Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

Deimos is Hurt
May 12, 2011

There are a few other happy things going on this week that I could write about - Abby’s Spring Concert, the school’s spring fair, Berta’s trip to help her sister move, and the kids’ going to a musical with my mom - but I’m finding it difficult to enjoy any of this fun stuff or even concentrate on work since yesterday afternoon.

Berta noticed that Deimos had escaped the house on Tuesday evening. He has been doing this a lot. He’ll sit, waiting for someone to open the door, and spring out, often even darting between your legs. I’m not sure what his obsession with outside is, but when he can’t make his escape he’ll sit at each door, front and back, and meow for a good long while. But he ran out the front door on Tuesday night when Berta came in from a short shopping trip, and we didn’t think to look for him outside before we went to bed.

The Nintendo 3DS
May 11, 2011

It seems not too long ago when the Nintendo DS came out and we were all wondering why they needed two screens instead of one. I think I’m still wondering why, but at least they’ve made good use of the two screens in games that have been released since. But now the Nintendo 3DS is out, and I’ve got one (as I’m wont to do with pretty much any significantly interesting gadget), and it has me asking a bunch of other questions.

The 3DS is essentially a DSi with some minor hardware and software changes. Obviously, the major thing is the addition of a no-glasses 3D screen. Only the top screen is in 3D and it’s been made wider, making it not only wider than the original DSi screen, but wider than the bottom screen that’s on the 3DS itself - which seems weird to me.

Stay at Home Clique
May 10, 2011

Both Berta and I work during the day. This will not come as a shock to most Americans who have families like ours. We could have chosen a smaller house, a smaller family, a tighter budget, but we like the way we live and it requires two working parents. What is perplexing is how many parents in our area don’t understand this and count on the opposite to be true.

Maybe it’s a strange assumption on my part to believe that stay-at-home parents are not the norm. I think it’s pretty common here where we live. I suppose the natural tendency would be to assume that other parents or families also live the way you live until you find out otherwise, so maybe it’s normal to be constantly questioned as to why we can’t be involved in various school activities during the work day, as if it’s abnormal not to be available.

For Want of a Grease Pencil
May 09, 2011

In the morning while the kids are getting ready for school is usually when I write these posts. This is convenient on one hand because it’s a finite amount of time that I have to gather my thoughts and put them into the site. On the other hand, this practice doesn’t really lend itself to creating the longer, researched, and therefore, useful posts that I’d really like to on occasion. Worse, it’s only an hour or two into my waking day, and hasn’t given me much time to think about what I’m going to write.

I do keep a list of things that I’d like to write about. Most of these things I feel are deserving of a little more time than what I have in the morning, which is why this list remains so long. I’ve got a post building in my head about the Fitbit tracker that I’d really get out, for example. But in the morning, my best ideas for short form writing seem to come to me in the shower, which has its own unique set of problems.

The Umbrella'd Pack
April 13, 2011

I have what I think may be an unhealthy fascination with bags. I like to have containers for things, and efficient methods of storage. Finding the perfect travel laptop bag has been an excruciating exercise, but one that I’ve enjoyed partaking in.

On the way home from school yesterday, Riley explained his idea for his own backpack. In the morning, it was reasonably warm and sunny, but in the afternoon it rained, so all of the kindergarteners were left without protection from the rain. Riley was going to hold his backpack over his head to keep his head dry.