Happy Birthday, Naomi!
You are four months old today, and already you’re stealing your momma’s hats!
Birthday Weekend
The kids didn’t really nap after our impromptu lunch on Friday, and had been slowly exhausting Dina for the whole afternoon until I arrived home from work. This meant that there were two possible evening scenarios ahead of me when Dina left with Maggie for yoga: either the kids would continue to fuss and squawk, or they’d fall asleep as soon as the door shut.
They did the latter. After a fine taco dinner where Ben stuffed himself full of tortilla bread, I popped him into a pair of pajamas and he led himself to bed. I held Naomi in my arms, read him a bedtime story, and he didn’t stir from his bed once. He was pooped!
Naomi needed a couple of bottles, but fell asleep in my arms while I watched the Olympics. It was nine o’clock. I could hardly believe my good fortune!
The yoga aficionados returned soon thereafter, Dina made cappuccinos, and we had a good yak. It was a restful evening.
Saturday was a busy day of party preparations. Ben and I ran to the grocery store after breakfast to pick up the necessary food supplies, and then we set out helping Dina tidy the house.
Just before lunch, Scott and my parents arrived for the weekend. This is the first time they’ve all been able to celebrate my birthday with me since they moved to Windsor. The visit is a gift in itself. Now that everyone is in Ottawa, we can expect more frequent visits.
Dina and I spent the afternoon chopping veggies and preparing the goodies while Scott and the folks took care of the kids. Both Ben and Naomi love spending time with their Uncle Scott – Naomi especially, which everyone thinks is cute.
With the party prep finished well before the start of the party, we ordered some pizza and then waited for the doorbell to ring.
It rang and rang: there was a terrific turnout at the party. The usual folks were there, mingling and chatting. There was a roaring fire going in the living room, and everyone mingled between the living room, the dining room and the kitchen.
There were presents, which were all cool and overgenerous (a cookbook, a book on surviving robot uprisings, the Cranium board game, Comic Book Guy’s guide to life, the Batman vs Dracula animated movie, The Office Special (UK version, of course) and a custom DVD), and there was an ice cream cake decorated with a peg-legged frosting pirate. Dina made everyone she could find wear the hat and pose for pictures. How cool is that?
All that partying and noise didn’t bother the kids one bit. Ben fell asleep without any trouble, and we put Naomi in the crib (where she looked tiny for once!) or the duration of the party.
The fun lasted until two in the morning, which is well past our bedtime. At six o’clock on Sunday, we heard the pitter-pat of toddler feet in the hallway. Ben was awake and ready to start his day. If only we could have been so lively.
Scott did his godfatherly/good unclish duty and watched cartoons with Ben while I stumbled around, bleary-eyed, and got ready for breakfast and swimming. I tried to be as quiet as possible so Dina could sleep in.
It was Mom’s turn to sit in the visitor stands during Ben’s swimming lesson. He’s amassed quite the crowd of visitors over the last three months: Dina’s dad, Dina, and now his Grammie. He’s gotten quite used to looking to the stands and waving, which is very cute.
The latest swimming development for Ben is jumping in the water by himself. He’s figured out that he can just jump towards me and that I’ll catch him. He thinks this is hilarious.
There are only two more swimming lessons to go. Then, there’ s a two-week gap before non-YMCA members can register for another session. I think we’ll try putting Ben in with his age group. He know has the right idea about what he’s supposed to do.
After swimming, my folks gathered around and gave me their birthday gifts: a gift certificate, a Johnny Cash CD, a new CD wallet for work, a super-deluxe edition of Snatch (including a custom poker deck!), and the latest DVD version of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which is the only Trek film I want to own on DVD.
(I love this tidbit gleaned from Celluloid Heroes that the film’s director overcame Shatner’s tendency to overact by shooting take after take until Shatner’s performance reflected genuine exhaustion rather than bombast.)
Again, I was hugely spoiled.
Then, alas, Scott, Mom and Dad called for a taxi and headed back to the train station. In nicer weather, they’ll be able to drive back and forth, which means they’ll be able to stay longer. As will we when we make the westbound trip ourselves.
Once the parents left, we ate lunch, and then resumed the usual housework. Dina ran shopping errands and I did the laundry and the dishes. Ben napped without any trouble, and Naomi, who had been eating constantly since she woke up that morning, managed to nap in her swing for an hour or so. I even had time to build the photo album for my birthday party!
We had a quiet dinner and a quieter night. We watched the rebroadcast of the closing ceremonies for the Olympics (I notice that they edited out the casino prankster from the rebroadcast – I caught the interruption in the live broadcast), and watched Grey’s Anatomy.
The weekend ended on a note of comedy.
Before I went to bed, I popped in a new videotape in the VCR to record some more kids’ shows. The VCR promptly shut down before I could finish the timer settings. I turned the VCR back on, and it turned itself back off. I turned the VCR back on and ejected the tape. I heard an unfortunate crinkling sound. I pulled out the tape slowly, expecting to find a horrible torn coil of tape. Instead, I found the crinkled label sheet, which had stuck to the bottom of the tape and was jamming up the works.
This was the first time I’d ever had a paper jam in a VCR!
Monday morning, I awoke to a gurgling baby girl, a kiss from my beautiful wife, and a stack of even more presents: three TV series on DVD (Dead Like Me 2, Clone High and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast 1) and Ultimate Spider-Man for PS2. Ben gave me a big hug and a kiss when I took him out of his crib, and he said “Bye-bye” when I left for work.
Have I mentioned before how lucky and spoiled I am, or how grateful I feel for such wonderful family and friends? I really am, and I really do.
Here’s to another great year!
Why Is All the Cake Gone?
Because everyone enjoyed themselves at my birthday party!
(Click the picture to open the photo album – check out the communal party hat!)
Thanks to everyone who came to the party, or sent their birthday wishes by mail, phone call, email or blog comment. I am an inordinately lucky (and spoiled!) 33-year-old giant kid!
Magnificent in Torino
24 medals and 45 Top-5 finishes overall – both Canadian records of improvement and excellence. Congratulations to our magnificent Canadian Olympians!
GOLD
- Jennifer Heil – Freestyle Skiing – Women’s Moguls
- Duff Gibson – Men’s Skeleton
- Chandra Crawford – Cross-Country Skiing – Women’s Sprint
- Team Canada – Women’s Ice Hockey
- Cindy Klassen – Speed Skating – Women’s 1,500m
- Clara Hughes – Speed Skating – Women’s 5,000m
- Team Canada – Men’s Curling
SILVER
- Beckie Scott and Sara Renner – Cross Country Skiing – Women’s Team Sprint
- Jeff Pain – Men’s Skeleton
- Cindy Klassen – Speed Skating – Women’s 1,000m
- Team Canada – Speed Skating – Men’s Team Pursuit
- Team Canada – Speed Skating – Women’s Team Pursuit
- Pierre Lueders and Lascelles Brown – Men’s Two-man Bobsleigh
- Kristina Groves – Speed Skating – Women’s 1,500m
- Team Canada – Short-Track – Women’s 3,000m Relay
- Francois-Louis Tremblay – Short Track – Men’s 500m
- Team Canada – Short Track – Men’s 5,000m relay
BRONZE
- Cindy Klassen – Speedskating – Women’s 3,000m
- Cindy Klassen – Speedskating – Women’s 5,000m
- Anouk Leblanc-Boucher – Short Track – Women’s 500m
- Jeffrey Buttle – Men’s Figure Skating
- Melissa Hollingsworth-Richards – Women’s Skeleton
- Dominique Maltais – Women’s Snowboard Cross
- Team Canada – Women’s Curling
FOURTH
- Erik Guay – Alpine Skiing – Men’s Super-G
- Kelly VanderBeek – Alpine Skiing – Women’s Super-G
- Francois Bourque – Alpine Skiing – Men’s Giant Slalom
- Helen Upperton and Heather Moyse – Women’s Bobsleigh
- Marc-Andre Moreau – Freestyle Skiing – Men’s Moguls
- Paul Boehm – Men’s Skeleton
- Maelle Ricker – Women’s Snowboard Cross
- Charles Hamelin – Short Track – Men’s 1,500m
- Kalyna Roberge – Short Track – Women’s 500m
- Beckie Scott – Cross Country Skiing – Women’s Sprint
- Pierre Lueders, Ken Kotyk, Morgan Alexander, Lascelles Brown – Four-man Bobsleigh
- Eric Bedard – Short Track – Men’s 500m
- Tania Vicent – Short Track – Women’s 1,000m
FIFTH
- Jasey-Jay Anderson – Men’s Snowboard Cross
- Arne Dankers – Speedskating – Men’s 5,000m
- Kristina Groves – Speedskating – Women’s 1,000m
- Amanda Overland – Short Track – Women’s 1,000m
- Amanda Overland – Short Track – Women’s 1,500m
- Kyle Nissen – Freestyle Skiing – Men’s Aerials
- Joannie Rochette – Women’s Figure Skating
- Genevieve Simard – Alpine Skiing – Women’s Giant Slalom
[list clipped from TSN.ca]
The Inevitability of 6:00 A.M.
No matter how late the adults party, the kids always get up at their usual time.
[yawn]
Great party, though. It was worth it!
Links, Links, Links
More interesting and diverting links to fun stuff:
An independent movie about the process of selling an independent movie. Can be ordered online or downloaded. Sam Rockwell appears:
Nobody Wants Your Film
An overheated, but not terribly off the mark, rant from a Sci-Fi fan:
10 Greatest Sci-Fi Films Never Made [via Transbudda]
Even the outtakes, bloopers and deleted scenes are more interesting than the prequel trilogy:
Star Wars Deleted Scenes and Star Wars Bloopers and Outtakes [via Milk and Cookies]
Make your own Einstein chalkboard scene:
Einstein Chalkboard Generator [via BoingBoing]
Make your own dictionary entry:
Dictionary Entry Generator
A repository of old versions of software. I’m a fan after my searches for Fetch and More:
OldVersions [via Rockasaurus]
Finally, a dedication to Rockasaurus:
Toy Story 2 meets Requiem for a Dream:
Toy Story 2: Requiem [via BoingBoing]
Early Birthday Present
Dina brought the kids to the office, and we all went out for lunch at a nearby food court.
Then we went to toy store and bought Ben his first plastic brontosaurus (he said “dinosaur” for the first time today), a set of wooden threading blocks shaped like household pets (because Ben has decided he loves threading strings through things), and a bird rattle for Naomi.
Afterwards, I brought everyone to the new office space and made introductions.
Ain’t life grand?
Lorem Ipsum Generators
In publishing, layout and graphic design circles, placeholder (or “dummy”) text isn’t nonsense, but an excerpt from an essay by Cicero (the Roman orator of Carthago delinda est fame, among others), written in 45 BC (or BCE, depending on your preferences). This string of Latin text has been used as dummy text since the 1500s, and begins with the famous words “Lorem Ipsum.”
Here’s a sample:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Integer at metus eget odio dignissim sagittis. Pellentesque ut sapien in turpis viverra ultrices. Phasellus aliquam. Vestibulum dapibus mi sit amet dolor. Proin aliquet velit eu lectus. Aliquam erat volutpat. Cras varius nunc vel libero. Sed aliquam pellentesque sapien. Etiam at enim et orci ullamcorper fringilla. Ut hendrerit. Maecenas enim purus, pulvinar pharetra, euismod sit amet, fringilla vitae, quam. Donec nec sapien a lorem ullamcorper placerat. Phasellus justo. Praesent pulvinar. Etiam ullamcorper, lorem ut aliquam nonummy, elit dui sagittis leo, dignissim congue ante odio vitae odio. In in lectus aliquam pede placerat nonummy. Etiam hendrerit purus a lacus.
(Curiously enough, Lorem Ipsum is the baby speech for kids born in Jasper Fforde’s novels. How very literary.)
A casual Googling turned up a couple of useful Lorem Ipsum generators. If you’re in need of dummy text, you can try: www.lipsum.com or www.lorem-ipsum.info.
However, if your tastes in placeholder text do not run to great Roman orators, may I suggest the text generator at malevole.com, where you can easily generate a couple of placeholder paragraphs like these:
Just the good ol’ boys, never meanin’ no harm. Beats all you’ve ever saw, been in trouble with the law since the day they was born. Straight’nin’ the curve, flat’nin’ the hills. Someday the mountain might get ‘em, but the law never will. Makin’ their way, the only way they know how, that’s just a little bit more than the law will allow. Just good ol’ boys, wouldn’t change if they could, fightin’ the system like a true modern day Robin Hood.
Ten years ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem and no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-team.
Timeless prose, never to be forgotten!
How Many Times Can You Say You’re Sorry?
The Montreal Gazette is printed next door to my apartment. Well, not as close as the private high school, but on the other side of the train tracks. I can see the building from my window. Due to the proximity of the plant, I’ve been getting a discount on my subscription.
The Saturday newspaper didn’t arrive by eight o’clock over the weekend, so I phoned the circulation desk and, through the automatic system, logged my complaint. I was given a choice of having the costs of the missing paper refunded, or to receive a new paper.
I chose the new paper. Within an hour or so, a distribution manager from the printing plant drove to my door and handed me a copy of the paper, as well as a complementary copy of Saturyday’s National Post, which isn’t a bad paper on the weekends.
Much later that afternoon, we found another copy of the Saturday Gazette in our mail box. So far, we received three newspapers for the price of one.
The newspaper wasn’t on my doorstep yesterday, so I called to complain again. Again, I chose the new paper. Again, within the hour, I had free copies of the Gazette and the National Post in my hands. When Dina returned home after playgroup, she found another copy of the Gazette in the mailbox.
This morning, the paper was on my doorstep. Along with another copy of yesterday’s paper. That makes four papers for the price of one.
Next time this happen, I’m going to ask for a refund, and see if they’ll credit me with five copies of the paper! [grin]
The Crimson Rivers
Vincent Cassel runs away with this stylish, and occasionally comic, thriller about two cops independently investigating a linked series of crimes which eventually reveal the secret of a secluded university. Jean Reno doesn’t have enough material. The movie is a harsh abbreviation of the novel, but goes great with popcorn.