Happy Birthday Naomi!
You are 28 months old today and you like to play dress-up. Something about that outfit looks familiar…
Now, the Stack is Complete
|
Astro City Special: Beautie Outstanding. The character always seemed like a single-panel joke in earlier Astro City stories, but Kurt Busiek had bigger plans. He takes a sci-fi standard “Little Robot Lost” story and forges a knife-edged tale of a little girl belittled and abandoned by her father. No, Beautie isn’t that little girl. |
|
The Foundation #2 The world-weary veteran takes on one last mission to train a raw recruit. The setup is familiar, but the novelty is the philosophical nature of the vet’s weariness and his rather practical approach to interpreting Nostradamus’ prophecies. Sometimes a rock isn’t a metaphor – it’s just something heavy and useful. Intriguing. |
|
North Wind #2 During the new ice age, the Cycle is the predominant philosophy. The elder skinrunner warns the grown-up Pak not to take the wrong place in the Cycle by killing for revenge. I knew vengeance would be a theme, but I didn’t expect Pak to grow up before he sought it. |
|
Tangent Comics TPB #2 Collects the final six issues of the first Tangent year, and adds the Batman story from Year Two. The Joker, Nightwing and Doom Patrol issues are the strongest, but the rest are pretty weak – as if the effort to invent new characters with old names was a strain. Uncomplicated superheroics. |
Thank You, Judge Downs
My children’s daycare wasn’t involved in this case, but the staff is certainly elated by the news.
[From a press release distributed by the plaintiff's law firm]
MONTREAL, Feb. 26 /CNW Telbec/ – In a judgment rendered yesterday, the Honourable Judge Kevin Downs of the Superior Court agreed with six private day care centres that had asked that the additional fees charged by them be recognized as legal.
“We are pleased with the decision. In his ruling, the judge concludes that the operating methods of the daycares are valid, legal and in compliance with the Educational Childcare Act and the Reduced Contribution Regulation. The judgment recognizes the existing principle of $7-a-day day care and allows parents to agree with the day cares for the provision of additional services.” stated Ronald H. Levy, an attorney with the firm of De Grandpre Chait who represented the plaintiffs.
The six day care centers initiated legal proceedings in the fall of 2006 after the Government of Quebec threatened to cut the subsidy of the daycares on the ground that they were not complying with governmental guidelines. The proceedings were taken with the goal of preserving freedom of choice for parents of children in daycares. The case was heard from January 21 to 29, 2008, and the judgment rendered supports the position of the six day care centres.
“We are very proud of the fact that the Honourable Judge Downs took the work-life balance principle and the right of parents to make choices into consideration in this judgment. This is a true victory for parents and the children,” concluded Ronald H. Levy.
Link: CJAD news article CBC News article (expands the discussion to include hours of operation. Public daycares open from 6 to 4, which is useless for most families)
Assuming the government doesn’t appeal, this means that our daycare can continue to charge for activity fees, and the children can continue to receive exemplary enrichment activities such as the weekly music programme and the children’s theatre.
Thank you, Judge Downs, for a sensible decision that grants Ben and Naomi more respect than the provincial government would afford them (if they’d just give the semi-private daycares the same per-child subsidy that they give fully public daycares, there would be no need for extra fees).
Update: The government plans to appeal the ruling. Here’s hoping they lose. Badly.
We’re Going to Need a Bigger Cake…
…because 35 candles take up a lot of room!
I woke up to a wiggly baby girl, Super Mario Galaxy, The Bourne Ultimatum, a hand-delivered hand-addressed card from Ben, and the most delightfully squamous crocheted Cthulhu from Dina.
That’s a great way to start the day. Squee!
Three-Game Night Results
|
Carcassonne: The City, by Klaus-Jurgen Wrede Until further notice, this is my favourite version of Carcassonne. After thirty tiles are placed, players start placing wall segments around the growing city board every time somebody scores points. The walls close off features and cut off expansions, accelerating the pace and adding tension to the game. Outstanding gameplay. |
|
Inn-Fighting, by Rob Heinsoo A quick-playing dice and card game about a fight in a stereotypical fantasy bar – roll punches to attack left, chairs to attack right, or tankards to heal. A fun design marred by an over-simplified rulebook that hides important information on scoring, targeting and turn sequences. Hey, it features drunk beholders! |
|
Rocketville, by Richard Garfield A lighter-than-air bidding game with Futurama-style humour and art. Each player is a mayoral candidate trying to control the districts of Rocketville. Each turn, players make secret bids to control a square on the grid and gain popularity points, secret robot instructions and public endorsements. The Campaign Promises are funny. |
Sign Your Name
Here’s my answer to the Open Question about writing in books:
I’ve had “Respect your books” drilled into my head from too young an age to take a writing instrument to any of my books. Even in university, when cheap paperbacks were available for just such a purpose, I couldn’t bring myself to mark a passage with pen, pencil or highlighter. I don’t even dog-ear the pages. I keep thinking the some terrible spirit of bibliophile vengeance would come after me.
As soon as I finish reading a book, I write my name and the year on the front page – it’s a final flourish that helps me track my reading patterns. I’ve been doing this since at least 1995, as I discovered while reshelving books from a bookcase that Naomi decided to climb. Nowadays, of course, I write my name and then I write the blog post.
I occasionally write dedications in the books that I give as gifts, but only to family members: Dina, the kids, Scott, and my folks. With family, the dedication personalizes the gift. With friends and acquaintances, I worry that I’ve turned a novel into a really wordy greeting card.
I have a few autographed books around the house. I have a run of autographed Guy Gavriel Kay novels (from the Fionavar Tapestry that really belongs to Dan to The Lord of Emperors, which Dina arranged to have autographed while I was away on a trip), autographed collections from classmates and teachers from my creative writing classes (Connie Rose Barnes and P. Scott Lawrence), and a copy of Making History by Stephen Fry that Ramsay autographed in my name when he met the author in England years ago. (Fry generously gave Ramsay specific permission to read the novel before he gave it to me, which makes for a pretty keen anecdote.)
Nemo III…
…is swimming happily in his new home. Ben thinks he looks swell.
Comics from the Stack
|
Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom, Vol. 4 Contains the first Solar story I ever read (part of the three-issue 1981 revival of the title after a 12-year absence) but it hasn’t aged well. Solar doesn’t need robot sidekicks! The final issues of 1969 were surprisingly good; especially the complex two-issue mirror universe story filled with fake flashbacks. |
|
Pax Romana #1 In an aternate reality where Rome is eternal, the current Pope tells the tale of how the Vatican discovered time travel and sent mercenaries to the past to ensure that neither Church or Rome are divided. The mercenaries had their own plans. More stylish & provocative work from Jonathan Hickman. |
|
Rex Libris #9 Rex loves the sound of his voice as much as he loves retrieving overdue books. This entire issue is a anecdote run wild. Fotunate, the anecdote includes dogma-spouting renegade Soviet officials, animated terracota Chinese solidiers, tank-driving pigs and ventriloquism. I didn’t think it was possible to buy this much crazy. |
Open Question: Book Writing
Here’s the Open Question for February:
“Do you write in your books? Do you write reading notes, random notes, or just your name? Do you have any autographed books? Do you write dedications in the books you give as gifts? You like finding dedications in your books?”
Leave your answers or links in the comments below. I’ll post my answers tomorrow.
Pool’s Closed. Park’s Open.
We were all disappointed to find the swimming pool closed this morning. Rather than return home, we instead drove to another neighborhood park and played for a couple of hours.
Ben climbed all the jungle gym equipment.
Naomi ate snow and practiced her air guitar.
I hollowed out a frozen snow boulder to make a jack-o-boulder.
Dina took pictures of everything.
When we returned home, it was time for lunch and naps all around.