Frenzied Daddy

Her, yes… You, not so much.

2008-11-20T02:11:04Z

The DQ, smart cookie, got herself straight As! She’s carrying a 4.0 lifetime average!

… but no pressure.

Yeah, I’m a little proud of her

Now you’ve done it!

2008-11-19T18:06:17Z

For 3 years you YouTubers have been ripping us off, taking tens of thousands of our videos and putting them on YouTube. Now the tables are turned. It’s time for us to take matters into our own hands.

Amazing.

You might be surprised to learn that the first time I saw a Monty Python movie, I walked out. I was a freshman in high school and took myself a mite too seriously. They were playing the Holy Grail at a school retreat and all the other kids were sitting around cracking up. But I thought it was insipid. I mean, you’ve got a guy “galloping” around with a sidekick clopping two coconuts together.

Yeah, I’m still bemused about that.

Anyway, Monty Python is releasing their entire body of work on Youtube. They just ask that you click the ads and make the purchases.

The downside of being an overwhelmed home owner

2008-11-18T20:44:47Z

“Daddy, can I have my bath, and take my dollies? You can bring the laptop upstairs.” Someone has to keep an eye on the smaller kids in the bathtub (The TT is 4 and she might drown! ). So, yup, I ran her bath, turned on the laptop, started getting back into the project I was working on for work, when the hot water ran out and I went to turn it off.

And turn, and turn and turn and OH MY GOSH it’s not turning off!

I ran downstairs to shut it off at the hot water heater. “Daddy,” she called, “it turned off by itself!”

Luckily, I’ve replaced that washer in the tub often enough that I can pull the faucet apart fairly easily. I know what parts come off and what order. Of course the washer was wrecked - it’s been dripping for a while but the five minutes that it would have taken were spent on the stupid computer. But that usually causes a drip, not an inability to turn off the water. I played with the parts a while and discovered that the valve stem, for lack of a better word, was stripped. So off to Home Depot I went at eight at night. I bought the part (had to match it up against the one I removed, and it turned out to be the cheapest valve stem at $10!) and reinstalled it — it took about five minutes to put the faucet back together.

The faucet is a familiar task. It’s kind of like when we had the oil furnace and I’d have to replace the oil furnace’s spray nozzle filter thing. It was a little gold filter that basically screwed onto a pipe between the oil tank and the furnace. Without it, the furnace wouldn’t run and the house would get cold. Without being able to turn on and off the water (especially off), the morning showers would be cold. But because I’ve done it before I had the tools and more importantly the knowledge on how to fix the problem.

I don’t feel “manly” very often but fixing the faucet sure felt manly.

Pomegranate Bliss

2008-11-12T18:56:38Z

I try to buy at least one pomegranate every year, and at least one box of mandarin oranges. The rule on the mandarins is that you can eat as many as you like. Good fiber and easy to peel. And they taste great. Actually, I keep buying the boxes as long as the oranges don’t wind up moldy and in the compost heap (4 bucks a box is too much to pay for compost).

More on Proposition 8

2008-11-12T19:39:10Z

I keep trying to type “Section 8″ for “Proposition 8.” Must be a Freudian slip.

What is this to you? Nobody is asking you to embrace their expression of love. But don’t you, as human beings, have to embrace that love?

The world is barren enough! It is stacked against love, and against hope, and against those very few and precious emotions that enable us, all of us, to go forward.

Thanks, Keith, Ms B, David, and Stacy

Bit the Bullet

2008-11-12T18:47:36Z

I finally broke down and visited the Japanese Garden. It shouldn’t really have taken me 22 years.

My mother first took me to a Japanese garden in Seattle, when I was a kid. As I recall, it was a very short loop without too many branches and side-paths. Since then, the serenity of the gardens has intrigued me.

When we moved to Portland and I learned that we had a Japanese Garden here, I I should have rushed off and visited. But something always came up. And now, I can’t see spending eight bucks for myself and the carefully crafted gardens when I can enjoy the rest of Forest Park that much less expensively. But yesterday (Veteran’s Day) was a free day, and though it was raining and windy, I went anyway.

By the time I arrived, the rain and wind were hardly noticeable. As I walked up the path and the stairs to the gardens (I parked down by the Rose Garden), I passed a lot of kids with their little slickers and rain boots and, as the TT would say, their “rainbrellas.” They were all smiling and happy; I should have brought my kids too. But they were home, warm and dry, with their mother.

I enjoyed walking around the garden. I just did one quick loop, and left some paths unexplored for the next time. So I’d have new things to see when I brought the rest of the family. There were a few places where I was sad that it was so wet. Since I was alone, nobody would be there to tell me I was sitting and looking at a rock, or a pond, too long and they were tired of waiting. But the benches were all wet and I didn’t feel like getting my butt all wet.

Standing by the white garden, with the white rocks on the right, there’s a standing rock in a pool of river rocks. The standing rock makes an interesting contrast, with the pool of dark rocks at its base, against the whiteness of the “white garden.” I couldn’t figure out how to get the picture right, though.

I took my little camera because I didn’t want to get the “good one” all wet. So the pictures are a little smaller than you might be expecting.

Breaker, Breaker, We’ve got a Convoy!

2008-11-08T18:32:30Z

The TT and I were on our way home after dropping the DQ off at school. She sits in her carseat, in the back, next to the passenger side window. She looked out and saw an 18wheeler and started laughing and giggling– “Daddy, that truck has lights underneath it!” I looked over, and indeed, the cab had some brake lights underneath. We were coming up to a train track and slowing down, so she got to see their lights come on.

This lead to a really sweet, fun discussion about trucks; explaining how the trucks come apart and can pull different loads, how some of the trucks can carry milk, others are big boxes that get filled up, and even some trucks can carry those shipping containers that she sees on trains and boats. And how the big cranes at the docks would be able to pick up the shipping container and put it onto the truck.

Every new revelation was greeted with “ooooooh” and “aaaaaaah.” And we pointed out every container type truck on the road. Eventually, she wanted to know where they were going. I said that since they didn’t have names on the sides, we could only guess- they might be going to Fred Meyer’s or to Toys R Us, but we didn’t know. She thought about that for about two seconds and announced “Or maybe they’re going to Safeway! Or to someone’s house!”

It was great.

So Proposition Eight Passed

2008-11-07T03:00:58Z

I’m ashamed for “my friends” in California- Proposition eight passing saddens me. I have real friends (as opposed to “my friends” friends) in California (Hi Unka C and Unka N!) who are married and who live in San Francisco.

I want to encourage you, my readers, and my friends, and anyone else who happens to think through this. Even during the push for civil rights for women, civil rights for non-whites, there was a process of two steps forward, one step back. It’s saddening, it’s maddening, but it’s not really surprising when gay marriage is voted down. Keep your faith, remember that we’re in this together.

An interesting anonymous comment on Stop All Monsters, where the author promotes a boycott of Mormon businesses starting with the Marriot hotel chain.

The Prop 8 struggle is not a gay/straight issue, it is an equality issue. It is Brown v Board of Education. Seperate but equal. It is akin to the rich tradition we had of not allowing women to vote in this country. The same arguements [sic] being used to support Prop 8 can find chorus with the voices that denied rights to women or people of color. As with those historic struggles we must understand that this issue is not about the people who’s lives it may affect most but instead about our constitutional identity which we must continue to strive toward.

I think that it’s important to remember that you, Unka C and you, Unka N, weren’t voted against specificially. It’s not really about you, and this author says it isn’t really about straight or gay. It’s about equality across the board. It really shouldn’t matter to the country, to the state– to the government, who wants to get married. That’s between two people who love each other and promise to stand by each other for the rest of their lives. Gay marriage is just a step in this journey of equality before the Constitution (federal or state).

I don’t really think this post is very coherent. I’m trying to show why it doesn’t surprise me but does sadden me, and I’m trying to encourage you and encourage my friends. I believe we’ll “get there eventually” but I hope we get there sooner rather than later.

Dare I say it?

2008-11-05T04:22:28Z

Hmm, Even Fox News is announcing “President Obama.” I’m just sitting here refreshing the page hoping it stays blue. It was kind of funny watching the three west coast states turn blue at eight pm ( refreshing those pretty flash maps ).

It’s really interesting to see how close the popular vote is. When the first few results were coming in and the electoral votes were for McCain, and the popular votes were for Obama, I was annoyed. But then it switched, and the electoral votes were for Obama and the popular votes were for McCain, and I was happy. I’m such a hypocrite.

Now that I can be less stressed about a possible Palin Presidency (let’s not talk about 2012), I can worry about Measure 8 in California, and the Sizemore initiatives in Oregon. Let’s worry about those now.

You know what’s nice?

2008-11-03T03:14:36Z

It’s a small world. I picked up “Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait” by K.A. Bedford. I’m enjoying it so far, it’s early yet, but it’s fairly science-fictiony and it’s fun to find a murder mystery where a time machine plays an important role. I like the character (Spider), how he feels about his relationship with his wife, and that he hates his job.

So I went online to track him down. I typed “K.A. Bedford” into google, and found his blog. Ok, he’s using wordpress (like me). He’s got a pretty theme, and he also likes XKCD. That was nice; this Australian Stranger who happened to write this book I’m enjoying also likes a comic I like. Oh, and the Yarn Harlot. He links to the Yarn Harlot too.