Category: bliefs

Abused and owned

I got my first comment spam on my blog tonight.
In some way it makes me feel abused to think that this little slice of the web is so easily detectable that a russian online casino hawking viagra and slot machines (coincidence? you be the judge) found me and spammed me.

They are REALLY good at doing that but WordPress is REALLY good at helping me to own them!
1) their post was never published because my security settings didn’t allow it, anyone’s first post has to be approved by me, and comment posts with more than 2 links in them have to be pre-approved.
2) Their comment was marked as spam by me and all the hot button words that usu accompany a post like that have been added to my spammer list to auto-magically put them into comment review.
3) With a flick of the wrist they were relegated to the data graveyard. If I begin to accumulate comment spam I can even turn those “review” words into automagic “delete the comment” words. But then that would mean that regular schmoes like you and me couldn’t make funny jokes about viagra and slot machines in the comments because they would be deleted without a second pull.

WordPress is cool.

Drinking games

So some of you may know that when Abby was very small I held her close once and told her she was “the best toy ever”. I didn’t mean that in a condescending way, really.

  • The best kind of toy is one that you can play with for years and years and rarely get tired of the fun.
  • The best kind of toy is one that leaps up and surprises you with some new abilities you never knew it had and some that you tried painstakingly to program.
  • The best kind of toy is one that, well, is like a small child. They copy you when you are/aren’t looking and they are just the coolest toy.

Who doesn’t love to make their children do and say things that amuse them. Okay, so that’s simple, but you all know that there were caveman fathers making funny faces at babies and teaching their three year old cave-girls how to roar like a cave-bear. So I just enjoy the tradition, passed down through generations upon generations, of coaxing Abby into playing my games and mimicking my movies and…singing my songs. Only cavemen didn’t usually get to listen to it over and over again or pass it around the campfire, or to OTHER campfires, they had one chance. That is where blogs come in, the 21’st century campfire for our relatives in Pennsylvania and for that matter, our relatives in very close proximity.

I hope this thing doesn’t bring down our server. It is a fairly large download at 840KB but if you know ‘The Zimmerman Song’ it is worth every byte. It should play in either Quicktime or iTunes. It may play in other players but I am definitely not a sound caveman. If you have troubles, let me know. I may be able to figure it out but, eh um…no guarantees.

Without further ado…sheesh, I sure can have a lot of “ado” sometimes.
The Zimmerman Song

Important parts

Snuggling in bed a few mornings ago Abby was feeling the baby kick.

What was that?

She was kicking you honey, at least I think she was kicking. [probing her own belly] I think this is her head over here, or maybe her little butt. I can’t tell for sure.
[pause…still probing. Abby still feeling the action ]
I can’t tell what part is what honey.

Abby continued to feel the bursting energy within for a while and then very soberly addressed The Mommy.

Mommy. When she comes out we need to make sure we get all her parts out too.

What is a baby?

Mom? Remember I said that I want a pet?

Yes honey. You do have pets, you have fish! And pretty soon you will have a baby sister, and that is almost the same thing.

I interjected a few seconds later

You know what she really is? A toy!
It’s a what?
I said, ‘she is really like a really cool toy!’

[brief pause ]

It’s not a toy…IT’S A PET!

Water

[after protracted sucking at the sippy cup]

Abby, that is enough water honey. You don’t want to pee in the bed.

[30 seconds pass after setting it down all the while admiring it’s soft orange and blue glow in the early evening half-light, the zoo animals dancing lightly around it’s circumfrence. A longing stare. A knowing whisper]

Mmmmm…Sure is good

Verbal agreement

Despite my best efforts we happen to have a verbal agreement for our new house on Talbot Hill.

Anybody reading this who negotiates for stuff for a living would have laughed their butts off at how I negotiate. Nothing quite like laying everything on the table and then trusting in the other person to be honest. I would have never survived the 80’s as an adult.

I don’t have any pictures yet of the place, that will have to wait until we have a signed something to work with. We will be listing our place next week.

Moving…at least moving our butts

Angela and I are trying to see if we can move in the next 8 weeks. Rather serendipitously we found a house that was for sale but not listed yet. The owner caught us on the street looking at another house in his neighborhood and told us he would be a lot less money for more house because he would be selling “By Owner”. Listing it in April.

So we went to look, it seemed very nice, lots of amenities, three bathrooms, four bedrooms, nice established community, no traffic (top of a no-outlet hill) in South Renton. Seemed good all the way around.

So we put an offer down at his asking price with some contigencies (financing etc) and he countered by adding 15K more to the price and reducing the timeframe on the sale contingency.

Now we are waiting for a market analysis on his house that our listing agent is providing for us to see if we should even continue with the offer.

In the MEANTIME…talking like 6 days here…we have packed up half the basement, painted the ceiling and the walls in the basement, packed up the kitchen, painted the ceiling in there this morning and in the next couple days we will be painting the walls in there as well. Next weekend I am attacking the garage to paint and make pretty.

Either we are selling and then moving in April/May or we will have one heckuva clean house for when Baby Two is born May 4th.

We’ll see what the market analysis brings.
Nice house, hot tub, wet bar with dishwasher and fridge in the basement, two car garage, culd-de-sac, landscaping, nice deck, two fireplaces, updated kitchen with granite counters a gas range and a convection oven.

We’ll know more tomorrow after the Seahawks WIN THE SUPERBOWL!

Wax on, Wax off.

The point of the whole thing was that I don’t want to talk politics on this blog and I was really sending that link to show you all a video that I think is amazing. I likewise don’t appreciate the uber-partisan bickering in the commentary on whatever site that was.

My intent was to share “a funny cartoon” or “an outlandish sight” that also happened to have (and be hosted on) a really partisan blog.

Most of you already know what I think of the current political climate in America and I enjoy talking about it. It is a big part of our lives and impacting all that we do and say everyday BUT my views on those types of events are usually not going to be posted here.

Why? Because I see this blog as a permanent fixture in the life of my family and I intend to attempt to maintain it as documenting that part of our lives that no one else will write about. It will be around for my family and friends to peruse well after the current political winds have changed ten more times and I hope it will mostly discuss those things that they can’t find on Wikipedia or The BBC.
So, I appreciate the dissertations on my post. I love the feedback that shows I am not just throwing a bottle out to sea with a note in it for whomever. I am glad you value blief enough to read and put your well made points and thoughts into your responses but mostly you are going to get stuff like this.

Abby smiling and holding Toto (Tiny Ru-ruf)