flagrantdisregard

Too old for the band

John — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:36:49 +0000

Son: Hey, Dad, you’re a pretty good singer.
Me: Thanks!
Son: Yah, if you were just a little younger you could be in a band.

Bad Horse Chorus (for ukulele)

John — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:08:21 +0000

My personal interpretation for ukulele of the epic Dr. Horrible song:

Bad Horse Chorus
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog
Music by Jed Whedon and Joss Whedon
Lyrics by Joss Whedon

    C          Am
Bad Horse, Bad Horse
    C          G
Bad Horse, Bad Horse

   C
He rides across the nation
    F               C
the Thoroughbred of Sin
   C                            Am   D7   G
He got the application that you just sent in
   C                    F               G
It needs evaluation, so let the games begin
G
A heinous crime, a show of force
G
A murder would be nice of course

    C          Am
Bad Horse, Bad Horse
    C           G
Bad Horse, he's bad

    C
The Evil League of Evil
   F             C
is watching so beware
    C                                   Am    D7 G
The grade that you receive will be your last, we swear
   C                              F                  G
so make the Bad Horse gleeful, or he'll make you his mare
G
You've saddled up, there's no recourse
G
It's "Heigh-ho Silver"
G6          C
Signed, Bad Horse

Let’s revive the Golden Rule

John — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:24:53 +0000

“Often people don’t really want to be compassionate. I sometimes see when I’m speaking to a congregation of religious people a sort of mutinous expression crossing their faces because people often want to be right instead.”

– Karen Armstrong, TED July 2009

Recent Tweets

John — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:55:41 +0000

Kids are off watching some movie called Cloudy With Meatballs. I “couldn’t go” because I was “working on the car.” I’m a “genius.”
Grosse Pointe Blank is on Netflix watch instantly! *blip! blip! blip!*
My son is now a Taekwondo orange belt.
Just bought a ukulele! Now must wait a week for delivery. :(
Proof that I wore a tie the other night. Jacket too. Oh, I was dapper and a half.
I think I drank my weight in martinis tonight.
You don’t want me on your trivia game team unless there’s a category called Useless Knowledge (Even by Trivia Game Standards).
The bear in the red cape is worth the trip.
The 2010 California Protection of Marriage Act: protect traditional marriage by banning divorce.
Daughter is exploring her creative potential. Consequence: I’m listening to Ricky Martin sing Livin’ la Vida Loca.
Things I wish I’d known in advance: that joining Facebook meant I’d one day be reading about my niece’s cramps.
Two hours of email complete. Now moving on to “real” work: typing things into a computer to make it “do” stuff.
Not hungry but I’m eating breakfast anyway. Hey stomach, you’re not the boss of me.
Received email asking for my computer expertise to spy on a cheating husband. Has it come to this? Very depressing.
9 people getting married at 99 cent store on 9/9/09 because they won a contest. News head says it’s a “very meaningful ceremony.”
Saw Ponyo tonight. We all liked it. If you liked My Neighbor Totoro or Kiki’s Delivery Service I think you’ll like it too.

twitter.com/yafd

I am parent, hear me roar

John — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:25:34 +0000

I despise the term “Mr. Mom” because it implies that the only way to be a good parent is to be a mom or that raising children is “woman’s work.” I am a father, dammit. An equal parent. And a damn good one, too.

When one hears the word “Father,” certain images spring to mind – and many of those images are not positive. In fact, most of these images are ingrained into us at an early age. The traditional view of the Father is often that of the bumbling parent who cannot possibly survive parenthood without the help of his wife. This scene has been played out in countless sitcoms and television commercials. The father has his place when it comes to parenting and that place is firmly behind the mother.

And I have a problem with that.

Read more at Child’s Play x2: The Glass Ceiling Nobody Talks About

Longing for days gone by

John — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:12:45 +0000

For those of you miserably eking out your days neck deep in the vomit and ire of your tantrum-prone toddler, let me clue you in: the “Terrible Twos” were nothing compared to the “I Will Stab You While You Are Sleeping Nines.” It only gets harder.

Parenting, I’ve discovered, is like true love or being hit repeatedly in the face, in that, you can’t really really know what it’s like until it happens to you. And just when you get it to stop hitting you in the face, it stomps on your neck and starts singing for-kids versions of bad pop music.

If I wrote a parenting book today, it would only have one word written in huge, bold letters on its single page: “Don’t.”

Yes, it was one of those days.

New family member

John — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:18:12 +0000

His name is Hugh. We went in for a hamster and came out with a rat. The wife and kids found him irresistible. And who am I to fight that kind of numerical superiority? Anyway, he’s growing on me.

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated

John — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:16:13 +0000

Not dead. Busy. And I sort of fell out of the habit. So, here’s what I’ve been up to since April:

Lots of work on BigHugeLabs.com
Bought a pet rat ($7) and accoutrements ($92) for the kids.
Ripped up the weed jungle that my backyard had become and planted Dutch Clover instead of grass. Coming in beautifully. Should control weeds and be virtually maintenance free.
Two birthday parties. Kids are now 9 and 7.
Commuting to the library a few days a week to work. This is working out nicely now that the kids are on break. Turns out I’m not allergic to the sun. It is showing up a weakness in my netbook though—the keyboard is fine for browsing the internet but not as good for programming. Probably a new laptop in my future. Probably a MacBook.
Created another website: ideas.bighugelabs.com
Restaurant City
Bought a 13 foot trampoline.
Cleaned the carburetors on my bike (a 2000 CBR 600 F4, the last model before fuel injection was introduced). It’s the first carb cleaning I’ve ever done but it went really well. I think I could do it again in a under 3 hours. Saved about $350 doing it myself, which is nice.
Talked to a bunch of sixth graders about my profession. They did not believe I was “the BigHugeLabs guy.”
Bought a 1 terabyte hard drive for $94. Holy moly.
Finished two bottles of Scotch.
Tried doing hundredpushups.com but my shoulder failed me in week 4. Taking it easy until it heals.
Survived 3 earthquakes.
Survived taxes.

How’s your summer going?

I update Twitter more frequently than here. Not because I think blogging is dead and Twitter is going to take over. Just because it’s faster to peck out a hundred characters than to write an entire post. So, if you really want to stalk me, for now, that’s the place to do it. ;-)

Play DeepLeap: The Fast-Paced Time-Wasting Word Game

John — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 18:31:26 +0000

Play DeepLeap. Addictive, though, I warn you.

Recent Tweets

John — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:31:35 +0000

It’s not that I hate my bank–they’re great. It’s just that every time I have to call them I feel a tiny part of my soul blacken and die.
hunch_staff: Sorry, your topic “Should I eat my children?” was declined. Reason: Gruesome.
Monsters vs. Aliens was good.
Words I never imagined would enter my brain: I’m in the market for a trampoline.
This is what they mean when they say art nourishes the soul (via Waxy). This made me happy. http://soytuaire.labuat.com/
Daughter: I don’t get it. The higher grade you’re in the smaller your playground.
I liked the book fair more when someone else paid the bill.
$20 bills littering playground in form of discarded children’s jackets.
Note: texting someone “mated” when you meant “mauled” changes the intent *completely*.
Today’s most pathetic moment: paged house phone to find it so that I could call my cell to find it.

twitter.com/yafd