Yeah, all too often.
Originally shared by +Les Jenkins:
Category: Personal
Blogaversary!
Today in 2001 (fergoshsakes), I started the whole blogging thing — on Blogger, then Movable Type, then WordPress and now melange of WP and Google+ (rebroadcast to Twitter and Facebook).
I’m not sure if I’ve done anything particularly profound over the last sixteen years with my blather, but it’s been a chance to record a goodly chunk of my life and my thinking over that time, so that someone, someday, can scratch their head over what the hell I was thinking.
For Friends of the Family
It’s fund-raising time for the Arapahoe High School Marching Band! No buckets o’ cheese or cookie dough or magazine subscriptions — just a naked (but deserving) appeal for monetary donations, if you are so inclined.
It’s a great program and I promise this is the last school year I will bug anyone about this particular cause …
https://app.snap-raise.com/fundraisers/15689/participant/356899
Arapahoe High School Band 2017
Support Arapahoe High School Band 2017 and help us raise $10,000.00.
The Circle of Life
Heh. Yeah, this sounds like something I would do. Or at least talk about doing.
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal – Dying Wish
Hey geeks of Houston! We’ve sold more than half of the discounted student tickets for BAHFest Houston! Buy soon if you wanna see me, Jorge Cham, Phil Plait, and lady-who-went-to-freakin-space Nicole Stott. Discuss this comic in the forum. August 20, 2017. Geeks! Just about 10 days to get in your …
Father-Daughter Movie Week
Margie was off on business all last week, which should have meant it was a perfect time for Katherine and I to binge on movies at night until our eyes bled. Alas, her band camps were running until 8pm, school started on Thursday, Tuesday we had a (quite pleasurable) time conflict, so … our movie-watching was perforce constrained.
Still, we managed to sneak a few in.
Under Siege (1992)
★★☆☆☆ (♥)
Actually I watched this solo. It’s a sort of guilty pleasure video, the equivalent of slightly stale Cracker-Jack you just can’t quite stop nibbling on. Steven Seagal does what he does best on this “hijacked US battleship carrying nuclear cruise missiles” thriller, slightly smothered by huge slabs of patriotism, pro-Navy propaganda, and period disdain for the intelligence community. But, hey, Tommy Lee Jones, too. Full Review
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
★★★★☆ (♥)
Remember when the Pirates movies were fresh, fun, and didn’t just focus on how hi-lariously goofy Johnny Depp could play Cap’n Jack? This one still holds up very well, in FX and music, but most of all because all the characters are (as writing school puts it) heroes in their own story. I wish this one didn’t turn into the franchise that it became. Full Review
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
★★★☆☆ (♥)
A sad waste of some potentially interesting characters in a nonsensical plot, it’s still got visually some of the best kaiju fights out there to date, both monster-on-monster and monster-on-people. Worth watching (and maybe even rewatching, if you’re not able to pay attention except during those periodic fights). Full Review
Pulp Fiction (1994)
★★★★☆
A great film full of good actors that established some new storytelling tropes and spawned a ton of quotable lines. I admire the repeated Tarantino conceit of lengthy mundane conversation punctuated by moments of screaming violence, and (slightly less) the seeming gritty realism punctuated by bizarre coincidence. I still find the unresolved nature of the film’s storylines to be personally irksome. Full review
Overall verdict for the week?: good (if violent) times. But always more enjoyable in good company.
Marching Madness
Went to our final Western Welcome Week Parade with the high school marching band today.
Also sat through a bus-load of kids singing “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
The Last First Day of School
Stop me before I break into a chorus of “Sunrise, Sunset” …
So Kay started Senior Year of High School today.
Yikes.
The most significant differences from previous such exercises were (1) Margie was off on a business trip and so had to be satisfied with pictures, and (2) there was self-driving to school, rather than taking the bus.
And, yeah, sure, there will be a “First Day of College” in a year (double yikes), but it won’t be the same.
Here’s hoping it’s a great year.
ALL the Cats
+Margie Kleerup got all the cats the other night. Good thing she had her phone and Kindle at hand. DO NOT DISTURB THE CATS.
We Know Where You Are
Actually looks like a reasonable app to download amidst the family. Might be useful when wandering about separately shopping or at an amusement park, too.
Google’s new “Trusted Contacts” app lets you keep tabs on family
New “personal safety app” another way to share location with friends and family.
Christmas Kittehs
Hanging out on the festive rug in front of the kitchen sink (more importantly, in front of the toe kick heater vent below the kitchen sink).
[via +Margie Kleerup]
As we move into a gift-giving season
Figuring out what to get Margie is a non-trivial decision, whether it's Valentine's Day, our Anniversary, her Birthday … or Christmas.
[Original: http://xkcd.com/1016/]
Decorating the Christmas Tree
Heh.
Originally shared by +Les Jenkins:
It’s for your own good. – Books of Adam
It’s for your own good.
On Vacations
Oh, I remember some Disney World trips, I do …
[Original: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/comic/vacation/
Bonus Panel: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/vacation-bonus-panel/]
On being a picky eater
I don't think I've ever not been called a picky eater, but my 17/87 on this quiz says I'm not really one.
(What I have learned to be over the years is a polite eater, admitting that if my particular culinary aesthetic doesn't include something[1] that those around me enjoy, that's my kink and my problem and not a moral absolute or something to take out on those other folk. Except in fun.)
—–
[1] Most likely raw tomatoes, bananas, and avocado products, but also including (thanks for reminding me, quiz) cottage cheese).
How Much Of A Picky Eater Are You?
Warning: This checklist will make you hungry and make you gag in equal measures.
On Being an Only Child
This one's for +Kay Hill. Also +Mary Oswell.
(Click through for the full comic.)
7 Truths About Being the Only Child
You’ll always be your parents’ favorite.
The unspeakable horror of (gasp) Bread Crusts!
Maybe it's genetic, though, because neither my brother nor I were adverse to crusts, nor was my daughter.
And, heck, if I had told my mom I wanted her to cut the crusts off of bread, she'd have told me (1) I can pick them off myself if I choose to, and (2) then I can eat them anyway because we don't waste food.
[Original: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/comic/bread-crust/]
[Bonus panel: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/bread-crust-bonus-panel/]
Those intimate after-school conversations
This one's for +Kay Hill.
[Original: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/comic/good/]
[Bonus panel: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/good-bonus-panel/]
A considerate young lady
Y'know, my daughter keeps doing things like this, sending an instant message to Margie and me:
"Be very careful if you are going to be driving anywhere today. The bus is having trouble braking. It's almost as if there is a layer of ice underneath the snow. We are on the main road and it is better, but still be careful please."
I mean, I thought 15-going-on-16 was supposed to be well into the depths of the "sullen teen angsty rebellious combative teenager" phase. If she insists on giving hugs, clearing the table, and warning us about icy conditions on the road, she's going to completely miss out on all the drama.
Wisdom Teeth and the removal thereof
If you told me that the expansion of dental coverage has led to an expansion of dental operations, including wisdom teeth removal, I wouldn't be surprised.
My daughter just had her wisdom teeth removed a week ago, and it's a non-trivial operation (both financially and physically). That said, there are some dividing lines between "medically necessary" and "orthodontally necessary" and "unnecessary" that the article sort of elides over.
Why You Might Want to Think Twice About Getting Your Wisdom Teeth Removed
It is well known that this is now an epidemic: By one count, Americans waste $750 billion a year on unproductive care.
Cleaning and Tidying at Mom's
So I've spent the week at my mom's house (one of the few bright sides of being unemployed is that I can take a lot of time off), helping her with some major tidying and cleaning out efforts. She knows that she won't be in this house forever — maybe no more than a few years — and the task of getting it ready to eventually move out is daunting after living here since 1978.
I had some ideas before I came out, but one thing I did was buy her a copy of Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. While the KonMari Method isn't wholly my cuppa, some basic principles she espouses are invaluable:
1. Does object X bring you joy to have? (If not, why are you keeping it? Really? Can you say that with a straight face?)
2. Do you actually want to keep object X? (Not, do you want to get rid of it — approach it in a positive manner, as selecting the things you want to keep, and letting the other things fall away.)
A lot of what we tackled was stuff that was there because it was there — books that had been picked up but never read, gifts that had been received but were tucked in bags or boxes in a closet, objects that might be useful some day but probably not. Stuff that others might find of use, but was not of any use here except to occupy cubic space. And it was all stuff that was, not-so-figuratively weighing Mom down, producing a paralysis about being able to do anything about it.
The office closet was the biggest thing, followed by smaller tasks of gift boxes in another closet and the office book shelf.
I can't show you the "before" pictures, under injunction of disinheritance, but the "after" pictures are what's amazingly cool. Mom did a hell of a job culling down what she wanted to keep in these contexts, and committing to some future activities to follow up. We took four decent-sized boxes of books down to the library today to donate to the book shop there, and another box that Mom's donating to her church. We have a half-dozen bags of hazarai going to a local charity tomorrow morning. We have a ton of paper, cardboard, etc., that will be recycled. There's a box of targeted items to give to others. I'm bringing a few things home in my carry-on, and my brother took a few things home with him.
And, yes, I cracked the whip a lot during this, but only with honesty and a spirit of being helpful. And, also, no, this wasn't my long-planned revenge for all the times Mom told me to clean my room when I was growing up. (No, really!)
All in all, it was a really successful trip, in terms of being able to help my mom here. And it was really neat being able to spend a week with her, both the going through of old stuff (e.g., boxes and envelopes full of photos) and just hanging out at night watching TV.
Not sure if I'll be able to make it back here any time soon to help with other problematic locales in the house (I hope to be otherwise employed), but she's made a great start and will, I trust, carry on.
Bravo, Mom.
[Note: Any resemblance between Dave the Hard-Hearted and Cut-Throat Tidier at His Mom's House and Dave the Inveterate Pack Rat at His Own House is purely coincidental, and should not be used for purposes of mockery, I'm looking at you, Mom!]
