Category: Miscellaneous
Life is not only work.
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Prometheus vs. Avatar
The planet Pandora has nothing — and I mean nothing — on the little moon SC-223. This place scared the (R-rated expletives) out of me; it was unnerving, frightening, dreadful, in all the ways that Pandora was not.
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Oma’s cleaning skills
Mom and Dad came to visit this past week. It was a really great time with family and Iris loved the attention. Iris has called my dad “Papa” since she was 8 months or so, and my Mom reserved the name “Oma” (German for grandmother). While they were here, Oma attacked the kitchen and cleaned…
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Iris, Olympian
Iris took her first gymnastics class today. Next stop: African Games of 2028. Check out how much fun this kid is having!
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Dyson vaccum fix
Is your Dyson Animal vacuum cleaner sucking, like mine was? There’s a good chance you can fix it cheaply. In my case, the vacuum head — in Dyson speak, it’s the “soleplate” — was not seating down fully on the floor. Because the soleplate wasn’t fully flush with the contact surface, the suction was…
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Aurora Mass Shootings
There’s an article at The Good Men Project worth reading called “Not a Joke: Why Do Our Boys Keep Up the Mass Shootings?” in light of the mass murder this morning in Colorado. I left a comment there that I wanted to explore some more here. This is a risky comment, because it is perhaps…
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Firebeard, the Phoenix
A few weeks ago, the worst fire in Colorado’s history broke out. In my town. It was like Armageddon raining fire down upon us. A bunch of people lost their homes, a few people died. It was definitely a scary few days. After the very professional firefighters and city government folks began to gain control,…
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Sacred Bluegrass
Is this a mashup made in heaven? I think it was. Sarah and Iris and I all went to this concert a few weeks ago titled, “The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass” with text by Marisha Chamberlain and music by Carol Barnett. The Colorado Springs Chorale’s Chamber Singers performed the piece . The idea is…
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Mom and books
I owe my reading life to Mom. I remember her reading to my sister and me throughout our childhood. I think there’s power in the spoken word for a young child; my imagination was exercised regularly very early on. And now I see how that cycle is repeating, as I read books to Iris at…
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The Politics of Competitive Board Gaming Amongst Friends
I just caught this highly entertaining geek culture documentary short film by Jay Cheel, host of the Documentary Blog podcast, which is one of my favorite podcasts. It’s called “The Politics of Competitive Board Gaming Amongst Friends.”
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City Dog, Country Frog
One of the many cherished routines that I share with Iris is story time. The nighttime rhythm that Sarah and I have settled into looks like this: she gets Iris ready for bed and sings songs with her; then I go into the nursery and read bedtime stories, usually 2 or 3. There are a…