Random Access

Tuesday – 07 May 2013
The day nearly got away from me before I remembered that I needed to make a Team DiVa post. (Yep, it was one of those days.) But, here we are and here it is:

The ladies have discovered the fun of playing with keys

Diana and Sara, reading Diana’s Free Comic Book Day comic

Vanessa, reading her Free Comic Book Day comic

And, once again, because it still amuses me:

Namaste.

Monday – 06 May 2013
A new week begins, after a good weekend.

Friday felt like it was nine days long. Not so much because I went to the Iron Man 3 premiere on Thursday, but because I had one of my worst night’s sleeps in many months. It took forever to fall asleep. I had what I’m figuring was a reflux event an hour or two later. The girls woke up around 5:00 AM. So, when the alarm went off, all I wanted to do was curl into a ball and sleep the day away. But, that was not to be. So, I got up and got right on to the proverbial friction of the day. Fortunately, it wasn’t a “bad” day. Just long. On the up side: We visited our friends, Dave and Angy, Friday evening. On the way there, we told the girls that they were going to see two dogs. All the way to Dave and Angy’s they kept saying “Two dogs! Two dogs!” And they repeated it all the way home, as well. It was cute.

Saturday was a long day. It started with Sara! heading off to her quilt club, which meant that Team DiVa and I got in some quality time. At one point, Diana asked for “gah-layo.” I had absolutely no idea what that meant. So, I tried a couple of known favorites. No dice. I finally got around to trying a couple of Baby Einstein videos… and then I saw it in the history: “Baby Galileo.” No sooner than I clicked on it than both girls were all smiles. I also managed to catch this:

After Sara! got home, we headed to Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection for Free Comic Book Day. There was a line down the walkway outside the store, and it was nearly the Team DiVa’s lunch and nap time, so I just planned on heading back to the store after the girls went down for their naps. And I did. It was good. I got to hang with some of the Volt’s staff and see a few people I hadn’t seen in a while.

From there, I headed to Hastur Games & Comics. I had promised my friend, Charity, that I’d pop into the Hello, Sweetie! Podcast event.  I was only able to stay for a few, but I was able to keep my promise.

I headed back home to help with Team DiVa’s dinner and pre-bed prep. After that, I got ready to head to Abravanel Hall for Utah Symphony‘s performance of “The Music of John Williams,” conducted by Jerry Steichen.

The musicians of Utah Symphony (taken before the concert)

Sara! stayed home to watch the ladies, so I went with my friend, Bonnie, who needed to attend a concert for one of her classes. I also met up with Melody and Jack and Dave and Kim during intermission. Win-Win. It was a fantastic concert. They opened with a medley from the Star Wars movies. An amusing sidenote: Sara! took part of my Jedi costume to work for Jerry to possibly wear for the concerts; he came on-stage wearing the overtunic. It made me chuckle. What I didn’t realize, until after they had finished playing the Star Wars medley, was that Sara! had also given him my lightsaber…. which he then proceeded to play some of the settings on-stage. I realized something during the concert: I’ve heard Williams’ Olympic Fanfare and Theme many times over the years, but there was “an added element” to hearing it performed live. And hearing “Raiders March” from Raiders of the Lost Ark?  Yeah. Pretty awesome, too. The only – ONLY – disappointing point of the concert was that they didn’t perform Theme from Superman (Main Title). Oh, well. Can’t win ’em all.

Sunday morning started far too early (7:30 AM), when Diana decided to let everyone know that she was not only awake, but didn’t intend to spend any more time in her crib. I had barely gotten her and brought her into Sara! and my bedroom when Vanessa announced that she wanted to hang out, too. And thus, started the day. Sara! made a coffee cake for breakfast, while I hung out with the little ladies. After breakfast, I tamed the fury that is the lawn. I came back in and had a bite for lunch and then got ready for work. Yep, work. On a Sunday. Fortunately, things went well and I was only there for a couple of hours. I got home in time to hang out with Team DiVa for a bit before dinner. Being Cinco de Mayo, Sara! prepared chicken enchiladas and margaritas. And they were good. Very good, indeed.

And here we are, once more, at Monday.

Bring it on.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 30 April 2013
It’s been a good week with Team DiVa. Here’s just a little bit of proof:

Diana (l) and Vanessa, in the sand pit at Thanksgiving Point’s Children’s Discovery Garden

Wait… you mean that we can bang on these? As loudly as we want?!

At this point, there was still rhyme and a bit of reason to the label placement. A few minutes later? Not so much.

Namaste.

25 April 2013
It’s another sunny – and moderately warm – NBN Thursday in the valley.

Last night, was not only Movie Date Night, but it was Sara!’s turn to pick a movie. The only things that she would say about the night’s fare was that it required – REQUIRED – popcorn and that it was “the greatest movie ever made.” I was intrigued by these comments, to say the least.

After a messy dinner  (Two toddlers with Greek food… and rice. Do the math.) and some clean-up, it was time for the movie. And I was, to say the least, surprised by her choice:

That’s right: Superman. My all-time favorite movie.

Best. Wife. Ever.

So we sat on the couch, ate popcorn, and watched Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder and company bring a small slice of the DC Universe to life. And, once again, I was transported to a happy place in my childhood. I  was also able to pick out a few things that I’d never paid attention or associated with the movie before:

1. Faster than a speeding bullet: Clark snatches the bullet out of mid-air during the mugging.
2. More powerful than a locomotive: This one comes up twice:
   1. Teenaged Clark is races the train through rural Kansas
   2. Superman subs in for a missing rail as an Amtrak train approaches
3. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound: This one’s a given – he flies throughout the second half of the movie.
4. Who can change the course of mighty rivers: Not so much changing the course of a river, but he creates a makeshift dam to stop a river from destroying a town
5. Bend steel in his bare hands: Again, another two-fer:
   1. He tears the door to Lex Luthor’s lair off it’s hinges
   2. He tears off the door to Lois’ rental car after the California earthquake

At the end of the movie, Sara! admitted: “You know, I hadn’t thought about it the last time we watched it, but that was actually a pretty good movie.” (I simply nodded and smiled at this. Hey, I’m biased… not stupid.) I did have to correct Sara!’s misconception of the “spinning the world in reverse” visual and explain that it wasn’t him turning the world backwards, but that it was simply a representation of him going back in time. (For which there are a great many references in the comics…)

All-in-all, it was a fantastic movie date night.

Stray Toasters

• Little Girls Are Better at Designing Superheroes Than You
• By way of Sara!: What Happens If You Text Your Parents Pretending To Be a Drug Dealer?
• After what felt like slogging through the first ten chapters, I find that I’m kind of enjoying The Pillars of Creation. Go figure.
• How 99.9% of people judge the quality of their coffee
• Being Trapped in a Building Seems Less Scary Than This Robot Snake Rescuing You
• ‘Star Wars’ Gets Dubbed Into Navajo

Namaste.

Tuesday – 23 April 2013
Yes, it’s Tuesday. Barely, but I still have roughly… thirty ten minutes left. So with that in mind, here are the goods:

And, we’re leading off with video:

And another Team DiVa selfie, taken with my phone:

Vanesssa (l), Diana

And, a scene that just made me laugh: Vanessa, deciding that my Gatorade made a rather handy chair:

Namaste.

Monday – 22 April 2013 It’s been a bit and I have some time (at least I did last night), so I figured that I should get in a new post. Today is Earth Day. Last week, Sara! and I finally got around to watching Django Unchained.

It was a very Tarantino take on a “historical movie” in the same way that Inglorious Basterds was a “historical movie.” (With this in mind, I’m not really sure what everyone’s beef with it was. It’s not Roots, but it’s not trying to be Roots, either.) I found it to be a fun – and funny – movie. It entertained. It told a story. And it didn’t take itself overly seriously in doing so. This weekend was a good one. Saturday morning, Sara!, Team DiVa and I had breakfast with our friend Steve, who was in town with the touring production of West Side Story. We went to The Other Place, not just because it’s a good place for breakfast – and was close both to where Steve was staying and the theatre – but also because it’s a kid-friendly place. As an added bonus, I was able to scheme with our friend, Josh, to get him (and his wife, Aly and their very cute five-month-old daughter) to surprise Sara and Steve. Sara suspected that something was afoot, but Steve was surprised. I’ll still take that as a “Win.” After breakfast, we came back home and I played with Team DiVa for a bit before heading out for a ‘Clix event: Month Five of the WizKids’ “No Man’s Land” event. It was a sealed booster draft – buy two booster packs and build a team – and my packs were not really full of “awesome.” But, I built a team and I played. I wound up going 1-4, but since I normally don’t get to play (and I already had the prize support for the event), I was just there to have fun. And I did. After the game and dinner, Sara! went to see West Side Story; I stayed home with Team DiVa. We watched some Team Umizoomi. We read Moo, Baa, La La La and Barnyard Dance. We put money in their banks. We got them ready for bed. All things considered, they took great mercy on me. After post-bedtime cleaning, I played a bit of DC Universe Online and then watched my first episode of David Tennant’s Doctor Who. I liked it. I look forward to seeing more of his Doctor. Sunday was a fairly low-key day. Breakfast. Shopping. Hanging out at home. I also mowed the lawn for the first time this season. Hell, the first time this year. Sara’s parent’s came over for dinner. Sara! and I also watched Disney’s Tarzan; I haven’t seen it in years, but Sara! had never seen it. It’s not necessarily the best movie ever, but I enjoy it. I also watched my second Tennant Who episode. Stray Toasters

• William Gibson tries the Google Glass This feels like something… of a… self-fulfilling prophecy. Of sorts.
• George Takei – Why We Must Remember Rohwer
• Inside a mile-deep, open-pit copper mine after a catastrophic landslide  This is on the far side of the valley from where I live, but I have actually gone on a picnic at a spot just above the mine.
• For Sara!: The Most Complicated Way to Make a (Mini, LEGO) Free Throw
• Bookcase/Staircase/Slide!
• While watching Tarzan, we realized just how dark some of it was. This makes it not-so-watchable for toddlers. We started trying to come up with any modern (post-1980) Disney movies that are kid-friendly. We couldn’t. (Although, now that I think about it, Lilo & Stitch may be okay…) We think that Disney/Pixar may have some options, though.
• 
• The Fine Print of Privacy
• Rush was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame last week, by Dave Grohl and Tyler Hawkins of Foo Fighters. If the induction speech was a great and hilarious one, Alex Lifeson’s portion of Rush’s acceptance speech was equally if not more brilliant… in an Alex kind of way.
• The Rocket Robinson Graphic Novel (Kickstarter)
• 
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Hairless Chewbacca Costume
• Cover Songs More Popular Than Originals: 20 Tunes That Fit the Bill I personally disagree with #13, by the way.
• Where the Toys Come From: Inside Hasbro’s Model Workshop

Namaste.

Wednesday – 17 April 2013
Midweek.
Movie Date Night.
NBN Thursday Eve.

Sunday, Sara! suggested that we take Team DiVa to Wheeler Farm to see the animals. The girls had fun looking at and identifying them. After we walked through the “farm” part, we went to the playground area. They even went down the big kids’ slide… on our laps. But that’s not the point. They – and we – had fun.

Speaking of the ladies: The girls’ vocabulary is growing, as well. And they are starting to put two- and three-word phrases together. It’s been neat listening to them express themselves.

Monday, I finally got around to mudding and taping the last two corners of the train room closet. It still needs sanding. And there’s a chance that I’ll have to go over things with a second coat of joint compound before putting on the topping compound, but it’s that much closer to being done.

Stray Toasters

• If you’re in the SLC Metro area, you should check out the Broadway Across America production of West Side Story.
• Somehow, I’d managed to forget just how good an album that Roll the Bones is.
• The #1 Reason For Hanging Out, Out Front
• If you haven’t seen the latest trailers for Man of Steel and Star Trek: Into Darkness, go find watch them. Now.
• Fan Art Friday: Wonder Woman
• 
• I am digging Oprhan Black.
• Not Some New Man: The Hidden Pattern Behind The Doctor’s Regenerations
• While I think that the theme from Jonny Quest is, quite possibly, the best cartoon theme of all time, the theme from the original Mission: Impossible is one of the all-time greatest TV themes.
• Microsoft Will Finally Offer Two-Step Verification for Your Entire Account
• Ask Chris #149: Darkseid Is

Namaste.

Tuesday – 16 April 2013
It’s Tuesday and… well, you know the drill by now.

Diana (l) and Vanessa, playing with the new toy Grandmommy and Papi got them

Vanessa (l) and Diana: Drawing Time (…also known as “Crayon Stacking Time”)

Daddy let us have his phone again… that means… PICTURE TIME!!!

I am afraid to count the number of “selfies” the girls have taken with my phone and iPad.  I think that they got 50+ in on  Sunday morning before breakfast.

And that, as they say, is that.

Namaste.

Friday – 12 April 2013
It’s the end of the week. Hallelujah.

Earlier this week, I noted that my father had a heart attack. I am happy to report that he is doing much better. He was moved from ICU to a standard room Thursday evening; also, the overall prognosis for his recovery is positive. Thank you to all who offered their well wishes and prayers.

Wednesday, Sara and I didn’t do our usual Movie Date Night. Instead, we had Dinner Date Night with Dave and Angy. Sara prepared Moroccan chicken and rice. And for dessert: Chocolate pie. And we may (or may not) have polished off a couple of bottles of wine. It was a lovely evening.

Thursday, we did have Movie Date Night. We watched Hitchcock.

It was surprisingly good. And fun. And witty. Anthony Hopkins made an oddly… delightful… Alfred Hitchcock. Helen Mirren, as his wife Alma, was every bit his match. (Not a big surprise there.) I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that I knew a number of other actors in the film, but didn’t recognize them at all. (Key on this list: Scarlett Johannson.) The movie was set around the filming of Psycho and showed Hitchcock’s interactions, relations and frustrations in accomplishing it. On the whole, it was a good and enjoyable selection.

Stray Toasters

• Fully Funded ‘Spider Stories’Kickstarter Reflects Viewers’ Desire for African Stories in Animation
• The Germiest Spots in the Kitchen (and How to Clean Them)
• Making Brains Transparent
• 
• Man Who Tangled With The Oatmeal Ordered to Pay $46k

There was going to be more.  But I don’t remember “what” it was. So…

Namaste.

Tuesday – 09 April 2013
It’s another Tuesday in the valley.  Which means: “It’s another Tuesday in the valley.”

What?

Weren’t you paying attention the first time?

Here’s your weekly dose of Team DiVa cuteness:

Vanessa has learned to smile – REALLY BIG – whenever a camera comes out. Diana, however, is non-plussed.

Diana: “Oh, come ON, Daddy… aren’t we done yet?!”

Namaste.

Monday – 08 April 2013
As if Monday wasn’t… well… “Monday,” I woke to a phone call this morning. It was my sister, Rana, calling.

::: deep breath :::

I’d actually been kind of expecting a call from her over the past couple of days. I wasn’t 100% sure that I’d get one, but I wasn’t looking forward to it, to be honest. She said “Hi” and apologized for possibly waking me and then got on to the part of the call that I wasn’t looking forward to: “I just wanted to let you know that the ambulance is here to take Dad to the hospital.”

Oh, boy…

<< REWIND <<
Turns out that my father had a small heart attack on Thursday — Rana had called me Friday to comment that Dad had been “sick” all day Thursday and the better part of Friday. She even asked if I’d call and see if he’d tell me what was up. I called. We chatted, but he told me that he was feeling fine. He sounded a little off, but I chalked it up to him having been sick.

Dad called me again on Saturday, to ask some questions about some travel plans for this summer. Again, he sounded a little weak, but again, he’d been sick. I didn’t think much of it.

> PLAY >
So, as I mentioned, this morning’s call wasn’t totally unexpected. But, it made for a disconcerting start to the day.

They took my father in for surgery when he got to the hospital. As there was nothing that I could do from this distance, I set about getting ready for the day. I went to work and tried to lose myself in the business of the day. It helped some, but it wasn’t quite enough to quell the worries and questions in the back of my mind.

Over the course of the day, I messaged and talked with Rana a couple more times, and spoke with Adam (my younger brother) as well. Rana confirmed that Dad did, in fact, have a minor heart attack on Thursday. The doctor said that Dad didn’t wait “too late” to get attention, but would have been better off going in Thursday or even on Friday.

Needless to say, my mood today has pretty much run the gamut of emotions. There’s a line from a song I like, Dreamline, that played through my head more than once today:

WHEN WE ARE YOUNG
WANDERING THE FACE OF THE EARTH
WONDERING WHAT OUR DREAMS MIGHT BE WORTH
LEARNING THAT WE’RE ONLY IMMORTAL –
FOR A LIMITED TIME

“We’re only immortal for a limited time.” It’s true. But there comes a time when mortality becomes an all too-present fact of life. Today was one of those days when I thought about it. Mine. My parents’. Even my kids’. I never got to meet two of my grandparents. I lost my other grandparents, including one great grandparent, by the time I was seventeen. I won’t lie: I was not ready to have to deal with losing a parent. I know it happens. I know that it’s a part of life. And it’s something that almost everyone has to face.  Just. Not. Today. Please.

Late this afternoon, I was able to get my father on the phone. Despite having been through surgery earlier in the morning, he sounded much more like himself. (Possibly the best thing I heard today.) He related what happened over the course of the day: They inserted a couple of catheters and stints; turned out that they didn’t need the second catheter, so they removed it. There was some blockage, but they were able to clear it. And, it does not appear to have been any major damage done to his heart. (I think that this was the second best news that I heard today.) They’re keeping him for a few days’ observation. I’ll talk with Rana and/or Dad tomorrow to find out how he’s progressing.

There were a small number of people I talked with and confided in about the morning’s events. To all of them, I’d like to say a very heartfelt “Thank you” for your support and understanding.

It’s been a long day.
It’s also taken me until now to figure out how to get this all off my chest.
But, at least I can rest a little easier tonight.

Stray Toasters

• The Big Squeeze: Can Cities Save the Earth?
• Costumes Are Not Consent: Combatting Cosplayer Harassment
• Favorite LEGO Projects + Products
• With the NCAA Tournament pushing back CBS’ late night schedule, I wound up flipping over to NBC to catch Jimmy Fallon. I changed channels a little early and wound up catching the tail end of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The closing act was a musical group called Vintage Trouble. They were good; I’m going to have to check out more of their stuff.
• Gender Through Comic Books
• Over the weekend, Sara! and I watched a movie called Harakiri, at the recommendation of a coworker.  It’s a slow-paced story- and character-driven movie. It was fantastic; I highly recommend it.
• Gorgeous Games to Make Yourself

And I think that’s just about everything and anything that I could have to say, save three things:

• Be good to those you love.
• Be good to each other.
• Be good to yourselves.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 02 April 2013
Here we are again. Lets get straight to the TDVT pictures…

Vanessa (l) and Diana, putting some change in their banks…

This has pretty much become a pre-bedtime tradition with Team DiVa. It’s gotten to the point where – unless they are playing down in the family room before bed – they will ask for their bears and “muh-NEE” (or “muh-MEE,” as Diana sometimes calls it). Loudly. And emphatically.

Diana (l) and Vanessa

“Oh, hey… I found this LEGO magnet on the floor. Can I keep it?”

“I don’t have time for pictures, Daddy!  I’m playing with LEGO magnets!!!”

Namaste.

31 March 2013 – Sunday
Today is Easter.

I hope that everyone has had a safe and enjoyable holiday.

This morning, Sara!, Team DiVa and I got up, dressed – which was a minor event, thanks to Team DiVa not wanting to put on their dresses – and headed to Mass. (Which started out as something of an event, too, when Vanessa decided that church was not where she wanted to be.)

Fortunately, she’s not one of the primary decision-makers in the family, so we stayed.

Fortunately (for her), she also discovered the “Better Mood” setting and chose to employ it…

…of course, this doesn’t mean that she and Diana didn’t climb on and play with as much as possible during Mass, but we were able to attend. I even remember at least half of the homily. I consider those both to be in the “Win” category.

On the way home, we stopped to say “Hello” and “Happy Easter” to Bonne and Steve.

Back at home, we managed to get a few pictures of the girls…

Vanessa (l) and Diana

We like books!

…before changing them for naps and lunchtime.

We also let them pick through the Easter basket:

Hey! These eggs have stuff in them!!!

Sara!, in her infinite wisdom, made some good suggestions with respect to this year’s basket:

1. We should get a basket that could be repurposed as a centerpiece setting or some other decorative piece after Easter.
2. We should consider a “family” basket, rather than two (or four) baskets.
3. The girls, who have more than “enough” of them, don’t really need any more stuffed animals/toys.

So, I followed Suggestions 1 and 2. As far as Suggestion 3 went, I was of the mind that they should still have some eggs – and something in them for Easter.  Since the girls are fond of playing with some of my old HeroClix figures, it made it easy to decide what to put in the eggs. (Yeah, avoided the candy option for another year. Win!)

After their naps, we decided to try and have a mini-Easter Egg Hunt. We hid six eggs around the living room and told the girls to go look for them. Instead, they went into the dining room — that was where they left the Easter basket and the eggs from this morning. Once we pointed them in the right direction, they were on the hunt. They each found three eggs. (Funny how that worked out.)

And that’s been pretty much how our Easter has been.

Tuesday – 26 March 2013
It’s amazing how quickly these Tuesdays just seem to keep lining up.

Here’s a quick dose of the little ladies of Team DiVa for your day:

Diana

Vanessa

And there you have it.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 19 March 2013
I’ve been elbow-up in trying to get some things configured, but I wanted to make sure that I got a post up before the day got completely away from me. And so, here it is:

Diana (l) and Vanessa

Diana, demonstrating why the alphabet magnets have been disappearing…

Vanessa, test-driving Daddy’s 50th Anniversary Disneyland Mickey Mouse Ears…

And, before it’s all through, we even have… video!

Diana helping Vanessa twirl around in Grandmommy’s chair.

Namaste.