He’s FIVE!

Brian's mighty yowp

Saturday was Brian’s birthday. There is a growing set of photos from his party. I could use another weekend to recover from this one.

What’s Happened to the Boy Scouts?

They’re now training Explorer scouts to ‘combat terrorism’. That’s crazy. As a wee bit of backstory, I’m an Eagle Scout. I was a Cub Scout and in scouting from age 8 to about 17 when I was a junior assistant scoutmaster. I got my Eagle when I was fourteen and was an Explorer.\
I can’t imagine what the point of this is other that a bunch of macho jackasses being, well, macho jackasses – and passing it on to kids. It’s just sad that Scouting has come to this; I’m not sure what else to say about it other than I’m disappointed and that my kids won’t follow me into Scouting.

Sprouts!

our little patio garden

We have sprouts! Brian and I transplanted Max and his science fair project plants and planted a bunch of other stuff (cucumbers, tomatoes and wildflowers) last Saturday and this week, we have sprouts! We’re trying the little patio garden this year to see if we can keep it watered and actually get something out of it. I’m trying to go in with no expectations, but so far, it looks like we’ll at least get some cucumbers out of it!

So Much for Lazy Weekends

Today’s been busy. Here’s what Brian and I have done this weekend:

  1. Went to Target and got some patio furniture.
  2. Assembled that furniture (a table, umbrella and stand and set of four chairs)
  3. Cleaned out my car
  4. Swept the back patio
  5. Went to ACE Hardware and got potting soil, peat moss and seeds.
  6. Cleaned out all the old pots in the backyard and filled them with peat moss and potting soil
  7. Transplanted Brian’s bean plants and Max’s radishes from their science projects.
  8. Planted cucumbers, tomatoes and wildflowers
  9. Cleaned up (well, mostly) our mess and then watered everything, at least once.
  10. Finished setting up the server ficly will eventually live on so I can take it over the Seimitsu this week (if you’re in Savannah and need pretty much anything IT or hosting-related, you’d be stupid not to call them – I love love love them).\
    And now, I’m going to take some Aleve and sit down.

Gorgeous Animated Short

Via BoingBoing (cuz it was on boingboing tv, silly me). I absolutely love everything about this short, the music, the animation, the story… all of it. It reminds me a little bit of Mirrormask.\
In other news, if you’re looking for totally painless online backup, I highly recommend Dropbox (yes, I get some free space if you sign up, but really, it’s fantastic). I have it installed on both my laptop and my home machines and it painlessly syncs everything in my dropbox on all three machines. If I get new music I want to make sure gets added to iTunes at home, I throw it in the dropbox. Purchase new apps or a book on PDF? It goes in the dropbox. It’s awesome.

Stupid Things #312 and #8401

  • Max’s school requires a doctor’s note after the 5th absence. How lame is that? Not if he’s sick for more than five days in a row, but for the whole school year. Grrr. It’s because they want to know whether a kid should be passed or failed, but that decision should be made independent of absences, right? RIGHT! It should be about whether the kid has learned the material. Especially if the parents have excused the absences! I guess I’ll be sending Max to school even when he is feverish but feeling ok so that everybody else can get sick too.
  • To register the kids for school, I need to show proof of residency. Does my government-issued license count? No. I need a phone bill, where all I have to do is call the company and say “bill me here” and that is considered proof of residency. How lame is that? I guess the school thinks money is a more powerful truth indicator than government oversight.

Max can hiii-yaaah you up!

Max started karate last week. I had intended it to be something he could do once a week, so that I wouldn’t be an “over-scheduling parent” but the instructor talked me into having Max come twice a week. Turns out, Max has been going everyday because he loves it so. So much for my intentions. We have to be extra time aware though because Max goes from Philosophy and Art Club to karate with less than an hour break on Mondays and then Brian’s soccer games to karate with no break on Tuesdays. The instructor said Max has really good focus. He knows a few of the kids from his school, which gives me warm fuzzies. It’s been neat to see him improve his various moves. We come home from class and show off the moves to Kevin. Even Brian has been getting into it, though he isn’t in the class. Brian can really key-op (the yelling that is done with each move) with the best of them.

There’s Still Time to Vote!

Refresh Savannah’s first meeting is in a few weeks, but there’s still time to vote on what I should present on!!\

Save Chuck!

A campaign to save a tv show that actually might work.\
I am not going to link sources. If you really care, google it and I’m sure a dozen will pop up.\
The season finale for Chuck is on Monday on NBC. Kevin, my awesome husband of 11 years and no, you cannot have him, really likes Chuck. It’s smart, funny, and heartwarming. But Chuck is in danger of cancellation. The solution? Prove that people are watching! The idea has been proposed that fans buy a footlong sub on Monday from Subway, a major sponsor of the show, before the episode and then gnosh out while watching. (This is so much better than sending in bottles of hot sauce (Roswell), yes?) When Subway sales go up for Monday, The Powers That Be will have their proof. Money talks, so what are you saying? Spread the word!\
Whether you watch Chuck on tv, tivo, nbc.com, Hulu, or some other means, make sure you buy a footlong sub on Monday from Subway. Or just buy a footlong sub on Monday from Subway because they are yummy and this is a neat experiment!\
I think I am going to get a turkey, tomato, and lettuce on wheat with green pepper, for a fresh crunchy kick, sprinkled lightly with salt and pepper and a bit of mayo. What are you going to get?

Picture!

Photobucket\
Brian at soccer.