Be The Pigeon

We're currently in Phoenix, and having a great time. The weather is much cooler than normal, something for which we're grateful. Grandpa has a bird that he affectionately refers to as "my brother," though I don't really see any resemblance. The girls have enjoyed scaring the darn thing to the point of needing psychological help. Yesterday afternoon, Amy was going upstairs to change into her swimsuit, when I heard, "Dad, come help! The bird is pecking me! It won't let me upstairs!" Fierce, ferocious, bird. Amy and Kristen have been somewhat nervous and reserved around "Skipper" since we got here. Misha, though, took a liking to him right away and wanted to be his friend. Skipper had other plans. Last night, she was doing something and trying to pick him up when all the taunting of the day (not from her) came back. He pecked her face pretty good. Poor thing. Really hurt her feelings. She says, "I don't want to talk abo...

Today I'm grateful for that phrase. For a couple of years now, my car has very occasionally been a little slow to start. I figured it was the battery, but it always got going and so never was a problem. A couple months ago I loaned the car to a friend and he said it wouldn't start once. I took the battery in and it tested fine. So figured it was just a ghost I'd have to deal with. Then, a few weeks ago, I went to start the car to come home from somewhere, and it wouldn't start. Took the key out and put it back int and all was fine. Ghost was back, but only for a moment. Last night, Jo and I were done with a movie and ready to come home from a date and the car wouldn't start at all. Battery was fine, but it wouldn't turn over at all. Ghost was teasing me now and the novelty was wearing off fast. I called my handy mechanic friend and he told me to tap on the starter. It started right up then. Diagnosis: bad starter. But only 0.5% of the time. Do ...

You know how important it is to be cool. Afterall, it's what we parent-types focu s on most. Just "like" me! Please! :-) OK, so maybe I'm not so concerned about the social circuit. However, I am enjoying one of the new sensations of the web, called Twitter. It's a micro-blogging tool [ wikipedia entry ] where you can send one-liner updates from your IM client, a web page, or even your phone. Whatever's on your mind, you can send a quick update. Check it out at http://twitter.com. This is a great tutorial on how it works. Entertaining. Then, you can subscribe to others' updates so you know what they're up to. You can "follow" people and be notified in whatever way best suits you. You'll see my twitter updates on the left side of this blog. I even found out how to sync it to my facebook page , so the status is all updated together. If you're into blogging, then try it out. It's a fun way to keep more in touch with folk...

The other night at dinner, we were talking about what the kids were doing at school. Amy took a DVD to school to share, and we got onto the subject of what technology at school was like when I was a kid. I explained that we had filmstrips when I was a kid, and tried to explain that they were "pictures projected on the wall with an audio tape that beeped when it was time to move to the next picture." I don't think they got it. Then I explained that on the last day of school when I was in first or second grade, we watched a movie in the gym, and that it was a reel-to-reel projection. We watched Herbie. Amy then asks me how long ago that was and immediately answered her own question by saying something to the effect of "it was in the 1800's." Come on, I'm really not THAT old! Funny how kids assert that anything before their time must have been with the dinosaurs! I don't think I'll even try to explain about the 8mm home movies we watched wit...