Friday, 26 August 2011

If you scroll up to the top of this page, you’ll notice that just under the title, there are three tabs. One tab says “Home.” That’s the tab you’re on now. Another tab says “About James,” where I provide a smart-ass explanation of this blog then segue into a list of things I’ve learned in my 36 years (copied and updated from a post I made on my birthday last year). The third tab is “Books I’ve Read This Year.” Click on it. Go ahead, I dare you.

What’s that you say? Nothing’s there? That’s right. Ive been trying on and off for weeks to get a workable, coherent list there, and I have consistently failed. What I envision is a list with four columns: Book title, author, my letter grade for the book, and a brief review. I have figured out how to import a list, but it’s static – meaning that in order to update it – and that’s something I’d like to do every week or so – I’d have to re-import a whole new list.

That’s not too big of a deal, really, because I could just maintain a list on a computer file, update it as necessary, then re-import it. But the bigger issue is that I want it to be sort-friendly; that is, I want to be able to click on a header and have the list sort by the items in that column. So, if I want to sort by author, I can do that. If I want to sort by grade – to see a regression of books I’ve that have received an A, B, C, D, and F – then I can do that, too.

Here’s an example of a sortable list. Notice that you can click on the arrows in any heading and the list then immediately sorts by that column, either ascending (one click) or descending (two clicks). That’s what I want.

Can anyone help?

Saturday, 27 August 2011

Yesterday, we closed on our new house. We have rented out our apartment until late September, though, so there’s no rush to move. Jennifer wants to clean the new house and paint some of the rooms before we’ve moved everything in. I have scheduled a truck rental for September 10th, so if anyone can help on that day, that’d be great. Our plan (and we are making headway on this already) is to have most of the boxes moved over before then, so that on the 10th we just need to pack up and move the big stuff: beds, dressers, bookshelf, table, chairs.

We spent some time at our new place today, and Jennifer’s mom came over to help us clean the kitchen. I spent most of the time watching the kids, and while Isla was sleeping (at our apartment), I busied myself doing dishes and cleaning our apartment so that it doesn’t become totally trashed during our final days here.

The next 15 days will be busy ones: besides cleaning our new home and our old one, Owen will be beginning first grade, I will start back in my never-ending career at Hamline, I’m slated to move to a new cube to be closer to my new co-workers and lab (finally!) and we need to plan for a trip to Atlanta, which begins on September 18th.

All this makes me very stressed-out, especially considering I don’t live with the two most easy-going kids in the world, either. But thanks to Jennifer’s mom, and thanks to anyone else who can help – it eases the stress and makes the job more fun!

Sunday, 28 August 2011

As home-owners, we made our obligatory first trip to Menards this afternoon.

Here’s how Isla sits in the shopping cart:

Before you get too worried about her safety, I’d like to point out that she is buckled in. But since even facing the wrong way in a shopping cart gets boring after a while, Isla next decided to take a more active role in our shopping excursion:

This makes for slow going.

Later, at our new place, Owen tried out our new hose:

Little sister watches with delight as Owen says, “I finally have a hose!”

Later, I went out to my car to retrieve some things. When I walked back towards the front door, I saw Isla standing there, waiting for me. This immediately reminded me of Owen, when he was little, also standing at the door watching me when I went out to get the mail or do something with the cars. It was funny to think I hadn’t seen anything like that in over three years – our apartment door, after all, has no windows and is on the third floor, so there’s no way for anyone to watch for me. Instead, I just surprise them when I walk in the door.

How cute is this? I just had to take a picture.

This evening, back at our apartment, the four of us relaxed in front of the TV. We watched Muppets from Space and snacked on pop-corn. We HAD to do this. The reason why we had to do this is because, on Owen’s last day of Kindergarten, his teacher gave him (and all the other students) blank calendars and twenty stickers with twenty different summertime activities. Since that day, Owen has worked hard to try and complete each activity. Some were easy – such as going to the park, going for a walk, and watching the fireworks. Others we had to make special plans to do – such as star-gazing, making rice krispies, sending a postcard to someone far away, and going to a museum. The final sticker on the list was to have a family movie night and eat pop-corn. Now the goal is accomplished. Owen is ready for first grade.

Owen attaches the final of his twenty stickers.

Owen proudly stands next to his June, July, and August calendars, while pointing to today’s date. Notice the blank strip to the left of the calendars – that’s where the stickers were originally hanging.

Thursday, 25 August 2011

Yesterday, while dining at Buca with my wife for our anniversary, Jennifer suggested that we think of some of the best things from each year of our marriage. After deciding it was easiest to go by calendar year, we commenced with 1996 and proceeded from there.

For some years, it was really hard to think of good things. A couple of times, I said things that weren’t very good, and Jennifer said to only think of the positive memories. Of course, every year has had happy memories, but we were generally sticking with larger events. What I mean is, there have been numerous times when Jennifer and I have stayed up late, watched a movie and shared a bowl of pop-corn. Those are some good times – and I’m sure that’s happened at least once every year, but we were concentrating mostly on the bigger memories rather than on the day-to-day happenings.

For 2005, we mentioned Owen’s birth, of course. And when we got to 2010, we mentioned Isla’s birth. We thought of when our cats first came to live with us, and we thought of new jobs and new homes and going to college and going on vacation. In fact, we thought of lots of vacations. This might seem a bit shallow – to suggest that the best times in life are the artificially constructed good times wherein we purposely put our normal lives on hold and retreat to some other part of the world for a few days – but, hey, vacations are memorable. And some of them have been quite good. Here then are, in my opinion, the five best vacations that Jennifer and I have gone on together as a married couple…

1) Our Honeymoon (1996)

We ‘honeymooned’ in Hudson, Wisconsin, a town that’s barely outside the Twin Cities area. So, I’m not even sure this qualifies as a vacation. Nevertheless, I loved getting away from all the crazy stress of our lives at that time and venturing off to somewhere where no one knew where we were. We stayed at the Jefferson Day House and spent three days dining in nice restaurants, playing on the beach, touring historic sites, and doing what newly-married couples do.

2) Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (2001)

For our five year anniversary, we took off in our first airplane ride together. Jennifer, a big fan of Anne of Green Gables, had always wanted to see Prince Edward Island. We spent the first night in Nova Scotia, then a week on the island. Everything was gorgeous. It was on this trip that I first realized I loved seafood. We spent several evenings at Prince Edward Island National Park, watching the sun set over the Atlantic. On our last evening, we sat in an old church and listened to some local acts playing their music and dancing. Jennifer was actually sad to leave, and I assured her we’d go again someday. That was ten years ago…

3) Two Harbors (2002)

Having been up to Duluth as children (for Jehovah’s Witnesses conventions), Jennifer and I desired to go back up to the North Shore and see it as adults. Jennifer found Northern Rail, a perfect balance between bed-and-breakfast and hotel. We took in the local sites: Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Lighthouse, The Lake Superior Zoo, The Glensheen Mansion, and The Great Lakes Aquarium. In the evenings, we got back to our hotel early, dined at Betty’s Pies, and watch TV. That was our first time seeing Survivor, a show we’ve watched ever since.

4) Bluefin Bay (2004)

Traveling further north than we’d ever been in Minnesota, Jennifer and I took part in a family trip with her parents and her brother and sister. We all stayed in one beautiful condo that overlooked Lake Superior. On our first evening there, we all went out to eat together and Jennifer announced that she was pregnant. Everyone was surprised and happy for us. For the next three days, we pretty much just stayed around the condo, played games and ate awesome food.

5) Caribbean Cruise (2004)

Less than a month after getting home from the Bluefin Bay Trip, Jennifer and I (again accompanied by her brother and his wife), flew down to Florida. There, we met up with more relatives and boarded a cruise ship that took us to the Bahamas and Key West. Again, there was more great food. We snorkled, played games, watched live shows, toured Hemingway’s house, the Key West Winery, and a maritime museum. There was a long, cold winter ahead of us, but it was great being in the hot sun for a few days. Even if I did get bad sunburn on my back.

Wednesday, 24 August 2011

Today is our wedding anniversary. Jennifer and I have been married for 15 years (as of 3:30 this afternoon).

We always do something special – something out of the ordinary – on the day of our anniversary. Sometimes, we plan bigger trips, too. For example, on our 5 year anniversary we vacationed in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. For our six year anniversary, we spent a long weekend on Lake Superior at the Northern Rail Train and Suites. And on our ten year anniversary we stayed in Hudson, Wisconsin and had a party on the river with our friends and family. But none of these things took place on the actual day of our anniversary. This year, for example, we’re going to spend a few days in Atlanta as an anniversary celebration, but that’s still a few weeks out yet.

So, every year, we (usually me) try to find something to do on August 24th.

Today we paid a visit to the Foshay Tower Museum (which, sadly, appears to not have a better website than THIS). The Foshay Tower was the first skyscraper west of the Mississippi. Its 1929 completion made it the tallest building in Minnesota – a title it held for over 40 years. It is now the 17th tallest building in Minneapolis, meaning its dwarfed by other nearby buildings. Still, those other buildings stupidly lack an observation deck or public viewing area. The IDS Center, for example, used to have a viewing area until a law firm bought out the space. Huh. That’s funny. Lawyers wrecking something?

Jennifer and I going all the way on our anniversary.

The museum on the Foshay’s 30th floor was small but entertaining. We watched an old Felix the Cat cartoon and saw documents from Roosevelt and Truman.

After spending about 45 minutes in the museum, we walked up the remaining two floors to the observation deck. The view was literally breath-taking, as the wind quite strong on the west side of the building. We looked down upon the Twins’ Stadium, the Metrodome, and we looked over at other tall buildings. We could see for miles – even downtown St. Paul was visible. It was, actually, a little scary. Isla was riding on my back and I kept reaching behind and holding onto her legs, a little worried that she might decide to launch herself off the edge.

Look at that breeze! (or, more accurately: Look at the effect of the breeze on that hair!)

The Foshay’s reflection can be seen in the other building.

Here’s a photo that my friend Tim took from the observation deck during his visit to the Foshay Tower back in May.

After that harrowing experience, we explored around the building’s lobby for a while. The building is largely a hotel now.
Instead of calling it the Foshay Hotel like they should, they call it the W Hotel, which is stupid. Anyway, we looked around at the conference rooms and Owen and I tried out the bathrooms that were so insanely fancy-schmancy that he couldn’t figure out how to flush the toilet and I couldn’t figure out how to turn on the sink. Isla started fussing and the business men, in their high-faluttin’ meetings, looked out at us, wondering why people who make less than $350,000 a year were loitering around their turf. We left and went across the street to buy a snack.

Later, Jennifer and I (this time sans progeny) dined at Buca, an experience made even better by virtue of a free dessert coupon and a gift card Buca gave me for whining about their food and service last time.

Happy Anniversary to my wife and me! Next year: a fun, unique day at ground level.

Sunday, 21 August 2011

Yesterday, even though we did not plan to cross the highway, Owen insisted on riding his bike over the bridge. So Jennifer and Isla waited while Owen and I trekked across the bridge and then back.
Here’s a photo of the event:

Owen crossing the highway on bike.

In other news…we’re packing up to move. Today we packed about 20 boxes. I’m wondering how many boxes we can pack before it starts to look like we’re making headway. We’ve got a lot of stuff.

Monday, 22 August 2011

I talked to my Dad this evening. Turns out, he and my stepmom and getting their home prepared for Hurricane Irene. The storm is currently on its way to the Dominican Republic and is slated to be a category 3 (presumably on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) by the time it reaches Florida’s east coast.

My Dad assured me that the preparations are a little bit easier than last time. He and my stepmom now live in a condo, so someone else worries about the outside of the house. I hope they and the rest of my Floridian relatives fare alright.

In other news, here’s another awesome video featuring a former Star Trek: The Next Generation cast member:

And if you liked that, don’t forget to watch this, too:

Also – if you consider yourself a Minnesotan and an atheist – and at least an adequate writer, then you can submit your story here for possible publication in Atheist Voices of Minnesota.

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

Today marks 11 years that we have owned our Chevy Cavalier. As you may recall (if you have a phenomenal memory), I have been tracking the roll-over of each 1,000 miles since last summer. I wanted to see, first, if the vehicle would last ten years and, second, how long I could expect it to last. My father-in-law predicted that I could get another 50,000 miles out of the Cavalier. He said that back when the car had only 150,000 miles on it.

So here are the miles the old rust-bucket has been logging…

As you can see, I’ve been going roughly a thousand miles a month. The largest gap – between 150,000 miles and 151,000 miles – was 63 days long, and much of that time was taken up with my paternity leave, during which time I did not drive to work. The shortest gap was the very next one, where I went another thousand miles in only 23 days. Yuck!

It looks, then, like I travel about a thousand miles a month in my Cavalier, meaning it has three more years until it logs 200,000 miles. I hope it lasts that long. It’s been a reliable car – apart from a new tire in January and new front brakes earlier this month, I haven’t had to put much money into it.

August 2014: The month I finally replace my Cavalier. ????

Saturday, 20 August 2011

If my last post was a little too heavy for you, here’s some lighter fair:

Secretary of State Approves Marriage Statute.

Good news from Maine! The bad news is, this make Minnesota look even worse as we fall further behind, but overall, it’s good news.

Secondly, I can’t think of a better way to spend the first 15 seconds after getting engaged than what this couple did…

Thirdly…
Oh my god! Oh my god! This is awesome – the band with the best music videos ever has teamed up with the…well, I don’t want to spoil it. Just watch the video:

Very awesome (even if they do say “it’s time to put on music”). I’ll be at my computer on August 23rd.