Fetafilter

Big decisions

2012-01-12T22:28:00.006-05:00

I have not posted here for way too long, so I thought I would share a big upcoming decision in my existence for some input from the vast Fetafilter audience.

The background story: Raymond finally wore his computer mouse out slaying thousands of computer generated foes of all sorts. As he could not be without a computer for much more than a few minutes before turning into a jellyfish, I gave him the mouse from my desktop compy. It's a reasonably nice if somewhat pedestrian Microsoft wireless optical mouse with back buttons and side scroll. Ray likes it. That of course left me with no mouse, so I dug up an old Logitech MarbleMouse (TM) trackball that I had and put it on my desktop computer. Now don't get me wrong, I like the MarbleMouse quite a lot and used it for years. It has lots to recommend it. However I now often tend to use my desktop computer for CAD type stuff, and find a trackball a bit tedious and limiting for my style of work.

So now I am faced with choosing a new mouse for my computer. This is a big deal. I am sort of particular about computer mice and have had lots of them. On my laptop I use a Logitech wireless Anywhere Vx mouse with Laser Darkfield technology. I have grown to consider this the current pinnacle of mouse development. Awesome tracking, even on a clear glass surface, thanks to the Laser Darkfield technology. Great (selectable!)feel to the scroll wheel and a decent, thought not overdone, number of assignable auxiliary buttons. The battery life is very long and you can turn it off by closing a little door on the bottom that covers the laser window. It has a nice solid feel and is well constructed. Add in the tiny USB receiver and this is a winner. By far the nicest mouse I've ever had. A tad pricey but worth every cent. Sort of sleek looking to boot.

So the obvious thing would be to just get another Anywhere Vx with Laser Darkfield technology and put that on my desktop. And that was what I was initially thinking to do. Then I get this email from Logitech. It is offering me the chance pre-order the new logitech Cube(TM) portable mouse/presenter mouse. More about it here:

CUBE MOUSE!!!

Hmmm, small lightweight, rechargeable, touch scroll and lift it off the table and it becomes a wireless presenter for controlling power points and the like. This is most interesting. I could get one of those for my laptop and transfer my current Anywhere Vx with Laser Darkfield technology to my desktop. This looks so cool. But it this what I actually want? I don't know! What to do? Such a conundrum. I am a bit hesitant to order without actually handling it, but they DO offer a money-back, no questions asked guarantee. The smallness is a bit of a concern as my hands are not real small. But the new-and-coolness, along with the clever multi-functionality sort of call out to me.

Oh how to decide?

Shakespeare- Macbeth, Chaz Style

2012-01-12T13:28:00.003-05:00

Homeschooling is a bit different when the college students are on winter break...

Καλά Χριστούγεννα

2011-12-24T09:27:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas.

Trip to the Higgins Armory

2011-12-17T20:40:00.013-05:00

A hidden treasure in central Massachusetts is the Higgins Armory.

We've made a few trips to the museum and renewed our membership again today.

They have renovated a room into interactive space for kids. The boys tried out their strength at archery.

This is only one of numerous stained glass windows. This one depicted "David slaying eight-hundred".

The highlight of my day was a gingerbread castle competition. After I get my photos off of Alan's camera, I'll post some of those. All these pictures were taken from my iTouch so the quality is poor.

Decorating for Christmas

2011-12-10T09:44:00.006-05:00

Blogging is now my Job

2011-12-08T12:22:00.003-05:00

I was recently selected to be a blogger for Lowell General Hospital in conjunction with the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center. I have just started this fall and am finding it fun and interesting. I have met some new moms in the area and have made some new friends on Facebook. I receive a stipend which isn't bad either (everyone knows I haven't earned a paycheck since the early 90's).

Here's the blog- please check it out and don't be afraid to comment. We're trying to get things rolling and the public interested!

Merrimack Valley Moms

Indian Summer

2011-12-05T14:54:00.004-05:00

It was too nice out to stay indoors. Teds and I headed to Veteran's Park.

The day was 65 degrees and spectacular.

My poor Black-eyed Susans are confused. They think it's time to bloom...

Thanksgiving Turkey 2011

2011-11-24T22:30:00.000-05:00

2011-11-23T08:53:00.003-05:00

I just took all the pictures off of my memory card in my camera. Teddy has been using it for the past few weeks creating Lego Bionicle videos that he wants to post on YouTube and become famous by. I haven't taken much notice as to what I took off the cards - 4 gigs each time and I've done it four times (that's 16 gigs of hard drive space GONE on my computer), but this morning I noticed this gem that Teddy took. I know my kids always looked like this; somewhat disheveled, oddly matched outfit, and toting the most ragged of stuffed animals, but I didn't think it would pass down to the next generation! We don't call Amelia "The Ham" for nothing.

2011-11-21T21:59:00.001-05:00

I just realized, thirty years ago today Alan put an engagement ring on my finger.

Wood pile

2011-11-20T07:36:00.002-05:00

Amelia scrambled to the wood pile and said, "Say cheese, Daddy, say cheese!". She wanted Mark to take her picture.

Mark captured this wonderful picture.

In case anyone is wondering, that pile is two cords of wood, which will be added to the three already in the wood shed. Winter, you don't scare us!

Amelia Stays at Yiayia's House

2011-11-13T08:15:00.004-05:00

In years past, PlayDoh was the bane of my existence. This week I am enjoying tiny lumps of hardened blue Playdoh scattered around the house by Amelia. It's different being the yiayia'.

When Amelia insisted on using the plastic utensils that she had been cutting up Playdoh with to eat her lunch, I said,"okay!". It's different being the yiayia'.

2011-11-10T10:23:00.001-05:00

Elias Carroll Van Der Hyde
Born 11/09/11

at 10:45 am
9 lbs. 9 oz.
22"

A miracle blessing.

2011-11-05T13:28:00.001-04:00

Why is waiting so hard?

Waiting for my next grandchild to be born....

Waiting for a diagnosis for Ray....

The Ham in a Cow Suit

2011-11-02T11:55:00.004-04:00

Amelia's grandparents from Virginia sent her a cow suit. It is only fitting seeing that they are from Van Der Hyde Dairy in Chatham.

She seems quite happy sitting there with Uncle Ray, but she could only sit for a minute. That cow suit makes you run!

Snoctober 2011

2011-11-01T16:37:00.006-04:00

We were woken up on Sunday morning at 12:01 am to tremendous flashes of blue light and the always horrifying sound of a massive electrical short circuit. I have heard that sound many times (on a smaller scale) in our power engineering labs in college. I personally cannot hear it without a grip of terror...always wondering if someone was between it and ground. In this case, no unfortunate persons were involved.

This is the power line right up the street from us and where the zapping took place.

Alan made the best of things, hooking up the generator to our house and also the neighbors-in-law next door. We had all the necessities especially the internet! Everyone was wired so we all were able to communicate with each other via email throughout the various rooms in our home. This helped to minimize the family time around the wood stove that most other families in the Merrimack Valley had to endure. We probably had ten extension cords woven throughout the house with numerous hubs of outlets; wires of all various lengths, thicknesses , and colors haphazardly snaking across the floors.

I think I took a screen shot at least every hour from my iPod of the National Grid Outage Map. Here was a good one which showed lots of yellow! We were inside the yellow area for 52.5 hours. We truly had no reason to complain. Our generator has now found a new home over at my parents' house, and hopefully will have a good rest after this is all said and done.

My family and friends are going to hate me, but the GFS 12Z futures map shows another storm heading our way around the 15th.

Roses in the Snow

2011-10-28T16:46:00.000-04:00

This could happen at our house, only with a frozen beaver...

2011-10-22T08:37:00.002-04:00

Hmmm...

World Population to hit Seven Billion within the Next Few days

2011-10-16T08:02:00.001-04:00

Poodwaddle.com

Note to self...

2011-10-12T15:39:00.001-04:00

And to anyone else who reads this:

The next time you get new tips for your acetylene torch in the mail, try to make sure that you are not standing under the heat detector for the fire alarm when you test the largest one. Both the torch tip and the heat detector seem to work great.

Update before Year's End

2011-10-07T21:43:00.005-04:00

Hi Holly! I posted this so my blog would be updated just for you! Here's my 1/4 Greek granddaughter, Amelia, grooving to the bazouki!

Amelia was wearing a strange contraption; one of Tessa's t-shirts with an elastic band tying it together in the back.....fashion maven of the family.

You can see by this picture what I'm talking about:

Another recent glimpse into our strange world is probably the last time I'll have my remaining four children who are still living at home, together with me at the pediatrician's office. They were waiting for their flu shots, and Charlie was a bit peeved at having to sit in front of the "Mr. Bunny goes on a Train" wall mural and wait with his siblings. Last year he got his shot at the U Mass medical clinic. I think this picture is a riot:

Lastly, I'll post a picture I thought was cool. This is Ray and Teddy crossing a bridge here in Lowell. Ted was scared to death of the height. I was scared to death of the bum that was heading in our direction crossing from the other side of the bridge and being trapped in the cage with him....anyhow, we made it out safely.

Is it just me?

2011-01-12T22:16:00.005-05:00

So we just finished watching the tribute to those hurt and killed by that nutcase in Arizona who decided to shoot a bunch of people at a congresswoman's public meeting. It was a fitting thing to do, memorialize the dead, offer prayers for the wounded and praise the brave people who risked their lives to put an end to the killing. It was the sort of thing we expect after a terrible event, probably the sort of thing we want and maybe need. Lots of inspiring words, solemn music and moving symbolism. As I said, I certainly think it an appropriate thing to do.

That said, we seem to be slipping a bit in the symbolism department these days. Maybe we just have no sense of the subtly or depth involved if we want such symbolism to have any real meaning or even just "work." All politics aside, tonight at this memorial there was lots of inspiring speech. Janet Napolotano read from the book of Isaiah. Attorney General Eric Holder read from the book of Mark, prefacing his reading by saying that he could never hope to come up with words nearly so profound. President Obama quoted Job and several other Bible passages. And he spoke of the greatness of America and of Americans, and the greatness of the ideas that make this country up. I agree with all of that. Good job.

The ceremony closed with a majestic musical piece accompanied by a choir. As soon as the music was done the crowd began to get up, and what do the organizers of this event start blaring through the sound system? John Lennon singing "Imagine." Read the lyrics of the first two parts below.

I'll leave it to you to spot the multiple ironies:

Imagine there's no Heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace

My friend's daughter, Caleigh Plunkett, recited the US Constitution from MEMORY! All 47 minutes of it!

2010-12-27T08:43:00.003-05:00

CHRISTMAS COOKIES 2010

2010-12-24T12:59:00.000-05:00

" Ted Eating Breakfast" 5/09

2010-12-20T10:06:00.002-05:00

Sent to me via Cassie- A must- post

2010-12-10T20:29:00.000-05:00

Ye Olden Days

2010-12-05T08:17:00.004-05:00

Picture: Spring 2002

While discussing with the kids the earlier years of the Anganes family we got on the topic of bedrooms. Everyone now has a comfortable bedroom alone, or in Ted and Ray's case, to share. I reminded Ted that there was a long time (until Cassie was seventeen) where five of the kids shared one bedroom, and Ted was in a laundry basket in my room. Charlie remarked that once one kid got sick, the bug went rampantly through the other kids in a matter of hours because of the tight quarters. Teds remarked, " Just like on the Mayflower!" I was in hysterics over that remark when Charlie said, "No, the Mayflower was less crowded."

Who colored on the calculator?

2010-11-22T20:43:00.000-05:00

God's Awesome Creation

2010-11-19T06:12:00.000-05:00

Up Close....

Hong Kong Confirms Human Bird Flu Case

2010-11-18T08:41:00.002-05:00

Everyone who knows me well, knows I have a fear of birds. It all started with those nasty seagulls.....but anyway, here's something in the news that's going to haunt the back of my mind this winter. Don't say I didn't warn you:

Hong Kong Confirms Human Bird Flu Case

Buy shares in hand sanitizer stock. They're going to skyrocket.

the last of the roofing projects

2010-11-16T09:07:00.002-05:00

Leftover, to remind me of the re-roofing projects consisting of Cassie and Mark's house and our porch, are five roofing razor blades found at the bottom of my washing machine. I'm glad I still have all ten fingers.

2010-11-14T14:56:00.000-05:00

“The whole entire world is a very narrow bridge….and the main thing is not to be ruled by fear.”
–Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, 18th century Ukranian Hasidic mystic

Time to get my flu shot.

2010-11-12T11:29:00.002-05:00

Ground zero: A woman with a hacking cough pushing a shopping cart full of holiday napkins through The Christmas Tree Store.

Money doesn't buy you Common Sense

2010-11-09T09:06:00.003-05:00

2008 election: Horrid orange pantsuit.

2010: Hillary wearing the same orange pantsuit.

Roofing and other Manly Things

2010-11-02T09:01:00.002-04:00

Cassie and Mark needed a new roof. Since everyone in this family is "hands on" and also "cheap", it was decided that the roof would be done by the extended "staph" at Fetafilter. After being in the renovation business for eight years, a roof on a ranch style house is not really a daunting task for Mr A, just time consuming when he is already working a full time job. Thankfully, the weather has cooperated this past week and things rolled along smoothly (except for the carpenter ant damage/ repair that slowed things down a bit). We had friends and neighbors pitch in and help on a couple of days, but the true excitement to this whole project was the fact that Teds, now nine years old, was allowed to be on the roof and help.

There is always a point in my son's lives where I have to shut off the "mama" switch and let my boys be boys. This happened when my boys started skateboarding, flying, hunting, splitting wood, using knives, driving, and all the other boy activities that make me worry. I had to not watch Ted walking back and forth over the roof, climbing the ladder, and swinging his hammer. I worried and then shut it off. This was a big event in Teddy's life. He was one of the guys. He braved the freezing wind just because he liked his new grown-up status. He pitched in and truly was a big help. You can see Teds in the video I posted, in the blue hooded sweatshirt, pulling out nails; happy as a clam to be freezing on a roof with his dad and brothers.

In a side note, yesterday Cassie took Ted to get some new work boots. Teds clomped through the house all day, wearing those manly boots and scuffing my floors :-)

More than I cared to know.

2010-10-27T21:28:00.004-04:00

It's been a while since I posted some general nonsense, so I thought I'd toss this out here. This all happened a few months back but I stumbled on some emails concerning the whole affair, and thought I'd share.

A bit earlier this year, I posted a box of assorted homeschool books on the local Freecycle group. Books like these always seem to be in demand and these were all things we either no longer needed or had been given to us by others and could not use. Once the word went out, I got a bunch of replies, and offered them to someone who arranged to pick them up in a few days. I sent one of the later responders an email stating that the books had been promised to someone else, but if that fell through for some reason, that they were next in line. They replied with a message that simply said "Thanks!" Now if that was all they said, this would not be a very interesting story. The interesting part was the way the message was signed. It said:

Dianna
Cloth diapering, extended breastfeeding, sewing, homeschooling and AP mama to a 12 year old, 6 year old, 5 year old and 2 year old. New baby boy july 2009

(The name and some details have been changed to protect the odd)

This was a bit more than I needed to know. And the "AP mama" part was escaping me. I had no idea what that meant. So at my wife's suggestion I turned to our favorite source of current cultural knowledge and forwarded the email Cassie and Mark for a translation. As always, Cassie knew the answer and provided me with the following guidance:

"Oh yeah, and AP is that "attachment parenting" thing where mothers wear their kids in slings all the time and do cosleeping and take communal showers and all that jazz. So your child always feels "secuuuuure" and "safe" and sheltered from the storm with mom and dad spooning them to sleep. "

Yikes. I'd never heard that term before. Neither had Sue, but she figured (correctly) that Cass would know. I guess we are way out of the hardcore homeschool loop these days. Who would have guessed that there is such a benign label for such bizarre behavior? And it is truly amazing that this woman feels the need to announce to a total stranger not only how many kids she has, but their ages, what she collects their waste in, how she schools them, her hobby, and the fact that she nurses them way past when she probably should. Never mind all of the "AP" nonsense. And all because I offered to give her a box of books. Imagine what I might have learned on a 30 minute ride on the train or something? The mind reels. I've gotten mildly, though mostly silently, intolerant of high-fashion homeschoolers.

And just so you know, I gave the books to someone else who responded simply saying that they are homeschoolers in Pelham, can make good use of the books and can come by on Monday. No hint as to what sort of diapers she uses. I can only hope she is not one of those evil bottle feeders, but I guess I'll have to go on faith for that part.

I think I may start signing all of my emails with something like this:

-Al
disposable diapering (retired), NBF*, welding, machining, homeschooling, gun shootin', beaver trappin', nose pickin', spam eatin', father of six. New granddaughter approx. 12+ months ago.

*NBF = "Never Breast Fed"

2010-10-25T10:23:00.000-04:00

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Precious Blood

2010-10-22T11:19:00.004-04:00

Something about watching the blood flow out of Ray's arm through a seemingly huge tube and into the whirring plasmapherisis machine; then seeing it return and flow back into his other arm, has made me put a lot of thought into blood itself.

Ray's blood is being filtered. Another young man in the bed next to Ray was having his platelets removed and transfused with six (maybe more) units of type B+ blood, the same type as mine. This young man was dependent on human blood to keep him alive.

We are all dependent on His blood for our eternal life.

"..knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." 1 Peter 1:18-21

"Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath."
Romans 5:9

Ray

2010-10-18T06:26:00.003-04:00

This afternoon, Ray goes into Children's Hospital for the first of many plasmapheresis treatments. The doctors still do not have a diagnosis, they are just trying this procedure to rule in/ rule out a certain family of neuromuscular diseases . Please pray that Ray won't be anxious, there will be no complications, and that we would trust the Lord though out this whole illness.

"And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him."
(1 John 5:14)

Walk n Roll

2010-10-16T20:12:00.009-04:00

This is our third year attending the Joni and Friends of Greater Boston's Walk and Roll. Here are a few pictures of the event.

Some walked- Tessa and Lydia

Some rolled- Ben and Ray

Teds and Sam

We had some fantastic Chick-fil-a...

(Ray's going to hate me for this one)

And we played some fun games. This one was trying to throw all the corn cobs into the bucket. Corn kernels were everywhere! I'm glad I wasn't on the clean up crew.

It was a great day.

Columbus Day

2010-10-11T19:24:00.007-04:00

We did some .22 caliber rifle shooting at the sportsmen's club.

We have to buy the "value pack" of ammo!

A little scooter riding...

A fight broke out!

Alan repaired the bucket lift....

And now at home, I'm waiting for the apple crisp to come out of the oven.

Amelia Palooza

2010-10-10T09:09:00.006-04:00

Museum of Science - American Hero

2010-10-06T08:01:00.006-04:00

We've had a membership at the Museum of Science since some time in the 1990's. I never get bored visiting the place. Yesterday we went to see the exhibit on George Washington Carver. The kids make fun of me because I'm all about G.W. Carver. He's actually my all time favorite American hero. He was born just as America abolished slavery, orphaned, and nearly died as an infant from whooping cough. He worked and paid his way through high school and overcame severe prejudice, eventually entering college after being turned away at another school because of his skin color. He was a scientist, inventor, and colleague of Henry Ford and Edison. He met with Theodore Roosevelt and spoke before congress. All this and he remained a very Godly, humble man. When he passed away, he donated his entire life's savings of $67,000 to his foundation which would provide for other black student's education. That was a tremendous amount of money in 1944 considering he was making $1500 per year at his death.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the exhibit but here we are outside.

We also saw a lot of other cool things at the museum. The boys always love the robots.

We also engineered and raced little plastic thingies...

found a brain the same size and color as Ted's...

nearly got attacked by an evil beaver...(this picture is for you, Alan)

and spent time trying to use the "express " button in the elevator.

During our muffin lunch break, Teds and Tessa entertained us with the musical stairs.

Robin Hood

2010-10-03T20:35:00.012-04:00

Yesterday we took a trip to Kittery Trading Post to buy a bow for Teddy. Teddy has started shooting archery this fall on an indoor range, and Alan wanted to get him a bow that would fit his size and strength.

We had a lot of fun at the trading post. We even camped there for a while.

This afternoon, we took Teds to try out the bow. He had spent all yesterday afternoon holding his bow in his room, in front of the TV, upstairs, downstairs; he could hardly wait to actually fire it. Finally we arrived at the sportsmen's club.

After a little help from dad

Then he drew and aimed

Tessa and Ray seemed excited!

Teds was a little discouraged at first because his arrows were not hitting the target.

He retrieved his arrows

And was happier the next round

Later I took Ray target shooting since he doesn't have the strength to hold or draw a bow. He certainly is a great shot though.

All in all it was a fun time. The only person who wasn't too happy was Chaz. He had to leave early to take an online exam on a Sunday evening!

The cost of getting an education!

Morning Sky

2010-10-01T06:46:00.002-04:00

The last post made me think of this picture...one of my all time favorites!

2010-09-27T17:39:00.003-04:00

And...another set of twins...

Two Eggs

2010-09-27T10:14:00.005-04:00

The two "Pops", Old Pops and Young Pops, were discussing back up hard drives. Not really paying attention, all I heard out of the conversation was, "This one was rated 'four eggs'". This obsession with newegg.com has got to end. Everything in life is being rated in terms of "eggs"*.

This was a bonus picture because I didn't see Teds in the window until after I uploaded my pictures to my computer.

*This blog post is being rated "two and a half eggs" by its author.

Out and About

2010-09-21T20:26:00.015-04:00

One can't stay inside and do schoolwork when this could be one of the last few perfect days of the year! We went to our old favorite stomping ground, The Old North Bridge. Ted dressed up as only Ted can: Patriot hat, Red Coat outfit, lever action rifle ( wrong century), Snoopy canteen, and his Folder's coffee can drum. His fife was tucked into his belt. We got a lot of "looks" from a group of tourists who arrived in two big tour buses.

For lunch, we picnicked at Great Brook State Park. We hiked the trails for an hour or so and then went up to the farm to see the cows and goats and eat some ice cream.

Amelia didn't want to be pulled away from those cows! She must have cow farming in her blood. Maybe it's because her Daddy grew up here

Milage

2010-09-17T06:28:00.004-04:00

I have a thing about numbers. There are "good" numbers, such as the number eight, and "bad" numbers such as the number fifty-one.

Don't ask me why, but I've always been obsessed with my car odometer. Thankfully I have a 1997 Subaru that has an analog odometer. I love to watch my odometer turn to "good" numbers while I am behind the wheel. I've even gone as far as having Alan get out of the driver's seat and letting me drive when the odometer was turning to a "good" number. I was truly disappointed one day when I let Chaz borrow my car while his truck was out of commission. The odometer turned while he was driving and I missed out big time.

On Monday, I had a very exciting morning driving Tessa to school. The odometer turned to the "good" number of 200,000! I even had my camera waiting for the big event. I think the next "good" number coming up will be 200,222, so I don't have too much of a wait. Right now I'm at 200,047 or something close, and I'm not thrilled in the least......

Here's a picture of the big event:

(As you can see, the tachometer was at about 600 rpm so you know I was idling in traffic.I don't take pictures and drive at the same time, right Tessa? You may also note that I was getting low on gas.)

For some reason, Amelia wasn't thrilled about all this.

Early Education

2010-09-15T13:08:00.003-04:00

Is a Bozo coloring book considered educational? I'll leave the academics to Amelia's parents and just be a Yia Yia.

Wedding.....

2010-08-30T12:41:00.013-04:00

Here are a few pictures taken by family and friends...

The beautiful bride Amanda...

Ready to walk down the isle...

Andrew sees Amanda...

The rings...

The kiss..

Man and Wife..

The cake...

The Maid of Honor, Liz, and the Best Man, Charlie

Just Married...

The big day...

2010-08-29T08:43:00.009-04:00

Well, it is done. The preparations, the planning, the rehearsal, the food, the wedding. Of course I hardly did any of that stuff, but what a great day! Amanda looked like a model on the cover of one of those bride magazines, and Andrew was beaming. They both looked relaxed, confidant and thrilled. The whole thing went off perfectly and at the end of it all, they zipped off into the distance, with bags of Doritos cling-wrapped to their steering wheel. A great time was had by all. What more could one ask?

The night before at the post-rehearsal dinner, Amanda's dad got up and did a great little talk about his hopes for his daughter when she was young and how he was seeing them come to fruition in the about-to-happen wedding. It was very well done and eloquent in that unique Mr. C sort of way, including a full set of PowerPoint slides. Very nice.

I of course, being much more of a grease-monkey type, had nothing prepared. But Mr. C's little talk likening Andrew and Amanda to salt and pepper, each bringing something unique and different yet complimentary and valuable to their families was right on. And it did make me consider how Amanda has come to fit in around here over the last few years.

Like every family does, ours has evolved its own peculiar way of working. While outwardly or in a casual meeting we seem to be a reasonably nice and friendly bunch, we are in truth a bunch of nasty, cynical, nit-picking, wiseguy critics who will take any opportunity to mercilessly tear one-another apart. Nobody around here is allowed the luxury of taking themselves even a little bit too seriously. Not even for a few minutes. It's just how our family works, we all understand it and everybody gets a turn at being the victim, sooner or later. And so it is with anyone who becomes more that a transient guest here (we pick on them after they leave), as they too, before long will have their turn at being teased, picked on and laughed at. So anyone who spends much time here pretty quickly develops thick skin, and learns to lob retaliatory volleys of verbal hand grenades without feeling at all badly about it. It's just understood that this is how we interact and nobody's feelings are hurt.

So when Andrew showed up with this polite, pretty, young girlfriend some years back, we acted all nice and friendly and cheery the first few times she was here. But true to form, it was not long before she was getting picked on, poked fun at, laughed about and teased. Just another part of the family, an honored place, really. And thinking back on all of that, it is amazing to think about how effortlessly she slipped into the routine around here. It is one of those strange situations in life where you can simultaneously feel that something has always been so, while knowing that it is a fairly new thing. And so it is with Amanda. It seems hard to recall a time when Amanda was not around and you are never surprised when you walk in and find her here. For a long time now she has let herself in, helped herself to food, has never been burdensome, and has generally just become part of the fabric of things here. And she has managed all of this while enduring a near ceaseless, years long barrage of comments about being an Eskimo, Bigfoot jokes, computer-dweeb jokes, why-are-you-dicing-up-your-spaghetti questions, and snide lactose intolerance remarks. And more. Well done, dear Amanda. Not everyone makes it through and you made it look easy.

There are all sorts of traditions in various places and cultures to welcome the new spouse of one of your children into one's family. While that is very nice, I guess, I'm not sure I really felt the need to do that. We have found it effortless and natural to love Amanda as much as any of our other kids. In truth, when viewed from a sufficiently large perspective, she has in fact always been part of our family and we only became aware of that fact when it was deemed the proper time for us to know. I'm so glad we found out when we did.

Just don't expect the ribbing to stop. But I'm sure you knew that already.

Wedding

2010-08-24T20:33:00.008-04:00

My son, Andrew, and his long time girlfriend, (now fiance') Amanda, are getting married on Saturday. My life is zipping by at a tremendous speed.....

Boy..

To man...

Sometimes you wish you could make time stand still...

But then the new things in life wouldn't come our way....

I am off...

2010-07-15T13:47:00.001-04:00

... to have a nice Kalamata olive and a small block of lucky feta cheese.

Ray's Wheels

2010-07-10T18:34:00.005-04:00

Poor Fetafilter. We have neglected you. Facebook has usurped you. It has slowly squeezed you out. Here is a post to rejuvenate you, to breathe life into you as a last attempt. Don't die, Fetafilter. You still hold the history of our family in your heart.

Here's a video of Ray's new scooter. It was a collaborative effort by my engineering husband, Alan, and engineering son, Andrew. Many may not know that Ray has a neuromuscular disease that leaves him with diminishing Type 1 muscle. He can't walk any distance and usually uses a manual wheelchair. With his new scooter, he can feel the wind in his hair. This must be a great new feeling considering Ray has never been able to ride a bike.

Dream....

2010-05-03T18:00:00.002-04:00

I rarely remember things that I dream, if in fact I am dreaming anything. I woke up this morning and recalled dreaming that I was out in the back yard tanning beaver pelts. No kidding.

I wonder what that means?

Health food, etc.

2010-03-04T21:34:00.003-05:00

So this morning I was called up to our facility a few towns over to help with some issues they were having there. It was early, and I was there for a number of hours. When lunchtime rolled around my food was back in Westford at my office. So I joined a coworker of mine who was going to get something from the coffee truck lady. Now I have not bought food off of any of the coffee trucks that stop by for maybe four years and was really not planning to today. But when I got out there I found a egg and cheese with bacon on a croissant calling out to me. So I shelled out the cash and my coworked friend and I head back to the office and sit down with our food. He has a large cup of some sort of veggie soup. He starts talking food, a topic he has been big on lately. He is currently really into juicing stuff, micro-greens, home cultured kefir (google it), raw milk, and a host of other such things. He is VERY enthusiastic about all of this. He goes on at some length about how energetic his new diet is making him feel, and so on. I listen, interjecting a tidbit here and there between bites of my fat laden egg, cheese, and bacon croissant which I am finding very tasty and satisfying. At one point he concludes his story by saying emphatically; "Well, after all, it's really true, we ARE what we eat!" Staring intently at my sandwich, I reply with the most sincere tone of mild insult/concern that I can muster (not really being much of an actor) "Ummm, do you really mean to say that I mostly egg, cheese, and bacon on a croissant for much of today?!?"
He sounds just a bit off, and comes back with "...Um, well, really, that stuff.....is not all that bad, really,.... I mean, eggs and cheese is all good stuff if not over done, and even a bit of bacon...." Of course by now I am laughing, and he picks up on the joke and starts laughing along.

It's always fun messing with him. He's a good guy and sometimes gets a bit intense about stuff that catches his interest. It makes him an easy mark sometimes.

Happy Birthday to Ted...

2010-02-08T19:56:00.004-05:00

This past Saturday we had occasion to celebrate Ted's 9th birthday. In typical Teddy style, it ended up being a Big Deal. He wanted to go to some museum but did not specify any one in particular. So we packed the whole gang into the crimson van after removing all of the beaver trapping supplies and firewood, naturally) and headed off to Worcester to the Higgin's Armory Museum. This is a pretty cool place and is very Teddy-like. Being a nine year old boy, he loves anything involving weapons and swinging swords. These knight guys were pretty creepy, I for one would really hate to be chased down by this guy, and would be a bit suspicious of any knight dressed like this or this. Really, what's with the skirt?

Anyhow, as it was a Saturday, the museum had some cool demonstrations of how knights would be equipped and do battle. Some of these guys must have been really tough in a fight. Imagine how mean you would be if you had to show up for a major battle wearing this! Andrew dubbed this guy the "princess Leia" knight. After some explanation and more demos, it came time for audience participation. Volunteers were invited from the audience to be trained as pikemen. Teds of course could not pass that chance up. As the demo progressed, Ted paid attention and tried hard to make all the right moves. He and his comrades-at-arms took this all very seriously. The crowd was enthralled!

Once the demos were done, we took in the rest of the sights. Always prepared, Andrew came equipped with emergency rations to stave off starvation, which he kindly shared with Amanda.*
We closed out the afternoon in the kids activity section of the museum. Andrew and Amanda matched wits, before Andrew challenged Ray to a game of giant chess while Tessa comforted the bishop. Ted stopped in at Ye Olde Armorers Workshop to pick up some supplies and transform into a knight. There was also the obligatory trying on of funny helmets by the kids. Chaz can't seem to resist this one for some reason. And don't forget the traditional taunting-Ray-with-a-monkey, to top the trip off.

Once we got home, we got pizza and did the whole cake, ice cream and gift routine. When it was all said and done, Teds declared it "The best birthday ever!" Quite an endorsement.

*She is going to hate me for posting that picture.

Engineer pick-up line of the week...

2010-02-05T17:41:00.002-05:00

Spoken in our family room a short while ago:

Andrew: "Hey Amanda, wanna see my equations?"

Amanda: "Sure!"

Andrew heads off towards the music room, where his laptop is waiting, Amanda follows close behind.

Smooth operator, that Droob.

You learn something new every day.

2010-01-23T12:58:00.003-05:00

Today I learned that I never again want to drop a 6" diameter, 1" thick stainless steel disk, from five feet up, onto my left little toe. You may not want to do so either.

Marsha Coakley concedes!

2010-01-19T21:26:00.000-05:00

OH THE HUMANITY!!!!

To paraphrase our first lady; For the first time in my adult life, I am proud to be from Massachusetts.

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-24T15:32:00.002-05:00

On the eve of the celebration of one of the most significant events of our history, here's wishing a great Christmas to one and all, from the entire Fetafilter staph.

There is still time to do a bit of decorating, so click the link below for a craft that the kids will love!!

CRAFT!!

Vacation outing...

2009-12-07T16:13:00.004-05:00

So last Friday we decided that we would take Ted, Ray and Tessa into the Boston Museum of Science for the day. I was on vacation, but ended up going into work for a meeting for a couple of hours anyhow. So we got a bit of a late start, but managed to be at the museum right around noontime.

We have always really enjoyed this museum and have had a membership there for quite a few years. It is a great place to spend a day. We have not gone much for a while, as walking around for a good part of a day has gotten to be a bit too much for Ray. After a few hours it becomes very difficult for him to comfortable and he ends up exhausted. That has become the case for lots of place we go, so a short while ago we ordered him a wheelchair to make getting around a bit easier for him. This is all a bit of an adjustment for all of us. The museum trip would be only his second outing with it so we planned to just go and see how he did with the whole thing.

Once at the museum, we parked on the 5th floor of the parking garage. We of course needed to take the elevator down to the ground floor, so headed over to it and pushed the button. It arrived empty and we went in. Tess started pushing Ray in his chair but he was insistant that he propel himself. The doors closed and we rode it down to ground level with no stops. The doors opened. Now I'm not sure why this is, but people seem to tend to crowd up the the unopened doors of elevators for some reason. As if they really want to be the first ones in, but somehow neglect the fact that there are likely people in there that need to get out first. This day was no different, and the doors opened to a few people, all squished up to the door. Ray starts rolling himself forward out of the elevator. He bumps into a guy standing by the door. The guy steps aside and apologizes. Ray continues on with the rest of us right behind. A while later, while navigating the eating area, Ray sort of crowds a kid standing in the isle, the kid's mother pulls her kid aside and sternly tells him to get out of the way. And so it went until after 6Pm. We tooled around the place, saw lots of cool stuff and generally enjoyed ourselves. Ray did really well, propelling himself about and having Tess push him along when he needed a rest.

All in all it was a very nice outing. We all had fun and Ray got to enjoy the place without getting exhausted for the first time in a long while. But the high point for me came as we were leaving. There is a very long straight hallway that leads to the elevator to the garage. Ray picks up his feet, and Tessa goes zipping down the hall at a trot, pushing Ray ahead of her. Ray is laughing like crazy, Sue cringes. Sue and I arrive at the elevator in time to hear Tess say to Ray:
"You know Ray, you totally rule with this thing. Did you see that, you banged into that guy, and HE apologized! Then you almost bumped into that kid, and his mother yelled at him! You're awesome!"
A conclusion that Raymond had to agree with.

I can only hope that one day when Raymond is a bit older, that he can fully appreciate how fortunate he is to have an older sister who can make having to ride in a wheelchair feel like a bonus.

Ted's Topper

2009-12-05T14:50:00.004-05:00

I forgot to pick up the cherries last week when I went out food shopping. Tessa needed cherries for her special Christmas cookies that she bakes. Alan graciously offered to pick some up at the food store for her. It was a gracious offer because a winter storm is heading our way and everyone knows that; when you are getting 2-4" of snow overnight with a 40 degree day the next day, that the food store will be mobbed with panicked shoppers buying milk, bread, and lottery tickets.

The anticipated Christmas holiday has been almost too much for Teds to bare. We picked out a tree earlier this week (got it from a guy names Fat Head), put it in the stand in the music room, and then left it there until this morning to decorate it when everyone was at home. Teds has always worried that we didn't have a proper star for the top of our tree. Over the years various kids had made stars that were basically taped to the top of the tree. Charlie was especially an expert at making stars pronto; cut, colored, and attached, all in under three minutes. Teds made one last year. I think over the years our tree has been one step above the original "Charlie Brown's Christmas tree". This year we decided not to put on any ornaments that had macaroni glued to them.

This morning, anticipating decorating the tree, Teds was worrying about the star again. He really wanted one that lit up. He told me that we could certainly order a star on-line and have it shipped by Christmas. I thought that might be a bit expensive so I put that idea on hold.

As Alan went out the door he told me he would look for a star for the tree. He came home with a Walgreen's "21 Light Tree-Topper Professional Series" star for $5.99. What a hit! Did that ever make Teds' day! Teds decided on having it steady burn instead of flashing, and the light was installed. Something about it made Charlie want to sing Feliz Navidad. We all got a kick out of seeing a real star on top of the tree. It's funny how Teddy, being the last of the six kids, will never remember the poorer times that we lived in. He won't remember unwrapping single serving cereal boxes for Christmas, or sleeping five kids to a bedroom. His memories will be different. He has, however, a lot of great role models to look up to, and a great spirit of joy that we all would be fortunate to have. It's funny how a funny light up star could make such a difference to a kid, but it did.

Insightful observation by Mrs. A

2009-11-28T09:58:00.003-05:00

Yesterday morning Mrs A was sitting by her computer watching the imminent return of the space shuttle to Florida on NASA TV online. She is an avid follower of such things and rarely misses a launch or reentry. So as we are watching the shuttle circle the earth and begin it's decent, Tessa appears and heads in to take a shower. The shuttle is not quite over Honduras. The space shuttle then travels from Honduras to Florida, descends from orbit, executes a complex series of circling maneuvers to shed excess speed, lands and stops. Just then, Tessa steps out of the bathroom.

Sue makes the observation that in time it takes Tess to take a shower, the shuttle made it from central America all the way to Florida. And they were riding the brakes all the way home.

Halloween & other nonsense

2009-11-01T10:22:00.007-05:00

Well another halloween has zipped past. All religious or anti-religious connotations aside, the whole thing has gotten pretty goofy if you ask me. When I was a kid, this was much more of a kiddie thing, my mother dressed us up in some dopey costumes from some equally dopey department store, or defaulted to the old standby; the sheet-with-two-eyeholes-ghost getup, and then just turned us loose in the neighborhood to collect candy. Then we would walk as far as we could stand to other neighborhoods to get more. Then my parents would drive us to the other end of Lowell where our cousins lived, and we'd make the rounds there. I remember one lady on the next street whose name I've long since lost, always invited the kids into her front room and had this giant tray from which you could grab your choice of coconut dipped candy apples on a stick, or one of those candied popcorn balls. Judging by the number of those candy apple sticks you could find around the streets of the neighborhood for weeks after, she must have made hundreds of them. Nowadays that would likely get her either fined as an environmental criminal, or put on a predator watch list with the state police.

I seem to recall getting home really late, but it was probably only like 9:30 or something. But it was really innocent fun and you came home with a pillowcase more than half filled with candy. Enough candy to make you sick for weeks after. If you were really cool, you had one of those plastic pumpkin buckets to collect with, though you usually had to do periodic drops at home so as to avoid candy overflow.

It seems to be much less of a kiddie thing now, with only a few town prescribed trick-or-treating hours, $75 blow-up yard ornaments and transient halloween stores that largely cater to adults that want to dress up like hookers and pimps or maybe the Joker. And then go to work for the day dressed as such. Well, at least the ones that typically don't dress that way the rest of the year. But I'm pretty sure I saw more adults in dopey costumes than kids by at least two to one.

But do not let it be said that I am some sort of cranky old party-pooper. Not me! I got dressed up for halloween this year for the first time in many years. Being sick of the tired out old monster/ghoul/ghost/skeleton stuff, I thought I would go for an animal/nature theme and hit the streets in my sweet mink costume.

Assault!

2009-10-14T18:21:00.006-04:00

At work we have a small refrigerator in our shop that the guys in our group use to keep lunch stuff and things like flux and adhesives that need to be stored cold. Being too cheap to go buy myself lunch every day, and too disorganized to pack one the night before at home, every week or two I run to the supermarket down the street and buy some random sandwich stuff and some bread to fill the shop fridge so that I have something to eat. I ate out the last of my stash last week, so I ran to the store at lunchtime today to restock. As I pull into a parking space, my cell-O-phone rings. I answer it. It is a vendor returning a call I had in to him earlier in the day. As I am talking, a car pulls into the space next to me on my passenger's side. I don't pay much attention, and sit in my car and transact my business with the guy on the phone. I finish up on the phone, put the phone back in it's handy holster, open the door and lock up my car. Just as I begin to step away, I hear someone yelling AAHHHHHHH-OOOOOOOOOOWWWW! It is a woman's voice nearby someplace, but was not a "someone is trying to kill me" sort of yell, more like someone who just bashed their toe or something. So I quickly look around, and see it is coming from the car that had pulled in next to mine. In the car is a woman sitting in the driver's seat and directly behind her in the back seat is a kid's car seat. Standing in up in back is (presumably) her kid, who is maybe 4 or 5, who I assume had released him or her self from the car seat. The kid is standing up, directly behind her and has both hands clamped in her hair. There are little tufts of hair sticking out between his fingers. And he is pulling back so hard that her neck looks stretched and her head is jammed back tight against the headrest. Her arms are flailing about a bit and she starts yelling at the kid to let go. I briefly wondered if I should smash a window and throttle the kid, but instead just stood there and laughed. It was funny. It all only lasted maybe 10 seconds, but boy did that woman look cranky. She shook the kid off and I continued on my way, undetected I think.

When I saw her in the store about 10 minutes later the kid looked pretty subdued. The woman's hair looked a bit rumpled and she still looked a bit crabby. I resisted the urge to compliment her on her hair style.

I laughed again.

Baby just LOVES.....

2009-10-12T12:29:00.006-04:00

...AQUATIC RODENTS!!!!

But then, who could blame her? They are just so cuddly and cute.

New edition of "Stupid people in Public"

2009-10-09T20:08:00.004-04:00

So I'm at work a few days ago. I say "Hi" to a guy that works in another department as we pass each other in the hall. He is a young guy, easy to deal with and generally in a good mood. His youth is a bit too obvious at times, but not really in a bad way. Anyhow, he returns my greeting but sounds to be talking a bit funny, vaguely like someone holding the end of their tongue while trying to talk. I don't give it much thought beyond figuring he has gum in his mouth or something, and keep walking. Ten minutes later, back at my office, my boss comes into my room laughing. He asks me:

"Did you talk to Joe* today?"
"Just said Hi, why?"
"Did he sound funny?"
"Yeah, I guess so. What's going on?"

My boss proceeds to tell me how Joe apparently was having trouble with his truck. The battery was getting weak, so he figured he needed a new one. At break time he ran to the parts store and bought a battery, came back to work and installed it in the parking lot. So far, so good. Joe then put the old one into the bed of his truck so that he could return it to the parts store to get the core charge refunded. Arriving back at the parts place, Joe notes that the battery has fallen over and there is a puddle of liquid in his truck bed. Apparently unsure what said liquid is, he dips his finger in it and tastes it(!). He reports that it tasted very strong and bad, and that it instantly began to burn very badly.

No kidding.

So now he is talking funny due to the sulfuric acid burn on the end of his tongue.

* Not his real name. Names changed to protect the stupid, but I'm not sure why I should bother.

The end of an era.

2009-08-27T20:30:00.002-04:00

Yes, the end of an era is approaching.

No, I am not talking about the senate seat recently vacated by that fat, puffy, drunken, womanizing, son-of-a-mobster.

I'm talking about our van. Yes, our giant 15 passenger dodge van, affectionaly dubbed "The Green Bean," that faithfully toted our clan around for many years and many miles is now posted on craig's list patiently awaiting a transition to new owners. It will soon be gone, along with it's 360 fuel-injected cubic inches, 250 HP, sub-12MPG, and $100+ per fill-up fuel tank.

The Green Bean carried us all safely for many tens of thousands of miles delivering us to various destinations from Maine to Virginia and never once leaving us stranded without a way home. Well done, good and faithful van.

And we will all miss it, except for maybe the kids who had to learn to drive in it.

It's all over.

2009-08-21T21:15:00.002-04:00

Yep, it's done. Everyone is now home from various camps. Which means that Mrs. A and I are also home from camp. For a while there everyone except for Ted and Ray were away someplace. Having only two young kids here was just like Sue and I being at camp. She was referring to it as
"Camp Kidsaregone."

Update:

2009-08-15T07:16:00.003-04:00

I'm sure you all have had this on your respective minds, so I thought I would offer an update.
Mrs. A has finally had her dream come true. Yes, she finally received her very own Ducks Unlimited duffel bag when she renewed her membership!*

Dreams do come true sometimes.

*See Fetafilter, February 17, 2009.

Birthday Photo-blog!

2009-08-05T20:05:00.009-04:00

Well, it has been a while since we have posted here, and we owe an apology to the vast Fetafiilter audience. Lots of stuff has conspired to keep us away, but I am hoping to get back into the groove here.

It seems appropriate to return here with a good birthday post, as we have not only some good stuff from the recent Raymond birthday event, but it is once again the Fetafilter birthday. Fetafilter turns five (!) years old today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Anyhow, we celebrated Raymond's 11th birthday this year in typical A-family understated style. No big crowds but we did indulge Ray in one of his favorite activities and went fishing. Ray loves fishing up at the sportsmen's club, so we packed up the van full of junk, all of us, and a cake and headed out to the club. We have two very nice ponds on the club property but chose to do our fishing this day at what we call "The Trout pond" despite the fact that there have not been any trout in there for maybe 28 years. So we set up, and had a beautiful sunny day. It was actually a bit too nice from a fisherman's perspective as it was warm and sunny and mid afternoon. All of which makes for pretty marginal fishing conditions. But we never let the lack of fish stop us from either trying or having a good time.

So everyone got a rod and tried to outsmart the fish. It was pretty slow going. Ted tried, and even with the help of Silly-guy, he could not connect. Even Amanda tried fishing, her first time. She did fine, and in fact caught the first fish of the day!! Once she came down from the adrenaline rush, there was no stopping her. She became a fishing machine and was seldom seen with out her line in the water for the remainder of the afternoon.

Of the many notable events that day, one rose to the top. At some point, someone noticed that we had not heard from Ted for a while. Ted knows his way around the place, so we were not panicked, but Tess set off to look for him. A minute later we hear Tessa laughing and calling everyone to come to the back of my van, and quickly. We run over to find that Ted, while playing in the back of the van, had hooked The Incredible Fish.* We ran for our cameras while Ted yelled on the verge of tears, that he did it accidentally when he stepped on the fishing pole. Yeah. Right. So Ray posed for a picture with this amazing catch, and then it took the combined efforts of none less than Chaz and Tessa to safely extricate the barbed hook from lip of The Incredible Fish. All were fine in the end .

So while we did not catch many fish, Ray (and Phil) declared the day a success. We relocated to the clubhouse porch for some cake and gift opening. The boys ended the day messing with their stomp rockets, always a club favorite. I rather like this two shot action sequence of Teds and ray using the rocket as a shoulder-fired missile, trying to nail Chaz. That yellow streak is the rocket, Chaz-bound.

* For those who do not know, The Incredible Fish is a stuffed fish that Teds bought with his own money at a flea market. Ted also gave him that name. The thing that makes him (the fish, not Ted) so incredible is that if you squeeze his left fin, he vibrates. He is actually great for sore necks and other fatigued muscles. Incredible indeed.

Happy 4th!!!

2009-07-05T07:09:00.003-04:00

OK, this was posted on the 5th, but who's counting.
We always enjoy the 4th of July around here, doing the standard set of activities, parade followed by the big cookout at the Crompton place. Always a good time. It was the first nice sunny day we have had in a while. Just a few quick pictures:

It's not your imagination, they do look alike. Marg got a new camera. It was at hand at all times, and nobody was safe:

Some people cannot help but get all show-offey when there is a camera running:

And of course, we caanot forget our furry friends. After all there are few animals as patriotic as the noble beaver!

Glo Worm

2009-06-14T15:05:00.004-04:00

Charlie actually DID look like a glo worm.

Chaz

2009-06-09T22:25:00.003-04:00

Chaz got a haircut. Now he looks like Anderson Cooper

Fishing Derby 2009

2009-05-17T17:58:00.003-04:00

This year the Anganes Family had a first. Teddy caught the first fish of the fishing dreby. It wasn't a big fish , but it was the FIRST! When you see Ted's casting skillz, you'll know why he's a winner.

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T09:11:00.004-04:00

The staph here at Fetafilter hopes that all the moms out there in our vast audience have a great day. And hope you all got a heart warming welcome like Mrs A.!!

NEWS FLASH!!!!!

2009-05-07T13:09:00.001-04:00

MMB is missing. Authorities are launching an investigation as we speak. We will keep you posted on new developments as they happen.

Spring is here!

2009-05-03T10:39:00.003-04:00

In spite of the unseasonably warm weather we have had recently, you can tell that it is truly springtime because Mrs A. has begun to move rocks around the yard. Sue loves to move rocks around. And she loves to pile them up. For such a tiny little lot of land, we sure have a lot of rocks. This year, she is building a stone retaining wall in the back yard where we had excavated last fall to create (finally!) a level area in the yard. So she began moving rocks into place yesterday, working around the mountain of yet to be split firewood that we have back there. Funny thing is that many of these are the very rocks that Chaz, Andrew and I moved from the middle of the yard and placed along the fence last fall. The very ones that made Chaz say: "You know what the sad thing is? It's that next year, mom is going to make us move these all back someplace else in the yard..."

So as I stacked wood and moved some rocks from the fence back to the middle of the yard, and Sue stacked said rocks against the cut dirt, Ted arrives on the scene, wanting desperately to help out. So Sue sends him to gather up rocks (Ecclesiastes 3:5) and pile them near her wall. Ted is so enthusiastic about this that he zips around the yard, picking up rocks, running back and asking, "is this a good one?!" Of course they are all good ones, so Ted proceeds to plunk them onto the developing wall. This prompts Sue to have to take said rock off, as it is never in the place she wants it. After this happens a bunch of times, Sue finally says:
"Teddy, you can't just drop them on the wall, you have to put them where I tell you. You bring the rocks, I'll tell you where they go. It's sort of like the slaves and the Egyptians!"
Ted replies:
"No it's not. I could just go in the house now, if I wanted to."

A glimpse into the respective minds, perhaps?

Mmmmmmmm!

2009-04-29T20:53:00.000-04:00

LINK!!!

That Ted is so nice...

2009-04-20T20:03:00.002-04:00

As this was sort of a slow paced relaxing sort of day, we opted for a no-cooking easy dinner. I had to stop by the supermarket to pick up a prescription, so I grabbed a bunch of sandwich stuff from the deli, some sub rolls and 2 bags of chips. Not anything like our usual dinner fare, but easy.

So Ted and Ray are sitting at the kitchen table eating their sub sandwiches, staring at the two giant bags of chips. On each bag is a blaze orange sticker that says:

TRY ME!
2 FOR $5.00

Ted says "Why do the chips say 'Try Me' on them?"
I reply "It is like an advertisement, they are telling you to buy the chips and try them to see how good they are."

Apparently satisfied with that answer, Ted nods and says nothing. Then a few minutes later, he adds:

"Well, underneath 'try me', in little letters, it should say "Please."

2009-04-16T16:54:00.003-04:00

So a guy at work is talking to me the other day. He was telling me how he was at supply house getting parts to repair a pressure washer, and the guy at the supply house offered him a job fixing, well, pressure washer pumps. My coworker told him he was not interested, but might be willing to discuss a part time thing working few nights or weekends. The guys tells him he needs a full timer, blah, blah, blah.

My coworker tells me he would really like a part time job, as it would get some extra cash for his upcoming wedding later this year, and as an added bonus it would, in his words, get him away from "her" for several nights each week. I look at him and then over to one of the other guys in the room. We both start laughing and almost simultaneously say something like:
"Umm, that's the woman you are going to marry you're try to get away from?"
He says, "yeah, it ain't easy, I mean I work with her 5 days a week, and am around her every night and all weekend..." (just to clarify, she does work at our company, but in a different department, and in a building across the street. We see her once every few days when she comes to our offices to bring him an occasional coffee.)
Still laughing, I counter that I was self-employed for nearly 8 years and worked with my wife every day for much of that time, and had no such problem. He says "Yeah, how'd you manage that?" The other guy, anticipating my response, has to sit down because he is laughing so hard. I reply:
"For starters, I actually LIKE my wife!"

He looked puzzled.

Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!

2009-04-12T07:27:00.000-04:00

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds we are healed.

1 Peter 2:24

Happy Easter, everyone.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

2009-04-06T08:01:00.001-04:00

Happy Anniversary Mr.A.
I love you!

Heard at the dinner table:

2009-04-02T17:03:00.002-04:00

A part of the typical after dinner discussion that goes on around here:

Andrew: "Well, I have to get a weather report posted before 8 O'clock."

Chaz: "Yeah, well I'll do your weather report for you, if you'll run my coffee shop..."

Just a subtle reminder...

2009-03-29T07:58:00.001-04:00

Make sure you all wish Mrs. A a happy birthday today!!!

Ramblings

2009-03-25T21:10:00.004-04:00

I was going to post this yesterday, but did not want to intrude on the Greek Independence day post by Mrs A. So a few belated random items from a somehow odd day:

Got out of bed this morning at 4:05AM after a somewhat fitful nights sleep. I was wide awake, which is sort of what happens to me. At some point, my brain decides that I am just done sleeping, and snaps to "full awake" mode. I almost never wake up groggy. This has happened to me for a very long time, I used to try to fight it and lie in bed and try to get back to sleep, etc. That long ago proved to be a waste of time, so now I just go with it and get up. I like the early morning anyhow.

Before I got out of bed this morning, for some unknown reason I had it in my head that there was a good chance that I might get a look at Reverse-A-Skunk today. Reverse-A-Skunk is a curiously colored skunk that lives someplace around the neighborhood. Rather than the typical skunk black-with-white-stripe motif, R-A-S is nearly all white with black feet and tail. He's been spotted several times by me and a few of the neighbors. I think he raids our trash sometimes. But I love seeing animals around, and was hoping to this morning. But I looked outside for a bit, but there were no skunks to be found. So I got ready and headed for work. I stop at the mini-mart near work for fuel, look in my wallet and note that I have a few bucks in there. Feeling both wealthy and a touch hungry, I spring 99 cents for a six pack of mini-chocolate donuts to go with my economy unleaded.

I like starting work early, those first few hours are often my most productive.

I got there around 5Am, and there was a request for a repair to a part of one machine that we refer to as a "spinner." It does just what the name implies, slowly rotates part of the workpiece. So I spent some time on it, tracked down the problem, found parts and made it work. Returning to my desk, I logged out the repair, which sends email notifications to everyone that needs to know, that the system is fixed. This includes the operator who runs it. Around 10AM, this guy comes to my office and asks if the spinner is fixed. "Yes", I tell him, "I logged it out, did you get the notice?" "Well yeah but it seems to still not be working" he says. Thinking I may have missed something, we both walk across the building to the machine. I step up to it, flip on the spinner switch and turn the speed control knob up. It spins up to speed smooth and nice as can be, and keeps on running.

"What did you do?" he asks.
"Um, I turned it on, and turned the speed control up."
"Was the switch off?"
"Yep, I turned it off when I was done testing it." I reply.
"Oh, well that's the problem. I NEVER turn that switch off, I just turn the knob down."
"Maybe so, but it still needs to be ON for the spinner to run." I say, and get out of there as fast as I can.

Note that the switch is 1/2" from the speed knob. And this guy has been doing this for years. And he likely sat around for a couple of hours waiting for me to fix something that I already told him was fixed. This guy is not dumb, but, sheeh.

I return to my office, and "Bob" appears asking to borrow a tool. I give it to him, and he proceeds to assault me with several minutes of drivel. Wishing that Reverse-A-Skunk would arrive and spray him, I finally pretend that I need to make a phone call, just to get Bob to leave.

Getting back to my task, I realize that my Pencil is missing. Not just any pencil, but my PENCIL! The nice mechanical one that I have used for maybe 8 years. Gone. Derailed, I go on a hunt, asking around, but it is nowhere to be found. A coworker takes pity and gives me one of his spares. I appreciate the gesture, but it is just not the same. I need to grieve and adjust. I mean the new pencil is nice, but we don't even know each other yet. You need time to get acquainted and learn how things work. How do you know this is the right pencil for you? Lots can go wrong. But there is lots of work to do.

I consider going home early.

I decide to give the pencil a fair chance. The lead clicker is on the side, rather than on the top. I still keep clicking the top to get more lead, tough to break that habit. I'm having second thoughts about this new pencil, but I am not sure of the correct protocol. Do I give it back, or just stick it in a draw and get another one?

I am in the middle of doing a program for a logic controller, but am having trouble trying to get my brain around the flow of the thing. I think the pencil is distracting me. If I get this wrong, it will either cause expensive damage, or hurt someone (most likely me...), so I switch to another less intense task that does not require a pencil and do that until it is time to leave.

On the way home, I stop by a friend's house to pick up some firewood. The exertion is a good diversion from the emotional turmoil over my Pencil.

Happy Greek Independence Day!

2009-03-25T11:39:00.003-04:00

We at Fetafilter wish you a very enjoyable Greek Independence Day. Sit back, have some feta cheese and olives, and feel free from the oppression of the Ottoman Empire.

History

Sisterhood Award

2009-03-21T19:00:00.005-04:00

One of my sister bloggers, Liliana, nominated me for the Sisterhood Award. The Sisterhood Award is given to blogs which display great attitude and a spirit of gratitude. I am honored in receiving it, however,I, of all people, need to work on my attitude. I tend to be quite cynical and critical and I think that sometimes it comes out in my blog posts. Receiving this award, however, will cause me to strive to be a better human being. Thank you , Liliana, for the nomination. I enjoy following your blog and enjoy your writing and insight into life. I am thankful for your consideration.

Since Fetafilter is a family colaboration, and the Sisterhood Award applies to "sisters", my husband is exempt from changing his cynical and critical attitude. Without it, Fetafilter would never be the same.

As to the rules for accepting this award:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs who you feel are worthy of this award by displaying great attitude or gratitude in their blog!
3. Be sure to link to the blogs you nominate within this post.
4. Let your nominees know about the award by commenting on their blog.
5. Link back to the person who gave you this award.

Here are the blogs that I nominate. As you can see, I don't have ten, but they are the blogs I read every day. Their humor, wisdom, style, and love for the Lord are inspirations to me.

My friend Jen's blog- is artistic and full of grace.

My friend Heidi's blog- is the zany day to day life of a nurse and pastor's wife.

My daughter Cassie's blog- what can I say, I love her!

My friend Judy's blog- is introspective and honest.

My friend Rebecca's blog- I've watched Rebecca grow from a pre-teen to a beautiful wife and mother.

I am truly thankful for all these women in my life. A special thanks to Liliana, who caused me to lie wide awake last night, thinking about the women I know and how they've inspired me.

The excitement!!!

2009-03-18T20:42:00.005-04:00

Yes, just when you thought that National Beaver day was the peak of excitement, this comes up. Of course you all know what I'm talking about. It was Take a Beaver to Work Day! Yes indeed. I hope you all took the opportunity to participate. Of course MMB insisted on going, so he jumped in the van and off we went. He checked out my desk, looking over some schematics for me and he took a look at my test bench. He looked over a machine I am building, and REALLY loved looking around in the controls cabinet!

Next, we stopped in to see the machine shop. He loved riding the big CNC mill, but kept trying to make a lodge out of the metal cuttings. He loved the big lathe, and when he heard about another machine with teeth for cutting wood, he just HAD to check it out. That was a bit dangerous, but he tried hard to follow all of the safety rules. After a little snack, we had some work to do. MMB helped me tune a power supply for an ion beam gun, and did a fine job. The guy who runs the system was very impressed!

MMB wanted to try his hand at running one of these systems, so we let him. That's him at the keyboard. But as I'm sure you know, MMB is both very curious and just a bit mischevious and all I had to do was to turn my back for a second before he was off getting into things. He is fearless!
A few minutes later, I found him checking out the phone system. If you look closely at the center of this photo, you'll see MMB about to pull a lever. Good thing I caught him when I did, that lever is the main breaker for the entire plant! Once I caught him about to get into this stuff, I decided that it was time to keep him close by and go meet a few of my coworkers. So we dropped in on a few of them, who were all thrilled to make his aquaintance!

I can only hope your TABTWD was as great as ours!!

New neighbors.

2009-03-14T08:09:00.004-04:00

Seems the house next door sold yesterday. The family that lived there packed up a moving van and hauled everything away. I think the new owners will be moving in today. I hope they are not loud obnoxious people.

It's almost time....

2009-03-10T18:13:00.002-04:00

Yes, it's almost time for the oven to be fixed!!!!
The part has arrived.
All we need now is the art aficionado appliance repair guy to show up on Thursday.
The excitement is building!!

Rembrandt and the Appliance Repair Guy

2009-03-04T08:49:00.004-05:00

Long ago, in the time of olives and cheese, I bought my dream stove. Well, actually it wasn't my DREAM stove. My dream stove would have cost more than the value of all our cars added together.

It was my dream stove from Sears :P

When it arrived it was pristine (see keep your muffins off my stove).

About a month ago, the ignitor for my oven died. We knew something would die eventually, that's why we had thought ahead to buy the overpriced service plan. We never buy service plans because Alan can fix everything, but we knew the electronics in the range would cost more to replace than the plan so...we bought it. The gamble worked out because four years and three month later, the oven kicked the bucket.

Now I've had doctor's appointments this past month in Boston twice a week. We've also had dentist appointments and chiropractor appointments as well as music lessons and various other activities which have prevented me from calling the repair guy to come and fix the stove. Alan finally called for me, from work. He spoke to someone in India twice, got transferred to different departments and then back to India before getting someone who could actually make an appointment. (his story could be another blog post in itself). The guy was coming on Tuesday!

Monday I spent cleaning my stove. I've always taken good care of it because I figure, I'm not going to be getting another one soon. If your husband can repair anything, you never get new appliances. My microwave was a wedding gift twenty-five years ago. I had a dishwasher that was taken out of the trash and fixed. My washing machine and dryer are twenty-five years old. I once had a mixer that had push buttons that stopped working. Alan drilled a hole in the side and put a knob on it. It worked. It was ugly. I don't think I'll be getting a new stove too soon so I try to keep it looking new.

When Andrew came home Monday night, I get his snide comment," What's with the Rembrandt hanging over the stove, Ma?" I had placed an old calendar picture over the stove to try to cover up the wall. Let it be known that I am not a nagger. Most of the time if I mention something once and get an appropriate reply I let it go at that. I think around December of 2004, I mentioned to Alan that I wanted to put something behind the stove to cover the wall , something that would be easy to clean. He mentioned that he had some stainless steel that he could put up. I don't nag. After four years, the uncovered wall looks gross. I've always hung a picture up and replaced it every so often. I decided to hang Rembrandt for the repair guy.

To make this long winded, rather pointless story shorter, I'll just say that when the repair guy plowed into my snowed in driveway, knocking over part of my stone wall and crushed my rosebushes, I knew he wouldn't appreciate the Rembrandt. He did stare in obvious dumbfounded thought when I told him my stove was turning five in September. "I thought it was new," he said while checking it out a littler closer. My heart jumped with glee. If HE thought my stove looked new (and he must see billions of four- year- old stoves each year) my stove must really be well kept!

My son Andrew asked me when he got home from school, "So what did the stove guy think of Rembrandt?" I told him that the guy didn't even notice, but he DID notice how good my stove looked. Woo hoo!! Andrew stated something about me having an empty existence and I disagreed. I told him my identity and self worth is found entirely in my home. That freaked him out.

I think he believed me ;P

More on National Beaver Day, 2009

2009-03-01T10:52:00.003-05:00

Well I'm sure you're all just now recovering from all the excitement of National Beaver Day. I know we are! Even though we missed the big Beaver Day parade, I just thought I would share a few photos from our celebration.

I must say that I was surprised when I came home from work, to find this waiting for me, with everyone yelling "HAPPY BEAVER DAY!!!" What a nice family. Notice the unique Beaver Day treats they prepared, Twinkie beavers and Yodel beavers, featuring pretzel legs and Swedish fish tails. And check out the tasty pretezl-stick-and-frosting beaver lodges! How cool is that! And all nicely arranged on the cooking beaver table cloth (a gift from Justin & Kathy M., thanks very much...).

But the best was yet to come, as later on that night, I was handed a sealed box sent via secure government courier. When I opened it, I found the awesome hand crafted beaver, custom made for me by my niece Caroline C., that you see in the picture above! This is the coolest beaver around, and he gets along just great with the others who live here. As a matter of fact, he insisted, now that he is here, that we take an updated family portrait.

This is going to be difficult to top next year.

National Beaver Day (Canada) 2/27/2009

2009-02-27T13:56:00.002-05:00

Mr. A will be so proud of me for remembering National Beaver Day!

Huh? What?

2009-02-24T20:46:00.003-05:00

If I seem to be having trouble hearing today, it's not just that I'm old. There is a reason. The story starts on Monday morning. I am at work, working on a piece of machinery that I am building. It is a specialized grinding machine, and it is my part of the job to design and install all of the control systems. The machine is very large and heavy, so it is sitting in the room where it will live, with some other similar machines. There are two guys that work in this room. Both are real characters, with lots of tattoos and piercings on various parts of their bodies. When I arrive in the room, one of the guys stops to show me the new surround sound set up he bought on clearance over the weekend for 15 bucks. He has installed the 5 speakers around the room, and says that this will be good, because he won't have to blast the radio so loudly, in order to hear it at the far end of the room. I consider this good news, as I am unable to fully appreciate their taste in music.

So far, so good. After an hour or so, the first guy leaves to work in the other building, and Guy #2 comes in. This guy is something else. He is about 5'5", skinny in a heroin-addict sort of way, moves fast, talks fast & loud and punctuates almost everything with "YEAH!, YEAH!, HUH, YEAH!!!! Within in minutes he pops a CD into the stereo and before I know it, AC/DC is playing at concert level in the room. Then as the music plays, Guy #2 is going full tilt, singing along, playing air guitar, drums and bass, as well as spinning around and thrusting an imaginary microphone into the air and yelling "GO ANGUS!!!! HOO-YEAH!!" And he does this all while still, inexplicably, getting his work done. And so it goes, for the remaining NINE HOURS of my workday. I got to work through that first CD twice, then greatest hits, then several live concert albums. At live concert volume levels. More AC/DC than I heard in years of mildly mis-spent youth. At least I now know that I can get dirty deeds done dirt cheap, that money talks, that Angus is back in black, and that if I'm about to rock, they'll salute me.

So today was a slightly smaller scale repeat of yesterday. More music, but at least AC/DC was done with. There were some slightly milder tunes that I recognized but do not know the names of, but before long the Pantera CD's come out. With the clear understanding that saying this will put me well into "olde phart" terratory, this music stinks. It's dumb. Noisey. And the singer sounds alot like a nine-year-old, trying his hardest to do a scary-voice. Goofy. That must be what happens to your voice when you are a "Cowboy from Hell." And this went on for hours more. Luckily for me, I was rescued from the room by a broken piece of equipment in another part of the plant.

So if I don't answer you when you speak, just speak up a bit. I am hoping the ringing is just temporary.

Today's SPiP...

2009-02-19T17:22:00.006-05:00

So for today's edition of Stupid People in Public, we take you to the local Staples office supply store. I had gone in there to get a refund on something and also to pick up a spiffy new 4GB flash drive, that was on sale for only $9.99. I go up to the counter and explain that I would like a refund on this, and oh, by the way, I want to buy one of these flash drives. The nice lady says to go get the drive, bring it back here, and we'll do them all on one transaction. Great.

So I walk over to the flash drive section. I look at the display and see that the hook for the item in question is empty, the drives being such a great deal that they are all sold out. Within seconds, another shopper strolls up, holding a flyer in one hand, pushing a cart full of junk with the other. She looks at the same spot that I am, and says "I'm betting that you are here for the same thing as me!"
Me: "The 10 dollar 4Gig flash drives?"
"Yep!"
"Looks like they are sold out, not surprising, that's a great deal."
"Yeah, it figures...."
Pointing to the next hook up, I say: "Look, they have these 8 Gig ones for 15 bucks, that's a great deal, too. I think I'll get one of those!"
"Oh yeah!" she says, and reaches in front of me and grabs the last two of them off the hook. I standing there, wondering if there is hidden camera someplace. I wait for the celebrity host to appear, but they don't.

After I compose my self for a second, I decide to wait until she puts them in her cart, then I am going casually grab one and proceed to the register. But she does not put them down, but instead whips out her cell phone and hits speed dial. A few seconds later she is saying loudly into the phone "....Yeah, Billy?, I'm in the Staples and they don't have the 4 gig drives for 10 dollars, but they have 8 gig ones for 15. Should I get two of 'em?"
"....."
"Um, OK, I got the paper too, but they are the small boxes, you still want 'em?"
"...."
"yeah, I don't know. Five reams, 2500 sheets, it says."
"...."

That all settled with Billy, she then drifts in the direction of the flash drive display, I assume, to put the unwanted drives back. Not waiting to see what she is really up to, just zip by, say "I'll take one of those" smile, and grab one from her hand. She just says "um...., OK....
and if she said anything else, I was gone by then.

Like most people, I'm not really surprised when people act rudely. But occasionally even the most cynical amongst us must stand in awe at some folks ability to bring it up to the next level.

I paid for my stuff and left, just a bit disappointed that she did not put them in her cart.

WHAT is the matter with me?

2009-02-17T19:15:00.003-05:00

I don't know what's the matter with me lately. I got an email today asking me to donate to an organization that I belong to. The free gift really appealed to me. That appeal even strikes me as strange. Check out the free gift:

GIFT

Why do I even want one of these?

Unbelieveable

2009-02-13T15:29:00.001-05:00