Random Access

Friday – 26 October 2012
Not only is it Friday…

…nor is it just…

…but, as of 7:00 AM Eastern, I turn(ed) 42.

I’m not panicking and I know where my towel is. And I’d like to think that I’m a (at least somewhat) hoopy frood. Now, if I could just figure out what the Ultimate Question to which 42 is the answer is, I’d be set.

It’s been a good year. To paraphrase last year’s comment: I have a great family and friends, as well as met some new great people.

Sidenote: In case I haven’t said it recently – or enough – I’m grateful for the people in my life. Yes, this means you.

I’ve been fortunate enough to do some fun things. So, I’m ready for forty-two to bring it on.

Stray Toasters

• One of the things that I want to do this year is write a book. I’ve had the idea and a rough story for a children’s book for more than “a few” years.
• For those who don’t know, I started a new blog a couple of months ago: Pinstripes and Polos. Please check it out, if you have a few minutes. Comments and questions are welcome.
• HALO 4, meet The Covet List. It comes out on Sara!’s birthday. But, as she doesn’t play, I don’t think she’d  appreciate it as a present. Pity.
• Coulson lives!
• This is the cover of Green Lantern #80, which has a cover date of my birth month:
  
• There’s a train show in town this weekend. I shall attend!
• Download a FREE unpublished Halloween scary short story written & read by [Neil Gaiman], and raise money for education and literacy!
• Oh, by the way: Thanks, Apple, for introducing a new iPad six months after I bought mine…. although, the new iMacs do look damn sexy. We’ll call it a draw.
• We have the technology to look for life on Mars
• Last Resort. Watch it. Love it.

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Monday – 14 October 2012
It was a good weekend…

…but let’s go back a few days. I mentioned on Thursday:

I was also informed that there’s also some good news from one of the East Coast contingents of the family. Good news is always welcome.

Well, the good news was: I’m an uncle again. My sister, Kristen, had a little girl on Thursday:

Kennadi Noelle

She was 5 lbs., 18.5 inches. Wee thing. Kennadi and Kristen are doing well and both should be going home from the hospital tomorrow (Monday).

Saturday, Sara and I took Team DiVa to the Junior League of Salt Lake City’s Touch-a-Truck event. The girls got to see – and touch and climb into – a number of trucks and buses:

Vanessa (l) and Diana, on a school bus

df

Later, Sara! and I attended the opening performance of Utah Opera‘s 2012-2013 season, Il Trovatore:

And, aside from being a great date night, it was also a great opportunity to wear my tuxedo:

The performance was quite good. If you live in the greater Salt Lake City metropolitan area, I’d recommend seeing this opera.

Sunday was a mostly quiet day around the house, but we did manage a trip downtown to the Urban Flea Market. Later, Sara!’s parents came over for dinner. Sara! made a french onion soup, which was delicious. We weren’t sure how Team DiVa would respond to it. We shouldn’t have worried: They loved it.

Instant Replay: Football
Today, the Ravens hosted the Dallas Cowboys.

Dallas Cowboys at Baltimore Ravens
29 – 31
Tony Romo led the 2-2 Cowboys into M&T Bank Stadium… and the Ravens sent ‘em back to the Lone Star State with a loss. Joe Flacco and the offense started out strongly, but ended their first drive with a field goal. Dallas marched down the field and scored a touchdown. The defense got broken down like fractions by Dallas’ run offense. Fortunately, Defensive Coordinator Dean Pees figured out where the gaps in the defense were and closed them for the most part. Possibly the game’s biggest highlight: In the Third Quarter, WR Jacoby Jones, fielded a kick-off – eight yards deep in the end zone – and ran it 108 yards for a touchdown, tying a NFL record and breaking WR David Reed’s former Raven record of 103 yards. The game came down to a Dallas 51-yard field goal attempt… which went wide to the left. It wasn’t a pretty win, but the Ravens still came away with the “W” and stay atop the AFC North with a 5-1 record.

Stray Toasters

• Congratulations to Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos Team.
• If you’ve never watched The BBC’s Luther, you should.
• Google’s ‘Little Nemo’ Doodle
  (Hint: Click on the drop-down bookmarks on the right.)
• What happened to DC Nation on Cartoon Network?!
• Incredible LEGO Batcave Built Out of 20,000 Pieces
• Ottoman Was Geeky

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:
  
• The Local Shop Where You Can Slice Through Six Inches of Anything
• 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:

• Initial Designs for Captain America’s New Marvel NOW! Costume
• History of Optical Toys
• 
• Zynga Tanks as Market Worries ‘This Was a Fad’
• A wrinkle in space-time
• DC police chief announces shockingly reasonable cell camera policy
  • DC cops snatch camera, keep memory card one day after promising to stop
• 
• Easter Eggs Are Back in OS X
• Paper Passion…. um, yeah.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 11 July 2012
It’s 7/11…

…which means that it’s Slurpee Day at your local 7-Eleven.
…which means free mini-Slurpees at your local 7-Eleven.
…which means… Oh, Hell.  If I have to spell it out for you, then what’s the point!?

It’s also new comics – and new ‘Clix – day.

And, as if all of that wasn’t enough, it’s Movie Date Night, too.

Triple score!

Stray Toasters

• 10 Things Most Americans Don’t Know About America, by way of Melissa
• Sunday, 15 July 2012, is National Ice Cream Day. Celebrate accordingly.
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Piranha Used as Scissors
• Could We Build Star Trek‘s Starship Enterprise?
• This is easily my favorite song from Clockwork Angels:
  
• African Robotics Network (AFRON) 10 Dollar Robot Design Challenge
• This poster goes on The Covet List.
• GQ Rules: It’s Your Pocket, Rock It
• Lullaby, the latest Spenser book is out. I should read it.
• A Guide to Electronic Music

Namaste.

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.

Stray Toasters

• Venezuelan tribe angry at “sacred” stone in Berlin 
• You Can Now Build Virtual LEGO in Chrome
• Moira Johnston: Topless in NYC
• 
• Marvel and Susan G. Komen for the Cure Team-Up for ‘Pink’ Breast Cancer Awareness Variants
• What If The Moon Had Never Formed?
• Daybreak – a zombie graphic novel starring YOU
• 
• The Avengers and The Justice League Get Bricky Via Qubicle Constructor
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Madonna thinks fans want her DNA
• Prada Menswear Fall 2012 Ad Campaign

Namaste.

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:

1. Disappointed in Ann Taylor
2. Sharing
3. Finding Lemonade

Stray Toasters

• Reading Rainbow launches iPad app
• Before Birth, Dad’s ID
• 15 Labels to Know Next from London’s New Shows
• LEGO Turing machine
• Matt Groening’s Life in Hell ends after 32 years
  I first became aware of Life in Hell in Baltimore’s City Paper, many moons past. This strip has always been one of my favorites:
  
  
• Google issues millions of search, download alerts daily
• What America Spends on Booze
  • What America Spends on Groceries
• By way of Steve (not Steve): Evil Robot Designs: Alien Nation
• New Inquiry of Deaths on Reservation in the 1970s
• Gardening on the moon

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.

Stray Toasters

• As China’s First Woman Sits in Space, Sally Ride Celebrates the 29th Anniversary of Her Mission
  • Space Vechicles, to scale
• New Hits Needed; Apply to NPR
• Q&A: Rush’s Alex Lifeson on ‘Clockwork’ Tour Setlist, Hall of Fame Prospects
• 
• This Robotic Finger Is More Sensitive Than Yours
• This makes me smile. It was silly and contrived, but I loved it.
• Sci-Fi Film Favorites Get Pulp Cover Make-Overs
• 
• Electronics Retailers Scramble to Adapt to Changing Market
• Microsoft Breaks Tradition with Microsoft Surface Tablets

Namaste.

Sunday – 17 June 2012
It’s my first Father’s Day. And, so far, it’s been quite good.

I’d like to wish a “Happy Father’s Day” to the fathers out there, as well.

The day started with Team DiVa waking up at 7:00. It was slightly earlier than I had wanted to get up, but that’s the way it goes with twin-fants. That was followed by breakfast and play time, which translates (roughly) as: “Climb all over Mommy and Daddy Time.” But, they are cute. And learning to walk:

…so that helps make it a lot more bearable. (And, despite the workout, it’s fun.)

I’m not sure what the middle of the day holds, but I’m hoping for a trip to the Garden of Sweden.  This evening, we’re having Sara!’s parents over for dinner. And tonight, there may be some gaming: I’ve had an itch to play/finish LEGO: Batman.

Stray Toasters

• Living in the Past Is a Full-Time Gig
• Rodney King dead at 47
• The more I listen to Clockwork Angels, the more I like it.
• Cruise ship tour: A last look at the original ‘Love Boat’
• Learning from LEGO: Building Your Social Strategy
• Scientists discover evidence of Neanderthals being responsible for early cave paintings
• 
• ‘Caribbean: Crossroads of the World’ Spans 3 Museums
• Go Daddy, Danica Patrick going conservative
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: ‘Scary’ toilet paper coming soon to a stall near you
• Get Ready, Because Voyager I Is *This Close* to Leaving Our Solar System

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?

Stray Toasters

• Google Wants Love and 100 Other Things
• Rome’s famous Trevi fountain is crumbling
• How an 11-Year-Old Invented the Popsicle and Changed Summer Forever
• 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.
• Girl Gets New Veins Made From Her Own Stem Cells
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file”: Cop dies during 3-way sex; widow wins $3M lawsuit
• Superman Mosaic… made out of LEGO bricks!
• And, speaking of LEGO and Superman: New ‘LEGO Batman 2’ Trailer Unveils Talking Characters, Snarky Superman
• 
• NASA’s Robo-Garden Is a Terra-Forming Trifecta
• ‘House Hunters’ houses aren’t always for sale?

Friday – 08 June 2012
It’s not just Friday…
Nor is it only Diana-Vanessa-Daddy Day…
Today is also the day that Vanessa turns 9-months-old:

The girls are taking their morning nap. After that, there will be some playtime. Then lunch. Then we’ll figure out whether we’re going somewhere before or after their afternoon nap. Most likely, it will be a post-nap excursion.

Stray Toasters

• I still haven’t taken down the shrubbery (Ni!) in the front yard. Maybe I’ll have a chance this weekend or early next week.
• Honoring Ray Bradbury’s Contribution to Epcot
• Chesapeake Energy CEO in Hot Seat Today
• This Modern Island Home Is Entirely Powered By the Sun
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Sexist Much?
• 85 MPH: San Antonio-Austin Highway Could Set Record for Highest Posted Speed Limit
• Space nerd family fun in LA this weekend: NASA JPL open house

Twins are up… and after a longer-than-I-expected nap.  Back to hanging out with them.

Namaste.

Monday – 04 June 2012
A new week is here.

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.

And, speaking of Team DiVa:

Diana (in her custom Batgirl onesie)

Vanessa (in her custom Flash onesie)

Stray Toasters

• Air Force’s First Female Combat Pilot Becomes Wing Commander
• That makes me find the timing of  this item about wage disparity from The White House rather amusing.
• Every Black Hole Contains a New Universe
• 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).
• The Sartorialist
• 
• The Horrifying Truth Behind Pixar’s Cars Universe
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Westlake: ‘Cleaning Fairy’ breaks into houses, leaves cleaning bill
• Does this sound at all familiar…?
  
• I am really enjoying this season of Young Justice. They have taken some unexpected – and well-plotted – turns.
• Railfest 2012 (UK)
• By way of Melissa: That Song Sounds Like
• Open-source human genomes

Namaste.

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.

• Noah’s Ark Is a Sustainable Floating City for the Post-Apocalyptic World
• The Accidental Asshole: Pinpoint How You’re Annoying People and Do Something About It
• 
• 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.
• The Discerning Man’s Guide to Summer Style
• Shopping Guide: The Ultimate Warm-Weather Blazer
• 
• Bottle Cap Blues
• The History of Pigeon Camera Photography
• 
• Japan’s Hidden Tropical Island: Aogashima

And with that, I’m off to save the world.
Or destroy it.
Or something in between…

Namaste.

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.
• Sandwich celebrates 250th anniversary of the sandwich
• The Best Films You Never Want to See Again
• Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived
• Combining one of my favorite literary works and LEGO: Mihai’s Inferno: The 9 circles of Hell made in LEGO
• Finnish court rules open WiFi network owner not liable for infringement
• 
• Boys Forfeit Baseball Game at Catholic School Because of Girl
• NASA trains astrounauts for asteroid mission
• Ask Chris #105: Batman, ‘Die Hard,’ and Super-Heroes’ Favorite Movies
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Moonshiners’ cow shoes
• How close to reality are the androids in Aliens and Prometheus?

Namaste.

Tuesday – 08 May 2012
It’s Tuesday.

Yesterday was Diana’s 8-month-birthday; today is Vanessa’s:

Vanessa (l) and Diana

Today is also my stepmother and brother’s birthday:

And, it’s also Teacher Appreciation Week.

This past weekend was a busy one. This isn’t to say that it wasn’t also fun, but it was definitely busy. I could have used another day to recuperate. Or something like that.

Friday, I had hoped to get a chance to nap while the girls were having their post-lunch siesta, but that didn’t come to pass… mostly because they didn’t take naps. So, when I went back to work, I was tired. After returning home from work, I was still tired. The evening was rather low-key, spent mostly Fringe and helping SaraRules! make superhero onesies for the twins:

She had already made the GL one, but has asked my help in getting the emblems for Batman, Wonder Woman and The Flash. I thought – briefly – about trying to hand-draw them. Then I had a minor epiphany: I could use my Silhouette to cut the shapes. I downloaded images of each emblem, imported them into Silhouette Studio and did a test cut. They came out better than I had expected. So, we were ready to do the cuts on the masking paper. The picture above shows how they turned out.

Saturday, SaraRules! had brunch with her friend, Sara(NotSaraRules!), so I got to spend a couple of solo hours with Team DiVa. After SaraRules! and Sara(NotSaraRules!) returned, I got ready to head to Dr. Volt’s for Free Comic Book Day. At The Avengers premiere, I made an agreement with Dave (the owner of Dr. Volt’s) that if he came to FCBD as Dr. Who – Matt Smith version, with fez! – that I would come as Green Lantern. So, when I showed up at the store like this:

Dave gave me a bit of flak. Until I turned down the collar of my shirt to reveal the GL costume underneath:

It was the first time that I’d gone to an FCBD event dressed in a costume… let alone two costumes… but it was made even more fun and worth it, because a few kids came up to me and asked if they could have pictures with me.

And remember those superhero onesies I mentioned? Well, the twins wore them to their first Free Comic Book Day:

Sunday, we met up with the Kelly clan for a picnic at Liberty Park.

The reason: Celebrating Logan’s graduation with his Doctorate in Pharmacy.  It was a little brisk if you weren’t in the sun, but it was an otherwise excellent day. And fun.

Monday was… Monday. (As Mondays are wont to be). It included quality time with SaraRules! and Team DiVa, which is never a bad thing. It also included a couple of changes to the status quo which should yield good things.  After the girls were asleep, SaraRules! and I wound down the evening with burgers that I cooked on the grill,  TopGear and Castle.

Stray Toasters

• ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ author Maurice Sendak dies
• Fresh Air Remembers Author Maurice Sendak
• RIP, Maurice Sendak
• Paralysed Claire Lomas completes London Marathon
• 
• Hilary Hahn and Hauschka: Bounce Bounce
• Simulating Mars in Austria
• Does suffering suggest the cause of all our little questions
  The answer was not coming soon she paused for reflection
• Legendary Steam Locomotive Celebrates Union Pacific’s 150th Anniversary
• 
• From the “Science!” file: Air is mightier than eight Frenchmen
• Fan Recreates ‘The Avengers’ Weapons Using LEGO Bricks
• Blueseed: Silicon Valley’s visa-free offshore startup community

Namaste.

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.

> PLAY >

Stray Toasters

• ‘The Scream’ Is Auctioned for a Record $119.9 Million
• Testing spacesuits beneath the Earth’s surface
• Cancer Patients Transformed By Gorgeous Henna Dome Designs
• 
• ‘Supermoon’ coming this Saturday
• Stompy Is Coming – Project Hexapod
• Former NFL star Junior Seau dead in apparent suicide
• From the “Whiksey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:
• Woman buys tampons stuffed with cocaine at local store
• Tennessee man jailed for using old $50 bill
• Prosecutor rates ‘Law & Order: SVU’ episodes for technical accuracy
• Cybercrime as a Tragedy of the Commons

Namaste.