Tony C’s Blog

Strike that reverse it.

2011-08-22T15:10:00.001-07:00

No new blog has started at tumbler. There's no time or interest for that shit.

tonyc1.tumblr.com

2011-05-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

Blog has started again but moved.

Check it out.

-Me

The End (for awhile)

2010-01-26T20:39:00.000-08:00

I have to finally give in and admit to myself that Tony-C.blogspot.com has reached stopping point. What began Feb 2004 has finally come to an end six years later. Not bad. Although the last year was pretty slow. As noted in my last post I was going to start taking guitar lessons. The lessons are going great and I'm really enjoying it. When ever there is a quite moment, which is not often enough, the first thing I do is reach for my guitar. I can't stop thinking about playing it is giving me a lot of joy and relaxation. It is definitely a better past time than sinking deep into the Internet which was garnering much too much of my time.

To all my loyal followers I'd like to thank you for keeping up and commenting on occasion.

I hope to reignite Tony-C.blogspot.com someday but for now it must be on hiatus.

Thanks!

Thanksgiving.

2009-11-27T12:54:00.000-08:00

I've come to realize that all I really want for my Thanksgiving meal is a huge plate of stuffing smothered in gravy with a small side of mashed potatoes and homemade cranberry sauce. Delicious!

2009-10-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

I was afraid to log on to my blog. I thought maybe I had missed a whole month and I think that would have been a first. This entry just makes it in under the wire. There is actually a lot to write about. My new job and the events leading up to me deciding to take it. Lots of fun and madness with the kids. But I'm not going to write about any of that stuff.

I'm going to start taking guitar lessons. Targeting next week for lesson number one. It was in second grade that I declared to my mother that I wanted to take lessons. She didn't say no but what she did say was "If your are still interested in taking lessons when you are in third grade then you can." To her credit when third grade rolled around she asked me if I was still interested and I said no. This decision has bothered me for my whole life and I'm finally going to do something about it. So I'm taking my tin ear and bad timing to a pro and hoping that with some coaching and a lot of practice he can help to locate the "Guitar Hero" in me. ROCK AND ROLL!

Tamales

2009-09-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

We've had an older kid selling Tamales in our neighborhood this past summer, he's probably 20 years old or so. He's been walking the street with a cooler on wheels selling Tamales for a dollar each or four for $5. My neighbor buys them every time the kid comes around and he highly recommends them. I had conjured up an image of a kid and maybe his mom working hard trying to earn some extra cash. Just today a pretty nice looking Mitsubish Eclipse pulled up to my neighbors house and out jumped this kid hawking his tamales. It kind of ruined the illusion I had created.

Very much the same.

2009-09-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

I'm up early with one of the little guys this morning and I'm noticing that already we are not very different. He like to have his milk first thing in the morning and he's grumpy until he gets it. I like to have my coffee and I'm grumpy until I get it. He's captivated by the auto retractable power cord on the vacuum cleaner. I get it, who wouldn't be.

Burning Man?!?!?

2009-08-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

So apparently the CEO is going to go to Burning Man. Yes if you haven't heard it yet it is true, she's going to be leaving me and the kids behind and going on a solo adventure. I'm excited for her but perhaps more nervous for myself. I keep saying that now I'll know what it is like when I go on business trips. The major differences being that she won't be on business and her accommodations will be a lot less luxurious. There is still a lot to do for her to get ready and there is so little time. At the moment our nights are tied up putting kids to bed and then working on making half a dozen or more Ugly Dolls for The Kid's upcoming Ugly Doll themed birthday party.

Currently life seems to be made up of negative time. I just need to get some simple stuff done like buying some underwear. It seems so trivial but when am I ever out shopping for myself. Ahhh, never. Oh yeah I need socks too. How do we ever get anything done around here. I'm amazed that we can even put dinner on the table most nights. OK I'm starting to exaggerate and ramble but perhaps I'm getting prematurely anxious about the CEO's departure.

Wish us all luck.......

I'm so caught up with all this Burning Man stuff I forgot to mention the most important event of this past week. The Kid broke her arm, well it's not offically broken nor is it offically not broken. They can't seem to tell for sure but she's in a lot of pain and is wearing a half cast that is supported by wrap. The poor little thing. She's actually being a great sport.

Blogging?

2009-08-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

I've been contemplating retiring Tony-C.blogspot.com. I'd like to maybe start a new type of blog. The second after I had that thought I realized that I didn't need to retire this blog I just needed to make a fresh start and start trying something different. Hmmm.... What shall it be? More to come (or not).

Here's one of the reasons I need to reinvigorate my blog:

At this rate I'll hit zero by 2011 at best!

Green thumb.

2009-07-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

I do have to admit that they did look like strange beets but beets is what we planted along with carrots and lettuce. Since carrots and lettuce were growing those other plants had to be beets. I lovingly watered them daily and removed the weeds from the garden so they could grow. Then one day I saw my neighbors beets and they looked nothing like mine. Must be a different variety I thought. Just to be sure I pulled one out. Well it was not a beet at all just a big healthy weed. Some of the healthiest ones must have been well over two feet tall. The first foray into gardening has been interesting...

Brothers.

2009-07-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

I always had heard that some of the worst fights were between brothers. I just didn't expect it to be happening so soon. I left the boys alone for a moment as I tried to setup a movie for the girls, while doing that I heard a thunk and then immediately after came the screaming and crying. I raced up stairs to find the little bear on his knees with a big smile on his face as he happily watched his little brother scream. As I got closer I soon realized that the little guy had a massive fat lip and a small welt on the side of his face. I removed the little bear from the scene and comforted the little guy. As things calmed down I made an inspection of the scene and found a 6 inch long cylindrical wooden block with a small splat of blood on it. Unbelievable.....

And so it begins.

2009-06-10T06:54:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of school for The Kid. The summer officially begins!

I may be just as excited as The Kid. It will be so nice not to be tied to the school hours that impose rigid rise and bed times. Plus, I'm so looking forward to having a break from the mad rush in the morning to get everyone out the door. Most of all I'm looking forward to more time with the family.

Fame.

2009-05-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

In seventh grade I started practicing writing my signature really fast. I was preparing for the day when I'd be signing a lot of autographs. I can even remember the class room I was in when I made the break through where I swooped from the bottom of the letter "t" and came over the top of it and continued down into the letter "h." It was pure magic, and I've been "th"-ing that way ever since.

Online what's it all about.

2009-04-24T23:03:00.000-07:00

I have a blog, a facebook account, a twitter account, a linkedin account, and three email accounts. What's this all about. Why do I need all this stuff and why am I spending so much time online? Although, having been laid off has shown me the power of some of these networking tools, it has been great to reconnect with people and I think I will stay better connected from now on.

No I'm not.

2009-04-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

So it turns out I'm not starting that new job after all. The position was closed prior to me ever starting. That was a bummer. This was the first week of my at home unemployment, sort of. I'm still collecting a paycheck until the end of the month, thank god. I wish I could give myself over the the freedom of being unemployed but I just can't. The CEO is confident I'll have a job by the end of the month. I'm glad to have her on my side, there are often advantages to living with an optimist.

Changes

2009-03-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a new job in a couple of weeks, it's a contract position and should keep us going for at least a few more months and give me some valuable experience in Medical devices. Actually the really big news around here is that my little 4 year old girl learned how to ride a two wheeler! She's amazing and I love her so much.

When is it going to end?

2009-02-19T19:41:00.000-08:00

I can't handle any more poop in my life! Between the dog, and the boys that enough clean up. Then there's the girls with the farting and monopolizing the bathroom when they go number two. The kid could sit on the pot all day long, we literally have to yell at her to get her off. I know it sound gross but I can't wait for the day that the only persons shit I have to worry about is my own.

Ugh....

2009-02-01T07:25:00.000-08:00

The CEO was saying yesterday it was much nicer when she was sitting back with her fancy coffee drink thinking about how bad this recession was becoming, yet not being part of it. Now we are in the masses of those being laid-off it and it stinks. I don't like this sort of stress, the CEO seems to handle it a lot better. Ugh...

Karaoke

2009-01-13T22:27:00.000-08:00

On Sunday night we went out as a family to a great Chinese food restaurant. Not because it was great food, although it was good, but because it was Kid Karaoke night. I have to admit that I was just as excited as the kids because I have come to love Karaoke. I was a bit disappointed on the way to the restaurant when the CEO informed me that it was for kids only. Yet when we arrived I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the parents were welcome to sing. I was able to satisfy my Karaoke needs with two horrible performance (Prett in Pink & Safety Dance). However the kids really stole the show The Kid did a fantastic job singing YMCA and the Z got up the courage to sing Happy Birthday. The Kid must have gotten up and done at least two more songs and when we left she said she had I great time and wanted to make this a weekly outing. That may be more than we can support but we will definitely be back soon. Rock On!

Trapped!! Trapped? Trapped...

2008-12-22T15:56:00.000-08:00

It's not supposed to snow like this, not here. Our drafty old house can't handle this. The furnace has been running non-stop since last Sunday and we still need space heaters to get the chill out. With the furnace on all night and no space heaters on the downstairs drops to 60 degrees. I'm not looking forward to the gas and electric bills, yikes! I'd like to know how many plows this city has, I'd guess five.

I'm here with three of the four. The CEO went out to the store. The CEO is back! Thank God.

X-mas photo complete!

2008-12-16T23:12:00.000-08:00

We just completed the Christmas photo. When you have a perfectionist for a wife it ain't easy, however, it does always come out looking great. Hopefully we'll get the cards in the mail in time to make it before Christmas day, this is not likely.

The Missing Pickle Incident

2008-11-30T19:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took the girls to the park on their bikes. They had a great time riding around and working up a good appetite. We headed on over to a local diner-ish establishment for some grilled cheese sandwiches with fries. When the plates arrived each one came with an nice long 1/4 slice of a pickle. The Kid made it very clear that she was happy to have a nice pickle and she dove into taking a couple big bites. Lunch continued on with the regular Dad and Daughter conversation until The Kid noticed something.

The Kid: "Hey, where's my pickle? Dad, did you eat it?"
Me: "No Honey, I didn't eat your pickle, I saw you starting to devour it right away you probably finished it already."
The Kid: "No I didn't! I took two bites and put it right back on my plate"
Me: "Nobody here ate your Pickle. Z have you seen The Kid's pickle"
Z: "It's not in my tummy. Maybe it's on the floor."

We all looked on the floor but to no avail. I was convinced that The Kid had so swiftly eaten her own pickle that she just forgot. Lunch continued on without another incident and we occasionally joked that this lunch would always be remembered for the missing pickle incident. As lunch came to an end I made mention of the pickle one last time and thats when Z felt the need to share.

Z: "I ate the pickle, it's in my tummy. I reached over and I sneaked it away!"
Me: "Really Z, you ate the pickle."
Z: "No."
Me: "Oh, so you didn't eat it"
Z: "I wanted it, it's in my tummy."
Me: "So you did eat the pickle."
Z: "I ate-ed it."

Mystery solved. Later the next day when retelling the story with Z present she added that she "sneaked it away and ate-ed it under the table." It's kind of funny that her presence under the table is such a regular occurrence that I didn't even think twice about it.

Pie again.

2008-11-27T00:05:00.000-08:00

Made another apple pie, I did not put it in the oven because I finished it so late (10:45 pm). Now it is 12:06 am and my pie could have been done and getting to bed is still probably about 30 min. away. There are just too many hours to the day which I'm not utilizing for sleep.

Apple Pie and freedom.

2008-11-21T22:55:00.000-08:00

I'm making up some crusts right now for my Thanksgiving apple pies. At the moment I'm waiting for the butter to chill. Really cold butter definitely makes it easier to get to the "grainy" consistency Martha is calling for.

Actually the big news is that I'm posting this from my re-configured PC running on Ubuntu. Not that anyone really cares. But I find it interesting. Anyhow, after a couple hours of fiddling around I've finally got the wireless connection working. What I really find cool is that there are a bunch of people out there who in their free time have developed a operating system that has all the basics: word processing, spread sheets, photo editor etc...and it is all freeware. I'm Microsoft free, for free.

Ubuntu

2008-11-14T23:26:00.000-08:00

My new pet project (like I have time for something like this). I'm trying to install Ubuntu (a Linux operating system) on my old laptop. Why? Just another attempt to ditch Bill Gates. So far the install went well but I can't get online!

Juggling.

2008-10-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

The CEO is in the shower and I've got the little guy in my arms, he doesn't like to sleep alone so putting him down is not easy. The Z is still up, it's 10:15pm and she's hungry. I'm trying to negotiate with her quietly so as not to wake the guy in my arms or the one sleeping in the room across the hall from her. We finally agree that she can have some cheese. I manage to open the fridge, the drawer containing the cheese, the zip lock bag with the block o' cheese and cut three wedges of cheese for her, all with a baby dangling happily from my other arm. I get her the cheese and she's happy. Now the big guy is starting to stir, at this point I have to alert the CEO who has just come out of the shower. I manage to put the little guy down (big victory) and I go in and comfort his brother. The CEO arrives with the precious milk and all is well. Now I just have to fold my laundry, take the dog out and get ready for bed. It's shaping up to be a typical night and looking like another 11:30+ bedtime.

PS: Don't forget to vote (upper right--->)

When one of us gets sick we all suffer.

2008-10-14T13:04:00.000-07:00

The CEO is deathly ill with strep throat (OUCH!) and I'm taking time off from work to manage the gang. This is hard work. I knew it was hard being home with the kids but this was a good reminder. It is no wonder that by the time the late after noon rolls around she has no interest in making dinner. The only thing I felt like doing by then is either sleeping or shooting myself in the head.

Broken record.

2008-09-10T05:40:00.000-07:00

I feel that I have to write about the lack of sleep we are getting in this house. However, it seems that is what I write about most and I may be starting to sound like a broken record. The problem is when you're not getting enough sleep that is all you can think about.

My time

2008-09-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

It used to be that when I got up early and the house was still, I'd post a blog then read some news and have a cuppa joe. I've given up on a lot of that. Now I just read the news. Without even knowing it I've modified my routine so as to accomplish what is of the most importance first.

Today I have The Big Guy sitting with me while I blog. I've already read a little new in peace.

2008-08-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

Does anyone still check out my blog? Have my posts become too few and far between? I wonder if the first person to discover cheese found it in the folds of an infants neck?

Time?

2008-07-13T00:53:00.000-07:00

You would think with the CEO and crew out of town I'd have plenty of time to blog and do all my house projects. Aucontrair my friends. I was foolish enough to think I could fit 6 year of back logged projects into two weeks. Well, I can't. Another reason why a lot of things don't get done around here is because it takes a lot of time and projects are often disruptive to the living arrangements. The countdown is on, I now have less than one week to start and finish many things. I must re-prioritize!

Twitter

2008-06-18T22:02:00.000-07:00

OK so maybe this twitter thing is kind of cool but only because I can post to Twitter using Jott. It's a must. All you do is setup your free Jott account and activate the Twitter tool. Then you call the toll free number from your cell phone and leave a voice mail which is then converted to text and posted to your Twitter account within 5min. Now that's kind of cool. I've gotta agree w/SL Facebook is over you gotta Twitter. Man do I sound like a nerd.

My web spots....

2008-06-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

We were at a friends house on Sunday, the CEO and I basically slept with our eyes open the whole time. The company was great and I do apologize but we were just both so tired, I can't wait 'till these little ones sleep 6 hours or more per night consistently. Anyhow our friend said we need to be on Twitter and that Facebook is over and this got me thinking of where my web hot spots are (minus the obvios ones). Before I list them I have to say that I agree that Facebook is over I was done with it pretty quick, I just don't get it. Also check over on the right side of my blog for my Twitter posts and link, I don't think I get Twitter either. Here's my list:

For internet radio:
www.radioio.com
www.kcrw.org

For MP3 online music players:
www.deezer.com
www.pandora.com
www.hypem.com

For weather:
www.simpleweather.com

Online Tools:
www.jott.com

My old favorite

2008-06-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

The Boston Celtics were my team growing up. I had an affinity for all of the local teams but none as much as the Boston Celtics. I was sure that someday I'd grow up to play for the Celtics and as my mother recently reminded me my father told me I could play for them. I don't remember the day I finally realized that I wasn't that good of a ball player but apparently I was slightly disappointed in my Dad's support. Anyhow, the real point is that the Celtics are on the verge of winning an NBA title and I'm just as excited as if I was 12. This morning I found myself reading the Boston Globe sports page with a huge smile on my face. Go C's!

Life....................

2008-05-23T20:46:00.001-07:00

For some unknown reason it seems that we are expert at keeping sea monkeys alive. Our sea monkey community is rapidly approaching the year and a half mark with no signs of slowing down. It is virtually a self contained ecosystem, I couldn't tell you the last time I fed them maybe 2 months ago. We will often get down to one lone sea monkey and he/she will live for a week or two alone the last surviving member of the clan and then like magic one morning there will be babies swarming all of the water and the community will begin to grow again.

Misc...

2008-05-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I have a total sugar meltdown, today I ate about ten Oreo cookies right after dinner. Actually they were the organic version but what's the difference they aren't healthy. And I just finished reading Michael Pollan's latest book "In Defense of Food" where he advocates eating whole foods and avoiding all things processed. It has change my outlook a little but not enough to prevent a sugar meltdown.

I can't get this song out of my head (Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs):

I've always had a soft spot for Girl Rock Vocalists.

2008-05-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

7:45PM and everyone is sleeping. The CEO is in bed with "The Little Guy" and "The Big Guy" is sleeping in the much overused swing. The kitchen is a mess and I want to clean it up but I'm sure any clanking sound will wake someone. It has been a wild 7 weeks and I'm pretty....damn it here comes someone...The Kid is restless, I don't think she's going to stay in bed. Anyhow, it has been a wild ride with the brood of kids we now have and I'm thinking that this wild ride is going to continue for perhaps the rest of my life. I'm looking forward to it but I haven't quite adjusted. I spoke with someone in work who had six kids and he said it never gets easy but you just end up letting a lot of stuff slide. Sounds about right.

Hi....

2008-04-18T22:37:00.000-07:00

Last time I wrote I was part of a family of four. Now we are a family of six! Yikes. It's been fun, exciting and even scary at times. Right now I'm hoping that we are about 25% through the initial sleepless haze. Four hours that's the big goal, when these boys can sleep for four hours straight then we start to get some of our sanity back.
I'm so tired, I've noticed that my misspelling rate is sky high and that my short term memory is gone and that's pretty amazing considering how bad both of those things were prior to the boys.

Good night......

Come out come out where ever your are...

2008-03-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

We seem to be in a holding pattern. We so desperately want these two little boys to arrive on their own terms and at the right time but we so want the right time to be now. The CEO and I spoke earlier about how until she puts something down in writing it often doesn't happen. She busy at her own keyboard right now. Perhaps she's asking the boys to arrive.

We are so very ready for these little guys to come. I can't wait to meet them and find out who they are.

(We've better settle on some names really quick)

Cookie.

2008-03-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

Does anyone really like Snickerdoodles? In my opinion they are probably the most overrated cookie.

So Soon.

2008-03-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

We are so rapidly closing in on "go time" it's crazy. I know we are going to have two babies in this house very soon yet in someways it still doesn't seem real. We have prepared but not in the manner we did for either kid 1 or 2. We've manage to keep two kids alive for a combined total of 9 years, this gives us some confidence that we will do OK with these new guys.

It seemed like a nice quite morning where I'd be able to write a nice little piece for my blog. But The Kid has decided that she's going to get all up in my space. She's actually behaving very well but is just doing to much space invading. It is all a plot in which she is trying to force me off of the laptop so she can write on hear blog.

Blog Birthday

2008-02-22T23:16:00.000-08:00

Just need to make my regular Feb comment noting the anniversary of my blog. It was way back in 2004 when it started and I'm still keeping it alive. Although as of late the blog has been on life support.

Thanks for all the Shel Silverstein comments. That picture is just so disturbing but what is even worse if you ever listen to him reading one of his books, that's way crazy.

It's getting down to the wire here with the pregnancy we are at 33+ weeks. Slowly making our way into safer waters. We are going to do it! Thanks for all the support.

Head Shots

2008-02-03T20:58:00.001-08:00

Shel Silverstein wrote what in my youth I thought was a wonderful children's book. Now when I read it to my kids I think what a selfish personthe main character is. Yes the tree is wonderful and giving but it seems the man cannot learn from the generosity he just takes and takes. Anyhow the point of this blog is to mention that on the back of The Giving Tree is the most god awful head shot I've ever seen. I mean how did this man ever sell any of these books? When Z saw the back cover she said "scary" and I wholeheartedly agree. Take a look for yourself and tell me what you think.

2008-01-31T22:31:00.000-08:00

We are +30 weeks into the pregnancy and each day I think how could it be possible that she's going to get bigger. I don't think we would have done anything differently had we known more about birthing multiples before implantation but I think someone should have warned us or prepared us better.

We've got a real problem with photo-storage. I think Kodak has a pay service maybe $25 for the whole year and you can have access to downloading and uploading any number of photos onto their service. Maybe it's worth the price. Right now we have three computers all with photos on them. I know I could get an external hard drive but that just seems like another piece of equipment to worry about and for the cost of one of those I could probably buy a couple years of the Kodak service. Any thoughts?

I've got a cold.

2008-01-23T22:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post. Since last time we've had one guest leave (sad to see you go Sis) and another set arrive and depart (sad to see you go M&D) and I've contracted a nasty cough that I'm hoping to get rid of real soon. We've also reached the 30 week mark in the pregnancy of the twins. The end is near. I can't imagine what it's going to be like. It almost feels like it's not going to be real until these guys are in the house.

It's too late for me to be doing this and I'm too sick.

Good night.

Super8-----Yikes!!

2008-01-02T20:47:00.000-08:00

So we drove down to SF for a family vacation over the holidays. It was 16 hours of driving on the way down, four of them painfully slow as we had to put chains to trudge through 100 miles of snow. As soon as we arrived at the hotel at 1 AM things took a much needed turn for the better. Plus I must mention that The Kid and Z traveled like troopers, I was amazed. Anyhow you've probably heard about the trip details from the CEO or I.

What I really wanted to post was some info about our night spent at The Super8. Wow! That was quite a place. We knew that it was a cheap hotel but it seemed to advertise all the right things, heated pool, internet, microwave, refrigerator etc... What they forgot to advertise was the dirty carpeting, old pillows and moldy shower curtain. As I sit here and write about it and think about it I'm embarrassed to say we didn't get up and leave. It was the heated pool that hooked us in, the two little ones love to swim and so we converted my pajama bottoms to swim trunks and took 'em in. A couple days later I asked The Kid what was her favorite hotel (mind you the one in SF was a four star) and she paused and thought for a good five seconds before confidently answering, "the one with the pool." And in the end I guess that is all that really matters is that they felt safe and loved and had fun swimming. However, you'll never find me at a Super8 again.

Deodorant Soap

2007-12-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

Recently the CEO recommended that I start using a deodorant soap. She would often complain that I smelled like "old guy" or worse "old Italian guy." I never really noticed that I was stinky until she told me so now I can smell nothing but myself and I don't like. I did buy the deodorant soap and it seems to help but sometimes buy the end of a long day not even that works. Also it seems as if I have become more odor absorbent, all I need do is walk by a greasy food joint and the smells stick to me like glue. Is it just a coincidence that I also happen to be exiting my thirties?

Feet

2007-12-06T22:37:00.000-08:00

I've been spending a lot of time rubbing the CEO's feet. They are bigger than they used to be. I enjoy it.

Cranberry Sauce

2007-11-22T19:50:00.000-08:00

I grew up hating cranberry sauce.

Little did I know that it didn't have to look or taste like the gross jelly that was served every Thanksgiving. When I was older (much older) I had homemade cranberry sauce it was delicious it complemented the turkey wonderfully. Then come to find out it is simple to make. This year I made my own and it was easy and delicious. I think what is so puzzling to me is that my Nana and Papa were in walking distance to multiple cranberry bogs and could probably have bought fresh cranberries at a moments notice. However, this was not to be done! This family only eats cranberry sauce from a can! This is what we have done for generations and damn it we will not try something else! Fresh homemade sauce?! That's ridiculous!

How did we pull it off. The children of the "can" have all stepped outside the boundaries of tradition and moved into the world of fresh made cranberry sauce. We have broken free, the sky is the limit, who knows what may fall next Land-O-Lakes your history, Bon-Ami see you later. This strange Family-based brand loyalty is offically dead.

The Bins

2007-11-13T20:06:00.000-08:00

2kool4skool Power Thrifting at The Bins

I've always wanted to be more of a thrift store shopper, it plays to one of my strengths (cheapness). A good friend of ours, 2kool4skool, is an amazing thrift store shopper and she was more than happy to take me to the mother of all thrift stores for a lesson. Locally and perhaps nationally the this experience is known as shopping at "The Bins."

"The Bins are the dumping grounds for goods that don't sell at the other Goodwill stores--goods that Goodwill is desperate to get rid of." - Portland Mercury

We spent an hour at The Bins and I left with about 8 articles of clothing for a grand total of six dollars. Not to bad and the experience wasn't unpleasant either. Once again it all comes down to time, how much time do I really have to spend searching The Bins for kids clothing. I don't believe that the next time I think something like "Z needs a new jacket" that my next thought would be "Let me just go pick one up at The Bins." This does not mean that I'm not a fan of The Bins it just means that I'm not sure of how they fit in to my life. I'm sure they'll find away on occasion.

My three girls.

2007-11-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

It is 8:02 PM on Friday and all three of my girls are sleeping, well the smallest of the three is still awake mumbling and rustling about but she's in bed and probably will not be coming out until morning. I wish I had a video camera in her room, I'm pretty sure she gets out of bed and walks around. When we first moved her into her own room we soon realized that locking the door was a necessity. So in typical fashion we jammed clothing between the door and the door frame, this lasted for many many months. However this seemed to have about a 80% success rate (not high enough) of keeping the door locked. Finally the CEO got fed up enough that she put a hook latch on the door. I know none of this sounds like great parenting but it works. Lately we been unlatching the door when we go to bed and she hasn't been getting out and bothering us. All we want is sleep and at this point even six hours of uninterrupted sleep seems like a miracle.

The playing field has been leveled.

2007-11-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

This time I'm beating the CEO to the punch.

We are going to be having two boys!!!!

I really thought it was going to be two girls and The CEO was thinking one and one. Both of us were speachless. This whole parenting thing is quite a wild ride.

Rock and Roll

2007-10-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

It's now working. Just press the little blue play button.

Can you really deny these great lyrics?

"You know that chick that used to dance a lot

Every night she'd be on the floor shaking what she'd got

Man when I tell you she was cool, she was red hot

I mean she was steaming

And that time over at Johnny's place

Well this chick got up and she slapped Johnny's face

Man we just fell about the place

If that chick don't want to know, forget her"

I don't know how old I was when I heard this song but for some reason I connected with it and I became a Rock and Roll fan for life.

Thin Lizzy rules!

Bringing it back to Boston

2007-10-18T22:21:00.000-07:00

My beloved Red Sox won tonight!!!
We get to bring it back to Boston for a game six.

I've never been a huge sports fan but I've found that the Red Sox have a way of getting inside of you. I could care less about the other Boston teams but when I watch the Sox play I can feel a physical change to my body. In the past it was generally an unpleasant feeling in my gut as I watched them self destruct at the end of each season. The past few years have been more pleasant but it's not easy to get rid of all of those bad reactions. Like tonight, I couldn't relax until the last out was made even though they were up by six runs with two outs.

Go Sox!

No interest

2007-10-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

I really thought my bald spot would generate more comments. Perhaps I'm not in tune with my public.

Bald Spot

2007-10-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

This is what I see when by chance the back of my head is in a picture. I don't like it. I need to keep better track of this bald spot because I'm not sure of the rate of growth. I've always maintained that I don't mind going bald and I don't but it's that in between state of not being a bald guy but being a guy with thinning hair. Having thinning hair sounds like something a used car salesman has or someone who is fifty years old and still lives with their mommy.

Dragon Shirt

2007-10-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

It's nights like tonight where I feel like there is just so much that I could write about. Yet when I sit down I got nothing. Oh yeah....I was going to write about this I thought about this the other day. I don't know how old I was but I think I was in elementary school maybe around 5th grade. I had a red shirt and and it had a sparkling dragon decal on the front. That was may favorite shirt ever! I think there may be a picture of me in it somewhere. I loved that shirt so much I wish I had it now. There are some objects that just make such an impression that you hate to ever give them up.

Captivating...

2007-09-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

Blogger has just posted a very interesting web site it is called Blogger Play. It is a running slide show of images as they are being posted to blogger blogs. If you clik on an image it will bring you to the blog.

http://play.blogger.com/

Two is better than one.

2007-09-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

So it is finally out there, so it's official and I can talk about it on the Blog. The CEO is having twins! I mean the CEO and I are having twins. Yikes!!! It's gonna get really crazy around here come mid-March. These two little buggers were a long time in the making and we finally did it. In the process I've become an expert at sticking needles in to the CEO's bottom. This time around the shots were no big deal. Anyhow, I just wanted to get this out there. More to come soon.

Poor Boy.

2007-09-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

I just finished measuring all the downstairs windows for screens. The CEO has someone coming on the 19th to install screens. I found that I can order and save more than 1/2 of what she was willing to pay. Anyhow, her mantra is "My guy is coming on the 19th, if you can have screens by then I'll cancel him." I think I'm going to make it.

We went to the coast with my in-laws this past weekend and had a great time. However, there was a dark shadow hanging over us while we were there because the moment we arrived we got a call from our friend that our dog had been hit by a car! Apparently he jumped her fence and tried to make his way back home I guess? He didn't get very far before he was hit by the car. Thankfully the police picked him up and brought him to the emergency animal hospital. Our poor friend felt horrible. The whole thing was a mess our dog had no identification on him our friend called the police and luckily they had picked him up because she was having no luck searching the streets for him. She rushed to the hospital to be with him and even called in her brother and sister to help out. She managed to contact me moments after we arrived at the coast (2 hours away). After speaking to the vet we decided to admit him to the hospital to get him on oxygen and have x-rays taken. They told us to call in the morning and they would have a better prognosis but the vet said his chances were fair to poor. We decided to stay the night at the coast for our own safety because I don't think we could have navigated the dark curving and street lamp-less one lane highway back safely. I don't think the CEO or I slept well at all. Thank goodness by the morning his prognosis had changed and things were looking up. He would need to be monitored for the next 24 to 48 hours but should be able to go home after that. On Sunday evening we finally got to see our boy. The poor guy looked pretty tired and beat up, bandages on his two front legs, breathing heavy but on the bright side he was vigorously wagging his tail when he saw us. We all headed home much relieved to have our best boy with us. He has since been to see our vet and his wounds are looking better and his breath is better and he's not limping like an old man any more. It looks like he should be OK. It would have been devastating to loose a second dog so soon.

Visitors Like Screens.

2007-09-03T03:11:00.000-07:00

My In-Laws are in town, they are following a recent visit from my parents, who followed the CEO's cousin, who followed her sister. Every time a new visitor comes the kid has to give up her mattress and sleep on the air mattress. This time she even had to give up her bed frame. She's not happy about this and is complaining that she like to sleep high not low on the floor. The poor kid has probably spent six weeks on an air mattress.

It seems that a consistent complaint from all the visitors is that we have no screens on our windows. It bothers the CEO something awful. Perhaps the screens are suffering from the same fate that my former long hair suffered from. The more my family nagged me about it the more stubborn I was about keeping it long.

Cat Lady revisited.

2007-08-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

I've been away for a short while, very busy. Lot's -o- visitors. Anyhow just was reading the recent comments and found a gem. It seems my little sis had been absent from keeping up with the blog and stumbled across one that didn't sit well with her. Ooops, sorry. I had always wondered why the cat lady blog got such little interest. Her post was so wonderful and so funny I thought I needed to put it out here on the front page for all to see:

"Okay, well, I was on a little hiatus from the blog, unfortunately. I love to keep connected. But, then I check in only to find I've been pegged as a potential "cat lady." First of all, being a "cat collector" is a) disgusting b) irresponsible. Animals require a lot care--too many and each one won't get the attention that they need--emotionally and physically. Also, I'm completely aware of the financial limits I have to dedicate to animal care--and I err on the side of "go to the vet." Therefore I would never be a cat collector. I have thought of helping at a shelter or something like that, but quite frankly, I don't think I could take it. Way too sad. Okay, since I was attacked, I would like to point out that I don't think the recent potato is the first potato in such a state to appear on the blog. The my name is apple and the shark stories are so cute. What brilliant, thoughtful and funny kids. Of course. and I've been saying nice things about you all summer,Ka "

Thanks Ka. I love you.

Ice Cream

2007-08-12T23:29:00.000-07:00

Today the girls and I had some Gelatto. It's good but it ain't ice cream. Ben and Jerry's is the best we've got in our neighborhood and I like a good 1/2 gallon of Breyer's on occasion. Which got me to wondering why does Breyer's not taste as good as B&J, it is all natural. Well, as we all know it's the fat, B&J has twice as much! Not really deserving of an exclamation point since we all already knew this. The other ice cream I really love is a good soft serve and we have a DQ in the neighborhood also and I've been turned onto the peanut buster parfait. Nice! The summer treat that we can't get on this coast is slush (http://www.richiesslush.com/). I'd pay a fortune just to have a nice lemon slush on a hot opressive summer day. And for those who haven't ever had a slush there is no relation to a slush puppie.

Basketball

2007-08-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

Just finished playing full court basketball. I joined a league with some guys from work. I'm dying....I can't walk up and down the stairs without my legs feeling on fire.

Shannon and I are both online with the TV going in the background and this show The Pussycat Dolls is on. What the heck is this. It appears that they are like a Menudo group except for hot stripper girls. Reality TV is unstoppable.

The Shark

2007-07-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

The Kid and her friend (blog name: The Gardener) have been talking about a shark that lives in the back yard. Toys will come and go and it will be the sharks doing, holes will be dug in places they shouldn't be because the shark needs them there. Tonight the CEO probed about the existence of such as shark. "Tell me this, how can a shark live in the back yard without water," she asked? "Well, scientists are trying to figure that out," the kid replied.

Excellent.

The CEO just put The Kid to sleep. Moments late I hear footsteps coming down the stairs. The Kid arrives at the bottom of the steps looks at her Mom and says "I'd really like to go to Nebraska." What can you say to that except "OK, now go to bed." So I take her back up to here room and kiss her good night. Then right before I leave she asks me "Da-Da? Which state has the most robbers?" I tell her it's probably California. "Do they have a lot of police cars there," she asks? "Yes, they do, there is nothing to worry about, now go to sleep," I say.

My name Apple.

2007-07-21T19:47:00.001-07:00

For the last few days when we ask The Z what her name is she says "My name Apple." It goes something like this:
"Hi I'm Daddy, what's your name?" I say.
"How are you, my name Apple," she says.
The she smiles really big.

This strangely seemed to coincide with The Kid deciding that she wanted to have an apple theme birthday party. She'd like to have bobbing for apples, pin the apple on the branch and apple decorating. Where does she come up with these things? Apples are not even her favorite fruit.

Freedom.

2007-07-18T19:14:00.001-07:00

Kites are like magic.

The Kid had been waiting a long time to fly a kite and our trip to the coast last weekend provided the perfect opportunity. Flying a kite is one of those magical things that brings you back to your youth. We were lucky enough to have two kites flying and to be able to tether the strings under rocks and let them soar on their own. Then one of the strings snapped and in a flash a kite was gone seemingly lost forever. But like magic the kite appeared in the air 200 yards away. The CEO went to investigate and found a Father and daughter flying the kite in hopes that it's rightful owners would come and get it.

At the farm.

2007-07-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

We went berry picking at the farm today. It was great fun, tons of blueberries and really easy pickings the raspberries were plentiful too but you just needed to work at them a bit more. The Kid was really serious about her picking and The Z was just on a pick and eat binge. I'm sure the first poop of the day tomorrow is going to be very interesting. There is a great little market at the farm where we picked up some of the biggest artichokes I've ever seen in my life. One artichoke is a whole meal.

Crazy cat lady?

2007-07-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

I've just been thinking that my youngest sister may have the potential to one day be a crazy cat lady. She's never had more than three cats at once, if you have more than three that's kind of crossing the line. She always seems to get them out of the goodness of her heart. But isn't that how it always starts? At least it seems to start that way on the evening news. If my brother in-law gets this job he's interviewing for then they'll be seperated on weekdays, my sister will be without someone to control her animal rescue impulses. This job could prove to be disasterous.

Digital SLR

2007-06-24T15:04:00.001-07:00

I love the website dpreview.com, I'm constantly there checking out the digital SLR's. I was so excited when I got my little digital camera and it has served me well but I've got SLR camera envy! I just love my old Canon AE1, I love the weight of it, how it feels in my hand, the sound of the shutter when I capture a photo. I know it's not the camera that makes the photographer but it just seems that the little point and shoot can't get the job done. It feels foolish in my hands, has too much lag time when I press the button to when it captures a picture and I have too little control over things like f-stop and focus. I guess at some point the tool does impact the outcome. I'm no da Vinci with the camera but I imagin that bad oils and a tattered canvas would have been an inhibitor to a great painting. The real problem, however, is the price, the damn things cost about $1000. I don't have that kind of money to throw around. I told my self I'd set a camera fund jar up on my dresser and dump change and small bills in there. I haven't done this. Today I shall! The people sitting next to me in the cafe are playing with a new Canon Rebel and I can't take it!

Too my fellow bloggers:

I'm experimenting with a new program by Microsoft called windows Live Writer. It's a desktop tool that is is supposed to be a more elegant interface to writing on blogs. It's more like using MS word and then hitting the publish button instead of using the limited text editor provided by blogger. I'll keep you posted on how good or bad it is.

Potato....

2007-06-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

You may be thinking "Wow! what an interesting plant what a beautiful color." Or perhaps like me your thinking "How long has that sweet potato been laying unnoticed in the veggie basket." You'd think from this photo that we may not even eat vegetables. We actually love sweet potatoes. I tend to throw them out if they get like this. Can you still eat them?

Thanks Mr.B.

2007-06-11T22:56:00.000-07:00

It's been over one week since we put our dog to sleep. I thought I was going to have a nice tribute to him on the blog. The CEO put a nice one up on her blog....

I really do miss him.

Ever since the kids came it really knocked him down a peg and I don't think he ever really recovered from that. When I look back at all the good times most of them came in L.A. That's when he was the king. We lavished so much attention on him back then, birthday parties, walks, hikes we even wrote some great songs about him.

It's still hard to write about him with out getting choked up.

He wagged his tail at me till the very end. I held his paw as he passed then kissed him goodbye.

Pizza?

2007-06-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

...and they call this pizza.

This is what we are up against out here, tons of cheese, thick undercooked crust, toppings a mile high and bad service and yet some how these places remain open. It is a complete mystery. I think this picture makes it quite obvious why I spend so much time complaining about not being able to find a good slice west of NY. I shall say no more.

Gray Hair

2007-05-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

I know I'm not getting any younger, it's obvious. One of the most visible signs is my gray hair, let's not even get into the thinning and receding. I've got gray hair all in my beard and my sideburns. The Kid says "Just like Papa." Now I have found a gray hair in my nose! It's bad enough having a hairy Italian nose that I need to trim to keep in line, now their growing in gray! I guess it could be worse it could have been a gray hair growing on the outside of my nose. When that happens I'm calling the nursing home.

Languishing.

2007-05-24T06:25:00.000-07:00

Languishing. That is what the CEO said about my blog and she is right, it has been languishing, I haven't been giving it enough attention. I think the good thing about that comment is that it shows that she likes to read my blog, I don't want to loose a loyal reader, so I need to have a routine for posting. It seems like I don't post because I don't have time, or this is what I tell myself. This simply is not true. If I analyze my day there are plenty of hours that are just wasted. The problem is, I enjoy the wasting of time during these hours. What I really want is a longer day. Well maybe not really.

Things that just shouldn't be.

2007-05-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

You may be asking yourself what is this. Well, it is a diaper (unsoiled) and currently it is our method of choice for keeping the mud room door closed. Although, it did just fall off and hasn't been replaced yet. Perhaps it will find its way back up there. Or perhaps I may someday fix the door and install a proper knob.

These are the CEO's toy horses from her childhood and they are tucked away in the closet. You can see from the cobwebs how often they are cleaned, played with etc...Nice.

This is a fridge magnet cowboy that I've had since I was probably about eight. Once I thought I dropped it out the car window and both I and my little sister started to cry. Hers was more of a sympathy cry for my sake. This little thing is around thirty years old. I just recently found it on top of the clothes dryer. Apparently he just was washed. How and why has this little thing remained with me for thirty something years?

T-Ball the good and the bad.

2007-05-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

I don't know.......
I just don't know.....
I'm tired damn it!
I need a walk just as bad as the dogs but I'll probably clean the kitchen and eat some ice cream instead.

So we are coaching T-ball. I don't think we'll do that again, it is just too much work. I'm actually really enjoying my time with the kids but getting involved in the league, not so much. We've got fund raising (candy sales, plant sales) and we have to work the snack shack. Enough already, I can barely manage coaching, why throw all this other crap at us! The Kid is doing great, she's really smacking the ball and she's got a pretty good throw too. The Z of course does her best impression and I think she may be as fast as some of the kids on our team when it comes to running the bases. Although I complain about the coaching I think it has been a good experience. Maybe I'll assistant coach some of her teams in the future. We'll see.

Christmas Tree

2007-04-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

I just cut up the Christmas tree and left it out for yard debris pickup. I think this is sooner than the last two years. I'm improving!

(Don't worry, the tree wasn't still standing in the house until today, it was just tucked away outside next to it.)

Sleep driving.

2007-04-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

I've always been amazed at how easy it would be to fall asleep while driving. My brain knows that if I fall asleep I very well may die. You'd think that the body would have a natural tendency to up the adrenaline level when your tired at the wheel. However it seems quite the opposite. Today I had to crank up the AC blast it at my face and jiggle my head around to keep awake on the ride home. When I used to commute 50 miles one way in L.A. I did fall asleep, once, just long enough to switch lanes. As my body lilted and woke up it sure delivered a shot of adrenaline then. But why not before? Do I have a subliminal death wish or do we all?

Singapore

2007-04-14T05:43:00.000-07:00

Singapore (click to enlarge)

This is a very interesting place. There is such diversity of cultures and they all mingle together to create some of the best food I've ever had. I wish my family could be hear to enjoy this place. Also, it would be a lot more fun than traveling with people from work. Today one in the group said "I don't know if you guys are interested but I could really go for a Hooter's burger tonight." Thank god the rest of the group also wants to experiment with new foods like I do, his proposal was quickly dismissed. Today was our first chance to get out and walk around, we worked about 1/2 a day and we won't be working on Sunday. This is when it feels unfair to my family, I get a little mini vacation in a foreign land with my food and lodging all paid for and my family doesn't get to join in the fun and I so want them to be part of this. I think this time it has been a bit worse being away because there seems to be a lot of families vacationing from Australia and there are quite a few little kids running around the hotel and it make me miss my kid even more.

Cold and Hot

2007-04-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

I love a cup of hot tea with my ice cream. I like when the hot teaspoon cuts through my ice cream. I enjoy a nice slow gulp of hot followed by a slow spoonful of cold gently smoothed against the top of my mouth.

Mr. Mom

2007-03-25T16:12:00.000-07:00

The CEO had strep throat all week. Ouch. I barely made it in to work as I played Mr. Mom most of the week. From Tue. through Thur. she mostly spoke to me by writing things down on paper. I've collected some of the best of the notes and thought you all may enjoy them:
-You can't miss every day of work in your life.
-I cannot talk. My vocal cords are injured. Must sing by Friday. Why do you keep asking me questions in my face.
-The Capital Grille on Beacon Hill had a turkey and swiss that was to die for...$4.95 So Fresh.
-Plenty of people parent drunk.
-I can eat the carrots and potatoes! Very Soft!
-She doesn't eat cooked carrots. Wasted.
-You either read lips or not.

Tired yet again.

2007-03-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

Yes it has happened again....
My laundry has built up to an unconquerable mountain. I've stayed up too late doing work too many nights in a row. I've put off paying the bills 'till the last moment.
Why oh why does this have to keep happening over and over and over? It seems to hard to stick to or perhaps even develop a working system. I don't want to make it like my life is crazy but I think that there are just to many variables and this life when looked at from a engineers viewpoint all these variable have created an unstable system that can not be predicted.

Award Party!!!

2007-03-08T06:47:00.000-08:00

Last night the CEO had her moment in the sun thanks to the Oregon Literary Arts Woman's Writers Fellowship that she received. What an incredible night. It's hard to put in to words what it was like for me and I'm sure the CEO was even more overwhelmed, I had never seen her so nervous. There must have been about 100 people there, 13 of them grant recipients. I felt so adult, for lack of a better word. This was a room filled with serious, high caliber writers, people were dressed nice and interested in the work of the writers. It was such a step above the typical coffee shop sort of scene I'm more accustomed to. The CEO was the last person to speak and she did a wonderful job. She gave a the room a small insight in to what her play was about and it sparked interest in may who listened. I know this because after she spoke she spent a good hour talking to people who came up to offer their congratulations, I now call these people her new fan base.

Congratulation CEO! You well deserved the recognition.

Year Three.

2007-03-03T22:45:00.001-08:00

I just hit the 3rd year anniversary of my blog!
Close to 250 entries and counting.
Thanks for sticking around. I plan to keep on trucking and I hope my often mundane and boring blog can keep my three readers captivated for another three years at least.

On this joyous occasion let me leave you with a typical Tony-C thought:
Have you ever stood in front of a bag of junk food and told yourself this is the last handful over and over again until the whole bag was gone? I have.

American Idol (Yikes)

2007-03-01T21:28:00.000-08:00

So the CEO started watching American Idol this season. I'm not sure why, anyhow, I of course soon joined her. We joined in a little late so we didn't see all of the bad auditions but we saw enough. Anyhow, the point is that we are actually enjoying watching the show. The banter of the three judges is the worst part but it's nice to listen to the songs and root for these young kids. Now there, I've done it, I've admitted to the world (or at least my three readers) that we are watching the show. Why do I feel so bad when I give in to pop-culture?

Mr. B (The Old Timer)

2007-02-18T07:56:00.000-08:00

Mr. B is getting old. For those of you who don't know him here's a short little background. Mr. B is an 25lb American Eskimo (dog), he's friendly, anxious, scatter brained and lovable. We have had Mr. B for our entire relationship. The CEO and I picked him up together somewhere west of Boston, I think. He was the cutest little dog I had ever seen. He used to hate riding in the car and threw-up in my car many times, however, he managed to get over this problem in time to be the CEO's companion as she drove across American in her quest to live in Hollywood. He was a very curious little guy and had to run to the apartment window in West Hollywood anytime someone was in the garage below to check out what was going on. He's always had some funny traits: he wont step on metal grates, he hates walking through water and he gets upset at the slightest changes to his environment. For example one time he noticed that the CEO had hung Christmas cards on the wall this of course called for a light quick step to get past the wall then some barking to let them no that he was in charge. Despite these quirks he has successfully made the transition to five different homes with us, the addition of another dog and two kids. Now he's really slowing down, having trouble getting up and down stair and worst of all having trouble waiting to go out to relieve himself. It is quite a sad transition. Mr. B is my first dog and if I give his passing too much thought tears quickly come to my eyes. We don't quite know when he will be leaving us but when it comes, sooner than later, it will certainly leave a great big hole in my heart.

Shady Grove

2007-02-13T02:32:00.000-08:00

File this on under sleep deprivation.
The littlest one doesn't want to sleep, it's 2:35 AM and she has been up since 1ish. I think she's finally down for the count. I'm just amazed at how little sleep humans can survive on. I think the only time I get uninterrupted sleep (I hear her talking to herself!) multiple days in a row is when I'm on a business trip. The poor CEO doesn't have such luxuries for her it has probably been over five years since she was undisturbed.

Good Night.

Cute Video

2007-02-09T21:56:00.000-08:00

This little video about spiders is well worth watching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc

It's been a dry blogging spell and I've also noticed my readership has seemed to have dwindled. I hope to get things back on track soon.

My Nano...

2007-01-26T22:33:00.000-08:00

The CEO got me a Nano for Christmas and I do love it. I'm currently listening to a Podcast while typing this blog. Here's a list of the POD casts I subscribe to:
WNYC: The Brian Leher Show
KCRW: To The Point with Warren Olney
KPCC: Air Talk with Larry Mantel
WBUR: On Point with Tom Ashbrook
WBEZ: This American Life
WHYY: Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane

I'm addicted to Podcasts. Anyone out there have a favorite radio show I may be able to add to my list?

When I was in Wisconsin I did have the opportunity to have more than just prime rib. My co-worker and I went out on Friday night to a traditional Wisconsin Friday Night Fish Fry. We were basically in the middle of nowhere and we drove 30 minutes to a restaurant still in the middle of nowhere and the place was packed and everyone was chowing down on fried fish and french fries. I think of myself as an east coast fish snob and I always thought white fish just meant "we don't know what type of fish it is but the meat is white," apparently white fish is a type of fish that is plentiful in the great lakes. So I ordered my self a huge plate of fried white fish and fries and it was pretty damn tasty.

Wisconsin don't you know....

2007-01-15T18:53:00.000-08:00

Typical Wisconsin Dinner with perhaps a few too many vegetables.
Also notice that there is both wine and beer.

So I'm back in Wisconsin for the third time within a month. What can I say about this place that you all don't already know, it is cold and snowy, no surprise there. However, it was nice to hear the snow plows in the morning it reminded me of being a child and getting excited at the sound because it meant that school may be canceled. On the flight out I got exit row seating right near the bathrooms, yes being near the bathrooms was no good but I had so much leg room I could stretch my legs out completely and still not touch the wall. I was grinning like I had just hit the lottery (it's the simple things). Another simple thing was getting an email from The CEO. That was just great, I've been under so much pressure with this damn work problem that I haven't been sleeping well on any of these trips. I had only been hear for perhaps 16 hours but it felt like days had already passed and the little piece of reality from my family was all I needed to make me feel great again.

And here's a working link that showcases the CEO's name and award:
Look under the heading:
Special Fellowships for Women Writers
http://www.literary-arts.org/fellowships/recipients.php

The CEO Rules

2007-01-06T21:24:00.000-08:00

The CEO was just awarded an grant from the Oregon Literary-Arts Fellowship program for her writing. Last spring and fall she worked her ass off to have a piece to submit and all her hard work paid off.

Look for the CEO name to be posted in the 2006 spot of this list and see the company she keeps:
http://www.literary-arts.org/fellowships/past_women_writers.php

A million congratulations to the CEO!!!!
We were all so excited and proud of her.

Borat and the Pistol

2007-01-04T22:04:00.000-08:00

Pistol Pete (aka my Dad) is not a fan of Borat or Ali G for that matter. It was up to biG and I to convince him that he was missing out on something. Actually biG tried to do the majority of the convincing. Anyhow, I feel partly vindicate after hearing Sasha Baron Cohen (Borat) on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, she made many comments on how funny and brilliant she thought the comedy was. Sweet Victory. :)

This is interesting, there is a sink hole that swallowed up a truck at the front entrance of my daughter school. I'll get to see it tomorrow.

Three moments live as one.

2006-12-29T21:29:00.000-08:00

I was trying to book plane tickets to go to get back to my grandmothers wake when a package of "struffoli" arrive from my sister as a Christmas gift and my 2 year old daughter started calling out Daddy from the bathroom because she had s#*t in the tub. I would have liked all three of these moments to occupy their own space in the time continuum yet instead they all mashed together to form a bizarre moment that I could only later laugh about.'

(Struffoli picture to be instered at a later date)

I'm still here.

2006-12-19T21:25:00.000-08:00

Every once in awhile I disappear from the blogosphere longer than I'd like. I am still here I've just been horrifically busy with work. It's a big time at work and unfortunately do to some issues that I'm intimately involved in I've been under a lot of pressure to deliver on some needed changes and things aren't always going my way. To put it mildly I'm really looking forward to the Holiday break.

The M&D will be in town and we are all looking forward to that. I'm so grateful we got the downstairs redone because four adults, two kids and two dogs is just too much for this house.

After such a long break from the blog I'd hate to leave without really saying much. But that's the type of blog that I have. "It's a blog about nothing" to steal a phrase.

Thanksgiving/Line Rider

2006-11-24T20:42:00.000-08:00

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The CEO cooked up a fantastic meal. I was pondering Thanksgivings past and was recalling one in particular which I had such a shameful little thought during. Let it first be known that I love bread. We were at my Aunts and I think someone forgot to pick up bread and all that was available were hamburger rolls (wonder bread style) and I can remember thinking "this sucks." What a jerk I was. My Aunt and Uncle were kind enough to provide a good meal with all the fixings and I'm upset that I can't have my precious little piece of bread to soak up my gravey. Although I don't believe anyone was aware of my rude thoughts I am apologizing for them here on my blog. Sorry.

Heard about this game on NPR it is strangely addictive:
LineRider

Bloggin and a Nano

2006-11-18T20:22:00.000-08:00

Two big things are going down in the life of the CEO.
1-She has started blogging.
2-She just got an iPod Nano.

1) The blogging is great I'm glad she's going to get some of her writing out there. She's got a pretty strong community of email buddies and I'm sure her blog will quickly see more traffic than Tony-C.blogspot.com does. Here's a question: I've always tried to maintain an air of anonymity to my blog and The CEO is not doing that with her's. Should I link her on my blog and blow my cover or should I not and continue to pretend that I'm an unknown. Any thoughts?

2) It is now a job requirement for her to have one, yes it is true. Anyhow, I've got to admit she has not even turned the device on and it is obvious that it is the best music player ever made. Just the packaging alone is phenomenal and the instructions appear to be simple and clear. Apple is truly one of the greatest product design companies ever. It's interesting that other companies don't follow their model. The iPod is clearly wildly successful, even at such a high price point. It goes to show you that people will purchase a product, that cost more than competing devices, if it delivers a superior experience. Why can't every thing be so good. I remember I once had a cheap teapot that splattered out the first pour of water for every cup. The teapot couldn't even function as a teapot. I mean why make it? Why sell it? That teapot represents a lot of the current high tech gadgets. They are just there to stuff the shelves to try and make a buck for some big company. They company doesn't seem to care to provide the buyer with a good experience. I think we've becoming so used to battling failures with high tech stuff that our level of failure acceptance has become quite high and this must change.

The Cool Kids

2006-11-14T21:39:00.000-08:00

First I must thank STLANDAU for responding to the Mac question. It appears to me that it can all be boiled down to the "coolness" factor. And really by now hasn't the Mac become so cool that it should be uncool. I guess the only problem is that there is no other game in town, your either PC or Mac. Well if it is mainly about being cool then I'll stick with the PC and pocket my extra 500 dollars. Coolness has never been an aspiration of mine.

Wardrobe

2006-11-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

So shirts started arriving in the mail recently and at first that seemed OK. I started to question where they were coming from. Was it my parents, sisters or in-laws? No one was cracking, everyone had a good poker face. The first shirt was a nice pullover light sweater/sweatshirt thing. Just my style. Then the button down collard pattern numbers started coming. Not my style. What is my style you ask. We'll for years now it's been Timberland T-Shirts and Jeans. Every Christmas I get a box full of long and short sleeve Timberland T-Shirts from The CEO's Godmother. Sounds kind of strange doesn't it. Anyhow, I love it. Who wouldn't. I will admit that I was due for a wardrobe update but when Timberland Tees and Jeans puts you in the "dressed better than most people" category at work what's the rush in upgrading. I'm looking pretty good at my workplace. I gotta guess that it's been at least four years that my family has been hoping I'd upgrade and the more they hoped and teased the less I wanted to do about it. It's not the clothes that make the man. However, the time had really finally arrived that I needed to make some improvements and one stop to Old Navy and three shirts later I'm upgraded, done, complete, improved. I'm sure the family is torn, I'm guessing they are happy to hear that I've picked up some new clothes, yet sad to know that it is only three shirts and all from Old Navy. Hey, what are you gonna do. That's me. I mean who really wants to shop for clothes. I hate it. Shopping is like golf, the fun to time ratio is way out of balance.

Oh yeah and of course it was my parents who were sending the shirts.

Mac?

2006-11-12T22:52:00.000-08:00

How good is the Mac really? Any Mac users out there? My company is a PC company we use PC's at home and all is not perfect. Is life really that much better with a Mac? Does it drop wireless connections? Is it faster at browsing? Does it really never get any viruses? Is everything really plug and play?