Obligatory Katrina post

I'm not sure if I'm glad we don't have cable TV. The broadcast channels are only showing a few helicopter shots during the first 3 minutes of the nightly news. Most of my knowledge of what's going on in the Gulf coast is coming from the internet and there is just so much heartbreaking news that it really is easy to get overwhelmed. Every now and then you just got to take a break from the images and play with the kids.


Some of the news I have seen on TV showed the looting that's beginning in New Orleans. It's real easy to be disgusted by that kind of behavior. During a time of great suffering there are some folks that take advantage to grab whatever they can get hold of. It is disgusting and it is sad and it isn't excusable but it is fathomable.

Lisa and I bought our first house in April of 1996. It was a small 2.5 bedroom house built in the 1940s with sidewalks and streets lined with Live Oaks. It really was a nice little neighborhood, certainly had seen better days but still enjoyable. Probably best described as quaint. One of the little quirks it had was the power lines all ran through peoples backyards. Nearly all those backyards had 70+ year old trees shading them. While those trees were beautiful and great for tree swings, when Hurricane Bertha came through in July of that year they ripped out the powerlines like they were spiderwebs. Almost all of Wilmington was without power but the lights came on in neighborhood after neighborhood over the next few days. By the end of a week 90% of the town had it's power restored. That really doesn't sound so great when you are in that remaining 10%.
July's are hot here. Hot and muggy. When your town is filled with debris and you have to wait in line for ice and traffic is still a mess because of standing water in some places and you're playing phone tag with your insurance company and the bugs!...

Immediately after a storm when you see the destruction and you and your family are okay, you are thankful. A week later when everyone else is getting their lives back together and you're laying in a pool of sweat on your floor around a battery operated radio for a moment of distraction- those thoughts of thankfulness seem pretty far away.

Power was getting restored at this point street by street and in some cases house by house. Not too far from our place, part of one street got it's power back and the repair crews left (either to get more equipment of to get some much needed rest). Apparently it was too much for somebody on the side of the street that didn't get his power back. He grabbed his chainsaw and took the newly repair pole down, returning the whole street to darkness. If he didn't have electricity, then to hell with it all, no one else will. The gentleman was rescued from angry mob that were his neighbors and allowed to spend some nights in a well air conditioned and padded room at a local mental health facility.

I'm sitting in an air conditioned house, with a fridge full of food and electricity to power all the distractions that it brings. My children are happy and I know where I'm going to sleep tonight. I don't excuse those who are breaking into others property (but hey, if I'm starving and the local grocery store is filled with food that is just going to spoil-I wouldn't hesitate for a second). I understand that the lawlessness that looting brings invites even more chaos that will get even more people killed. But I try not to judge too quickly when it isn't my life that has been completely turned upsidedown.

And in case you couldn't find it, here's a link:

So I was talking to Wes Clark today...

well not in person but he's answering questions over at Talking Point Memo Cafe. This morning I posted a quick question about what Iraq might look like if we do "stay the course" and I took a look this afternoon and Yep, he responded to my question.

I have no doubt there are a few (misguided) folks who don't share my views on politics. But I have met Wes Clark in person and he is the really does get it. If you listen to him speak, you know this is a guy who knows what he's talking about. One day he's on Meet the Press, the next he's answering my questions. Nice to imagine somebody out there actually listen to the average American. He'll be there all week I think so if you want his thought on something drop him a line.

If you want to read any more on him, check him out here.

Some good news

As of Sunday night I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of bad news going around so how about start your Monday morning with a bit of good news.

"Americans get more of their antioxidants from coffee than any other dietary source. Nothing else comes close..." Dr. Joe Vinson, University of Scranton (Pa.)

According to a study presented at 230th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, Coffee, base on the amount of antioxidants per serving and frequency of consumption beats out all other source. Yes, dates have the most antioxidants per serving but nobody really eats them so they don't count.

So drink that cup of joe. At least you can enjoy something.

Holy Sh*t!

"I don't remember seeing conditions as favorable as this for a strengthening hurricane for a long time," National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield said Saturday."

Having been through a few hurricanes, there is an element of excitement involved. Maybe it's like watching a thunderstorm and enjoying the sheer power of nature. There are times when hurricanes can be cool.

But not this storm. This is the kind of storm they make bad movies about. 160mph 175mph winds, 25ft storm surge hitting a place a few feet below sea level....The people in the path of the storm (which by the way is forecasted to still have tropical storm force winds up through central Kentucky -has Kentucky ever been under a tropical storm warning?!) our thoughts go out to you.

The economic havoc this storm is going to may easily dwarf Andrew. New Orleans has some major ports where a good bit of imported oil arrives (fill up on gas now). Plus the idea of the 35th largest US city being underwater just seems sort of costly. Good thing our economy is going so great huh?
For an idea how bad this could be, read this. Makes you sort of sick to your stomach when you read things like "Ninety percent of the structures in the city are likely to be destroyed by the combination of water and wind accompanying a Category 5 storm."


Fitting that today is the 13th anniversary of hurricane Andrew

Can I start a wish list?

That last post about having everything we needed? Yeah, scratch that okay? Everybody could pitch in and get me one of these.




thanks, you guys are the best!

Our Sappy Tradition

I mention that Lisa and I recently celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. It really doesn't seem that long ago. Part of that I suppose is that I'm losing my mind due to lack of sleep and chasing the girls all day. But more than that Lisa and I just get along really well. Does it take some work? Of course. Do we have our ups and downs? Certainly. But it isn't a lot of work and the ups far outweigh the downs.

I came to the realization years ago the secret to a happy relationship was threefold:

• Be okay with yourself.
• Find someone who you are a better person with.
• Find someone who is a better person with you.

That's my little bit of wisdom. It's tough to make that into a pop-psychology relationship guide but it's all I got.

We're also pretty simple, laid back people. We share similar taste into many, if not most things. (I'm going to make many guys out there jealous; Lisa can't stand chick flicks and would rather get an Xbox than a piece of jewelry. How could a guy not be happy). We aren't much the maudlin type. So when our first anniversary came around we asked each other what we wanted and both agreed we we're pretty happy already. (Plus we weren't exactly swimming in the money, so a trip to Paris didn't even enter our heads)

So we decided since we had a full year of happiness that to celebrate our anniversary we'd do something nice to share our happiness with a perfect stranger. I won't go into the details (part of our tradition is that it remains anonymous) but I'll say it wasn't anything extravagant or life changing but just one of those things that hopefully brought a smile to some strangers face.

Every year since then we've tried to pick some way to share a bit of the love we've enjoyed over the years with someone else. Each year we've tried to spend a little more on our random kindness and we try to find a way to do some good while we're at it. We figured we've already gotten our gift, why not spread the happiness?

So, for all of you well wishers, Thank you. But we've gotten all the wishes we could ask for (save Publishers Clearing House to come by). Instead, do us a favor and spread a smile to someone who can really use it.

Oh well

I had such grand plans for yesterday. Lisa was home sick for the day but still available to make sure the girls didn't get into any major mishaps. I could have caught up on all the chores around the house, gotten ready for Gramme's visit this week, done some yard work- I might have even had a chance to take a nap if I tried.
Of course none of that happened.

One of the few things I did plan on doing yesterday I actually accomplished. One of the folks at Lisa's office had a dead PC and I agreed to take a look. Helena being the curious and helpful person she is really wanted to join in. I certainly wasn't comfortable with her learning to be a PC technician on someone else's computer. I did however have one of ours old PCs open as a test bed.
Well order the t-shirts now


How many four year olds out there can change out a CPU?


At this rate she'll be building her own computer within a year.
Being a nerd with difficulty throwing stuff out has turned out to be a blessing.

Busy day at home/Slow day at Blog

Lisa is home today with a headache- I certainly hope the girls don't end up with her sinuses- so I have and extra set of arms/eyes to help, even if they're attached to someone in pain.

I'm actively trying not to make any more posting today's, there are too many things to do while I have some help. So read through the old posts, mark my guest map and visit my links.


Forgive my excitement about the Googletalk, it seems that many of the other IM programs have voice chat. I'm a complete newb when it come to IM. That and it was late. and I have the hotz for everything google...
But if you're running windows 2000 or windows XP and have a gmail address, go ahead and download the Googletalk client. There is some actual thoughtful commentary here.

Google talk

At times I may have an unhealthy love for all that is google. And it is only Google who drag me into the world of instant messaging.

If you have a gmail account download the messaging client here.
If you don't have a gmail account, why the heck not? Send me an e-mail and I'll get you one.
Chat away.

-----

Hold the Presses!

It ain't just a messenger client...

1. What does Google Talk do?

Google Talk is a downloadable Windows application that enables users to quickly and easily talk or send instant messages to their friends for free. Calls are made through your computer using the latest voice technology; all you need is an Internet connection, a microphone and a speaker. If you don't have a speaker or built-in microphone, you may want to consider buying a headset, which will also provide the best voice quality when using Google Talk.
(more here)

Okay, if grandparents want to talk to the girls, sign up quick!

Just what every parent needs!

Who has time for a full nights sleep?

In an article in the research journal PLoS Biology, Dr. Sam A. Deadwyler and his associates propose that CX717 would particularly benefit individuals affected by extended work hours or night shifts.

And those of us who can't seem to find the time to get to bed at a decent hour.

Rainy Day...

We certainly aren't anywhere close to the nearly 10 feet of rain that Black Mountain has had in the past 12 months but we're stuck inside as the sky has opened up and from the looks of it we'll be inside for the whole day.



The girls are enjoying the rare treat of watching Sesame Street. In the meantime I'll take a break from the normal posts concerning critters in the yard and the girl's cute adventures for a moment of philosophical pondering.

"Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum puto."
-Terence

For those who don't know Latin or don't want to take the moment to cut and paste into google, it means I am a human being; I consider nothing human alien to me.

That's an idea isn't it? Especially for someone like me hooked on blogsurfing. There is a lot of weird stuff out there. Really weird stuff. And no matter how screwed up the people are who are into it- they are still people. I'm not arguing everyone's ideas are equal or that there aren't actions that are just plain wrong. Just consider that we are all just people.
Just something to keep in the back of your head when you happen by some strange website or see a news story about a suicide bomber or hear your neighbor complain.

Just a thought.

Even more wildlife pics!

We've found members of the class of Amphibians and Arachnida in our yard so I guess it was just a matter of time before we had got some pictures of our reptilian neighbors....



It's not like we live out in the the middle of nowhere. I suppose when you let the weeds overtake maintain some natural habitats in your yard you're bound to see some crtitters!



Of course sometimes we don't have to even go into the yard to find some wildlife.

Oh I forgot!

Our good friends the Parris' have joined bloggerdom. Lois promises to explain the world of letterboxing to all. Please harass her until she does :)

I've also changed the link format and added a few. The list will certainly grow as I stumble across other blogs of interest in my habit of clicking next blog.

I've also added a guest map if folks would be so kind as to add a push pin at their location. Just the general location if you'd please, but you can zoom right in a find your street.

I may add more today but perhaps not. Tonight is evil nerd night.

A new addition!

The Schutte House has become just a bit more crowded recently as Helena now has her own new pet fish.




On Saturday we picked up Baity the betta (also known as a Siamese fighting fish or Betta Splenden if you're a real nerd) at Petsmart. He's happily brightening our living room. Now that Megan is doing more and more and (getting into Helena's stuff) I thought it would be nice for Helena to have the big girl responsibility of caring for her own pet. Plus it keep her from terrorizing caring our cats.
I have to admit Baity is not her first fish. Last week in the bowl that Baity lives was Goldy. The loss of Goldy was in no way Helena's fault. And the goldfish that was in the bowl before Goldy, Goldy I (no of course she didn't really call the first fish Goldy one, but when it was replaced she didn't want to give the new fish a new name) death also was not caused by Helena. I'm not going to blame a four year for someone else's mistake. No, the death of the first two fish were Elmo's fault.

For those without young kids, Elmo the Sesame Street character has a pet fish Dorothy who lives in the good old fashion type fish bowl. A couple of weeks back I cleaned out the giant glass bowl we had collecting junk and filled it with water and the girls and I headed to the pet store and picked up a basic gold fish. We also got a little bag of gravel and de-chlorinated drops (we aren't amateurs here) Everything was set up and well two days later Goldy was dead. Helena was saddened at the loss but heartened that we would get a new fish in a few days. Another trip to the pet store and a week later...Another four year old heart broken. The first loss we figure was due to picking up a sick fish. Those large pet stores are terrible at providing health fish especially when you pay only $.19 for a feeder goldfish. Goldy II was came from higher stock $.25 I think, but the results were the same so we finally did some research.
Elmo it turns out is full of crap.
Goldfish generally cannot live in an unfiltered tank smaller than Five gallons. Even at five gallons you're crimping their style.
So after cleaning out the fish bowl again, Putting in nice clean (de-chlorinated) water, we brought Baity home. Helena is thrilled to feed him his food and in a few months she'll be ready to take over the water changing duty.

Unless of course we have to make another trip to the pet store...

Eleven Short Years ago

Has it really been that long? The calendar says it has so it must be true. Tomorrow is the eleventh anniversary of our wedding but today is also a special anniversary, the anniversary of the 'rehearsal' dinner.
Early on in the planning of our nuptials Lisa and I decided to forgo the tradition fancy dinner after the rehearsal and instead have something much more informal and relaxed so that our families and our friends to all get to know each other. It seemed to us a wedding wasn't just the joining of two lives but of two families. And what would be more fitting than a pig-pickin' in the park?

So while tomorrow we'll celebrate the 11 years we've enjoyed together, today we'd like to remember and salute the wonderful family we joined that day. Over the years you've been there to share in our happiness and struggles and far too often we get caught up in our own lives and have neglected to let everyone know how much you really do mean to us. To the family and friends that were with us at the park on that day and to the new bonds we've made over these joyful years, thank-you.

Much Love


Tom and Lisa

a sad day

I'm one of those terrible people who listens to public radio but never donates during the ever increasingly frequent fund drives. Yes, I'll listen someone else can pay the bill. I know, I'm a bad person.

Today is Jemila Ericson, our local morning announcer, last day on WHQR. She has a gentle, soothing voice that can brighten even the most dreary day. Almost like the female version of Garrison Keeler.

Best of luck Jemila in your future endeavors. Mornings won't seem quite as sunny without you.

Word Verification for Comments

We've just introduced the option to require word verification for comments. This option (off by default) gives bloggers a tool to prevent the automatic creation of comments by nefarious ne'er-do-wells (e.g. spammers).

Features like comment captcha and flag as objectionable are not complete solutions to the problem of spam. But they are additional tools that can help address it.

Well some good has come from staying up late tonight!
Let me see you Spamment me now you spamming spammers!

To bed before 11?

Ha!
Megan who slept much of the day, is now up and peeved that she wasted much of her day.

At least her fever is down.

TGIF!

What it isn't friday yet?


Tuesday night we had some friends over being nerdy (I'll have them sign waivers and post some pictures) and enjoying a few glasses of wine. "A few glasses" converts to almost four bottles worth between the five of us - we finished off the remains of the wet sock merlot. Not like I was going to pour it out, it's not like it was Papio or something.
After we finished gaming and the gang headed home, I decided to spend a few minutes with the xbox before calling it a night. A race or two on Burnout3 turned into a dozen or two and suddenly it was approaching 1AM and the girls do not sleep in mornings.
The alarm rudely blares out at 6 and again at 6:10 and again at 6:20 when we finally drag ourselves out of bed. Megan nurses and Helena begs to watch Zoboomafoo and Tom and Lisa wish they could both call in sick. No such luck for us though and Lisa heads off to the daily grind and I ready myself for a day with the girls (coffee does wonders).
Normally the girls are a joy. They both have pleasant temperaments that even when I'm sleep deprived and mildly hungover the days go by to quickly (the sleep deprived is common the hangover isn't). Those that remember their high school literature class will recognize the previous sentences as dramatic foreshadowing.

Megan now that she is fully mobile and can do so many things by herself is developing a true sense of independence. She knows she can do things now. She wants to do things now. She wants to do everything now. She wants to get into everything. Ev-er-y-th-ing. The dishes, the books, the cat food, the laptop, and worst of all Helena's toys. A fourteen month old with a developing sense of independence and a four year old with a strong sense of possession sometimes make for a bit of tension but I'm becoming a master at the art of redirection. So on a normal day it all goes well. Even on days I'm running at a quarter speed we manage. When you toss in a day with a 92 degree temperature when it's too hot to burn off some energy outside, it gets a bit tense. You throw in the typical infant sniffels and fever well you just resign yourself to a bad day.
Megan started out just little on the clingy side but by the end of the day she was a full blown arms baby. In fact today she's running a temp of 101 and content being held - she's still drinking well and eating some so we aren't worried enough for a trip the Doctor's yet.
Helena of course grew increasingly resentful of the attention Megan was getting and while she never had any outright tantrums or got too belligerent it was certainly not her best day. Of course it didn't help that I started the day tired and feeling like I had a head full of hammers.
But we get by. I would have vented last night here on the blog but we had a terrific thunderstorm that took our cable out for much of the evening. So instead once the girls were asleep I veg in front of the TV watching The Office marathon and
Entourage. Then it was late enough that I might as well stay up for the news and again I didn't get in bed before 11:30. Megan got us up a little before 5am (yes we did get to go back to sleep for another hour afterward but I'm looking for sympathy here okay?) and instead of 90+ temperatures we have more thunderstorms threatening. But Lisa took Helena out to McD's at lunch today and as long as Megan is being held, she's satisfied. So as long as tonight I get to bed before 11, I'll be set.

of course that'll never happen.

We're infamous

Last night I mentioned I was looking for little add-ons for the blog. One of the things I happened upon was a visitor tracker using Google maps.

I added the script to the page but didn't check out the results until this morning.

What the...?



Head over here for updates.

I suppose there are others out there blogsurfing as well.

Adventures in plural

Helena loves to give the cats their treats in the morning. Of course she over does it but hey you expect to have to remind a four year old every now and then, right?

She had put a dozen or so Pounce treats on a chair for our oldest cat Obsidian and had him reach up to get them. I noticed how many she gave him and put most of them away. But Sid left one of the pount up there until Helena showed it to him.

Yes pount.

Makes perfect sense. 2 Pounce, 1 Pount.

She cracks me up.

I've been doing some behind the scene work on the blog trying to find some nifty content to add like the word of the day stuff but I keep getting distracted. You see I've gotten hooked on clicking on that Next Blog button. I say I'm doing it to see how others have their blogs set up and maybe that's how it started. But I now feel compelled to post comments on other folks blogs. It's a sickness right? Some of those bloggers have been kind enough to reply back so as a thanks here's a few links because what every blogger wants is traffic right?

• Heidi's Daze
• Crashing the Waves
• Chasing Butterflies
• In the Blink of an Eye
  

Their blogs are at least as interesting as this one (No really that was meant as a compliment)

But the search for insta-content proved unsuccessful at this time so I suppose I'll have to actually post stuff that's actually going on around here. Oh well

In that vein, let me share a few quick tidbits
Bella Sera Pinot Grigio for someone who doesn't like white wine is surprisingly good. The Merlot from the same vineyard taste of wet socks.

The girls are being very helpful around the house as you can see



Megan has learned how to make a kissy face and a real kiss sound (she's know how to make a face for months)



And finally, Ed don't look at this either.

Good night Irene

And we don't want to see you in the morning.

Looks like we missed another one there. Unfortunatly we haven't even hit the peak of the season. From the storms we've gone through in the past I think the worst part is (aside from the real threat of death and destruction) after the storm has passed and you're out of power and AC. Why can't storms be scheduled to hit when it's cooler outside?

Don't forget

We're still in Hurricane season.
Next week may prove interesting.

And now that this particular storm is gone I thought everyone would enjoy this litte Googlemap widget. If you want to why we're interested in whats brewing in the tropics check this out.

Helena got me

Had to add another post this evening before catching up on sleep.

You may have noticed the Word of the Day on the left side of the page. I've been trying to prep Helena for the verbal section of the SAT (it's never too early is it).

This afternoon at snack time I was telling her how the prefix in- change the meaning of words like visible something that can be seen to invisible something you can't see and divisible something that can be broken up to indivisible something that can't be broken up. She humored me a paid a bit of attention.
This evening at dinner I tried to get her to show off for Lisa. bad idea. I asked Helena as she was getting the silverware out about prefixes like mal- and in-
and how they changed words and asked her to tell Lisa what indivisible meant.

Honestly she said:

Stop talking about that. I don't want you to tell me that. Papa you are being very garrulous.

I guess that answer the question of whether she retaining any of these new vocabulary words.

Back to blogging!

We have a functioning monitor again (thanks neighbors!) and our friends the Parris' have returned home so we can get back into the swing of things here.

First the pictures...





As you can see we finally made it too the beach this year. Megan only ate a couple of handfuls of sand. We really had to keep a watch on her to make sure she didn't run right out into the ocean- not that we would have like just ignored her otherwise.
Helena had a great time as well. She actually let Lisa take her out into the surf.

During their stay with us the Parris' introduced us to the hobby of letterboxing. Are we the only ones who have never heard of it?

That explains it!

Way way long ago I remember my nephew Anthony as a toddler of maybe 2 years old trying to get into a tiny car. Like a matchbox type car. He open the door to it and tryed to put his foot in. It was quite funny. When Helena was about the same age (egads! more than a decade later!) we laughed as she tried to ride down a tiny toy slide that came with her 'little people'
It seems kids just don't get the idea of scale. Or so I thought. Turns out the problem it's a bit more complicated.

Scientific American: Mindful of Symbols [ PSYCHOLOGY ]
On the way to learning that one thing can represent another, young children often conflate the real item and its symbol. These errors show how difficult it is to start thinking symbolically

Helena's Night Out

I know that it's every girls right of passage, but I wasn't ready for Helena's to be so early. No, no, no...I am not talking about That...my goodness she is only 4. I mean, I know they're starting early, but...

No what I am talking about is "The Sleep-over". Some very brave folks, parents of a former school-mate of Helena's, asked if Helena would like to come and spend the night with Anna (their daughter who is also 4). Anna has an older brother, Dillon. Dillon thought it was horribly unfair that Anna should have a guest, so his parents (Greg and Jenn) agreed to let him have a friend over.

As I have noted before, Helena is a little tentative regarding most new things in her life. So, while she was excited, I suspected we would be receiving that late night call.

The day of adventure arrived. She got all of her stuff packed into a backpack, grabbed up her sleeping bag, and we all left to take her to Anna's house. While Tom and I were talking to Jenn about schedules and foods, Helena came running up to us and said, "It is time for you to leave now. Goodbye." and then she ran off with nary a hug! Well, we felt well and good dismissed; we said our goodbyes to the hostess, and left.

Not sure what to do with ourselves and not wanting to get too far from the phone, the rest of us headed for home. We spent a quiet night at home, too quiet. I didn't realize how much chatter is produced by our 4 year-old until it was missing. I guess it just sort of snuck up on me. She made it - all night and no call. I think she was less nervous than her parents - seems like we just kept asking ourselves, "What do you think Helena is doing now? Think she is having fun?"

Helena, on the other hand, was not being quiet.


She and Anna had a tea party (with real milk in the teapot).


She played on Anna's swing-set.


She jumped on the "jumpoline".


Ate dinner.



And the next morning - Beach!