Mice

The gods-be-damned freaking mice are still in the cupboard. The cupboards I already cleaned. Time for more steel wool. And maybe napalm.
In other news, N’s house-closing went through yesterday, so he lives here now. This is, in my opinion, pretty cool. I think we will all enjoy it once the [...]

Tuesday is all over the place.

1. It’s the return of the autumnal mice. Every other year or so, as the weather gets cooler, our kitchen gets mice. This is because we a) line in a house built in 1916 or thereabouts, with the “new addition” put on in the ’40s, and is therefore porous, b) we have [...]

Homeschool, today’s edition

I deeply love the things my kids learn.
Today we reviewed Middle East geography. I gave the kids a blank map of the Middle East and began calling out countries. The kids tried to identify them on the map and color them in. I gave hints. The kids used to have the [...]

Circus Juventas, Fall 2009

Fall classes have started here at Circus Juventas!
During my kids’ classes I can choose to watch:
Flying Trapeze
Silks (Core)
Low Wire
Acrobatics
Straps
Spanish Web (Core)
Cloud Swing
Bicycle
And some other stuff I can’t identify
The part I love the most is watching the kids who are really good at something else as they try to learn a new thing. These are [...]

Okay, so what is this boondoggle? (Part 2)

So anyway.
The trainees need non-radar problems to work through. And these problems need to increase in difficulty slowly while containing set items. The first problem must include IFR clearances, interphone communication, and other items. There are checklists and formulas. The problem is, the non-radar scenarios are not consistent. [...]

Okay, so, what is this boondoggle? (Part 1)

So what am I doing, exactly, at work today?
Okay. Let me explain. (No, take too long. Lemme sum up.)
When trainees walk in the door to Minneapolis Center (aka ZMP) they have completed a training program at one of a handful of places in the country. They ought to arrive knowing how to [...]

Boondoggling

The word “boondoggle” came into widespread use during the first year of Franklin Roosevelt’s first term. Those who denigrated his federal work programs referred to the jobs as boondoggles. The universal symbol of the boondoggler was a man leaning, thoughtfully, on a shovel. Doing nothing.
In a fine tradition of contempt for people [...]

Cool Kids #3!

Cool Kids #3 is available for sale today!
Cool Kids #3 continues as an eight-page black-and-white comic, detailing the college moments of Jen and her friends. With art by Sean Lynch, this is my favorite issue so far. I gave Sean a complicated request, involving the escalator’s at Marshal Field’s, and he [...]

Happy Birthday, M.

I was there when he was born. Yes, M is our adopted son, but I was still there when he was born, thanks to the goodwill of his birth parents. Six years ago today at this hour we were all still waiting for him to show up.
This morning, at 5:08 a.m., I was [...]

Ren Fest, 2009

Well, we got lost on the way there. Mostly (entirely) because we didn’t look up where it is, exactly, before embarking. (We go there once a year, and never quite remember where it is, what can I say?) But we eventually arrived, and Fest was its usual self.
By usual self, I mean [...]