Parentheticals

This week we skyped with cousin Jack for the first time at our own house. Jack and Andrea mostly stared at each other, but we did get Andrea to tell Jack a 'Brave Lala' story (with a lot of prompting). Jack also sang a song ( Mana Mana ) for us. It was pretty successful. If any other cousins want to skype, we are accepting calls. Just exchange contact info with us. Whenever I brush my teeth, Sara tries to bite the tooth brush. If I am laying on the bed she can usually get the other end of the tooth brush into her mouth, and she thinks that this is the best game ever. She has started to sign this week. She says More (which was Rea's first sign as well) by tapping her feet together with her hands or slapping the table repeatedly. She has essayed into signing water by tapping her face, but that doesn't happen often, so we are not really sure if it is intentional or not. Rea has been feeding Sara a lot recently. One time she fed her half a cup of smoothie (which mostl...

My new job is going well. I am working writing code to load test the web sites and writing code to ensure that the QA engineers know if bugs crop back up. They gave me a cell phone with unlimited texting, so I can receive texts now. SaltCon went really well. I was there for about 12 hours, and played about 8 games of Polynesia (among other games that were brought by other people). I gave away two copies of the game to someone that won a tournament and someone that won a raffle which I held. We came up with a few possible minor rule changes which I have to evaluate to see if they will fix some small problems that cropped up during the game. The math trade went well. I got Small World and Ninja Vs Ninja, and I also sold 5 D&D books that I got from the library book sale for enough money to buy Dominion Dark Ages. Rea, Mom, and Dad played Ninja vs Ninja. Rea mostly moved the pieces around and made it hard for the adults to remember where they were supposed to be. Today Rea ha...

This upcoming week should be interesting. I was offered a job by 1800Contacts. It sounds like an interesting position, and the company sounds like a great place to work. I will miss my friends at the ICS, but I think that the move to a new place to work will be a good thing. Rea recently told me that I would grow up to be a pig. I don't really know what that means. We set up an appointment to have an internet connection installed in our house when I got laid off to help with the job search, and the guy finally came over to install it on Friday. This means that we might as well have not gotten it installed since I found my job before then. Fortunately it is a month to month contract, so we will just be able to cancel it at the end of the month. Apparently my new company will be providing me with a smartphone and a phone contract that includes texting. And thus I am dragged kicking and screaming into the decade of the text enabled smartphone. I will notify everyone pertinen...

This last week I searched for a job. I currently have two companies that seem to be on the verge of writing me an offer. Honestly I would be happy if either one of them gave me an offer, but I haven't yet decided on what to do if both of them give me one. I like both companies, and I don't want to offend either of them (both know about how far along I am in the process with the other company, so I doubt that either would be surprised to hear that I got an offer from the other), but I haven't yet gotten any clear indicators as to who to go with in case of a double offer. The opposite problem is obviously far worse: not getting an offer from either of them. It is not that we don't have enough money to survive without me finding a job immediately, it is just that I find job hunting to be exhausting, and I like making a contribution to some worthy cause. Speaking of worthy causes, Saturday, February 16th is SaltCon. I have made an offer to anyone who has playtested m...

This last week would be hard to describe in one sentence (or with one adjective). Monday was a holiday. We mostly stayed home and did family things as I recall. Tuesday nothing of real import happened. Wednesday I was informed that I was going to be laid off from my job on Friday. I drove home early and told Alison and then started the job hunt. As of yet I have not lined up a new job, but I have had a reasonable amount of interviews and quite a few people emailing me for information. Hopefully I am able to locate a good job at a good company before too long. The severance package that I was offered was quite adequate that I am sure that I can find a job before we run out of money - I just don't like being without work. In losing my job I also lost my computer and my access to the internet. I am borrowing my wife's netbook until I can get a new computer shipped to me and hanging around at various places (families houses and library for the most part) to get internet ac...

it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... Sara has mastered three statements and two noises: 'All done!' which she tells us every time that we start to change her diaper or anything that she doesn't want us to do. 'I love you' which she tells to anything that she is paying attention to. I think that perhaps it is a greeting in her mind. 'Egg', which she said once when we were talking about eggs, and she now will randomly exclaim for no apparent reason. We reacted in a really excited manner when she first said it, so that is perhaps why she says it still. 'Ba Ba Ba'  she says whenever she wants food (that originated from the word bland, but it has grown to include all foods now.) Finally, she ceaselessly blows raspberries, but we can't figure what (if anything) is meant by that. The girls have been sick again, and so this last week was a bit rough. We did, however, open our first long term goat cheese, and it i...

One day I told Andrea a story about Brave Lala which went something like this: Once there was a brave goat named Lala who had a goat friend named Clarabel and three chicken friends named Dot and Dot and Dot. Clarabel and Dot and Dot and Dot were scaredy animals but Lala was brave. One day Lala and Clarabel were eating grass outside, and Dot and Dot and Dot were pecking for bugs when Lala heard a sound: 'Howl' Clarabel and Dot and Dot and Dot all got scared and hid inside of the goat shed while Lala was brave, and moved toward the door of the goat shed to protect them. A wolf came into the back yard and tried to eat Clarabel and the chickens, but Lala said: 'Maaa!' And charged at the wolf. She hit it with her head and it fell over. Then she said 'Maaa!' again and hit it again. The wolf died, and rusty ate it. Everyone was happy. The end. Apparently this is the best story ever, and Andrea asks us to tell Brave Lala stories *all the time*. Seriously it is about...