154 posts from 2007

Marilyn had to go in to work today -- bummer!

Took the foil off the turkey and turned the oven up to 350. Delicious turkey smells soon permeated the house.

Alex woke me up with a call wanting to know if he could come over. I said sure. Six hours later he, Karen, and Sierra arrived. By that time Kerry had called wondering if I could watch Pooh for a few hours while she and John saw a movie. I okayed that too, so shortly after Alex+ arrived so did Pooh. We had a nice afternoon. Karen scarfed down about 1/4 of the turkey before she and Daniel headed out to do heaven knows what.

A dizzy spell struck about 1630, so I was pretty well shot for a while.

John called around 1820 and told me not to eat supper, followed anon by their arrival with sushi. Oh, YUMMY! I scarfed down all I could beg, cajole, or plead for. They also brought some slices of double chocolate cake. More yummy.

I started editing some pictures and quickly found Pooh on my lap wanting to see herself as a baby (now that she's reached the advanced age of two). Some of the pictures were of last Christmas. Boy has that baby grown!

The house emptied itself about 1915. Soon thereafter Marilyn arrived and we started cleaning off the DVR.

Soon to bed.

Pooh arrived in due course. Kerry was upset because, having taken Tuesday and Wednesday off because she was sick, and Thursday because Pooh was sick, she had to go to work. The upsetting part was that Johnathon's school was having an awards ceremony and Johnathon was getting awards.

Pooh and I ran up to the base for some meds for me and then, after lunch, wandered over to the school for the ceremony.

Johnathon received awards for:
    Good Citizenship
    Perfect Attendance
    A-B Honor Roll

In addition, his class won the P.E. and Music awards.

I took a bunch of pictures. After Johnathon and his class came down from the stage, Pooh went over to stand beside him. He reached out and rubbed her back, and then pulled her up next to him, where she sat for most of the rest of the ceremonies. That sure was cute.

After the ceremony John checked Johnathon out and took him out for a treat, while Pooh and i returned to our sanctuary (home). John arrived about 1645 to pick her up.

Not having had enough turkey on Thanksgiving, I put one on to roast. I start the turkey (which is frozen solid) at 180 degrees and cook it all night. The next morning I turn the temperature up to 350 until the indicator pops. I get a moist, tender turkey with skin that is perfectly browned and crispy.

By the time Marilyn got home around 2130. No programs tonight.

Show us a good time.

Look at the picture on my profile. I just can't imagine a better time!

Well, first off let me advise everyone that the nap yesterday seems to have been an aberration rather than a new norm, although I didn't really try to get Pooh down. Instead, we were playing on the floor until around 1500 and I decided that was too late to start a nap since Daddy would be arriving around 1630 for his baby.

But we did have a nice day (see playing on the floor, above), both in the toy room and upstairs. We have a set of hard-paged Winnie the Pooh books, and i guess i must have read them to her 4-5 times over the day. She sure loves being read to.

Daddy did arrive about 1630, and that was the signal for Pooh to accept getting ready to leave. When she went outside she squealed "Daddy," and watched him add transmission fluid to the truck. It is so great that she loves her daddy, and he's pretty taken with his baby too.

I worked on a few things after Pooh left; then after Marilyn got home we watched an episode each of "Moonlight" and "House." ASTB.

There are always a bunch of new TV shows -- trial runs to see what will be the next "Law and Order" or "Friends." Most of these shows I cheerfully ignore. For example: anything remotely resembling a "reality" show is off my radar. Any program that claims reality while recording the event with cameras should be referred to the Hawthorne Effect. Anyone who believes the situations contrived by the producers are in any way, shape, or form related to reality must be from another planet.

Another sure sign I won't watch is any comedy show with a trailer that isn't funny. Trailers are supposed to show the best of the program. If the best of the program leaves me flat, think I'm going to watch it? Not a chance.

There are, however, three new shows that I decided I'd try. They are: "Chuck," "Moonlight," and "Reaper," programs that promised something different from the various forensic-based shows.

The premise of "Chuck" is that a typical geek worker at an electronics store has his brain implanted, through some unexplained process, with all of the intelligence secrets of the U.S., which data has been erased from everywhere else. As a result, Chuck is assigned two rival operators for protection, one from the CIA and the other from the NSA. These operators are former lovers as well as rivals, and Chuck pretty quickly falls in love with the woman, much to the delight of his family who are glad he has finally managed to find a girl. Certain events trigger the information in Chuck's brain, which plays out in a series of flashing images that he then relays to his protectors. They turn Chuck into an involuntary, and totally inept, operator.

The premise was cute and the first two shows were fairly entertaining. However, a formula has developed where Chuck has to decide which of the two operators to trust in a given situation. Since he's in love with the girl, one would think he'd tend towards her, but various things, some highly improbably, cause him to question her. In addition, inept Chuck seems to be the better at getting the team out of trouble.

It was cute in the beginning, but unless the writers discover some new situations it's going down the tubes at mid-season.

"Moonlight" is a vampire story. Mick is a vampire and a private investigator who tries to keep predations on the human population to a minimum. For his own nourishment he keeps a supply of instant people, transfusion bags, at the ready. He also investigations murders he suspects are caused by vampires -- all while trying to stay in the background.

Again, this program started out pretty good, with good dialog and even a bit of humor. The humor has pretty much evaporated. More problematic is that Mick must be the worst P.I. ever -- he's constantly behind the power curve and even with his vampire strength and speed has trouble defending himself. Rather than solving the mysteries presented, the show seems to have devolved into a soap opera with Mick and a young female reporter as the stars.

Not good enough to keep.

"Reaper," on the other hand, has promise. Not that this means it will survive. A young man's soul has been sold to the devil by his parents before his birth. When Satan appears to him on his 21st birthday, he's advised that he's expected to "reap" souls for the devil.

This program is saved from mediocrity by the dry humor injected by the writers. Of the three, this is the closest to being a winner, but I doubt if it has the legs for a long run.

Still raining off and on. Noticed that since, when we covered the pool for winter, we failed to place cover pump, cover is now small lake. We'll have to attend to that.

Pooh arrived and we had a wonderful day.

Around 1400 decided that perhaps the study (where Pooh naps) might be too bright. Hung a blanket over the window. Moved the crib from in front of the window to the corner of the room. Put Pooh down about 1415. Pooh went to sleep.

Sigh of relief.

Called Karen. Advised her that we were two weeks into Pooh's two-ness, and when was she going to start picking up the baby around 1500 as we had agreed in September. She said tomorrow. Wednesday is a bad day for her because of Awana (Alex) and bell choir (Karen).

Asked Kerry via email who was getting Pooh. She had arranged time off. Told her that Pooh was napping and that she could want 'til 1800 if she wanted, but she was aiming at 1630.

So about 1645 she arrived with Johnathon. Pooh was still sleeping, but it had been 2.5 hours so Kerry got her up. She didn't want to go with Mommy, but finally said "Bye,bye" and left peacefully.

Marilyn home at usual time and we watched an episode of "Moonlight."

ASTB.