Thursday, April 16, 2009
Three Times is Enemy Action
by Tom Bozzo
Well lo, this morning I took a ride after dropping the boy at school and the new one broke in the same damn place! We may ride a lot, but this is getting ridiculous; chains and tires may be consumption items when one puts a couple thousand annual miles on one's bike, but frames?!1! This time, at least, it looks like it might be fixable.
It was all worth it though when John announced, as he was buckling his helmet this morning, that going to school by bike was "better than driving" because it "saves electricity." Well, close enough.
Last year, John's chaser broke (irreparably, as it happens) at a joint that allows the long neck that connects its frame to the hitch to fold for easier non-bike transport. A lifetime frame warranty being what it is, it was replaced with minimal grumbling from the company that put its trade dress on the frame — this being the roaring zilches, the actual manufacturer is some unnamed Chinese factory making the bikes under contract.
Well lo, this morning I took a ride after dropping the boy at school and the new one broke in the same damn place! We may ride a lot, but this is getting ridiculous; chains and tires may be consumption items when one puts a couple thousand annual miles on one's bike, but frames?!1! This time, at least, it looks like it might be fixable.
It was all worth it though when John announced, as he was buckling his helmet this morning, that going to school by bike was "better than driving" because it "saves electricity." Well, close enough.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Friday Preschooler Extra: Self-Portrait by Julia
Thursday, August 21, 2008
We Own This on VHS, I think
by Ken Houghton
So I have no idea what to make of this, spotted in Wal-Mart in La Salle yesterday:
Yes, the title as shown is Benjamin and the Green Knight.
Rosie owns, and is very fond of, this which—save for the name of the title character—appears to be the same film.
I suspect "Hey, it's Franklin/Comin' over to play" won't make as much sense if you think the character's name is Benjamin.
The theme song to the show—at least as broadcast in the United States—was written and is sung by my favorite Christian Canadian.
So I have no idea what to make of this, spotted in Wal-Mart in La Salle yesterday:
Yes, the title as shown is Benjamin and the Green Knight.
Rosie owns, and is very fond of, this which—save for the name of the title character—appears to be the same film.
I suspect "Hey, it's Franklin/Comin' over to play" won't make as much sense if you think the character's name is Benjamin.
Labels: just life, Kids, My home not native land
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Theoretically Still Here
by Tom Bozzo
Anyway, since some of you actually do come for the pictures (and aren't Flickr pals), a variety from the last few weeks is after the jump.
Regular readers will be shocked to know that John got a fair amount of LEGO for Christmas, and I got a fair amount more at after-Christmas sales. Were I to forget who's the main audience for the toy, John's eagerness to build has actually managed to test my limits. Still, the Diabolical Plan (make your hobby into your kid's obsession) is on track:
Julia, meanwhile, has added some girlier pursuits to the keep-up-with-big-brother repertoire. Here, she entertains while guarding the container-full of ponies that will gallop out if Obama does really well in today's voting:
...and, for Xtin, she gets in on the foot-blinging action:
...and at the Brandywine River Museum, she warily eyes a critter that's fortunately made out of plant material:
...from the same outing, for Dr. Hypercube, here's "Boy With Hawk" by Charles Parks.
So what have I been doing? In part, I've been working on the railroad (after a fashion). I know that Madison-Chicago train service wouldn't quite be at the standard of the BNSF's business cars, but it would be swell all the same.
...about as much of the car as I could get without being hit by the trucks buzzing around the yard:
...yours truly, with colleague, onboard:
...out the back window of the William B. Strong, passing a double-stack train in the dark:
That's all for now!
Of my New Year's resolutions, the Frequent and Timely Blogging one hasn't been going so well. Sad to say, my blogging time has been squeezed on both ends of the day by the Three Horsemen of the Blogocalypse: work, bedtime, and kids — not necessarily in that order. Also, iPhoto (v5) on the G5 decided to crash on launch just before the holidays, making even pictures of the kids difficult to post. A partial photo library transplant solved the problem enough to allow me to resist the call of a new computer for another few months.
Anyway, since some of you actually do come for the pictures (and aren't Flickr pals), a variety from the last few weeks is after the jump.
Regular readers will be shocked to know that John got a fair amount of LEGO for Christmas, and I got a fair amount more at after-Christmas sales. Were I to forget who's the main audience for the toy, John's eagerness to build has actually managed to test my limits. Still, the Diabolical Plan (make your hobby into your kid's obsession) is on track:
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 |  |
Julia, meanwhile, has added some girlier pursuits to the keep-up-with-big-brother repertoire. Here, she entertains while guarding the container-full of ponies that will gallop out if Obama does really well in today's voting:
...and, for Xtin, she gets in on the foot-blinging action:
...and at the Brandywine River Museum, she warily eyes a critter that's fortunately made out of plant material:
...from the same outing, for Dr. Hypercube, here's "Boy With Hawk" by Charles Parks.
So what have I been doing? In part, I've been working on the railroad (after a fashion). I know that Madison-Chicago train service wouldn't quite be at the standard of the BNSF's business cars, but it would be swell all the same.
...about as much of the car as I could get without being hit by the trucks buzzing around the yard:
...yours truly, with colleague, onboard:
...out the back window of the William B. Strong, passing a double-stack train in the dark:
That's all for now!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Sunday Two- and Four-Footed Children Blogging
by Tom Bozzo
Meanwhile, John brought home his very first homework assignment from preschool!
Fascinatingly, John loves Milo for pretty much the same reason he loves us. Plus, it's the time when the beast is in search of cozy napping spots indoors:
(Cat, not actually red and green.)
Today was one of those crisp November days in Wisconsin that just makes you think, "Aw shucks, four months of f***ing Meteorological Winter is ahead of us." The kids were having none of that, and instead took turns pushing each other on the swing now hanging from one of the pine tree's lower limbs.
Meanwhile, John brought home his very first homework assignment from preschool!
Fascinatingly, John loves Milo for pretty much the same reason he loves us. Plus, it's the time when the beast is in search of cozy napping spots indoors:
(Cat, not actually red and green.)
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Saturday Preschooler Extra: Birthday Season
by Tom Bozzo
Julia came home from preschool on Halloween wanting to be a princess. Oh, joy.
She turned 3 a couple weeks ago (here, shown with Not Mom).
"How time flies" bonus! Julia at 0:
...and John:
Getting sprung from the hospital was the best birthday present of all for John.
Julia came home from preschool on Halloween wanting to be a princess. Oh, joy.
She turned 3 a couple weeks ago (here, shown with Not Mom).
"How time flies" bonus! Julia at 0:
...and John:
Labels: Kids
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Wednesday Preschooler Extra (Bring Me the Hair of Han Solo Edition)
by Tom Bozzo
John is ready to dive in.
- Our hair! Our luxurious '70s hair!
- Could be worse...
- "Chewbacca?" Dat's a funny name.
(Not shown: Julia 1, Darth Vader's TIE fighter, 0.)
Still busy...
John is ready to dive in.
- Our hair! Our luxurious '70s hair!
- Could be worse...
- "Chewbacca?" Dat's a funny name.
(Not shown: Julia 1, Darth Vader's TIE fighter, 0.)
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
First Days of School
by Tom Bozzo
Julia's eagerness to get to school this morning outstripped the shutter speed (thanks in part to pre-rain overcast):
The first day's drop-off reportedly went without a hitch, which is not a given for the toddler class. Good job, sweet pea!
Today is the first day with both kids in preschool at the same time. John started yesterday, and with the big 0-5 coming up, is apparently Big Man in Lunch Bunch:
Julia's eagerness to get to school this morning outstripped the shutter speed (thanks in part to pre-rain overcast):
The first day's drop-off reportedly went without a hitch, which is not a given for the toddler class. Good job, sweet pea!
Friday, August 10, 2007
But what do they think of TtfTE?
by Ken Houghton
The lump of labour specificity raises its head in a second post today:
This implies:
And just this year, the State of the Union cited Baby Einstein founder Julie Aigner-Clark as "represent[ing] the great enterprising spirit of America."
Damn the consequences, full steam ahead!
Via Reuters, (h/t Marc Andreessen):
For every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants aged 8 to 16 months understood an average of six to eight fewer words than babies who did not watch them, Frederick Zimmerman of the University of Washington and colleagues found.
The lump of labour specificity raises its head in a second post today:
"The results surprised us, but they make sense. There are only a fixed number of hours that young babies are awake and alert," said Andrew Meltzoff, a psychologist who worked on the study.
"If the 'alert time' is spent in front of DVDs and TV, instead of with people speaking in 'parentese'-- that melodic speech we use with little ones -- the babies are not getting the same linguistic experience," Meltzoff added....
"Old kids may be different, but the youngest babies seem to learn language best from people."
This implies:
Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute who worked on the study, said parents frequently asked him about the value of such videos.
"The evidence is mounting that they are of no value and may in fact be harmful," Christakis said.
And just this year, the State of the Union cited Baby Einstein founder Julie Aigner-Clark as "represent[ing] the great enterprising spirit of America."
Damn the consequences, full steam ahead!
Labels: Bushonomics, education, human capital, Kids
Monday, August 06, 2007
Dialogues of the Preschoolers: Will Millions Now Living Ever Die?
by Tom Bozzo
[Scene: The author and son ride along S. Segoe Rd, heading in the direction of Hilldale.]
J: [Jabbering away unintelligbly while riding the chaser] Daddy, how old will you be when I'm [unintelligible]?
D: How old will I be when you're my age? Well, let's see... [tries not to crash bike while doing simple arithmetic]
J: NO, not when you're MY AGE, how old will you be when I'm 200?
D: [Pause] I'll be 234, big guy.
J: And Julia will be one hundred and ninety... eight.
D: That's right. [*]
----------------------
No, I wasn't ready to talk about mortality while out for a ride, or even to suggest that in 2202 I'd expect to be 234 in the same sense that William Henry Harrison, Thomas Brisbane, or Louis Philippe are (or will be) this year, or for that matter to break it to him that the oldest person ever (so far [**]) lived to be 122-1/2.
[*] John has mastered the equation y=x-2, which solves the problem "how old will Julia be when I'm x."
[**] Needless to say, Biblical accounts to the contrary are taken as fictional.
Or, the album title that keeps on giving.
[Scene: The author and son ride along S. Segoe Rd, heading in the direction of Hilldale.]
J: [Jabbering away unintelligbly while riding the chaser] Daddy, how old will you be when I'm [unintelligible]?
D: How old will I be when you're my age? Well, let's see... [tries not to crash bike while doing simple arithmetic]
J: NO, not when you're MY AGE, how old will you be when I'm 200?
D: [Pause] I'll be 234, big guy.
J: And Julia will be one hundred and ninety... eight.
D: That's right. [*]
----------------------
No, I wasn't ready to talk about mortality while out for a ride, or even to suggest that in 2202 I'd expect to be 234 in the same sense that William Henry Harrison, Thomas Brisbane, or Louis Philippe are (or will be) this year, or for that matter to break it to him that the oldest person ever (so far [**]) lived to be 122-1/2.
[*] John has mastered the equation y=x-2, which solves the problem "how old will Julia be when I'm x."
[**] Needless to say, Biblical accounts to the contrary are taken as fictional.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Sunday Preschooler Extra: Butterflies!
by Tom Bozzo
The kids did get into some butterfly-related program activities, though we thought it was pretty odd that this board makes it look like the Very Hungry Caterpillar is after Julia.
A few more pictures after the jump, or head on over to Flickr for even more.
Two sides of a Peruvian butterfly, still iridescent after 81 years:
Ready for takeoff:
Zebra stripes:
On the Great Ice Cream Hunt (collect stamps in the outdoor gardens, get a cone of Michael's Frozen Custard):
Sylvia Beckman's bronze "Spring," now surrounded by peak summer vegetation:
The "look only with your eyes" message didn't quite stick (monster at the bridge to the Thai Garden):
Butterfly bush, minus the butterflies:
Post-butterfly treat — less of this was worn than you might think:
Back to the Marginal Utility main page.
Regarding the Blooming Butterflies extravaganza at local treasure Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Madison Guy says, "Be sure to bring a camera. You can't miss." It's true!
The kids did get into some butterfly-related program activities, though we thought it was pretty odd that this board makes it look like the Very Hungry Caterpillar is after Julia.
A few more pictures after the jump, or head on over to Flickr for even more.
Two sides of a Peruvian butterfly, still iridescent after 81 years:
Ready for takeoff:
Zebra stripes:
On the Great Ice Cream Hunt (collect stamps in the outdoor gardens, get a cone of Michael's Frozen Custard):
Sylvia Beckman's bronze "Spring," now surrounded by peak summer vegetation:
The "look only with your eyes" message didn't quite stick (monster at the bridge to the Thai Garden):
Butterfly bush, minus the butterflies:
Post-butterfly treat — less of this was worn than you might think:
Back to the Marginal Utility main page.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Wednesday Preschooler Extra: No Nap 'Til Brooklyn Edition
by Tom Bozzo
Later, I got home and broke out the 45 of the 1988 Kylie Minogue cover, produced by the notorious Stock Aitken & Waterman. (Whatever happened to them? I assume The Wonder Stuff didn't get their way...)
Here's Julia on the new, er, dance floor downstairs.
Julia has been without nap for three days. Suzanne reports that this has made her, far from a 2-3/4-year-old terror, "manically adorable." She broke out a Carole King songbook this afternoon, and the kids spent much of it in the a/c doing The Loco-Motion.
Later, I got home and broke out the 45 of the 1988 Kylie Minogue cover, produced by the notorious Stock Aitken & Waterman. (Whatever happened to them? I assume The Wonder Stuff didn't get their way...)
Here's Julia on the new, er, dance floor downstairs.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Friday Preschooler Extra: Progress Edition
by Tom Bozzo
The source of inspiration? Trader Joe's juice boxes.
This was a "look what John's doing" moment. Fortunately the camera was handy and the batteries were charged:
The source of inspiration? Trader Joe's juice boxes.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Sunday Preschooler Extra: Independence Day (Late) Edition
by Tom Bozzo
Here's Julia, in fabulous party dress (thanks Nina!), waiting for the neighborhood Independence Day bike-and-trike parade to assemble:
John is not so much into mugging for the camera these days. We takes what we can gets:
Julia, in patriotic late-day outfit, has no such inhibitions:
Teh Management has received complaints that the kids haven't showed up on Teh Blog in a while. So here are a couple of pictures from 7/4/07.
Here's Julia, in fabulous party dress (thanks Nina!), waiting for the neighborhood Independence Day bike-and-trike parade to assemble:
John is not so much into mugging for the camera these days. We takes what we can gets:
Julia, in patriotic late-day outfit, has no such inhibitions:
Friday, May 18, 2007
Dialogues of the Preschoolers
by Tom Bozzo
"I'm the fastest runner in the world!"
"I'm bigger than you, Julia!"
"I can count higher than anyone!" (Though that's currently informed by a preschooler belief that the positive integers stop at 161.)
This can get annoying, but we did get a laugh this morning's installment:
"My shirt is prettier than Julia's!"
John has been saying stuff that makes us wonder if he's got a surge of testosterone or something:
"I'm the fastest runner in the world!"
"I'm bigger than you, Julia!"
"I can count higher than anyone!" (Though that's currently informed by a preschooler belief that the positive integers stop at 161.)
This can get annoying, but we did get a laugh this morning's installment:
"My shirt is prettier than Julia's!"
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wednesday Preschooler Extra
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Whatever happened to parental invincibility?
by Anonymous
Q: Tell us who wins ...
J: OK, I will.
Q: ...and then tell us where you came in.
J: I'm off to play poker.
Q: Tell us who wins ...
J: OK, I will.
Q: ...and then tell us where you came in.
Labels: Kids
Friday, January 26, 2007
Santa's Back-Order Elves Save the Best for Last
by Tom Bozzo
(A lucky shot, given shutter lag on the old digicam, even though iPhoto refused to recognize the red-eye.)
...Julia bonus:
Tramampoline!!1!
(A lucky shot, given shutter lag on the old digicam, even though iPhoto refused to recognize the red-eye.)
...Julia bonus:
Labels: Kids
