Orion Montage

Hey everyone,  here is a video montage I made of our time at the hospital with Orion.  In the future, I don't suppose I'll have time to put together videos like this all the time, especially with musical accompaniment, so I hope you all enjoy this one.  You should be able to see Orion a lot more clearly here than you will when you connect with us over Skype.

Please note, you can watch the videos on you tube in higher resolution if you cick on the little "HQ" button on the bottom of the video.  This may make the video load somewhat slower, but is a nicer if your connection is good.

Finding a Middle Name

Some of you have probably been wondering about little Orion's middle name.   Orion has two unique cultural and language histories to call his own, so Mei Mei and I wanted to take care to incorporate these into his names.  It is Chinese tradition to select a name that strengthens and compliments the astrological signs under which the baby is born (based on the date and time of birth, similar to the western zodiac).  Mei Mei's father helped us with this important and symbolic process.  It is common for western names to be difficult to pronounce by native Chinese speakers, and the reverse is also true.  There are also difficulties in the writing of names between both languages.  As a result, Orion's middle name will be his first name when he is Hong Kong or in any other place where Chinese is the predominant language and writing system.  Mei Mei's father worked hard to select a name that is both unique and strong.  My mother helped with the English translation of the name, hopefully to ensure that is spelled phonetically correct.

Because of the day, month, year and time of day of Orion's birth he is a Golden, Metal, Cow Dragon

Orion Tze Gheen Gaetz

Tze Gheen is a two part name, meaning determination and strength.  In addtion, in its Chinese written form, the first word Tze, has a symbol of the heart as well as a symbol that represents a council member and centurion, or a citizen soldier.  Gheen has a symbol of earth and soil.  These are important as they mean that Orion will have a lot of heart and because gold come from the earth, his wealth will be continuously replenished by this symbol (or possibly dad's debit card). 

Tze is pronounced like with a long e sound, similar to the letter "z" but with a t sound at the beginning.  Gheen is pronounced like the color green, but with an 'h' sound instead of the 'r'.

Finally, it is also worth noting that the Chinese translation of Gaetz means century (every 100 years), and has symbols of wood, vegetation, and self.  This vegetation will provide much nourishment for Orion's little Cow Dragon body.

Merry Christmas to you all, hope you holidays are as blessed as they have been for us.   Mei Mei, Orion and myself will be heading home on Christmas morning to spend our first day in our home together as a family.

Orion 2

Here are more shots of Orion from the last few days.

Orion

Orion Gaetz

Born December 21st, 2009 art 7:09am

8lbs 1oz

20.24in Long

Baby and Mom are doing great.

* To anyone I didn't get to tell about our new joy personally,  I apologize, my phone has run out of batteries and I forgot to bring along the charger, and beyond that, it has been a busy day!

Mei Mei Singing

Hey Everyone, Hope you are all enjoying the holidays.  Even though Mei Mei and I have been extremely busy with all the work of moving into our new place we have found some time to do other things.  I just finish up my class for the semester, and here is Mei Mei's performance at the Depaul Community choir earlier today.  She may be only about two week away from the baby coming, but you definitely can't tell from her singing alone.  More information about the Aria she performed is on my youtube page.

In the future, I intend to post additional videos of the family and especially the baby in a similar manner.  The nice thing is, you won't have to go to much trouble to view them, you should just be able to see them embedded on my blog and or view them directly on my youtube page.   If you haven't done so already, I encourage you to bookmark both of those pages.  Of course I'll keep files of all the pictures and videos I post, so if you want a hardcopy on dvd or cd, it will be easy to do! 

My blog:
http://thedashpot.blogspot.com/
My Youtube page:
http://www.youtube.com/user/RedIsaac

Celebrity Mei Mei

Back when Mei Mei was still a floor trader (for those of you keeping track, she still trades, but now is "upstairs" on a computer) it was pretty standard practice for photographers from the Tribune, Sun times, and apparently Life magazine to take her picture whenever they had to run a story on the markets.  It is easy to understand why, she had a center spot in the largest open call pit in the world, and clearly didn't mind posing for a shot! Follow the link below :)

http://www.life.com/image/71082805

Baby full speed ahead!

Another sign the baby is coming soon, for the first time, Mei Mei recieved a seat on the train today by someone who noticed she is pregnant!  We have also officially entered the begining of the 8th month, so only two months to go and the baby will be here!  In case anyone is wondering, Mei Mei and I will be moving into our new place mid november, and after that will be going on a baby supply buying binge to pick up our car seat, stroller, crib, diapers, etc etc.  Luckily Mei Mei's folks already sent us quite a large care package with baby clothing, bottles, a strap on baby carrier, and much more, which will definetly help us get started.

I'll send/post photographs off the new place once we have a chance to get moved in and do some basic decorating.

A fun Recipe

Here is a quick recipe i've discovered for a fun snack to cook.

Ingredients:
Mixed nuts (I prefer peanuts, cashews and almonds, but pretty much any type of nuts will do)
Egg whites
Sugar
Vanilla extract
Almond extract

The exact proportions don't seem to matter much, but I take the egg white and mix in enough sugar to create a liquidy paste, and then add the two extracts for flavor.  Next, add the nuts to the paste and mix, shake etc. until fully coated. next spread out the nuts on a coated flat pan (I use parchment paper).  Bake for approximately 10 minutes at 400 degrees (untill the sugar carmalizes).  Remove from the oven and allow the nuts to cool.  Remove from the pan and enjoy!

It seems to be a very forgiving recipe, so give it a shot and enjoy a great snack!

Two Cool Halloween Costumes

In the past I've come up with what I thought were some good Halloween costumes, but they don't quite stack up to these two!

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=transformers%20costume&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv#

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=hulk%20costume&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv#

Chicago Olympics?

Today at noon (central time) the International Olympic Comittee will anounce the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympic games.  I've been following the race closely for months now, and even had an inside look at the early development of Chicago's bid from my time at A. Epstein. 

Apparently the odds makers have it down as a close battle between Chicago and Rio De Janeiro.  I believe Chicago would do a fantastic job of hosting an Olympics and would help redefine what it means to host an event of this magnitude. 

In recent years, many host cities have spent tremendous amounts of money building massive facilities that become obsolete immedietly after the games are concluded.  These facilities are often built in one large, olympic campus that quickly turns into a ghost town.  Many cities have gone into considerable financial distress over these expenses (Montreal supposedly took something of 30 years to pay off the debt acquired from hosting their games)

Chicago's proposal for the games is both to integrate the games into the city by hosting events all around the city and near by suburbs, and to utilize as much existing infrastructure as reasonable possible.  Existing facilities such as Soldier Field (the newly renovated stadium where the Chicago Bears play), The United Center (Home of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks) and McCormick Place (Chicago's massive convention center complex) will all play key rolls in the games.  The largest piece of new construction will be a new stadium in Washington park that will temporarily hold up 80 or 90,000 people for the games, but later be scaled down to a modest 7,000 person perminent facility. These ideas should make the games substantially less expensive for Chicago to host, and create a road map for other medium sized cities to host the games in the future.

Beyond redefining how a city should approach the games, the Olympics would be a wonderful opportunity for the world to come and see the beautiful city of Chicago.  Chicago would do a great job at hosting the Olympics, and I hope we are given the chance!

3rd Trimester Time

Mei Mei and I have officially entered the 3rd or "money" trimester of the pregnancy. So far so good. I'm constantly impressed with how well Mei Mei has made it through the process so far. We've actually managed to get to the gym on a fairly regular basis, which I think is helping both of us out. Sometimes I have to ease Mei Mei back and remind her to take it easy, but I do think the nice light workouts are helping her with the back pain she experienced at the begining of the pregnancy. I can only imagine that new pains will come as the baby continues to grow. Currently the baby is listed as the size of very large cucumber according to our baby tracker in What to Expect when you are Expecting. I really wish they would choose size descriptors that weren't things that constantly vary in size, but so far we have only gotten fruits and vegetables. It has been fun watching the baby grow from a mustard seed to a grape to a prune to a plum to a peach to an orange and eventually on to a cucumber. Apparently the baby went from being extremely wrinkly, to nearly perfectly round to its current cylindrical shape. Hopefully, in the end it will come out baby shaped and not watermellon shaped.

In other news. Mei Mei and I very close to getting our new place. We still have some legal formalities, but if there are no hiccups, we'll be able close the deal and move in early November! We are both excited about the prospect of having our own town house, with a small private garden/patio space and garage (great for storing our bikes and doing "project"). We'll only be a couple blocks from our current place, so we will still get to enjoy the neighborhood we've come to know and love.

Streets and Sanitation

I’ve recently been made aware that the City of Chicago provides regular garbage pick up only for low rise residential buildings (which I believed are defined as 4 or less units). All larger buildings, such as most townhome developments as well as mid and high rise buildings, are required to contract out and pay for their garbage pick up through private companies. It occurs to me that this is counter to principles of urban living. Presumably, a high rise building will collect its occupant’s garbage at an accessible, centralized location, making the per capita effort to pick up and remove the waste less than the per capita cost to stop at individual single family and small condominium buildings. Currently, higher density living residents are paying taxes that fund garbage pick up for low density buildings, while they are excluded from this service. As such, the system penalizes those residents living in higher density developments, and rewards those living in the lowest density developments.

Anyhow, I’m not sure what I can do with that information. I’ve not heard anyone raise this issue before, it only occurred to me after I learned that the new townhome I’m looking to purchase is part of an association that has to pay for garbage removal. I’m going to try to find out more information about the history of this situation, and how it came to be, though I don’t really know where to begin. Perhaps I can become the new crusader for garbage equity in Chicago!

EDIT:

A reader informed me that the city does offer a "scavenger's rebate" which should atleast partially rebate the cost of the service. This is good news. However, from a city planning perspective, the easiest buildings to collect from are high rise buildings, and more generally, I think the city should be encouraging the more dense forms of development.

Los Angeles to Tokyo in only 35 Day, 2 Hours

I came across this quirk in Google Maps earlier today. Apparently if you ask for driving directions from Los Angeles to To Tokyo, it reccomends to legs of Kayaking, one from LA to Hawaii (2756 miles) and another from Hawaii to Tokyo (3879 Miles). Going in reverse, from Tokyo to LA, they actually reccomend doing it all in one big stint of 6243 Miles, skipping Hawaii.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Los+Angeles&daddr=Tokyo&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=34.885931,-169.277344&sspn=80.111975,178.066406&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=3

I'm not saying it wouldn't work, it just seems a little ambitious!

Those Health Care Forums have nothing on us...!

Tonight I had my first direct experience with my hyper local government, the Old Town Triangle Association (OTTA). The agenda for the meeting was fairly straightforward, Marge's Still, a Corner restaurant and bar within the neighborhood, had submitted permits with the city for a sidewalk cafe, a designated roadside loading zone for their food and beverage deliveries, and the right to operate a valet parking service. Approximately 60 residents arrived at the meeting, all of them eager to engage in the democratic process, some of them seemingly itching for an argument, and a few of them looking for one chance to desperately cry out "Won't someone please think of the children!?" while nearly fainting.

Back and forth, agitated bickering....ahem...excuse me....I mean debate, ensued. Luckily, several generous neighbors were on hand to see that the "please state your name and address before making your comment" rule was strictly enforced, lest absolute chaos ensue. These malevolent ....ahem.... excuse me again... benevolent souls...coupled with the decision by many of the debaters, to describe in detail, the many years that they had resided in the neighborhood, was sure to provide a warm and welcoming environment to any new, would be voices from the neighborhood.

Whip! Crack! the comments flew:

"This is a quiet neighborhood, which must be preserved"

"where do you live?"

"the bar is loud and raucous at all hours of the night!"

"I walk my dog by the bar every evening, and it is not, in fact, loud, nor is it raucous."

"I'm not a dog person.... or a cat person....but I love animals".

Alas, like so many good things, after a mere two and a half hours, it had to come to a dragged out, somewhat unsatisfying end. Marge's Still would be allowed to have their loading dock and their outdoor cafe, but would not be allowed to operate a valet parking service (out of legitimate fear the bar would attempt to utilize the nearby school playground as their parking lot".

Scorecard for the evening:
Marge's Still - 2 points
Conspiratorial Local Wacko(s) - 1 point
Democracatic Process - 3 points

Paint by Numbers?

This post is inspired by an article I read in Metropolis magazine last night. For anyone unfamiliar, Metropolis is a magazine that focuses on design, architecture, and sometimes engineering.

http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20090722/off-the-shelf-genius

"...users become infatuated with their newfound creative powers. “Designers think, I can make my imagination,” Maeda said. They forget that all the cool things they can do have been enabled by a higher creative power, the software. Or as Maeda put it: “They don’t realize they’re in someone else’s imagination.”

The author describes how modern computer tools have allowed young and inexperienced designers to create fantastic and complex forms without having to do the leg work that would historically have impeded these fanciful designs. In essence the tools allow designers to create beyond their own abilities. Instead of spending years mastering skills and form, they are able to jump immediately to the cutting edge of design using computer assisted methods. I believe this to be both a negative and positive. It is a powerful, democratic thing to bring these tools to the masses, but used irresponsibly, their may be wasteful or even dangerous. Architecturally, the knock off buildings that result, clumsily mimicking the work of genius past, may diminish the works they attempt to glorify.

In engineering, the results can be far more serious. When it comes to computers, there is a classic saying "Garbage In, Garbage Out". The meaning is quite literal, a designer who does not know the details of a software may input garbage data, which the computer will gladly use to spit out garbage results. By hand, it is possible to make a mistake in a calculation, by computer, it is possible to repeat that mistake a thousand times over. To properly check against this tendency, an engineer must often check their results against their own hand calculations, estimates and engineering intuition. Ultimately, computer software is a key to unlocking our greatest design potential, but like so many things, the user will always play a key roll in decision making. There is no substitute for experience and talent.

Ultrasound

Had our 20 week ultrasound today. Everything went really well. I was a little worried before hand, but one by one, the nurse took us through each tiny part of the baby (except...you know...the private parts... Mei Mei and I don't intend to find out the sex). It was really amazing to see the little hands and feet, complete with tiny little fingers and toes. The baby was rolling and moving quite actively, that, coupled with a healthy heart beat, was probably the most assuring. Every time we go through something like this, it makes the baby seem so much more real and present. I've also learned that at this stage the baby will begin to not only hear what we are saying but actually be effected by it. So swearing is out (probably as good of time to get rid of that anyhow). One author I read, described how he could communicate basic counting to exercises to the baby saying clearly into his wife's stomach "one" and giving a gentle tap. Often the baby would respond with a little poke or kick. Afterward he would say "two" and give two taps, which would also often elicit a pair of kicks. Maybe it is too good to be true, but I'm excited to give it a shot :) !! Also, please click on the images to see them larger and in more detail.

Truths, Part 1

This is a post I put in the can awhile ago in case I had an extended delay. As some of you know, my Grandfather passed away last week and I was out of town for the entire weekend at his wake and funeral. I will post some of my fondest memories of him in the near future, but hopefully this can keep my readers still visiting my blog. Incidentally, sorry for the string of sad posts, I'm sure to break it soon as next week is our 20 week ultrasound!

In this post, I'll try to list a few items I've come to believe in, with strong conviction.

1. When buying shoes or a mattress, a person should never take the cheap option. You spend too much time on your feet and in your bed (though very little time doing both at the same time) to try and save a few bucks, it will come back to bite you.

2. Brushing my cats hair, even for a near infinite length of time, has no discernible effect on the amount of hair he sheds.

3. If you ever lend out a dvd to someone, you should consider them gifted away, and if the dvd happens to ever return, consider it a new gift to you.

4. The best ice cream flavors, and or descriptions, always contain one or more of the following words: Fudge, Caramel, Cookies, Chocolate, Dough, Chunk, Peanut.

Fish

Some sad news to report. Some of our fish recently got sick with a parasite that commonly effects aquariums, called ICH. I attempted to treat the tank with chemical designed for this purpose, which apparently carries with it its own risks. Unfortunately, either the ICH, the treatment chemical or a third unknown substance caused a large number of our fish to die, including our large Parrot fish, Wilbur. It seems like the remaining fish are stable and will survive, but we'll need to wait awhile before we can consider adding new fish again. Unfortunately, after a lengthy discussion with the aquarium shop experts, it seems likely that we'll never know exactly what occured to wipe out so much of our tank so quickly. All and all, Mei Mei seems to have taken it pretty well.

The toughest part of the situation is the frustrating feeling of having made a mistake. In the past Mei Mei and I have had fish die, but typically only a single fish will die at a time and, as their relatively short life spans would suggest, they pass at random times with little or no warning. In these cases the feeling of loss is countered by the sense that it was the fishes “time to go” and nothing really could have been done about it or even to predict it. Unfortunately in this case, with so many fish passing almost immediately after I introduced a chemical into the tank specifically designed to help and cure them, there is little doubt that this action caused their deaths.

MLB Stadium Changes show Changing Priorities

Growing up in St. Cloud, MN, I spent many summer nights in the nearby small town of Cold Spring (3000 people on a good census) watching the Cold Spring Springers play amateur baseball against teams from across the great state of Minnesota. Most of the players were local, having grown up watching the Springers themselves, and the crowd was even more local, with people walking to the stadium from their nearby homes. Springer history is storied, with seven state championships to their credit, as well as holding a current and still growing record of 20 consecutive seasons of qualifying for the state tournament. Springer field is small but distinct, with ivy lined fences, covered bleachers behind the backstop, and granite details pulled from the local quarry that over the years has employed many of the springers and fans alike. During a game, fans never leave their seats during the Springers at bat, and most of the time, when they talk, they talk baseball. To put a nail on it, Springers fans know baseball, and they know their team. One summer, when I was perhaps ten years old, I remember my grandfather, a lifelong Springer fan and pillar of the community for his involvement at the local VFW, among many other things, was asked to throw out the first pitch of the season. In a small town, even now, that still means something.

Next spring, after 27 years of playing baseball in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the Minnesota Twins will move into a new outdoor stadium, Target Field. The Metrodome has been much maligned for many years, for problems such as having a white pillow ceiling that makes catching fly balls unreasonably difficult, and painful artificial turf that fails to reproduce a natural baseball playing and watching experience.

In their new stadium, the twins will actually have fewer tickets to sell, as their maximum seating capacity will decrease from the Metrodomes 55,300 seats to the new Target field capacity of only 40,000. On an average day, this doesn't seem to pose much of an issue, as the twins rarely, if ever, have complete sell out games. The team will be playing on natural grass in the open air.

Interestingly, the new stadium will be built with a concourse twice as wide as the one in Metrodome, and will have substantially more vertical aisles (meaning less seats in a continuous row, and will have more bathrooms than in the old Metrodome (increasing from 448 to 667). On the surface, these seem like nice, positive improvements, but I wonder if they belie a hidden change in priorities of the twins (and other pro sports teams, who by and large have been making similar changes to their facilities for quite some time now).

At the end of a game, having additional vertical aisles will certainly make it easier for crowds to exit the stadium. During the game, they also allow fans getting up to not have to walk in front of as many seated fans before reaching the aisle. On the other hand, is it possible that fans have less interest in the actual game being played? At several recent major league baseball games in Chicago's Wrigley Field as well as U.S. Cellular field, I have noticed that many fans get up for bathroom breaks, concession stand purchases or any number of other activities, during all moments of the game. There seems to be little regard for situations, such as when their own team is at bat, or even more pivotal moments, like when a pitcher is beginning his wind up of a critical pitch with two men on board and the tying run on third. Many fans seem to lack much actual interest in the game. In this sense, are the Twins and other teams pandering to these disinterested fans by making their behavior less obtrusive to rest of the crowd?

Now, how about the additional bathrooms for a substantially reduced crowd size, as well as the beefed up concessional spaces; is this another symptom of the disinterested fan, who would prefer guzzling beer, plastic cup after lukewarm plastic cup full, to actually engaging and observing the game being played? Certainly a fan at a game should be able to enjoy food and beverages to compliment their experience, but in many ways, the current major league trends seem to have shifted these activities into the lime light, while the actual sporting event only serves as the backdrop of a massive bar restaurant. As a result of this bar like atmosphere, the professional game has become a less inviting, less family friendly environment. Throwing garbage onto the field of play, very foul language, and even physical, drunken fights have all become common place, even the norm at professional ball games.

In this new major league atmosphere, fans looking to watch a ballgame and reminisce about old strikeout records and great second basemen might find themselves the odd men out. One has to wonder, how many seats are left at old Springer field?

Tips

Is it possible to abolish the modern American restaurant practice of tipping servers? I've worked in a restaurant in the past, so I certainly have sympathy for the employees and don't want them to be short changed, but can't we expect restaurants to list the real price of things on their menu?

Is this just a clever trick to make things seem cheaper than they really are? Is it worth all the inconvenience? Is someone getting screwed by the situation? What is the origin of tipping anyhow Yeah, I'm sure I could look it up on Wikipedia, but I'm just looking for the cut-to-the-chase explanation for why we break our pricing down in this fashion, and really only for this one industry).

Can I possibly place more questions into a single post on my own blog? (apparently yes!)

Going for a Stroll(er)

After spending a lifetime with baby stroller reserves of less than 1 stroller, I am anticipating increasing my stroller reserves to upwards of 2 new, unique strollers in the very near future. Since this is a massive policy shift, it warrants proper research and due diligence...

I am now soliciting stroller advise, reccomendations, warnings etc.

My current plans are to purchase 2 strollers:

1. Very light compact stroller, such as the Uppa Baby stroller for going to the store, riding the train, bus, casual trips.

This is my leading selection:
http://www.peppyparents.com/servlet/the-286/uppababy-g-luxe-stroller/Detail

2. One "All Terrain", large wheel model for longer trips, neighborhood strolls etc.

I am not leaning toward a particular model or band of this type yet.

On Popsicles

After one of my regular popsicle based meals, it recently occurred to me that the standard popsicle box now only contains *gasp* three flavors! grape, orange, & red [I'll go ahead and assume it is cherry, though I think they have been lying to me all these years and it is really some hybrid raspberry flavor]. Interestingly, the packaging shows four popsicles on the front, with the dubious red flavored popsicle receiving double billing ...is this a clever advertising trick to create the illusion of additional flavor variety where none exists? I'll leave that question to be answered by you, faithful readers, or perhaps to be revisited in future popsicle oriented postings.

My question on this day is, what happened to the two remaining popsicle flavors of my youth, banana and brown? Is it possible that some sales representative, looking to make a name for himself, and after studying the popsicle eating behavior of millions, finally make a bold decision and swiftly eradicate these flavors? Did someone perhaps tell him of the millions of near empty popsicle boxes, left with only these two flavors [because no one really liked them anyhow] sitting in ice boxes across the country? Did they even go so far as to tell him off the cases of eager children opening multiple popsicle boxes, thus violating the universal law "you can't open the new box until you finish the last one"?

How could this popsicle zorro truly understand the consequences of his actions? Could he have predicted the loss of the one truly great popsicle based guessing game? [As everyone knows, the great gambit in popsicle selection was, for years, Do I dare go for that dark popsicle, tempting, nay taunting me through its translucent wrapping? Could it be the greatest flavor of them all, grape, or the cruel and now rejected cousin, brown?] For all these unanswered questions, I say good day to you popsicle man, I may not know whether you be friend or fiend, but I do know, I will be watching.

Editors notes: After a tumultuous night of sleeping, it occured to me that I left out the other forsaken flavor of popsicle, Green. The truth is I don't really have any first hand knowledge of that mysterious popsicle because Sam inhaled all of those.

Yoga Ball - High Tech Workout Equipment, or Overpriced Balloon

Mei Mei and I purchased a big red yoga ball (roughly 30in in diameter). So far, I've determined it is really good for stretching out the back and working the ab muscles. I'm convinced it could become the cornerstone of a full body workout; I'll just need to research other ways to manipulate it. Apparently it also makes a good seat for improving one's posture. It also does a reasonable job of scaring away the cat.

Neighbors III: Setting Things in Motion

Another chapter in our continuing story from our guest author, my mother. Is this part I of the thrilling conclusion? only time will tell...

So I come home last night and Phil announces that he has called the city to determine all the legalities of the great squirrel controversy. He has been badgering me to do this which I refused to do as I have asked him to drop this vendetta [this is no longer about squirrels, it’s a long simmering resentment on his part against the boys]. And that I would not be party to any more of his carrying on.

Well the city animal control officer had some real interesting advice: Phil explained that the lived on the southside (cleverly disguising his real location there) and was troubled by chipmunks and squirrels in his yard and wanted to know how he could get rid of them (again a clever gambit so they would be confused as to his true motive!)

NO, he could not shoot them, there is a city ordinance that bans the discharge of all firearms in the city, including pellet (bb) guns.

NO he can not poison them, again an ordinance banning such action

YES, he can live trap them and [This is the part that warrants the term “interesting advice.” ] she then proceeded to explain to him how he could then drown them in the cage if he really wanted to get rid of them, giving some advice as to how long that takes! She did warn him that some neighbors could be feeding them…from that he concluded that “they” had called and spoken to her and now she knew who he was too!

Again I said I thought it was time to get over this and that we can be vigilant about the shooting; but we should just start operating on the assumption that they are going to obey the laws and will try and live trap them and we can’t do much about that. Phil is not one to be swayed by that kind of wussie, roll over, march into the gym kind of thinking…oh no. He has plans to suit up ninja style, wait for the middle of the night, and douse their live trap in dog urine to deter the little critters from entering. When I asked him what he thought they might do in response to his sneaking onto their property at night to do this, he said they would have to catch him first. Hmm, does this all begin to go way past squirrel rescue??

Okay so now I am going to have to start filming this [I want proof when they start commitment proceedings, not sure if I am talking proof one way or the other] the image of Phil trying to collect some dog urine should be pretty good!

Iranian Uprising

I've been following the political situation in Iran following their controversial election on June 12th quite closely. I won’t pretend to have a firm understanding of the forces at play in their political sphere, so I won’t advocate a course of action for their country, or for my own.

However, I am interested in the specific point, that I have heard from several sources, that should the US, for any reason, choose to get involved in the dispute to assist the uprising crowds, it would have the effect of reinforcing the existing regime by giving them a plausible opponent (the USA) to rally against. Is there a geo political term for this situation? Is it a revolutionary catch 22? Let us pretend, solely for discussion sake, that the up risers are in fact looking for a full revolution in Iran. We can then also imagine that the only way they will succeed is with intervention and assistance from the US (a highly debatable assumption, but not very germane to this discussion). At the same time, the US backing the uprising revolutionaries might seemingly lead to the existing regime gaining additional strength and ultimately making the revolution less likely to succeed. Would the net effect be a stalemate? As the USA ratcheted up the support for the revolution, would the existing regime hunker down further and further? Just to clarify, I do not feel comfortable advocating support for the revolution or any US interaction, I am just interested in the power struggle presented above.

Another battle

Isaac 2, Mosquitoes 4. The war continues! I swear those Michigan-based mosquitoes have an unfair size advantage, must be something in the water....probably all the crap drifting down from Chicago...

Neighbors, Part II: Revenge of Bob!?

My mother guest authors another post in which our story of neighborhood diversity continues with new, thrilling plot twists.

So now someone has shot Phil’s car! This is getting serious, maybe? I am driving home yesterday and my cell goes off, pick it up and I see it’s from “home” so I know who is on the other end already!

“Can you meet me at Dale’s?” Pretty bad when the auto body guy is so well known I don’t even think to say "Dale who?" Actually when you think about how much body work Phil did on his old car it’s amazing we know anyone in this line of business.

“What’s up?”

“Somebody shot my car!”

“you’re joking! What do you mean?”

“Shot my car with a bb gun. Yep, right on the driver side door!”

So when I pull into Dale’s parking lot Phil is waiting for me and leans into my car and grabs my cell phone…he needs to document this atrocity for some future plan. He takes about 4 shots, but only one is viewable. The hole is very small, but definitely visible just above the driver’s door handle.

As we are driving home he is now speculating on who could be responsible for this dirty deed. What is amazing is that he goes through a series of possibilities before he zeros in on “BOB!” “He could just drive by and putsch” [demonstrated with a careful aim with a gun resting on your arm as you drive by (hope no one was looking at us as we drove along!)]

“So when did you notice this?” [I am expecting something along the lines of early this morning]

“On Monday”

Monday? Wow that is a long time to store up all this righteous indignation! Especially as he goes all the way back to re-telling the story of the kids who went into his old car and he caught them and they returned the next night to smear dog poop all over his car. So I am thinking “well maybe shooting the car is a step up in neighborhood hooliganism” Ya know the worst part of all these things is that Phil seems to take great delight in thinking up who is responsible. So far we are not storing up poop to wipe down anyone’s vehicle and I don’t think he would ever contemplate shooting an innocent car (now a motorcycle, hmmm that might be a little different,..he doesn’t think Bob should have one of those for some reason.)

He also asked me to determine if it was illegal to trap squirrels, I said I thought not, live trapping was probably okay. He “needs to know” because Bruce demanded to know and he wants to know so if he ever gets asked a gain he can answer. I suggested he look it up, he couldn’t find it,

so I said "well, call the city"

"hmm from an untraceable phone so I can …."

”What? What? You can be safe from the prying ears of a city employee who will report back to who that you, Phil, made an inquiry about trapping squirrels?"

He also need to know if its illegal to poison animals, including cats, I told him I didn’t need to look that one up and that he could be pretty sure that was illegal, and if they were actually contemplating that I would turn them in a heartbeat. I don’t want cats terrorizing our birds, but not to the point of killing them.

Phil says "No, no I’m not going to do anything, just let it all lay. I don’t intend to ever speak to them (Yosemite Sam and Charlie Brown) again".

Yeah sure, that is why you want all this ”illegal to do” ammunition, are you going to paper their gravestones with city ordinances?

Ta Ta,

Mom

Pro Tip Series

Pro Tip #1001: How to tell if your refrigerator has stopped working.

When you wake up in the morning and pull out a new gallon of milk for your cereal and begin to pour and are treated with 1 cup of yellowish clear water and 15 cups of yogurt, you're refrigerator has stopped working.

Away We Go

A quick post here, normally I'm not aiming to run film reviews in here, but since this was a fairly independent, smaller comedy, I'll let it slide.

Away We Go (2009)

Starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph.

A really touching, fun comedy about an unwed early 30s couple, pregnancy with their first child, trying to determine where in the world to stake their claim and raise the forthcoming child. My wife and I stumbled into this film, for no other reason than it happened to be the show playing at 12:40, but within about 3 minutes I realized it was a perfect film for us, in that it easily parallels many of our experiences these days as we prepare for our first child's birth in December.

The funniest parts of the film revolve around the couple visiting various friends, family members, and acquaintances with often uncomfortable results as they begin to see the personality flaws of each potential new neighbor, seemingly pumped up on steroids. The acquaintances range from an overly preachy liberal college professor to an alcoholic former co worker, to a down on his luck single brother. Ultimately, the arc of the story is one of finding your place in the world, both as an individual and as a family.

Other notable films I've seen recently that I'd recommend (How about 3 Martial Arts Films, for no particular reason other than they kick ass!)

Red Belt - A David Mamet martial arts action film with the heart and soul of a bittersweet drama.

Ip Man - Donnie Yen as Bruce Lee's legendary instructor. Beautifully shot and executed...questionable historical accuracy.

Foot Fist Way - A hilarious potrayal of an out of shape, Tae Kwon Do instructor in a small southern town struggling with a promiscuous wife and a hero who ultimately fails to live up to the warriors code.

Total System Re-install Day

The great holiday is here once again, as unexpected as usual. With any luck it will once again take 3 to 4x as long as planned and still not fix the problem. Now to serenade the wise and aged back up hard drive with the traditional ballad of re-installs...

Don't conk out on me now...
Don't conk out on me now...

Update (06-22-09 9:04AM):

Re-install did not go as planned. I will now be submitting future blog postings by a carrier pigeon named Philbert and his lovable side kick, an incorrigible mouse named Lucky.

Sun Glasses

Prior to sunday's baseball game at Wrigley field, Mei and I laid out 5 pair of sunglasses that I have (collected over the last decade or so).

1. The ones that look like Neo's
2. The really cool reflective silver tinted ones
3. The cheap looking maroon orange ones
4. The less cheap looking maroon orange ones
5. The gaudy ones with the gold frame

One of us tried to select the really cool reflective silver tinted ones, but these were deemed to be "too douche baggy". Not that I looked like a "douche bag" wearing them of course, just that the sunglasses were "too douche baggy", because we'd never think I looked like a "douche bag". You know?

We went with the less cheap looking maroon orange ones.

Neighbors

Today's post comes from a guest author, my mother. It concerns my stepdad (Phil) and the neighbors across the street (Bruce and Bob X). Please enjoy responsibly.

Okay so now it looks like we may be heading toward a feud between the X boys and Phil.

Background: Phil has never liked Bob; when he moved back in with his mom and brother he [Phil] would talk about how much he disliked Bob as a kid growing up down the block from them and how Bob was a dictatorial brat in their boy scout troop etc.

You all might recall how Bob has had a vendetta against the squirrels in the neighborhood and I watched him shoot and smack one around last year. After that, Phil caught him with his pellet gun again and shouted across the street at him and made a big deal of it.

Well last week they [Bob and Phil] rode to the gun club in Elk River together and whether Phil brought it up or not I don’t know but Bob said he was no longer shooting them. A couple days ago, Phil was walking home from his moms and he heard the gun and saw a squirrel fall. Yesterday he printed out a copy of the city ordinance that prohibits discharge of any fire arm in the city; took it over to Bruce and they apparently went at it. Phil claimed we had a picture of Bob thumping the squirrel from last year and we would take more, Bruce said he thought cameras in the neighborhood were pretty un-neighborly, and that feeding wild animals in our backyard was not legal and we should stop that as it brought all kinds of squirrels and chipmunks into his yard who then ate his plants. Phil suggested that since we live in an oak savannah Bruce might consider cutting down his trees. Etc Etc

All of this wouldn’t be so bad but Phil comes home and he swerves right at being so pleased with himself and then left at the idea (in his head) that Bruce is out campaigning in the neighborhood against him [he claims Don our neighbor down the street, next to Theresa, that she and Bruce were “joking” they should buy up all the houses in the neighborhood and sell them back to people who would have to agree to keep nice yards!! ]

So here we are two armed nuts living across the street from each other and both not ever really liking one another. Maybe getting out of Dodge soon is an even better idea than I thought! And somehow this could devolve in to being my fault for feeding rodents!!

Mom

Edit: here is a follow up email with additional information.

The part I forget to tell you is that Phil suggested to Bruce as neighborhood watch chairman he [Phil] canvass the neighborhood with a questionnaire asking if they had any recent bullets holes in their garages or houses, and how they felt about “murdering” “breaking laws” etc etc. I am waiting for the real s@#t to hit the fan. Maybe I should secretly tell their mothers (Esther and Ramona] [who are, by the way, not the best of friends either (Ramona ain’t a Catholic ya know!)] I feel like I might begin to hear banjoes one of these days (paddle faster!!!)

Bob reminds me of Yosemite Sam (Hanna Barbera cartoon character) always swaggering, blustering, and shooting off his guns!! Those big walrus moustaches!! Bruce on the other hand, is a bit like Charlie Brown. Phil, Daffy Duck maybe??

Mom

Fire Escape Inspector

Without a doubt, I find the real key to a good fire escape inspection is to not fall 15 stories to your doom.

Sushi

When I order Nigiri, I don't like the little bit wasabi under the fish fillet. What is wrong with me? (please feel free to expound on my non-sushi related faults)

Art Fair

The annual running of the drunks came barreling through my quiet old town neighborhood once again this past weekend.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/laf/1223961034.html

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Here are the contents of the above link, in case it goes away.

Thank you-To the girl (Old Town Art Fest)

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Reply to: comm-td8d6-1223961034@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}
Date: 2009-06-16, 7:32AM CDT

Who found the puking girl in pink with white capris on the corner of North & Wells. Thank you, thank you for calling my friend and getting me in a cab before I was taken to an ER then arrested. I am curious, did I cut my head before or after I left the fest?

Thanks again! You deserve a good citizen award!

• Location: Old Town Art Fest
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 1223961034