Thursday, 09 December 2010

Today, Owen said he wanted to count how many books we owned. He just randomly picked a spot on the bookshelf and began counting. After a couple minutes of counting, he lost track of both the spot on the shelf where he was and the number he was at. So I offered to give him a hand.

I pointed out to him that there were stacks of books above the bookshelf. From his vantage point, those are really hard to see, so I took the lead in counting those. Then we counted everything in the shelf, then we moved over to the other, smaller shelf. Then I showed him there were a few books hidden away in the cabinet above the refrigerator. He didn’t know about these (they don’t get much use: one’s a home repair book, another features drink recipes). Then I told him Mama had some books on her nightstand, and I told him I keep a book in my car. We added all this stuff together and came to 326.

He asked me to write this number down and said he wanted to count the rest another time. I presume he means the books in his room. I’ll keep you posted.

Friday, 10 December 2010

This evening, I had a few hours to myself, so I worked on some of my projects. While doing that, I turned on iTunes and listened to some U2.

U2 always makes me think of the person who first introduced me to U2. Of course, I had heard the name of the band before, but I didn’t know anything they sang back then. Then, one day, I went to a friend’s house, and he was positively surprised that I didn’t know anything about them. He promptly set about changing this by playing Rattle and Hum for me, which I agreed was a pretty good album. In time, I actually became the bigger fan, even inviting him to a U2 concert in 1997 (his mother-in-law wouldn’t let him go) and supplying him with a copy of How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb in 2004. Even so, when U2’s music comes on, particularly if it’s not one of the five or six U2 songs that gets continuous radio play, I recall the days when my old friend first introduced the band to me.

I could tell a similar story about Billy Joel, but I’ll spare you the tedious nostalgia.

My point is, I was thinking how nearly every musical act I listen to was originally introduced to me by a friend. So I began thinking of every musician of band that I like and tried to think back to how I first came into contact with their music. The only time I could recall having ‘discovered’ the music myself was Paul Simon – who also happens to be my favorite musician…

Back in the early 1990s, I was trying to view every film that had any sort of historical, cultural or even financial merit. This of course brought me to The Graduate, a film I rented while staying at a friend’s house (since I assumed my parents wouldn’t let me rent it). The movie pretty much sucks, but the soundtrack was great! When I returned home a few days later, I immediately dug through my dad’s music collection and found that he had Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits on 8-track, as well as “I am a Rock” on vinyl. I listened to these until I had them memorized and, eventually, I scored a copy of their Greatest Hits album on CD.

Then, one day, whilst thumbing through my latest copy of The Guinness Book of World Records, I came upon a list of Grammy winners, and was surprised to see Paul Simon had not only won Album of the Year in 1970 for his work with Garfunkel (Bridge Over Troubled Waters), but had also won Album of the Year twice as a soloist. I immediately set about trying to secure these albums. And that pretty much cemented my Simon fandom.

And I did it without anyone else’s help.

Saturday, 11 December 2010

Happy half-birthday to me!

Mother nature decided to celebrate the midpoint by bringing a blizzard. When Owen first looked out the window this morning, he saw the bottom 9 inches of the window was covered in snow and asked, “Is that how high the snow is?” I explained that, no, that was just the snow piled up on the ledge, but that there was still quite a load of snow.

We went outside and played in the snow today. Or, at least, we tried to. The wind was blowing so hard I couldn’t see anything – it kept whipping around the snow and pelting our faces with it. It was also really cold. So, we spent the rest of the day indoors.

From our windows (when they were cleanly scraped by Owen), we could see several cars stuck in the snow during the course of the day. One car even got stuck in a snow bank while trying to leave the parking lot (of the neighboring apartment building, not ours). Man, they certainly didn’t make it very far.

Oh – and the mail didn’t come, either, which was just fine with me, because Saturday’s mail pretty much goes straight into recycling.

One of my friends works at the Mall of America and he had to go to work today. I think keeping the Mall open on a day like today was a great way for the Mall to let everyone know that they don’t care about their employees. Wow. I’m so shocked.

Wednesday, 08 December 2010

Today marks the 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder. Though the radio stations make a point of reminding everyone, I don’t need the reminder. It’s a day, like so many others, that I simply remember.

What makes Lennon’s tragedy stand out to me – besides the obvious facts of any murder being a tragedy and the fact that the world lost a great musician – is that I actually remember when it happened.

…Kind of.

He was murdered in New York City, just outside his home during Monday evening. Most Americans, therefore, first heard about the shooting while watching football. Here’s Howard Cosell’s announcement during Monday Night Football: CLICK THIS!

And though I lived in a house of non-stop TV viewing, we did not have the football game on. In fact (and here’s a great thing about my parents), we never had the football game on. I went to bed that night without knowing what happened.

But the next day, kids were talking about it on the bus. When I got to my Kindergarten class, some kids seemed really sad about it. I knew only the name “John Lennon” – I would’ve been hard pressed to have named any of his songs or to have named his former band. Still, when we sat in a circle on the floor around the teacher, she explained what had happened, and she told us how much she liked Lennon’s music.

I wasn’t yet alive when Nixon resigned, and I was too young to understand when the King of Rock and Roll died, but I remember where I was was during other big events;  when the Challenger blew up, when OJ Simpson was found not guilty, when Muslims flew planes into buildings, when the Indian Ocean Tsunami struck. Nevertheless, I will always remember Lennon’s death as the first world event that I felt a part of. In time, I came to learn of his songs, and I finally learned which band he had been in, and his death seems all the more tragic in retrospect.

Here’s the music video to my favorite John Lennon song, in which he answers the criticism that the five years he took off from creating music to be with his son were a waste of time. Lennon had the money and desire to stay home with his new son, something he did for five years. I had the desire, but not the money…so I didn’t do that. But now that my Kindergartener son is 5 and a half years old, he and I have lived together longer than John and Sean did. Man, that’s sad. Anyways, here’s the video:

That song was created at a time when Lennon was getting back to work, when he promised he would be “Starting Over” and that he wanted his wife to “Grow Old Along with” him.

In February 1982, while accepting the Grammy for Best Album of the Year, which she co-wrote and performed with her late husband, Yoko Ono said she and John “were proud and happy to be part of the human race; to make good music for the Earth and for the universe.” Well said.

Monday, 06 December 2010

Okay, so today I watched this video:

This happened back in April, but it was just posted last week, presumably because the criminal case is concluded.

It’s weird.
On the one hand, Kahle, and the woman whose name I do not know, are making a great point: this is a state-sponsored endorsement of religion and, as such, is unconstitutional. However, they did disrupt the congressional proceedings (there’s seems to be some debate on this in the comments section – they did NOT disrupt them in that the proceedings were able to continue without a glitch, but they DID disrupt in that they spoke when it was not their turn), and thus I think it was appropriate that they were removed from the room.

However! Yikes, that was quite an aggressive manner in which to remove someone! Also, once he was out of the building, why did they keep on harassing him? I like how fearful they are of the camera. It’s as if they’re saying, “No, what we’re doing is not right, so please do not record it!”

Several people are using YouTube’s comment section under the video to point out how Christians are willing to beat up people who disagree with them. And while that’s certainly true in some cases, is there any evidence that this is why Kahle was beat up? Perhaps the sergeant-at-arms and deputies do this to anybody who causes any sort of disturbance, regardless of the validity of their point.

Anyway, Kahle was exonerated.

Reminder to self: Don’t visit the Hawaii State Senate. I might get beat up.

Tuesday, 07 December 2010

And today I watched this series of videos:

PART ONE-

PART TWO-

PART THREE-

They’re evidently “episode 19” in a continuing saga. I have not watched the 18 prequels, but it’s not necessary in order to ‘enjoy’ this triptych of filmlets.

The film-makers kind of get off topic here (particularly in part 2), but it’s still entertaining. It’s stuff like this that makes me nod my head and think, “Yep, religion sucks.” It’s hard to think of any truly good reason why religion should exist in our modern world.

Best line from the set of films is in Part Three (and it appears the film-makers know they hit on something here):

“Extremism is pure, uncut religion that has not been diluted with the progressive views of secular logic and reason.”

Brilliant!

Sunday, 05 December 2010

Yesterday we visited Krueger’s Christmas Trees to select and cut down this year’s Winter Solstice Tree. They try really hard to practice sustainable tree farming, and they give part of their profits to all sorts of hippy non-profit organizations. So, it’s been an annual tradition for us; this is our third year venturing to Krueger’s.

We bought a Canaan Fir (Abies phanerolepis). Here’s a picture of it all gussied up for the Holidays:

And today I took close-up pictures of some of our ornaments, so you can see the kind of thing we decorate with:

Here’s an ornament celebrating the upcoming Solstice. My wife made this from scratch. She molded the shape from clay and painted the sun on it.

And here’s one that Owen made (actually, there are two here – he also painted that one in the background). This wooden stocking has a metal hook to hold it onto the tree, and the hook terminates in a bell. Owen painted this when he was two years old, and Jennifer wrote “Owen 2007” on the side (barely visible due to my lousy photography).

Jennifer also made some gingerbread people (and cats, too) from scratch. This one represents Owen. Cause, you know, nothing says “Owen” like ruffled wrists, ankles, and a red bow tie. Jennifer said she has to make one for Isla now that she’s in our family. I’ll keep you posted.

Here’s another custom-made ornament, only this one isn’t quite ‘from scratch;’ Jennifer drew and colored this picture, then uploaded it to some website that then put it on an ornament for us. She did the same thing with a mug, too, and so Owen has a mug that looks just like this (his name is on it, too).

Okay, so the actual photo in this frame is in focus, but again, I just took a really bad picture. It’s hard to focus when there’s light coming from every angle and there are tree branches at every distance between the lens and my subject. Anyway, here’s another unique ornament of a vintage frame with our family’s photo in it. A photo that, like the gingerbread men, is sure to make Isla feel left out.

Well, these guys have seen better days. In fact, the ornament on the left hasn’t seen ANY days lately, as his eyes fell off. We made these out of corn husks and dried corn back in 2007. It was fun to make some ornaments using such simple materials. My sister says they’re kind of voodoo-ish. She’s like that.

This ornament says “Our First” (barely visible) on it because, well, it is all that’s left of our very first Xmas tree. We purposely saved this slice and Jennifer decorated both sides of it. I drilled the hole, so don’t think that Jennifer does all the artsy stuff around here.

[Oops – wait – that’s not all that’s left of our first tree. There THIS STUFF, too.]

And before you ask, “Hey, do you guys make every ornament you hang up?” I submit these…

I call this our “ornament archetype,” since, to me, it best embodies the mental image I conjure up when I hear the term “Christmas tree ornament.” Jennifer also bought a set of 20 smaller colorful balls to hang from the tree, but this one – larger, metal, and with a bell inside – still holds the record for most typical ornament.

This is our oldest ornament. In fact, we even hung it up in 2006, a year in which we didn’t even have a tree. It came in the mail one year (2004?) as a Thank You for our donation to the Humane Society. I didn’t have the heart to get rid of it, so I just kept it in a drawer in our kitchen. This allowed Satan access to our home, where he insidiously convinced us that hanging out with our family on December 25th was ‘funner’ than knocking on doors. Damn you, Devil. Damn you.

…and here’s our newest ornament. It was free with our purchase of the tree, so it’s been in our home for about 24 hours now. I think it’s an opossum. With glad tidings, I’m sure.

And here’s the topper to our tree – an image of the sun with human face on it. We used to have a five-pointed star that we made out of willow branched (the same time and place we made those corn husk people, above), but it fell apart while in storage this past year, so we nixed it in favor of this guy. Also, my sister complained that the willow branch star had “a little Blair Witch going on.”

She’s like that.

Thursday, 02 December 2010

Today was a fun evening in which we thought Isla was sick.

Maybe she is sick? Hm. I don’t know.

Jennifer tried to take her temperature with this Star Trek-y thermometer that you touch to a person’s head, then scrap along their forehead. It just takes seconds, and it’s not invasive, so it’s perfect for a baby.

Except…it kept reading unusually low.

So then we tried a more traditional approach, by placing a thermometer in her armpit. Usually this type of thermometer is supposed to be kept under the tongue, but good luck getting a baby to cooperate with that one. Of course, placing a thermometer under her armpit is also difficult for a baby. You have to take off their outfit, for one thing, so then they’re cold. Also, you have to hold their arm down next to their side, which is evidently asking the world of a four-month old.

So as Isla got more and more cranky as I held her arm down, I began to wonder how accurate the thermometer could possibly be, since he agitation was probably resulting in a higher body temperature.

Anyway, we couldn’t detect a fever; at least, we couldn’t detect any temperature high enough to merit concern. So, we’ll just do what any good parent would do. We’ll just go to bed and see how she is in the morning.

Friday, 03 December 2010

I took our Saturn – you know, the one with the ENGINE light on – to Midas this evening. They do a free “courtesy check,” which is exactly $50 cheaper than this place down the road that I took our Jetta to last year. Well, actually, that courtesy check was free, too, but only because I yelled at the cashier for having such a crappy policy. She said something about her mechanics needing to get paid, too. I said something about me needing my money, too, and not wanting to give it to people that don’t do anything for me. She said they did do something for me, and I said she should’ve had her “50 dollars just to walk in the door policy” posted somewhere, and so she begrudgingly gave me back the money. She asked if I wanted their estimate, and I said no.

Anyway…

The guys at Midas asked if the car was doing anything funny, or sounding funny in any way. I said it wasn’t, but I called Jennifer just to have her explain a funny sound she said she’d heard this morning. But, with the cold weather and wet conditions, a funny sound may just be a belt squeaking as the engine heats up.

They were nice enough to hoist the Saturn up and look around, but they couldn’t see anything. One of the guys told me they could hook it up to their computer, which would cost $80. He said if it turns out the problem is something really simple – such as having refueled with the car running – they wouldn’t charge me for that.

So this then generated a conversation about refueling the car when it is running. I’ve had this ‘problem’ with my Cavalier, too. I declined the expensive computer-to-computer conversation, and Owen and I drove back home. I asked Jennifer if she had refueled the car while it was running, and she said she did.

So my plan now is to wait a few days. Once the tank gets lower, we’ll get gas again, only this time with the car shut off. I hope that fixes the ENGINE light.

Saturday, 04 December 2010

This morning, Owen and I went to the Mall of America. The Lego Store was re-opening, and Owen seemed pretty excited to see their upgraded store.

Well…it was kind of disappointing.

We arrived at the mall at approximately 10:45. We walked directly to the Lego store, but there were long lines of people waiting to get in. Really long lines, in fact, with ropes corralling them back and forth around the store. I listened in while a security officer talked to another confused guest, and he explained that the Lego store would be unveiling their enormous sculptures (which were scattered in the three floors of space above the store and still covered in enormous tarps) at 11:00. So I asked Owen – who was completely overwhelmed with all the people – if he wanted to go back upstairs to get a better view. He agreed, and we went up to the third floor. We stood there, peering down on the store for another ten minutes, until just after 11:00, when someone came on the PA system and asked if we were excited.

I want to point out here that the PA system was absolutely terrible. I think it was the same one used at the 6K. I’m not sure why raising the decibel level of the human voice has suddenly become out of the reach of modern science. You’d think that someone could figure out a way to magnify sound without rendering it incomprehensible.

So, this announcer kept saying things, and all I could make out was that we were ‘traveling through time.’ They first uncovered a giant Lego sculpture of a dinosaur (I think). But we couldn’t see it. Due to the design of the Mall, the floor we were standing on was directly above part of the Lego store, and so our ‘ground’ was obscuring our view of part of the store.

After unveiling two or three sculptures that we couldn’t see, though, they finally started to uncover stuff we could see. There was a sculpture of some 15^th century explorers, then there was something a bit more recent, then there was a guy on a motorcycle (which represented the present), then, lastly, there was the biggest sculpture of all: a robot who was 34 feet tall. We had a perfect view of that robot, and it was fun to see them unveil it. The curtains covering it were so big, I thought they were going to catch on the robot’s parts, but they didn’t. Oh – I think the robot represented the future.

So then I asked Owen if he wanted to go see the store, but he said he just wanted to go home. I talked him into visiting Teavana (something he loves to do), and we checked out the animals at the Home for Life demonstration, and we even bought my sister a Xmas present.

As we doubled-back, I told Owen we would be going to the Lego store (I was hoping the crowd had died down in the 45 minutes since). Alas, the lines were still just as long, and a security officer assured me there was a long wait.

So we went home. I’ll bring him back another day.

CLICK HERE to see a news story on what I’m talking about.