Liam is a pretty smart kid… he’s good at math and can concentrate for hours on whatever he’s working on but the little guy is about as aware as a bowling ball. Kerry has actually wrapped his Christmas presents while he was in the same room. Now part of this is that he focuses so intently on what he is doing but he really is often oblivious especially regarding other kids.
Erin not only seems to know the names of all her classmates but can tell you something about each one of them not to mention the fact that she also talks about some kids that are in other classes. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure that if I asked Liam what the names were of the four kids that sit with him at his table in school, I’d be lucky to get two correct names.
Unfortunately, I don’t think this is a just a phase because I am somewhat like this. There are several (Is about a dozen considered “several”? No?) people at my work that have been there over ten years with me and I don’t know their names. Also, the old saying “I’m bad with names but I never forget a face” may be true for some people but not for me. I’ll forget your name AND the fact that I ever met you.
One night BACK IN THE DAY at Dark Horse in Virginia-Highlands a cute girl walked up to me saying “Hi” like she knew me. I did the “Hey” thing but admitted that I couldn’t remember at all who she was. She kind of laughed assuming I was messing with her then when she realized I basically had no idea who she was she became a little pissed. It turns out she was from my work and I had talked to her several times and a lot more than the “hi” in the halls.
It was the context though! My work and social life were basically two completely separate entities back then. Unless I actually got someone to go into town I NEVER saw anyone from my work ITP. Never. I explained all this to ol’whats-her-name and she acted as she blew it off but the rest of our brief conversation was strained and awkward.
Dumbass.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
I've got the powder! Ur-ur-urrr eh eh ur-ur-urrrr eh eh...
I spent the last few days in a place full of machines that look a little like this but with more of a 40’s or 50’s look to them and a whole lot of white powder all over'em.
I learned that laundry detergent in powder form has superior cleaning ability and it’s a waste of money paying the soap company to add water to it to make it a liquid. Also, in Europe, they don’t get a plastic scoop in every box like they do here and when you see thousands of scoops on tiny conveying tracks you’ll understand why.
Landfills.
How tough is it to keep the same freakin’ scoop?!
I learned that laundry detergent in powder form has superior cleaning ability and it’s a waste of money paying the soap company to add water to it to make it a liquid. Also, in Europe, they don’t get a plastic scoop in every box like they do here and when you see thousands of scoops on tiny conveying tracks you’ll understand why.
Landfills.
How tough is it to keep the same freakin’ scoop?!
Let the bodies hit the floor
As far as sleeping goes, every one of our kids has given us a crazy time in their first 3-4 years. I expect Finn, too, will end up sleeping in the bed with us for his first two years then it’ll take two more to get him in his own bed. I can’t complain too much… I suppose it’s a small price to pay for such great kids.
Anyway, so the night after Stone Mountain, Finn is up much of the night so in between bouts of crying and feeding, Kerry needs to sleep and the way she can get to sleep in a hurry is to have talk radio buzzing away next to her.
To me, this is insane. When I was in school, I used to sleep with a fan next to my head and I can understand music, I guess, but talk radio? I like pitch black and no noise. I could deal with a fan or white noise but no way on the talk radio.
So I end up on the couch. But then this is where she ends up when Finn needs to nurse and she watches TV to stay awake. The floor in one of the kid’s rooms is where I spent the night. And now that it’s getting cold, I’ll probably have to dig up my wool socks.
Anyway, so the night after Stone Mountain, Finn is up much of the night so in between bouts of crying and feeding, Kerry needs to sleep and the way she can get to sleep in a hurry is to have talk radio buzzing away next to her.
To me, this is insane. When I was in school, I used to sleep with a fan next to my head and I can understand music, I guess, but talk radio? I like pitch black and no noise. I could deal with a fan or white noise but no way on the talk radio.
So I end up on the couch. But then this is where she ends up when Finn needs to nurse and she watches TV to stay awake. The floor in one of the kid’s rooms is where I spent the night. And now that it’s getting cold, I’ll probably have to dig up my wool socks.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Back in Periwinkle
I spent last night on the floor. I spent the previous one outside on the ground.
Saturday, after a typical day of yardwork, Liam, Erin, and I cooked up hot dogs and s’mores on a fire in the backyard. We played Crazy 8’s in the tent and Erin won two games, both victories being fair and - I’ll even venture to say - square.
After her hard-fought conquests, she made one of her announcements that she was going to sleep and fell promptly… asleep. Liam and I stared up at the starry sky – well, mildly starry for a northern Atlanta suburb – and talked not of life on other worlds nor of playground politics but of the economy.
I woke up at 5:45, poked the remains of the fire around a little, and headed up for a rousing breakfast of coffee and a sinkful of dishes. The kids stumbled in an hour and a half later and Kerry made everyone pancakes, hash browns, eggs, and bacon. Yay!!!! The sink’s full again!!!
The big plan to celebrate Liam’s 8th birthday was to pickup two of his chums and head to Stone Mountain. We actually paid for doing some of the stuff we’ve never done like a 4-story “barn” in which you collect foam balls for points plus the chance to shoot your buddies, a “4-D” movie in which a bullfrog belches on you, a crazy rope course that turned most of us into wimps plus a little one with a zipline, miniature golf, and the gondola rid down the face of the mountain . And we did our usual Stone Mountain stuff like a lunch on the lawn with homemade sandwiches and Publix-brand sodas, the train, checkout the blacksmith, and I was pleased to see that Liam insisted on hiking up the trail on the side.
But a bit more on the ropes course. This thing was a gigantic Mario adventure! I’d go on about swaying platforms and flying buzzsaws but I wouldn’t know because we never got past the 2nd leg on the first level of a dizzying 3 or 4 level complex. Yes, you are strapped to a rope that you pull along through a metal track over your head but a) there’s a fair amount of slack in the thing, b) even on the first level you’re high above concrete and peoples’ heads, and c) it is far from easy… the first “element” was a balance beam with a rail so no big deal but the next was a choice of a 4-rope “bridge” meaning 4 ropes and no actual bridge to speak of or a balance beam with NOTHING TO HOLD ON TO. That’s the part that gets me.
And looking around I could see it was going to get a LOOOOT worse… swinging boards, wavy beams, and more all far overhead. I determined that if all these normal (ie., NOT Spiderman) could do this I was going to. But when one of Liam’s friends said “forget it” and Liam decided he was on to something, I readily bailed. I shall return.
More later… I’m heading to Augusta tomorrow night for an install at a plant where they make the detergent not just the boxes this time so either I’ll get a fair amount of time to blog in my hotel room or I’ll get zero because I decided to have a few with the local gentry.
Saturday, after a typical day of yardwork, Liam, Erin, and I cooked up hot dogs and s’mores on a fire in the backyard. We played Crazy 8’s in the tent and Erin won two games, both victories being fair and - I’ll even venture to say - square.
After her hard-fought conquests, she made one of her announcements that she was going to sleep and fell promptly… asleep. Liam and I stared up at the starry sky – well, mildly starry for a northern Atlanta suburb – and talked not of life on other worlds nor of playground politics but of the economy.
I woke up at 5:45, poked the remains of the fire around a little, and headed up for a rousing breakfast of coffee and a sinkful of dishes. The kids stumbled in an hour and a half later and Kerry made everyone pancakes, hash browns, eggs, and bacon. Yay!!!! The sink’s full again!!!
The big plan to celebrate Liam’s 8th birthday was to pickup two of his chums and head to Stone Mountain. We actually paid for doing some of the stuff we’ve never done like a 4-story “barn” in which you collect foam balls for points plus the chance to shoot your buddies, a “4-D” movie in which a bullfrog belches on you, a crazy rope course that turned most of us into wimps plus a little one with a zipline, miniature golf, and the gondola rid down the face of the mountain . And we did our usual Stone Mountain stuff like a lunch on the lawn with homemade sandwiches and Publix-brand sodas, the train, checkout the blacksmith, and I was pleased to see that Liam insisted on hiking up the trail on the side.
But a bit more on the ropes course. This thing was a gigantic Mario adventure! I’d go on about swaying platforms and flying buzzsaws but I wouldn’t know because we never got past the 2nd leg on the first level of a dizzying 3 or 4 level complex. Yes, you are strapped to a rope that you pull along through a metal track over your head but a) there’s a fair amount of slack in the thing, b) even on the first level you’re high above concrete and peoples’ heads, and c) it is far from easy… the first “element” was a balance beam with a rail so no big deal but the next was a choice of a 4-rope “bridge” meaning 4 ropes and no actual bridge to speak of or a balance beam with NOTHING TO HOLD ON TO. That’s the part that gets me.
And looking around I could see it was going to get a LOOOOT worse… swinging boards, wavy beams, and more all far overhead. I determined that if all these normal (ie., NOT Spiderman) could do this I was going to. But when one of Liam’s friends said “forget it” and Liam decided he was on to something, I readily bailed. I shall return.
More later… I’m heading to Augusta tomorrow night for an install at a plant where they make the detergent not just the boxes this time so either I’ll get a fair amount of time to blog in my hotel room or I’ll get zero because I decided to have a few with the local gentry.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
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