Some pictures of Noah at Ft Davis

Fair warning

This is fair warning. I'm gonna write about Noah's race at Fort Davis soon, and if you don't like hearing some Dad gush about how his kid did...Nobody is Making You Read This.

1922-2007

I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.
--Kurt Vonnegut

He could also get you a pretty good deal on a Saab.

Castaway II

This just amazes me, and I reckon this means I'm easily amazed, but still...
My buddy Riner is sending me some goodies, and he provided me the tracking number since these are special goodies. I get a kick out of seeing what that package was doing yesterday and last night:

Apr 11, 2007
4:12 AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery IRVING, TX
2:49 AM At local FedEx facility IRVING, TX
2:24 AM Departed FedEx location HUTCHINS, TX
1:04 AM Arrived at FedEx location HUTCHINS, TX

Apr 10, 2007
8:36 PM Left origin WICHITA FALLS, TX
6:29 PM Arrived at FedEx location WICHITA FALLS, TX
4:39 PM Picked up WICHITA FALLS, TX
3:11 PM Package data transmitted to FedEx Wichita Falls, TX


If I had a tracking #...
April 11, 2007
11:07 AM Tracking the FedEx tracking #
10:34 AM Ate some more breakfast
9:29 AM Ate breakfast
8:51 AM Took kids to school
7:20 AM Got up for real
6:00 AM Turned off Chloe's alarm
4:47 AM Kicked Buddy since he kicked me
3:21 AM Took Reanie back to bed
2:55 AM Took Buddy back to bed
1:17 AM Took Reanie back to bed

April 10, 2007
11:21 PM Took Reanie back to bed
11:07 PM High 5
11:06 PM Private time with Mama
9:33 PM Get kids in bed
9:21 PM Get kids out of tub
9:09 PM Eat some take out dinner
9:01 PM Unload bikes and stuff
7:56 PM Put on street clothes and head home
7:21 PM Get dropped
7:03 PM Attack
7:00 PM Race


Sten, send me a danish or something so we can track that one!

Stevie Wonder Driving School

We're rolling down FM 407 getting the little ones to school. Buddy is in the back, and Reanie up front. We're having as serious a discussion as can be with a 3 and 4 yr old as co-pilots. Suddenly, just as I'm coming up to cars and a stop light, Buddy covers my eyes with his hands from behind my seat, and he says, "Where's Daddy?"

Teaching him how to unbuckle his own seat belt doesn't seem such a wise thing now.

Good morning!

Reanie staggers into our room this morning. Tells me she needs to go potty. Right on. I tell her that she knows where it is. She comes out a little bit later more awake. I asked her, "Did you go big job?"

She said, "No, I'm all out of big job."

And I thought that's where it would end. But, no.

Then she bends over, sans skivvies, and says, "See?"

Enak Bor is my inspiration

There was a time, back when I was the only bike racer in the family, that we could load up half the Expedition with my stuff, and the other half was for the rest of the family. We seemed to be fine with that. Mama, #1, and eventually #2 could pack whatever they needed to make a day in the ditch palatable, and I brought everything I've ever needed or thought I might need for a bike race. And we packed Moby to the gills (i know...i know...poetic license, please).

A few years ago, I bunked up with a good buddy and his wife for a stage race. At that gig, I brought two bags and one bike (it was a stage race). I thought I was traveling light and being all respectful. Enak, though, came with one bike and a back pack for the entire weekend. He mocked me, and he did so at a time I was feeling all good about myself.

Well, we're about to head out for what I think is my first stage race since that one, and I got all my street and cycling clothes, and all the race food, bottles, etc for me and #1 (since he now races too), and we're taking all of #1's stuff for a race, his bike, my bike, and all the stuff for Mama, #2, and #3, AND we're putting it all in a car (Wallace) that is half the size that Moby was (well, I guess still is, but it ain't ours anymore).

Enak, I'm getting there. You are my inspiration.

table manners and acting like a lady

What with Reanie going to a private school and all, we get to enjoy the fact that she has learned to burp on purpose. It works so much better, too, when she is in her school uniform. That's money well spent, NiMYRT customers.

So, since she's learned her new trick, she likes to demonstrate and practice her proficiency lots. Buddy's trick is a little more pleasant to endure since it is somersaulting. But he doesn't do this at the table. Reanie does burp at the table.

I'll say something about it being rude. Mama says something about it not being lady-like. Buddy says, "More chicken," and we pass him the fish.

At dinner tonight, Reanie roars a burp and says "excuse me". Same ol', same ol'. I, predictably, say something like, "It is rude to burp like that. especially on purpose. Stop." Mama says, "Reanie, be a lady at the table."

A few minutes later, Reanie burps again while scratching her butt (we're still at the table). I say, "REANIE! Stop scratching your butt at the table!"

So Reanie asks Mama, "Is scratching your butt being a lady?"

3 or 6 min of your life you won't get back

I watched the POSSx2 play like this for ten minutes or so before thinking to grab the camera. They'd wound down by then, but it was still fun for me (but prolly not for many of you blog readers). Can't remember how much we paid for this playset, but it was worth it. I'm trying to figure out a way to bottle up these laughs. for now, we have the videos.

No animals were harmed in the filming of this video clip.

Part I

Part II

Some pictures from the Lago Vista weekend

Some Thoughts

-thinking about #3, one would think "speech impediment" would be easier to say. I wouldn't want to be the first person to make fun of it him once he's aware he has trouble with R's. And W's. And "Th". And "S". And "V". And "B". And...

-thinking about #1, I'd reconsider the tactic of crashing him out to get rid of him. Might work that one day, but if you have to race again the next day...hang on. I can't remember the saying, but there is something about one's character that is proven when they are faced with adversity.

-thinking about #2, one of the highlights of my life has been to notice that #2 has favorite songs on the radio, and catching her singing full throttle along with Unwritten by Natasha Beddingfield...if she new, I'd go buy her anything she wanted right then and there.

Observation of the day

Helicopters make donkeys run fast.

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

Reanie: I can't hear you. You have to say "No" louder.

Good Game

One of the fun things about these things is the numbers.

26 Deviled ("evil") Eggs

30 potions Cheese tray and bread

40 pieces prociutto and melon

30 pieces brucetta

lots of olives

24 servings Polenta and sausage

20 servings garlic scallops over linguini

60 pieces bacon shrimp over bed of spinach

36 pieces baked clams

40 portions fried rice balls

20 potions caponata

20 portions spiedini

20 portions Chicken Tikka, pita and hummus

30 portions caprese

24 potions baked pears

20 portions banana pudding

50 pieces chocolates

14.5 bottles of wine

have camera phone thing. must use it.

I snapped this picture while heading back at the end of a ride yesterday evening. This is the hill right before our house.

Today is my sister, Shaun's, birthday. Happy Birthday, Sssshhhhaaaaauuuuuunnnn!

On Being Buddy

He's all snotty right now, so he snores and sniffles and yucks. Put some vapor rub stuff on him last night, and that helped me sleep.

He was sleeping hard when it was time to load everyone up this morning, so I had to wake him up. Let's just say that Buddy prefers to wake up on his own. A lot much. But we got it rolling, and I had most of his clothes on him before he got really pissed off.

When he hit that point, I started wrestling with him out of funness and diversionary tactics. He got into it, complete with his new thing of simultaneously headbutting me to the nose or lip and kneeing me in the I-Created-Yous.

So I let out a breath that indicated he hurt me, though I didn't let go of my grip on his shirt as I tried to hockey-jersey him. But he stopped for a second, put his hands on my cheeks and said, "I'm sorry Daddy", and then gave me a kiss with his hands still on my cheeks.

And with his hands still on my cheeks, and just as I was falling into the "Aww" moment, He headbutted me in the mouth. I've got all day to plan my revenge.


Why is it that kids can take toys and stuff out of a box or off of a shelf three to six at a time and thrown them clear acoss the room in a matter of .03 seconds, yet when it is time to put thm away, they carry the toys one at a time and in such a way that each toy is cursed with 50X's normal gravity?


Of course, Mama will say the same thing about me and my stuff. It isn't my fault she lives in my office, though.

Toughness defined

Becky spent the day taking a chunk out of a huge goal she has for this year. How big of a goal? Well, today she rode 200K (that's 124 miles in old money). Wow! Right?

But it was 34 degrees and raining all day). And today was just the first step towards this goal.

Here's Becky tackling another goal (Mt Washington), but it isn't to show her in action so much as it is a way for me to say, "I'm inspired."

I'm no pettifogger, but only two other people showed up to do this ride(no, I wasn't one of them...I mean, hell no, I wasn't one of them). Toughness.

how to tell if someone went to a good college or not

I try to delegate houshold stuff as much as possible. When #1 is around, he earns his 11yr old keep with dishes, taking out the trash, and othe stuff appropriate for him that I don't want to do. But since I work from home, the daily stack of dishes piling up in the sink is pretty much my gig to eliminate.

Fortunately, it is one of the household chores I don't detest, which is not the same thing as saying I enjoy it. Sort of like going to the dentist, but at least getting an anesthetic . Which reminds of the time in college that I had a bad tooth, no dental insurance, and had to decide if I wanted to pay for the filling. It was cheaper to just get it pulled. And cheaper yet still to do it without anything to numb that sumbich. At the time, $40 was a very big deal to me. And since I've already gone on a tangent here, I'll add that it ultimately saved me even more money, because it made room for a wisdom tooth to come in.

But I digress.

Scottie stayed with us for a spell a little bit ago, and he took over doing the dishes after dinner. #1 was feeling pretty good about himself, but then again, so was I. There is a point to this story, I swear.

What with Scottie doing the dishes, he did it his own way. Sure, folks have their preferences about putting the silverwear up or down and so forth, but what really got me was what he did with the brush used to de-gunk the dishes before putting them in the washer.

Which reminds me that I prefer just washing the dishes by hand and putting them in the rack to dry.

Again, I digress.

So once Scottie had left, the dishes stacked up the next day. I looked around for #1, but I think he was at school or something, which meant I had to do the dishes myself.

After warming up and stretching, I turned on the water, dolloped some soap, and then scouted for the dish brush. But the thing wasn't in the sink or hanging on the little nail inside the cabinet door. While this kind of thing isn't cause for any concern, as it generally means #3 was playing with it somewhere, it did kind of give me the icks because what I like the least about doing the dishes is some OCD that I have to clean the brush before getting the gunk off the plates with it. I mean, it is wrong to use a dirty brush to clean off a dirty plate that is going into the dishwasher, right?

Frustrated, but already committed to washing the dishes, I opened up the washer (I only wash them Walton's style when the extra few minutes it takes aren't an issue) to begin the process. Lo and behold, it was already full of clean dishes.

I may be ok with doing the dishes, but for whatever reason, I hate putting them away. And for that matter, I'm ok going to get my clothes off of the clothesline or out of the dryer when I need something clean.

I digress, yet again.

So there is a bunch of dishes, but more importantly, the dish brush was in the dishwasher!

So, I concluded that Scottie must go to a good college to learn such a thing. Simply washing the dish brush with the dishes is probably the best thing taught at that college in Austin!

No School Today