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July 17, 2007
Begin Again
Archive time! And I'm happy about that.
Over the last few months, lacking time to write at length, I was experimenting with short links and topical snark. But nothing ages more quickly and sadly than topical snark. By trying to keep the site going with minimal effort, I lost the soul of it.
Time to get this thing back on the tracks.
July 20, 2005
Gen's best friend in the world is Mickey, and Geoff's birthday brought them together for a day at the beach.
It's amazing how much fun they had with nothing but sand, seaweed and limitless room to follow each other around.
July 23, 2007
To Sleep, Perchance to Go Berserk
Gen had a tantrum in her sleep this morning, complete with kicking, moaning, lots of Nooooo, etc.
"I wanna go in the water! I wanna go in the water! I want... I want a vitamin!"
It's a bit of a puzzle, since I don't think we've ever had to stop her from going in the water.
July 24, 2007
Longoooooooal!!
My buddy Tim recently rebranded his site Bullet Points (previously it was called More to Come) and jumped right in with one of the more interesting posts I've read in a while. It even inspired the sleeping giant to stir after a long nap.
July 26, 2007
Full O'Crap
Hey, see that link to the left, the one that says "Daily Kos"? I've had that link for a long time because it's one of my favorite lefty blogs.
Bill O'Reilly says that Daily Kos is like the Nazi Party, which I guess makes me, by extension, like a member of the Nazi Party. That would put me in the secular, pro-feminist, pro-union, anti-torture, anti-imperialist, pro-Israel wing of the Nazi Party, just like those guys back in the 40's.
And that's why Bill O'Reilly earns the big bucks.
(By the way, for a quick education, scan the 25-point platform of the Nazi Party. It's an eye-opening read with, ah, I guess you could say, something for everyone.)
July 29, 2007
I Have No Idea Why the Caged Bird Sings
Gen had a little tantrum at the end of the hall the other day because we wouldn't let her in the bedroom to "pet" (i.e. bounce on, shriek at, or inadvertently throttle) Buster, our cat.
As she cried, we told her she should come join us when she calmed down. After a minute, the crying slowed down, then a minute later it ramped up again. We looked down the hall and she had somehow crawled under the cat gate, into the spare room, where the cats usually get to eat in peace. (We raise it off the floor so they can squeeze under it.)
So basically, she had imprisoned herself and then decided that it was terribly unfair and we had to hear about it. She sat there, looking at us through the bars, bawling in outrage.
Livia removed the gate and said she could come out when she was ready. Gen continued crying for a bit, then reached over and closed the door, and wailed even louder. We'd open the door, she'd close it, etc. Ultimately, Livia found some distraction to break the cycle and Gen cheered up.
I bring up the story only to point out that kids are weird.
August 15, 2007
Oh What a Beautiful Mooornin'
August 15, 2007
Scaredy Cat
This is Little Sweet One.
She's a nervous cat by nature - she's afraid of a spinning overhead fans, for instance. But when we brought home Genevieve, Little Sweet One's peaceful world was thrown into chaos. She spent most of the day hiding in hard-to-reach places, and she barfed a lot more, also in hard-to-reach places.
After a couple of months, Little Sweet One came to terms with the situation, recognizing that Genevieve slept a lot, couldn't move around very much when she was awake, and was generally oblivious to cats anyways (too busy examining her own hands). LSO started spending time with us again, but kept an ear out for trouble, and made tracks when Gen was in one of her moods.
Ever since Gen has been mobile - approaching two years now - poor LSO has been back in seclusion, spending most of her time behind the cat gate. She still apparently keeps an ear out, though. She knows all the signs of Gen leaving the house or going to bed, and will stroll into view a minute or two later.
I've wondered what it's like from Genevieve's perspective to have this wraith in the house. Gen will catch a glimpse of her flitting past a doorway in a dash for the cat box, or will hear meowing at the rear door, as LSO tries to get our attention to let her out before The Pink Monster catches on. Gen knows she's a cat, knows her name, and has seen pictures, but she doesn't get to look at her for more than a few seconds a week.
Little Sweet One has a few more years in her, and I hope it's enough time to become friends with Genevieve, who really does love animals. Her brother Buster is starting to assert his place on the couch again, absorbing Gen's overzealous affection with his ears flat, waiting for her to get bored and go away. He's stubborn, and it makes him hard to protect. Little Sweet One is stubborn in a different way: She holds tightly to a grudge.
August 20, 2007
Hedge Wizard
You might not know who Jim Cramer is. Take a look a this and you probably won't forget.
Keep in mind that passion, overstatement, and the bearing of a harried floor trader is his shtick; he's a showman, not a seer. So this link just serves as free advertising for Cramer, but I couldn't help myself, mainly because I wanted to provide context for this:
Of course, Cramer got his rate cut, which will have the short term effect of letting certain speculators bail out before the ceiling falls in. I think the long term effect on the market is negligible and we're in for a slow slide, and I've adjusted my investments to suit. But that's just me, I don't know anything.
August 23, 2007
We're Always Winning, because We Can't Lose
I hear we're winning in Iraq, at last. I guess the surge is working; I knew we'd get it right some day.
Winning has taken quite a while, and some historical perspective is due. Try this: Type Iraq "We're Winning" into Google News, sort the results by date, then click "Archives" on the left. Then click on the year entries to see how long we've been winning.
You can investigate our winning ways with these sample searches:
So let's keep winning! After all, losing isn't an option.
August 24, 2007
The Language Ninny Never Sleeps
I heard a guy on NPR recently saying that after he posted a story about baseball fans, he got "spammed" by baseball fans.
What he meant was that a whole lot of baseball fans mailed him to complain, which isn't spamming. Spamming is what happens when one person sends the same e-mail to a lot of people; in this case, a lot of people independently sent unique e-mails to him.
I bring it up because this usage isn't uncommon, and it displeases the Language Ninny. The implication in the term "spam" is heedless abuse, but what this usage of "spam" really describes is a functional feedback system. Is that so bad?
August 30, 2007
If You Can't Beat it, Eat it
In Microsoft Money, when you enter a name in the Pay To category, the program tries to guess at the spending category. Usually it's right.
This time, not so much.
September 4, 2007
Conditional Democracy
Here's our elected president, talking about Iraq's elected president:
"He's learning to be a leader," Bush said a few weeks later. "And one of my jobs as the president and his ally is to help him be that leader without being patronizing. At some point in time, if I come to the conclusion that he can't be the leader—he's unwilling to lead or he's deceptive—then we'll change course. But I haven't come to that conclusion. As a matter of fact, his recent actions have inspired me."
Open to question, naturally, is what that change of course will be. Perhaps he'll just become patronizing.
September 27, 2007
Bored of Warcraft
(But this time I'm not deleting my characters...)
September 29, 2007
Lotro of Dumbath
My 7-day trial of Lord of the Rings Online expired today.
I had recognized the game, during the limited number of hours I had to play it, as something potentially better than World of Warcraft, and was interested in starting a paid subscription. Instead, it appears I have to pay $30 for the game I had already downloaded. I can't justify the expense of buying the game without knowing I'll have the time to play it, but I most likely would have kept paying $15/month for a few months. So they lost the sale for the price of two months subscription.
(To be clear, I'm not just picking on this particular game. In a competetive landscape dominated by WoW, any company that uses a retail model as a barrier of entry for a subscription product is shooting themselves in the foot.)
October 8, 2007
"Close the door, Reed."
It's startling, and a little disquieting, when your 2-1/2 year old uses your actual name.
Livia and I almost never use proper names around here, so she must have noticed how other people address us. Genevieve has used my name twice now, seemingly when "Papa" isn't doing the job quickly enough, as in: "Close the door, Papa. Close the door, Papa. Close the door, Reed."
October 13, 2007
Look Out, World
Genevieve figured out how to use a mouse last night.
RetroGen: September 14, 2005
November 4, 2007
Sunday in the Park with Mina
December 6, 2007
Blueberry
December 21, 2007
The Contagious Spirit
Last year, when Genevieve was sick and miserable, it became a nightly routine to bundle her into blankets and roll around the neighborhood so she could see the lights, Santas, and inflatable snowmen. She was fascinated and sometimes intimidated by the oversized displays, but she loved the nightly tour.
For a long time, I've looked at Christmas lights and thought they were nice, but I never caught the celebratory spirit, and never felt particulary moved to put them up myself. After last Christmas, seeing how much they meant to Genevieve, I really felt thankful, and began to see these displays as a gift to the neighborhood.
Last night, I drove around to see where the action is this year, and to get a sense of where to point the stroller when we head out. A few things struck me about the displays:
* Many more Christmas lights in general, and more elaborate displays on the houses that have them. It's Vegas out there.
* Fewer giant KMart inflatable snowglobes. It's a small victory for taste, but Genevieve likes these better than everything else, so it's a decided loss to a toddler looking for cheap thrills.
* Not far from here, there's one house with a tall pine that's decorated all the way to the top. You can see it over the houses as you drive anywhere near the area. The surrounding houses have some good displays too, perhaps inspired by the giant muse.
* There are live streets, and dead streets. An entire block will be dark, but take a left and then a right, and there's a block that has you digging for sunglasses. The weird block next door to ours (Sarkesian, for you locals) has nothing on one side and an incredible glare on the other. There's a great sociological study in there somewhere.
It seems like a spirit that catches on and inspires the neighborhood. Our street is pretty nicely lit this year, and we added to the festivities; nothing huge, just a humble and cheery cluster of lights - getting our feet wet, I guess. Next year, we're thinking... don't tell anyone... electric reindeer. I never thought I'd put lighted, nodding reindeer on my lawn, but I'm not the grinch I used to be.
December 23, 2007
We are sick, we are sick
We are sick, sick, sick...
December 24, 2007
Xmas Wisdom
"Those who cannot remember who's naughty or nice are condemned to bring presents to everyone."
- Santayana Claus
December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas
