Probably the funniest thing said all day...

Cox Cable... they screw you with Cox@Home AND Cox@Work.



I know, not really THAT funny, but say it five times fast and it gets funnier as you go. Also, there was much context that will not be divulged here.

Shelby tops off a good behavior week with more of the same

The girls went to their mothers tonight to trick-or-treat, but their mother let me know that Shelby was tally-free today, so only one tally all week. That's great!

More anti-fodder for the naysayers

Again, for those who care... (click the graphic)





And oh yes, the previous doubter (a Mr. Recanting), verified my English Comp. II recollection, and has thus redeemed himself.

Shelby's Behavioral Update

She's actually had a good week. Three days in a row of no tallies, but she got one today, though it was a warning tally, really. If she does better or equal tomorrow it'll be her best week in quite sometime. Not sure if this is natural or a result of the many in place bribes. For example, her aunt has been calling her every night promising a surprise if she has a good week.




(thought I would try out the cross-platform abilities of Blogger... currently posting this via my Linux box using Mozilla... works real good)

For the last couple of weeks at piano lessons, Darby has been working on Christmas music... I think there may be a recital at some point.

For those who care... (click the graphic if you still have doubt)

Someone said today I was the chink in the armor of their plan, which was followed immediately thereafter with enormous laughter, in reference to my Asian background and how it fit into the unintended pun. I saw and understood the humor, but my laughter was... not so much.

A Haunting We Will Go...

Took the girls to Haunt the Zoo this evening. It was Fun With Chaos revisited.

We arrived in line -- the car-line on 50th street to get onto the Zoo grounds that is... for the inexperienced, there are many lines at Haunt the Zoo -- right about 6pm. And I thought we'd be early with gates opening at 6:30. HA! I've been taking the girls to this event for the last five years and each year I learn a little something to make the next year better. Next year I shall remember that thirty minutes is not enough. Though I must say that this year seemed much more packed than the last.

So once we were through the car line and parked, we had to stand in the wait-for-the-gates-to-open line. You see, one thing I learned last year was to buy tickets in advance, so that was one less line. While in the gate-opening line, a little girl "Scooby" that was in front of us hurled twice on the pavement. And that line didn't go anywhere for at least fifteen minutes, so we got to stare at semi-processed cheerios for awhile. Yum. So once the line started moving and we were through the gates, we then got to experience the going-through-the-turnstiles-and-turning-in-tickets line. And this was followed shortly thereafter by the waiting-for-the-candy-people-to-catch-up-with-the-mass-of-people-just-thrust-upon-them line.

But once things started flowing it wasn't TOO bad. Sure, it was the typical clutching tightly of the kids so they don't get lost in the sea of people when it's almost completely dark out routine. But only once per kid was there an issue in that regard. While I had my eyes on them the whole time, they each once turned the wrong way around after getting candy and didn't see me so about flipped out until I grabbed their hands from behind.

Surprisingly there wasn't a getting-out-of-the-zoo-parking-lot line as there has been in the past. Maybe we just got through it and out of there quick enough to beat the rush.

Not a bad night overall. Beats begging for candy on the street. I put some pics in the album.

Chuck E Cheese birthday party (no 11) for Darby this evening, followed by some nail biting watching the remainder of the OU game and World Series. Can't believe the Yanks lost, and as much as I am upset with the Marlins for kicking the Phils out, they sure played hard and kept fighting. While I don't like it, they sure did earn it this year. Just hope they don't sell apart the team next year the way they did following 97.

Cats and Dogs

The girls brought home their Halloween costumes from their mom's today. Darby is a cat and Shelby is Blue from Blue's Clues.

Parent teacher conference day. Darby got the expected high regard, Shelby got the typical mixed results... she's smart but unfocused and has trouble spells (such as recently). Darby's report card was straight A's while Shelby had all S's with one exception... an N in conduct. Not a surprise.

Oh yes, Shelby got max tallies yet again today. She must just really like going to bed early...

My it's getting HOT in here...

So I was in a meeting today, that went terribly bad. Some in the group actually thought it was a good idea to kick open the gates of hell and dare the devil to come out and fight like a man. I didn't say anything the entire meeting, save asking a question at the very end. Just trying to stay low, lest the devil see fire in my eyes, too. When it was all said and done, the devil had thrown some hefty fireballs at us and went back down to hell, but I think he's coming back. I think he just realized he was doing all the work and that was just no fun. I think he went to get some demons or something to have them torment us to a slow painful death while he sat back and wallowed in humerous self-impression. The harbinger bells have been rung and the shadow of doom is all but upon us.


Like I heard someone say today... that light at the end of the tunnel... it's a freight train.

Aside from World Series tickets (see disclaimer), THIS is the BEST thing you could possible get me for my birthday this year. Hurry, only $1300 at present, and less than two days to act!

But in fairness, for those who just don't want to spend more than a grand, any of THESE will do. Some of these are going for about $160 right now.




Disclaimer:
My definition of "World Series tickets" is not, say, a pair of tickets for game 4. No no no no. "World Series tickets" to me means all seven games. It's a package deal. Now, this doesn't mean that I wouldn't gladly take game 4 tickets -- I'm not THAT insane -- but then I could only ever say that I went to game 4 of the World Series. Get me tickets for all seven games, however (and prefereably also the means to get there), and then -- ONLY then -- could I say "I went to the World Series".

Got my long awaited CD order off eBay. When I bid on it I didn't realize it was coming from the U.K. Took some time for it to get here....

Shelby's back on a rampage...

At school she got max tallies yesterday (along with a swat) and several tallies today, along with a note home for me to sign the last couple of days.

Alas, my youth has slipped away. Fare thee well (sometimes un)fair youth. I shall remember you often, or at least until I can remember no more.

It's my last day of youth, but I have nothing on the agenda to make it worthy of such distinction.

Perhaps I hear that sound of inevitability.

Birthday party today (no 10). I was supposed to also make a maintenance appointment for the VUE but I forgot. ARGH.

Did you say there Marlins were leading the Yankees in the world series?!?!?



What is this world coming to?

My dad got a new computer today. 1.6G Athlon with XP Home. Decent machine. I spent quite awhile over there getting it setup for him. It was "ready to go", but I wanted to make it really ready. For example, it had XP SP1, but was missing all the critical patches. Also, I brought over a hub and some network cable and used the spiffy XP file transfer wizard to copy over his files and settings from the old system.


Also, he gave me my birthday present early, which was a way cool Canon i860. Highly recommended. I've already printed a photo and it looks fantastic.

Bye-Bye BoSox

They were just teasing us, weren't they. We were so very close to a BoSox/Cubbies series only to have it fade away quite literally at the last minute.

Wither thee Cubbies

Maybe next year.

:(

Darby had her piano lesson today instead of Friday due to a conflict.

Oh yeah, GO CUBS! (almost there)


BoSox, I want to get to the series. You've earned it. But my gosh, man, fix that attitude!

Party party party

Today my team (from work) had a party in celebration of our recent award of a three year contract. It was a combined OSU/OU watch party as well. And, of course, we partied when both teams turned victories.

The girls went with their mother, and Darby had her second birthday party (no 9) at celebration station in three days. I hear that went well.

So it was basically a party day...

Darby had another great piano lesson tonight. Her practice is really paying off.

Oh Crap, Now What?

I received a "Notice Regarding Changes to Your Car Policy" from State Farm today. Some of the things no longer covered:

- results from nuclear reaction, radiation, radioactive contamination, or detonation or release of radiation from a nuclear or radioactie device.

- missiles or falling objects [damages caused by]

- riot or civil commotion [damages caused by]


I'm thinking they know something I don't. Should I be worried?

Fun With Chaos

Darby had a birthday party (no 8) to attend at Celebration Station this evening. There must have been twenty kids in the one party alone. We're talking second graders here. Chaos was plentious. In fact, I think the guy that studied, wrote about, and probably won awards for, chaos theory, went to one of these.

At one point a kid bouncing a balloon in the air hit a plate of birthday cake being carried to a hungry guest, thereby knocking the cake onto the floor, followed seconds later by the facility party helper stepping directly on the cake that was knocked onto the floor. That cake didn't just fall off the plate onto the floor, mind you. It was propelled upwards a good six inches before heading toward the floor at 9.8 meters per second.

And then there was the present handling. There were so many kids and so many presents and not enough helper parents that many of the kids themselves were running to grab presents to hand to the birthday boy. Try keeping track of that!

I'm not even getting into the bumper boats fiasco... so much chaos, not enough blog.

But everyone had fun. With, in, and despite the chaos. I know Darby had fun, being at her first post-cast event in two months.


A non-chaotic observation from the party... Darby is getting pretty good at air hockey. She beat a boy 7-3. I smell an xmas present idea.

A new trend for Shelby?

Today was her second straight tally-less day. Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon. I need to setup a site called ewood.com that has button labeled "knock".

CAST AWAY!

Darby had her second cast removed today. FINALLY. There are pictures in the album. She may have to be back in crutches tomorrow as she is not quite used to walking normally yet without the cast. She was told not to partake in strenuous activity for a month, so still no PE class at school, etc.

Oy

Shelby has been having serious behavior problems at school. She maxed out on tallies and got a note home today. The third note home in the last week. In fact, she's had tallies every day but one the last five school days. Subsequently, she's been getting a lot more sleep (having to go to bed earlier).

Took the girls to a pizza birthday party (no 7) this evening. Found out that the bump on Shelby's head was from her sister pushing her into a pole when they were at mommy's. As opposed to the mosquito bite I was lead to believe it was...

She Walks!

I've forgotten to mention that here in recent days, Darby has been walking around without her crutches. She gets the cast off next week.

Unlike last week, which left a little to be desired, Darby had a great piano lesson this week. She's really starting to pick things up. It probably helped that I've been making her practice EVERY day.

Follow ME... I AM the white rabbit

Per the "What Monty Python Character are you" quiz, I'm the rabbit. My results are below:



Mean lil fellow, arn't you?


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