So THAT'S how it works

During a Family Home Evening lesson on being spirit children of God:
Erin: What's in you that makes you Emma?
Emma: HAIR!!

Rheuminations on The princess bride

Erin: I love Peter Falk. I wonder if he's still alive?
Mark: Well I didn't kill him.

Josh in a Baby Stroller

Apparantly Josh Fits in the Baby Stroller just like Levi did 2-3 years ago.

Modern day Babel

When I was younger, I hated it when my sister's friendwould try to talk to someone (Mostly me) in french, Spanish, or whatever other language he knew. The boy knew like 4 languages. It frustrated me that I couldn't understand him when he did this and he "Couldn't" understand why I didn't know what he was saying. It was truly obnoxious on "It's a small world After All" as he tried to sing the soprano part in a falsetto voice in every language he knew. Eventually I didn't see him as much, though I bet he still does it occaisionally.

Now Emma's doing it in her own made-up language. She seems to have no Idea why I don't know what she's saying. I wonder if slipping into other languages and then wondering why no one understands you is a recessive personality trait that made its way into the gene pool about the time of the tower of Babel and occaisionally rears its ugly head in modern times. Must be, because I haven't seen any 4-mile high temples recently...

Where've you been?

The time since the last post has been spent in a whirlwhind of decision and indecision. We've almost purchased two houses and Have spent a whole ton of money.

With the decision not to buy each house, we've consoled ourselves with Major purchases. After House #1, we Bought a tampoline for Emma and Levi to replace the one my sister had here for a while. Sadly, it has not discouraged Emma and Levi from bouncing off everything else. (Emma, Mostly. Levi's a pretty calm little boy).

After Near miss #2, we got into Aquariums and fish raising. We started out with a 10-gallon tank we'd inherited from my sister, thinking "Oh, we'll just put some water in it and have some fish. " Little did we know. All the accessories for that little tank cost us several pretty pennies and started an addiction I'm not trying too hard to control.

We bought fish for the tank and then realized one, a plecostymus (or however you spell it) would outgrow the smaller tank. So I started looking around and found someone at work that sold me his old tank for $20. The rest of the stuff for it, I had to buy. It sure is a beauty, though:

And that's before I started putting in fun real plants instead of fake ones! I'm still having a blast learning Aquascaping and choosing plants for our little fish.

Our hard work was rewarded last night when we found fry (baby fish) in our tank, too! There were 10 last night and we only see 5 or so today, but they're such excellent little hiders, there's no way of knowing how many there really are or how many make it to adulthood.

Right now, the population consists of :
Piglet (Orange Dalmation Molly Male)
Booga (Black Dalmation Molly Female)
Piglet (Black Dalmation Molly Female)
Frohlie (Nearly red Molly whose gender is yet indiscovered. The fish store guy said it was female, but it looks more like male to me.)

Mickey (Male Mickey Mouse Platy)
Minnie ( Female Mickey Mouse Platy)
Daisy (Female Mickey Mouse Flaty)

Curious George (Plecostymus)
and 3 unnamed otocinclises that look too much alike to tell apart.

I've another friend who says he has a tank just sitting around not being used if I want it, too. I've had a hard time getting hold of him to work out how to get it too. I can't wait to Aquascape it!

Adventures in Helpdesking

Tech: okay, do you see an icon on the desktop called "Citrix Program Neighborhood"?
User: No, I see "Citrix Program neighborhood". Is that it?

Tech: Do you see the clock in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen?
User: No. I only see the time

User: I have Microwave windows and...

Tech: Okay, I need you to click on [icon]
User: Left or right click?

Yeah, sometimes it's pretty entertaining working on a help desk.

"javajavajavajavajavajavajavajavajava!" - George of the jungle

I will never be a programmer and can't wait to get the programming classes out of my way.

Justice

oh. my. gosh!

I loved the Smallville episode Justice. It was actually exciting to watch again!I wonder what it would take to have CW consider a spin off?

labrynth, on the other hand, was a disappointment.

Catsup? Ketchup? Catch Up!!!

The car looks like new on the outside after we got it back from the body shop. Now we just have to take it to another shop so that the a/c defrost can be fixed so that I can see out the windshield as I drive to work in the morning. Levi did get better but is recovering from yet another illness now and we have our Christmas party tonight which Erin and I are in charge of the program for. Should be good.

I'm so surprised at my children lately. It astounds me how they can cry and scream like I've mortally wounded them by telling them to go to bed and how dare I use such language? "Bed"!?!? That's a four-letter word! sort of. and then the next day when I come home from work they yell "Daddy!" (in emma's case) or "DADADADADADADADA!" (in levi's case) and almost knock me over they're running so fast to welcome me home and hug me. Why can't adults be as forgiving and loving? Why can't I?

I'm so excited for this weekend! only 5 hours or so until the fun starts! we have our aforementioned holiday party with my fam tonight and then something with erin's family on sunday and then erin and I can play santa at night and then it's christmas morning and I get to see the faces of my wife and children as they see their gifts. I CAN'T WAIT! now if we could just freeze time on christmas day and not get to january and feb when I have to work 10 or 11 hour days helping people figure out their new outlook system....

What doesn't kill you .....really hurts.

What a week this has been!!

On Monday I started my new job and things went pretty well. after work I hurried off to school in really gray weather where people seemed afraid to go the speed limit and kept braking hard at the last second. When I got to school, the first snowstorm of the season to actualy have snow stay on the ground had started. (how's THAT for a run-sentence??)

I was late for school and drove around the parking lot, trying to find a space. when I finally found one, a car was just leaving it. I waited and turned in, only to almost be hit in the side of my car. I stopped and he stopped, then I parked. I got out and got my stuff from the trunk only to find that the truck that had almost hit me had driven back around long enough for the driver to scream obscenities at me and that he was waiting for the space. I shouted back that he was behind me as he drove off.

Fearing that I'd get back out of class and find my winshield smashed, I headed for class where I found that I was late for a surprise comprehensive final. I guessed my way through the test and so, it seems, did the rest of class. We all failed. After class, I got out to find that the condition of my car had not changed and headed home, very tired and still shaken up by the hot-head.

As I drove home, I was slowing to stop behind a truck at a red-light. I was almost stopped when a siren went off nearby in an on-off-on-off pattern the ambulance drivers use to tell other drivers to get out of their way without just leaving the siren on. Naturally, I tried to stop quicker to figure out where the siren was coming from and get out of its way.

Stopping quicker was my mistake.

As I hit the brakes hard, I slid on the half-slush and half-icy roads , right into the truck ahead of me. No one was hurt but my car, thankfully and Progressive was quick to get us the money for repairs, thankfully. the rest of the week went by mostly uneventfully, but monday's crash inspired Erin and I to get cell-phones, which came on friday and have been fun to play with. I finally figured out how to successfully get music on them last night.

Thursday night was the highlight of the week, though. I had to stay late at class to get help with my final project and came home worn out, but happy to finally be home and done with class, except for the final that is still to come on the 7th. As I walked in the door, Emma rushed up to me like she hasn't in probably months and gave me a huge hug, exclaiming "Daddy! I KNEW you would come home!!!" funny how such a small and simple act of love can warm and energize you.

I love being a parent. Another fun time was going to Erin's parents for dinner tonight. We don't get to see them often, so levi's somewhat afraid of them. My little Daddy's boy was just as cuddly and clingy with me as ever and I got to spend most of the night holding and cuddling with him. I love it!

I have such wonderful kids. It's too bad adults can't show love the way kids do.

"There is no cure for the Common Birthday" - John Glenn

Gmail has an ad/news ticker that you can have at the top of your inbox if you wish. Right next to the link for "Birthday greetings" it had a link for "Death notices". How nice. "Happy birthday! Be sure to look here to see if you're dead. or to tell people you're dead." I'm only 28!

"Or! I'm a pirate! Or!"

We were reading stories and singing at bedtime and emma stretched her boots figure across her eyes and out of nowhere busted out with "Or! I'm a pirate! Or!".

Lions and Tiggers and witches, oh my!

And now, right on time....the halloween pictures!

Emma refused to let Mommy help with her whiskers. Levi was more willing to let mommy help, though.

Baby Tigger!

Emma, Levi, and their Tribe cousins after trick or treating and shortly before the sugar rush.

"I love you like people at fat camp love Pizza"

Remember that little illness that flattened Erin and I for about a week? Levi may have it. Poor kid was ULTRA clingy and cried a lot until we got him some warm hot chocolate. If only he'd let us look in his mouth so we could see if his tonsils or throat look irritated or infected. More than Usual yesterday, if I was home he HAD to be in my arms or on my lap. Poor kid. Emma might be getting it too since she was unusually clingy and desperate for attention as well.

Good thing my Programming test only took 20 minutes so I could have more time to be with them. Too bad I didn't get any homework done. Actaully, no it isn't. I'm so apathetic right now about schoolwork it's pathetic.

Naked Club

Yesterday was kind of a rough day for Erin. She spends a lot of her time tending a nephew of ours while his parents work and his brother is at school. She came out of the kitchen to find Emma and her cousin Scott (who is only a year older than Emma, at 4) completely naked standing between a box springs and king sized mattress that had been propped against a wall. When Erin asked what they were doing, they said they were playing "Naked Club". I had to laugh. I told my Friend Shaun about it and he said that in College he found that cold weather was good for "Naked Club" problems. Good thing erin took the kids outside to play after that.

I'm alive. I'm ALIIIIVEE!!!

What started out as a tickle a week or two ago was diagnosed as bronchitis, pharyngitis, and an upper respiratory infection. The doctor told me that with the medicines she gave me, I'd be feeling better in about 24 hours. It was more like 30, but I'm so happy to have been downgraded to "bad cold" level that I could sing. well, if not for those coughing fits...but at least I have my appetite back and can swallow without pain clear up into my ears!

The Caring Musician

"Tonight I wanna Cry" by Keith Urban was immediately followed on my internet radio this morning by James Taylor's "You've got a friend." How nice of James to care that much about Keith. I imagine that after James wraps up serenading him, they'll go out, have a drink or two, and poke fun at all their Exes. After a few hours of laughs they'll feel much better and part their ways, James to go "Up on the Roof" and Keith returning to his egocentric life where he thinks everyone wants to be him.

Fun Coversation

The other day I walked into my friend Shaun's office at work and saw that he was putting a book on CD onto his MP3 player. The book was called "Great figures in the New Testament"

Me: So who has the greatest figure in the new testament.
Shaun (nodding and grinning and eyebrows bouncing): Ruth! Wait....that's old testament. Paul! (grinning and giving the thumbs up.)

The LeakyMug theory

Okay, I'm not going to try transcribe the theory after all, but the gist of it was that James gave the invisibility cloak to Dumbledore to add protections to for Harry and perhaps the whole Potter family. One of these protections was possibly a tracking device.

In the defense of this, the theorist inteviewed sites that whenever harry loses his cloak or leaves it somewhere and doesn't retrieve it himself, it's always dumbledore who brings it back. Left on the tower in Sorcerers/philosopher's stone? Dumbledore brings it back.

Also, in book 6 when dumbledore commands harry to keep the cloak with him, could it be so that if harry is whisked off by another port key or gets himself into some sort of other trouble, that dumbledore can find him immediately? Also, why does dumbledore always know what kind of trouble harry is in and where he is to save him at the last second, and yet not know about fred and george's many exploits and explorations or the marauder's map?

What else could have been added to the cloak? Could that be why JK Rowling described this question as "Crucial"?

interesting. Not only does it allow harry to get into trouble, it protects him and prevents him from getting in too much trouble.

Reggie Black and the mystery Cloak

for this entry, I've just copied my post from the Harry Potter for Adults Yahoo!Group. Next entry, I think I may try to transcribe a theory I heard on a leakymug podcast (www.leakymug.com) about how maybe Dumbledore was "tweaking" the features of the invisibility cloak for James and Lilly. I think I like that theory too.

The question about when/where the cloak was used by Dumbledore is interesting to think about. So far, all I've come up with is that it may have been for hiding and/or moving Regulus Black. Dumbledore is not thetype of man to offer to do something he doesn't know he can do, so itstands to reason that when he offered to hide Draco and Narcissaby "Killing" them, that he had done it before. Whose death would he have needed to fake in the past? We also know that he is a very kind person and is forgiving of those (like Snape) who he believes to have turned from Master Riddle. And if he's faked a death before, why couldn'tit be Reggie's?

The next little bit of this theory comes from Red Hen (http://www.redhen-publications.com/Potterverse.html). PerhapsReggie turned his coat and snape and dumbledore helped hide him. Snape would take the credit for killing him, thus moving up in the Death Eater hierarchy, and Dumbledore would hide reggie until he (dumbledore)felt the threat of LV was gone for good. And what better way to hide someone than in an invisibility cloak? This also makes sense on how Harry will find the rest of the horcruxes in one book when it has taken 6 books to find the ring, thediary, and (possibly) the locket. He could just ask the one man(Reggie) that knows for sure about the locket and possibly a few otherhorcruxes as well. The snag to this theory, though, is the question of why Reggie would have stayed in hiding in the years between Voldemort's downfall and his return to power. That's why I think maybe the Theory from the LeakyMug is a little more acceptable, though as you'll see it's a big "Big-Brother"-ish.