It seems as though Mountain Lion will work on my MacBook after all…
Now, I just have to decide if there are any features in it that I really need or want.
Thursday – 26 July 2012
It’s another NBN Thursday in the valley.
Were she alive, my maternal great-grandmother would have been 112 today.
Last night, Sara! and I watched In Time for Movie Date Night:
To be honest, it wasn’t bad. It reminded me quite a bit of Logan’s Run, but had enough of a twist to make – and keep – it interesting. I was also quite surprised to see [REDACTED], [REDACTED], and [REDACTED] in the movie, too.
Chew on This: Food for Thought – Adventures in Parenting
As a parent, I’m always happy when Diana and Vanessa hit developmental milestones. One such achievement happened a few months back when the girls figured out how to roll from their backs to their stomachs. Sara! and I were delighted at this… um… “turn of events.” However, as the girls started making other advancements, we seemed to forget about the rolling over. Until recently. The girls have taken it upon themselves to remind us just how big a deal that barrel rolls are…
…when we are changing their diapers.
Vanessa is especially adept at this. Just as you get the loaded diaper open and bear witness the havok within, she decides that it’s time to roll to her left. This usually results in a lot of under-the-breath expletives. And the thought processes – and physical gymnastics – of “How do I keep this from getting on everything?!”
So far, nothing has gotten to the point where we’ve had to call in Damage Control or Utah Disaster Kleen-up, but there have been a couple of instances where it’s taken both of us to get from dirty diaper to a clean one.
But, they’re still cute kids and I wouldn’t trade the experience/adventure for anything.
Reading time is still reading time… even if your book is upside-down.
Stray Toasters
In exactly two weeks, the Ravens’ preseason begins. Selah.
If you’re in the Salt Lake Metro area this weekend and looking for something to do, you should check out the Salt City Steamfest:
Over the past few nights, Sara! and I have watched a few episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. It’s been entertaining, I must say. Dated, sure… but kind of fun.
One of last night’s episodes was the series finale. It featured potential buyers coming to look at the Banks house. One couple was the Jeffersons – yes, these Jeffersons– with the late Sherman Helmsley, who just passed away the other day. And, as much as I loved him as George Jefferson, I will forever remember him for this:
Tuesday – 26 June 2012
I want to go on the record as saying that having twins who are crawling and cruising is:
Fun,
Entertaining, and
A little tiring
Often, they both head in the same vector. However, those times when they don’t…? Let’s just say that I’m getting an inkling of what it’s like to be an NHL goaltender.
Over the weekend, we made a day trip to Cedar City to see my brother-in-law, John, who spent a week in Las Vegas. Being so relatively close, we decided to meet for lunch before he headed back to Baltimore and give him a chance to meet his nieces:
Diana, hanging out with Uncle John
Vanessa and Uncle John
Diana and John hit it off almost immediately; Vanessa decided to scope him out a bit before deciding that he was alright.
Wednesday – 20 June 2012
The summer solstice has arrived.
And it’s new comics Wednesday.
And it’s Pasta and Movie Date Night.
Quite frankly, I think that sounds like “Win” all the way around.
Yesterday was a good day. With the able assistance of Dave and Steve, I was able to pick up some drywall – twelve sheets of it – get it home, bring it in (through a basement window that Steve removed) and put it in place for hanging. All told, it took a little over an hour-and-a-half, including the time it took to attach and detach Dave’s trailer to his Jeep. I offer up a huge “Thank you” to Steve and Dave for their time and effort. And, I’m counting drywall-schlepping as yesterday’s workout, to boot!
Chew on This: Food for Thought
This is a series of blog posts from a local woman (with Retinitis Pigmentosa, which is important to the story), who encountered less-than-stellar – and more importantly, less-than-decent – treatment when she attempted to go shopping with her guide dog this past week:
Tuesday – 19 June 2012
This morning, Sector 2814 (at least the portion of it that contains our living room) is being protected by two members of the Justice League:
Vanessa, as a rookie Green Lantern
Diana, as Batgirl-in-Training (complete with her own… um… Bat-saucer)
Shortly after these pictures were taken, the mini-Leaguers decided to do some combat training (also known as: “Using Daddy as a climbing toy”). Since they are both cruising – and not always wanting to go in the same direction – this taxed my abilities to keep both of them in arm’s reach. Fortunately, Bonne was here to help keep up with them.
Monday – 18 June 2012
This will be a brief post, but there are two important things that bear noting:
Today is my sister-in-law, Melissa’s, birthday.
(c) 2011 – Amanda Nelson Photography
This is particularly important because for the past two years, I neglected to mention it… leading to two instances of “Melissa Kelly Week.”
The debris from the gazebo tear-down has been removed, courtesy of the SL County dumpster that was placed just across the street from the house… and some very welcome help from my father-in-law. I’m qualifying it as today’s workout.
Stray Toasters
Okay, okay… we’ll throw a couple of these in, too:
Thursday – 14 June 2012
Not only is it another NBN Thursday in the valley, but today is also Flag Day.
In Team DiVa news: The girls apparently want to skip crawling and go straight to walking:
Vanessa (l) and Diana
They are “cruising,” where they’ll hold onto something and attempt to use it to toddle around. But, anything that makes a sound sometimes distracts them, which leads to a problem with that pesky “balance” thing that they haven’t managed to overcome yet… and most often winds up with a gravity-induced sitting down.
Diana will… pseudo-crawl… but that’s usually only under duress and/or to get closer to someone who will hopefully pick her up. Go figure.
Last night, Sara! (a.k.a. “She Who Still Rules”) and I watched John Carter (not to be confused with Coach Carter) for Movie Date Night.
I haven’t read Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars yet, so I don’t know how faithful or far afield the movie’s plot was from the source material. But, it was an enjoyable film. Yes, we did wind up MST3K-ing parts, but… *shrug*… what’re ya gonna do?
I believe that I have mentioned Little League on here before. For those who missed it, consider this your shot across the bow:
And, I also recommend these strips (1,2,3,4,5), which lead up to the outfits seen above and are the basis for this post’s subject line.
Wednesday – 06 June 2012
Midweek.
New comics day.
Pasta and Movie Date Night… maybe.
Yesterday, the destruction of the grotto demolition of the gazebo was complete. There’s now just a slight depression (and a little debris) where the gazebo once stood. Pictures here. Now, we just need to decide what we want to do with the space.
Last night, Logan and Sanaz came over to watch the girls so that SaraRules! and I could have an actual, out-of-the-house date night. It was glorious. We went to see The Avengers – second time for me, first time for SaraRules… and it was just as much fun the second time around. While she enjoyed the movie, I had to ‘splain a few things about characters to SaraRules! after the movies. (Comics, go figure.) But, it was a great way to spend a Tuesday evening.
And, yesterday also saw a notable dip in temperatures around here. It was in the upper 90s on Monday; yesterday barely made 60. And last night, we actually had to turn on the furnace. Yeah. Welcome to June in Utah.
The weekend was good – and fairly busy – weekend. We started with a pancake breakfast/car show, supporting the local Boy Scout troop. Next, SaraRules! went to quilt club while I stayed home with Team DiVa. After she got back, I headed out to judge a ‘Clix tourney. And, if that wasn’t enough: We also attended a friend’s birthday party.
Saturday night has now unofficially become “Action Movie Saturday Date Night.” We didn’t know what we wanted to watch, so we left it up to the Fickle Finger of Fate method of “Hey, what does Netflix have to offer?” We wound up watching Trollhunter:
It was surprisingly fun. And funny. We went into it with no real expectations or assumptions, but were quite well entertained by the time the credits rolled. I also found that I liked what they did with some of the mythology of the creatures.
Sunday was a little more relaxed… although it did start early: We hit the Wasatch Front Farmers Market. The rest of the day was spent mostly hanging out with SaraRules! and Team DiVa. I wrapped up the evening upgrading my game box from Windows XP to Windows 7. Finally. And by “upgrading,” I mean “I did a clean install on a bigger hard drive.” Now, I just need to reinstall the games. And remember to copy my bookmarks over.
My mother-in-law was singing Froggy Went A-Courting to the girls the other day and I realized that the tune was somewhat familiar: It was the same as The Crawdad Song (You Get a Line, I’ll Get a Pole).
Friday – 01 June 2012
A new month is upon us. Among other things, this means that I need to get to the Hallmark store and pick up a couple of important birthday cards.
We haven’t done anything new/else with the decking of the gazebo. Yet. But, maybe I’ll be able to get to it sometime in the next few days.
Team DiVa, on the other hand, continue to be adorable and entertaining.
Diana (l) and Vanessa
I’m hoping to get a new video of them doing what they do posted soon.
SaraRules! and I watched Blade Runner: The Final Cut the other night. After catching the tail end of the movie on cable a couple of weeks ago, we both realized that neither of us had seen the full movie in years. So… watched it. And it was good.
Stray Toasters
Straight out of the “When Worlds Collide” file: I was reading Avengers vs. X-Men #4 this morning while having my morning coffee. Some people read the newspaper, I read comics. Sue me. This issue includes some of Marvel’s “Augmented Reality” or “AR” technology, which basically means that you hold up a smartphone or tablet with the appropriate app to a panel with the AR logo and you get either additional content. One particular panel featured a brief talk by Dr. Michael Shara– Curator, Department of Astrophysics, Division of Physical Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History – on what it would take to destroy a planet.
The name struck a familiar chord in my memory, but I was just unsure enough to have to verify what I was thinking. After a few rounds on Google I confirmed what I had suspected: Dr. Shara was my Astronomy professor at Johns Hopkins about 20 years ago.
We now know which DC Comics character is being reintroduced as gay. James Robinson, author of Earth 2, not only has a solid track record for writing gay characters, it seems as though he was the first to actually script a gay kiss in mainstream comics, in 1988.
Wednesday – 23 May 2012
Midweek is upon us again. That means new comics and Movie Date Night.
It rained this morning. I’m sure that my lawn appreciates that, especially since I’m having… issues… with the two zones in my back yard. Nothing insurmountable (I hope), but a little annoying nevertheless.
Last night, for the first time in five months (according to Foursquare), I went to the gym. Yeah, I know: Five months. This morning I was a little sore. But it was good and it was worth it:
Elliptical: 15 minutes, 1.5 miles
Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/12 reps
Bench Press: 3 sets/8 reps, 135 lbs
Curls (dumbbell, seated): 3 sets/10 reps, 20 lbs
Flys (dumbbell, bench): 3 sets/8 reps, 20 lbs
Compound Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
Not surprisingly, my muscles were “a little” tired by the time I was done. But, I was glad that I went. And glad for a couple of ibuprofen this morning, too.
Stray Toasters
My friend, Sunny, posted a link to these: Kitchen Power Grommet
I think I covet these a little. Too bad I don’t current have a home improvement project for which I could justify them.
From The Big Picture: A wildfire that forced authorities to temporarily close a section of U.S. Highway 34 east of Yuma County, Colo. This wildfire caused at least a half-million dollars’ worth of damage on Colorado’s plains was sparked by a power line snapped by strong winds, according to a report on March 23. (Tony Rayl/Yuma Pioneer via Associated Press)
Tuesday – 22 May 2012
Today’s another sunny day in the valley.
Tomorrow, however, there’s rain in the forecast, long with a nearly 15 degree drop in temperature. Yay.
There will (hopefully) be a new Adventure Babies: Team DiVa video short in the next few days… if I can catch them doing one of their new cute habits.
From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Baby trapped in tumble dryer after ‘joke’ goes wrong.
(Also, the child was in a washing machine, not a dryer. And, no, that doesn’t make it any better.) I’m glad that the child in this story is reported to be fine, but I have nothing “good” to say/think about the father in this video. Seriously, what kind person puts his child in a washing machine?! Even as a “joke.” As my father would say, “That doesn’t even make good crazy peoples’ sense.”
Tuesday – 15 May 2012
Huh. It’s been a week since my last post. And there have been goings-on… which is to be somewhat expected, as seven days have gone by.
The biggest happening is: I resigned last week. And it was good. I’m going to miss the people. (And possibly the view from my window, but they are looking at moving fairly soon, so the view was going away anyway.)
The next biggest happening was that Sunday was Mother’s Day. More specifically, it was SaraRules!’ first chance to celebrate Mother’s Day as a mother.
We had a fairly quiet morning at home, and then dropped the girls off at the in-laws’ while SaraRules! and I went to the Utah Opera performance of Of Mice and Men. It was my third American opera; I was cautiously optimistic, as I was one-and-one on American opera to this point. My optimism was rewarded. I enjoyed the performance.
And, just in case you needed more Team DiVa cuteness:
Stray Toasters
Diablo III has been released. I’m not playing it (yet), but I look forward to seeing my friends return when some of the “shiny” wears off.
Thursday – 03 May 2012
It’s another NBN Thursday in the valley.
This morning, Diana decided that 6:20 was a good time to wake up. She’d managed to roll herself onto her stomach again. I rolled her over and put her blanket back on her and hoped that she’d knock out for another half-hour to hour.
No go, Flight.
She played in her crib until I 6:50. (And, yes, she’d inverse-turtled herself a couple more times by then.) When I went in, Vanessa was also up; I decided to turn on their light, do their morning diaper change and start their day.
And then, I started mine.
Last night, SaraRules! and I watched Royal Wedding for our Date Night movie. I’d gotten the movie from Netflix “a while ago,” mostly because I wanted to see Astaire’s famous dance around a hotel room:
I wasn’t disappointed. For a 60-year-old effect, it was pulled off very well. And the movie itself was rather light-hearted and fun and a good way to spend the evening.
|| PAUSE ||
Mornings were always rough, not that Carl would admit it to anyone. Mornings always reminded him that she wasn’t there to share the new day with him. He looked at the other side of the bed and ran his hand over the spot where she used to lay. “Good morning, sweetheart,” he said. He swung his feet out of bed and sat up. He paused, hands on his knees, before standing up. A yawn – one that sounded more like a wild bear’s growl – forced its way to freedom. He scratched his chin, stood and shuffled to the bathroom.
A few minutes later, Carl made his way downstairs. He stopped in front of the cluster of pictures at the bottom of the stairway. He reached up and touched the picture in the silver frame. Her picture. He smiled… and his heart ached a little. He stood there a moment before continuing on to the kitchen. He fixed a bowl of oatmeal while waiting for his coffee to brew. When breakfast was ready, he sat at the small table and ate. He looked out the window and watched as people headed to wherever they were going. Work? Home? Vacation? He shrugged. He didn’t really care. They were just going places.
After breakfast, he went back upstairs and got dressed. He didn’t have anywhere to go, but Carl had never been one to just sit around in his bedclothes all day. It just didn’t seem right. He came back downstairs and sat down in his comfy chair. He turned to look out the window, watching another little slice of the world passing by.
Adventure is out there, he thought. But not for me. Not today.
