect example of what unfettered and unchecked greed can result in), but through the mortgage markets it's having a profound effect on average people the way that 1972 and 1987 really didn't. Plus, it doesn't help that I've been neck deep in looking at mortgages and foreclosures in the area to try and make sense of the local impact as part of my work.
So now, I feel like writing something that has nothing to do with that.
• I'm jealous of Kim and the kids right now. While I was slaving away at work yesterday, they got to go to The Discovery Center here in Springfield. They got to dig for dino bones, see a giant tornado, turn on lights to see animals in the cave, and take turns running the Human Hamster Wheel. The girls were so excited about it when they picked me up from work yesterday, it really made me wish I could have been there. Had I been on my old schedule, I probably would have gone with them. Of course, on my old schedule, we (the adults, at least) probably would have been tired from only managing 5 hours of sleep and might have simply not gone, so I guess it's a trade off. Still, I definitely want to go with them one of these weeks soon.
• I'm getting more and more excited about the Rachael Yamagata concert. I feel like a giddy teenager again when I was thrilled about getting to see Ani for the first time. Not only that, but I get to see Alice Russell as part of the show, too! She'd been on my list of artists to get more of since I'd heard her with Quantic, but once I find out she'd be part of the concert, I went out and picked up "My Favourite Letters" and I've been seriously digging it. It's been on a pretty steady rotation in the car for my 40-50 minutes of driving to and from work each day.
• Ugh, that reminds me. I hate commuting. HATE it. And I know, it's not really commuting since I'm just driving from the south side of town to the middle of the city, but it still sucks. I never realized how lucky and convenient it was to live a total of 5 blocks away from work in Wyoming.
• This whole blog thing has been nice. Not that very many people read it, but it's still nice to have an outlet for things. Instead of losing all the random crap that floats through my head during the day, now I can manage to capture 1 or 2 of those thoughts and pretend to be a writer. Hey, at least my grammar and spelling are pretty good, right? :D
• Pizza. I like it. So there.
• You know, it sure seems like the Dodgers are going to be this year's Rockies. They're going to be the surprise team of the playoffs and then get absolutely spanked by the winner of the Boston/Tampa series, which should be a heck of a battle. I've got say, the whole Manny vs. the Red Sox storyline is an interesting one. Of course, it will get so overplayed and blown out of proportion if they meet in the World Series that I'll absolutely hate the story. I'm just wondering, how many times has a superstar-caliber player been traded mid-season and then met his former team in the championship that same year? I mean, in ANY sport. I honestly can't remember this ever happening, but I'm not the biggest sports geek in the world either so I could easily be wrong.
So now, I feel like writing something that has nothing to do with that.
• I'm jealous of Kim and the kids right now. While I was slaving away at work yesterday, they got to go to The Discovery Center here in Springfield. They got to dig for dino bones, see a giant tornado, turn on lights to see animals in the cave, and take turns running the Human Hamster Wheel. The girls were so excited about it when they picked me up from work yesterday, it really made me wish I could have been there. Had I been on my old schedule, I probably would have gone with them. Of course, on my old schedule, we (the adults, at least) probably would have been tired from only managing 5 hours of sleep and might have simply not gone, so I guess it's a trade off. Still, I definitely want to go with them one of these weeks soon.
• I'm getting more and more excited about the Rachael Yamagata concert. I feel like a giddy teenager again when I was thrilled about getting to see Ani for the first time. Not only that, but I get to see Alice Russell as part of the show, too! She'd been on my list of artists to get more of since I'd heard her with Quantic, but once I find out she'd be part of the concert, I went out and picked up "My Favourite Letters" and I've been seriously digging it. It's been on a pretty steady rotation in the car for my 40-50 minutes of driving to and from work each day.
• Ugh, that reminds me. I hate commuting. HATE it. And I know, it's not really commuting since I'm just driving from the south side of town to the middle of the city, but it still sucks. I never realized how lucky and convenient it was to live a total of 5 blocks away from work in Wyoming.
• This whole blog thing has been nice. Not that very many people read it, but it's still nice to have an outlet for things. Instead of losing all the random crap that floats through my head during the day, now I can manage to capture 1 or 2 of those thoughts and pretend to be a writer. Hey, at least my grammar and spelling are pretty good, right? :D
• Pizza. I like it. So there.
• You know, it sure seems like the Dodgers are going to be this year's Rockies. They're going to be the surprise team of the playoffs and then get absolutely spanked by the winner of the Boston/Tampa series, which should be a heck of a battle. I've got say, the whole Manny vs. the Red Sox storyline is an interesting one. Of course, it will get so overplayed and blown out of proportion if they meet in the World Series that I'll absolutely hate the story. I'm just wondering, how many times has a superstar-caliber player been traded mid-season and then met his former team in the championship that same year? I mean, in ANY sport. I honestly can't remember this ever happening, but I'm not the biggest sports geek in the world either so I could easily be wrong.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Never fails to deliver a laugh
If you have the time to spare and don't mind laughing out loud (meaning - this might not be the best thing to read at work), check out the Fail Blog to see the idiocy and miscues of humanity at their funniest.
Kid stuff
Apparently, Jasmine counted to ELEVEN by herself this morning. How did this happen? She hasn't even counted to two, and now she's up to 11? Heck, Anisa's got a year and a half on her and is only counting to 8 consistently.
Anisa has finally grasped the concept of "Why?" recently. I've been waiting for this to happen, and it's such a huge leap in logic. It means she's finally connected the dots on cause and effect; she knows there's a reason things happen now, which is just awesome. Of course, it also means that most requests and statements are now followed by her asking, "Why? But why, daddy?", which adds a whole new level of discussion. At least I already know the 2 ways to answer that and end a conversation: "Because" and "Why not?"
We picked up some of the Wizard of Oz dolls the McDonalds has been selling recently, and they're a huge hit. Both girls have been playing with them all the time and insisting on taking them to bed with them.
Quick question: Is there a remedy out there for the post-waking-up grumpiness? Both girls are relentlessly grumpy for about an hour or so after they wake up in the mornings or after a nap. It's not fun.
One thing I love about the girls is that they're so into reading. They absolutely love sitting down with their books and reading stories. One thing I worried about going into this whole parenting thing was that having all the TV and video and computer stuff would make them not appreciated books at all. That worry has been completely unwarranted. It's something we'll have to keep encouraging as they get older, but there's definitely a solid foundation there for them to build on.
Kid stuff
Apparently, Jasmine counted to ELEVEN by herself this morning. How did this happen? She hasn't even counted to two, and now she's up to 11? Heck, Anisa's got a year and a half on her and is only counting to 8 consistently.
Anisa has finally grasped the concept of "Why?" recently. I've been waiting for this to happen, and it's such a huge leap in logic. It means she's finally connected the dots on cause and effect; she knows there's a reason things happen now, which is just awesome. Of course, it also means that most requests and statements are now followed by her asking, "Why? But why, daddy?", which adds a whole new level of discussion. At least I already know the 2 ways to answer that and end a conversation: "Because" and "Why not?"
We picked up some of the Wizard of Oz dolls the McDonalds has been selling recently, and they're a huge hit. Both girls have been playing with them all the time and insisting on taking them to bed with them.
Quick question: Is there a remedy out there for the post-waking-up grumpiness? Both girls are relentlessly grumpy for about an hour or so after they wake up in the mornings or after a nap. It's not fun.
One thing I love about the girls is that they're so into reading. They absolutely love sitting down with their books and reading stories. One thing I worried about going into this whole parenting thing was that having all the TV and video and computer stuff would make them not appreciated books at all. That worry has been completely unwarranted. It's something we'll have to keep encouraging as they get older, but there's definitely a solid foundation there for them to build on.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Grown-ups getting a play date
It seems like it has been an eternity since I was able to go to a concert. But come November, that streak will be at an end!
I'll be attending a show for Rachael Yamagata as part of the Hotel Cafe Tour at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis on Nov. 8. I'm so freakin' excited!! She's one of my absolute favorite artists and the fact that I get to actually take a day to do some grown-up stuff without the kids makes it that much better. An added bonus is that Alice Russell is also scheduled to perform that night. From what I've heard of her singing with Quantic and the samples of her solo material I've stumbled across, she's someone high on my list of music to add to the collection - and now I get to see her live!
Since the move to Missouri, the extent of events we've been able to manage that didn't include the kiddos was catching the Simpsons movie at the theater in August... of 2007! I absolutely love being a dad, but sometimes I really miss the freedom of not having kids to worry about and plan around. A big thanks to Kim's friend Jenni for stepping up to watch the kids overnight that night. We owe her big time!! :)
Kid stuff
Man, the kids just keep growing up faster and faster. Anisa has started to pick up the concept of reading and words. She's started pointing to a word and asking, "What's that word say?" and even started to recognize certain words. Not really reading them, but if you point to "cat" and ask her what word it is, she knows.
Kim has started Anisa on the path of juvenile humor already. Momma taught her the joke: "Guess what?" "Chicken butt!" and Anisa has gone on to improvise so that the answer can be "* butt!" - "Anisa butt!" "Xanadu butt!" and my personal favorite, "Computer butt!" I can't wait until she's in preschool next year and we get a call from the teacher about this joke being abused during class.
Jasmine, meanwhile, is doing her best to catch up to her sister. She's putting together sentences and is really getting a grasp on language. She knows pretty much all her basic colors now and is starting to learn her numbers and letters. I'm amazed at how much of a help having big sister around is. When they play in the bathtub or with the fridge magnets, Anisa will ask her to get a certain letter or certain color and help her get it right. It's sooo cool to see.
Almost as cool as seeing how their cooperative play has blossomed in the last couple of months. For a long time, they just played side by side - together, but not really playing with each other. Now, it's rare to see them playing alone. Anisa has been fixated on Jasmine being her "sweetie" lately. "Hey sweetie - let's play bookstore!" "Hey dad, that's my sweetie" "Sweetie needs a new pull-up. Stinky butt!!"
I'll be attending a show for Rachael Yamagata as part of the Hotel Cafe Tour at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis on Nov. 8. I'm so freakin' excited!! She's one of my absolute favorite artists and the fact that I get to actually take a day to do some grown-up stuff without the kids makes it that much better. An added bonus is that Alice Russell is also scheduled to perform that night. From what I've heard of her singing with Quantic and the samples of her solo material I've stumbled across, she's someone high on my list of music to add to the collection - and now I get to see her live!
Since the move to Missouri, the extent of events we've been able to manage that didn't include the kiddos was catching the Simpsons movie at the theater in August... of 2007! I absolutely love being a dad, but sometimes I really miss the freedom of not having kids to worry about and plan around. A big thanks to Kim's friend Jenni for stepping up to watch the kids overnight that night. We owe her big time!! :)
Kid stuff
Man, the kids just keep growing up faster and faster. Anisa has started to pick up the concept of reading and words. She's started pointing to a word and asking, "What's that word say?" and even started to recognize certain words. Not really reading them, but if you point to "cat" and ask her what word it is, she knows.
Kim has started Anisa on the path of juvenile humor already. Momma taught her the joke: "Guess what?" "Chicken butt!" and Anisa has gone on to improvise so that the answer can be "* butt!" - "Anisa butt!" "Xanadu butt!" and my personal favorite, "Computer butt!" I can't wait until she's in preschool next year and we get a call from the teacher about this joke being abused during class.
Jasmine, meanwhile, is doing her best to catch up to her sister. She's putting together sentences and is really getting a grasp on language. She knows pretty much all her basic colors now and is starting to learn her numbers and letters. I'm amazed at how much of a help having big sister around is. When they play in the bathtub or with the fridge magnets, Anisa will ask her to get a certain letter or certain color and help her get it right. It's sooo cool to see.
Almost as cool as seeing how their cooperative play has blossomed in the last couple of months. For a long time, they just played side by side - together, but not really playing with each other. Now, it's rare to see them playing alone. Anisa has been fixated on Jasmine being her "sweetie" lately. "Hey sweetie - let's play bookstore!" "Hey dad, that's my sweetie" "Sweetie needs a new pull-up. Stinky butt!!"
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Busy couple of weeks
Well, I had planned to write again sooner, but it looks like every 2 weeks is about when I manage to get my blog on. So here I am.
It's been totally hectic lately. Kim's surgery went well. The back pain is totally gone; now she just has to heal and recover from the surgery itself. The only negative out of the whole thing was her wedding ring. She swelled up from all the IV fluid they pumped into her to the point that the ring was starting to cut off circulation in her finger. After trying to get it off, they asked her if they could cut it off. In the midst of her pre-surgery drugs, her response was, "Do whatever you need to do to my finger just don't cut my ring." Good thing they didn't listen to her! So, her ring ended up a casualty of the surgery. We'll have to see about getting it fixed, since they were decent enough to cut it on the plain metal spacer portion of the ring rather than in the middle of the Celtic design portion.
Kim's sister Tracy has been out here helping us for the last week, and that's been a huge thing. I took care of Kim and the kids myself for the first week after surgery and that was... a lot of work. I made it through ok, but there was a lot of frustration and very little sleep. Tracy's has helped out so much that it's more than made up for the extra work of taking care of four kids instead of two (since she brought her kids out as well). It's been nice meeting Tyler and Kaylee and getting to play at being Uncle for a while.
One thing it's certainly convinced me of: NO WAY IN HELL do I want more kids. One was challenging. Two has been hard. Four? A very trying experience, and that's with 3 adults to keep track of them all. How do people manage? I just don't see how you keep all those kids under control at the same time, especially those single moms with that many kids.
My dad got here today to help with the next phase of Kim's recovery. Tracy is leaving on Tuesday and Jasmine's birthday is tomorrow. I'm glad he'll be here for it. Both kids were so excited to see him today. I always love seeing the smiles on their faces when we open the door and *BAM* There's Grandpa!!
On the work front, things are both good and bad. We faced the first round of layoffs since I've been here, with minimal damage to the newsroom thankfully. What's nice for me is that led to my promotion-on-top-of-my-promotion. I'll be starting the new job around the 15th of this month, unless things get crazy again. As usual. So we'll see how that goes. I'm excited about diving in to some databases and getting my feet wet with some Computer Assisted Reporting.
Yeah, that's about it for now. I'll be keeping an eye on the news for what happens with all this Hurricane Gustav stuff. Looks like things may get ugly again down there. Blech.
It's been totally hectic lately. Kim's surgery went well. The back pain is totally gone; now she just has to heal and recover from the surgery itself. The only negative out of the whole thing was her wedding ring. She swelled up from all the IV fluid they pumped into her to the point that the ring was starting to cut off circulation in her finger. After trying to get it off, they asked her if they could cut it off. In the midst of her pre-surgery drugs, her response was, "Do whatever you need to do to my finger just don't cut my ring." Good thing they didn't listen to her! So, her ring ended up a casualty of the surgery. We'll have to see about getting it fixed, since they were decent enough to cut it on the plain metal spacer portion of the ring rather than in the middle of the Celtic design portion.
Kim's sister Tracy has been out here helping us for the last week, and that's been a huge thing. I took care of Kim and the kids myself for the first week after surgery and that was... a lot of work. I made it through ok, but there was a lot of frustration and very little sleep. Tracy's has helped out so much that it's more than made up for the extra work of taking care of four kids instead of two (since she brought her kids out as well). It's been nice meeting Tyler and Kaylee and getting to play at being Uncle for a while.
One thing it's certainly convinced me of: NO WAY IN HELL do I want more kids. One was challenging. Two has been hard. Four? A very trying experience, and that's with 3 adults to keep track of them all. How do people manage? I just don't see how you keep all those kids under control at the same time, especially those single moms with that many kids.
My dad got here today to help with the next phase of Kim's recovery. Tracy is leaving on Tuesday and Jasmine's birthday is tomorrow. I'm glad he'll be here for it. Both kids were so excited to see him today. I always love seeing the smiles on their faces when we open the door and *BAM* There's Grandpa!!
On the work front, things are both good and bad. We faced the first round of layoffs since I've been here, with minimal damage to the newsroom thankfully. What's nice for me is that led to my promotion-on-top-of-my-promotion. I'll be starting the new job around the 15th of this month, unless things get crazy again. As usual. So we'll see how that goes. I'm excited about diving in to some databases and getting my feet wet with some Computer Assisted Reporting.
Yeah, that's about it for now. I'll be keeping an eye on the news for what happens with all this Hurricane Gustav stuff. Looks like things may get ugly again down there. Blech.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Hecticness abounds
Life has a funny way of ganging up on you and doing weird things. Recent events are such a illustration of the yin-yang principle that it makes me think.
See, I'm moving into a new position at work in a little over two weeks. I'll be doing stuff that I really want to do - working with databases and finding a way to actually do some hands-on journalism with all the computer skills floating around in my brain, rather than just making the journalism that others do look pretty when I put it on a page or proofread it. I don't regret having been a copy editor the last few years at all by any means. It's been fun and enjoyable for the most part (yes, I actually did enjoy most of my time at the Rumorang despite all the crap I dealt with there), but most of all, it's brought me to where I am now and helped me find a way to put all of my interests together. So now, I'm going to be kind of professionally multi-tasking, which is really what I've always wanted to do without knowing precisely how to define it. I've wanted to find a way to harness my computer geekery and combine it with my interest in history, politics, creativity - information, really. And now, here's my chance. So that's the yin.
Meanwhile, the yang is the downer side of life. We've found out in the last day or so that Kim is going to need back surgery to avoid possible paralysis from the spinal disc that is pushing and encroaching on her spine. So, I'll be taking some time off work to take care of her and the kids (until the cavalry shows up in the form of my dad and/or her sister to help out - thanks you guys if you happen to read this!!) right when I'm supposed to be starting my new position. We haven't been able to pin down a date with the doctor's office yet for the surgery, but hopefully Monday or Tuesday will have more answers.
Other than that, things have been good lately. The kiddos have been their own version of this yin-yang dichotomy of life. On one hand, they're some of the sweetest girls. It just makes me melt when the oldest comes up to me with a giant hug and says, "I love you Daddy", just out of the blue. On the other hand, finding they've pulled all the stuffing out of the pillows (again!!) or decided to take their filled potty seat into their room to play with just makes me want to pull my hair out. Kids bring a whole new perspective on "bittersweet".
Speaking of kids, part of why I wanted to do this was to start keeping track of stuff I want to remember about them and stuff they've been doing, so I'm going to start that now.
Kid notes
1. Anisa is growing up so fast. A few days ago, she started to discover the bad things in life all on her own. They love to play with the newspapers in the house, and one night she said she wanted to talk. "What happens when a house is on fire? I saw a picture of this burning house in the newspaper and it burned and then went boom. Why does that happen? Do the people get hurt and die?" It just floored me. What am I supposed to say to that? How am I supposed to tell a 3-year-old what it's like when a house burns down? So I did the best I could and talked about how sometimes bad things happen and we have police and firemen and medics that are there to help us and take care of us; that things like this are why Mom and Dad are always telling the kids to be careful and watch what they're doing because we don't want there to be any bad things like that which happen to them; that as parents we do everything we can to avoid that stuff. And I've been reading the paper with her since then, talking to her about the pictures and the stories in there and trying to be an interpreter to help explain the world until she can read and try to understand for herself what it's saying. But it's obviously had a big impact on her. Several times since then, she's asked me to talk to her about burning houses and people dying... and it's hard to know just what to say.
2. Jasmine is so cute. She's putting together sentences now and has gone from "Ni-ni" for Goodnight to "Goo night, daaad". She won't go to bed or a nap without asking for "Cheek!" so she can give us a kiss on the cheek before she sleeps. She's learning to be quite naughty from her sister - if you ask if she wants to get her butt spanked, she just grins and smacks her own butt and says "'Pank, 'Pank!" and then runs to her room giggling.
3. Anisa is adding her own sense of adventure to things. In the last few days, I've caught her standing on the windowsill in nothing but her underwear doing a full-body press against the window (yeah, both kids are such little nudists - have to almost duct tape clothes on them to keep them from taking them off!); stuck in the top bunk of her bunkbed, which does NOT have a ladder installed yet; standing on the kitchen counter; and standing on the back of the toilet. Not to mention her jumping off of everything imaginable and her "crazy foot things" where she contorts her body while lifting a foot off the ground in some way.
4. She's also starting to grasp the concept of reading. We've got one book/magazine where there's a story that has a few words that are replaced with pictures of the object instead of just the word. So we'll read it together and when I get to the picture, she'll say the word to complete the sentence. And she's always asking, "What's this word say? What's this page say?" One of these days, she's going to shock me and just read what it says.
Gaming notes
Call me weird, but I'm envisioning this blog more in the sense of a journal to look back on and capture my thoughts and experiences of the moment, rather than the repository for rants and raves that I see so many blogs becoming. I'm sure it will evolve and change as time goes by, but this is how I'm approaching it for now. In that interest, I'm going to keep track of my gaming habits on occasion as far as what I'm playing, what I want to play, what I thought of it.
Right now, Hot Shots Golf Fore! has captured my focus. I've kind of gravitated back to console games on the PS2 after spending the last long while playing games on the computer almost exclusively. It doesn't hurt that I'm trying out Gamefly right now, so I'm getting some variety in there for free/cheap instead of having to drop $$ on buying games. Plus, it gives me a chance to try some of the kid-focused games for the girls, since they've both wanted to play whatever Dad is playing. Someday I want to get a Wii so that they can game with me and do it in a way that's at least somewhat physically involved instead of couch potato gaming, as has been the norm throughout gaming history.
See, I'm moving into a new position at work in a little over two weeks. I'll be doing stuff that I really want to do - working with databases and finding a way to actually do some hands-on journalism with all the computer skills floating around in my brain, rather than just making the journalism that others do look pretty when I put it on a page or proofread it. I don't regret having been a copy editor the last few years at all by any means. It's been fun and enjoyable for the most part (yes, I actually did enjoy most of my time at the Rumorang despite all the crap I dealt with there), but most of all, it's brought me to where I am now and helped me find a way to put all of my interests together. So now, I'm going to be kind of professionally multi-tasking, which is really what I've always wanted to do without knowing precisely how to define it. I've wanted to find a way to harness my computer geekery and combine it with my interest in history, politics, creativity - information, really. And now, here's my chance. So that's the yin.
Meanwhile, the yang is the downer side of life. We've found out in the last day or so that Kim is going to need back surgery to avoid possible paralysis from the spinal disc that is pushing and encroaching on her spine. So, I'll be taking some time off work to take care of her and the kids (until the cavalry shows up in the form of my dad and/or her sister to help out - thanks you guys if you happen to read this!!) right when I'm supposed to be starting my new position. We haven't been able to pin down a date with the doctor's office yet for the surgery, but hopefully Monday or Tuesday will have more answers.
Other than that, things have been good lately. The kiddos have been their own version of this yin-yang dichotomy of life. On one hand, they're some of the sweetest girls. It just makes me melt when the oldest comes up to me with a giant hug and says, "I love you Daddy", just out of the blue. On the other hand, finding they've pulled all the stuffing out of the pillows (again!!) or decided to take their filled potty seat into their room to play with just makes me want to pull my hair out. Kids bring a whole new perspective on "bittersweet".
Speaking of kids, part of why I wanted to do this was to start keeping track of stuff I want to remember about them and stuff they've been doing, so I'm going to start that now.
Kid notes
1. Anisa is growing up so fast. A few days ago, she started to discover the bad things in life all on her own. They love to play with the newspapers in the house, and one night she said she wanted to talk. "What happens when a house is on fire? I saw a picture of this burning house in the newspaper and it burned and then went boom. Why does that happen? Do the people get hurt and die?" It just floored me. What am I supposed to say to that? How am I supposed to tell a 3-year-old what it's like when a house burns down? So I did the best I could and talked about how sometimes bad things happen and we have police and firemen and medics that are there to help us and take care of us; that things like this are why Mom and Dad are always telling the kids to be careful and watch what they're doing because we don't want there to be any bad things like that which happen to them; that as parents we do everything we can to avoid that stuff. And I've been reading the paper with her since then, talking to her about the pictures and the stories in there and trying to be an interpreter to help explain the world until she can read and try to understand for herself what it's saying. But it's obviously had a big impact on her. Several times since then, she's asked me to talk to her about burning houses and people dying... and it's hard to know just what to say.
2. Jasmine is so cute. She's putting together sentences now and has gone from "Ni-ni" for Goodnight to "Goo night, daaad". She won't go to bed or a nap without asking for "Cheek!" so she can give us a kiss on the cheek before she sleeps. She's learning to be quite naughty from her sister - if you ask if she wants to get her butt spanked, she just grins and smacks her own butt and says "'Pank, 'Pank!" and then runs to her room giggling.
3. Anisa is adding her own sense of adventure to things. In the last few days, I've caught her standing on the windowsill in nothing but her underwear doing a full-body press against the window (yeah, both kids are such little nudists - have to almost duct tape clothes on them to keep them from taking them off!); stuck in the top bunk of her bunkbed, which does NOT have a ladder installed yet; standing on the kitchen counter; and standing on the back of the toilet. Not to mention her jumping off of everything imaginable and her "crazy foot things" where she contorts her body while lifting a foot off the ground in some way.
4. She's also starting to grasp the concept of reading. We've got one book/magazine where there's a story that has a few words that are replaced with pictures of the object instead of just the word. So we'll read it together and when I get to the picture, she'll say the word to complete the sentence. And she's always asking, "What's this word say? What's this page say?" One of these days, she's going to shock me and just read what it says.
Gaming notes
Call me weird, but I'm envisioning this blog more in the sense of a journal to look back on and capture my thoughts and experiences of the moment, rather than the repository for rants and raves that I see so many blogs becoming. I'm sure it will evolve and change as time goes by, but this is how I'm approaching it for now. In that interest, I'm going to keep track of my gaming habits on occasion as far as what I'm playing, what I want to play, what I thought of it.
Right now, Hot Shots Golf Fore! has captured my focus. I've kind of gravitated back to console games on the PS2 after spending the last long while playing games on the computer almost exclusively. It doesn't hurt that I'm trying out Gamefly right now, so I'm getting some variety in there for free/cheap instead of having to drop $$ on buying games. Plus, it gives me a chance to try some of the kid-focused games for the girls, since they've both wanted to play whatever Dad is playing. Someday I want to get a Wii so that they can game with me and do it in a way that's at least somewhat physically involved instead of couch potato gaming, as has been the norm throughout gaming history.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
