Friday, October 26, 2007

Best Drinking Stories Ever

Okay, so we can't top these stories, but my brothers and I are no slouches!

I've partied with a few animals over the years (human and not), but Elephants? My favorite quote:

"No wonder they don't sell beer at the circus. Apparently, elephants like to get wasted. In fact, an outpost of the Indian army in the jungle region of Bagdogra has been under attack ever since a local herd of elephants raided the base in search of food and discovered the soldiers' entire winter rations of rum.

Since then, the pachyderms have regularly raided the base for a drink and have smashed down all defenses put up by the army, including electrified fences and firewalls."

Scott Adams of Dilbert fame has a similar thought.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

DVR, Ladders and Meghan

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while.

We've had a DirecTv DVR for a couple of years now, but since our house is 10 years old, only one cable was run to where the TV is.

So, while I wanted to watch educational shows or football or Deb wanted to watch something, we always had to fight with the stuff the girls wanted. We also had the Chris vs. Deb conflicts on many nights.

I finally talked to Roger about what to do and borrowed his tools for crimping the cable ends. Then I ran 100' of cable from the satellite, up the side of the house into the attic, back down the other side of the house and finally into the DVR.

We now have 2 cables running in, so we can watch one show and record another, or just record 2 shows. We still have tons of crap the girls like, but I don't notice what they are recording until the disk is full ;-)

So what does this have to do with Meghan? She was my helper, standing at the bottom of the ladder as I climbed up and down. She asked me what it was like to climb a ladder, so I let her go up to the roof above the garage.

Yes, Mom this is safer than the wooden ladders that Dad had. For those who remember climbing 3 stories on a shaking 400+ lb wooden ladder, aluminum is you friend!

To recap:
- I did it without 1 trip to Lowes or Home Depot
- I did it without Meghan asking if she needs to call 911
- Other than borrowing the tools, I didn't need Roger's help

I did that!

No, this isn't about Christopher.

We had a little problem with the oven the other night, namely the bottom element catching on fire and burning long after the oven was off. So I removed the element and sent Deb to get a replacement yesterday. Despite her trying to get the parts people to say buying a new oven, with double ovens, would be cheaper to buy, she came back with the element.

The fire was so bad one of the connectors from the element to the wiring was melted together. So I went and bought a replacement at Lowes. I then fixed the oven and tested it. Less than 30 minutes total time.

So why is this worthy of a blog posting? Well:
1. Usually things like this turn into 2 day affairs with lots of trips to Lowes and curses
2. Meghan only once asked if she needed to call 911 (but did ask Deb what she should say if she had to)
3. Not once did Meghan say 'Just call Roger'.
4. I actually fixed something instead of buying a replacement

No, we won't fix the TV when it finally dies. Plasma baby!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Led Zeppelin part 2

C: but honey, it's only $99 now

D:

C: Yes, I'll still need an iPod.

D:

C: (sigh)

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Save Second Base!

Serious, but fun.

If you don't get it, think of high school boys. First base is a kiss ...

Yes, they are banning them in high schools all over the place.

Led Zeppelin goes digital

The following is a hypothetical conversation between Deb and I. Her side is redacted to protect her reputation as a supportive wife:

C: Honey, I need $200 in iTunes gift cards for Christmas
D:
C: Well, the Led Zeppelin Catalog is now available digitally
D:
C:Yes, I have all the songs on CD but
D:
C: Yes, I have all the songs on vinyl
D:
C: Yes, and cassette, but
D:
C: Well, yes I could rip the CDs to the computer, but these new versions are 'remastered'.
D:
C: No, I don't have an iPod, but maybe you could get me one for Christmas?
D:
C: Um, okay, nevermind.

Chris

We have a teenager!

Meghan's 13th birthday was last week, so we officially have a teenager. We had the attitude a year or so ago, but we have the whole package now.

Seeing how she is going to be a 'challenge' for the next 7 years, we decided to 'mess' with her on her birthday. (FYI, 'mess' is so 80's. The term now would be 'jack with her'. But I'm old.)

First, we started a month or so ago asking about bringing cookies or cupcakes in at lunch. She kept pointing out that no one does that. On Monday, I asked her again what time she goes to lunch and she ignored me. Repeatedly.

On Tuesday morning, Deb asked her again and Meghan yelled at her that no one does that.

As Deb drove Meghan to school Meghan missed the sign in the yard (go to the Flickr site to see it).

Then Deb went and bought a single black/white cookie and put it in a bag with a 'happy birthday' napkin and brought it to school. After a little back and forth with the office people, they agreed to call Meghan to the office before lunch. Deb was a chicken and took off before Meghan came down ;-)

Meghan still hasn't told us what she thought when they called her down or what her reaction was when she saw one cookie.

I'm sure Meghan will try to get us back for the next 7 years, but at least we got the first shot in!

Saturday, October 13, 2007

It is good to be a boy - part 1

So, last night was Meghan's 13 birthday party. I had 8 girls + Meghan in the house and boy did they talk a lot.

I had Christopher ready for bed, but he managed to wet-through his clothes while he was eating her cake. So I started changing him, but didn't have anything to put him in. Deb went to get him something, so I just left him to 'air out'. We were in another room and all the girls were in the kitchen.

As has become typical with Christopher, I let me hand off him for a second and he jumped up and ran away. With the boys hanging out. He ran into the kitchen and you could hear the girls screetching. Most of them just laughed (those with younger siblings) but several did the whole 'eww' and 'gross'. I caught up to him and brought him back into the other room, but I was laughing so hard I almost cried.

Meghan's 13th Birthday Party

Well, we survived Meghan's 13th birthday sleepover party. 8 girls ages 12 to 14, all screaming, talking, talking, singing, talking. And talking.

We met 3 of Meghan's friends from school and the usual crowd was here.

They stayed up way too late as usual and weren't very lady-like in the morning.

I was called 'dude' by one of them twice. Called 'sir' by another one that I've known since she as 3 who usually calls me 'mr. chris'.

I was 'duh'd' 4 or 5 times as well. Must be the age.

Did I mention they talked a lot?

Check out the Flickr site (look on the right for some pictures.)

Friday, October 12, 2007

"'We went for a ride, daddy,"

No, this was not my son. He's only 20 months.

But he will get one of those Mustangs for this 3rd birthday.

Cops Pull Over Boy, 3, Driving Along Highway in Toy Mustang GT

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

New pictures are up!

Click on the the link on the right for our Flickr page to see some new pictures.

More to come as we get around to weeding out the good ones!

New Niece!

My brother John and his wife Katharine are the proud parents of a new baby girl!

Joanna Katharine was born on Saturday. For details, go here:

http://katharineandjohn.blogspot.com/

Sunday, October 07, 2007

High School Football, Southern Style

So I took my daughters to their first high school football game Friday night. Meghan is in middle school and Courtney is in elementary, but Courtney's school's Chorus was singing the national anthem so they wanted to go.

Wow, what a difference 20 years makes. The last High School football game I went to was probably a Thanksgiving game when I was in college. When I was at Immaculate (http://www.immaculatehs.org/) we were lucky to field 40 or so kids. The school we went to (which isn't where Meghan will go, we've already been rezoned) must have had over 100. (Here is the link to Kennesaw Mountain: http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/~kennesawmountain/)

Immaculate had 12 or so Cheerleaders, these guys had 20+ on each SIDE of the bleachers. They must have had 50+ total. Both schools also had marching bands. Other than college I don't think I'd seen marching bands at a football game. It was interesting to see them.

Strangely enough, both Immaculate and KMHS mascot is the Mustang.

Did I mention it was in the low 80's with a little bit of humidity? It certainly makes football different when it isn't freezing.

The game was pretty much the same. Some mistakes, some great tackles and runs. Sitting in the stands looking at all the parents, I had flashbacks to being in high school. I could see the equivalent of every parent of one of my friends or teammates there. Funny thing, most were around my age and many of them are our friends!

It was the homecoming for KMHS so they did the queen crowning etc. My daughters were kind of interested in the gowns and procession.

We left at the end of the third quarter. Unfortunately, they weren't into the game and the novelty had worn off. Maybe we'll stay later next time.

Chris

Getting back into blogging

So it has been a few years since I updated the blog. Kids, work etc. got in the way.

The reason I've started again is a received an unexpected (but certainly not unwelcome!) email from a college friend Laryssa. I don't think I'd see her in over 13 years. At the bottom of her email was a link to her blog, so I went and took a look at what she's been up to. (If you're interested, her blog is at: http://ryssee.blogspot.com/) I think that is an interesting way to let people know what is going on, so I'll try it again.

Also, as the kids get older, we have more things that people who know us might be interested in.

There will be a flurry of posts in the next couple of hours, but I promise I'll keep up with the blog!

Chris