Ok, so Seth was in the living room and was not happy about being told "No" to playing video games or something. In any case, he did the famous "turn your back and kick because I'm mad" bit. Celena asked him, "Seth, why did you back kick at me?". His response: "Why does a duck wear a hat, who knows?"
That was funny indeed!
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
My European Trip
What a trip! I started out flying to Boston to stay overnight and take the first flight to London. The flight went really well due to my recent purchase of a PSP and the remake of the original Final Fantasy (20 year edition). Once in London, I was struck by how crowded it was (and dirty). Being a country boy, I really missed the open spaces and trees. However, this was an adventure through Europe and I was going to see what I could see. So, we took a cab to our hotel (near Waterloo station) and had dinner. It was around 10pm and I really wanted to go to westminster and walk around. So, I went to take the underground (subway) and away I went to see how it worked. Personally, I think it's a bit dangerous and there are certainly some shady characters around (I've seen some movies start out like what I was experiencing) but overall the trip to Big Ben went well.
Coming out of the underground puts you right at the base of Big Ben.......within 20 feet! First impression: it's huge! Man, pictures just really don't do it justice. Also, the parliament building as a whole has exquisite architecture, and is really nice to see. Buildings just aren't made like that anymore because it would take so long an is not really cost-effective. It's a shame. I called Celena and the boys from the bridge over the river Thames and headed back to the hotel.
My trip back to the hotel on the underground at 11:30pm was odd. I saw a dude that was really interesting. He was a Goth, and looked the part wholeheartedly. Long black hair, black fingernails, black clothes....you get the picture. His laptop bag had 3" spikes all over it, and could not have been comfortable. Anyway, I said, "Hello" and he smiled and said "Hello" back. I figured that would suffice in order to stave off an attack. :)
After getting back to the hotel I crashed. It was 11:45pm (6:45pm EDT) so I really wasn't tired but needed to sleep. I was out by 12.
Getting up at 5am and packing up to take the train was easier than I thought. Those who I was traveling with weren't so lucky. Pete and Carl were both really bad off and were having a hard time adjusting. I really didn't have a problem. From my point of view I just had 5 hours of interrupted sleep. Having 2 small children means that this is a rarity and I was well rested!
So, onto the train station to take the train to Paris. We decided to eat at the train station and I noticed that there were no napkins to be found....odd. Anyway, we had some bagels and loaded up. The train ride was.......a train ride. It was nice to see the european countryside, and the French countryside was really quite nice. Going under the English Channel was kinda fun too.
So we arrived in Paris and took a cab to the office. Work, work, work. Finished around 6pm and went to check-in to our hotel. It was nice, but we didn't stay long. Marc and I headed out and walked to the Eiffel Tower. That was an impressive structure! Huge, Ginormous, etc... Whatever I write just won't do it justice. Then we walked over the river and up to the Arc De Triomphe. That was impressive as well, and the swirling vortex of doom that is the traffic circle around it was just plain scary.
The next day we worked from morning until dinner....which is apparently 8pm! And that was early! The eateries don't even open until 8pm, which is just strange to me. The dinner was exquisite, I had oysters and scallops. It was by far the fanciest meal I've ever had. Although it wasn't much at all, 5 scallops hardly makes a meal to me.
The next morning we arose late, ate breakfast and made our way back to the airport. We did some shopping (read: bought good chocolate) and took the plane back to Boston. I had a short layover and was home by 10pm.
3 countries: 4 days. My butt was really tired. :)
Coming out of the underground puts you right at the base of Big Ben.......within 20 feet! First impression: it's huge! Man, pictures just really don't do it justice. Also, the parliament building as a whole has exquisite architecture, and is really nice to see. Buildings just aren't made like that anymore because it would take so long an is not really cost-effective. It's a shame. I called Celena and the boys from the bridge over the river Thames and headed back to the hotel.
My trip back to the hotel on the underground at 11:30pm was odd. I saw a dude that was really interesting. He was a Goth, and looked the part wholeheartedly. Long black hair, black fingernails, black clothes....you get the picture. His laptop bag had 3" spikes all over it, and could not have been comfortable. Anyway, I said, "Hello" and he smiled and said "Hello" back. I figured that would suffice in order to stave off an attack. :)
After getting back to the hotel I crashed. It was 11:45pm (6:45pm EDT) so I really wasn't tired but needed to sleep. I was out by 12.
Getting up at 5am and packing up to take the train was easier than I thought. Those who I was traveling with weren't so lucky. Pete and Carl were both really bad off and were having a hard time adjusting. I really didn't have a problem. From my point of view I just had 5 hours of interrupted sleep. Having 2 small children means that this is a rarity and I was well rested!
So, onto the train station to take the train to Paris. We decided to eat at the train station and I noticed that there were no napkins to be found....odd. Anyway, we had some bagels and loaded up. The train ride was.......a train ride. It was nice to see the european countryside, and the French countryside was really quite nice. Going under the English Channel was kinda fun too.
So we arrived in Paris and took a cab to the office. Work, work, work. Finished around 6pm and went to check-in to our hotel. It was nice, but we didn't stay long. Marc and I headed out and walked to the Eiffel Tower. That was an impressive structure! Huge, Ginormous, etc... Whatever I write just won't do it justice. Then we walked over the river and up to the Arc De Triomphe. That was impressive as well, and the swirling vortex of doom that is the traffic circle around it was just plain scary.
The next day we worked from morning until dinner....which is apparently 8pm! And that was early! The eateries don't even open until 8pm, which is just strange to me. The dinner was exquisite, I had oysters and scallops. It was by far the fanciest meal I've ever had. Although it wasn't much at all, 5 scallops hardly makes a meal to me.
The next morning we arose late, ate breakfast and made our way back to the airport. We did some shopping (read: bought good chocolate) and took the plane back to Boston. I had a short layover and was home by 10pm.
3 countries: 4 days. My butt was really tired. :)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Luke's a Cruiser
Luke has been cruising for some time, but I wanted an entire blog post about it. He's really alot more active than Seth was at this age, and he's really cute. Luke currently loves to take his food and drop it on the floor and say, "Uh-Oh". Also, when you go in to rock him because his teeth are coming in and he's crying at 2am he likes to drop his pacifier on the floor and say, "Uh-Oh". Yeah, it's still funny then too.....ok, maybe not so much.
Luke crawls and looks alot like a desert lizard. He goes so fast that his legs and arms really fly around his body in an odd way. All I can liken it to is a lizard running across the hot sand. He also loves to crawl over things. Seth likes to just lay in front of him and have Luke crawl over him. They both think it's halarious.
Luke crawls and looks alot like a desert lizard. He goes so fast that his legs and arms really fly around his body in an odd way. All I can liken it to is a lizard running across the hot sand. He also loves to crawl over things. Seth likes to just lay in front of him and have Luke crawl over him. They both think it's halarious.
Seth's favorite sandwitch
We were in Subway a couple of weeks ago and I was ordering sandwiches with Seth hanging off of one of my arms (not unusual, he likes to swing there). Anyway, I ordered a footlong turkey with lettuce, tomato, onions, and pickles and then asked him what he wanted. To my surprise he replied, "I'd like a foot and cheese sandwitch too!". Now whenever you ask him what kind of sandwich he wants, he says, "Foot and cheese, please!".
Feagle
Well, Seth and I make deals by putting our thumbs up and saying "Deal". He recently started using other fingers and just making words up. For instance, he would put up his pinky and say "Peagle", followed by his first finger which he dubbed, "Deagle". Today we did deal with our thumbs and then he just grinned, stared me straight in the eye and said, "Feagle". I looked at his hand and to my astonishment he was flying the bird, the "middle man", the.....well, he was flipping me off, middle finger held high and proud.
I laughed, so he thought it was funny. Big Mistake.
He had to learn this right before Luke's first birthday party too. Sheesh! Over the next couple of days he floated the bird to his Nana, Papa, Uncle Chris, Aunt Michelle, Luke, his Mother, and myself several times. Nana had the best reaction by simply stating, "Yes, that's your middle finger."
Many thanks to Mike and Kristy for one of my new terms used to discourage this....."middle man always needs a friend!". :)
I laughed, so he thought it was funny. Big Mistake.
He had to learn this right before Luke's first birthday party too. Sheesh! Over the next couple of days he floated the bird to his Nana, Papa, Uncle Chris, Aunt Michelle, Luke, his Mother, and myself several times. Nana had the best reaction by simply stating, "Yes, that's your middle finger."
Many thanks to Mike and Kristy for one of my new terms used to discourage this....."middle man always needs a friend!". :)
Las Vegas
I'm currently in Vegas at the IBM Information on Demand conference. The conference is awesome, but I really don't like Vegas at all. Everything reeks of smoke and there are drunk people (right beside sad people) everywhere. Nobody seems happy and everything feels fake and looks like a facade.
It's like Vegas is this place where people who are really bad at math go to pretend like they're having a good time while they waste their finances away and ruin their lungs and kidneys at the same time. It's really sad.
It's like Vegas is this place where people who are really bad at math go to pretend like they're having a good time while they waste their finances away and ruin their lungs and kidneys at the same time. It's really sad.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Funny Story
Seth and I are sitting at the counter eating our breakfast together and chatting between bites of cereal. Good stuff. Seth suddenly pulls on my sleeve and says, "Daddy, I have to tell you something!". "Ok, what is it?" I replied. "I have to tell you that I'm not allergic to cats and dogs anymore and that if you have to go to work today then you can take me to Mrs. Allison's house and I can play with the cats." - all I could do was laugh!
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Hello 29!!
Today I turned 29 years old. It wasn't so bad, mostly because I am such a child at heart (Celena say's I'm around 9ish). Anyway, she was so excited about giving me my present today; it seemed like she was more excited than I was. First, the card Seth (and Celena) made me was wonderful, and gave a hint to the present:
In any case, she had good reason to be excited......the present was astounding! This is what I recieved:
It's a real R2-D2 Astromech Droid!!! It has an IR sensor, voice recognition, drink holder, sonar, the works. You turn it on, say, "R2" and then one of over 50 commands (some hidden commands I found on the internet as well). This is so great! We played "light tag" where R2 counts to 10 and then roams the house looking for you. Once he finds you he shines his light on you and makes an "I won" sound; really fun. There's a dance program which Seth really likes and you can also setup a maze and manually guide R2 through it by saying commands like, "Right, one unit". It's like a really geeky version of a souped up Aibo. We all had a blast with it today; I'll put up some video soon on it. :)
So, we also went out and got an AppleTV so we can stream stuff from the computers to the TV. However, as many of you know I've never bought a TV (I won one in High School and then traded it to my brother for his larger set). Anyway, the AppleTV wouldn't connect to my TV so I went out and got a new one. I ended up with a 32" Sharp Aquos; it's wonderful @ 1080p. I set everything up and couldn't be happier:
All in all it's been a really fun day; perhaps the best birthday of the 29 I've had so far. Celena has already given up on topping this next year, but I think she can do it. There's always Hawaii........
In any case, she had good reason to be excited......the present was astounding! This is what I recieved:
It's a real R2-D2 Astromech Droid!!! It has an IR sensor, voice recognition, drink holder, sonar, the works. You turn it on, say, "R2" and then one of over 50 commands (some hidden commands I found on the internet as well). This is so great! We played "light tag" where R2 counts to 10 and then roams the house looking for you. Once he finds you he shines his light on you and makes an "I won" sound; really fun. There's a dance program which Seth really likes and you can also setup a maze and manually guide R2 through it by saying commands like, "Right, one unit". It's like a really geeky version of a souped up Aibo. We all had a blast with it today; I'll put up some video soon on it. :)
So, we also went out and got an AppleTV so we can stream stuff from the computers to the TV. However, as many of you know I've never bought a TV (I won one in High School and then traded it to my brother for his larger set). Anyway, the AppleTV wouldn't connect to my TV so I went out and got a new one. I ended up with a 32" Sharp Aquos; it's wonderful @ 1080p. I set everything up and couldn't be happier:
All in all it's been a really fun day; perhaps the best birthday of the 29 I've had so far. Celena has already given up on topping this next year, but I think she can do it. There's always Hawaii........
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Another Blog for Work
For those of you who don't know what I do for a living, you can start to check out my new blog that I write for DataDirect (the company I work for). It's here: http://www.jdbc-connection.com. The first blog is all about how to use our drivers with WLM (work load manager) on zOS systems. Useful if you ask me.
In other news, we had a splendid time at Dave's this weekend, Christopher looks just like him (poor kid). It poured down rain but Dave braved the elements to grill a mighty tasty burger. It was also the first time I really had hummice; it was quite tasty. My palette isn't really that developed but for a load of mashed up beans it was good.
Luke is still crawling all over the place, and he thinks it's really funny when you chase him (or he chases you). He and Seth get along really well, Seth shares his stuff and makes sure to take small objects from him like a big brother should. Seth's current favorite game at bedtime is "See, See". You basically take a little toucan light and wave it around the room and say:
See, See what do you see?
I see a ______, that's what I see!
And when you fill in the blank with something (smoke detector, fan, airplane made of cans, etc...) you stop moving the light around and just highlight the object you're looking at. It's a fun game to play with a 4 year old.
Oh, Celena wants me to start tracking my happiness and stress levels. Today was a medium stress, meduim happy day. :)
In other news, we had a splendid time at Dave's this weekend, Christopher looks just like him (poor kid). It poured down rain but Dave braved the elements to grill a mighty tasty burger. It was also the first time I really had hummice; it was quite tasty. My palette isn't really that developed but for a load of mashed up beans it was good.
Luke is still crawling all over the place, and he thinks it's really funny when you chase him (or he chases you). He and Seth get along really well, Seth shares his stuff and makes sure to take small objects from him like a big brother should. Seth's current favorite game at bedtime is "See, See". You basically take a little toucan light and wave it around the room and say:
See, See what do you see?
I see a ______, that's what I see!
And when you fill in the blank with something (smoke detector, fan, airplane made of cans, etc...) you stop moving the light around and just highlight the object you're looking at. It's a fun game to play with a 4 year old.
Oh, Celena wants me to start tracking my happiness and stress levels. Today was a medium stress, meduim happy day. :)
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Today
Not much happened today. I met a college roomate for lunch at SAS, and we had a good time. Dave is a pretty fun guy and now that he's a Dad, we have more in common. We're planning on having a cookout at their house Saturday and we'll have alot of fun; assuming that the children behave themselves.
In other news, we completely re-arranged the study. We should get some blinds in this week to finish it off and paint the doors and rehang them. It's nice to be in a clean and well-organized space!
In other news, we completely re-arranged the study. We should get some blinds in this week to finish it off and paint the doors and rehang them. It's nice to be in a clean and well-organized space!
Monday, July 02, 2007
My New iPhone
Well, I finally got the ultimate gadget in my opinion. Some people will complain about it in one way or another, but I don't have any. I really think it may be better than a tricorder!! ....and in case you're wondering, yes, I updated this blog from my new phone. :)
Monday, May 21, 2007
Sun Puddle
We were in the kitchen and the sun was shining bright that morning. Seth had finished his breakfast and was playing in the floor when he noticed that he was sitting in the sun. Thinking he was being really smart, he stepped out of the sun and back in. Satisfied with himself that he had figured out what the bright spot was all about, he proudly announced, "Hey Daddy Look! I'm stepping in a Sun Puddle!".
Kids are great!
Kids are great!
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Chinchilla
Chinchilla. What a funny named animal. Here's a picture of one:
We had a small bunny come into the garage today and it just sat very still, even when Seth and my Dad sat only a few feet away watching it. Seth had recently learned of chinchillas and immedately started calling it a chinchilla. However; when we corrected him and told him it was a bunny, he said, "Ok, it's a chinchilla bunny!". The rest of the day he pretended to be a chinchilla. Funny.
Also, Mom and Dad gave him his red scooter today for his birthday which was really fun; he was riding it for about an hour in the garage before the chinchilla incident. Chris and Michelle gave him a helmet (outer space stuff on it) which he also really liked. He'll be using those quite a bit!
We had a small bunny come into the garage today and it just sat very still, even when Seth and my Dad sat only a few feet away watching it. Seth had recently learned of chinchillas and immedately started calling it a chinchilla. However; when we corrected him and told him it was a bunny, he said, "Ok, it's a chinchilla bunny!". The rest of the day he pretended to be a chinchilla. Funny.
Also, Mom and Dad gave him his red scooter today for his birthday which was really fun; he was riding it for about an hour in the garage before the chinchilla incident. Chris and Michelle gave him a helmet (outer space stuff on it) which he also really liked. He'll be using those quite a bit!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Peter, James, and John...
Seth: "Can we go to Peter, James, and John's house?"
Mommy: "Where do they live?"
Seth: "In a big house like heaven."
Mommy: "They do live in heaven."
Seth: "Well, actually they live on pluto."
:)
Mommy: "Where do they live?"
Seth: "In a big house like heaven."
Mommy: "They do live in heaven."
Seth: "Well, actually they live on pluto."
:)
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Live in a Store
So today Seth asked me where we live. I told him that we live in a house.
He said, "No we don't, we live in a store! See, here's my shopping cart...."
He then proceeded to walk away pretending to push a shopping cart. I laughed really hard at that!
He said, "No we don't, we live in a store! See, here's my shopping cart...."
He then proceeded to walk away pretending to push a shopping cart. I laughed really hard at that!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Allergies
I have very bad allergies. Pollen season is upon us and I'm miserable. I feel like I'm all jacked up on medication (because I am) and I generally just don't feel well. Ok, I'm done complaining.
Today was a great day. Celena went shopping at Khol's with Luke while Seth and I went out to Chic-fil-a for breakfast and do some browsing around together. It was a great time and when we got home we both had an allergy attack together, took some medicine, and played around with the fish tank. Oh well, I'm going to go lay down now. :)
Today was a great day. Celena went shopping at Khol's with Luke while Seth and I went out to Chic-fil-a for breakfast and do some browsing around together. It was a great time and when we got home we both had an allergy attack together, took some medicine, and played around with the fish tank. Oh well, I'm going to go lay down now. :)
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Night Out
What a great evening!! Celena procured some free tickets to the Cultural Arts Center to hear the U.S Air Force Clarinet Quartet. Very nice indeed! They played several classical pieces, and even did some from the Lord of The Rings symphony. "The Hobbits" was my favorite as it captured the fun loving nature of the Hobbits very well. We did get a baby-sitter and so afterwards Celena and I went over to Java Divine for some snacks. Well, I'm off to an early bedtime following an evening out. Gotta love it!
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Reading more books
Ok, I'm a bookworm. I like to read and study new and interesting things and decided to make a new category for some of my posts. I started reading "The World is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman a couple of weeks ago and it is my first real foray into a recent history/political book. Very interesting, but I'm not going to fly through it like I did "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
Therefore I decided to read something easy and "Our Iceberg is Melting" was next on my reading list. What a great book! Nice little story about some emperor penguins facing the reality that their home is going away. If I were to categorize myself, I would have to say that I am most likely a Fred. There's quite alot of similarities between us. I really like the strategy on how to manage change and may have to put it to use one day so I'm glad I read it. I think I'll have to add "The One Minute Manager" to my reading list now.
After I finished "Our Iceberg is Melting" I began to read "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. Wow! What an interesting book. It's all about how a small portion of our mind (termed the adaptive unconscious) makes decisions way before our conscious mind realizes it. In Mr. Gladwell's own terms: "...the task of making sense of ourselves and our behavior requires that we acknowledge there can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis."
This has been around awhile, and was once called "coup d'oeil" - which, translated from the French, means "power of the glance": the ability to immediately see and make sense of the battlefield. Interestingly, this was used to describe Napoleon and Patton. An interesting essay on the subject can be found here.
Another interesting facet of all this is that Gladwell believes that we can learn to harness and apply this instinct in our everyday lives. Interesting thought, hope he's right!
Therefore I decided to read something easy and "Our Iceberg is Melting" was next on my reading list. What a great book! Nice little story about some emperor penguins facing the reality that their home is going away. If I were to categorize myself, I would have to say that I am most likely a Fred. There's quite alot of similarities between us. I really like the strategy on how to manage change and may have to put it to use one day so I'm glad I read it. I think I'll have to add "The One Minute Manager" to my reading list now.
After I finished "Our Iceberg is Melting" I began to read "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. Wow! What an interesting book. It's all about how a small portion of our mind (termed the adaptive unconscious) makes decisions way before our conscious mind realizes it. In Mr. Gladwell's own terms: "...the task of making sense of ourselves and our behavior requires that we acknowledge there can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis."
This has been around awhile, and was once called "coup d'oeil" - which, translated from the French, means "power of the glance": the ability to immediately see and make sense of the battlefield. Interestingly, this was used to describe Napoleon and Patton. An interesting essay on the subject can be found here.
Another interesting facet of all this is that Gladwell believes that we can learn to harness and apply this instinct in our everyday lives. Interesting thought, hope he's right!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Update on Celena
Celena is going for physical therapy again today and she's doing well. Looks like today she gets her shoe inserts which should also help re-align her knees. Seth and Luke are also doing great, we've been trying to get outside as much as possible to enjoy the great weather.
In other news, the funniest thing I've seen in quite some time just appeared on Engadget. If you have a lot of remotes you need to organize (and no friends or family living with you) then you should get one.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/28/remote-wrangler-straps-remotes-gizmos-to-your-noggin/
Alternatively, you could just use a regular pair of underwear. :)
In other news, the funniest thing I've seen in quite some time just appeared on Engadget. If you have a lot of remotes you need to organize (and no friends or family living with you) then you should get one.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/28/remote-wrangler-straps-remotes-gizmos-to-your-noggin/
Alternatively, you could just use a regular pair of underwear. :)
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
QoS and Celena's knees...
I was talking with my brother last week telling him what wireless router I had and that I wanted to upgrade to one of the new Linksys routers that had built-in QoS packet scheduling. This basically allows you to tell the router to allow internet traffic from a specific device or port to have a higher priority than other devices/ports. I called him yesterday and found that he had bought the exact same router as I had and that it did have QoS enabled! Seems like I need to keep my firmware updated! I upgraded my firmware and now I won't have to pause download activity to make internet phone calls sound clearer.
In other news, Celena had her first physical therapy session today, and everything went well. She had molds of her feet taken and will get her shoe inserts shortly which should help too. We're hoping that this helps take away the knee pain so that she can avoid surgery on both knees.
In other news, Celena had her first physical therapy session today, and everything went well. She had molds of her feet taken and will get her shoe inserts shortly which should help too. We're hoping that this helps take away the knee pain so that she can avoid surgery on both knees.
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