Pipes

I kinda thought I'd just give up on this blog... Instragram is easier. But... maybe instead I'll just write random things. I haven't decided yet, but here goes.

We have some kind of running water sound in the bathroom. Called a plumber, he couldn't hear it. He showed us that if it's a leak, it's a tiny leak because the water meter wasn't moving. He refused to believe I didn't know where my water meter was, but it's true. Now I know. We had to decide whether to cut the wall apart to find this sound that the plumber couldn't hear that shows no sign of leaking. We decided against it. Not sure what our next move is. Wait it out?

I've been really into a new game, Hearthstone. It's like Magic mixed with Starcraft. Very awesome. I think maybe I'll be playing for a long time. We'll see. Oh, and I'm starting to think my Magic blog is almost dead. Kind of sad, I wrote some really good content, but it's not worth forcing, and good content takes a lot of work.

Had a good 31st birthday. Leah got me a some cookbooks, some fancy spices, some kitchen tools, and a wok. Hint, hint.

Day one of Alpha on Monday. Three months of long hours, but I've made it through... seven so far.

Ok. I'm going to dance with Noey and play games with Levi now.

Read the Shirt, Dad

Scopes

Out with the old, in with the new

What has a roomy six inches of clearance, an improved latching mechanism, elegant "reverse z" support beams, two stainless steel four-bolt hinges, and 68 yellow zinc one and a quarter inch screws?










That's what. Hand crafted by yours truly.

Something Different

Today Levi stayed home from school because he had a cough. This altered my normal daily pattern since I usually drop him off on the way to work. For some reason I thought it was a nice change of pace. I sat on the couch, drank my coffee, watched Curious George with the kids, and thought about how a little change every now and then was a good thing.

So I decided to switch it up. I didn't wear my hat to work; I actually combed my hair instead. I wore my old brown boots instead of my standard Nikes. I brought my lunch instead of going out. I took a different route to work, and listened to music I hadn't heard since college.

No punchline.

Also, check out the new Instagram plugin.

A bad camera in hand beats a good camera at home

http://instagram.com/tom762x

Knuckleheads

Bumblebee and Bumblebee

Field Trip

Instead of going to work today, I got lost in a corn maze.

It was a field trip for Levi. I tried to explain to the kids that if we just always turn right we'll get out, but they didn't listen, so we wandered around and around while I dragged a 30 pound sled through the dirt (Noey needs some off-road tires for that thing). As dumb as it sounds to push an umbrella stroller around a sandy dirt field, it ended up helping us navigate. We avoided going down the paths that already had stroller tracks. We eventually traversed the maze, finding all five "stations". I was pretty proud until I heard that was just the kiddie maze.

Splinter Emergency

I have nine minutes to make this post, gotta get to T-ball.

Leah got a call from Levi's school. "Levi got a splinter and we asked if he needed to go home a little early. He said yes". So she picked him up early. Because of a splinter.

Levi told me she tried to get it out with tweezers. Then she tried fingernail clippers. Then she tried tape. I was incredulous. Then he said she tried to get it out with a tomato. I thought for sure he was seeing what kind of ridiculous tale I would believe. When I refused to believe his mother tried to take out his splinter with a tomato he confessed it may have been a potato.

Come to find out, she actually taped a slice of potato to his hand. I have no idea.

Anyway, when I got home from work I pulled it out with some tweezers. Levi said splinters are the worst thing you can ever have and Leah said "looks like the potato worked".

Turkey

I was at the the grocery store. The kids like to eat deli turkey so I walk up to the counter and take a number. I get 31, but they're "now serving" number 26. I decided I'd wait and see how long it takes them to step through a few numbers. If it's too slow I'll try to run over to the produce section and get bananas, strawberries, and an onion.

I wait a little while and we're still on 26. A little longer then I finally decide to go for it. I hustle off to get my produce wondering what happens if you miss your number. I imagine you just jump in there when they call a higher number... but surely if you're like 10 behind you'd cause problems... I rush back hoping I didn't miss my number. Now serving 26. OK. I see.

What else is on my list? Dairy stuff is too far away... water too... dried lentils. I think that's pretty close. I decide to risk it again. A few minutes later, and a few aisles over I cannot find dried lentils. I was relying I heavily on the signs hanging above each aisle telling you what items can be found in that aisle, but I guess "dried beans" don't get a shout-out. Two young employees were flirting while stocking the shelves. I busted in demanding to know where dried lentils were.  I snag a bag of lentils and high-tail it back to the deli counter. Still serving 26.

I noticed one lady,  number 28,  had been standing in the same spot since I originally pulled my number. She looked rather impatient. I parked my cart next to hers and said "Still serving 26!? Are we even using numbers today?" She shared my sentiment.

I don't know what order number 26 was. My friend's dad used to own an Italian restaurant, maybe this was some guy ordering the day's supply of sub provisions.

Finally, we move on to 27. Then not long after that 29. Good, this starting to look much better. A brief while later it's time for number 30. I'm next! But, not before Old Lady 30. She wants a third pound of this, this, and that. The lady behind the counter can't hear her very well so everything takes a while. A THIRD POUND OF THIS, THIS, AND THAT. Then she describes, very slowly, how she wants each meat sliced. Then the deli worker puts the meat on the scale and the Old Lady 30 says "No, no, no. I wanted a third pound total, not a third pound of everything." After the excess meat is discarded she says (I'm not making this up) "I want one piece of the ham cut really fat. The rest thin". The lady behind the counter kinda stares at her a bit... #30 says "You know so I can have a ham sandwich for lunch then cook the ham for breakfast". OK... back to the ham block, one fat slice. Everything totals to 0.34 pounds, and old lady says that will be fine. Praise the Lord.

Then, for some reason, the lady asked her "What else can I get you?". Noooooooo. #30 wants a half pound something else, the white stuff, and she says "I think I want it sliced on #2. Yeah. Slice number 2 and let me see what that looks like". I start to look around to make sure somebody besides me is seeing this. #2 slice?

I think the manager on duty began to notice the holdup so they opened another register. Serving 31? Woot! I start heading to the other register when some lady says "I got 32". I... just didn't speak fast enough. Now serving 32. Of course 32 is done before old lady 30. "33?"

"WAIT. STOP! I got 31!"

"You haven't been helped yet?"

"NO!"

"What can I get for you?"

"TURKEY! HALF POUND. DON'T CARE WHAT KIND AND NO I DON'T WANT A SAMPLE"

I acquired my turkey, then the rest of my groceries and drove home. When Noey wakes up from her nap and wants something to eat, I suppose it'll all be worth it.

Cleaning House

In High School my friends and I spent most of our time playing Star Wars Cards. Towards the end of our card playing era I decided to try to trade for my friends' collections. I got Jason's collection for a nice chess set and Jim's for my collection of Lord of the Rings cards. Josh wanted my truck, so that was a no go.

For the last ten years I've had a pretty huge collection of cards sitting in my closet, and I finally decided to sell them off. I wouldn't trade my cards for cash in the bank, but I would trade them for more cards: Magic cards. Specifically, I want to build a cube. I began selling my cards on ebay, and with only two rounds of auctions I've made over two hundred dollars.

Leah denies it, but basically she's jealous; so she signed up for a consignment sale. I pulled 37 bags of toys and clothes out of 117 degree attic. We can't park in the garage and our house looks like an episode of Hoarders. We spent a small fortune on replacement batteries, price labels, and hangers. I cleaned dozens of old crusty toys, tested them out, and priced them.

A few weeks from now we'll have less stuff we don't need around this house, and we might even break even. We'll definitely have some sweet Magic cards though.

Growing Up

The fence and stuff

The dogs broke through the fence again. Many times actually. It was calm for a while but they got a new puppy which finds tiny little holes to weasel through into our yard. I wouldn't mind the puppy except the big dogs get stressed when the little one gets away so they basically hulk-smash the fence until they create a hole big enough to get through. They retrieve the puppy but instead of returning home they usually take the opportunity to explore the neighborhood.

Every time they bust a hole in the fence I replace the broken boards with new ones. I think I've replaced almost half the fence by now, though today's job was the biggest. I was out of boards so I went to the Home Depot.

Over in the lumber section on a Thursday in the middle of the day, you'll find the pros. I tried to act like I was a regular but it took me like 15 minutes to find wood screws. Then, I felt a little bit like a noob with my half inch fence pickets. Somehow it was worse because I had to buy screws, like I didn't have any. "Need to buy a screwdriver for you big job too?" Then, of course, I had to figure out how to get my fence pickets into the Corolla. Seriously, I didn't even know how to get the back seat to fold down. After a few minutes of futility I finally embarrassingly consulted my owner's manual. Compare this to tossing your two by fours into the back of your pickup. At this very moment I thought... I had a Salon appointment this morning... which I really did.

Regarding screwdrivers, turns out the the little battery powered thing we have is not meant for fence repair. I didn't realize this until today when I finally decided to bust out my drill (with a Phillips head bit). I was expecting an improvement but it was even better than I hoped. What used to be a battle over every screw was now as easy as snapping together Legos.

Regarding Legos, we've built a castle and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Lair. By we, I mean I. I think we need to scale down the complexity of our projects and start putting more work on Levi. He likes to build the little guys, and play with the finished result through.

Levi and I have also started playing Magic. We're both enjoying it and he's learning to read, add, and subtract.

Noelle is still using minimal words. I swear she knows everything we're talking about and probably could talk if she wanted to. Right now she prefers communicating complex thoughts through mime.

I think Leah enjoys having me home; I know she's looking forward to her new bathroom mirrors and cabinets.

I've starting drafting Magic Online. I'm really enjoying it (though it does stress me out a little). I could potentially see this as the beginning of a new hobby that could last a while, but you never know with these kinds of things. As much as I think I'd like that now, I rarely correctly estimate how long I'll stick with whatever I'm into at the time.

Next post should have photos.

5th birthday, new game

Just the five of us

Re-purposing a dismantled Naboo Fighter

Troublemakers

I woke up this morning to find both of my children in timeout. Levi, for leaving the bathroom door open and Noelle, for throwing the TV remote in the toilet.

And so it begins

Crisis Averted

If you wake up on your wife's birthday with nothing, and you can't leave the house all day, what do you do?