Questions

Why is it that, in the mid-Atlantic region anyway, the manhole covers in the streets are almost alway in the part of the road where you have to either drive over them and wear out your shocks, or to avoid them, steer wildly in your lane? Why can't they put them more in the center of the lanes?

Also, and equally as annoying, how can I get Microsoft Internet Explorer to *stop* asking permission before I copy from or paste into a web page?

Random Find

For some reason I was looking for info on the defunct funk band, Big Hunk o' Cheese, and found this old video from Saturday morning TV in the 70's. I remember doing a specific search for it last year after I realized it wasn't included in the School House Rock DVDs we checked out from the library for The Boy to watch, but I couldn't locate it.


and this,


wait, there's more,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt3KHH4Hh4A&feature=related

And last but not least:

Baby Girl

Baby Girl (almost a year and a half old now, but she is still my baby girl) is so sweet. When she finishes her bottle at night, I ask her if she is ready for bed she nods and says, "Yeah!" then she gets up, walks over to crib, and in mimic of me, counts to three the way I do when I prep to pick her up, and lays right down. She cries for few moments when I leave the room, but then she settles down and goes to sleep.

Moraes Watches When I Can't Bear To

Normally, I watch American Idol so that I can further appreciate Lisa de Moraes's wrap ups, but last night, I couldn't stand to even think about watching 'Broadway songs week,' so I took advantage of her column's subtitle, "We Watch So You Don't Have To".

Redesign Gmail

I only use the basics that come with Firefox, but this user-designed extension, gives Gmail a good facelift.

HT: GoogleBlogoscoped

My iPod's Moods

This morning my iPod was in a mellow, melancholy mood. I have it set for random albums. It started out with Laika's Good Looking Blues (jazzy trip-hop, Miles Davis's Bitches Brew crossed with Portishead).
Next it queued up a very mellow jazz album, Lonnie Liston Smith's Visions of a New World,

followed by Astrud Gilberto's A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness.


Now that I've returned for lunch, the iPod is kicking things up a notch with some Fugazi: End Hits.

Links for the Wife

Bret and Jemaine as Captain & Tennille.

FotC fansite: whatthefolk.net.

Yikes!

Sign in a grocery store:

Chuckles for the Boy

What a Difference a Week Makes

[Wow, I've surpassed 200 posts. Hurrah for me, and for my 1 reader, The Wife!]

Early last week I went for a longer walk than I've taken in a while, and was rather sore the next day.

I don't know if that ultimately helped strengthen muscles around my spine or not but I am much better this week. Last night I went to the park with The Boy. He and his good buddy asked me to be The Monster and chase after them, so I complied I did a little bit of running around. Expected some backlash today but I still feel okay. Went for a long walk again today during lunch and am still okay, no pain. Although, on occasion, something in my left leg was slightly out of alignment, a tendon or something in my thigh was snapping every few steps on the way back.

Dinosaur Show

Well, we decided to spring for the tickets to the Walking with the Dinosaur show coming to Baltimore at the end of this month. The reviews made it too compelling to miss. The only complaint seemed to be the volume so we'll bring some cotton in case it is too much.

The Wife found this bootleg video on YouTube of the show, and here is an official trailer:

News for the Wife

Flight of the Conchords have a motherflippin' new album and tour set for the spring.

What is Cheney looking at?

There's been lots of speculation in the blogosphere (mostly from the hate-America-type quislings) about what is in the reflection of Vice President Cheney's glasses in this photo:


Personally, I think it looks like either Chtulu:
or perhaps a pale Dr. Zoidberg:


PS. Cheney for VP in '08!

"Acknowledgement"

I tend to fall behind on non-work related emails, and even some of the lower priority work-related emails. My wife was "badgering" me for not checking out this link she sent back on March 31: The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks. Good stuff.

Reminded me of this:

New Alexandria Water Taxi

The kids should like this, and we could go over and revisit The Awakening (see below) which was unearthed from Haynes Point:

New Water Taxi Begins Service Today
New Service Will Connect Old Town Alexandria and National Harbor

On April 1, the Alexandria-National Harbor Water Taxi, operated by Potomac Riverboat Company, will begin providing transportation between the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria and National Harbor. The water taxi service is one of a number of new amenities that the City of Alexandria, in partnership with the business community, has put in place to extend a warm Alexandria welcome to visitors from National Harbor. It is expected to bring hundreds of new tourists to Alexandria every day throughout the year, and will encourage National Harbor visitors to travel to Alexandria by boat, and not by car or bus—an earth-friendly strategy that benefits both the City's residents and the environment.
The Alexandria-National Harbor Water Taxi will operate seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. From April 1-4, the water taxi will depart Alexandria once each hour, on the hour, beginning at 10 a.m. and concluding at 10:00 p.m. It will depart Gaylord National Harbor once each hour, on the half hour, beginning at 10:30 a.m. and concluding at 10:30 p.m. After April 4, it will provide service every half hour from both locations from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. daily. A one-way fare costs $7; round-trip fare, $14.
For more information about the Alexandria-National Harbor Water Taxi, call 703.684.0580 or visit www.potomacriverboatco.com

Daycare News

Haven't entered any daycare notes in a long time. Here are a few recent ones I found around the house.

*********

April 2, 2008
Mom/Dad, my day was so good. I am moving faster and I can hold my own! :) I like playing with R*-baby and T*. Ms. S. is a good story teller. Books, building blocks, riding toys. A fun fun day. I was a Happy Camper all day.

*******
April 3, 2008

Storytime, Singing Songs, Outside Play, Legos, Housekeeping & Dress-up, Waffle blocks, V-Tech Toys, Hoppy Horse Music.

Baby Girl had a happy day : )
Have a Lovely Evening : )

********

April 4, 2008

Miss [Baby Girl] came in happy. What a beautiful little girl God gave you : ) High heel shoes, riding toys, [Baby Girl] is getting much better with her words, please help us with her words. Thank You. Have a great weekend. Love Miss A.

Korean Film

This is playing down at one of the Smithsonian museums this weekend:

I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay
(2006, 107 min., directed by Park Chan-wook, Korean with English subtitles) This whimsical tale is about love in a mental institution between a boy who thinks he's disappearing and a girl who thinks she's a robot.

Sounds interesting. Not in Netflix yet, unless the title wasn't translated.

iPod Shuffle Meme

Saw this over on NigelMoose and thought I would give it a shot. Hmmm. Don't know what to make of these results.

Instructions: Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. NO CHEATING.

How does the world see you?
Seekers Who Are Lovers - Cocteau Twins

Will I have a happy life?
The Maltese Melody - Bert Kaempfert

What do my friends really think of me?
Creek Bank - Mose Allison

What do people secretly think of me?
John Steed - Tahiti 80

How can I be happy?
Dizzy Miss Lizzie - The Beatles

What should I do with my life?
Shaking Through - REM

Will I ever have children?
Hoarding It for Home - Mates of State

What is some good advice for me?
Blue Hawaii - Frank Sinatra [Time to get away?]

How will I be remembered?
Nightmares - Violent Femmes [Yikes!]

What is my signature dancing song?
San Tropez - Pink Floyd [Good beach song, see answer above]

What do I think my current theme song is?
Night Shift Guru - The Cash Brothers

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Haunting - The Pogues

What song will play at my funeral?
So Long, Superman - Firewater [Ha!]

What type of men/women do you like?
Excursion Into "Oh A-Oh" - Stereolab

What is my day going to be like?
In the Wake of Adversity - Dead Can Dance [You've got that right, brother!]

It's Good to Have a Plan B

Yesterday's walk, yeah, that was a bit too much. I am paying for it today with some soreness. At least it isn't sciatic pain which is literally and figuratively a pain in the @$$. I've got my work cut out for me to get ready for a zoo trek this summer.

Maybe I'll just join these dufuses:

Pretty Big Day for eMusic

A lot of classic albums by the Rolling Stones have been added to the mostly indie-music download service.

They have the US and UK release of Out of Our Heads listed separately. The album has several overlapping tracks. With eMusic you get a limited number of downloads each month, depending on which plan you signed up for. I wonder if they count the overlapping tracks as separate downloads or not.

I have a hunch that they are counting them as separate downloads even though they are the same songs. The links for the song "Mercy Mercy" are different within each release. Caveat emptor!

Absolut-ly No!

Not that I buy much vodka, but after seeing this ad, my next bottle will be something other than Absolut:


Read the details at Michelle Malkin's blog.

My Back: an Update

I usually spend my lunch hours volunteering in a local charity thrift shop. There wasn't much to today so I went for a walk. According to YahooMaps, I traveled 0.76 miles round trip and I couldn't wait to get back to my office and sit down. It wasn't that it hurt, the pain was minimal, but I felt very uncomfortable in my lower lumbar area (see earlier post). And it was a strain to keep up my pace on the way back, which is frustrating. I am (or used to be, and hope to be again) a fast walker and would zip all around. Today I couldn't keep up with two older gentlemen strolling down the avenue.

So there will be less volunteering and more exercising for me. Need to get in shape for a trip to the zoo this summer!

Dinosaur Show

I dunno, Walking with the Dinosaurs looks pretty good. Check out this review:

Paleontologist Huxley (played by actors James Roberts and Jonathan Bliss) narrates the story, describing the dinosaurs and events as accurately as current science allows while the 15 life-size, lifelike creatures interact with each other.

The story covers nearly 200 million years of history in two acts with an intermission, using both live and recorded video. It includes explanations of how the carnivores came to walk on two legs and how the plant-eaters fended off foes. During the step back in time, viewers watch as oceans form, volcanoes erupt and a comet crashes into the Earth.

The show includes 10 species representing the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, all built to scale, such as tyrannosaurus rex, plateosaurus, liliensternus, stegosaurus, allosaurus, torosaurus and utahraptor. The largest, brachiosaurus, is 36 feet tall and 56 feet from nose to tail.

"We take the audience on a journey back in time and show how the dinosaurs might have actually looked in their prime — huge, sometimes frightening, sometimes comical monsters that fought for survival every day of their lives," says director Scott Faris. "Our dinosaurs move exactly like they are real, with all the roars, snorts and excitement that go with it. The realism is mind-blowing."

A team of 50 engineers, fabricators, skinmakers, artists, painters and animatronic experts spent a year building the $20 million production.

The question is whether it is good enough to spend at least $72 (two tickets plus Ticketmaster's gouging fee) for (primarily) a four-year-old's entertainment and a trek to Baltimore? Only 1 parental unit would probably be able to attend the show, on account of our 1-year old. But we could all head up together for a day trip.