White Lightning Axiom: Redux

I was a mixed bag this weekend. Only a few exceptional events, but I'll mix them in with the rest of the tripe so you'll have to shake them out. You know, like searching through that box of cereal to find the toy inside or dredging through the peanut-butter to see if there are really 1.5 flies per jar. Nope, those are raisins ... of course. So, Friday the Cubs and I went to the Radio station for an hour and gobbled up pizza after wards. They had a good time storming and occupying the broadcast center, and even more so antagonizing the tour director. Of course, this just got my Twin Tyrants all ramped up for Dodge Ball Friday. Glad they can take out their frustrations on each-other without having them come back to me with complaints of 'he said/she said'. Nope, just unmitigated violence and revenge. Next day: nothing. Just slouched about the Manor but I did manage to fill the SuperSaturn POS with 10 gallons of NJ gasoline. I give the Mrs a set of 5gal canisters and she buys two weeks worth of fuel for me at 10-15 cents off per gallon while she tanks up. In exchange, I top off the fluids in the Family Tank v2.0 and toss in some fuel conditioner to boot. She completes me: I service her vehicle and light her fire; she gives me gas. Speaking of gas and fires .... this may be of interest to some of you (and it was for me since my obsessive compulsive ranting about gas prices). Sunday is the usual: Church, Sunday School, Bring in firewood, Prep meals for the week. The Mrs actually made the PB&J sandwiches for them this time ... and cut off ALL the crusts. Ghengis will not be pleased, he likes the crusts. Odd child. So all of Sunday was just in preperation for the work week. No big shocker there, except that the Tyrants had President's day off on Monday so I'd be sitting it out with them.

And along comes Monday, I cook, I clean, I entertain. Since is it a semi-national holiday, the swim-team practice is called off: School closed = no pool access. Fine. After my domestic duties conclude, we go through the regular 'swim at club/tsd at studio' routine. Everything is domestic bliss till some time after O'Dark-Thirty. Jake saunters into the master bedroom where the Mrs is settling into the mile-wide bed for a little shut-eye. He makes himself comfortable and then proceeds to produce about 200 metric liters of semi-digested, fully masticated vomit. How in the world!? He ate his dinner at 1500 hours and now he has issue? He must have been fermenting that batch of bile and 100 molar hydro-sulfuric acid for quite some time. So, the Mrs and I manage hose down and mop up ... he felt better but we needed some serious air-freshener to detoxify the master suite. The next morning, he was chipper as can be but I was still down a pillow. You know you are getting too soft when you need two pillows to sleep right.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | Illness

Labels: Gas, Illness, Swimming, Tang So Doo, Weekend

I'm all kinds of pissed off about gasoline prices right now. They are flirting with $2/gal here in Pennsyltucky and the world oil trade is now slumping at $35.09. Given the image I provided and the knowledge that there are 42 gallons/bbl ... after refining and by-product extraction you get about 19.5 gallons of gasoline. So, if you GAVE AWAY all the byproduct, you could reasonably see gasoline costing $1.80/g. Here is an interesting chart you can play with. Either way, what I guess we are seeing is the bi-annual fuel mix switch over with a little bit of price-fixing thrown in under the covers. Given that gasoline costs now roughly the same as it did 30 years ago, I should take that big bag of whining and shove it.

On to more 'mundane' soliloquies ... the Tyrants and I hammered through the daily schedule with few hiccups. All's well that end's well I suppose. They were oddly compliant and were even interested in snuggling with each other last night. I don't mind letting them sleep in the same bed; it's easier for me to transport them to the Perpetually Snuggly Mrs's snuggle-fest nest in the morning. Given the absurdly affectionate nature of Ghengis (It's a ruse, I can tell), I was unhappy to hear about some issues he was having with a select number of his classmates. Apparently, two of them; Joby and Chrispin (yep, names changed) had ganged up, and were trying to swing him about by his coat. His pleas for them to stop were unheeded and that made him cry. Dad programming snapped in and I started planning my assault at that moment. Slow breaths, push down monster within .... and now for the wisdom. I asked if he had talked to the teacher about it and he confirmed that she put an end to it and insisted that the two cowardly infraction-bent delinquents apologize for their misdeeds. Given that, I do not believe this will be the last of this so I went over our process flow chart. First, insist that the cease the assault. Second, if they choose to continue, inform an authority figure (Not the UN) and implore them to put an end to the situation. If the intervention is insufficient to repel the barbarians, you must be able to defend yourself. I let him know that if he get's to step three and proceeds to lay them out like a slab of meat-locker back-bacon, I will have his back and support him all the way. I know the father of at least one child and he knows me. Nice thing about private school, it's a privileged, not a right. But you still hold a bit of sway since you are forking over the Payola every month or so.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | School | Bully

Labels: Bully, Children, Gas, Karate, School, Swimming

Here I sit at the piano class waiting room. Listening to the melodic plunking of little fingers over the faux ivory ... and the periodic admonishments of the instructor to my little Imp, Ghengis. He is getting into trouble again, so it's probably time for another lecture. While I stew over my parental duties, I tried to hijack a wireless signal, to no avail. Must be the higher humidity in the air. I did get a hint ... just a wiff of a bit of a signal, only to have it melt away like foie gras on a steaming slab of porterhouse steak. Mmmm, steak. But I digress. I could titillate you with mundane tales of my work day. Where I sit with the team as we try to figure out just what in the world we plan on doing in the next sprint. Ah, yes, the scent of failure is in the air. We are probably just going to work on some left-over cruft from the last sprint cycle. The last team just DUMPED it and said they were 'done'. Not so much, really. So be it.

I've been working with the kids on finishing their dinner in a timely manner. It would be much easier if I could sit with them while they eat, but time is short and I have a heap of chore to grind through before we head off each afternoon. This is a beast of my own creation and I'm going to have to be creative (or persistent) to overcome it. Speaking of persistence, this is a TSD week. I'll be in the Child and Adult classes every day except Friday when we have a tour at WRDV with the cubs. We'll do pizza after wards before heading over to the 'Dodge Ball Session', but I'll not stay for the adult class after 1900 hours as I will be doing my bi-monthly work poker cameo ... just to bolster that coworker relationship thing. Anything to make sure I'm held in the highest esteem when the axe falls on the work-force.

Finally, can SOMEONE tell me why oil prices are staying at $40/bbl but gas prices are nearly at $2/gal? Are the refineries cutting back on production? CRAP! I just looked and the price is now at $38/bbl. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | Scouts | Piano | Work

Labels: Banalities Work, Children, Gas, Karate, Piano, Scouts, Swimming

Playing catch-up again here. It was quite a busy weekend and I did not get half of what I wanted done in the time that I had allotted to myself. The grand ball of delicate maneuvers started on Friday Night. After wrapping up the kids TSD class with the usual Battle Royall Dodge Ball Melee, I scuttled on back to the Haupertonian manor to prepare for the next week. Since I knew I would be occupied with peripheral tasks, I chose to make as much of the meals we would be consuming and bundle them up in nice little packages for each day. Provincial Chicken with Herbs and Garlic ... along with 6 bacon wrapped cheddar wursts. The Mrs loves bacon-baked chicken. I sprinkle a cup of rice along the bottom of the 18 inch skillet befor putting it in the oven for 90 minutes and the rice soaks up all the goodness. Yeah, I'm not supposed to be eating that sort of stuff, so that's why I canceled my Cardiologists Appointment. I also prepped 10 hard boiled eggs and started defrosting the lobster and little smokeys that the Tyrants like to snack on between activities. It's all a labor of love. The love of food is the most genuine love of all. That's a pithy quote that I cannot find an attribution for. Maybe I just made it up but I find it hard to believe that I am the initiator of something that ... Confucian. And, of course, there are a couple of other dishes ... mundane stuff like mac-n-cheese or spags-n-balls that I had to plow under. I tend to be happiest when I'm in the kitchen.

Saturday was HORRENDOUS! We had four/five events set up. The first thing in the morning, we had to drag the Tumultuous Twins out of their warm and snuggly lairs so we could get some nutrition in their bellies and get off to the TSD Studio in time for their test. They had other ideas. In mortal combat, I did manage to stuff enough of their breakfast between their gritted teeth between crushing blows to my ribs and skull that they would be able to make it through the test without depleting their energy reserves. This, however, resulted in my total lack of time to feed my own gullet. They did well in the test, for the most part. Attila, for the first time, broke her board in the first kick, outperforming the rest of the red belt testers. This will put them on track for being Cho Dan Bo in May ... which will get them set up for being a Junior Black Belt at this time next year. But let us not count our chicks before they hatch. Right now, we will just need to learn their third weapon form (another staff form) and then get their previous forms cleaned up. Thinking about it ... just ... wow. They'll be seven which gives them a few years till they are out of the Manor. Now my test, good grief! To start off, I was not in my peak performance health. Then, my usual bent is to go all out which tends to leave me in an exhausted state nearly half way through my 'performance art'. The sparring is towards the end and I just SUCK OUT when I get to that point. I always have some fantastic ideas about what I'm going to do and how I'm going to 'Shock and Awe' my audience, but in the end I just stand there and throw single kicks or punches while getting pummeled by my opponent. (Insert long and depressed sigh here)

After I slithered out of the test as a slithering mass of pulsating pain, we stopped off for a bite of pizza with the rest of the available crew and celebrated our ability to put on a strong face in spite of the various wounds leaking precious body fluids. From there, it was on to a Swim Meet where, again, I had bathroom guard duty. It was steaming hot in there but I was required to stand fast and for good reason. The janitor had a peculiar predilection of creeping in the back door every so often and slum around in the bathroom stalls. Creepy. I did get to see their performance on the Mrs's laptop after she uploaded the video and pictures she took. That's her thing, I sit in the locker room and embrace the aroma of teen-age angst while she sits amongst throngs of semi-detached family members and chews through several packs of rechargeable batteries. Fair trade, I think.

Since this is Scout Week, we had a special mass at church for the cubs to attend. We all sat in the front row and periodically throughout the service, Father K would make mention of it. Really quite sweet actually. Both Attila and Ghengis were there in the front row along with the rest of the Horde. Since this was done at the 10am Family mass, I had to let the gals at the Sunday school go on without me. I hope they managed. After that, the Mrs took our little girl scout (Daisy, Brownie?) off to manage a cookie-pimping table at the local grocery store while I took my mini-me off to the movie theater. While Ghengis and I were slouching through a rather expensive matinee showing of 'Dog Hotel', the minions of cookie crook managed to offload 100 boxes of tasty diabetic failure. She has personally sold over 70 boxes now. At 3.50/box, they are doing a brisk business! We had a bit of time before the gals were done, so after the expensive movie, we took the Cybernetic Mammoths out and gave them a thorough scrub-down. They were beginning to get that particularly interesting smell that can only be described as "moldy sweat sock full of Doritos". Yeah ... they need to get out more but they are seriously 'indoor dogs'. Thor balks at any inclement weather outings. Big Sissy.

The rest of my time was allocated to showing Eldest Son how to do his next staff form and compelling him to keep on trying to ride his bike. He's getting a bit to big for it so I can see an Upgrade in the near future for him. He has the 'going straight really fast' down pat and the 'panicked emergency brake' ... the turning part is the stich right now. Other than that, the Mrs and I did a bunch of prep for the week. Clothes, swim gear, TSD props, lunches, etc... Same work, every week. Life is superb ... elegant ... and splendid (Ghengis's new word).

Crud, forgot to whine about gasoline prices. WTF! Why are they at nearly $2/g when the oil price is sticking to $40/bbl!? Damn crooks!

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | Weekend | Scouts

Labels: Children, Gas, Karate, Scouts, Swimming, Weekend

Out sick yesterday, got very little done except tending the fire in the wood stove and hosting a den meeting for the cub scouts. This cold really got the best of me. My hope is that I can shake this before Saturday, when we have the TSD tests. Oh, that would suck on so many different levels. Fortunately, this is just a Pre-Test for me. I can hopefully perform to a sufficient level of competence without having to jeopardize my health. After this weekend's experiment in self destruction, I have a six month training period before the 'real-deal' blackbelt test where I get to fight the Master and his perfidiously dangerous minions. Yeah, I'm a tad intimidated.

In other, less boisterously disastrous news, the piano practice the other night went well. The Tyrants are doing so much better. It boggles the mind that they can train their little digits to tickle the ivory they way that they do. My futile attempts at teaching myself from their books has not fared quite as well. I just cannot seem to make my fingers do what I want them to do on command without a great deal of perspiration and focus. I'm a fairly good typist, but that seems to be a detriment when it comes to the c-d-e-f-g scales. Rats. And something else: gas prices. What is going on here!? Oil prices have gone down to $40/bbl but the unleaded regular is creeping up. Let me guess, the refineries are down for annual maintenance. Riiiight. I call bullshit on that!

Technorati Tags:Gas | Piano | Karate | Children | Illness

Labels: Children, Gas, Illness, Karate, Piano

Whoooo DOGGIE! It's been a heck of a week, let me tell ya! TSD is tougher than all git-out and the pushup boondoggle has been getting me all worked up in the mornings. Throw some fasting and sedation in for a doctor's visit last week and you have all the bits lined up for a series of migraines. I was all lined up for that experience, ya know. I was on top of it in my usual sapient manner and cut off those rampaging nasties at the pass though. So, the doctor's visit went well. They pumped me full of wonderful stuff, I unexpectedly conked out after they asked me 3 questions and then woke up 15 minutes later without a hint or trace that I had been 'put down'. Lost time, I tell ya. There was a panoply of other patients in the the recovery ward that did not rebound as quickly as I ... I'm thanking God for my blessedly high metabolism every day.

The motorcycle safety training class: success. The written and road test were both passed and I now have a little slip of paper that says I may roam the high-ways and by-ways of America's transportation infrastructure unfettered. Now, the written evaluation was a snap. The big muscle lodged between my ears was barely even challenged since I took the online exam several times ... which ended up being exactly the same question for the in-class test. I had to read probably the first two or three words in the question/answer before realizing which of the three answers were correct for the multiple guess challenge. The road test was another matter entirely. One poor lady ended up 'High-Siding' herself TWICE during the swerve practice and if she had not worn a full-face helmet, she would have been hospitalized with a shattered jaw. End result: she passed but a center for a local foot-ball club and sergeant at a local detention institution failed. It was almost for naught to boot. The whole six hour class was nearly canceled due to lightning strikes. The morning class fell into that category and was rescheduled for the following morning. Instead, we were treated to an hour of fierce downpours and raging winds ... followed by unrelenting heat by the giant fiery ball of fury in the sky. Nothing like wearing wet denim on a steaming airbase tarmac to keep you sharp. So, now I'm through that, I can think about getting a motorcycle ... but with gas prices going down instead ($3.79 USD/g) ... the ROI calculation are all mucked up. I cannot buy that new leather jacket and chaps till I have a good use for them on the roads, you know.

I was able to attend the kids TSD test this weekend before heading off to the Airbase. The Grandparents made a surprise visit (the kids were surprised, not the Mrs and I) for the test. Needless to say, the Tyrants of Turpitude are now Red Belts and will be getting their black Ninja do-boks some day soon. I, myself, while extolling the advanced elite skills of the tyrants, will be taking my test this week in-class. This is going to be rather difficult for me, mind you. Alas, the next test will be sometime in November and I'll not want to wait that long. The tyrant may catch up with me and then all manner of hell will break loose.

Final note: the Agricultural Sector is doing well. The second (bumper) crop of peas is doing well, the beans (string and asparagus) are producing in sufficient quantity but the cucumber and zucchini vines are failing. No surprise since they were planted in the poorest soil I have ever seen. A few years of conditioning should take care of that. I've planted the second round of spinach/lettuce again since the roiling heat pretty much killed the sprigs from the last planting. Lessons learned: don't plant too early or you will fail. Much thanx to the Amish Hero-Dad and Super-Grandma for all the help with the 'farmers creed'.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Motorcycle | Karate | Children | Pushups

Labels: Children, Gardening, Gas, Karate, Medical Care, Motorcycle, Pushups

I'm a touch late with this, but it was a rather busy weekend. First off, we celebrated (remotely) Amish Hero Dad's birthday. The Tyranical Twins of Turpitude sang an eerie and somewhat disturbing rendition of 'Happy Birthday' over the phone. The Adam's family apparently was spooked when they heard the audio and reported similar instances of reality creep as was seen in 'The Ring'. But that was on Sunday ... Let's rewind a few hours, eh? Saturday afternoon was my time to roast on the hot tarmac of the Naval Air Base when I was taking my Motorcycle Safety Training Class. First off, I've NEVER ridden a motorcycle before so the whole clutch-shift thing was a little bit of a reach for me. And no, I have only ever driven a standard transmission vehicle once ... poorly. So, from 1300 hours till 1930, I was out there with a screaming hot engine beneath me with a full modular helmet and jacket on ... in the sun, Ninety degrees, on a square mile of asphalt. Yes, I was somewhat damp by the end of the class. I am, however, rather surprised at my ability to keep the damn thing upright and running even though I tended to end up in 3rd or 4th gear instead of 1st. Neutral was an outstandingly rare find for me. The written test is this coming Wednesday and the Road (Rash) Test is the following Saturday. If I keep my wits about me and Sgt Myers has a sense of humor (NOT!), I'll have a slim possibility of getting a 'Positive Evaluation'. So long as I do not lay the bike down in a 100 meter landslide of metal, rubber and flesh I'm going to call it a success.

Sunday was a slow day. Finally. We were going to head off to Sesame Place after morning Mass, but a phone call in the afternoon on the previous day called for an abrupt change of plans. Instead, we spend a big chunk of the day at the Seliga's Cloister with their Germanic buddies drinking beer and eating things that would make my Cardiologist gasp in horror. It was for a good cause, you know. Around 1300 hours the sky opened up and it rained thunder, lightning and tree-snapping winds for an hour or two. What a mess. Light out nearly every intersection and trees down in between. That alone would have made Sesame Place an utter disaster but there was this to contend with as well. I do believe that on the ticket, there is some mention of one's health prohibiting access. I mean, jeeze! Oddly enough, we blame the Fireworks at the Seliga Cloister some 6 years ago for the Mrs going into labor.

Final notes: My Monday Pushup Plan of 12/12/9/7/110 went all too smoothly so I'm considering doubling the counts. You are supposed to rest 90 seconds between sets, but I just don't have that sort of time! We will try to do the 32/26/22/22/MAX this Wednesday and see how it pans out. If it works as well as I think it will, I'll be doing 200 perfect push-ups ... [read:hubris]. This week will hence forth be known as 'Testy Week'. I have the 2 motorcycle test, a medical test on the morning of the 31st (more on that later, but it involves sedation) and the TSD test on August 2nd. I'll be going for the second stripe on my Red Belt, the Tyrants will be getting their Red Belt and their Black Do-Boks ... easier to put through the laundry. On top of that, it's the end of the Development Sprint at work so there is a lot of pressure [read:CRUNCH] to wrap up efforts on the project. Anyone have any extra positive vibes available, please send them my way.

Closing note: The Mrs just tanked up at $3.65/g USD at the corner station. No additional drilling, no additional production. Just words and speeches caused oil futures to slide into the $120/b range and it seems to be in free-fall now. It's making it really tough to make the ROI on the motorcycle/scooter to work out.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Weekend | Karate | Children | Motorcycle | Pushups

Labels: Children, Gas, Karate, Motorcycle, Pushups, Weekend

SO, how did the class go last night? Not too shabby. We spent the whole time inside reading over a book regarding the obvious topic while the sky outside was rent asunder by great discharges of lightning and boisterous blasts of rolling and cracking thunder. It was quite a show and we were visited with flooding and power loss throughout the area this morn. The Agricultural Sector may appreciate the great drop in local temperatures, but I'll have to be satisfied with less since I had not managed to set up my damned water barrel system yet. Such a slacker, I am.

Two other things to bring up: first, entertainment. Deb-Deb sent this to me which, oddly enough, made me smile and feel good inside. I cannot explain it, but it is fascinating how it worked. The guy has some killer dance moves too! As for poetry in motion, you may have noticed that little widget in the upper portion of my left side bar showing the current price of oil. With the recent drop in oil futures, the local gasoline purveyor is hawking his goods at $3.91 USD/gal here. This is odd, no? Less oil is being pumped, but some of us got the message and stopped driving our MegaTon SUVs to the end of the driveway to get the mail. Gosh, market forces in action!

Technorati Tags:Gas | Weather | Rain | Gardening | Motorcycle

Labels: Gardening, Gas, Motorcycle, Rain, Weather

So, tonight is my first class in motorcycle safety. I expect that the 3 hour class will mostly be going over various bits of information in preparation for the Saturday class where we will actually get to touch a motorcycle. Four classes, two on Wed and the other on Saturday. Will I end up as a devoted cycle rider in the end? Probably not, but we shall see.

The crippling heatwave that has been wreaking havoc with the garden and making the TSD review with the Tyrants an absolute horror? It's over. Of course, the damage has been done to the zucchini and cucumbers over the last week is irreversible. The only hope now is that what is left will produce a more hearty fruit due to it's tenacious capability of fending off the worst environmental conditions the Agricultural Sector has seen in years. The bucket loads of water that the thunderstorm landed on us last night was of little relief though, most of it just poured off into the drainage systems and was whisked away to the beleaguered flood plains. The temps are lower and we are supposed to get more rain of the 'pattering' variety though. At least the AC will not be laboring under the duress of Hell on Earth for the time being. Poor, poor veggies.

The Hundred Pushups program is on Day 2 now of 12/12/10/10/Max. My max today was 110. Huzzah! Bring it on. And all that other banter.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Motorcycle | Gardening | Summer | Pushups

Labels: Gardening, Gas, Motorcycle, Pushups, Summer

Well, I rolled the dice and managed to pull off 110 sucky pushups. Instead of the test, I did this as day 1 of week one (10/10/8/6/max) where my last set was the maximum number of pushups. I think I may have to 'refine' my technique though. Horrible I tell ya. My early interpolation and perversion of the schedule is most likely a bad sign too.

Other than the pushups, I'm spending the week focusing on the kids forms so that they will be ready for the test. It's a drive to make them insensate little warriors under my strict tutelage so that when August 2nd rolls around, they'll be confident enough to earn their red belt. The Tyrants can be apt to boredom once they learn a form so I need to help them with the focus ... but other than that, they seem to be on the right path. The next form is a real bugger though and I do not think that they will be able to do it in 3 months, but we shall see.

Dull post, eh? So much for all that bluster and bravado about being a more entertaining word-smith. One last thing of interest to note is that the gasoline prices in the area are down to $3.93 USD/gal ... interesting on many levels.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Karate | Children | Pushups

Labels: Children, Gas, Karate, Pushups

Nothing entirely exciting today. I'm a little pooped from TSD, but nothing out of the ordinary. I've still got a fairly nasty bruise from last Thursday evening where I took a back-kick to the right pectoral ... it's a wonderfully mottled shade of gangrene yellow and splotches of purple. A bit like a moldy slice of toast with coagulated jelly on it. PRETTY! I'll wager the folks at the Physical Therapy Center (Which I have an appointment on 5/22 @ 1430 hours) will see either the image of Jesus or Elvis in it. Uff-da. PT. I cannot believe that I'll be doing that. So much ignored damage to go over with them. I'm a friggen' (Rhode Island) Frankenstein's Monster. Scars, stitches and mis-matched parts. Should be entertaining.

On the road to making the Haupertonain Empire an Energy Independent Sovereign State, I stopped off at the local DMV to pick up a motorcycle learner's permit. I got there at about 1610 and it closed promptly at 1615! I was in so I got to stay ... sweet! The process itself was fairly painless given the dreaded DMV connection. I had to wait about 5 minutes and then was directed to a kiosk where I took a 20 question test where I need to correctly answer 16 questions with the option of skipping some till the end of the test. I skipped one and the test was terminated after I got to question 17 ... took all of 7 minutes. Roughly 15 minutes after I arrived, I was leaving the facility (through the unlocked side door) with permit in hand. I'm starting to think that the DMV is unnecessarily maligned. Now, I just need to find a BRC course (they are held at the local Naval Air Base) where I can make all 4 half day sessions.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Physical Therapy | Karate | Injury | Motorcycle

Labels: Gas, Injury, Motorcycle, Physical Therapy, Tang So Doo

Woop! Slipping a bit here. Not much to really blather about. First, I thought of complaining about gasoline prices. Like, nobody ever does that. On Tuesday, when oil hit 129$/55gal barrel (Today, it got over 143), I was less than pleased. You know, when our politicians start mincing words about why we cannot drill for oil in places because it would do damage documented in the 1970's or that the oil would not be available for 10 years, I wonder what they are trying to prove. Having us spend MORE on oil is not going to give us any extra funds to spend on alternative fuel research and it is certainly not going to help the economy. Now I'm just getting cranked up here. All for naught. I've heard that we as a nation have actually used LESS gasoline over the last two quarters then the previous year. I cannot imagine how the economy in other countries are doing right now.

Let's grouse about something that I actually have some dominion over. My health. Specifically, my blood pressure, cholesterol and weight. Now, My Chatty and Extraordinarily Friendly Family Physician noted that my blood pressure was astoundingly good (so, the exercise and salt intake is not a problem), we were a bit concerned about all that nasty LDL and lack of HDL in the pipes. This morning, stepping on the scale, I found myself looking at that hard target of 183lb. Of course, it was morning and I had yet to start my daily consumption of vital worlds throughout the universe. Now, I ask myself, why is is really all that hard to loose the weight I would like. It's only 5lb and I've been railing against this last obstacle for quite a few months now. Is it the 2000 kilo-cals we are restricted to each day? Hmmm, apparently not quite true per the little counter I came across. I'm 'allowed' somewhere between 2900 and 3200 per day. So, lets look at my daily orgy of mass consumption and rank each morsel:

• Breakfast Oatmeal 166


• Granola Bar 200


• Lowfat Yogurt 150


• Cottage Cheese 90


• V8 Juice 50


• 4 cups of Coffee 20


• 2 Bunches of Celery 80


• 1 Ramen Noodle Pack 380


• 1 Apple 90


• 1 Orange 85


• 1 Banana 200


• Fresh Salad 100


• Salad Dressing 120

Now for Dinner

• Gatoraid 100


• Beef -or- Spags-n-Balls -or- Fish 1000 cal


• cheese 1000 cal

Yeah, add it all up and weep. About 3831 calories ... roughly 200 over what I really should be scarfing down. I'm going to have to abandon my cheese and beef dinners. DAMN!

Not to leave on a sour note ... I had an interesting discussion with Ghengis the other night. Every other night or so, I'll snuggle with the Tyants when they finally settle into bed (under pain of a set of cold feet on the back at 0300 hours). But I digress. We were talking and I asked him what he thought about the weekend trip to Sesame Place. He was happy with it all, but we a bit miffed that we saw not one Transformer in the place. I was curious about that and asked him where would we expect to see one? He affirmed that on the internet, there is a BOT CON in, of all places, Friggen Rhode Island. I was set back a bit, and countered that he had been to Rhode Island when he was 6 months old and we saw not one Transformer then. He countered that they are to be found in FRIGGEN Rhode Island. My bad, we will look into it when time permits. He is getting this data from a documentary video on the Hasbro site. This year, the conference is in Friggen Ohio.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Weight | Diet | Children | Transformers

Labels: Children, Diet, Gas, Transformers, Weight

Late, late, late. So sorry. Really, cannot you just grasp the visceral experience of my sorry-ness just oozing from the screen? No? Sigh ... okay, yeah. So I've been preoccupied. Let's just skip all that perfidy and get down to the rub, eh? Last Friday, yes. Dodge Ball and swimming ... all good except that the pool heater had been broken all week and by the end of the run the pool temperature had dropped to something just short of freezing. This morning, the ambient air temperature was somewhere around 38F so you can imagine the blue-lip experience I was getting from all that semi-liquid wonderfulness. The kids did not mind one bit though. I cannot fathom how latitudinarian they seem to be about heat or the lack there of. Must be the Minnesota Blood I contributed to their genetic makeup. That, or the nano-bot fusion heaters running about their bodies. Either way, on top of the 'energy death' cold days, it's been raining consistenly all week so mowing the lawn had to be skipped. Fortunately, I scalped the pastoral expanse last week so I could skip this weekend without having to worry about looking for Doctor Livingston in the Darkest Heart of Africa the following week. I need to weed the Haupertonian Agricultural Sector too ... this extended cool period has really been a boon for the leafy greens and pea. Totally out of control! I've been eating salads freshly picked every night for the last week and I've got 10 bins all set up for this week (lunch, dinner). Delish! (no, I'm not stealing this from that faux personality who whores for Dunkin Donuts)

This Saturday, after a rocky start, we got going at 1000 hours for a favored destination ... Sesame Place! Nice and close, about one gallon of gasoline for a round trip. Of course, as noted, we have had a flood recently of a mostly semi-liquid slurry of liquid hydrogen and suspended dark-matter. It was concentrated in the water-based attractions and you KNOW that Attila required me to ride with her on the more vigorous rides. The ducky-ride, one of the favorites, was particularly chilly being the first thing we hit after Ghengis' required visit to the Super Grover Roller-Coaster: VaporTrail. The upside is that we never had to wait for more than 60 seconds to get on ANY wet ride attraction we were interested in. The dry rides took a bit more patience, but nothing out of the ordinary. Tea-cups, Blast-off and Flying Fish were the only lines. All in all, well worth the kidney I had to give up for the season passes. On the way to the Park, we noticed a new restaurant on Street Road just before we got onto the Freeway. It's called Ristorante Toscana 52. I thought we could stop off on the way back home (park closes at 1700 hours) for a quick bite to size the place up. Well, it was absurdly wonderful. A bit more pricey than Carrabas, but a culinary treat of surprising proportions. I think we were lucky to arrive so early since when leaving roughly 1.5 hours later, the lot was overflowing into the street and the waiting area was mobbed. Note to the wise, always arrive early. A brief tirade, but there is no reason to waste bits of your life waiting for food and service if you do not have to.

Sunday, it rained. Slacked about, folded some laundry and actually relaxed a bit. Bizarre, guilty feeling made the whole experience rather uncomfortable. My tendency towards pluripotency when it comes to activities is a hard predilection to rally against. I'm finding that imparting this trait upon my scion is a case of low hanging fruit ... if they are not doing something, they want to help me do something. I dread the day we let them start playing with the Wii. This should help us with the reward points for system usage.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | Rain | Sesame Place

Labels: Children, Gas, Rain, Sesame Place, Swimming, Tang So Doo, Weather, Weekend

I had started this posting earlier, before I was Crushed by the oppressive boot of the universe. I have not a faintest whiff of umbrage that my 'out of scope' activities brought the hammer of the 'Great Economies of Spoon Deficit Spending' down upon my thick skull. I am not extremely parsimonious when it comes to regulating my daily endeavors and this is a long and lowed tale of such an incident.

It had been a fairly dull weekend up till Sunday. There was the usual Swimming/Karate with the Tyrants. The dictate so far is that one would suffer the pain of mortal punishment should we miss Friday Dodgeball at TSD. It was a nice class actually. Jake did as he promised this evening and tried quite hard to be a good little tyrant for daddy. The opportunity to peg his sister with a ball after her harassment in the pool may have been the impetus for that though. Since it was raining all day, I was in no hurry to get home and lounge about. It was laundry day and I had a few loads to take care of. Instead, I cooked 4 fillets of Tilapia and we had a bit of broccoli soup with a side of carrots ... and they finished it up within an hour this time. Gotta love Fish Fridays.

Saturday morning was an early one. Both the Mrs and I had appointments and the Major Medical Complex where I spend way too much time in the emergency room. We both had blood tests but her's was in the Northern most branch of the complex on the 100th floor or something. Mine was in the Lab in the Polar opposite so I hauled the tyrants off, dodging the various organ transport droids and skulking vampires (called Hematologists?) along the way. I had to wait amongst the unwashed masses while the Mrs was fortunate to have her own private sitting room and a bevy of attendants. Harumph. By the time I get called to the blood-letting chamber, the Mrs has finished her procedure and was sitting along with the reset of us in 'stowage class'. Of course, my own fluid divestment went quickly.

With that behind up, we rocketed off to Staten Island for a day-long co-ed baby shower. I'll not deride your sensibilities with the mental torpor inducing details. Long story short, we got home shortly before midnight after much merry-making and child scolding. Sunday morning was the usual with a good measure of lawn-mowing and general yard-work chores tossed in for good measure. I was busily spreading 80lb bags of garden soil about the back-50 to reseed areas exfoliated by the cybernetic hounds and their Agent Orange urine when it hit. That little tingling in the frontal lobe and the small visual disturbances ... like little fairies of light prancing about reality, only visible through a gossamer veil of exhaustion. I had not my wits about me or I would have realized the indicators of my eventual downfall. Flash-forward to the next morning, I was paralyzed with nausea and existence rending storms of grinding suffering. All other ailments were thrust aside as this new fresh brand of hell intruded upon my blissfully perfect life. The next two days were a marathon session of gulping pills and retching till I was finally able to cast off the worst of the symptoms late Tuesday afternoon.

Returning to work, I found myself challenged with piles of work. Added to this was the back-log of personal activities (doctor's visit?) that I needed to deal with. Apropos to the topic, my Talkative and Extraordinarily Friendly Physician had my blood results and noted some anomalies: Cholesterol was just a hair above 200, Triglycerides were through the roof and the HDL/LDL was skewed due to low HDL readings. Peculiar because of my diet and the amount of exercise I get. She referred me to a lipid specialist because of the oddities but we both agreed that since my diet is within standard operating parameters and physical acumen for exercise was above par, no drugs would be useful at this time. Looking down at the site where the last gallon of blood was siphoned off, the buick sized bruise invokes feelings of apprehension should this vaunted expert require yet another sample.

Oh, gasoline ... yes. It's at $3.77USD/g right now. I'm considering the alternatives.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Weekend | Karate | Children | NYC | Migraine

Labels: Children, Gas, Migraine, NYC, Tang So Doo, Weekend

I'm cranky today. Yep, status quo, don-cha know. Spent a good chunk of time in the back 50 waiting for CyberHound Thor to do his business. He spent his time snooting about and generally acting as if he was not entirely interested. He was not, since he completed his daily constitutional exploits the evening before. It was lightly raining at the time and I was out there in my slippers and boxers. CHILLY! All for naught. That set me off on the wrong foot for the rest of the day. I made a few appointments with our Family Physician; one for this evening and one for a week from now. The first is to discuss the various ailments I'm trying to beat into submission ... and generally failing. The back ache, muscle spasms bizarre pain in ribs and that OTHER issue. The following appt is just an annual 'kick the tire' exam. Of course, there is the added fringe benefit of a potential PSA and ... umm, a lower intestinal polyp expedition. Family history and general precautions dictate such an extreme measure. Difficult month, statistically speaking, on the health battle front.

Work is work, swimming is nice (yes, it feels nice to soak in a warm pool) and TSD is starting to tweak me since I have not had an opportunity to start on my next 2 forms since I have been unable to attend the adult class (or focus on much else for that matter). The news about how high gasoline prices is having a secondary effect of slower/more cautious driving habits is interesting. And there is this as well. Okay, that's it for today ... I need to recoup my gruff mannerisms and cantankerous reserves.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Multiple Sclerosis | Illness | Injury

Labels: Gas, Illness, Injury, Karate, Multiple Sclerosis, Swimming

Whew ... that was a close one! Nearly had my 'Curmudgeon' License revoked for having a sunny disposition and all. It's meeting day so I'll be spending my day fending off 'action items' and on top of that, it's the end of the SCRUM Sprint. We need to meet with the Product Owner and the Customer to have a Retrospective about what we have accomplished over the last four weeks. Quite a lot actually, but since we are merely a bug fix team, we are not adding any new functionality. Just reducing Technical Debt. Not entirely glamorous, but I'm a blood-n-guts sort of guy so it suits me fine. We need only let the interested, or captive, parties know that we are continuing to improve product quality and ensure that future efforts will be boot-strapped by our efforts ... then skedaddle!

Speaking of quality and time, the Mrs fell asleep last night while snuggling with the Twin Tyrants of Turpitude. It is a fore-gone conclusion that they will ask for an innumerable number of things to avoid going to sleep every evening: Story-Time, Hugs-n-Kisses, Drink of Water, and as a last resort - snuggles. Now the Mrs is more than happy to comply when she does not have an evening teleconference with her Subversion Agents in the Pacific Rim Theater, but she must have been extraordinarily tired and thusly, was incapable to remain awake till Ghengis dropped off. Now I'm not above indulging the other with similar privileges, but after a night of TSD I tend to stink of sweat, blood and fear. It sluffs off me like a bank of fog rolling up into valleys from a greater mount of volcanic venting. So, in the early morning hours, the Mrs stumbled into the Master Suite and plopped her semi-somatic form into bed, jolting me from my usual light slumber. It took a bit of time for me to reacquire the sufficient calm to return to the dreams of angst I usually spool through. With that, of course, I had a difficult time getting out of the ever-calming embrace of the Mile-Wide Bed. I was running about 10 minutes late and paid for it on the way to work ... the Reading Railroad crossing was occupied by a rather lengthy freight train. So, it took me 17 minutes to get to work instead of 13 ... part of which was induced by missing the 6am Perfect Harmonic Light Sequence. I had to stop at THREE red lights. There goes my mpg rating!

Speaking of gasoline: This. Interesting, eh? And, with that: This. Given that only 25% of existing farmland is actually being used to produce any type of crops and the acreage we ARE using is producing more than ever, all this nonsense about food shortages seems like fear mongering to me. Can you guess what country produces the most rice? How about corn?

Technorati Tags:Gas | Food | Karate | Children | Sleep | Work

Labels: Banalities Work, Children, Food, Gas, Sleep, Tang So Doo

WOOT! Made it in before 0630 today. And I only hit the snooze bar once at 0515. As I was telling CharliePATpk at the 'ass-crack' of dawn, I used to do this sort of thing when I was younger and not a Father. I would get up around 0430, get out of the Haupertonian Keep (apartment) at 0455 and drive a bazillion miles to Wilmington (DE) or King of Prussia (PA) to work out at 0600 for an hour or so. Of course, I would not leave work till 1900 hours or so ... spirited youth - wasted in a sensory deprivation cube. Alas, my motivation now is not to dedicate my waking hours to a career in technology. Now, it is so I can LEAVE work to be with my loved ones as they are released from their mandated institutionalized education ... so I can continue with the education that they really need. Music lessons and fire-arms education are still on the back-burner.

Nothing else is noteworthy. Swimming, TSD, Adult TDS all went fairly well. The Smith Quints were at the pool today and we said hello to them. Cute kids, but their mother looked a bit harried ... go figure. Oh, and gas prices went down 1 cent. WOOT! HUGE GASOLINE MARKET CRASH!!! Yeah, right. Upside of getting on the road early is that I can hit all the lights and not spend so much time idling at red signal lights ... and avoid all the typical fender benders as well. BTW: That photo is of me and a small harem of my cousins on the Fraternal side of the Clan.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | Work

Labels: Banalities Work, Children, Gas, Swimming, Tang So Doo

Another day zipped by and I barely appreciated it. I did decide to take it a bit easier today. You know, give my body a few moments to heal itself so I no longer have to deal with the odd pains or recalcitrant joints. We have that TSD test this weekend and I would like to be able to get through it with a MILD concussion and minor contusions. I left work a bit earlier after hours of back-to-back meetings so with all that extra time, I dropped off the enrollment forms at the New Advanced School for Tyrant Transformation of Warmongering Itinerate Turpitudic Siblings (NASTy TWITS). While in the neighborhood, I stopped by the location where I was going to rent a Tux, only to find that they were open Tues-Sat and not available on Mondays. Gha, same thing with my barber and I dearly need a haircut! Alas, I spent my last $20 on a second responsibility chart for the Tryants. Apparently, one was just not enough for the both of them. I can still see them now, facing off at high noon on a dusty street as the tumble-weeds roll by. Attila, flexing her 'shootin hand' as Ghengis spits out of the side of his mouth, squarely pegging a beetle scurrying over the parched planking of the nearby saloon. She calls out; "Gou-Gou! This responsibility board ain't big 'nough for the both of us. That means someone is out of luck. I'm figger'n it's gonna be you." He retorts; "I dun' think so Moi-Moi, see'n that Daddy just went and shelled out a share-cropper's budget for a second board. It's a looking like both of us are gunna be on the short end of this here stick." And so comes the realization that these gifts were actually a Trojan Horse by which the Peloponnesian Parents War will be won.

The rest of Monday was mostly a hard stinging rain. Like a cow piss'n on a flat rock, no less. I was ahead of the game this time and picked a bowl full of greens from the Agricultural Sector so that there will be enough salad for the next 2-3 days. The Lettuce, Arugula and Spinach are coming in nicely. And so are the peas, tomatoes and beans (both soy and string). In fact, nearly everything is coming up like gang-busters ... including the volunteers! A lot of pumpkin and lettuce is popping up in places I did not expect ... along with some survivors of the 'Great Carrot Massacre'. So, even though temperatures dropped precipitously over the last few days, I believe that we will do just fine in the organic 'delicate green delectables' department this year.

Now for the Gas Report. I did not eat any beans or cabbage, so gas is still up at $3.60USD/g in these parts. The Stimulus Check will not make that an easier pill to swallow (hello, supply and demand?), but at 5 gallons a week, I'll manage. It's the Mrs who is driving the Family Tank V2.0 who is paying the price for what speculators and politicians are doing. Biofuels are making things a mess and they only create more problems the closer we look at them! Of course, they are being blamed for the increased cost of food ... but read this article and tell my why food prices are going up when we are producing more food (minus the slice taken out for ethanol) than ever before!? SPECULATORS and POLITICIANS! Gha ... those two groups vex me daily.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | School | Work

Labels: Banalities Work, Children, Gas, Plumbing, School, Swimming

Well, that weekend went FAST! I got a bit of the mulching done on Saturday before the In-Laws (Mrs MDMHVONPA's Pregnant Cousin and her Husband) arrived. Good thing, I stunk like a barn animal. The two Appointments I had scheduled for the morning were a mixed bag. The AC guy did manage to show up before 1400 hours ... good thing. Cost me 110$ for a recharge for R22 though. At least the manor will be sufficiently chilled this summer should we need it. Yeah, who am I kidding, it's going to be roasting by the end of next month. Then there was the sprinkler guy. He just did not show up. I called and got the answering service who would be happy to relay a message. No thanx. I called this morning and was told that the service guys just did not work on weekends. Hrmmm, then why did we have an appointment scheduled. No matter. I surveyed the situation on Saturday and went down into the meter hole to turn on the system myself. It worked just fine after I managed to get the ball-joint open. All this with a maelstrom of main roiling under my left side ribs. Not sure where it came from, but it has been bugging me for a week and just finally subsided. Perhaps I should not block all those flying round-house kicks with my body. Finally, with the confluence of events this weekend, I attended an early Mass sans Sunday School and stopped off at the local St Judes shop to pick up some gifts for a 1st communion celebration we will be attending this next Saturday. Same day as the TSD test no less. I'll have little time to dicker around with my water barrels as I had hoped and there is still a mount of mulch in the Mile Long Drive that I need to deal with. I may have to take some time off to catch up on all this. I still need to pick up several diverters, spigots, overflow valves and, of course, the actual barrels themselves. With all the rain of late, the Car Wash has not had any surplus to had off. I'll have to ask next weekend in my 'spare time'.

Oh, yes. Speaking of the car-wash, their gasoline is now $3.60USD/g. I heard there is going to be a trucker convoy from NYC to DC today. I hope they can get some attention over the primaries about this.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Karate | Children | Plumbing | Gardening | Plumbing | Family

Labels: AC, Family, Gardening, Gas, Water, Weekend

Plans of men and mice I tell ya. Today is just packed full of deconstructed plans. I usually do not post on Fridays ... mostly because I'm lazy and I'm gearing up to remedy that for the weekend. This weekend, it will rain and my plans to do some gardening and spread out the mulch will most likely not be in the cards.

Now, for my other little wiggly bit of frustration. I was demonstrating to the Tyrants and Mrs the quality of my Top Shelf Grousing when Attila piped up and asked "What are Boxers?". Perplexed for a moment, I went to the closet and retrieved one of the limited pair I had in stock. I'm a tighty-whitey sort of guy so I typically reserve these for use as shorts. Now, having shown her a physical representation of the inquiry, The Mrs was curious as to where she had heard this term. Typically, we refer to such garments as 'underwear' or 'undies' in these parts. Apparently, one of her class mates conferred this knowledge to her. A young man named Sean, and his co-conspirator, Christian. And why did he bring this information to the table, you may ask. This was part of his mode of operations when SHOWING her his apparel of choice. Given how clothing hangs on the gangly frame of a 5yr old, the boxers went southward towards his ankles along with his pants when he dropped trou'. When his brother-in-arms(legs?) saw this, he also demonstrated that he too could participate in the peep-show. So, Attila made a mental note of the 'back of their privates' and informed the Teacher of their exhibitionist ways. Of course, she (Attila) is rather precocious and found that this demonstrations was neither shocking nor some sort of epiphany regarding the physiology of boys. My first thought was something along these lines. It's a little early for me to have to worry about this kind of interference in my parenting plans, don't you think?

Oh, and gasoline is now $3.52USD/g around these parts.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Gardening | Parenting | Sex

Labels: Gardening, Gas, Parenting, Sex