October 30th, 2008
Nathaniel’s been on “solid” food for a few months now and is ready for some more substantial chewing action. “Great,” I figured, “time to start stocking up on zwieback.”
Except I’m too late.
The Nabisco (division of Kraft) product of this name has been discontinued (July 2008)
Bummer.
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October 27th, 2008
Scene: evening bath, where a napless Sabrina is getting a little chill time before going to bed. Dad is likewise stealing a few minutes to read a book while she splashes around and colors on the tub with bathtub crayons.
S: “Daddy, I just stuck a crayon in my nose.”
D: (absentmindedly) “Great, dear!”
S: “Daddy, I’ve got a crayon in my nose.”
D: (absentmindedly) “Great, dear!”
S: “Daddy, I can’t get it out.”
D: !!!
Turns out the tip of the crayon got lodged in her nose and she’d pushed it further in trying to get it out. We couldn’t get it out with a snotsucker or tweezers or having her blow it out, so it was off to the local emergency room. A few hours of reading books and watching the game (Go Phillies!) in various waiting rooms and then they did some poking and prodding; the crayon bit was gone. I’m guessing it came out during the drive over, since she got pretty hysterical at the prospect of the hospital, though she calmed down by the time we got to go. (She got so comfortable that she didn’t want to leave. After an evening of not wanting to be anywhere but in my arms, she climbs up on the bed and declares, “Daddy, I’m going to stay here and you go find me a snack, ok?”)
Being a parent means doing what you must, even though every fiber of you is screaming out for sleep.
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October 2nd, 2008
My brother points out an article over at Bloomberg that gets to the bottom of the arrow thing.
Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — Rose City Archery Inc., an Oregon company that makes arrows used by children, hit a bull’s-eye with Senate legislation that would rescue Wall Street banks.
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October 1st, 2008
From page 300 of the senate draft of the “EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION ACT OF 2008“:
SEC. 503. EXEMPTION FROM EXCISE TAX FOR CERTAIN
WOODEN ARROWS DESIGNED FOR USE BY CHILDREN.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 4161(b)
is amended by redesignating subparagraph (B) as sub-
paragraph (C) and by inserting after subparagraph (A)
the following new subparagraph:
‘‘(B) EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN WOODEN
ARROW SHAFTS.—Subparagraph (A) shall not
apply to any shaft consisting of all natural
wood with no laminations or artificial means of
enhancing the spine of such shaft (whether sold
separately or incorporated as part of a finished
or unfinished product) of a type used in the
manufacture of any arrow which after its as-
sembly—
(i) measures 5/16 of an inch or less in
diameter, and
(ii) is not suitable for use with a bow
described in paragraph (1)(A).’’.
Yep. Rome is burning and someone thought it a good time to help out the toy arrow manufacturer in his district. It’s selfish stunts like that that got us into this mess in the first place. I really, really wish there were a requirement for every line in an act to have a sponsor. It’d be nice to see who’s being such a bastard…
And people think I’m a cynic for no reason.
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September 9th, 2008
Among other changes is our lives this September:
- Nathaniel is on “solid” food and seems to be a big fan.
- Sabriana is now officially a preschooler, and has been declared potty trained by the staff at school. (Yes, there’s still the occasional accident, but we drove all the way down to PA and back with nary an issue.)
- I’m starting a new job on Monday. Ack! (This means that eero.ethersmith.com and things hosted on it will be moving in the next few days, and my phone number will change back to my old -1927 one. Ding me if you’ve got questions about either.)
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August 15th, 2008
| It’s been a good week for sky-related sightings. On Saturday, we had some balloons from Hudson Balloon Fest come right over our house.
|  |
The next day, a few ultralights we puttering in the area and did a 360-degree turn around us, I think because we were out on the porch waving like madpeople.
When I got home on Tuesday, after a cruddy day, I got to show Sabrina her first rainbow. Even better, I got a movie of her watching it.
And later that night I was taking the trash out and, while stargazing a bit, saw two satellites and two huge shooting stars.
Lots of neat stuff in the sky these days.
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July 25th, 2008
It’s System Administrator Appreciation Day!
It’s time for the yrealy reading of the Monkeybagel Document. Every word is true.
On a lighter note, it’s not uncommon to see comments like this about Obama:
also Barry you need to start dressing less like a 35-year-old midlevel IT supervisor
My first thought? “Hey, what are you talking about, he dresses just like me…. oh.” (I do not, however, have as cute a butt as he does. Vote for Obama! He’s got a cute butt! And can sink 3-pointers on the first try.)
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July 23rd, 2008
Mus-tang, mus-tang
Cho-co-la-ta
Mus-tang, mus-tang
Cho-co-SQUID!
A song by miss S.
(It’s been quite useful over the past day as it never fails to make her smile, even when she’s got croup. Which she does.)
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July 21st, 2008
Upromise EntOps’ corollary to Godwin’s Law: No meeting shall continue past the first mention of feaguing.
That is all.
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July 21st, 2008
A movie of the kids being cute at each other. http://www.ethersmith.com/movies/MVI_4348.AVI
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July 6th, 2008
…but nobody told Sabrina that. Tonight, at bedtime, she “read” (aka “recited to”) me The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog and Today I Will Fly, both pretty much word-perfect, with voices to boot. And she sat for an extra while on the potty while I read a bit of The Life of Pi to her.
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July 1st, 2008
Sabrina’s been doing a great job at being an older sister. Random vignettes:
- For a while, “I want to hold him!” was a constant request. Now she’s figured out that that’s boring and best left to adults with longer attention spans. I got some good pictures while it lasted, though. (sooncome, promise)
- She’s discovered that, now that Nathaniel is smiling at people, she can make funny faces and he’ll respond with a grin and a coo. The parents get double the fun with little effort. Win!
- When Nathaniel had his 2-month checkup (14.7 pounds, 95%/95%/95%. In the words of the pediatrician, “he’s a tank”.), he got a few shots. This pissed him off to no end, and he was inconsolable for the next 6 hours. (This is rare; he pretty much only cries when he’s hungry, tired or bored.) Sabrina got upset that he was unhappy and started crying in sympathy, urging us to “Make him feel better!”
- She’s not to the point of doing it herself, but she likes helping to change Nathaniel’s poopy diapers. She gets the wipes out, helps take the diaper off and even goes so far as swabbing his butt.
All in all, much better than some of the horror stories I’ve heard. We’ll see how long it lasts after he’s mobile and messing with Her Stuff.
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