Sore-foot sugar high

Today marked either the 18th or 19th annual Chicken Family Cookie Party. OK, originally it wasn't "Chicken Family" 'cause Paige and I were living in sin, and sure the faces have changed over the years, but the basics remain the same: We provide the dough, the cutters and the oven, and the guests provide the labor and the appetites.

Back when this madness started - I think it was 1990, but I could be wrong - the guest list was about 8 or 10 people and one kid. The kid was maybe 3 or so and spent most of the evening eating cookies, then running around in circles until he fell down. Now he's around 22 and I believe either in jail or rehab. So you can see what an influence our parties can have on the young and impressionable. Anyhow, that first party started some time mid-afternoon and ran until midnight. Possibly longer if someone ended up crashing on the couch.

From that foundation a tradition was born. The first year we probably had 10 cookie cutters, tops. The next year we bought a few more, and people brought some to the party for us. The year after that we moved to a rental house and the guest list grew, as did the number of kids involved. Then a few years later we bought our house and had our own kids and the list grew again. I think we peaked about two years ago, with waves of children and adults passing through and barely room in the house to breathe.

This year things kind of calmed down. Not sure if it was the threat of snow (it's snowing as I type this, although it's not sticking to the road) or the relatively late date (we usually hold it the weekend after Thanksgiving), but a fair number of people didn't show up. And as a result (or as a result of the kids getting older) the quality of the cookies improved quite a bit. Far more even rolling, nicer shape, fewer sprinkles on the floor.

What hasn't changed over the years is the chance to see people we almost never see, from the friends that we used to hang with back in the day but have since grown away from to the friends from the kids' pre-school days who we see two or three times a year. Oh, and the massive sugar crash that hits me at about 9:15...although as I recall that first year I got a second wind from the pizza and beer. Ahhh, to be young again.

Finally getting a grip

On Christmas, anyway. I think the gips are all bought, now. At least the ones we're buying...can't speak for everyone else, and I'll take the boy out on Sunday to get something for his sister. But other than that and maybe two last-minute items I think we're set. Whew.

This morning was filled with errands: Home Depot to get one of those outdoor hose faucet insulator thingies so I'm ready for Winter Blast 2008. Appliance parts store to get a new "Crisper Drawer Cover Frame". Stupid Prices to look for, well, stupidly-priced things. Toys R Us and Game Stop for gips. Hallmark for a gift card holder. Safeway for some gift cards. Then finally home to clean out the fridge for lunch. As I said, Whew!

My original plan for the day was to run the errands and then head up to Lynnwood to finally see Quantum of Solace, but I decided instead to start making a slide show for Logan's old Cub Scout Pack, do some dishes, and put away laundry. Man, how did I ever find time for this crap back when I was working every day? Hopefully I'll win tomorrow's Mega Millions drawing and never have to find out.

I got nothin'

Not that I've got nothin' to post about...I could regale you with being woken up by Paige at the crack of 7 to help talk her off the ledge of a panic attack over potential identity theft. I could outline the steps I took in my job search today (had coffee with a friend at T-Mobile, then had a Sprite with a former co-worker there). Or I could describe the less-than-fulfilling toy shopping experience with Maya this evening (as always, when the goal is to buy something for Logan she focuses only on things she must have RIGHT NOW!!!!).

But I'm tired (see item 1 above) and would rather go to bed and read. So I'll do that.

Meet Lettuce

Lettuce is the newest member of the Chicken family. Freed from his life as a victim of 6th grade science projects, Lettuce now lives in an empty RainBlo bubblegum tub. Although these pictures were taken while he was on a plastic cutting board eating the meal that got him his name...

Anyhow, Logan's last science section was studying snails, running snails through obstacle courses (Knex and cardboard tubing, mainly), figuring out what they liked to eat (lettuce and apples? Sure! Soapy sponge? No thank you!), and otherwise entertaining themselves at the snail's expense. Well, toward the end of the section the teacher sent home a note saying anyone who wanted a snail had to call her and send in a signed permission slip. Oh, and bring in a jar or something to take the snail home in.

So we did, and now he's here. And now I know what snail poop looks like (sorry, no photographs of that).

And before you ask, no, we're not going to be bringing home the current science victim, the hissing cockroach. Why? Because they hiss, and they're fast. Lettuce is quiet and slow, which is just what we like in a pet!

Science is cool!

So one of the Radio KYA faithful has put me on his e-mail list, and today this came through. And since I’m lazy and the pictures and science are both cool, I’m posting ‘em to the ol’ blog.

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Lichtenberg Figures

Lichtenberg Figures are branching electric discharges (or electrical trees) that are sometimes preserved on the surface or the interior of a solid dielectric. They are named after the German physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, who originally discovered and studied them.

The negatively electrified sulfur is seen to attach itself to the positively electrified parts of the plate, and the positively electrified red lead to the negatively electrified parts. In addition to the distribution of color thereby produced, there is a marked difference in the form of the figure, according to the polarity of the electrical charge that was applied to the plate. If the charge was positive, a widely extending patch is seen on the plate, consisting of a dense nucleus, from which branches radiate in all directions; if negative, the patch is much smaller and has a sharp circular boundary entirely devoid of branches.

Home!

Not nearly as nice a drive home today as it was down yesterday. For one thing, it was raining. Sure, that's pretty normal in the northwest, but for the first 40 or 50 miles it was serious rain. With cloud sections that reminded both Paige and me of skies we saw on our big road trip this past summer. Totally expected lightning to start striking around us, but it never came. Instead, big rain came. Probably heaviest between Skamania Lodge and Vancouver, and decreasing as we went north. Still, it was enough to slow us down a bit.

Fortunately it didn't slow us down so much that we got caught up in Seahawks traffic. Also good was that the game was tight right up to the end so the majority of those in attendance didn't leave early. Unfortunately the wrong team won, but that seems to be par for the course this season...Sigh.

Skamaniac

You know what's nice? Driving with no traffic, that's what. And there isn't really any traffic between Seattle and Vancouver if you leave at 7:15 in the morning and it's a sunny dry day. So today's drive to Skamania Lodge in the Gorge took just about 4 hours, where last week's drive to Salem (roughly the same distance) took more like 5 or 5 1/2 hours.

In fact, the only problem with the drive was that a) it was early and I slept like crap last night, and b) it was sunny as hell and at a low enough angle that the visor only just blocked it. I know, such huge problems to have.

Now, why are we here? Because it's Paige's mom's 70th birthday. And back when she turned 60 the father-in-law threw a surprise party for her here. So now we're back for the 70th, and with a few exceptions it's going quite nicely. Got here wicked early - like 10:45 or so - but they had a room ready for us so we could check in. After lunch in the bar (a reasonable hamburger, although as always overcooked) the father-in-law, brother-in-law and I played 9 holes of golf (I played as poorly as always, but ended the day two balls up thanks to other people not looking closely enough). While we were off golfing the ladies and the kids went to the pool, soaked in the hot tub and went for a walk.

After a brief adjournment we met in the lobby to go to dinner. Since we didn't have a reservation at the fancy restaurant at the Lodge, we decided to head over to the Oregon side of the river and go to somewhere called "Charburger" in Cascade Locks. Holy shit. I don't know the history of this restaurant, but it smacked of old-school roadside attraction, so probably 40s or 50s. It was filled with faux Western kitch, complete with disintigrating buffalo hide on the wall and fake Indians (meaning plastic or carved out of wood, not white dudes in costumes) sitting in a booth. But best of all, it was cafeteria style. Last time Paige and I ate in a cafeteria restaurant was on our first anniversary (long story short, jet lag plus massive hangover plus fried chicken breakfast equals bad day for all) and this one, while not in the South, wasn't any better. Maybe a slice of the pie might have saved it, but I doubt it. Grand total for two orders of chicken strips, one order of fish and chips, and a medium diet coke: $32. Oh, the dinners came with fries or a baked potato and a small salad bar plate, but still. It was a $20 meal tops. I'm guessing we were paying for the skin and fake Indians.

Anyhow, after that gourmet feast we headed back to the lodge for a variety of Trader Joe's cookies and a few rounds of Bannagrams it was back to the room to blorg and watch Adult Swim. At 9:00 at night. Must be an East Coast feed...

What's up with the every-other-day thing?

Man, you'd think I was super busy or something. But clearly I'm not, and maybe that's the problem.

Meant to post something meaningful on Wednesday night, then got caught up in back-to-back episodes of "Ultimate Fighter" and didn't write anything (should have, though, 'cause that punk-ass Junie finally got his ass kicked).

Meant to write something meaningful yesterday, 'cause I went to see "The Wizard of Oz" at the Seattle Children's Theater with the daughter's class, but got distracted by something else and didn't (in a word, it was good. Much like the movie, only as a play instead of a movie. Which means no popcorn, and no Burt Lahr.)

Probably won't write anything meaningful tomorrow either, 'cause we'll be out of town. Although the place we're going does have WiFi, so there's a chance...slim, but a chance.

This is news?

So I'm reading "Best of the Web Today" from the Wall Street Journal and I see this headline: "Boys Caught Snickering at Bathroom Graffiti". And I thought, "this is news?"

The rainbow umbrella

Went to the office today to pick up my severance package, and this was the photo in the elevator. I'm assuming that the guy whose job it is to post cute photos in the elevator also got notice today (although he or she is probably "transitional" and so gets to hang out longer...that or a contractor), but I'm not exactly sure what the message is. Is it "it's raining and your rainbow parachute is really just an umbrella"? Or "it's raining, and while you don't have a full roof over your head we're giving you a golf umbrella"? Or is it "it's raining, but look! Pretty rainbow umbrella!"

What? WHAT???

Oh my God. I think my ears will still be ringing on Thursday. Possibly Friday. Why, you ask? And why is the Sunday post coming in at 12:48 on Monday morning? Because, thanks to some friends from High School, I can now say I've seen AC/DC live. And goddamn those boys are loud.

Not sure if the volume was because they're deaf after all these years, or if they were covering up for aging voices and slowing guitar fingers, but hoo...even through my fancy-pants ear plugs that I wear when I play drums it was mind-numbingly loud. Good, and entertaining, but loud.

So a few impressions:

1. The AC/DC audience spans all generations. Well, all generations between ages, oh, 55 and 7. Didn't see any 80-year-olds there, but there were definitely some people who have clearly been fans since the early '70s.
2. While there were some hot girls in the audience, when the cameras panned the audience and put pictures of chicks singing up on the jumbo-trons, it was almost always women of a certain age, shall we say. I wondered at this, and then realized that they were showing women down by the stage, where the ticket prices were highest. And let's face it, 21-year-old Hottie McHott probably can't afford $350 for a concert.
3. When everyone in the audience knows the words to most of your songs, it doesn't matter how much the vocal track is drowned out by everything else, 'cause they'll just sing it in their heads.
4. No matter how old you are, if you're a rock star and have been doing it for 35 years people will scream when you take off your shirt.
   
5. When you sit on the side of the arena the speaker stack hung from the ceiling blocks out much of the 50' inflatable woman.
6. If you've got a song called "For Those About To Rock..." you probably shouldn't play it as the last song of the encore. Because by that point we've already been rocked, and are in fact about to go home. Thanks for the salutes, though!
7. People you went to High School with but didn't generally hang out with are a lot funnier when they're shitfaced drunk and you're not. Then again, most people are.
   

Weird November weather

Got home from Oregon to find it colder inside the house than outside. What's up with that?

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Ah, the bloat

So as I mentioned yesterday, the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner was delayed a day so the brother-in-law could deep-fry the sucker. And deep-fry it he did. So fine...if you've never sampled the fried turkey thing, you should. Tender, moist, not at all greasy, just plain delicious. Add to that the standard trimmings (squash, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, rolls, stuffing, and some Godawful Brussels Sprout dish that, in my mind, was a waste of perfectly good bacon) and now I'm 5 pounds heavier and nursing a turkey baby. So basically a day behind the rest of you.

Hmm...I'm feeling slightly less distended, so it must be time for some pie!

Happy porky day!

'cause Pork is what we had for dinner. Sure, sounds un-American and all, but that's how we Chickens roll. At least that's how we roll this year...

See, it's like this: like most married couples, every year we try to figure out where to spend each big-name holiday. Originally it was Thanksgiving with the in-laws and Christmas with my folks, then we started fudging that a bit, and a couple years we decided we didn't want to deal at all and just holed up at home and pretended we weren't there. Anyhow, this year Christmas is up in the air, but Thanksgiving was at the in-laws in Oregon.

Now, this opens up two cans of worms. Can #1 is titled "traffic". Which, as you likely know, blows goat. Especially on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. So we traditionally drive down on Thanksgiving morning, figuring most people will already be where they're going. Well, apparently other people are figuring out this little trick, 'cause the roads were anything but empty.

That said, things were moving along just fine until we hit Tumwater (or maybe a bit south of there), where we dropped from a nice round 70 mph to about 20. And we kept it in the 10 to 20 range for a good 10 miles or more, which seriously ate in to our schedule. See, we'd planned to be at the in-laws house in time for the kickoff of the Seahawks game, so we could watch them being the sacrificial Thanksgiving Turkeys for the Cowboys. Oh, and we were going to eat lunch there too. Well, we missed kickoff by about 20 minutes, and missed lunch by an hour or so. And if you've ever traveled in a car with two hungry kids and two hungry parents you know what fun THAT can be!

Anyhow, let's get back to the menu. Why no turkey, you ask? That brings us to part 2 of the equation: the brother-in-law. His family are far more holiday-oriented than either mine or Paige's, so they win. Which means they get Thanksgiving. And since we still want to see him, Val and the niece, we just put off our big turkey fest until Friday so everyone can be together. Which also works nicely since he's the guy cooking the thing now that he's got the fancy-pants deep-fat fryer (or is that deep oil? Whatever). So tonight, in lieu of turkey, we had pork. Which was delightful, but not quite the same. Then again, the fried bird tomorrow will no doubt be well worth the wait, and will be a fine reward for braving the Black Friday crowds!

A not completely unproductive day

Actually managed to get some stuff done today. Retouched more pictures from the WFTDA National Championship tournament...Man, I need to make a huge note that says "don't push to 400 ASA on the camera, 'cause it looks like ass". Then I need to read that note and remember it every time I think "hey, if I boost to 400 ASA then I'll get more light..." The shots at 200 ASA and 1/200 of a second look way better than those at 400 ASA and 1/250th.

Then I need to write another note that says "learn how to use the freaking camera". And stick that with the first note. And then add a third note that says "maybe if you had the right flash these things would all look better..."

Anyhow, once I'm done with the retouch I'll post links. In the mean time, if you want far better shots, just search Flickr for "2008 roller derby nationals" and you'll find plenty.

Man, these hours are killing me!

Another tough day at work today. First, I got up at like 5:15. Jesus that's hard when you're out of practice. Then it was off downtown to meet my new dentist and find out if I could milk some of the excess funds in my healthcare FSA replacing fillings. Turns out they don't need replacing, so I'm out of luck there, but on the positive side I got to see the inside of the Seattle Building, a great example of Art Deco architecture featuring wicked cool elevators (and steam heat!).

After that I headed over to the office, sat around shooting the breeze and surfing the Internets for a few hours, then took off at noon so I could pick Maya up from school.

Grueling, I tell you!

What the hell am I doing wrong?

OK, so thanks to Frogma I found these little rating widget thingies. And I'm OK with the reading level one...Junior High is probably about right, 'cause I don't use big words. They take too much time to type.

But what's up with this?

G? Damn! I've got to start dropping more f-bombs in here, apparently. Or at least use "shit" once in a while to get this up to a PG-13 or my junior high readers won't be interested. Tween pop culture references would probably help too...sentences like "Holy shit, it's Miley Cyrus and the motherfucking Jonas Brothers!"

But possibly more interesting is the "Typealizer" review, where the site as a whole apparently pans out to ESFP, presumably on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator scale. Which is weird, 'cause the last time I took the MBTI I tested out as an ENTP, with a heavy leaning toward introversion. Then again, that was 10 years ago, so maybe I've changed. Or I just write differently than I test. Or something. Anyhow, at least I get a cool graphic and description out of the deal:

ESFP - The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

Awwwwww yeahhhh....chick with a big fizzy drink and boots leaning on a bar. That's totally me!

It's not supposed to be this way

Since time immemorial (or at least the late '70s) the Seattle football scene has been one of balance: In years when the Huskies were bad the Seahawks were good, and vice versa. Many years they were both OK, but there were periods (the early '90s, for example) where the Huskies reveled in glory while the 'Hawks stunk up the town. And there were periods (the mid-2000s, for example) where the Huskies blew while the 'Hawks flew.

But apparently the football Gods are angry. Or the financial / credit / housing crisis threw things out of whack. Or the pumpkin crop was bad. Whatever the reason, we are in a huge Football shithole. On Saturday the Huskies lost the Apple Cup in the second overtime on a field goal, all because their kicker couldn't hit a relatively short kick from the hash mark. That took them to 0 and 11, one loss away from a perfect season. Today the Seahawks lost to the Redskins in a game they darn well could have won, all because Matt Hasselbeck couldn't hit his receivers and threw two key interceptions. That takes the 'Hawks to 2 and 9 and just about mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.

The only light in the tunnel for the 'Hawks is that if they go 0-fer the rest of the season they'll get a nice high draft pick. The only light in the tunnel for the Huskies is that they'll...um...hmm. Not sure what the light is there. They'll have a new coach, sure, but they'll have the same players. I guess this will let us learn just how much influence the head coach actually has on college football, and that could be good. The Seahawks will have a new coach next year too, as well as (we can only hope) a bunch of new players, and hopefully they'll start winning again.

But in the mean time, it's going to be a long December.

Behold the power of yoga!

My Mom's been doing yoga since the 70s, if not earlier. As far as I know she's not a yoga master, or a tantric whatever, but it has helped keep her active and flexible in her later years. I personally haven't done yoga, mainly because I'm lazy. But now I have another reason to avoid it: "It is inappropriate. It can destroy the faith of a Muslim." So says Abdul Shukor Husin, chairman of the The National Fatwa Council of Malasia in this story from CNN. Which I guess explains why Mom never converted. That and her latent Unitarianism, feminism, and general liberalism...

Boy, I'm getting lazy!

It's clearly my hyper-strenuous work schedule of getting up at 8, walking the kids to school, sitting on the couch doing e-mail, walking the kids home from school, then sitting on the couch some more that's kept me from blogging the last few days. Something about not having a firm wake-up call makes me more lazy in the evening, so I stay up later and, apparently, forget to blog.

So here's a recap of the last few days: Oh, wait, I already did that above! Well, a few more details...

Monday was Maya's parent-teacher conference, which went well. Apparently our daughter, who loves nothing more than yelling at us, is a delight in the classroom and gets the other kids to cooperate.

Tuesday I went in to work, where I did basically what I'm now doing at home, only without Facebook or Twitter.

Wednesday I got up, did NOT walk the kids to school (Paige had to take drive and get coffee for staff appreciation day), watched some DVR'd TV, walked the kids home from school, and that was pretty much it.

Yesterday I got up, didn't walk to school (it was pouring and I was feeling lazy), watched some DVR'd TV, did some e-mails, put the ski rack on the car, picked up the boy from school, drove over to a friend's house where the girl was having a playdate, then headed to Joe's Outdoor to pick up a pair of rental skis for the girl and to drop off my skis and the boy's for waxing and (in his case) binding adjustments.

And today it was more walking: walked them to school, then walked over to the store to get some half and half, then to Loewe's to get some light bulbs, then home. The afternoon I drove, though, 'cause we needed stuff from Costco. And while I could walk to Costco, it would take all day to get there and back and I don't really feel like carrying 72 cans of diet coke on my back.

OK, so now I'm back on track. Whew!