Random Access

Thursday/Friday – 08/09 January 2014
I was so intent on relaxing after work this evening, that I completely forgot about today’s challenge… until I had been in bed for a couple minutes. But, not wanting to skip a day, I got out of bed to do it.

Day 8: Take some time today to reflect on your career. Jot down a timeline of it, including all the ups and downs. What was your best experience? And the worst? What would you like your future to look like, in terms of your career? If you’re a young man and haven’t started in yet, focus on that future part. What do you want your work to look like?

Work timeline (very high-level view)
I have worked for:

• Architecture firm (high school internship)
• U.S. Postal Service (service employee/supervisor)
• A friend’s auction management start-up (IT/Operations Manager)
• A tech startup… that wound up getting acquired by a larger – much larger –  company (IT)
• A consumer good manufacturer (IT)

I don’t know that I’ve had a “best” and a “worst” work experience. There have been good and bad points at each job. There were things that I loved, as well as things that I absolutely hated. Could I name them? Sure, but looking at the breadth of them, I can say this: All of the experiences have served as places and positions of learning and have helped mold me into the employee that I am today. To borrow a verse from Headlong Flight:

All the journeys
Of this great adventure
It didn’t always feel that way
I wouldn’t trade them
Because I made them
The best I could
And that’s enough to say…

I’ve found that I quite enjoy working in IT; it was something of an unexpected and unplanned career path, but it’s also been a good fit for me. I’ve been fortunate to be in positions learn about and work with current and emergent technologies. And, while some of it’s been a lot of “work” – and has had me nearly at wits’ end on occasion – it’s been fun. Besides, who doesn’t love a good challenge?!

I’d like my future to continue to chart an upward course. Would I like to “get out of the trenches” and into a management track again, someday? Sure, if the right opportunity presents itself. For now, though, I’m happy with what I do.

Namaste.

Monday – 15 December 2014
It’s been longer than I’d planned since my last post. So, let’s get down to business.

The last few weeks have been good. Thanksgiving went well. We managed to host and feed ten people to no ill effect. The girls have been sick. Gotten over it. I’ve been sick. Gotten over it. Sara’s worked a lot – apparently, the end of the year is a busy time for the ballet. The Nutcracker and whatnot. Go figure.

This past weekend, I also got around to installing the trim in the train room. I’ve got three walls done; now it’s just a matter of timing to do the rest. Well, timing and moving a few things. It’s not perfect, but I am proud of  the job. If nothing else, I’ll have a much better idea of what to do – and not do – the next time I have a reason to install baseboards.

Ahead, Christmas. I’m looking forward to it. Not just because “It’s Christmas,” but also because the girls are so excited about it. We started putting up our trees and other decorations a couple of weekends ago. The girls have been going on about “Santa’s going to love our pretty decorations!”

Stray Toasters

• As of this weekend, we have seen Frozen… or, at least, Sara! and I have seen it. We’re not sure if the girls had seen it before. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, but it did surprise me in a couple of places.That said, I do understand Sara!’s irritation with Disney’s current marketing of the movie/DVD: All of the marketing seems to be geared towards Olaf (the snowman) and the Sven (the reindeer), rather than making note that the movie has not one, but TWO, strong female leads. Instead, the current wave points to “Hey, look at these funny characters!”
• Speaking of which: When is the last time that Disney – not Pixar or Marvel – made a movie for kids that didn’t have a wacky animal or magically animated object as a sidekick/comic relief?
• Titanfall is still fun… even when you haven’t played it in three months.
• Pinstripes and Polos – because… self-promotion!
• I can’t play “The Little Drummer Boy Game,” considering that one of my favorite Christmas songs is Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth, by Bing Crosby and David Bowie.
• Two of my least favorite Christmas songs are: Jingle Bell Rock and Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
• [REDACTED]
• I’m about 2/3 of the way through Ace Atkin’s Lullaby, the first post-Robert B. Parker Spenser novel.
  
  It reads very similarly to Parker’s style; there are a few things that seem slightly off – more “slightly out of focus” than “this isn’t even remotely right” – but pretty much reads like I expect a Spenser novel to read.

And that’s it for now; time to finish getting ready for Guys’ Night Out!

Namaste.

Tuesday – 13 October 2014
This was, as the title says, a good weekend.

Friday was a “less than stellar” day at the office. Well, that’s not entirely true. The day started off poorly, but did get better. Friday night, I hung out with Jonni. For a bit. It’s kind of hard to hang out with someone when they’re performing. But we managed. I also got to meet Desi Rexx, formerly of the D’Molls; he was a very nice guy. Pictures here.

Saturday was kind of busy. In the morning, we took a trip to the Pumpkin Point Farms pumpkin patch. Pumpkins. Corn mazes. Tractors. Happy kids.

Team DiVa at the Pumpkin Patch

Saturday afternoon, we took the ladies to the home of their friends Isaac and Julia, for Julia’s second birthday party. The kids played well together.

Saturday evening, we went to the home of our friends, Dean and Marilyn, for Canadian Thanksgiving. As always, it was quite the feast. And the company was good. After we got the girls back home and in bed, Sara and I rounded out the night with Doctor Who: “Mummy on the Orient Express” (Twelfth Doctor) and “Blink” (Tenth Doctor), which is quite possibly my favorite episode of the show.

Don’t. Blink.

Sunday, we woke up, hit our local bagel shop and piled into the car for an excursion to look at fall colors. Our trip took us through Heber City and the Provo/Orem areas. Along the way, we stopped at the Heber Valley Railroad, Deer Creek Reservoir and Vivian Park (the park at the far end of the HVRR’s run). Click here for pictures.

Back home for lunch and naps. And football. Oh, football.

The post-nap afternoon/evening was fairly low-key. We did video calls with family around the country. I truly appreciate that technology allows me to keep in touch with my parents – and sibs – and that we are able to see each other.  I am especially happy about the fact that the girls are able to see their relatives who they, otherwise, wouldn’t get to see more than once a year, if that often.

After bath and bedtime for the girls, Sara! and I watched the season premieres of The Walking Dead and The Talking Dead.

Namaste.

Monday – 06 October 2014
Sara! picked up JD McPherson‘s Signs and Signifiers CD a couple years ago. It’s stayed in pretty much constant rotation in her car’s CD changer.

Team DiVa – being the information/media sponges that they are, coupled with having us for parents – have rather eclectic musical tastes from “The Valkyrie Song” (Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyrie) to Schoolhouse Rock! to Bob Marley to Sesame Street’s C Is For Cookie to The B-52s (Love Shack and Rock Lobster) to Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made For Walking.

That being said, it really doesn’t come as much as a surprise that they sing as much of the chorus of Firebug as they know when it comes up. This happened yesterday, on the way home from the zoo:

.

For those who’d like to hear the full song, click below:

Namaste.

Thursday – 21 August 2014
I’ll just go ahead and apologize up front for this post now.

I found the last picture in this post – HEY! No skipping ahead! – a few years ago. It still makes me laugh. I found the other pictures over the past week, while looking for something totally unrelated.

Separately, they all have their amusing points.

Collectively, they tell something of a story.

I imagine it going a little something like this…

Namaste.

Wednesday – 20 August 2014
Suits. It’s no secret that I like them and that I like wearing them. Sure, there are occasions for wearing suits, but for me, said “occasions” are “practically anytime.'” That sentiment is considered “a little” odd for someone working in a non-management position in IT, where the assumed standard is often t-shirt and jeans or, at most, business casual. But, that’s just the way I’m wired.

This morning, I opted to wear my navy pinstripe suit (with white shirt, red jacquard tie, cordovan loafers, and my Superman braces). Just because.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane…!

I arrived at the office at the same time as my coworker, Nicole. She noted that I was wearing a suit and that it looked nice – for which I thanked her – and asked if there was any particular reason that I chose to wear a suit. I offhandedly said, “It was clean.” Then I amended that statement with, “…and it’s a day that ends in ‘y.'” She laughed and nodded. A few moments later, we parted company, heading to our respective parts of the office.

A short while later, she sent me the following message:

http://vimeo.com/37855064 – this is the song that came to mind when you commented on your suit. 

I didn’t have a chance to check it out when she sent it. After lunch, I remembered that I had the URL still sitting in a message window. I clicked it and watched. The title, “Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit,” made me grin like a fiend. The video itself actually made me laugh.

Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit from Livia Gondim on Vimeo.

…and I might just have a new theme song.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 15 July 2014 Thursday – 24 July 2014
A new week is upon us now two days old.
An even newer week is upon us… and is almost over.

That’s right, this is a post that’s been so delayed and off-put that it’s taken over a week to complete. I’m just going to leave the core of the original post in place and just append the newest additions to the end of it. Because I can.

Tw0 weekends past This was a good weekend. We kicked it off Friday evening with the Deer Valley Music Festival – Utah Symphony performed the music of John Williams. And, as if they knew that I was in the audience, they opened the concert with Superman March. The concert wasn’t solely Williams’ music;  Team DiVa even heard a song that they recognized: On the Beautiful Blue Danube, which they know from their Classical Baby DVDs. After the concert and after the girls were in bed, I played ‘Clix with coworker Adam… until the wee hours of the morning.

Which made for a short sleep cycle on Saturday, as little girls bounded into our room before 8 AM. I spent the better part of the day with them, as it was Sara!’s Saturday to play. This included letting them watch The Lion King... which lead to Vanessa singing I Just Can’t Wait To Be King Begin.

All. Night. Long.

It was more funny than annoying.

That Sunday, we got up and went to breakfast at Millcreek Cafe and Eggworks. Then it was off to run a few errands and then back home to get ready for our annual ice cream social. This year, we had more kids than we have in the past. We also prepared for this with: Ice cream cones! I am happy to report that the cones were not only a hit, but were utilized with minimal spillage!

Ten days ago Yesterday was Monday. ‘Nuff said.

This past weekend, we headed up to Idaho to celebrate Sara!’s grandmother’s 90th birthday, which was actually last November. But, as it fell right before the holidays, the family decided to hold off until (nearly) everyone would be available to convene and celebrate it. So, this summer was chosen as the “when” and central Idaho was chosen as the “where.”

I like traveling. Granted, I haven’t done a lot of it in the past few years, but I do enjoy it. With toddlers being added to the mix, there are things that you learn and accommodations that must be made in travel arrangements. Things like: Potty breaks. Before children, pit stops and bathroom breaks only occurred once every couple of hours, if that often. With kids who are on the tail-end of potty training, these breaks become more of an “ad-hoc” thing. And the ad-hoc can be pretty damned often. Case in point:

• Sara and I have made the same trip, before kids, in a little over five hours.
• This trip (to Idaho, at least) took roughly 7.5 hours, including six (6) bathroom stops – a couple of which I don’t even want to talk about – and a stop for dinner.
• The trip back was about six hours – with only one stop for a potty emergency.

The trip itself was fun, though brief. We got in late Friday evening; Sara! scored us wonderful accommodations, via AirBnB. We stayed in what was effectively a mother-in-law apartment of a home overlooking the Salmon River — the river was about 50′ from our bedroom patio door:

This also offered Team DiVa the opportunity to throw rocks into the river, which they did with great aplomb.

Saturday, we spent the day with the family – aunts, uncles, cousins, kith an kin. And Sara’s  grandmother, of course.

Sara made a quilt for the occasion, with hand-signed/stamped/imprinted pieces from everyone  – except the newest addition (within the past few months) – in the family:

It was nice to have a chance to visit with everyone. That evening, we headed back to the apartment to put the girls to bed (well past their usual bedtime). Sunday morning, we woke up, got dressed, packed and hit the road… back into town, for breakfast. We ate at the Tea Cup Cafe & Bakery. It was an unexpectedly refreshing place. And, I would have to agree with the high ratings on Yelp.

On the way back to SLC, we stopped in Arco, ID. Why? Because there’s a submarine sail there. Why? Okay, that one, I can’t really answer.

USS Hawkbill (SSN-666)

After that, we stopped at EBR-1 for the Team DiVa’s first nuclear power plant field trip.

No, it didn’t trigger any latent X-genes or metagenes. Unfortunately. They had a ball. We made it back home without too much incident.

Stray Toasters

• Today is Pioneer Day in Utah.
• Today is also National Tequila Day.
• I find it highly amusing that the two fall on the same day.
• On a recent trip to the party supply store, we bought superhero masks for the girls, in four different colors. Why? To keep them from stealing mine. Because they liked them. Earlier this week, they decided to wear them in the car on their way to day care.
  
  Sara! asked who they were.
  Diana (green mask) said, “Green Lantern!”  (Yeah, definitely my kid.)
  Vanessa (blue mask): “Somersault!”
  (Backstory: A couple days ago, their Aunt Jen was teaching them to do somersaults in the back yard. I guess it made something of an impression.)
• I finished listening to Stranger in a Strange Land last week; it was the first time I’ve read/listened to the book in at least ten years. I read something recently that posited that Jubal Harshaw, not Valentine Michael Smith, was actually the protagonist of the book. Looking back, I can see some validity to that argument.
• Plum Stitch. If you haven’t been there, go now. I’ll wait right here until you get back.
• I introduced the girls to Smashmouth’s Walking on the Sun this morning last week. It went over well.
• Coworker Brad and I have been recasting movies and TV shows today. It’s helped to make the day pass rather quickly.
• I’ve found that watching My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic with the girls isn’t so bad.
  What is bad: When the vershluggen theme song pops into your head as an earworm.
• One week ’til Guardians of the Galaxy. Tickets have been acquired.

That’s all. For now.

Namaste.

Thursday – 08 May 2014
First off: “Happy birthday” to my stepmother and brother!

Around the homestead, things have been good. Not to say that they haven’t been “interesting,” but the overall take is “good.” Most of the “interesting” revolves around Team DiVa. Go figure. Here are just a few examples:

• Almost every car ride is either narrated or seranaded. If it’s the latter, it can be pretty much anything, from Wheels on the Bus (Go Round and Round) to I’ve Been Working on the Railroad (which I did not teach them, by the way) to Three Little Birds to Hourglass.
• We went to the zoo last weekend, to check out the lions at the partially-opened African Savannah (among other animals).  The girls liked the lions, but weren’t terribly impressed. Granted, the lions were just lying there surveying things like they owned the place. And I can’t lie, I thought about this:
  
  …more than once. It made me grin like a fiend.
• Sara! introduced the girls to taking showers last week. They have been a pretty big hit. I’m sure that it would also look rather comical to an onlooker. (Hell, it looks pretty comical to me when I’m giving the showers.) It’s usually Sara! or me in gym- or swimwear, and one or two very soapy and giggly little girls. This is something of a departure from just a few months ago, when the shower was very much a “nope, not me” thing for them, even if it was just to wash their hair.
• We’ve returned to story time before bedtime. The girls pick their favorite-book-of-the-night (which can change at a moment’s whim) for us to read. A couple of nights ago, we started story time with Vanessa’s book. When it was time for Diana’s book, she informed me that she was going to read it. And proceeded to “read” it… the only thing: It wasn’t exactly the story as I remembered it, but it was awesome – and a bit hilarious – to hear her take on it.
• Yesterday morning, we were awakened by both little ladies coming into our room to climb into our bed. At 6:30, a full hour before they usually get up. We still haven’t gotten the real reason “why,” but I suspect that someone had a bad dream. Usually, when they come into our room on the weekends, shortly after they climb into bed – and when they are done with family cuddles – they want to “do/play Globey,” which is their term for playing with the World Atlas app on my iPad. In order to (hopefully) stem the tide on that, I told them that we couldn’t do Globey since it wasn’t Saturday or Sunday. Surprisingly, they accepted that at face value and didn’t ask about it again.
• Last night, when I came home from work, after saying my “Hellos,” I sprawled out on the living room floor. What I didn’t know, was that this was apparently the international signal for the girls to pile onto my back. At one point, it was… uncomfortable. I made this know by saying “Ow!” At this point, Diana got off my back; Vanessa, instead, stayed on my back, but kissed me on the back of my neck and rubbed my head.

And, I should probably throw a couple of pictures of the girls up here, as well:

…and, if I can get this to work, even a video:

Fun with Meerkats!
[KGVID width=”568″ height=”320″]http://blog.echopulse.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_2380.mov[/KGVID]

Stray Toasters

• I’ve started posting on Four-Color Coverage again. If you’re a comics fan, check it out.
• 15 Brutally Honest Mother’s Day Cards From Kids
• May you have a beautiful Death:
  

  Cosplayed by @liziferous, by way of Comics Alliance

• Missed Connections for A-Holes
• 29 Surreal Places in America You Need to Visit Before You Die
  I’ve been to/near one (#5), when Sara! was doing her internship in Aspen.
• Abduction From the Seraglio opens Saturday.

And with that…

Namaste.

Thursday – 20 March 2014
It’s the first day of Spring. Seems like the perfect time to clear the cobwebs off the ol’ blog.

Last night, Sara! and I attended Utah Opera‘s production of Turandot. And “production” is the perfect word for it because it was more than just a “performance.” The staging, the set design, the costuming, the performers. All of it. It was quite literally amazing. If my count is correct, this was the 26th opera that I’ve seen… and it easily makes it onto my “Top 5 Operas” list. The three-act story had elements of drama, comedy and intrigue deftly woven throughout and never felt like it was dragging.

During the first intermission, we were advised by Christopher MacBeth (Utah Opera’s Artistic Director) to wait for Turandot – performed by Maida Hundeling – to first sing. He wasn’t making idle boasts; she was fantastic, truly a pleasure to hear sing and to watch perform. To that point, all of the performers were great. I’d also give a special note to Kelly Kaduce, as Liu, who turned in a stirring aria in the third act.

If you have a chance to see Turandot during it’s run, by all means: Do so.

Team DiVa has been doing well…

Digging for fossils at the Museum of Natural History

At the “Chocolate” exhibition at the Museum of Natural History

On the terrace at the Museum of Natural History

Sporting new hairstyles!

And, this was taken this past weekend:

The little ladies have entered the realm of potty training. It’s been going well. Sure, there are still a few mishaps and accidents, but that is to be expected. Fortuately, both girls seem to be excited by the idea of using the toilet and wearing “big girl” underwear.

I usually play music when I wake the girls in the morning. Usually, it’s Rhapsody in Blue, or The Ride of the Valkyries (this video is actually their favorite version) or Cristofori’s Dream. The girls will often ask for them by name (“Rhapsody,” “Hoyotoho,” and “The Dream Song”), if I haven’t started the music before waking them.

We’ve also introduced them to other genres of music. They’re fond of Bob Marley and Miles Davis, by way of Sara!, while I’ve most often let them listen to more pop/upbeat fare. And, let me tell you that listening to a couple of two-and-a-half-year-olds trying to sing the chorus of Squeeze’s Hourglass – which is one of their current favorite songs –  is hilarious.

All in all, life is good.

Namaste.

Friday – 07 March 2014
I was listening to the radio on the way to work this morning when Jim Croce‘s I Got a Name came on. I’ve heard it on-air a couple of times over the past few days. Both times, I’ve wound up singing along with it. Quite happily and loudly, as I recall. (Fortunately for everyone, I was alone in the car and the windows were up.) I enjoy the song’s melody and lyrics, along with the message that it conveys: Someone who is content with who he is and where he is going in life.

If you’re not familiar with it, take three minutes and enjoy:

Jim Croce died the day before I Got a Name was released. I never really appreciated his music until a few years ago. Sure, I liked Bad, Bad Leroy Brown and You Don’t Mess Around With Jim, but I wasn’t really aware of much more of his discography beyond those songs and Time in a Bottle , I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song, and Operator. Over the course of his eight-year career, he recorded five studio albums and eleven singles – the fifth album being release posthumously.

If you have a chance, fire up your favorite Internet-based music application and listen to some of Mr. Croce’s work. I am reasonably certain that you won’t be disappointed.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 04 February 2014

I was at a bit of a quandary about what to choose for today’s Black History Month entry.

Until yesterday morning.

There are many fine options for choosing an “A” entry for my first post of the month:

• Abolition
• Achievements
• Africa
• African Americans in the Civil War
• Art

…to name a few, not to mention the names of the famous and the not-so-famous. But none of those struck the chord in me that today’s topic did. What is it? You already know. Or at least, you know if you were paying attention earlier.

Today’s topic is: America. More specifically, it’s “America. It’s Beautiful,” But, I’ll get back to that in just a moment. First, I’d like you to take a few minutes to enjoy this:

That was the late Ray Charles performing what my brother-in-law, John, has deemed the finest rendition of the song America the Beautiful. I’m inclined to agree with him.

As I said above, my topic for today’s post is “America. It’s Beautiful.” And it is, in many ways – ways that I think that this attempted to demonstrate:

The Coca-Cola Corporation attempted to show that America is more than just a world superpower, it’s a country that is made up of a diverse collection of people. In a sixty-second spot, they showed people living out their lives and dreams. (Many of the images featured a Coca-Cola product or logo in them, but it’s a commercial, after all.)

America is full of many great things. It has been called “The Land of Opportunity” for hundreds of years. One of the first sights that greeted immigrants of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries was the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island in the New York Harbor. In the statue’s base is a plate inscribed with the poem The New Colossus, which includes the following lines:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

What better way to welcome people to their new home?

So why is it that nearly 150 years after those words were written, it seems that we are no longer a country that welcomes those yearning for something more or tolerant of those who are different? There was a great uproar on the Internet (I know, I know…) over Coke’s interpretation of America The Beautiful, mostly because it dared to present the song in languages other than English. If you’re curious as to some of the things said, please take a look at Speak English!: Racist Revolt As Coca-Cola Airs Multilingual ‘America the Beautiful’ Super Bowl Ad. There, you can see a handful of examples of the dark undercurrent of what America has to offer.

I asked a few people what their thoughts on the commercial were¹.
(NOTE – Some comments include language that some may find offensive)

• My brother, Adam (African-Amercian male, married to a white woman, with two biracial children), had this to say:
  

  Oh sweet fucking mercy. Xenophobic cock monkeys who are so insulated in their own little world of white picket fences and car pooling need to get a life. America is – and always will be – a land of many colors and creeds. Lest we forget: the Pilgrims and every other blonde-haired blue-eyed [person] was an illegal alien at one time, just ask the Native Americans they disenfranchised.

  I wear a uniform of a country that practices stop-and-frisk in its major cities and wear it with other men and women that John Q. Sixpack would call a “terrorist,” because they pray to a different God. Don’t be shined when people say we need to return to old-fashioned values, what they mean by that is when whites had their own schools and people of color were subjugated and lived in slums at the expense of the white elite.

  I can’t walk down the street holding my wife’s hand in Fort Collins, CO without some white women grabbing her purse. Women, please, do you know how much I make?! But if she saw me in my flight suit, she would shower me with thanks and praise. Sometimes, I just want to smack people for being so repulsive. What… you can’t be a Jew, Muslim, or any other religion and love this country?

  I hope that answers your question.

• My brother-in-law, John (Greek-American, married to my sister, with three biracial children) offered up this about the Coke commercial, as well as the Cheerios commercial that preceded it:
  

  My first thought on the Cheerios commercial was “kid was cute. Commercial was boring.”

  My first thought on the Coke commercial was, no joke: “OK, how many nanoseconds is it going to take for the morons on the Twittersphere to lose their minds with collective grammatically incorrect diarrhea?”

  I liked the commercial. I thought it was sweet, well done, benign, and forgettable. But sadly I knew there would be the usual willfully ignorant vocal minority who use the ‘net as a megaphone for their stupidity.

  So here’s the deal — I’m not sure why folks choose to focus on a friggin’ commercial for bubbly sugar water (or before that, a cereal that nobody eats after the age of 9) as a vehicle for their imagined grievances.

  I like to think the younger generation is more tolerant — or at least, don’t see any of this as more than the side show it is. This thought is probably true…but again, the internet is a grand megaphone for the stupid.

  Ironically, nobody seemed to notice the Coke ad also had a gay couple in it. They were too busy bitching about ‘Murca and how it apparently is going down the tubes because someone had the nerve to sing in another language

  Overall — much ado about nothing. It’s what we do best as a country. But for the record, oh ye willfully ignorant — and yes, I’ll continue to refer to them as willfully ignorant, because that’s exactly what they are — not stupid, not ignorant, but proudly and willfully ignorant — America the Beautiful is NOT our #$(&ing national anthem. Our national anthem is the one about bombs and war. So there’s that.

  And one last thought — you remember the old Chris Rock routine about blacks vs. n****s?He goes off on an epic rant about how n****s love to NOT know. How do you think these same ignorant idiots would react if black folk went off on these similar rants? Pretty sure we’d hear the word “thug” and some blather about race cards, some epithets, etc. Because…well…BLACK people. YOU know.

• My friend, Chris (White male, married to a Brazilian woman, with one biracial child) had this to say:
  

  Seriously, I liked it. I like that song more than most of the blind patriotism songs, and I thought it was well done, but not surprising for a professionally made commercial. But didn’t think it was all that memorable. And now I really think the screaming was the point, to MAKE it memorable.

  I saw something today on a friend’s FB feed, that the song was originally called, O Mother dear, Jerusalem, and the songwriter was a lesbian. So the “tradition” card is trumped, right at the start.

  I think that it demonstrates very well just how much racism is still around, and how comfortable the racists are about being very vocal about it. No shame at all.

  It seems to have really overshadowed the screaming over the mixed-race family in the Cheerios commercial, although that’s happening as well, of course.

  I went on to ask him a few related questions and got very candid responses in return:

  Rob: Did you catch any blowback when you announced that you and your wife were getting married?

  Chris: None at all, but mainly because my mom was NOT a raging bigot, and she and my brother were really the only family I had at the time.

  My grandmother was senile and living with relatives in Brigham City (north Utah) who probably would have disapproved, had I said anything to them. But I had cut all ties with the Mormons years earlier.

  Rob: What’s it like being a mixed family in the (top part of) The South? Do you find difficulties in dealing with some/many neighbors?  And how about raising a mixed-raced kid in the south? 

  Chris: I was a bit worried, but no problems that I’ve experienced. My son looks like a little Aryan (genetics are weird), and we’re in a fairly liberal spot anyway, just north of Chapel Hill. Lelia has run into some anti-Hispanic stuff at some of the stores, when she was there alone.

  Neighbors – our neighborhood is really damned diverse. We moved in partially because there was another Brasillian woman living in the neighborhood, and we met a couple who were African-American and African-Panamanian, and they introduced us to all of THEIR friends…

  About raising a mixed-race kid – I think I WOULD be concerned about it if Marcus looked more Brasillian. I’d certainly feel like I had to warn him to be careful. Even in an area this relatively-liberal, there are a lot of Tea Party types. As it is, though, I’m more worried about him looking so typically white-American when he visits Brasil. Huge kidnapping risk, in some ways.

• And, what was quite possibly the most expressive – and tongue-in-cheek comment – on the commercial came from my friend, Maddox:
  

  FUCK YOU, COCA-COLA! I want all the singing in my commercials to be done in English while I watch African-Americans play a game that evolved from Rugby on my Japanese TV!

  Those familiar with his website know that Maddox has a keen eye for the goings-on in American culture and is unafraid to challenge them head-on. While his commentary is often acerbic and brusque (and usually humorous), he doesn’t pulls his punches when skewering those things that he finds absurd and ridiculous.

America really is beautiful, despite the thoughts – or possibly the unthinking, knee-jerk reactions – of some of its citizens. Take time to explore it and the documents that were created to make this the country that we call “home.”

Also, take time to reflect on the fact that we’re not just making Black History.
Or White History.
Or Asian-American History.
Or Hispanic-American History.
Or Arabic-American History.

We’re making our collective history; let’s make sure that it’s a story worthy of being told.

Namaste.

¹ – Opinions expressed in the comments above were those of the commenters and do not necessarily represent their employers or any other agency.

Tuesday – 14 January 2014
Life with kids can be interesting. It would probably be best to say that life with kids is often interesting. That’s not to say that it’s not fun. And exciting. And, all too often, very amusing.

Over the past couple of months, we’ve introduced the concept of “time out” to Team DiVa. It’s been met with mixed results. Most often, when one of the girls does something to antagonize her sister and I tell them they’re going to time out, they either:

• Start saying “I not going to time out! I not going to time out!,”
• Make a bee-line for Sara!,
• Start crying,
• Some combination of all of the above.

But, time out usually happens. (They do not like it.) And they stay there until they tell me why it is that they are in time out. Once they tell me that, I ask them what they need to do to get out of time out, which is usually finding their sister, saying they are sorry and giving their sister a hug.

So, you can imagine my surprise – and amusement – when I came home from work today to find that the girls had introduced something new to their toys. They have a handful of Fisher-Price Little People figures, including three Wonder Woman figures and a Batgirl figure. They would have the figures playing, hit them together, then tell one figure that it was going to time out.

Puddle Jumpers!

Team DiVa and grandparents

Also, this:

Stray Toasters

• Dear ‘Daddy’ in Seat 16C
• 10 Superhero Webcomics You Should Be Reading
• Banncars Poster Series
• Sara! and I have been watching the current/modern Doctor Who, starting with The Ninth Doctor and have just gotten back to The Eleventh Doctor. Until this, I’d not seen the Ninth or Tenth Doctor (outside of “Blink”). I really enjoyed Mr. Tennant’s Doctor, he may be my favorite after Tom Baker, of course… which made me enjoy this all the more.
• Denial is a helluva drug.
  
• Flying Mouse 365, the art of Chow Hon Lam
• 2013 was the 75th Anniversary of Superman. To celebrate that fact, Comic Book Resources compiled a list of “The 75 Greatest Superman Stories of All Time.”
• Debbie Harry, as a Valkyrie (or a knight)? I’m all for it.
• I wish that this Indiegogo campaign had gotten more of a signal boost when it would have helped the cause; I would have enjoyed seeing something like this produced.
• Josh Ln’s “Hero-Glyphics” Take Pop Culture Back to Ancient Egypt with The Avengers, The X-Men, and More

Namaste.

Thursday – 12 December 2013
It’s another No Bad News Thursday.  (At least it was when I started this…)
It’s also 13 days to Christmas. (12)

Now, it’s Friday the 13th. *cue ominous music*

This has been a less-than-stellar week, primarily because I’ve been sick. Fortunately, I don’t usually get much worse than a head or chest cold, but whatever I had was bad enough to make me leave work Tuesday and crawl into bed. Yeah, many levels of double-plus ungood “fun.” On top of that, Team DiVa has been feverish, as well… which means they’ve been a bit clingy for the past few days. But, the three of us are feeling better. And the Lady SaraRules? Not only did she not get sick, but she managed to nurse us all back to health. Single-handedly. In a snowstorm. Uphill. Both ways. (Okay, there may have been a few medicines here and there that helped, but she did a great job of looking after us.

Speaking of Team DiVa, here are a few shots from the past few weeks:

“We’re spreading out our library books so we can figure out what to read first!”

Christmas cookies!!!

Team DiVa: Snow Bunny Edition

“Can we stop taking pictures and go outside now?”

Reading time with Mommy

Vanessa, trying out the new coat Grammy G got her… and a pirate hat!

Diana, trying out the new coat Grammy G got her… and a pirate hat!

Stray Toasters

• Shh. A Simple Tip for Talking About Race
• This is great: Som Sabadell flashmob
• Mormon church traces black priesthood ban to Brigham Young
  I find this fascinating as a non-Mormon living in the home of the LDS church. There’s (previously) been a lot of discussion/question about when the ban began. Now we know. (Half the battle…)
• The Real Story of Hacking Together the Commodore C128
• By way of one of my sisters-in-law: To The Women Who Choose Not to Have Kids
• 10 Reasons Why Rush Are Amazing
  Although I think that for a grammatically correct phrase, it should be “10 Reasons Why Rush IS Amazing,” as the band is a singular entity.
• 15 Ways to Live, and Not Merely Exist
• What You Get When You Pour Molten Aluminum Into An Ant Hill
• dfsdfsf
• 10 of the Strangest Celebrity Museums

That’s good for now.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 30 October 2013
It’s been a while, but I do have a few things to talk about. Granted, most of them revolve around the past week and my birthday, go figure.

And, as I mentioned on Facebook: Thank you to everyone who took time out of their day to wish me a “Happy Birthday.” I truly appreciated it.

Last week wound up being very long, thanks – or “no thanks,” as the case may be – to Project: Cthulhu. I actually had a vendor rep on the phone for the better part of… six hours over two work days, trying to suss out what was wrong. And their documentation wasn’t much of a help; it was outdated and didn’t cover the correct procedure for what the vendor wanted us to do on the server. Yay. Late Friday afternoon, I had the brilliant epiphany to compare a working server to the one that was being “slightly difficult.” I found a discrepancy and started down a path to rectify it. Lo and behold, it worked. Work week: Saved.

I went home Friday evening tired and a little annoyed that finding the problem, even with the help of the vendor engineer, took so long. Those feelings melted away when I was greeted at the door by Team DiVa, bearing a box of RubySnap cookies and singing “Happy Birthday.” Sure, it was a day early, but it was very sweet. We had dinner and hung out that evening. Sara and I decided to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street after the girls were in bed; I started nodding off during the movie. I decided to go take a hot soak and call it an early night. I did and I did. In that order.

Saturday, I woke up not really feeling any older, but definitely glad to have completed another circuit of the sun without any dire encounters with the Dark Lady. Sara made her famous (at least around our house it is) coffee cake for breakfast. We hung out at home all morning until it was time for me to go play dolls HeroClix. Birthday Bonus: It was an Event Week, so I wasn’t judging, but actually playing. It was a sealed event – buy a couple of boosters and build a team from the figures in the boxes. I put together an okay team, but got completely wrecked in the tournament. Didn’t matter because I had a fun time gaming and talking trash with the other players.

I came home and helped get the girls ready for dinner. Shortly after that, Sara’s parents came over – they were kind enough to watch the girls while Sara and I went out for birthday dinner at Rodizio Grill. Added Birthday Bonus: October is Rodizio’s “Wild Game Fest,” so you can sample a few exotic meats. We tried the frog legs and one of my favorites: rattlesnake sausage. We checked out with our Seven Deadly Sins card punched for “Gluttony.” (So. Very. Worth it.) Next: A stop at the Cheesecake Factory for some celebratory dessert. Then it was back home for a movie. Since it was my choice and I wanted something light – and hopefully funny – I picked Iron Sky, which I’ve wanted to see for some time. It was not a great movie, in fact it was pretty ridiculous, but I had a blast watching it. Seriously, how could you not appreciate – if not love – a movie about Nazis on the moon where the heroic lead is a Black guy?!

Sunday was, again, pretty low-key. We didn’t do a whole lot during the day. There were a couple of shopping excursions prior to Sara’s parents, Galadriel, Angy and Dave coming over for dinner. Sara baked a pretty wicked Devil’s Food cake for after-dinner birthday fun. After the guests were gone and the girls were abed, we settled in for cocktails and The Walking Dead. We were not disappointed.

Monday, the work week reared its ugly head once more. I headed in to work for a 9:00AM meeting… only to find that I was a week early for it.

*grblsnrkx*

Had I bothered to confirm the time/date, I would have either come in late or just worked from home. Feh. Fortunately, the day passed fairly quickly. I confirmed that Friday’s server configuration was indeed viable and handed it off to the vendor’s engineers shortly before lunch. I picked up Team DiVa from daycare and ushered them home for snacktime (RubySnap Virginia cookie!) and dinner. Then, it was off to Guys’ Night Out with the usual suspects.

Tuesday, was a quiet day. This was a good thing. Especially as, Tuesday Night, I was going to enjoy Sara’s final birthday present: Living Colour in concert. That’s right. Living Colour. (Yes, Cult of Personality Living Colour.)

Living Colour at The Depot

I met up with Jeremiah and Zac at The Depot. They’d already scoped out a prime location about 5 or 6 feet from the stage. We were right in front of Vernon Reid (guitarist) the entire show. I also got to hang out with Robert V., Monica and Alessandro. Pictures (and some video) of the evening can be seen here.

It was an amazing concert, from start to finish. And they had the bass turned WAAAY up. Floor-shaking bass. They opened with Robert Johnson’s Preachin’ Blues (I think), and then went into Vivid. After Cult of Personality, Corey Glover joked, “And now, the rest of the fucking album…” You could tell that they were having a great time, both with the way they played and sang and the way that they interacted with each other and the audience. And if anyone was worried that these guys have lost a step or two…? Rest assured: They sounded fantastic. They started Open Letter (to a Landlord) by opening with a great rendition of Amazing Grace. Or, as I live-tweeted:

Corey Glover’s taking us to church tonight! He opened #OpenLetterToALandlord with a fantastic Amazing Grace! @LivingColour

— Robert Neal (@shadorunr) October 30, 2013

They finished out the set with Glamour Boys, What’s Your Favorite Color?, and Which Way to America. I was pleasantly surprised to discover just how much of the album I remembered.

After a spectacular drum solo by Will Calhoun, they closed the show with a great crowd-backed rendition of Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side, Love Rears Its Ugly Head (which I was secretly hoping they’d do), Time’s Up, James Brown’s Sex Machine.

It was the perfect way to wrap up an extended birthday celebration.

And that’s pretty much that.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 15 October 2013
It’s Tuesday. Again. As I don’t want to receive another “What happened to this week’s TDVT post?!” email, here’s this week’s bit of Adventure Toddlers cuteness:

The girls are fond of music. Very fond. They know how to open Spotify and select songs in their playlist on the laptop we keep in the living room. They also seem to be figuring out their way around iTunes on the Mac in their room. I’ve been trying to keep track of how they refer to certain songs:

• Sara! introduced them to Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” a few months back. Diana’s favorite song is Freddie Freeloader… which, when they don’t call it by name, they refer to as “BA-dum,” which mimics the song’s refrain.
• Kool and the Gang’s Jungle Boogie is “Get Down Get Down”
• There’s a song called Music Monkey Jungle Theme Song – which, oddly, sounds very much like a slightly slowed-down, acoustic guitar variation of Stray Cat Strut – that they refer to as “Ball Song,” because of the album art work.
  • Stray Cat Strut, incidentally, is “Cat Style”
• Gorillaz’ 19-2000 (Soulchild Remix) is “Baby Crying,” again, due to their interpretation of the cover artwork.
• The William Tell Overture is…. “Willam Tell”. Occasionally, “Overture” is added to the mix.
• The Tra La La Song (Theme from ‘The Banana Splits’) is “Tra La La.”
• Vanessa’s favorite song, Got To Give It Up (Part 1), by Marvin Gaye, is “Star Song,” thanks to the Boogie Nights soundtrack cover art.

I’m sure that there are a few others, but these are the ones that come immediately to mind.

The girls are enjoying their daycare. Thankfully. According to Sara!, aside from the days when they were sick, there hasn’t been a lot of wailing or moaning or gnashing of teeth when they are dropped off. Hallelujah!

And now, pictures:

Vanessa, waiting for Diana to see the pediatrician…

Diana, waiting for the pediatrician…

Vanessa, bundled up and taking a rainy Sunday stroll…

Diana on a rainy Sunday stroll…

Playing the piano at Canadian Thanksgiving dinner

Relaxing after picking pumpkins and wandering through the corn maze…

Diana finds a pumpkin she likes…

Vanessa found a pumpkin…

Playing dolls with some of Daddy’s old HeroClix and game boards

Ride the tigers!!!

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.