a little slice of life

Pumpkins

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:06:00 +0000

Today we made a trip up to Berry Patch Farms in Woodstock for the annual Great Pumpkin Rescue. The kids had a good time, and we did too despite some moderately whiny attitudes. Of course, having kids up past their nap time is almost always going to net you a whiny afternoon. We had a good time nonethless!

Pumpkin Patch

We're Back

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:33:00 +0000

After a lengthy time in Sanibel, we're back home in Atlanta. Well, Marietta, specifically. The drive between the two points clocks in at about 10 hours according to Google. Back when the kids required multiple bottle feedings and diaper changing the trip lengthened to 12-13 hours, which borders on absurd - it pushed beyond the boundary which I feel comfortable driving in one day, but it's just short of the threshold for requiring an overnight stay, thus, I am forced to complete the drive in one whack.

This trip, however, seemed to fly by... the kids are (mostly) potty-trained, and must have bladders of steel as they don't require using the facilities more than once in 2-3 hours. We left yesterday morning at about 9 am and arrived in Marietta right at 7 pm - that includes stops for breakfast, lunch, gas, snacks and bathrooms. I think we made four stops total, each no more than 30 minutes and some less so.

In any event, the trip was very smooth -- great weather for driving and the kids were well-behaved. We opted not to depart at o'dark thirty, because...well, because I didn't feel like getting up early. We stayed up late to watch Survivor and I couldn't bring myself to rise at 5 or 6 in the morning after going to bed at 12:45am. So we had a nice morning breakfast (kids only) and got to bid grandma goodbye until January, when we plan to come down for great-grandmother's 90th birthday.

Oh, lest I forget. Friday night, we sat down to play the nightly games of Rummikub, and we were interrupted by a knock on the sliding glass door (the kids were sleeping on the lanai). Maya informed us that "somebody pooped". I should warn you that the rest of this paragraph is a bit pooptacular, to skip it if you can't stand schiße talk. I walked out to the lanai, and Devin was peering from under his covers, and I smelled the familiar stench. I assumed he had taken himself to task in his pull-ups. I was a bit mistaken. After consulting with Maya, who generally tells the truth in such matters, they were playing a game, in which they dared each other to poop "on the lifeguard stand", which was what they called the stoop on which the sliding glass door rests (I don't know why, that's just what they called it). Devin took up Maya's dare and dropped poop on the stoop, and then pulled up his pull-up cacare interruptus and was besmeared all up his back. Haz-mat teams were dispatched, children showered, stoop cleaned, punishments administered, and then we were able to resume Rummikub, but the night would not be the same.

More From Sanibel

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

We visited the Sanibel Lighthouse.

Here we are, looking for stranded boaters. Or a snack.

We stopped by Periwinkle Park Campground to check out the bird show, but alas it is only run in the winter months. But we still got to visit with the resident birds, and there are a lot of them! They are noisy too. The African Grey was the most talkative - he wolf-whistled at Maya, said, "Hello!" and asked for crackers.

And, since it's Sanibel, we did a great deal of shelling. More on that later.

Are you tired of Sanibel yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:53:00 +0000

I took a bike ride up the causeway and stopped at the first islet. This heron (?) appeared to be waiting for this fisherman (?) to drop a snook.

A view from the highest bridge, which can accommodate a 70' tall vessel underneath. It's a pretty monster climb.

Maya got to sit in the driver's seat of the ladder truck at the Sanibel Fire Department. Devin was not interested...

But Devin was definitely interested in the rear compartment where the other firefighters hang out!

And more from Sanibel

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:48:00 +0000

Being that Grandma lives just a quarter mile from the playground, and it's covered, we spent plenty of time hanging out here. Thank you, City of Sanibel!

Mommy is demonstrating how to swing your legs so you and make yourself swing higher!

More View From Sanibel

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:46:00 +0000

Of course we went to the beach!

Nothing makes Devin happier than being able to throw sand.

Maya is not too sure about waves.

Devin loves sand. I believe I've mentioned this before.

Stuff We're Doing On Sanibel

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:41:00 +0000

We toured the Sanibel Fire Department, and got to sit in the Ladder Truck and see all the rescue equipment, boats, ambulances, firefighter clothing, helmets, and, of course, the hoses!

We went kayaking on Commodore Creek with Uncle Chris and Aunt Vicki. We saw all manner of birds and even a shark or two!

Maya and Uncle Chris

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:19:00 +0000

Maya and Uncle Chris play a little pat-a-cake while waiting for lunch at The Island Cow.

Sanibel Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:46:00 +0000

Sunset yesterday on my way back from the grocery.

There's Sanibel. After Charlie there's not much tall flora.

Devin and Maya examining the details of small shells at the Bailey-Smith Shell Museum.

Those specks in the distance are dolphins. We saw a pod of 5 zipping up and down the beach.

Grandma's Wig

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:30:00 +0000

We escaped the flooding in Georgia for sunny Southwest Florida.

Enroute to Florida

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:33:00 +0000

We left the house at 6:15am and arrived in Sanibel at 5:15pm. Not bad for 3 gas/potty breaks and one 45 minute lunch stop.

The Great Flood

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Our own personal river that runs right under the swing set.

Our own personal river is a confluence of the Great Front Yard River, and the Lesser Neighbor River

Our Great Front Yard River is fed by the Massive Neighbor River From Across The Street

Our brand new bridge, open for less than 3 months, got a nice whack.

Devin and Maya Ride Bikes

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:01:00 +0000

Dragoncon 2009 Parade

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:11:00 +0000

Dragoncon 2009

In Which Devin Discusses School for Dinosaurs and Dolphins

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 01:47:00 +0000

Devin throws a frisbee

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 01:12:00 +0000

Good Eats 10th Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Look for me in the audience on October 10, 2009 when the 10th anniversary episode of Good Eats airs. I'm sure you'll be able to spot me; I'm the one ... oh never mind.

Cross Posting Is Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:11:00 +0000

As you might have read in my Tweet Stream from Saturday, we got a welcome respite from parenting duties for a good portion of the day. You can read all about it, as well as view some pictures here.

Four Wheeling in the Driveway

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:10:00 +0000

We told the twinkles that if, by the time they were 3 years of age and potty trained that we would give them some bicycles. The third birthday has passed, and while we're still in the throes of potty training with one or more of the kids on various occasions, we capitulated and snagged a few bicycles.

Maya requested a pink bicycle, and being somewhat girlie had to have the matching helmet and joint pads.

Devin, being a boy and not caring about such things, was just happy to have a bicycle regardless of make, model, color or otherwise and...

as you can tell, he was quite enthused,

as was Maya.

I'll sum this up by saying that the cycle training has been less than successful and usually leads to one or more individuals being pissed off and unhappy. We're coming along, however. We also happened to snag a few l'il three wheel scooters similar to the Razor fad from 5 or 10 years ago, and that seems to be a happy medium. The neighborhood kids seem to rotate between both modes of transport, and being smaller and susceptible to Big Kid Wanna Be-ism, Devin and Maya are comfortable on the scooters. I'll get pictures of those soon.

In Which Stephanie Waterskis Whilst Her Kids Watch Approvingly

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:32:00 +0000

You really need only watch the video. Stephanie is more than excited about getting back on skis. Thanks to the The Trotters for yet another fun trip on the lake!

Maya

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:07:00 +0000

Baby girl got herse'f a new pair o' shoes!

Devin

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:07:00 +0000

Buster got himse'f a new pair o' shoes!

A Worm In The Apple, Or, How My Morning With AppleCare Went

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:43:00 +0000

I recently switched from AT&T (nee Bellsouth) DSL to Comcast Cable. Thus far, I'm happy with the switch. In doing so, I'm effectively losing my Bellsouth.net email address. In my mind I did not consider this to be any sort of show stopper, or even a hiccup, or even the tiniest monkey wrench in the work: I rarely, if ever, used that email account for anything. Except my Apple ID.

"Hey, that's no problem, right? I'll just log in to the Apple website and change my account information, easy peasy, nice and easy, " I thought. Don't ask why I used a mangled catch-phrase from a 1970s British commercial for lemony dish soap. So that's what I did: I logged into Apple's website, changed my account ID, and *poof* it was done. A simple sign-out/sign-in from iTunes Store via the iTunes application and I'm all done.

Except...

Well, once you do that, things get a little wonky. Not wonky in the way that, say, a link doesn't work unless you click it twice. Not wonky in the way that that one cute girl's eyes seem to be looking ever so slightly at two different points. No, I'm talking about wonky in the way that if you attempt to login to iTunes via your iPhone and attempt to download an application -- even a free one -- you get the "You cannot buy a download at this time. Your account is disabled." It's even wonkier, but more helpful, in the iTunes app on your PC. You are at least directed to contact iTunes support, which is the rest of the error message that is unhelpfully missing from the iPhone error display.

After a trip to the Apple.com Support site, I got a case number, located the phone number (the scheduled "call me back" bit didn't appear to work), and dialed up some genius at Apple. Imagine my surprise when I was greeted by a guy who sounded like he was in college in southern California. Wait, that can't be right, it's 7am out on the west coast... Maybe it was a guy in college in Illinois. Anyway, that's not important. It's just a guy, and he wasn't Indian. Or if he was, he certainly did well in his ESL or American Dialects course. Not that I have a problem with that, in fact, during my quest to shed my life of AT&T DSL, which is part of a greater scheme to divest myself of anything to do with the former Bellsouth, I have spent a few moments on the phone with Vonage and their number transfer department, which seems to be situated in Mumbai or Chennai. I'm not sure. And by the way, on that front, the number transfer is in process, and as soon as it's complete, my phone number formerly held by Bellsouth will be hosted by Vonage. Thank you, technology! Perhaps once Apple decides to get out of bed with AT&T I can move my iPhone somewhere's else too, but I'm not holding my breath for that.

So after about 10 minutes of chatting and intermittent holds while my guy talked to iTunes support, he said, "Why don't you go ahead and give it a try." And... Success! I inquired as to the source of the problem, expecting to get some trite explanation watered down for the masses, but instead was treated to an explanation of the root error, an "S error during authentication, so I routed it to Tier 2 iTunes support and they are frantically working to resolve this as it seems to be popping up quite a bit, so you'll likely see a new version of iTunes out very shortly."

Color me impressed, at least with Apple Support. Not so much with iTunes and iPhone, at the moment, but at least I was finally able to download that fart generator.

Weiner

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:59:00 +0000

My new favorite Tee.

Pierced.

noreply@blogger.com (Andy) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:56:00 +0000