Happy Happy Joy Joy!

My hot tub is back in operation! I had to bring it down for all the construction, but now that the work is all done I was able to run my conduit and fire it up. I marinated last night like a big white Maine Lobster! Whhhoooooyyyyaaaa! It felt good after my workout to go sit in the tub and
relax with the stars above. It started to drizzle about 11PM, but that actually makes it better.
Cold air, cold rain, Red Sox cap, hot tub. Giddyupp!

Now, back to work. It's great working for a high tech firm- blogging is actually working! What a country! Take THAT BORAT!

A poetic response

One squirrel
two squirrel
black and blue squirrel.

You cannot fly
my little squirrel
so do not climb
and do not hurl.

You cannot fly
from on the roof
you will land hard
you will go "oof!"

You cannot fly
from on the couch
you will crash land
you will go "ouch!"

You should not try
to reach the grass
you will fall short
upon your A**

All these things
that you have tried
you have not succeeded
but have not died.

But once again
you have a cast
and this, I fear
is not the last.

And you cannot help
your brother fly
you'll make mom mad
and he may die.

For catapults
they are medieval
and your little plan
it is pure evil.

Our next door neighbors
like their fenced yard
the do not want Connor
flying in, and landing hard.

He will be crying
when the authorities come
so no more history channel
for you, my son.

Ground Hog Day

We got another one of those great calls from school. The Joester broke his arm again. Actually, I should rename this post "Flying Squirrel Day" because one of the previous events involved an attempt to imitate a flying squirrel. Unsuccessfully.

So once again, we spent a 6 hour stint in the emergency room. Fortunately, we have friends there because of all the time we spend there. One of the advantages of having a bunch of boys is that you get to know the people in the ER. It gets you the good meds. Man, I need some good meds. But that's another story.

I love the questions they ask. "How did this happen?". "I'm a kid. These things just happen".
My son, Plato (or, more appropriately, Playdoe). The proper question should be "How did this happen again?".

Clearly, the flying squirrel thing is a myth. I think the guys at myth busters should do an episode.

Since he had not eaten since breakfast, we took him out to eat at 8:30 when we got out of the ER. His choice, since he was the injured party. Anywhere. Where did we go you ask? Osaka Sushi. That's right. 45 bucks of raw fish. I didn't know squirrels ate sushi. Maybe just the flying ones.

What a way to spend the weekend!

Took the monkeys on an overnighter with the Cub Scouts. We spent the night on the USS Hornet, which is now a museum in Alameda, CA.

What a great way to get to know some history. It was our fourth trip to the Hornet- and I am looking foreword to next year already. Not that I get any sleep, but I am basically a 10 yr old with a checking account, so when we get to go do these kinds of things I get excited.

They have a rule on the ship- no running, shoving, or horseplay. If you get caught, then you have to do 2 push ups. Second offense, 4 pushups, etc. The twins got up to 6 push ups. Suffice to say, they don't learn quickly.


We slept in bunks like they did when the ship was active duty. I was up top because there was a bit more headroom, but that isn't saying much. The hooligans were stowed below. We stayed up till midnight to hear the ghost stories. It turns out that the Hornet is the third most haunted place in the country: Alcatraz, New Orleans, then the Hornet. Creepy.

The quote of the day came when we were discussing the "Special Weapons" area of the ship. The Hornet was one of the first to carry nukes, and they had a special area to deal with them. The docent explained that the area was closed off, and that the weapons had been removed. Joe piped in " where'd they take them? Can we go get them?" OF course not son. Then the best line " so where could a 9 year old boy get some if he wanted them, hypothetically?"
The docent gave me a look of pity. "You can't get them. Besides, your father wouldn't want you to have them." "oh, don't worry...we won't tell him. He can get his own."
North Korea, Iran, and now my house. Yay for me.

I'm not complaining....

I've been working from home on a full time basis for a couple of years, and I have a couple of peeves about the work practice. Don't get me wrong; I love the fact that I have this incredible freedom in my work life. I pity those poor folks who don't have the ability to work from home.
They don't know what they are missing. But it does have a peculiar set of disadvantages.
The one that hits me the hardest centers around participation in meetings at odd times. I have a standing call at 6:30AM on Fridays. I like the people on the call, and I get a lot of good information by participating, but I have a hard time both getting up for the call, and then because I have 4 kids, I have a hard time balancing the call and the management of those kids as we try to get them up, presentable, and off to school. I drive them to school, along with two neighbor kids, in one of those massive Suburbans. Yes, some of the folks who have them actually use them as they were intended. We have the nine passenger version, and I would say that two or three times a week we have it full- all nine seats filled.
Thank god for mute. I sometimes call in to the meeting on my cell phone and mute myself. I listen in, but I am sure I miss some things because of the tyrany of the present- some little munchkin will be doing something that they shouldn't and distract me.

EEEK! There's a DRAGON in my bed!

At least she looks like a dragon. See, there's a cold going around. When the wife gets said cold, she takes to pushing Kleenex up her nostrils to totally block the passages. I know. She's a woman; I too do not understand their ways.... So the tissue gets spun to a point (genetic disposition to weaving?) and then, um, inserted into the nostril. Ditto for the other side. The effect is comical.
This time, the tissues are reddish. The overall effect is that of a snoring dragon. It's particularly humerous when she is sitting up in bed reading. Picture a dragon propped up by some pillows peering over her glasses into a book. It sends up all sorts of alarms for me because the books are flamable.

Oh, and the dragon is wearing fuzzy slippers. No doubt made from the skins of victims past.

And MAN is it cranky. Geezzomann.