4
Nov
I got there in the chill and fog this morning, and two little old ladies and a middle-aged woman were waiting at the door with coffee. One with a walker had bought coffee for herself but decided she didn’t want it, so she knocked on the door to offer it to someone inside, and a grumbling, middle-aged man who looked and sounded like a young Brian Cox answered and told her they couldn’t come in until 7:00. She told him she just wanted to offer them her coffee, and he hesitated before thanking her and taking it– probably afraid it would look like bribery or something.
More people lined up behind us, and the little old lady with her walker started talking about how excited she was and how she hoped everybody voted Democrat. She asked me if I had to go to work, and I told her I did. She offered for me to go ahead of her, but I told her no thank you, as it was just a five minute walk to the train station, and not even that to fill out my ballot.
They let us into a cramped room where we were lined up to “check in”. They put me in the wrong line because they asked “name?” so I gave them my name, but what they had really wanted was the name of my street. After the confusion was worked out, I ended up behind the little old lady again, who noticed they were taking a long time to find her friend’s information, so she again offered me to go ahead of her, which this time I took her up on. I got my ballot, got into the voting “booth” (I was kind of expecting a curtain or something, but there were just these stalls), and proceeded to vote for Obama – Biden with the felt tip pen. I noticed that more than half of the other elections on the list didn’t even have anyone running against the person listed, and every one of those listed was a Democrat. Nice. I then voted “no” on Proposition 1 (to do away with Massachusetts taxes), “yes” on prop 2 (to lower the punishment for an ounce or less of marijuana), and “no” on 3 (to do away with dog racing). I went through the check out line, watched my ballot get sucked into the machine, and then walked to the train station to catch my train.
For some reason, as I walked the block and a half to the station, I couldn’t stop thinking of the little old lady with her walker and her coffee and her eagerness to vote for Obama, and I smiled the entire way.
9
Sep
I was going to explain all this, but I think the text messages speak for themselves. Enjoy.
Saturday
Fr:Julie -------------------------- Happy Saturday Wil! Just saying hi! Love Jim -------------------------- 5:16pm Sat, Sep 6
Fr:Julie -------------------------- Ok my stupid iPhone changed my name from jul to jim, that note was from me not jim. -------------------------- 5:18pm Sat, Sep 6
To:Julie -------------------------- Happy Saturday, Jim! And congratulations on the successful gender reassignment surgery! Love Wendy. -------------------------- 5:19pm Sat, Sep 6
Fr:Julie -------------------------- So I am sitting outside a restaurant waiting 4 friends and laughing @ my phone. I look like a complete mental case! -------------------------- 5:22pm Sat, Sep 6
To:Julie -------------------------- If it helps, my phone has autocomplete, inserting words it thinks I want to use as I write. The weekend I helped you move it wrote "I'm on my butt." not "way". -------------------------- 5:25pm Sat, Sep 6
Monday
To:Julie -------------------------- Hey Jim, got a wicked business opportunity for you. I remembered your fondness for coconuts and wicker cabinetry. Imagine combining the two! Wendy. -------------------------- 3:53pm Mon, Sep 8
Fr:Julie -------------------------- Wendy... What the he'll are talking about?! I am allergic 2 coconuts and wicker is against my religion. Don't make me laugh like that at work!! Jim -------------------------- 3:57pm Mon, Sep 8
Fr:Julie -------------------------- Wendy y don't u reply?! Kim -------------------------- 5:38pm Mon, Sep 8
To:Julie -------------------------- Jim - Eyes in the dark. One moon circles. Talk to the log lady. O_O Wendy -------------------------- 5:39pm Mon, Sep 8
Fr:Julie -------------------------- Okaaaay... Wendy u t a weirdo! Jim -------------------------- 5:43pm Mon, Sep 8
Tuesday
To:Julie -------------------------- Jim - In Geneva @ supercollider. Which is better 1978 investment: Corey Hart's career or Otterpops? P.S. - Need quick turnaround, world ends Wednesday. Wendy -------------------------- 6:41am Tue, Sep 9
Fr:Julie -------------------------- Otterpops! Jim -------------------------- 7:24sm Tue, Sep 9
To:Julie -------------------------- Jm sgnl ffctd by tm strm srry slp gt pnng nw c n th pst! Gv my lv 2 vryn sghtkllwjpcv##&+++ SIGNAL ERROR -- FAIL CRC CHECK -------------------------- 8:46am Tue, Sep 9
2
Sep
I forgot to mention in my previous post: Katie has taken a fondness to something near and dear to me.
When I was born, my grandfather gave me a stuffed teddy bear which I eventually named Max. If you were to read this journal entry in LiveJournal, that’s Max waving at the camera in the avatar I chose for this entry.
I’ve had Max all my life. Once, my mother sewed a little denim jacket for him to wear, that later got lost. It looked really nice. Another time, she restuffed him, as the years of love I had given him had left him raggedy and limp. He now has a soft, little pudgy tummy. Many years back, my brother and I got our hands on some glow-in-the-dark paint meant for clothes. Now, Max has little glow-in-the-dark paws. He’s even been immortalized in a comic book I drew back in high school.
The past several years, Max had been hanging out with a bunch of other stuffed animals I’ve kept and collected over the years. Melissa found him while unpacking some things, and left him on the bed for me. I laid him on my pillow, and that night, when Katie was snuggled and nursed to sleep for bed, she found Max and hugged him tightly to her. When I laid her down in her crib, I saw Max in her arms, and tried to remove him, but she gripped him all the more tightly, so I let her sleep with him. Since then, there hasn’t been a night she’s gone to bed (or nap) that she hasn’t taken Max with her. If she leaves him in her crib, she grabs him once I lay her down in it. If she can, though, she brings him with her for nursies in the big bed.
I used to say that Max was going to be buried (or rather, cremated) with me when I die, but when I see Katie hugging him so tightly, and I think about the years of love and playtime I had with him, I think that if my grandfather were still alive, he’d have said “Pass him on to another who will love him as you did.” Melissa points out that for all the stuffed animals that Katie has been given by relatives, it was the little raggedy, brown bear with the scratched-up eyeballs, the poochy tummy and the glow-in-the-dark paws that she has latched onto. I talked it over with Max, and he was agreeable to going with Katie. I told Katie she could have him as long as she treats him with love and kindness. She also better not try to change his name, because he’ll get confused if she starts calling him anything other than Max.
2
Sep
It was an enjoyable weekend all around. Saturday, my sister, brother and collective families came down from Maine to spend the day with us. We took Katie to the park, but didn’t stay as long as I’d have liked because poor Katie’s diaper flooded on the way there, and though I initially decided to let her play rather than drive all the way home to change her and come back (which would have been met with cries, screams, kicking and whatnot (from Katie)), I later rescinded my decision to stay after she went down the slide and left two little pee trails behind her. At first, she had just squeaked as she went down the slide because her damp pants clung to the plastic. Yes, we left the pee trail for some other kid to slide down and soak up. I had nothing to wipe it up with, give me a break.
Sunday, Melissa Katie and I went to the mall in Salem, where Melissa got her iPod replaced after her old one broke down. Katie played on one of those projected floors with motion/hit detection that you find at malls all over the country these days. She sat there, banging on little computer-generated trucks as they drove toward her. We stopped at Best Buy to return a memory card that didn’t fit in my phone, ended up buying the latest expansion for Melissa’s Sims 2 game that she enjoys when she has a moment to relax. She’s quite excited about the game Spore that’s coming out, as well as Sims 3. I got a little role-playing game to play on my DS on the ride home.
Monday, we relaxed, taking Katie back to the park in the late afternoon to make up for her shortened visit on Saturday. When we got there, there were tons of little kids and parents, and Katie was very shy and nervous, but as time progressed, she became more confident… and selfish. She started going up some stairs, and when a little girl came in the other direction, Katie said “no!” and tried to push her away. Admittedly, there wasn’t room for them both and the girl should have waited, but pushing is never the answer, and we told her that. Eventually, almost all the other children and parents left, and Katie went nuts, running all over the place, squealing, going up stairs, down slides… she had a blast. She was worn out that night when it was bedtime.
Oh, and to top off the weekend, VH1 Classic was showing 80 hours of 80s videos. We tuned in late, only getting to see the Rs to the Zs (missing stuff in the Ts and Ss as this lasted several days) but Katie loved some of the music, dancing to Tiffany’s version of “I Think We’re Alone Now”.
I found a nice little app called w.bloggar that I can use to write livejournal entries AND wordpress entries for my website’s blog! Very handy. Before, I’d have to use semagic to write in livejournal, and then copy and paste into the wordpress default post entry page. Now, I just save the entry, relog as the other setup, and repost the same entry. Woohoo!
Oh, and the DalphiNation blog got a new theme put up. It’s not my favorite color– it’s got lots of pink in it– but it really is a nice-looking theme. Feel free to check it out, and maybe register for an account to post comments in it (hint hint).
28
Aug
The site is very girly looking, I know. Pink bows and shit. Still, this is quite possibly the nicest looking wordpress template I’ve ever seen in my life, so to hell with all the pink. Maybe in time I can edit the images and turn everything blue, but for now, I’ll live with the frilly pink bows. The site still looks better than before.
Oh, and I upgraded to Wordpress 2.6.10 finally. I was avoiding it because the rpevious upgrade was a real pain in the ass to do, due to tweaks I had made to the site. This time it was a total breeze. Yay! And everything’s nicer and– well, except for the pink– and easier to use. AND MAYBE PEOPLE WILL REGISTER AND POST COMMENTS WHO AREN’T TRYING TO SELL ME BULK DRUGS (hint hint, Mom, Dad, Julie, George, ETC.)
p.s. – Yahoo reccomends the following keywords for this journal entry: hint mom, pink bows, julie george, mom dad ,bulk drugs, hint hint, pain in the ass, yay, hell, images
Bravo, Yahoo.
17
Jun
A fruit snack followed me as I left home today. I stopped in the stairwell, spotting it at my feet.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked it, but it did not respond.
The world is an enormous place to a fruit snack, wrought with dangers of all sorts. A hungry animal could carry it off, or it could be tread upon by someone less thoughtful than I, who would later scrape it off the bottom of their shoe.
Little fruit snack, you are brave, but there is a fine line between bravery and foolishness. I cannot in good faith, leave you to whatever fate the world has in store for you.
“Do you want to see where I work?” I asked it, but it did not respond. I took its silence as an affirmation, so I picked up the little fruit snack and placed it in my pocket. It rode with me on the train, quiet, to avoid us having to pay for two tickets. On the T, I offered it one of my ear plugs, so we could listen to The War by Angels & Airwaves together, but it did not respond.
At the office, I took the fruit snack out of my pocket and placed it on my desk. I turned on my monitors, and showed it the things I was currently working on. It took everything in in silence, patient and pleased to simply be out and about. I am sure, though, that it will eventually tire of watching me work and go exploring.
Oh, little fruit snack, do be careful. There are people here who do not believe in the five minute rule.
16
Jun
Saturday afternoon, Katie and I went out to the gazebos next door so she could run around, get some sun and exercise, and just have fun. I brought along my camera.
Here are some other photos from that day.
You can find these photos and more in the June 2008 section of my Flickr account. I think they came out pretty well since it was such a nice, sunny day.
Sunday
Sunday was nice. I got up an hour later than normal, got a nice card from Katie/Melissa, called my parents to tell my father I love him, Katie talked to my mom on the phone, going so far as to pick up the phone and say “Hi,” followed a little moment later with “bye.”
In the early afternoon, I went and saw The Incredible Hulk. It was actually quite enjoyable, better, I think, than even Iron Man. I really had a good time with it. Then it was home again to spend the rest of the day with my family.
13
Jun
Walking into the kitchen to get myself a soda, I witnessed another employee taking the last Diet Coke from a pack of six, leaving the plastic rings that hold them in place on the floor. I picked up the ring and stretched it carefully to fit over my hand and pinch my wrist. Then I went to the coworker’s desk and stood there, holding up my arm. He looked up when he sensed me standing beside him and, noticing the rings of plastic around my wrist, raised an eyebrow in puzzlement.
“You’re supposed to cut these up when you finish them off, to prevent Dalphins from getting trapped in them,” I said, giving him sad puppy dog eyes.
10
Jun
Melissa had a retirement dinner for a coworker that she had to attend last night, so when I got home, Katie was there with a babysitter. Having already been fed, she just wanted to play for the rest of the evening, but after I got myself a bowl of cereal to eat for my own dinner, she decided she was hungry again. I got out the box of fruit snacks Melissa had recently bought, while Katie watched, noting the box’s location in the cupboard. I opened the bag and gave it to her and she started taking the snacks out merrily and eating them. We went back into the living room to play some more.
After a while, Katie wandered off, and I thought nothing of it until she came up to me holding an unopened bag of fruit snacks, making little sounds to indicate she wanted me to open it. I praised her on finishing the first bag and getting another all by herself, and opened the bag, figuring she was okay to have a few more (they’re very small bags). She ate a couple snacks from the bag, then wandered off to the kitchen again, returning with another unopened bag of fruit snacks.
Now, I knew she hadn’t finished that second bag, and looking around, I noticed several fruit snacks from the first bag on the floor. I told her no no, no more fruit snacks until you finish the ones you have. She didn’t complain at me or anything, and followed me as I went to put the bag back in the box. When I got in the kitchen, I found the cupboard open, and the fruit snack box on the floor. I put the bag back in the box, then asked Katie what had become of the previous bags. Suspicious, I went and opened the trash, and found that she had pulled out the drawer with the trash bin inside and placed the previous two snack bags on top of the trash. One was empty, but the other was still mostly full of fruit snacks. I got it out and gave it back to her, telling her she had to finish what was inside before she could throw it away. She walked off, popping fruit snacks in her mouth.
I was pretty impressed that she had thrown away the first bag after she was done with it, but later she took my empty bowl that had had cereal in it, and insisted on carrying it into the kitchen for me. I thought maybe she was going to try to put it in the dishwasher, but she proceeded to open the trash drawer again, and I had to intervene. At least she kind of understands that when you’re done with certain things, you throw them away. I just think we’re going to have to keep a watchful eye on what she puts in there.