Time magazine's 2006 "Person of the Year"

• 01:15 Was too bushed to AfterParty it up proper. (Hey, 20 mile run!) Honored the party with a tall PBR, then booked. Now cuddling w/LoanerKitty. #
• 08:54 Hey--it's Wacky Oriental Advent! Okay, really ought to go to church. #
• 11:31 @soof: woot #
• 15:12 @artmonstergirl: Ooh--I'd love to, but this is a worky afternoon for me. I don't think I can get up to San Mateo. Some time soon, I hope! #
• 19:52 Boy... Friday's #SGU was kinda brainfucky, wasn't it? I think I detect @scalzi's baleful influence. #
• 19:56 Just been feeling blahtiful all day. Figure it's probably cold weather, plus aftermath of yesterday's run. Hope I'm more lively tomorrow. #
• 23:17 Goodness, it *has* been a while since I've done a proper pass through Quicken. Whew... no surprising transactions. #
• 23:18 (I'd been kinda keeping an eye on my accounts all through, and I have a lot of alerts set up. ID theft teaches one a lesson or two.) #
• 23:22 You tempt me, Leukemia Society! You billed me for a hotel room, but on my card statement it just says "LLS". It sure *looks* deductible... #
• 23:24 ...but I know it ain't. No, I won't try. I have lots of wacky little LLS donations, I won't risk fouling the well. #

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• 15:09 Dear Matt Ryan: you are a bum. Poo on you. #
• 17:02 In hell, do they have DETH? Devils for the Ethical Treatment of Humans? #
• 22:55 I love how well the Pats are playing tonight. Surprise of the weekend. #
• 23:40 Okay, what the hell just happened? How does Belichick possibly let this happen? What the hell? #

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There are a lot of weird people out there.

(Worksafe. Hat-tip to traumentwerfer.)

The worst feeling in the world is seeing your team come back and win the game, with 1:14 left.

And then watching your defense give it all away.

Compound this by the annoying kid saying that I need to "pick a new team" and "the bucc's suck" the whole time...age, 7.

Maybe we can translate our second half play into first half play.

Also, WTF on that "fumble."

Total and utter bullshit.

YAY. Funimation finally released four episodes of the SE dub. It’s good. It’s not as good as the original, but I’m enjoying it. Also, they were released on Friday the 13th. I get it!

( thoughts which are random and kind of out of order )

• 08:28 Slow start this morning! Suiting up now for my 20-miler. Taper starts at... 1 PM. #
• 13:39 20 miles in 3:43. (@veronica_ma, that's about 32 Canadian miles.) I am now officially *tapering* for my marathon. And good gracious I ache. #
• 15:00 15 minutes in an ice bath with Seneca's Letters, followed by a short warm shower, and I am amazed to find that I'm hungry! #
• 15:01 A very short liedown, then foods. Then off to the @svrollergirls double-header. Wanna come along? Well, good luck--it's sold out! #
• 15:32 Kube hungry. #
• 16:39 Finally watched "Tropic Thunder" last night. Today's earworm has been Alpa Chino's "I Love tha Pussy". High art, man. #
• 23:39 On my feet all through the @svrollergirls double-header! Bestest time, but I'm kinda achey. Been on my feet a lot today... #
• 23:49 I HAZ A BEER ...iss nummy. #

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• 14:33 Yay married people! #

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On Friday I took Delia to the mall to play. While she was there she made a friend. She approached a little girl around her size and asked to see her stuffed kitty. The little girl let her hold it and Delia gave it back. Then she ran over to me and told me how she was sharing. I asked her if she wanted to show the little girl her baby. She said she did and took her baby doll over to show the girl. They traded toys back and forth for a while. Then the little girl grabbed Delia by the hand and off they went. (Delia is the one in orange)


The climbed on the toys and shared their dolls more. I sat back and watched, which was a real treat for me. It was sweet to see Delia running around hand-in-hand with another little girl. It was also a big deal for me because Delia was learning social skills that were new to her. She has played with other kids before, but usually she plays near them. That's normal for two. Her friend, however, was a worldly three and had a thing or two to show Delia about playing. Not only did she teach her to climb on equipment previously thought unclimbable, but she open up the world of "Do you want to play with me?" to Delia.


Delia also experienced a first today when I gave her her first haircut. Her hair was getting really long and since it's fine too it was looking a little stringy. I gave her a chin-level bob and it looks really cute. It makes her hair look fuller and makes her look a little older too. Most people guess her age way younger than she really is unless they've interacted with her. (Which is a problem I used to have too.) Looking older is a good thing for her right now. I'm really pleased with it. And more importantly, so is Delia. As soon as I finished she ran over to the mirror to see. Then she yelled, "Yay!" and told Eric that she got her haircut just like mom and dad. Later she told me she didn't want me to brush her "pretty new hair". Hee!

No pictures of the haircut yet, but I'll attempt some tomorrow.

• 09:54 Possibly toxic levels of squee: bit.ly/3lkBuJ #
• 10:42 Still quietly amazed how many engineers don't understand the difference between "deprecating" an API and "removing" it. #
• 11:52 Watching the video of "Careless Whisper". bit.ly/3p8mTV Will the next generation laugh at our hair as we laugh at the 80s'? #
• 11:52 Wait a minute--the 80s *is* my generation! But I'm pretty sure I never wore blue eye shadow. #
• 11:54 Also, I think the song makes a lot less sense if G Michael is singing it to a woman. Hey, videographers: He used 2d-person for a reason. #
• 12:34 @scalzi: Uh oh. Does @wilw have reason to be uneasy? #
• 13:58 Apparently Bill Clinton called me a ballsucker. bit.ly/1wUcnL I'm... not quite sure what to make of that. (w/s, political) #
• 16:13 @BrodyQat: Watch out, celery is dangerous! www.lileks.com/institute/frahm/ #
• 19:51 There's a long shadow hanging over me. A 20-mile-long shadow, as a matter of fact. #
• 19:55 @avphibes: Gumby died for our sins! #

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• 16:33 RT @majornelson: Want to unlock an exclusive Xbox LIVE FF XIII gift? Read this page->bit.ly/14eogz and use this tag #FFXIIIXBOX #
• 16:38 Welcome to the non-busy night of my weekend. #
• 22:03 I was probably too excited to see Ricky Jay on FlashForward this week. But I'm not sure one can be too excited, since Ricky Jay is awesome. #

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• 10:07 RT : Please vote for Issue Oriented in the 2009 Podcast Awards, Entertainment category: tr.im/ESxc (via @RonenKauffman)
• 10:23 Do you ever just feel wonderful? For no particular reason? Just feel especially good—well-rested, happy, motivated? That's me today, so far.
• 12:01 Brixton plays air guitar — twitpic.com/pd2om
• 17:53 In the last 6 months—before flu season started—H1N1 has killed nearly 4,000 people in the US, including 540 children. twurl.nl/y75zq4
• 19:45 My son peed on his face today. The first of many milestones I'll miss by being at work all day.

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• 21:28 I'm glad it's Friday tomorrow. I could use more rest. #
• 12:51 I'm pinned by a two year old who is sleeping until I try to put her down. #

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I just got this in an email from babycenter.com:
"By 30 months, your child can name a few body parts, some colors, and even a friend or two. Her memory and speaking ability work in tandem. Help out by expanding on what she says. If she says, "Dog sleep," you might say, "Yes, Spot is curled up and fast asleep in his doggie bed." She can't imitate your complex language patterns yet, but her brain is absorbing them. Every time you repeat her words or expand on them, you're giving her memory practice."

I've been told before that Delia has good verbal skills for her age, but this email really made that hit home for me. You see, Delia can name all of her external body parts and knows multiple names for a few. She also knows all of her colors, pretty much all of the time. She'll sit there, name all "her people", which includes mom, dad, aunt Ange, both sets of grandparents and some others. She will tell you that they love her and she loves them and they are all her family. And as far as the dog goes she says things like, "Devo hurt her leg. Her knee. Devo go to the doctor." I guess it's because she's always had an astounding memory.

The thing is, I don't sit around comparing Delia to other kids. I think of her as a pretty average little girl. A bit small for her age, but other than that healthy and normal. When she's complimented I take it with a grain of salt because you never know how sincere people are. I don't generally read things like this because I don't want to worry about her being above or below average in any way. I don't care if she learns to read while she's still in diapers or in first grade like I did. It's not like learning to read at 6 held me back at all so why push it? I try to teach her things when she shows interest, but my day isn't one big lesson plan.

Still... it's really nice that when I do happen to click on those email or read an article about where she should be developmentally and she's at or above the benchmark. It gives me a minute of "Hell, yeah, my kid is awesome!"

Recently I've gotten a couple of gift certificates for Omaha Steaks. I placed the first order and got another gift certificate the next day. That means we've had a couple of shipments lately that have been packed in dry ice. Whee!

Delia learned blowing on it makes great big swirls!

( More! More dry ice! )

And just for fun, Delia discovers the magic of laundry baskets!


Incidentally, see the hearts on that basket? I bought it on clearance after Valentine's Day years and years ago. Who gives laundry baskets as a gift anyway?

So last night I watched last Friday's episode of Stargate: Universe on Hulu, in which Colonel Dickweed, temporarily in control of the body of Colonel Stoic, seizes command of the Destiny.

And it got me wondering:

Who'll be the next actor from Stand and Deliver to play a hard-assed sci fi military not-exactly-Latino?

I'm guessing Vanessa Marquez.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

This week, a place in Brooklyn had a .40¢ cent chicken wings promotion. Apparently teenagers there liked it so much that they did what any normal teen does when provided with an inexpensive after-school snack—they shot and stabbed each other.

At least this time guns weren't blamed for the stupid actions of people. The blame was put squarely where it belongs—on the restaurant. Wait, what?!

"Earlier this week, Councilwoman Letitia James blasted the place for promoting its 40-cent “Wing Tuesdays” to students, telling the Brooklyn Paper, "We got to do something about Wild Wings. I want this Tuesday restaurant promotion stopped, or the lease of this business revoked."

Thank you Councilwoman James, for having the courage to stand up against Wild Wings and their Chicken Mind Control Technology™ that turns young scholars full of promise into depraved murderers.

Roller derby double-header on Saturday! Who's coming?



(And don't forget the after-party at Jack's Bar!)

I can't count the number of people who have touched my life that suffer from depression and self-injury. That's why I'm going to the mall today with "LOVE" written in big, bold letters on my arm. I hope some of you will join me.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/yourhrguy/~3/b2RkAzlda-4/

http://rehaul.com/?p=1426

I was looking at a post by Paul Hebert’s i2i about service anniversary awards and it got me thinking about the inherent ridiculousness of the whole concept. Why are we giving awards for people sticking it out? “Oh hey Jimmy, you made it through another year. Here’s your bronze pin. After that, you can get your silver, gold and then platinum pins.” Don’t get too excited Jimmy. Those pins, watches, and plaques all meant something at some point.

Getting an anniversary pin or plaque feels like getting the perfect attendance award back in school. It’s an accomplishment, yes, but it is an odd one. One where you don’t know what is exactly wrong with the perfect attendance kid. Why did they feel the need to stick it out every mind numbing day of class? Did they really never get sick?

In my cynicism, I forgot something. Anniversaries can be good! I was letting some of that negativity in there.

Yesterday, my wife and I celebrated four years of marriage bliss. As every married person will tell you, everything has always gone perfect, there’s never been any problems and we have never ever fought about anything.

I kid. It hasn’t always been perfect but our anniversary always gives me an opportunity to appreciate both how far we’ve come and how far we can continue to go. It is the instant romance maker. Even if I procrastinated with planning this year, we had a great time because I was focused on reflection and our future together.

In what is probably obvious to others, if you have a good relationship with your career and your career partner (i.e. your workplace), anniversaries can be a wonderful time to celebrate another year of engaged employment. Is it directly aligned with a business result? No, but who cares. If you are managing your workforce well, being employed for another year is a great indirect business success and one that is worthy of your celebration.

If you are in a crappy relationship with an employer (or your spouse), an anniversary can be as empty of a gesture that can be made. And I imagine many of my Gen Y compatriots haven’t had the best jobs in the world yet so it is easy to become very cynical about anniversaries and the recognition awarded to them.

Let’s not recognize survivors, let’s recognize thrivers. And let’s be sure that the number of people with empty anniversaries is minimized while maximizing the ones we can celebrate another year of success with. Because that anniversary is a beautiful thing if done right.

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