The video is from Scott’s first day of kindergarten. Yes, I know I misspelled “kindergarten” twice in the titles. I usually end up calling it “kiddie garden” anyway.
“Cheese quesadilla!”
Note: The video and still photos were taken with my new iPhone 4. Editing was done in iMovie on my Mac.
Blake turned 2 years old today! Here’s a brief video:
He got a balance bike (like a normal bicycle but without pedals, training wheels, or kick stand) for his birthday. More video of that later.
Tonight we’re going out for a modest birthday dinner. The real party will be another time. Scott’s birthday is one month from today, so they might share a formal party.
At the moment I’m between road trips. The weekend before last we went to AnimeFest in Dallas. It was a good little vacation. The boys stayed home with their grandmother, we met up with some friends at the convention, and we stayed in a nice (though a bit overpriced) hotel. The dealers room and video rooms alone were worth the trip.
Along the way we had supper at El Fenix and lunch at Whole Paycheck – uh, I mean, Whole Foods Market. We shopped at REI twice, once to buy a travel clothesline, and a second time because their big Labor Day sale was nearing its end. I like to visit those places when in DFW. We don’t have them in OKC.
We tested the “wear 1 pack 2″ clothes packing system. Thus the clothesline. It worked pretty well, with amazingly light backpacks, but we learned two useful lessons.
First, bring clothes that can be wrung out and hung to dry without staying stretched out. Second, keep up with the nightly hand-washing if you don’t have a washing machine nearby. We still had clean clothes, but one particular shirt turned out to be dirty when it was needed.
Last weekend was Grand Assembly of Archers. It was a rainy weekend, so we didn’t bother to camp. Shooting arrows in the rain is more fun than it sounds. Next time I want to bring the crossbow.
Later this week we’re driving to Gatlinburg to visit some of Dana’s family. It’ll be a great trip. I already have two audio books lined up for the drive, beyond the usual podcasts, music, and hour upon hour of Dave Ramsey. One is “It’s Called Work for a Reason” by Larry Winget. The other is “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall.
I picked the running book because it comes universally recommended by barefoot runners. I’m not quite one of those yet, but I’ve been interested in the concept since reading Tim Ferriss’s article about his Vibram Five Fingers shoes. (I really want some of those monkey-toe shoes, but I’m still watching for the KSO model to go on sale.)
At least 3/4 of the average day I’m barefoot. I can get away with it because I’m at home with the boys. When we go outside, I just put on my trusty Chaco sandals, or my “real” shoes if we’re going somewhere fancy. They come off again when we get home. I learned this from the Japanese. No shoes tracking mud inside means a cleaner floor.
But after looking into how feet work, I noticed something interesting. I’ve always been clumsy. I trip over carpet, stumble on stairs, and generally clomp around – when wearing shoes. But when I take off the shoes, suddenly I’m much more graceful. I can change speeds in an instant and turn on a dime. “Clomp clomp clomp” turns into an everyday sort of ballet.
How this happens mechanically is simple. With shoes, my feet land heel-toe and lift off again like I’m wearing concrete. Barefoot, my feet usually land towards the middle or the front, and my step pushes off with the ball and toes. Turning, pivoting, or stretching also generally happen closer to the toes. Skin grips ground pretty well, and its sensory feedback lets me adjust posture for balance when the surface changes.
I don’t have think about it very often, it just happens. I go from gorilla to gazelle. Well, relatively speaking. I’m sure compared to any barefoot athlete I’m still clumsy. But it’s an improvement.
So I’ve almost decided that the barefoot or near-barefoot believers might be onto the right idea. If not for running outside, then at least for ordinary walking indoors.
Today I’m going to bake cookies for Scott’s pre-K class. We’re on the schedule to bring snacks tomorrow. Most likely I’ll make oatmeal cranberry cookies. Just start with any oatmeal raisin recipe, use cranberry “raisins” instead, and add some extra. The effect is subtle but tasty.
Today was Scott’s first day in the local public school system. Of course I captured the day on video. As an experiment, this time I put it on YouTube after editing in iMovie.
Can you tell I don’t like it when schools assign homework..?
This morning Scott stood up in front of the church and sang several songs with a group of other kids. It was the culmination of the past week’s Vacation Bible School. The songs had dance and gesture (loosely based on sign language) components. Scott had a great time with the dancing. He loves to dance, the sillier the better.
I figured out something as he waved his arms and spun around with the others. I’ve always wondered, how is it that parents can still be so proud of their children, even after watching them mess up in painfully obvious ways?
Part of it, the part that occurred to me, is that we knew our children back when all they could do was cry and explode diapers. Then one day Junior Thunderpants feeds himself, plants his own bottom on the toilet, and dances around to a song I’ve never heard before.
I’m not just proud – I’m delighted. Of course I expect more, but it’s a great start. Now if we could just get him to wipe himself and put his toys away…
Scott and I have been learning how to make bread. Really it’s not my first try at bread-making. Once, during a summer break in the middle of college, I tried to make bread the old-fashioned way. The end result was inedible pretzel-colored cannon balls that were mailed to a camp in Alabama. Dana still talks about them.
Around the same time, I made a stack of serviceable pizza crusts. It was a lot of work for not much gain.
This time we’re trying a different method. Rather than kneading and rising and kneading and rising ad nauseam, we’re doing it the lazy way.
First mix up some very wet dough. (Scott can help with this.) Let it sit for a couple hours, then put it in the fridge. Next day, carve off a piece, shape it into a ball, let it rest for an hour or so, and bake for half an hour. Cool on a wire rack before serving. Easy.
Results? Chewy crust, good flavor, dense texture. I’ve had worse from actual bakeries. The yeast packets had expired two years ago, so today I’m trying again with fresher yeast. Maybe it’ll rise better next time.
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Earlier in the week I had my first accident with the antique double-edge razor. I was doing a late night shave and shower, and was a little tired and distracted. I didn’t notice that the razor’s twisty knob was a tiny bit loose, causing the blade to be a little wobbly. Thus I got a few cuts, one of them bad enough to still be noticeable several days later.
For a few days I allowed my face to recover, using my electric razor to ward off the homeless look and applying neosporin as an after-shave lotion. Then I bravely got back onto the metaphorical horse – this time making sure the dang knob was tight enough. No problems since. Really, I’ve had cuts from modern disposable razors that were almost as bad.
Double-edge and electric razors make a good team. The blade does a great job, if used correctly, but it works best in the middle of a hot shower. The electric is better for a quick touch-up when I’m in a hurry. Both are useful.
In a little while we’re going out to dinner. Father’s Day ya know. I hope the restaurants aren’t too crowded.
Vacation Bible School started today. Scott is going this year, and Dana is helping the teachers. The theme is life in ancient Rome from the perspective of early Christians.
For a few hours it’s just me and the baby. Blake loves to play by himself, with no big brother to interfere. Especially if he gets to watch Baby Signing Time too.
So far I’ve shaved with my 1960 Gillette five times. I’ve already learned a few lessons:
1. Always use shaving cream for every pass, including touch-ups. This might also help with more recent blade designs.
2. Put as little pressure as possible on the razor. Let it do the job under its own weight.
3. Lock the door in case a certain 4 year old barges in and starts talking. Distractions cause blood loss.
I think the first blade might be dull enough to be replaced. No problem, there are nine more in the dispenser.
Last Friday I picked up another double-edge razor from a garage sale. Here’s a picture:
It’s a Schick Krona, which seems to be a close copy of the Gillette Super Speed from the 1960s or 70s. I haven’t completely figured out its history yet. The black handle resembles a Pentel mechanical pencil from the early 80s. It came with a plastic storage box, one new blade in a dispenser, one used blade (ew), and a very brief instruction manual.
The sellers were happy to get rid of Grandpa’s old razor for one dollar. I’ll have to visit garage sales more often!
I haven’t decided if I want to keep it as a spare, offer it as a gift to a worthy relative, or resell it for a profit. It mostly depends on what else turns up.
I mentioned last time that shaving goes back to Roman times. Or earlier, if you look at Egyptian writings and ancient cave paintings. Yet when I wanted to try a shave from an earlier era, I chose a method that dates back only about a hundred years. Why?
Until the safety razor came along – it was invented in the 1800s and made practical shortly before WW1 – people used straight razors. The exact design changed over the millennia, but in essence it was a very sharp knife. Could you hold a dagger to your own throat and hope to remove only hair?
Some men can do it. Me, not so much. It’s on my to-do list. Maybe next year.
Throughout the straight razor era it was common in cities to visit the barber for a shave. The barber was a trained professional. He did thousands of shaves every year, and knew how to do it right. All of the customer’s friends were there for a shave, too. It was practically a social forum.
Wives sometimes shaved their husbands. Rural aristocrats had their servants do the shaving. Country boys and mountain men just grew beards. All of that changed with the safety razor and do-it-yourself shaving.
I’ve been thinking about trying an authentic barber shop. Not for a shave, but for a haircut. Last time I went to a real barber, about 10 years ago, he talked at length about the importance of forming long term relationships with customers. We were only on our first haircut together, so it was a little creepy. Never went back.
Those who know me might be thinking: “Charlie has a beard. Now he’s talking about shaving. Oh no!”
Don’t worry about it. Since last summer I’ve been wearing a goatee in summer and a full beard in winter. Even with a “full” beard, my neck still needs a shave.
I like the goatee though. It makes me look several years younger.
Somehow the “Blazing Saddles” movie theme has become an official bedtime song. He rode a blazing saddle, he wore a shining star…
Last Friday Scott finished two weeks of swimming lessons. The goal this year is to teach him not to be afraid of the water. The first few days, when asked how he did, he said: “I went under the water. I didn’t blow bubbles. I cwied.”
After that he did much better. On the last day he even went down a long twisty water slide!
Swimming is on a long list of skills that I want my boys to know before turning them loose as adults on an unsuspecting world.
This past week I started a part time contract programming job. One month, part time, work mostly from home. The problem to be solved is very interesting, but I’m not allowed to tell you about it. Non-disclosure agreements and such.
It’s around 9AM. Breakfast is a big bowl of natto and jasmine rice. Scott is playing Word World online by himself. He has mastered the web browser and trackball.
Scott has been potty training for the past month. This time we’ve had much more success than before. The trick was to bribe him with marshmallows to sit on the little plastic toilet. Then we gave him stickers for actually relieving himself. After enough stickers, he got a small toy from the surprise bag. (The bag and toys came from souvenirs that my mother brought back from vacation.)
Now Scott is very good at peeing. In fact, he can “Pee Like a Man” standing up. Dribbles aren’t much worse than grown men do in public restrooms.
Pooping… Not so good yet. We’re working on it.
For lunch we’re going to Crescent to visit my dad. Scott stopped the game and at this moment is painting watercolor masterpieces for gifts. Scott knows all about painting, thanks to preschool.
Later we’re going to a book store. I’m going to look at books from Dave’s reading list. We have a discount coupon and some Christmas gift cards. Dave said to always look for a bargain…
Baby Blake is growing quickly. He loves to smile.
Time for showers. Then we start moving circus in the general direction of the car.
A pink eye plague is upon us. Scott got it last Saturday; over the past few days the rest of us have been getting it too. Eye drops and 3 year olds don’t mix gracefully.
So what have we been doing for the past two months?
When Blake was almost 2 weeks old we went to Alabama for his great-grandmother’s funeral. In a way he was named after her. Her name was Ruth Blake, but many simply called her Blake. She was 98. We really wanted to say goodbye in person.
Unfortunately, due to my inability to take a quick shower, we missed our Friday morning flight. The next flight was Saturday. We got to that one on time, but thanks to a series of screw-ups on Delta’s part, we ended up stuck in Atlanta. Our baggage with all of our nice clothes (except for my suit which I was wearing) was lost in the gorilla pit.
Only two Delta employees in the entire airport seemed to be worth keeping on the payroll. One tried to prod the baggage handlers into action for several hours. The other one finally just advised us to forget the suitcase, hop into our rental car, and start driving the rest of the way to Ft Payne. And so we did.
The rest of Delta’s employees generally were liars, bureaucrats, and loafers. We got to observe them doing nothing of value for hours. I was very disappointed to learn that the tornado a week later didn’t smite the Delta baggage claim area.
We missed the funeral, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. But at least we had supper and breakfast with the living. Baby Blake met his grandparents and various cousins. Our luggage caught up with us back in Oklahoma City.
I’m not entirely sure that we would have made it to the funeral even if we had caught our original flight. That morning a large storm developed over Cincinnati, our connecting city. The next day the news channels showed the city buried in snow. That was one of the reasons we couldn’t get a later Friday flight — everyone else was rerouting through Atlanta too.
A few days later we drove to Pueblo CO to stay a week with my sister in law. It was a long, tedious drive that proved the value of an XO loaded with movies. But we were delighted to have more time with family. Scott and his 1 year old cousin Cassie got along fantastically well. At one point we overheard Scott telling her to get the car keys; they were going to take Baby Brother and “get out of here”.
In the middle of the Colorado trip I flew by myself to Connecticut for a cousin’s wedding. It went well, the bride was radiant, the groom was less of a doofus than average, and the food was very good. I had some long conversations with family.
Of course the flights coming and going were subject to many delays. There was a sudden snow storm in Colorado Springs on the way out. That made me miss my connecting flight in DFW. But unlike the idiots at Delta, American’s employees were friendly and actually knew what they were doing.
The next flight to Hartford was booked solid. So they sent me through Raleigh-Durham. At that layover there was another delay due to air traffic control. But I got there eventually.
On the way back there was another delay in DFW, causing me to arrive in CO around midnight. I used the opportunity to play a frugality game; I arranged for a very nice supper for less than $5. Not bad for an airport. My Palm and iPod kept me entertained.
Thus I wore my brand-new suit in 8 states in less than 2 weeks: Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Colorado, Texas, North Carolina, and Connecticut. I learned important lessons about the value of packing light and using only a carry-on bag.
We got home in time for Easter. Scott’s birthday was a few days later, along with an evening at the circus the next weekend.
Soon after was the Medieval Fair in Norman. Our soap ‘n scarves booth did better than last year. We had 5 or 6 extra adults and 1 more baby staying at our house every night for almost a week. I didn’t know our bathrooms could handle that many people.
Dana’s mother was here for a week. Half of that overlapped with the fair guests. She had a lot of fun playing with her grandsons. My kitchen was only slightly reorganized.
Last Saturday we celebrated my grandmother’s birthday and grandparents’ anniversary. Most of my mom’s side of the family met for supper in Kingfisher. Scott seized my camera and ran around taking pictures. It was a great evening, except for Scott’s sudden attack of eye snot.
And now we have pink eye.
Baby Blake peed into his own ear a little while ago…
We’ve been doing a lot of traveling while Dana has been on maternity leave. More about that when I have time to sit and type.
Today is Scott’s third birthday!
