- Note: The In-Laws, in the normal scheme of the universe, watch one thing on TV per year: the Rose Parade. #
- RT @billbarol: I want to say this in a non-partisan fashion: I have never been so happy to see a presidential election cycle nearing its … #
- RT @Popehat: Obnoxious commenters on your blog got you down? Use the old public speaking trick and imagine them in their underwear. The … #
- Argh. Just realized that Disney now owns the Ewoks. #seriousdownside #
Category: Family
Bits and Bobs from 2012-07-31
This, that, and the other thing I posted to Google+ yesteday.
- Family time, leonine style – Yeah, that looks pretty familiar in our pride.
- Run. Hide. Fight. – What should you do in case of an active shooting incident at your workplace? A good (if disturbing) video to watch.
- “YOU SANG?” – Neat. Sweet. Petite.
- And the flag was still there – Spotting the flags from the various Apollo landings, still in place.
- A poll for favorite “Doctor Horrible” character that doesn’t include Bad Horse? – Beware the wrath of his Terrible Death-Whinny!
- New Obamacare preventive services for women go into effect tomorrow – This is good.
- Remembering the Big Thompson Flood – That was bad.
- “There are children, right now waiting — wanting to read” – Nathan Fillion on books and kids.
- The State of the Music Industry, per the Oatmeal – Also, in some ways, the Book Industry.
- Damn it, Threepio! – Heh.
- DOMA declared unconstitutional. Again. – Equal Protection Under the Law. It’s not just a good idea, it’s the law.
- GOP Rep. Steve King is a dolt – Or he’s never been to a dog fight. Or he did and didn’t see anything wrong with it.
- Cataract surgery reduces hip fractures among elderly patients – Makes perfect sense, but I wouldn’t have thought of it.
- One-Tenth of the World’s Population Loses Power – But remember — doing something about climate change is too expensive.
Tweets from 2012-03-03
A pleasant birthday evening
Since I actually did have multiple people ask …
- Margie finished making, and served up, some yummy stew.
- We had Christmas candy for dessert (awfully hard to get a candle on a dutch mint).
- We also drank a couple of bottles of champagne. (Except Kay, of course.)
- We opened many gifts.
- We watched two episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series (including, ironically, “The Deadly Years”).
- After Kay went to bed, Margie and I played some City of Heroes and had a nice romantic evening of it.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
You Say You Want a Resolution (2011-2012 Edition)
Continuing the annual tradition on from Last Year.
2011 was a heck of a year, a highly stressful bundle for the whole family. My job ramped up its work level about 70% from Busy Enough to Insanely Busy for most of the year, and that had a number of effects … that I propose to change with 2012:
1. Physical Fitness
My fitness / weight maintenance took a major hit this year. In May, Kay and I stopped our karate training, between vacation travel, other commitments, her new middle school schedule, and my discovery that I kind of liked not losing two of my evenings. Between that and just a stress-related impulse to nosh more, my weight has crept up quite a bit (more figures to follow, once I’m home from the holidays, but essentially I’ve gone from a 38 waist struggling to fit into 36 to a solid (heh) 40 again).
The obvious things to do are to reduce caloric intake and increase caloric outgo. So two things I’m going to do related to that are
(a) yes, once again, take up the mantle of the Geek Diet (tracking calories with some online tools), with a goal of being down to 200 by the end of the year, and
(b) I’m going to do the Eowyn Challenge to track my walking, taking the walk from Bag End to Rivendell, and then to Lonely Mountain, with a goal to make it to Lorien by the end of the year (963 miles). I was going to do LoTR milestones, but given the new Hobbit movie coming next December (huzzah!), this makes the most sense. I’ll figure out reporting back here as I go.
And, yes, that’s pretty much what I resolved last year, but let’s have another go at it.
2. Pictures, pictures, pictures
We took a lot of pictures this last year, especially on the Italy trip, and I simply flubbed getting them sorted, labeled, and posted, much to my chagrin (and unstated but understandable chagrin from my fellow-travelers). I got a few days, but bogged down in Pompeii.
So I resolve to have the Italy pictures done by the time we get to the 1 year anniversary of the trip in late May.
3. Writing, writing, writing
I did in fact finish my NaNoWriMo novel.
Now I need to do some serious revisions. I’m trying to get started with a regular writing group post-1/1, and my goal here is to have a “finished” version (at least three or four full revision passes) by the time November rolls around. (By “finished” I mean “able to be shared with folks with minimal embarrassment.)
Looking at the other resolutions from last year, I did get 3 of 5 done, which I pre-judged a win: finishing my NaNovel, staying in touch with my daughter, and supporting my lovely wife (who also had an insanely intense year). I’m going to keep those last two in mind as the year progresses — without them, the rest don’t mean a lot to me.
By the seaside, by the beautiful sea!
Margie and Kay at Gaviota State Beach
Pool Girls
Kay and Margie at the Roman Pool, Hearst Castle.
One ringy-dingy
I lent the folks some sage counsel on smartphones yesterday. (And did some looking of my own.)
New phones for the family
A big day in telecommunications technology for our household.
Margie lost her mobile right before Thanksgiving. Or, rather, it was likely stolen from the vehicle (it had been left in there for charging, I had moved it into the center console); the most likely location (the only time the car was unlocked when not in our possession) was from valet parking at a restaurant, but since it was a few days afterwards that we actually discovered it gone, it’s hard to say definitively (hard enough we didn’t feel justified in reporting it).
Aaaaanyway, so we needed to replace Margie’s HTC Incredible.
Now, one option we discovered is that my HTC Incredible on our Verizon account comes up for its 2 year tech refresh in late January. So, we thought, maybe we could do something interesting with phone shuffling in the interim …
Especially since …
We’re planning on getting Katherine a (basic) phone for Christmas. Something she’s been jonesing for, and, honestly, she’s shown enough responsibility for in a variety of areas. And it would be convenient for her to be able to contact us more flexibly.
(Sssshhhh … don’t tell her!)
So our initial thought was get a basic phone for Margie for two months, then when I upgrade to a new phone in January, give Margie my Incredible, and give Katherine the basic phone.
As it turns out, since the account is Margie’s (through her employer, who has a ridiculously good set of account discounts), she’s able to do an early upgrade for cheap.
Sooooooo … Margie came home from the Verizon store with a Motorola Droid X2 — nice-looking phone, larger screen than the Incredible, still 3G (but not a big concern for Margie), well-reviewed.
Also home (and stashed away for two weeks) is an LG Cosmos 2 for a certain someone.
More exciting, and/or daunting, is what’s up next for me, assuming I do the upgrade in late January. All sorts of 4G LTE phones in the Android smartphone section, which is kind of cool. One of the larger screens might be handy — but also less convenient worn on the belt. I’ve liked the HTC, but a Samsung or Motorola phone is certainly not out of the question (I’ll have to ask Margie how she enjoys her Droid X2).
Also of interest (to me) is the question of a tablet. I’ve been struggling to think of how I would use one, and, between my Kindle and my smartphone and my netbook and my laptop table in the family room, I haven’t come up with a compelling reason for one. But I remain tempted.
(I actually used one of the Samsung Galaxy tablets at the Verizon store to do review lookups on the handsets we were interested in. Very nice, esp. with the keyboard dock. But, again, with the wealth of devices I already have, it doesn’t do anything that I can’t do to 80% of at least already.)
One added note on the affair. We have always had very positive, helpful, patient customer service at the Verizon store near Park Meadows (by the Home Depot), and today was no different. I’d like to give a shout-out to Chris, who took care of us today. He was the right degree of helpful and supportive without being pushy or negligent, and made the experience that much less stressful. Thanks!
I am trying to imagine being a child of Michelle Bachmann
I would have felt sorry for them already, given what discussions around the dinner table must be like. #ddtb
Embedded Link
Bachmann: I Don’t Let My Daughters Ask Out Boys, ‘They Have To Wait For The Boys To Call’
While promoting her new book on Sean Hannity’s radio show this afternoon, Rep, Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said she doesn’t let her daughters ask boys out on dates. Apparently embracing antiquated notions…
So long, and thanks for all the projects!
The In-Laws, Jim & Ginger, have flown back home, and we’re left with some post-Thanksgiving thanks to provide them, on all the projects that got done over the last nearly-two-weeks:
- Basement – replace old fluorescent light fixtures with new lights.
- Basement – add light switch to the furnace room light; replace fixture.
- Master bathroom – fixed the pocket door, and painted its inside.
- Master bathroom – drawer knobs.
- Katherine’s room – draperies for the “girl cave”.
- Katherine’s room – shelves for tchotchkes
- Katherine’s room – sorting of many articles of clothing for giving away, storing away, future wear.
- Loft – blinds.
- Craft room – Remove clothes pole, generally neaten (for further putting away).
- Garage & Kitchen – cleaning out of the freezers, sorting of frozen goods, massive disposal of stuff that could be disposed of, decommissioning of one garage fridge.
- Family room – replace burnt-out bulbs; fix the dangling fixture.
- Give-away items – sort, count, package for Goodwill.
- Thanksgiving – cleaning, cooking, service.
- Putting up Christmas decor, including finding and buying a new tree.
And probably a bunch of other things I’ve forgotten. Beyond, of course, that it’s just fun having them in town. Even if Ginger did get everyone but Katherine sick. 🙂
What’s most daunting is that we’ll be seeing them (and my parents) in a frighteningly short period of time, as the holiday season bears down on us like a freight train.
Because Real Men Sink Battleships, While Real Women Battle at the Sink
I believe this is the very edition my brother and I had growing up. #ddtb
Embedded Link
Ran across this old edition of Battleship–while the men play… on Twitpic
Happy Birthday, My Love
So pleased you’re spending so much of your life alongside mine!
(And you’ll always be jailbait to me!)
Family travels
It’s family travel time. Except all solo-like.
This afternoon, we drop off Kay at church for her to head up to the “Genesis” diocesan youth event up in Buena Vista for the weekend. I’ve jokingly called it “Jesus Camp,” but given that we’re Episcopalian I’m pretty sure we won’t end up Kay speaking in tongues or a Camazotz Girl when she returns.
Though I do plan on engaging her in some conversation about her faith and beliefs, and share a few of my own with her.
So then we’re foot-loose and fancy-free empty-nesters for … oooh, a good 36 hours or so. We’d talked about going off and doing something romantic, but then decided that, y’know, as busy as our lives have been lately, simply going out for a nice dinner, then coming home and playing some City of Heroes then sleeping together in our own bed (and sleeping in come the morning) is about as romantic as we need.
Then tomorrow evening we have a nice dinner with Mary and Stan.
Then 0-dark-early Sunday, I drive off to the airport and hop on a flight to Orlando, thence to the Gartner/ITxpo conference at the fabulous Swan & Dolphin resort at Walt Disney World. Except I’m not staying there, but that the much more moderately-priced Caribbean Beach resort at WDW, then getting shuttled back and forth to the S&D for the conference.
(Margie gets to be solo for about 10 hours, before she goes and picks up Katherine for deprogramming late Sunday afternoon.)
I’m off at Gartner until Thursday, a which mostly means spending a lot of time sitting on conference halls, large and small, and talking with analysits and stuff like that, then spending my evenings catching up on email. Well, okay, there are a couple of evening Disney Park outings planned (a conference-based on to Disney Hollywood Studios, and a solo jaunt to EPCOT which is having its food & wine festival going on). So there will be some fun, but it’s a Serious Working Conference. Expect many tweets.
I get home Thursday night … and I think that wraps up our family travels until the Christmas holidays.
Daveapalooza!
Margie put together a very nice 50th birthday party for me here in Denver, with our sundry closest friends who could make it: Stan, Randy, Jackie, Doyce & Kate, Dave S., Lee & De, plus Rachel and Kaylee.
The food theme was around bacon — and we had a variety of dishes where we got to try “wrapped in bacon vs. not” — tater tots, breadsticks, a couple of kinds of sausage, dates, meatballs. There were also a couple of very good soups, sundry other nibblies. Plus Caipiranhas and Rusty Nails, and other drinking goodness.
We did fit in a couple of games — Unspeakable Words (sort of “Scrabble of Cthulhu”) and Zombie Fluxx, and a fun picture/telephone game Dave S. ran us through before he had to leave.
Margie bought me as my main gift a Blu-Ray player, which she apparently communicated to all since I received several Blu-Ray movies, plus a nice bottle of Cognac, some books/magazines. All were thoughtful and very cool, and I appreciated everything — but, mostly, I appreciated the people being here, and the good fellowship.
A great way to launch me into yet another decade. My life right now may be very busy, but it’s good that it’s busy with folk like this (especially, of course, Margie and Katherine).
Establishing the Photographic Record
While not doing anything quite as cool/’ as Kate’s Picture-of-the-Day project (summarized here), we did take a boatload of photos this year and — with some small exceptions — I now have them all online, including our Disney and Holiday pix.
Woot!
(And many thanks to Margie, Jim and Ginger — and Katherine — for their patience whilst I was obsessing on the matter this Holiday Season.)
A New Decade
Yikes. Glancing through some blog posts today (it’s kind of a distorted view of the world, here in Faerie), I noted some folks noting the end of the decade. (Yes, I am going there with all the “decades start on the 1s, not the 0s” thing. So there!)
Yikes, indeed.
At the end of 2000, I had a not-yet-1-year-old. She’s now 10, about to enter Middle School, and filling me with pride and wonder and dismay at every alternating sentence.
In more trivial matters, I was a geographical manager for IT operations in my company for the Rocky Mountain Region (which meant mostly Denver, but also some stuff down in Albuquerque and over in Salt Lake City). Now I’m shepherding corporate application development for most everything except accounting, for the same company. Same theoretical rank, but a much more interesting position.
And this blog hadn’t even been created.
In some ways, much of our life is very much the same. In some ways, it’s very different.
Makes me wonder what the next decade will be like.
You say you want a Resolution (2009-2010 Edition)
Last year’s zaniness — from broken ankles to trips to Hawaii — meant no New Year Resolution for me. Looking back to the end of 2008, I had a few fairly vague ones …
1. Be fit: A true cliché, I know, but … Continue with the 1,500 Miles to Nowhere program. Continue karate. And … yes, start tracking calories again, convenient tool or not. 200 lbs. by 1 June, 185 by the end of the year. Next year, no question about whether 36s need to be exchanged!
Alas, two years later, my weight has bobbed back upward, not quite to where it was at some point, but the 36s are still a scosh tight. I will work on this.
2. Be photographically organized: Continue with the photography conversion and updating. All 2009 photos, four additional years at my discretion will get uploaded and online in a single place.
I haven’t been good at this, either. I’ve got most of 2010 in place, but am still not caught up on 2009, let alone four other years.
3. Be blogicly up to date: Movable Type to the current version and all features working once again.
Hey! I’m on WordPress! And all up to date! Take that, Bainbridge Scholars!
4. Be genealogical: New! Get my genealogy research back up and running … one of those outstanding “projects” that never seems to quite get traction.
Wow. This was completely off the radar. Sadly. I don’t see it getting back onto it this year, but …
So we’ll do a repeat on #1 and #2. To which I’ll add:
3. Finish my NaNoWriMo novel. Come on, I’m not that far from the end! MUST WRITE.
4. Stay in touch with my daughter. As she goes through added changes, physical and educational and emotional and all that, it’s going to be a challenge. I’m going to need to change my parenting parameters, bump up the patience, and make sure that we remember we are family.
5. Support Margie. The past couple of years have been difficult work-wise for her. Her job is a good one, but it’s been pretty intensive hours-wise. I want to do more to support her when she needs to be working, and encourage her to not when she needn’t.
If I can get 3 out of 5 here, I’ll feel pretty darned good.
Happy New Year, all!
The Year in Review
I did a Christmas/Holiday letter this year. Since I researched it by way of skimming through my blog, it’s only right that I wrap up the blogging for the year with (among other things), this summary of What We Did This Year.
(For those who read this blog it will be largely redundant, but as a summary I can reference again in the future, perhaps it is useful.)
If I get a chance, I may do a bit more blogging today on a couple of topics. If not, have a happy and safe New Year’s Eve, all, and a better New Year.
Yet Another Christmas Letter, Huzzah!
December 2010
The year 2010 was another Thrilling Epoch of Suburban Denver Bliss in the dull, boring, placid lives of the Hill/Kleerup Consortium.
We started off the year, of course, with Margie still recovering from breaking her ankle at the beginning of 12/2009 (which zaniness led to some very hit-or-miss Christmas carding last year – apologies!). But by the end of January, she was back at work, back driving, and by the end of the year was beginning to wear heals again. Aside from that, the health picture was all good (if one includes Kay getting fitted for braces, which seem to be mostly an excuse for multi-colored rubber bands).
Work was hectic for both Dave and Margie. Dave continues to manage an enterprise-wide corporate systems development group for [redacted], and was tapped to participate in a couple of major management gatherings. Margie traveled a lot, too, as an HR analyst for [redacted]. Kay, meanwhile, turned ten and entered fifth grade, the last step before (gasp!) middle school. (No, we are not ready.)
Aside from business trips (or sometimes adjoining them), we did a lot of family travel, including kicking off the New Year in Hawaii with Margie’s folks for their 50th anniversary. Other trips included Walt Disney World, the big family camping trip above Paso Robles, and Kay attending two week-long Girl Scout camps, one in Colorado and one in California. We also went the San Diego Comic-Con for the first time in a several years (and the first time for Kay ever).
On the pet front, things were not quite as pleasant. Indy, now the “elder” kitty at 14, was fully recovered from his back accident last fall. But Mimi, who joined us in March 2009, went missing, alas, at Thanksgiving.
Around the house, we had some sewer line problems in the basement that required some jack-hammering, but which also started up some serious reorganization of our Copious Stuff down there. We also rebuilt and expanded the downstairs closet, and began prep work and contractor interviews for some major home improvements in the New Year.
Other big events during the year: Margie and Dave celebrate their 15th Anniversary! Margie goes to her 25th reunion at Pomona college (chirp!)! A new car (Subaru Outback)! Dave and Kay reach 1st kyu Brown Belt in karate (one step away from Black Belt)! Dave does the Cookie Manager thing for Kay’s Girl Scout troop! New cell phones for Margie and Dave (Droid Incredibles)! Kay gets a blue ribbon at her school Science Fair! Dave and Kay write novels for National Novel Writing Month!
So maybe it wasn’t all dull and boring and placid … but it was mostly pleasant, and being together makes even the occasional bumps worthwhile.
A very Merry Christmas (and other wintery holidays) to you all, and a Happy New Year, too.
— Dave, Margie and Katherine
For folks who would rather see the pictures instead, I’ve got everything loaded up in Flickr except (to date) for the Walt Disney World and actual holiday season photos.
Reading time
Kay and Industry Indy in OZ.