The Gardening Geek

It all started so innocently. I took Max to the Farmer’s Market last summer, and I bought a basil plant (because every three year-old needs to learn about death, right?). We took it home, put it in a pot on the window sill, watered it religiously, and watched it grow. It lasted the rest of the summer and most of the fall. I decided my black thumb curse was over… It was actually kind of fun watching it grow and using it in my cooking. So, I started a little window sill garden, just a couple plants. Max and I bought a cilantro plant, an oregano plant and a sage plant (that met an untimely death while I was in France). We had an extra pot, and Max and I took some crushed red pepper seeds, a couple snap peas, some peppercorns and (I think) a couple others I don’t remember and planted them. Surprisingly, two plants sprouted!! I have no idea what they are, but they’re both getting a little unruly and I had to replant them. Of course, I was out of pots. So, off to Lowe’s for more pots…

Now, it’s June, and I think I’ve officially gone over the cliff. I planted some roma tomato plants about a month ago, some new basil (the old one got old and feeble) and recently some rosemary and chives. I also moved our two gigantic plants and the tomatos to a big window box that’s still not outside. I even built a trellice… see for yourself:

the left side...

and the right

Max helps me water them, and we check on them every day. Like I said, it all started so innocently.

Baby News and Pirates

We took Brian to the doctor this week, and he’s doing great. He left the hospital at exactly nine pounds. A week and a half later, he’s up to nine pounds, fourteen ounces and has grown a quarter of an inch (up to 22.25″). He’s gorgeous, calm and an all-around great baby. We’ll be taking more pictures as we get some more sleep, and you can be sure they’ll be posted here.

In other news, I’m a genius. No, really. I can’t tell you why I’m a genius, or how it’s been applied to my own devious ends, but I am, and I have. Unrelatedly (which I just made up), mission statements are evil. In my new group, we’re trying to come up with one. Why? I’m not sure. Mission statements are silly, if you ask me (I know you didn’t, but really, do I care if you did? Nope). They’re meaningless. No one reads them. No one actually tries to apply them. We spend days, hours, weeks trying to come up with the perfect profound sentance that sums up our purpose in our corporate lives. Everyone gets a say, a tweak here and there until it loses any meaning it might have had. To tweak a cliche: the road to hell is paved with mission statements.

The only mission statement I’ve ever liked is Google’s. “Don’t be evil” should be every company’s mission statement. The problem is, again, no one actually lives by or follows their mission statement. It’s something to put on a plaque, in the little writeup on the corporate intranet, and give idle hands something to do.

In an attempt to at least play along, I came up with some possibilities for my new group:

  • We’re pirates… ARGH!

  • We don’t believe in mission statements. We believe in ransom notes and manifestos.

  • We try, but usually fail, not to be evil. I mean, come on, look at us. Would you think us capable of not being evil?

  • We like pancakes and don’t believe in mission statements. We believe mission statements are meaningless pabulum that don’t do anyone any good.

  • We’re on a mission from God, much like Jake and Elwood Blues, to build scalable, maintainable, sleek and graceful web applications using the best technology for the job, good design, well-placed effort, our unmistakable talent, and irrepressable joi di vivre.

Pictures, Pictures of Kids and Babies, Rocks and Smiles

Two Kids, a House and a Yard

Babies are fun. Toddlers are more fun, especially when they can talk and play games; but, babies are fun in their own way. Brian is 8 days old now, and he’s trying to lift his head, is really good at flailing his arms and kicking his blankets off. He still sleeps a lot, but is now spending more time awake and staring at us. I love it. His little eyes are focusing and moving in the same direction (no more cross eyes… at least most of the time).

It’s fun finding out which body parts look like someone else in the family. In comparing baby pictures, Brian looks almost exactly like Max at the same age. Brian is a little longer, a little heavier and has (we think) a slightly bigger head. But, we’re probably going to have to start marking baby pictures so we know who’s who.

We’re now a family of four. I have two kids. Ok, I think it’s sunk in now.

More Pictures!

Pictures from Day One

Photopalooza!

It’s Heather again with another update. I’ve been trying to get a web gallery up of the pictures I took of cute not-so-little Brian, but my computer’s acting up. So instead, you’re going to get three individual links. Just. Like. This. Number three is by far my favorite – it’s the Thinking Baby! More later, I promise… if my computer will cooperate.

His First Picture

Big Baby!

My name is Heather, I’m Kevin’s little sister – I’m posting for him by proxy because he has some important news. 🙂 Jen went into labor early this morning, and at 10:55am, their new son was born! He weighs in at an impressive nine 36cm, and we’ll have pictures up as soon as I can get to the hospital with my digital camera. 🙂 Both Jen and the baby – whose name they haven’t told us yet (!!!!) – are doing great. I’ll update with more information as soon as I’ve received it. Isn’t this exciting?! 😀 Happy Birthday, New-Lawver, and welcome to our crazy world.

The Reverse of Happy

I tried to follow up yesterday’s exercise with the opposite. The same rules apply except for the techno one, with one fudge. I honestly can’t remember putting Teardrop on a mix cd, but the way I love that song, I can’t believe it. Maybe I just never shared it with anyone.

A couple other things I realized while compiling this list:

  • I don’t have a lot of depressing music in iTunes. I know I have more at home that I haven’t ripped yet, but it wasn’t handy to grab right this minute.

  • A lot of stuff I thought was depressing really isn’t. Morphine? Except for a couple notable exceptions, they’re not depressing at all. The songs are sometimes, sexy, other times ironic or cynical, and sometimes just plain bouncy.

  • Ben Folds and Phish both throw some great woe-is-me classics in between the happy poppy stuff. Evaporation on Whatever and Ever Amen is amazing, as is Dirt from Farmhouse

Here it is, a CD I whimsically call Depressed as Hal:

Title

Artist

Album

II\. Lento E Largo – Tranquillissimo

Henryk Gorecki

Symphony No. 3

Everybody Hurts

R.E.M.

Automatic For The People

Dirt

Phish

Farmhouse

I Grieve

Peter Gabriel

Up

Trouble

Coldplay

Parachutes

Sour Times

Portishead

Dummy

Don’t Change Your Plans

Ben Folds Five

The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner

Gone For Good

Morphine

Yes

Teardrop

Massive Attack

Mezzanine

Evaporated

Ben Folds Five

Whatever and Ever Amen

Passacaglia/Bud And A Slice

Joe Jackson, feat. Brad Roberts – voice, Judy LeClair – bassoon

Heaven & Hell

Sweetness Follows

R.E.M.

Automatic For The People

My Head Sounds Like That

Peter Gabriel

Up

Maybe I’ll Come Down

Soul Coughing

El Oso