The Holiday season has (sorta) started here. We're still wearing shorts, but Santa has come to town and the town tree lighting was last night. Gwendolyn has started the prayers for snow.

Is there a rule about putting a drunken cow on a PC? I dual boot boot Ubuntu on it. And there's a Performa 578 next to it, and a Mac G4 below it . . .

More playing with the new camera . . . and my two youngest girls

Mad face

Scooby-snack face

Sharpened and tinted

Hide and seek

Walking the line. Soft focus, B&W

Done swinging

Sisters. :-)

Playing with video.google.com

I have no need to post video to Google. It's not like anyone outside my family wants to see anything I might film. There are probably the same people who regularly read this blog. But I like the technology. Some days that's enough.

My Christmas wish list

It's that time of year again. So if you're browsing the site and thinking to yoursefl, "Self, you've got disposable income and the desire to give. Here's your chance to do a little something."

• Double Standards by Lea Delaria
• The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3) by Neal Stephenson
• Sony DRU-800A Internal ATAPI/EIDE Double-Layer/Dual-Format DVD/CD Recorder
• Offered by TigerDirect by Sony
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman
• Anansi Boys : A Novel by Neil Gaiman
• Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America by Morgan Spurlock
• Star Wars - Clone Wars, Vol. 1 (Animated) by Corey Burton
• Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow
• Devils & Dust by Bruce Springsteen
• TX 5-Foot Giraffe Unicycle Offered by Magic Geek - Juggling Store by Torker
• Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow
• A Place So Foreign and Eight More by Cory Doctorow
• Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
• Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
• Band of Brothers by Kirk Acevedo
• Flashbacks: : Twenty-Five Years of Doonesbury (Trudeau, G. B., Doonesbury Book.) by G. Trudeau
• Star Wars - Clone Wars, Vol. 2 by Corey Burton
• Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (Widescreen Edition) by Ahmed Best
• Power Strip Liberator II 1' "Y" Cable Offered by Cyberguys! by Cables Unlimited
• Liberator Combo Pack, Poly Bag Offered by Cyberguys! by ZIO TEK
• Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
• Scientific American by Scientific American
• Popular Science by Time4Media
• Computer Shopper by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company
• PC Magazine by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company
• PC World by PC World Communications, Inc.
• Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab/the Body Farm/Where the Dead Do Tell Tales by William M. Bass
• THX 1138 (The George Lucas Director's Cut Two-Disc Special Edition) by Robert Duvall
• Last Child in the Woods : Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
• Jazz for Kids: Sing, Clap, Wiggle and Shake by Various Artists
• Unnatural Death : Confessions of a Medical Examiner by Michael M. Baden
• Radical Fish Street Pro Club Red Offered by Magic Geek - Juggling Store by Beard Juggle
• How Would You Move Mount Fuji? : Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle -- How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkers by William Poundstone
• Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman
• The Best of Frank Deford: I'm Just Getting Started by Frank Deford
• The Sixth Sense (Vista Series) by Firdous Bamji
• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
• PlusDeck 2c

List available via Amazon.

I made Literally!

I have a number of pet peeves with the use of English. One of them is the (incorrect) use of "literally." Literally (http://literally.barelyfitz.com) scratches that itch so I don't have to pound people.

Last night I made my first submission and it was posted. Bully for me!

For anyone here from Literally, "Welcome!" Take a look at my favorite posts over to the left . . . they have less to do with family stuff than the rest of this little blog and is more general in nature.

Eight wonderful years

Last week Susan and I celebrated our eighth anniversary. Dinner and a movie mostly. Talk about how we have changed, how our love has changed, how many more kids we have. -=sigh=-

Our wedding day is not the most important day of our pre-marriage life to me though. The most important day is when she accepted my proposal.

It went like this . . . .

The dryer at Susan's house was on the fritz and she didn't have money to
repair it. So she packed up the two kids (and me because I had nothing
better to do and loved being with her) and off to the Laundromat we went.

The kids and I were no help at all. It was hot out we were more
interested in goofing off than moving wet laundry. So there's Susan making trip
after trip with the clothes . . . back and forth . . . sweating and getting wet
and tired.

The kids and I, we're laughing and running and chasing,and having a great
time.

Susan finally loses it. She is hot and tired and frustrated and
getting no help and she is DONE.

She says she's going home. And if we want a ride home we better get in the
car NOW. And we better not talk to her on the way to her house.

There was silence in the car.

We pull into the driveway Susan is out the door and into the house before
any of us are out of the car. By the time we get into the house she's in
the bedroom with the door closed . . . with a slam.

The girls and I sit in the living room and pretend to watch TV for a while,
each of us in our own thoughts.

Finally I can't stand it anymore, I go into the room and kneel by the
bed. I whisper her name to wake her. "Susan. Wake up
honey."

She stirs . . . and looks at me with eyes filled with anger.

I take her hand an tell her that even with her being so mad at me, and
being so hard to deal with, I could not imagine my life without her in it.
And I told her that I wanted to be the one to make days like this better.
And I asked her to marry me.

She looked at me as if I were crazy. And said yes (with
conditions).

And here we are today; happily married.

Gwendolyn's Christmas list

I'll translate:

Floam
Polly Pocket Jewelry Maker
Light-up shoe laces
Hair-Dye Barbie
Baby Born
Amanda (doll)
Robots (movie)
Barbie Digital Camera
Barbie Pegasus
Real Real Oven Meal

She also enjoys arts and crafts

 

On a walk

At the start of a walk . . . Gwen needs a new bike . . .she'll be six next month.

She's growing up so quickly. It's hard to imagine, but it was eighty degrees today in Houston.

Miriam decided not to ride today . . feeling a bit lazy.

And to prove my point . . .

We stopped to move a beetle off the sidewalk.

Gwen kept riding ahead and then stopped to ask what was taking so long.

A brief stop on the way home.

And a picture of Miri and I . . .

Home again, home again.

Panama Canal Timelapse video

Gwendolyn at the dance clinic

Miriam at the Garage sale

 

Miriam's School Pictures

 

It was an accidental good day

Today I was in a car accident. Not too bad really. A lady in an Expedition had a green light at an intersection and so did I. There was construction going on and she and I both think that we the lights were to blame. She lost a license plate, I had the passenger side rear smashed. Drivable but smashed.

So we waited for a while for the police to show. When they didn't we went to a sub-station and tried to file a report. They gave us each a form. Thanks, thanks a lot.

Then I sat in traffic trying to get home. And I sat. And I thought about what a crappy day it was. And I sat some more.

"What the hell could be taking so long?" I thought to myself.

Then the radio does traffic. There was a five car pile-up. A semi hit a van that hit a retaining wall that hit . . . and so it goes.

So I said a quiet prayer to the families of those people who died or were hurt and thanked God for my accident. I was grateful for having a car that worked and the ability to go home to my wife and kids.

Today was a good day.

General update on life, Kingwood and stuff

Halloween's tonight. It rained so we didn't take the kids out far. Only to two neighbors. The bright side was that we were able to trick or treat at four bedrooms inside the house. Miriam was a princess and Gwendolyn was a witch. I think they had their costumes confused. I went to her storybook parade at school this morning. She was Princess Juliana and wore a shirt that Susan made for Sarah when she was the same age.

I recorded Gwendolyn describing her art this week at her blog. We both and fun and we'll keep it up. She sounded more professional than I do when I'm audioblogging from the car.

I introduced her to Cracker Jacks this week. It was a mixed bag. Her first box had no prize. All the hype singing "Take me out to the Ball game" and me telling her about tattoos and stickers and then . . . nothing.
We had more luck with the second box. It had an illusion of a young/old man depending on how you held it. This led to a discussion about illusions and brought us to Mr. Angry / Ms. Calm. A truly wicked cool illusion.

I'm reading a few books these days. Nothing too heavy though. I just finished "Somebody Comes to Town, Sombody Leaves Town" by Cory Doctorow. I really enjoyed his last two books, "Eastern Standard Tribe", and "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" and this one was no exception. Cory mixes fantastic and future in a way that blends well. All three books are released under the Creative Commons license. I read them all on my Handspring Visor.

I also converted "Monster Island" by David Wellington from iPod notes to a Palm doc. It's entertaining but hard to suspend belief sometimes. The characters make rookie mistakes and aren't always consistent with what has happened before. I like to blame that on being confused by all the zombies. Other times it seems that the cliff -hangers are more contrived than the Flash Gordon serials I watched on AFRTS in Panama

Susan and I are reading "The Automatic Millionaire" and "Financial Peace". We need to get more control of our "this and that" spending. Gas prices are just getting too high.

Minny has a boyfriend named Patrick. He appears to be a nice guy and a good friend. I wish her the best. I haven't heard from Sarah in a few weeks. I guess that means she's doing well. At Christmas break she's going to bring home her PC and I'll be upgrading her to Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger).

Work is good, home is good. The soccer team is doing great. What more could I ask?

Prop. 2 is wrong

I'm married to a woman. I have homosexual friends. I live in Texas and am of voting age. That makes me an expert when it comes to the proposed amendment to the Texas Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

I believe that marriage has two aspects in America. There is a religious and a secular. We have the choice to do one, the other, or both. The interesting thing I think is that within a couple, there is the ability to have different aspects accepted within the couple.

Secular marriage in America is almost an undocumented contract. It's a legal agreement to share resources and responsibility. It is most beneficial for the children of a couple but has it's uses in the case of divorce too. Secular marriage also raises a little revenue for the state; always a good thing, right?

Of what benefit is marriage to the state? A more formal contract between the marrying contract would be more useful. Is it the function of the state to ensure that such a contract exists? If so, it should be enforced at the birth of every child, not at the beginning of a union.

Religious marriage stems from the desire (or requirement) to have the union blessed by a deity.

I fail to see how the sex of the partners in a union violate either of the aspects of marriage. If one's religion (or lack of) allows for same sex unions then it should be allowed. If the secular (legal) contract is valid then there is no need for any change of the existing system.

What this amendment does is sets a separate law for a specific class of people. My daughter Michelle asked the question last night if it was ok to say that a union between blacks was illegal. The difference is miniscule.

I'll be voting "No" to Prop. 2. Marry who you want. What's the harm?

Big Ideas come out of Big Pencils

I don't know how many rules of design this site breaks, but I enjoyed visiting. I almost never use pencils, I'm a pen guy, but I enjoy the concept of pencils. I think it's neat that there are "do-overs" with pencils.

Me, I like the commitment that goes along with pens. I like the fact that crossing out a mistake is a branding of yourself. I try not to show that I am human and make mistakes, so I am careful when I write with pen . . . I think a little more about it.

Also, and to be honest, the sound of graphite being rubbed away on paper is irratating to me and I avoid pencils for that too.

To sleep, perchance to dream.

There are lots of things I like doing. I'll read [almost*] anything and enjoy it. I like palying some computer games. I enjoy doing almost anything with my wife.

I enjoy juggling and walking. I like drinking scotch with friends (or alone).

Except for the scotch (and probably the juggling) I think I'm like most folks.

But one of my favorite things to do is sleep.

I like napping between naps. I like getting up, showering, and going back to bed. I like falling asleep while watching TV or reading.

I like napping with daughters and wives. I like after a family lunch finding a bed and knowing that everyone else is looking to curl up in the sun too.

I do like sleeping in the sun and with all the blinds shut tightly.

I'll nap on sunny days to escape teh heat and on cloudy days with the hope of rain.

I enjoy the process of falling asleep. Sometimes I'll pick a spot on my foot and try to fire off synapse all the way to my face in a continuos line. I like counting backwards from two-hundred. Sometimes I'll add numbers in patterns until I fall asleep. I like waking up and not knowing where I am and then falling asleep not knowing.

I like napping in my car or waiting in line.

Some people think sleeping is not doing something. I strongly disagree. Napping is a skill and a joy. Napping is my friend.

Silent Lucitity by Queensryche

* I have tried a few times but have never made it through "Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance", Umberto Eco's "Island of the Day Before" and "The Body Farm". Sue me.

Who reads this and where are you?

A company called Rising Concepts has put out a tool/toy called Frapper (Friend Mapper) that allows a community group (in the virtual sense, not a real-space sense) to leverage Google Maps to shout out where you are.

I have always loved maps and atlases both real and digital. This is yet another toy that fits right in. So take a second and let me know where you are.

The Mighty Squirrels!

"ONE might squirrel might not strike fear into your heart, but add fourteen more
and you've got yourself a horror movie. GO SQUIRRELS!" - Ed Hrynowski

I'm coaching soccer again at the local YMCA. It is probably one of the most joyful things I do. Chasing 13 five-year-olds around for an hour twice a week is amazing fun. I'm blogging about them too.