Merry Christmas!

Holidays and Blogging....

Howdy,

Just firing off a quick post since it's been over a week and I have been remiss in making any updates.

First off, the holidays are crazy, the days leading up are crazy, and the freakin' snow that we have had cover our city is insane!

However the fun part was bring Alya outside to stomp around on top of piles well over her head in high. That little squirrel is going to be a snow girl. I can't wait for when Sasha takes her skiing for the first time. I just know Alya is going to love it.

Meanwhile, Marcus is living the world of molars - and it doesn't agree with him. Alya's teeth just flew in, but Marcus is creeping along one molar at a time. Poor guy is doing wakes ups thanks to pain, which has not been fun for us as well.

Plus, he's still holding out on the walking thing. Or at least was until last night. We had dinner over at Rob and Mayumi's last night, and while My Neighbor Totoro was on for Alya and Kaede, Marcus made the move. He took a couple of steps from the television to the coffee table to grab the remote. Marcus most certainly has a y-chromosome.

Okay, that's all for now, but the goal will be pictures and another post before Christmas. Wish me luck!

Be seeing you,

Jon

Why isn't Jon sleeping?

Hey all, it's bar time in Milwaukee and I'm not sleeping right now. This is kind of a bad thing as the kids will be waking up in about four hours....

But they had a great time today, as Sasha, her mom (Susan), and Holly had their cookie bake-a-thon today. At least seven varieties of Christmas cookie were baked today and all of them are delicious. In fact, they pretty much were dinner for me tonight.

Anyway, the kids got to play with both grandmas as my mom came by as well. Plus they danced to Christmas songs that Holly and Susan played on the piano. Alya has that spinin' and wavin' down. Marcus just has the beat.

His rhythm skills were really showing when a bunch of my friends came over to play Rock Band on the PS3. Fun times for all of us, but Marcus thought that the drums were best and he held onto a drumstick for most of the time he was in the basement with us.

Unfortunately, that was at 11 PM.

Marcus has two teeth coming in right now, so for the past three nights he has woken up between 10:30 and 11 PM, not going down for at least an hour. I can only hope that these new teeth finish cutting soon.

Okay, that was enough to clear the mind and enable sleep.

Take care everyone and have a safe weekend.

I'm going to have a yummy one, that's for certain.

Be seeing you,

Jon

So, what's been going on?

That's a good question, isn't it?

A week has gone by since my last post, so one would think that something must be going on right now. But really, it has been regular life that's been playing with not putting out updates. So this one is going to be a little on the short side.

- Christmas Time is here -

Last Wednesday was the next step in decorating for Christmas - the house interior!

We've got tinsel on the basement ceiling. There is a nativity scene in the front room. Snowmen all over the place. Oodles of Santas floating around, including "Jazzy Santa" who's black and plays "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" on the sax when you press his button.

Multiple wreaths. A few light-up snowflakes for the front windows. Quite a few noise-making Christmas stuffed animals. A snow globe for each of the kid's rooms. And our miniature sleigh with two snowmen and a Cthulhu riding inside.

The best thing about all these decorations is when Alya woke up the next morning and went running from item to item checking it all out. That is what it's all about.

Oh, and we told her that the elves did the decorating overnight. Gotta start the myth somewhere.

Tomorrow may be the start of the tree. Lights will not be on the same, totally insane scale as last year (over 2000 bulbs) but it will be pretty.

- Alya and dogs -

So this past Sunday, we took the kids over to my Grandmother's a post-Thanksgiving gathering. The bad news first - I drank a soda on the way there that triggered something lying dormant in my intestines. The short of it - I ate none of the good food that was prepared and was very uncomfortable for the duration.

However the food was fantastic as leftovers. My Aunt Dolly made some fantastic barbecue ribs. There was Sasha's cornbread stuffing, again which is could eat again and again. Some really good macaroni and cheese, joined by some of the best flaky biscuits around. Fortunately for me, they all reheated nicely the next day.

Also at the house was Ruby the dog. I don't know exactly the breed Ruby is beyond "puntable" but even at that small scale, Alya was terrified. But unlike Thanksgiving, she eventually was able to deal with Ruby being around, eventually evening laughing at the puppy. It's good to know that she'll be able to deal with this fear of dogs.

In fact while shopping on Friday, Alya asked Sasha if she could get a puppy. Sasha's response, "No way in hell." And that's something we're both solidly on the same page with each other.

Be seeing you,

Jon

Hello, I must be going

Two hours were scheduled. We took nearly four. And yet, "Hello, I must be going" seems appropriate in many ways.

Saturday was a mini-reunion of friends that graduated from Pius XI High School. Many of us brought spouses, a few didn't make it, and it was a positive time. But a Groucho Marx song fits the bill since it has been many moons since many of us had spoken last.

I am part of the class of 1988, so the starting point for some of these folk is twenty years. Mind, there were people that I had seen since then, but in the time we had on this post-Thanksgiving weekend there wasn't a chance to truly catch up on where we had been. Instead it was a little bit of falling into old habits from long ago.

One of the neat habits from that time was that it was okay to be in each others personal space. Some of us exhibited that tendency again. We fell into certain grooves or patterns that were probably odd for spouses to see.

But we were all different. Heidi and Sue were two people that I never talked to much at Pius or post-Pius. But we all have younger kids, so we shared and chatted more than I can recall doing before. And that had more meaning than perhaps the idle prattle of teenagers.

Meg probably has a more interesting life than many, having become a citizen of Germany. But beyond the odd story about William Shatner and a little chat about her sister, Jane (who couldn't make it) I never got to ask those question about what life is like now. Again, Hello I must be going.

Adam and Tanya are a couple of friends that I was happy to see again. And I'm ashamed to admit that I never took the time to talk to Tanya when I worked for the same company as her for three years. Adam and I got the chance to do a little family recap, which is good. Better is that we both agreed to make it a point to meet up again. After all, we're all in the same city so there's no reason not to do so. It's a good thing.

Colleen and I didn't talk too much either, but I was happy to see her and know that she has a family that's doing well. It'd be the right moment to make a crack about her husband being a Bears fan, if I cared about football that much.

David was there to make a liar out of me. But since we see each other far more frequently, it was not a problem at all. Besides you cannot begrudge the person that takes you home, right?

Yet even with seeing David a couple times a month, we still ended up talking well into the evening after the reunion wrapped up. And after six hours of conversation, I felt like we were honestly up to date with each others lives.

Ann did most of the work in putting this event together, and she deserves major props for making this happen. It takes a caring spirit to start a process for getting old friends together, and that quite possibly isn't appreciated enough these days.

Some event stick in the mind as "historic" or "monumental". This one falls into that mental drawer labeled, "What took you so long".

Be seeing you,

Jon

Groucho Marx - Hello, I must be going

Turkey and Travels

"Hola! Soy es Dora!"

Okay, not really. I'm actually Jon, but Alya was playing a Dora game on the laptop two minutes ago, so that phrase is currently stuck in my head.

I hope that everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving. Our's was filled with travelling and fun. We actually started out our holiday on Tuesday. Sasha made the corn bread stuffing Tuesday night and then prepared the apple pie.

And I'm going to tell you Sasha's secret to making yummy corn bread stuffing. It's apple chunks. Yep, little bits of apple in the stuffing lightens the dish and adds that nice touch of sweet. For the meat, she put in chorizo this year. That made it a little spicier than usual, but only a little. For me, it is the stuffing of choice. Leave your stale wheat bread. Discard those loaves of white. Give me that corn bread stuffing, and Thanksgiving will be alright.

But don't use those gizzards and livers. That's gross.

---

Wednesday was our first travel segment. After getting the okay to leave work early, I flew home so that we could hit the road and head to Sasha's mom's place. It is a good halfway point between our destination and home, so we were planning on staying there overnight and finishing any prep work on our foods.

The kids fared well in the car, so we were able to zip down and see Grandma Susan and Uncle Marty. Both Marcus and Alya enjoyed running around in a new environment. Alya's favorite thing was to bounce on the leather recliner, sending it rocking back a far as it could and then jumping some more. Climbing the back was also a fun time for her.

Marcus really enjoyed the presence of Andi, one of Susan's cats. Andi had no fear of the kids and liked getting petted no matter who was doing the giving. For Marcus, it was exciting to have a kitty hang around without taking off at the slightest squeak. But while Andi enjoyed the kids, he seemed to prefer draping himself over Marty.

Once we got the kids down (and both of them slept like a rock) the cooking began. Sasha and Susan put together the sweet potatoes, while I made the pumpkin pies. First time for me, but I have to say it's a pretty easy deal when you use canned pumpkin.

Nice side note, we managed to catch the episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay where they go to the Elegant Farmer here in Wisconsin. Flay was challenging their apple pie in a bag with his own little fried apple pie. It was fun to see a place we've taken the kids to every year on the Food Network. Oh, and the Elegant Farmer won the throwdown, which made it all the better.

Thanksgiving Day consisted of lot of travel, lots of good food and even more good family. We went to Sasha's cousins Jeff and Patty's place location in the middle of Northern Illinois. The house is a beautiful old farm house, with dogs on the inside and cats all over outside.

Sadly, Alya really is terrified of dogs, so that made things rough for her in the beginning. Things improved as Alya got to play with her cousin Elliott the entire day. Elliott is five and saw Alya as the baby she could play with.

The food spread was fantastic, tender turkey, sweet honey ham, and Sasha's fantastic stuffing. What more could an omnivore ask for? And this omnivore ended up eating more than a standard portion. So delicious.

Oh, and people liked the pumpkin pie, although I believe that the Apple Pie was better. Not very juicy, but with thin and tender apples. We finished off the last of the pie over a game of cribbage last night, and holy cats was it so good. I could go for another one right now....

Anyway, it was a fun time with family, and while the drive back was long it was well worth the time.

Be seeing you,

Jon

Elegant Farmer - http://www.elegantfarmer.com/

Kids and Reunions

I was looking for a picture to put up for my Facebook profile and I found myself lost in the pictures of my children. They are both so beautiful and amazing that it takes my breath away frequently.

"They're based off of a part of me. I can't believe it."

The feeling of being a parent is so overwhelming. All becomes secondary to the emotion generated by their simple existence.

Tonight I had to pick them both up from daycare solo (not really a big deal) as Sasha was doing volunteer work at the end of the day. That first hug I get from Alya I cherish every time. Marcus is so happy when he sees me and is so elated to be held by Daddy. These times are very precious and I love it all.

[music background is the theme song from the new - and quite cool - game Mirror's Edge on repeat loop. It fits the mood rather well right now.]

So you want to hear about crazy? How about over 30 adults and children in the BSer basement watching the Packers whomp the Bears. That was a crazy scene indeed. That is a fantastic way to give a boy a first birthday party.

As you can see from the photos (link here) that kid made the best of his day. Eating hot dogs, playing with the smash cake, and showered with generosity from family that drove two hours or more to be here. Thank you all for coming up to Wisconsin.

Instead of going into all the details, I'm going to relate the story of the smash cake.

His daycare teacher, Miss Debbie, made a football cake for everyone else and a green and gold smash cake in the shape of a number one for Marcus. So we loaded the boy up in a booster chair, put the cake in front of him, and stared waiting for him to dig in.

Naturally, nothing happened.

After all, he had 30 pairs of eyes trained on his face and cake. Slightly uncomfortable, I believe.

So Mama stepped in and got his spoon into the cake, to transfer some of that yummy frosting into Marcus's mouth. And that was the trigger to a sweet feast for the little man. He dug in with the gusto that he has with nearly all food. Scoops of green on the shirt, the face and into the mouth.

However, he didn't take his eyes off the crowd. I think Marcus wanted to make sure no one tried to make off with his prize. No worries though and he had a grand time with the smashing and the smearing.

Such a cutie.

---

On a different note, some of you may know that I often call Alya "Squirrel". When Marcus came I wanted to nickname him "Moose" because I could put on my worst Russian accent and ask, "What about Moose and Squirrel?".

But he was such a cute little baby that there was no way I could give him that nickname.

Well, Marcus isn't so small now. And when my Mom brought over a new pair of overalls for him that had a moose embroidered on the front, the nickname came back and feels okay now.

The questions is: Will it stick?

Time will tell, my friends. Time will tell.

---

Speaking of time, I forgot to mention that next weekend I'm going to an informal high school reunion. The big worry used the be that question "What have you made of yourself?" And at one point, I wasn't comfortable with answering that question. But now things are much different and I'm doing pretty freakin' well, thank you very much.

However, I still need to get a "brag book" together with pictures of the kids. Oops.

Be seeing you,

Jon

Mirror's Edge - http://www.mirrorsedge.com/ls/us/index.asp

Photos are up!

Real quick post here.

Just got some of the photos up from Marcus's first birthday party. Enjoy!

Marcus's Birthday Pictures

Be seeing you,

Jon

What a week, what a weekend...

Okay, it looks like I managed to not post a second update in the past week.

Ouch.

At least I got pictures posted.

Oops.

So let's get into the whys, as they're pretty cool in my book.

First off, Sasha and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary this past Tuesday. Quite the day for both of us. Sasha, as always, opened up with a couple of cool and sweet cards. (No, I'm not sharing the contents.)

Then I quickly snagged a bouquet of flowers before we left work. Since we generally carpool to work, I thought to surprise her by having the flowers sitting on her seat right after work. Well you know what they say about great minds....

So when I climbed into the driver's side, there was a gift on the seat for me! Fallout 3 for the PS3! Now that's a wife who knows her husband, or at least knows how to find out what he wants without asking directly.

For her, it was a variety of products from Bath and Body Works as well as a very nice bottle of wine that I had assistance in picking out. It was a Syrah/Viognier blend made through the collaboration of a French grower and an Australian grower, with the grapes grown in Australia. Excellent, was Sasha's assessment. Hopefully I can find it again for her.

Dinner that evening was at the always tasty Crawdaddy's Cajun/seafood restaurant here in Milwaukee. Some deep conversation to accompany the excellent food. We opened up with some spicy crayfish on their fresh baked sourdough bread. Then Sasha had a light salad with a very good Cajun ranch dressing as a prelude to her 4 oz blacked fillet that joined with a large shrimp resting on top. Very yummy steak that had the "melty" quality that I really appreciated in steak.

I had the baked halibut that was filled with a fantastic crab stuffing. While bites were exchanged, we really dug into both of our meals with enthusiasm. Normally, we have their key lime pie, but this was a time where we had eaten so much that exploding would have happened next.

One topic of conversation was the writing of our family trip list. Locations/cities in the United States that we feel the kids need to see at some point to get to know their country. Now some cities did not make the list as they are a given. Disney World covers Orlando and Florida. We'll visit Phoenix to see Grandpa John and Grandma Louise. And Chicago will be a frequent trip due to the amount of family in the area.

Other cities on the list: Washington D.C., Los Angeles, New York, the trip through the Northwest to see Mount Rushmore and other such sights. Toronto is also on the list, even though it is in Canada. San Francisco and Boston are on the list while San Diego is not, but will be visited due to the fact that we like the city so much.

It was fun to discuss the various cities we want the kids to see. Some of these places we haven't been to ourselves, so there will be much excitement for all of us.

After Tuesday, we moved into prep mode for Marcus's first birthday party on Sunday. Wednesday, was quiet as we just did some planning and I put in a bunch of time on Fallout 3. (Any game where Liam Neesen voices your father has got to be cool.) Thursday, Sasha had the kids for the day and we got the tables opened up.

By Friday, the basement was mostly arranged and all the non-food items were purchased - decorations, plates, etc. (More Fallout 3 for Jon.) And then Saturday kicked things into full gear.

Sasha stepped out right away to hit WalMart for the metric ton of food that needed to be acquired, while I stayed with the kids. And what a trip she had - 11 pounds of ground beef, 10 cans of crushed tomatoes, five cans of beans, and I don't know how many packets of chili seasonings. Weight-wise, it was around 35 pounds of chili pre-cooked. Somehow, it all managed to fit into our incredibly large stock pot, but it was a worry that we went a little too big for our own good.

Once that was cooking, it was time for the cornbread muffins. I have no real idea on the total number of muffins made, but I'd hazard a guess of over fifty. That was a lot of cornbread!

Meanwhile, the beverage fridge was filled to the brim with soda, beer, wine and juice boxes. Quite the combination.

Then the kids were tucked and the final round began. Streamers in the green and gold of the Green Bay Packers went up, as well as blue and orange for the Chicago Bears. Table covers, chairs arranged, leaves in the tables, various hanging decorations, and at 11 pm, the house was ready for the arrival the next day.

Which will have to be another post.

Be seeing you,

Jon

Who's One? Marcus is!

That's right folks, my baby boy just reached his one year mark! While the party is next week, we've had a celebration for him already.

Since his birthday fell on a Friday (thanks leap year) and Sasha had the day off, she started planning stuff out. One thing led to another and Marcus was being taken down to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois for lunch by his mother and father with sister in tow.

We had a delicious lunch at the Red Robin with (deep breath) Grandma Mary (who got the ball rolling), Grandpa Mike, Grandma Susan and the Fran-pa! Marcus had a fantastic time with all his grandparents as well as grilled cheese, cheese burger and a birthday Sundae. Yes, pictures will be going up on the web album soon.

After a long lunch it was off to the mall, cause my baby needed his first pair of shoes! While Marcus hasn't quite gotten to walking on his own yet, that moment is coming real soon. So some spiffy new Striderite sneakers were required. Blue and brown with a single Velcro strap makes some function and stylish footgear.

Then he got to take them for a spin at the new kid's play area they installed at Woodfield. It was a bunch of Looney Toons character in a molded foam that looked like hard plastic, but actually was soft to cushion any falls that might happen.

He and Alya had a great time running/crawling around Tweety Bird, Yosemite Sam, and the rest of the gang in the cartoon playground. Now that's a birthday celebration.

Next weekend, we are having family over for his birthday party. Smash cake pictures will be seen soon!

Until then, be seeing you,

Jon

Egg Rolls Radio Away!

Mellow. That's a good word for where I'm at right now. Both kids are sleeping. Sasha's out with a friend. I just had some awesome Cheeseburger Pie for dinner (it's a Bisquick recipe), picked up a game on the major-cheap, finished watching some of my shows...

Yeah, it makes me mellow.

BPM is on again in the background, but I'm going further back. Somewhere around 1980.

The first time I remember eating Chinese food was at a restaurant that went by the name of China Palace. I remember it being a dark restaurant, with low lighting. The occasion is forgotten to me, but I was allowed to choose what I wanted from the menu. The dish of choice? Lemon Chicken.

Lightly breaded, with bits of lemon peel as garnish. Then a delicate, sweet lemon sauce coated the chicken breast. When eaten with rice it resulted in a wonderful flavor that filled my little 10 year old taste buds with joy.

Later, it was the Mu Shu Pork that was a favorite. This was eclipsed by the hot and sweet Spicy Beef. The Hot and Sour soup at China Palace was something to enjoy in it's savory sinus clearing goodness. But then there was the Egg Roll.

The China Palace Egg Roll was a constant through out all my dining experiences there. The thick won ton wrapper was always a rich, golden, crunchy shell that held a mix of cabbage, pork, shrimp, and that extra bit of juice. Their homemade sauce for the egg roll was not a mere sweet and sour, but shades of the Lemon Chicken sauce that complemented the heavy, hot egg roll's contents.

When I worked at Manpower from '00 to '03, we would go there for the lunch buffet fairly frequently. One of the servers eventually assumed I would have that second egg roll that came with the buffet. No, it wasn't good for the waistline, but it was a damn good egg roll.

I have never found a restaurant that topped the egg roll that was served at China Palace. There were times when I would swing by there just to pick up a couple egg rolls to go with my dinner - which often was not Chinese food. For a brief time period, I would call in for fried rice and an egg roll for dinner.

As you can guess by all the past-tense, the China Palace has closed down. Several months ago, they closed their doors, as a developer offered the owners enough money for the building to allow them to hang their aprons and retire. The florist across the street had heard they were getting tired of the business aspect, and having watched them in action over the years, I could certainly believe it.

I wish them well in their retirement. The Egg Roll will be missed.

Something that won't be missed is the old format of WKTI 94.5. They underwent a massive format change this past Friday, and are now known as 94.5 Lake FM. This is a good change to me, as I rarely tuned into their station except for Casey Kasem and the top 20 on Sundays. However, it is a source of memories that stretches back nearly as far.

They had a morning radio team, Bob Reitman and Gene Mueller, that were the funnest guys on in the mornings back in the 80's. I remember them being casual and friendly. They had "Coach Ed" who was television news man Ed Hinshaw, who would speak the lyric to songs current at the time in a dry voice. The biggest hit was Coach Ed doing Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. It was the funnest thing in the world for a 12 year-old boy.

Now the are no personalities on the station at all. Just an announcer letting you know that you're listening to Lake FM and who know what they'll play next. It's an eclectic jumble of songs that all made the top 40 at some point in the past 50 years. I've heard early Beatles and Pink on this station, so it will be interesting to see how they pan out.

Tonight will be a double-post night. Understand that Marcus just turned one yesterday, so he deserves the top of the blog page.

He tops in my book in so many ways anyway.

Be seeing you,

Jon

Milk, Presidents and Movies

Sorry that my blogging speed has slowed down. Naturally, as more and more holiday events happen, the more "spare" time will dwindle. That is until we reach the new year, when all goes quiet again.

Right now I'm looking at Marcus's first birthday tomorrow. The poor kid is already 365 days old, but thanks to the leap year, it's not enough. And I know that the new teeth coming in are not helping his attitude either. However, he is off the formula and that is the biggest leap in terms of groceries that one can hope for.

Although our refrigerator is much more amusing these days. Sasha is a skim milk drinker, Alya is on the 2%, Marcus is naturally starting on whole milk, and Mr. Lactose Intolerant is on the soy milk. So after Sasha went shopping last night we have five gallon containers of milk, along with three half-gallon containers of soy milk. (8th Continent rocks with Raisin Bran!) Somewhere is farm with an extremely tired cow marked "BSer family cow". All I can say for that cow is, "Moo-moo, moo."

Regarding cash cows, the presidential election is over and my mail carrier can breath a sigh of relief. No more fliers going straight into the recycling bin. No more recorded phone calls on the answering machine. And we will finally be back to our regularly scheduled commercials encouraging us to spend money we don't have. I'm good with that.

One other political note, Sasha and I did stay up and watch the results and the speeches. Both speeches, I felt, were very good. McCain was a class act every step of the way, although I felt he didn't have to try to take all the blame. Obama's speech was fantastic because not only was he grateful, but he also didn't try to sugar coat the times ahead. For me that was very important to acknowledge that his winning wasn't a magical fix to all the woes facing Americans.

Shifting once again, last evening two of my friends came over to hang out. The original thought was to play a few games, but that changed to watching movies. An activity that we haven't done in a long time.

First up was an independent production of a horror story called The Yellow Sign. Fans of H.P. Lovecraft-style stories will appreciate the suspense and creepy facets of this production. Fans of film will be annoyed by the male lead attempting to channel John Malkovich. Mind, when I say horror, it is the vein of eerie and chilling, instead of gross and scary. As a fan of film and H.P. Lovecraft I enjoyed the short film, but felt that a lot could have been done to make it better without a budget increase.

After viewing a couple of short-short films that were on the same DVD, we switched genres in more ways than one. First change was from live action to anime (Japanese animation) and the second was from horror to a story that was romantic at heart.

Yeah, three guys sitting around watching a romantic cartoon. How weak-sauce is that?

(The answer is, "At least we don't live in our parents' basement with Geddy Lee of Rush!")

The movie was Millennium Actress, an animated film directed by Satoshi Kon, who did the thriller Perfect Blue, comedy Tokyo Godfathers, and the surreal Paprika. The story of Millennium Actress is that of a documentary maker who finally got a chance to interview his favorite actress, who tells her story crossing between her actual life and the films she starred in.

The clever bit comes in that the interview and his cameraman find themselves in the movie scenes as observers of the events. Eventually they become involved in the scenes as well, which makes it all the more touching.

It's a film that is supported by the viewer's knowledge Japanese cinema, but still stands as a sweet romantic film with lots of humor and fun dialogue. We watched the movie in Japanese with subtitles, but I suspect that the English dubbing might be a better way to watch as you can pay better attention to details on the screen.*

Be seeing you,

Jon

* Yes, anime viewers, I just stated that the dub might be a better way to watch anime. Until I know Japanese, I think that will be my point of view from here on out. (For non-anime watchers, dubbing versus subtitles used to be a matter of great debate and I had sided on subtitles for a long time.)

Links
H.P. Lovecraft's Wikipedia entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.P._Lovecraft
Millennium Actress IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0291350/

Halloween and more...

Wow, it's been a busy weekend - and a busy week leading up to it too. Fortunately, pictures were taken and therefore it is not only easy for me to relate events, but it is also easy for you - the reader - to understand the goings on. Oh, and those pictures I said would be up Monday, well, they're only six days late at http://picasaweb.google.com/BSerHome/HalloweenAndFallPictures

First off, this year was the first time Alya understood the concept of Halloween. Now you might see her in the cheetah outfit that we thought would go over great. Well she only wore it to her school/daycare this past Friday when Sasha took them both in for a little "Trick or Treat" action.

Once Alya saw all the kids in their full body costumes (like Marcus's penguin outfit) she decided that being a cheetah wasn't a real costume, so she had to wear the penguin outfit. Being wise parents, we actually had a back-up zebra outfit in the wings for Marcus. But such was not to be.

Friday evening, Bayshore Towne Center (formally Bayshore mall, but now a heck of a lot nicer) held an excellent event. They had Trick or Treating for kids in costume from 5 PM to 7 PM that evening at all participating stores (they had signs if they were taking part) as well as a pumpkin patch, a hay ride, and they were showing the kid's movie Monster House in the outdoor plaza at 7:30 PM. A safe night for the kids to dress up and have a good time in an environment that is controlled. The only thing I would like them to change is to close off the streets that go through the center of the mall.

Attendance was through the roof, but Alya was dead tired and Marcus was sleeping through most of it. She walked like a little zombie-penguin holding her pumpkin bag out for bits of candy. We didn't spend a lot of time there, but I believe she enjoyed it.

Saturday night, on the flip-side, was for the adult BSers to dress up. A bunch of people at my work decided that since Halloween was on the weekend this was a chance to get out and do a Halloween pub crawl in Germantown.

Yes, this is not Jon's cup of tea normally, but since I work with a good group of people and Sasha knew them as well, why the heck not!

Our costumes are both up in the Web Album. Sasha's is the good one, Static Cling. Mine is the dumb one with weird inspiration. I saw a costume on the TV show The Big Bang Theory where one character dressed as the Doppler Effect. So I took it a different direction and went as Pi. Yeah, a white t-shirt with black marker is a really poor costume. It would have been better if I managed to do something with a pie plate or a Baker's Square box. Better luck next year, eh?

Meanwhile, the crawl itself was something else. A new experience for me. First off, you get to see all these people dressed up in various costumes, which is fun to watch. But then they all load up on a yellow school bus to travel from bar to bar. Oh, and they can bring their drinks on the bus.

So, imagine a crowded subway car, where everyone is drunk, in costume, and there is a complete lack of hand holds. With each stop there is a rotation of passengers, with the new group getting more and more drunk with each stop. Yeah, it was pretty crazy.

Our last ride of the evening started with me standing with my keister up against the emergency exit door at the back of the bus while holding an extra large double-shot Captain and Diet Coke that wasn't mine. Drunk, smoking leprechaun to my right yelling out two different songs at the top of his lung. To my left, a full bodysuit wolf telling racist jokes between joining the leprechaun in song. (Oddly, he was undecided on who he was voting for on Tuesday.) It was 2 AM.

Eventually, I was able to sit next to my wife and get back to the first car where we sat for a moment to let the drunks drive off and me to switch to glasses before heading home. My consumption of the evening, a Sprecher Root Beer and a single sip of that monster rum and diet. A very memorable evening - but it wasn't over yet!

It was around 2:30 when we finally came through the door. My mom was kind enough to watch the kids while they were sleeping that evening, so I fully expected her to be either reading a book or taking a small nap when we walked in. Not sitting on the floor playing with Alya in the family room!

Yes, the picture of Sasha and Alya each with a pair of glazed eyes was taken at two-thirty in the morning. Alya has all four of her molars coming in, so sleep has not been good around the house lately, and so she woke up and mom couldn't get her back down to bed. Sasha said she has never sobered up that quickly before.

We got the squirrel to bed, and then washed up and went to sleep as well. It's one of the things I hate about going to bars, my body smells like cigarette smoke and I want to take a scrub brush to my lungs. To me, it's one of the nastiest things in the world. I can only hope that someday Milwaukee will go smoke free like Chicago has this past year, but I won't hold my breath on that one.

I am writing this Sunday evening. Behind me I've got the XM Radio channel BPM playing and I'm oddly feeling awake. Alya woke up two more times last night and Marcus had an early wake up thanks to daylight savings ending. But it was such a pleasant day, that I'm not feeling dead on my feet. The kids never took a nap at the same time, so I wasn't able to get more than five minutes of shut eye.

Sasha got to sleep in this morning, so she did a lot of the work around the house while I kept the kids in check where I could. Apple cake was baked, gutters were cleared, leaves gathered and moved to a mulch-like location and the kids were kept in good shape. Alya was incredibly tired - no surprise there - while Marcus was his excitable self.

You know what? The kids and I didn't do much, but we had a good time and lots of laughing. So I call it a good day. And a good weekend, too.

Be seeing you,

Jon

Some Stops in the Vast Wasteland (Part Two)

Stops in the Vast Wasteland Part II

Sometimes posting can be hard work, but the joy of writing often returns once the first few letters appear on the screen. The big trick is being consistant in the process.

So I'm just going to hit a few shows that have been on the docket as well as a smattering of other quick hits. Look at this as the scattershot thought.

This past weekend was a Halloween & Project time. That drywall kitchen project is finally nearing completion as I was able to get the paint down and most of the molding up. Just a few more nails and we will have our kitchen back after nearly 5 months of various states of disrepair. The morel of this story - drywall is not difficult in general, but a pain to execute properly and time consuming in an annoying fashion.

On the fun side, we actually got our pumpkins carved and some photos are up on the Picasa picture album. Holly and Sasha did the good ones, mine is the tenticle mouth. No suprise there.

Oh and the kids haven't gone trick or treating yet, although they did help in carving smaller pumpkins. Alya really got into the cleaning and cutting. Marcus just gnawed on the top of the pumpkin after pulling down most of the DVDs. Pictures will be up tonight in the same folder.

***

In the realm of television, I finally got around to watching the new Christian Slater show "My Own Worst Enemy" (NBC - Mondays). While deleting the pilot from the DVR, I was a little torn about the show. The best description might be "24" meets "Chuck" with no charm and much lighter intensity. This is a show to let pass simply because it takes itself too seriously when the concept is so rediculous. Rent a Bond flick for better spy action, or Me, Myself & Irene for lowbrow (extremely lowbrow) split personality hijinks.

"House" (Fox - Tuesday) remains an extremely enjoyable show to watch. However, it seems to have broken a bit away from the medical mystery side of things to move into character study mode. The events arounds the patient are not as important as the events with the doctors and their lives. This makes the show not as much fun as last season, but perhaps that is just me. Still a fun watch.

The new show "Fringe" (Fox - Tuesday) follows "House" schedule-wise, but misses the mark a tad execution-wise. The show is basically the producers of "Lost" take on the "X-Files". An FBI agent gets caught up with mysterious happenings that revolve around something called "the Pattern" and a company by the name of Massive Dynamics. Each episode revolves around some sort of fringe-science - a telepathic cellphone network, cloning, shared memories accessed through regression, weird stuff in general. Fun show, but not outstanding.

"Bones" (Fox - Wednesday) is a show that brings back memories of the classic era of "Moonlighting" with the two leads having that same chemistry that Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd held in their show 20(!) years ago. Each show seems to be based on a body being found and the FBI bring the Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan and her team to figure out the crime. David Boreanaz (Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) plays the FBI agent who brings in the bodies and does the field agent work as Seeley Booth, while Emily Deschanel plays the title character. Boreanaz and Deschanel's interaction really make the show, but the supporting characters are put together quite well. If you've got room on the viewing plate, give it a shot.

Okay, that's enough tv for now. Then again, we probably all have too much tv already.

Be seeing you,

Jon

Connected - Well? Too?

Recently I have been making connections to people a lot more than I ever have before. Email has always been a staple connection. Work has introduced me to productive internet messaging (IM). One side of the family has an email discussion list that sees consistent use. Sasha is on Facebook and now I am too. And this blog is a way of connecting to people as well.

But is it too much?

With my gamer friends, email is the primary method of communication. Sometimes I feel that the person on the other end is annoyed that I interrupted them or even that I used the phone when a text message or an email would have been just fine.

To me, it's reinforcing that bubble of isolation that this time of "communication" is rapidly constricting.

Back in my high school days, I was on the phone constantly. Whether it was arranging plans for the evening, chatting about some movie that we just saw, or just plain talking, I did it a lot. Hours at a time. Well into the wee hours on some occasions.

This was generally because most of my friends were across town, so just swinging by was not an option. And the lack of a car never helped either. So the phone was my connection to my friends.

And now that doesn't really exist.

Certainly, a lot has changed in 20 years that is not technology related. Time is a lot more precious and there isn't enough of it to spend an hour on the phone when there's work to be done. And work keeps those late nights to a minimum.

Once I had my own phone line/place (the two switched a lot in the college years) my line was to tell people to call at anytime if they want to talk. One in the morning was just as acceptable as early evening. And I truly meant it.

If I got a phone call at 1 A.M. tonight, I know I'd be very grouchy for reasons ranging from "Did you wake the kids?" to "I have to wake up in five hours, what do you want?" Neither of those response are positive or welcoming, but that my life is like now.

But how does one really establish a connection?

Face to face is the best way to do that. Then all forms of communication are available and open. Voice is only a small portion and this text is even worse. You have to guess my tone and emotion based on these mere words. Hardly a way to really connect.

Maybe we should break free from our isolation bubbles and start meeting people in real life instead of on the web. Perhaps that would help keep us from actually becoming isolated.

Then again, I am writing a blog which is the equivalent of shouting to the aether. So what do I know.

Be seeing you,

Jon

PS - If you feel that disconnection, call a friend tonight and get some of that connection reestablished. I'm going to try it myself.

Double Barreled Snot-gun

An illness is among the BSer family again. Nothing as severe as the ear infections but Sasha, Marcus and I all have colds of various degrees. Oh the joy.

And it all kicked in from following a few fall traditions, while forgetting the biggest one - make sure to dress warmly.

It all started with a family tradition that little kids generally love - going to the pumpkin farm. We met up with Grandma Susan at the Elegant Farmer around 11 AM.

The focus of the Elegant Farmer is apples, with pumpkins a close second. Third are the baked good, but those come later.

So we loaded the kids up in their wagon and pulled them from the car to the location where the tractors load up visitors to take out to the fields. While Sasha got tickets, Grandma Susan took Alya to the little shack where they sell cider doughnuts. Both Alya and Marcus loved the sugar, cinnamon yummy of fried dough.

However, when "tractor ride" was mentioned to Alya, her expression changed. She was a little scared at these huge machines that made lots of noise. Alya recognized that they were tractors, but had very little concept of the actual scale prior to that Saturday.

We made though the entire line and Alya was having nothing to do with sitting on a bail of hay as the tractors pulled them along. Screaming, yelling and kicking sold us on the idea that Alya could stay behind with Sasha, and such it was.

Marcus rode with Grandma Susan and myself, and seemed to enjoy it. No big thrills, but he liked to alternate who he snuggled up to while we bounced around the two apple orchards and the pumpkin patch.

Meanwhile, Alya had a grand time walking among the pumpkins back at the store. Two hay bordered squares filled with pumpkins makes for a grand obstacle course when you are two years old.

Eventually Marcus joined her and both of them played among the famous orange squash only taking a break for some apple slices with caramel on them. A fine reason to take five.

Afterward we went through the store and the BSers managed to only buy a loaf of pumpkin apple bread out of all the options of baked good there, including the classic Apple Pie in a Bag. But the motivating factor was the two large bags of apples which Sasha turned into three pies that evening.

Sadly, the fresh air might have been a little too much for Marcus, and he developed the double-barrel snotgun that evening. That boy is just like his daddy when he gets sick - miserable.

That evening was pie creation and consumption, with Grandma Nida coming over to spend time with the little ones and partake in pie. And eventually, she was goingt watch the kids while Sasha and I went out to a haunted house with Grandma Susan and Holly.

For Sasha, it was a near perfect fall day, doing fall things. We drove through the country viewing the color of the leaves while going to Elegant Farmer. Spent the day on a pumpkin farm with the kids. And wrapping it up with a trip to a haunted house.

Specifically, the Hartford Jaycees Haunted House up in Slinger, WI.

This place was fantastic. They had a really good system that would have allowed us to leave and return instead of standing in a long line to wait to go in. Unfortunately, that was Sasha and my folly. We stood outside in 46 degree weather for around three hours. While neither of us sport the double-barrel snotgun that Marcus carries, we are with him in misery.

But the Haunted House itself was very clever and neat. It starts with a dark trail poorly lit by torches that leads one among shacks inhabited by noise makers and actors ready to capitalize on all the anxiety that you've build up in anticipation from three hours of waiting.

The kicker is the walk through a huge metal tank with spooky lights on the inside and someone banging around on top of the tank. Eventually we got chased out and into the house proper.

And it is indeed a proper house that they've turned into a three story haunted mansion. You start on the top floor where the phantom of the opera greets you with his story. And the phantom really enjoyed his story, although Susan did feed his ego quite a bit by talking to him during his monologue.

Eventually we left that room and moved through the house, lots of dark stretches and great set piece rooms filled with actors and monsters on air powered pistons. It was a fun walk though the house that eventually led to the basement (complete with real musty basement smell) and out the cellar door.

The weird thing about the exit - it wasn't a chase out since you had to walk out stairs - but a calm exit. One that made you feel like you were in an actual horror movie waiting for that final moment where the bad guy leaps out to kill off the last survivor. But doesn't happen and instead a small ball of disquiet rests with you for the rest of the evening.

Good stuff, Maynard.

Jon

Links:
Pictures - http://picasaweb.google.com/BSerHome/PumpkinFarmAndAfter
Elegant Farmer - http://www.elegantfarmer.com/
Hartford Jaycees Haunted House - http://www.hartfordjcs.com/

How do we get there? Backstroke!

My little squirrel in a lake in Northern Wisconsin

Ah yes, the jokes of summer camp. Whenever it rained at the overnight camp I went to back in the day, someone would shout out "How do we get there?" and the response would indeed be "Backstroke!" followed by much windmilling of arms by 10 year old boys. Good times of child fun.

These days, Alya is the one who is doing swimming lessions and I took her to the Brown Deer High School pool last night for the latest class that Alya is currently taking. Mind, it isn't actually swimming but more like pool activities for little ones.

No matter what the definition, Alya loves to "Jump in the wa-wa." She will stand on the side of the pool and leap right into my or Sasha's arms without the slightest hesitation. And that is awesome in my eyes.

Especially since she will probably be a good swimmer at an early age, unlike her old man.

When I was a wee lad, I got sent to swimming lessons often. The same swimming lessions. Over and over again. That was because I was never able to pass the beginner level. Looking back, the only thing that I believe was problematic was doing dives. Leaping head first into anything just feels wrong to me.

It took about two years before beginners was passed. Over a year to get past the advanced beginners class. And the next classes went quickly after that. Probably because diving wasn't as important anymore.

Like Alya, I liked to jump in the wa-wa and still do. Hopefully, she'll get through the diving portion easier than her pa-pa.



---

Other notes - currently on a Peter Gabriel listening trip. "More Than This" from the Up album is on the iPod right now. Up is an album of heavy emotion and heavy beats. When it came out, I gave a brief listen at the Borders on the south side of Milwaukee. The jarring guitars and discordiant sounds instantly turned me off and I made no move to buy the CDs as it was not the Peter Gabriel that I enjoyed.

Then I heard "The Barry Williams Show". Don't know where I heard it, but a song about a daytime talk show host that goes over the edge is simply a delight to the ear. This opened my mind to some of the other tracks, the eventual purchase of the CD, and seeing him in concert at Summerfest a few years back.

So give him a listen again. Whether it be the John-Cusack-holding-a-boom-box "In Your Eyes" or the behavioral science based "Shock the Monkey", dust him off and give a listen. Peter Gabriel is an artist that stands the test of time in my mind.

Be seeing you,

Jon

Recovery

Howdy all. It's Tuesday and the family has two more holes in the head. Yep, Marcus got tubes put into his ears yesterday.

It is one of those inevitable processes that our children have gone through. After nearly two months of being on and off antibiotics, Marcus now has bonus holes in the ears.

The scary part is the moment when they take him away for the surgery. When Alya went, she had a sedative and was in the metal "crib". Marcus went in the anesthesiologist's arms. Both times it was wrenching to know that they were going to make my son breath chemicals to knock him unconscious.

And we would not be there to watch. To know exactly what was happening. We just waited for his return.

Marcus was away from us for over an hour. Upon his return, he was very upset and crying uncontrollably. This happens since the drugs are still in his system, and he's awake. It basically is a "bad trip" because he cannot understand what's happening.

Eventually, Marcus fell asleep in my arms while I was singing "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega to him. The boy has good taste.

Today Marcus is doing well. He's at daycare and only had a little bit of infant Tylenol late this morning due to crabbiness. Marcus is a trooper and a tough little guy.

Hopefully we won't have to deal with another surgery for a long time, if ever again. Stuff like that is rough on everyone.

Be seeing you,

Jon

I'm going to make it after all

Look everyone! It's Saturday night and I'm still standing. My appreciation for single parents just keeps growing as the days continue.

Most of the day actually went really well. Good morning wake-up at 6:45 AM - which is late for the kids. A nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and watermelon. Marcus took his morning nap, Alya read books, I got cleaned up and we all went to the Milwaukee County Zoo.

Bump number one - I only took the single seat stroller, thinking Alya would be willing to walk a lot of the time. "I hold you!" were the first words out of her mouth as we walked onto the zoo grounds. One would hope that phrase meant, "Hold my hand," or "I want to give you a hug," not, "Carry me for the entire time we're at the zoo." You can guess which one it actually meant.

The zoo was a grand time. Started with a couple of penguins, moved to the apes, and then the reptile & aquatic house. That last location was my first real break for my arms.

The reptile & aquatic house was possibly Alya's favorite stop because she liked looking at the very large fish. However, they did scare he a little, so if you ask her which is her favorite, it won't be remembered.

We then saw the American Badger, who was out and about. Checked out the camels, although Alya was a little more interested in the sky glider. Passed the giraffes and went into the Big Cat House.

Right before the official start of the bedtime routine, I asked Alya what her favorite animal was at the zoo, and she said it was the tiger. That surprised me, because it just lay there and wasn't active at all today. But tigers are quite impressive, even when lying down and that is exactly what happened with Alya.

The other bedtime surprise was that she remembered the name of a particularly active Siamang monkey at the zoo. We were watching this little fellow climbing some branches and playing with a length of hose, when a woman came up and told us the name of the monkey and age and few other facts. Alya remembered that name tonight - and I still don't know what it is. Whip-crack smart my little one is.

In case you were wondering, Marcus had a good time at the zoo as well. He was mainly people watching, although animals were catching his eye as well. I never noticed him falling asleep, so it kept his interest for the three hours we were there. Cool stuff.

At any rate, we ate lunch at the zoo and then Alya and Marcus fell asleep on the way home for the long afternoon nap. And I could have used one too. Except by the time I got everything cleaned up and lunch eaten, I didn't have the ability to fall asleep. Should of napped though as the evening went rough.

Marcus woke up first, but only by about 10 minutes or so. Both kids were initially in great moods, but then Alya started getting a little tired while Marcus went the other direction and got riled up. In fact, he was working on his brotherly duty of annoying the heck out of his sister.

I moved them into the kitchen where Alya was doing her large floor puzzles while I helped and kept Marcus distracted.

Wow, the evening is blurring together even now.

Bump number two came around when I had finished getting dinner ready. Kraft Mac & Cheese, peaches and a veggie mix of corn, carrots, peas and string beans. Marcus ate very well, but Alya....

Well she was engrossed in a Dora DVD that I had put on before starting dinner. Didn't realize that the stupid thing ran over 90 minutes! And Dora episodes are on the long side too. So when the episode was wrapping up as I got dinner on the table, my thought was "Excellent, now we can move right into supper."

Unfortunately, I was unaware that there was another episode to go and it kicked off before I could turn off the DVD. This was not a happy time for Alya or myself. I tried to fight the battle, but lost and Alya got to watch that episode while I fed Marcus. And cleaned up Marcus. And started getting Marcus's pajamas on while thinking, "When is this going to freakin' end?"

Did I mention that Marcus was riled and out to get his sister?

The last (as far as I was concerned) episode was almost at the end when Marcus crawled over to the tv and turned off the DVD player.

Yeah, you probably can figure out what happened next.

Bump number three - yelling, crying, more crawling around trying to increase chaos levels.

The end result. Our DVD player does resume where the DVD left off from last time. Alya had hot dog, veggies and peaches for dinner in front of the tv while watching Zoboombafo. And Marcus went to bed.

After hardly eating dinner, Alya was ready for bed, too. No fussing, no fighting, just go back to her room, get changed into pajamas, read a few books and off to sleep.

All I had to do now is clean the house, do the dishes, eat some proper dinner, and figure out how to relax. And for me that was to bake some brownies. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to try them out now.

Be seeing you,

Jon

The Long Weekend of the Father

Yes, it is happening this weekend. Sasha's heading off for a much needed weekend away with friends and I'm going to be flying solo with Alya and Marcus for more than a day for the first time.

And Alya is now officially two years old.

The Terrible-Twos.

I could be in trouble.

However, I'm thinking not so much.

See, my daughter can be completely crazy and she can be the sweetest little squirrel in existence.

Yesterday, I flew solo in the daycare drop off. Normally not a big deal, but on Monday Alya switched rooms to Prancing Ponies and had a rough first day.

So we walk into daycare, drop Marcus off with no problems and start head over to the indoor play area called Large Muscle. In the mornings, both Prancing Ponies and Busy Bears (Alya's old room) are playing in there. This made the Monday drop off easy. Delays at home resulted in Alya and I walking over to Large Muscle only to find out the Ponies have moved to their room.

I pick up Alya, start walking over to the room and she starts crying. "No Ponies! No Ponies!" my distraught daughter yells through the tears. Clutching onto my shoulders and neck, refusing to let go results in my arms being unable to set her down.

After all, when your child is bawling and hanging onto you like a life preserver, instinct demands that you do not let go.

After ten minutes of attempting to get her to lay down with plug and woobie, or at least take off her jacket, I had to break my heart and pass her over to the head of the daycare room.

And then walk away.

It's one of the most horrible things I've ever had to do.

However, the story has a happy ending.

See, once I was gone, Alya calmed down and then had a wonderful day. She ate well, had a good nap, and sang and danced with friend that had moved to this room before her.

At pick-up, she was very happy to see Mommy and was such a good help throughout the evening, especially at bedtime.

Tuesday nights are my gaming night. I go to my hobby shop of choice (Adventures in Gaming) and meet up with friends to play various games and talk about all the stuff that guys talk about.

Sasha gave me a call after the little ones were asleep to tell me about the most fantastic thing that Alya did.

At bedtime, Sasha was getting ready to rock Marcus, feed him his bottle and lay him down in the crib. This is when Alya piped up that she wanted to do it. Two years old and the most awesome little girl in the world wanted to help her brother go night-night.

And so she did.

With Sasha helping from the ottoman, Alya rocked Marcus on her lap in the big rocking chair and fed him the bottle. Alya talked to him and held Marcus close until he fell asleep. The she and Mommy moved Marcus to his crib for sleep. And he proceeded to sleep straight until morning.

That's my special little squirrel. So with her help, I have no worries for the weekend. Which reminds me just how lucky I am.

Be seeing you,

Jon

Some Stops in the Vast Wasteland (Part One)

Good Monday everyone!

Okay, Mondays are generally not good, but it’s here so one might as well roll with it, right? Otherwise you’re just dropping a few Valium, calling in “incapacitated” and waiting for Tuesday to show-up. Awesome.

So I’m kicking off this second week of blogs with a bit about what’s being watched in the BSer house these days. Naturally, I’ve got to break it down quickly, as this could go on forever.

Oh yeah, none of the shows for the kids. I know that Zoboomafoo is a cool show for my kids, but you shouldn’t be that excited about that.

Also, we do use the DVR extensively. With kids there would be no chance to watch any show that started before 8 PM, and those later starts would be in doubt, too. If there has been any device that has enabled my television watching, the DVR has been the big one.

So, here are the 30 minute shows Sasha and I watch together. They make us smile and laugh, generally leaving the world a little brighter for their existence. (Only a little though.)

The Big Bang Theory (CBS – Monday)

This is a comedy for those of us who are geeks at heart. Because, for once, the writers don’t try and stick a machete into that heart over and over again. The show uses multiple characters to cover all the stereotypes of geeks, instead of the typical lump-them-all-into-one mentality when these type of characters appear.
And maybe, just maybe people who don’t consider themselves geeks can watch and see that they too have a little bit of geek within. (Hey, fantasy sport players, I’m talking to you.)

How I Met Your Mother (CBS – Monday)

If the writers of Friends found out that a narrative doesn’t have to be linear, and that a story can be told with a beginning, middle and end, this show could have been the result. HIMYM tells a story with consequences, changes and a little playing with time. Worth watching for Neil Patrick Harris (yes, that’s Dougie Hauser) alone, but the others do a fine job keeping the show interesting. Best Monday night CBS show.

Two and a Half Men (CBS – Monday)

If any of these shows I list could be called a guilty pleasure, Two and a Half Men would get top guilt honors. The characters are Seinfeld-esqe in that you wouldn’t want any of them as your friend, but the situations are so amusing that one cannot help but laugh. That is, if you aren’t offended by mean humor without the sharp wit of early Frasier.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer, this show wouldn’t be worth the time. Sheen plays a version of himself and Cryer hits spineless perfectly to make the show worth watching. It is a shame that the “half” portion of the show has very little impact any more. The price of having a good run, I guess.

The Office (NBC – Thursday)
We watch this. It’s very funny. Many people watch it. They think it’s funny, too. My only complaint is that the device of the documentary is the show’s weakness. But most other television shows have not sent me to the floor in laughter.
If you work in any kind of corporate environment, this show hits home far too often. Fortunately, it’s the kind of hit that makes one laugh with that tear of sadness, because you know it’s true.

30 Rock (NBC – Thursday)
The show 30 Rock hit the same season as Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Both shows had the number of minutes in the title. Both featured behind the scenes of a comedy variety show being produced. One featured a lot of cast members from West Wing along with the producer. The other had SNL cast and Alec Baldwin. Both were good.
But Studio 60 was a show we wanted to watch but never got around to actually viewing. 30 Rock was top of the list in shows to view. Fortune smiled on 30 Rock’s absurd sensibility and thus it remains on the air, winning several Emmys along the way and remains one of our favorite shows to watch.

So I’m stopping here for now. Next post may be the longer shows or might be something completely different. But I will return to television later this week.

Be seeing you,

Jon

A Beautiful Whuppin'

Ah the weekly Playstation Network update. Always a few things worth downloading there, but this week is actually worth writing about.

First off, I snagged the demo for the nostalgia fueled game, Mega Man 9. For those of you not familiar with the "blue bomber" the Mega Man series began years ago on the first Nintendo system - the NES - here in the US. (It's called the Famicom in Japan, for "Family Computer".) Known for high difficulty and massive amounts of sequels, the series has evolved somewhat over the years. Now Mega Man 9 is pretty much a throw back to the original NES version.

When it launched on my PS3, I was greeted with the bleeps and bloops associated with that first Nintendo system. The graphics matched that quality as well - except it lacked the classic flicker of NES games.

While I do own a NES now, I never had one during the heyday so there were no stirring of emotions there.

So I hit start and went into the demo level, "Cement Man". (All Mega Man bosses are named the same with Yogurt Man* being my favorite.) The controls were simple - left, right, jump, shoot. But the gameplay went - right, right, get-damaged, jump, get-damaged, shoot, die.

Okay, maybe I'm a little rusty.

Right, right, jump, get-damaged, shoot, jump, right, jump, fall-down-pit-and-die.

Now I've played bullet-hell shooters, but this is something else.

Right, right, jump, get-damaged, shoot, jump, right, die, "Quit Mega Man 9?", yes.

Wow, that was painful and humbling. Glad I didn't drop the ten buck to buy the full game as I know it would just end up gathering virtual dust on my PS3's hard drive. Some flashes to the past are not worth the price of admission. Especially the cost in ego-damage alone.

So instead I put $20 up to download WipEout HD.

While the Wipeout series is newer than Mega Man, it still has a history. As one of the marquee titles on the orginal Playstation, the concept of futuristic racing sleds had major appeal to me. Released in 1995 for the Sony Playstation it had a techno sound track, weird in game ads (Red Bull billboards were present, although the product did not hit the US until 1997.) and speed, speed, speed. This was my kind of racing game.

Thirteen years later, I kicked off the install, cranked the volume and waited for what was rumored to be one of the most graphically intense Playstation 3 experiences yet.

First off, I had to accept the three page warning about the potential for siesures - which I had read was a reason for it's delay in release. Next I selected a vehicle. Finally, my retinas melted into a pile of fanboy goo as the race was about to begin.

My first race did not go well. Part of the time I was running into walls trying to remember how to play the game. The other portion of my brain was repeating, "My god it's full of stars." over and over again. The game played fast, looked amazing, and did not let up until I finished that third lap in 5th place.

I wiped the drool from chin and sat back amazed. This was quite possibly the game that all others had to go up against from here on out.

There may be a few later nights this weekend as my reflexes are put to the Wipeout HD test. Well worth the price of admission, even though I suspect there are a few blows to the ego ahead of me.

Be seeing you.

* Actually, as far as I'm aware there isn't a Yogurt Man in the Mega Man series. However, they do have Plug Man who is "A line inspection robot at a television set factory. He carries out the final check on the products with a sharp eye." Just as weird in my book.

Wipeout HD - www.wipeouthd.com
Mega Man - http://megaman.capcom.com/index.php

Critics and Genre Movies - Grrr

As many of you know, I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to games, movies, video games, books, tv shows... well a lot of things.

So I'm at home with my feverish son (new virus going around, very not kosher and much snuggling needed) and put on The Ultimate Trailer Show (found on HDNet). Once upon a time, I found that movie trailers were almost the best reason for going to the movies. They were action filled, intense, and got me excited for more movies beyond the one I was about to see. Like I said, I'm a geek.

Well, the show begins and I realized I recorded the wrong show. This one features movie critic Robert Wilonsky and he talks about the various trailers he's going to show, both new and old. He opens up with Max Payne starring Mark Wahlburg and before showing it proceeds to rip into all video game movies as pretty much not worth the effort or watching for that matter.

And while I think Wilonsky was a little too harsh, it's true that most video game movies are not good. One paticular german movie director seems to have made sure to drag every title he could through the mud. (If you see the name Uwe Boll on a piece of film, run as fast as you can.) However, if you leave the desire to see the next Schindler's List or Citizen Kane at the door, they can be a lot of fun.

So I cut Wilonsky some slack.

The next trailer shown is the new Harry Potter movie. And Wilonsky proceeds to rip away again, possibly believing he's playing the "mean is funny" card. It's not cool in my eyes, showing - to me - he's another genre hating film critic.

This is not an uncommon occurrence in the movie review business. If the movie has fantasy or sci-fi elements - making it a genre movie - it immediately loses a star/point/onion/etc. Oh, and no respect at all. (Sorry, Rodney.)

What is needed are genre critics. Those people who are either open-minded enough to accept that a sci-fi movie can be good, or at least provide criticism from the point of view of people who like those kind of movies. Spewing hate is annoying and does nothing for anyone's credibility except for staining it.

The worst part about Robert Wilonsky, he's ripping into movies that he has not seen yet. While I do not believe that Max Payne will be an excellent movie, it could end up being an intense, highly-stylized action movie. The next Harry Potter movie will be fun in the franchise. Great film? Probably not. But it should be some good stuff.

The moral of the story? Don't trust anyone who puts In Good Company on any top movie list.

Be seeing you

Max Payne trailer - http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/maxpayne/
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/harrypotterandthehalfbloodprince/
In Good Company - http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/in_good_company/

360? No thank you.

Why doesn't this BSer own a Xbox360?

Easy answer - I hate bullies. Especially rich bullies.

Let's start with the original Xbox. Microsoft came out of the gate with the Xbox, a huge system with a controller that doubles as a wheel block for Lockheed aircraft and a hard drive that failed often enough to be frustrating for some owners. The titles they had were of minimal appeal to me, but what got my goat was the manner Microsoft approached the market.

Win with money.

Lose money on every console sale - sure thing. Lock down titles to be Xbox exclusive - no problem. Live the shooter lifestyle - we've got your back.

Microsoft lost over a billion on the first Xbox, but that didn't stop them. When your company is being criticized by share holders for having excess cash, losing money is a good thing. It means the company is attempting to create growth opportunities.

Stupid shareholders.

So with all that going on and the fact I already owned the PS2 meant I kept away from the Xbox. Not even tempted.

When the Xbox 360 started coming around, it was still that fanboy within who said, "Don't even bother."

Then I started hearing about games like Geometry Wars - a freakin' cool shooter that was like Robotron on acid. Now they had my attention.

The PS3 was still a year away and was looking really expensive. Meanwhile, Microsoft was putting out a nice online service that was putting more small games out. Although it did have an annual fee. However, there was some temptation for the Sonylovin' dude.

Until the 360s started dying.

The Red Ring of Death (close friend of the Blue Screen of Death) started appearing in homes with Xbox 360s. One moment you're playing and the next a red led light is shining from your 360 telling you, "Game over." And it wasn't isolated, it was widespread.

[for a good and current detailed account, read: http://venturebeat.com/2008/09/05/xbox-360-defects-an-inside-history-of-microsofts-video-game-console-woes/ ]

My favorite accounting of the process was listening to the podcast Player One. The three members of the podcast all were bigger fans of the 360 than the PS3 because of the game selection. And that's a very good reason to have a preference. However, all three of them also had their 360 die. It was a bit of a joke to me. How can something be so good, yet have to be replaced? When I stopped tuning into Player One, one of the members was suspecting that his secondXbox 360 was going to give up the ghost. But it was still better than the PS3.

Yeah, sure it is.

Other techniques that Microsoft has used which have raised my ire include shelling out advertising money to make games either exclusive to the 360 or release early on the 360. Rock Band 2 came out for the 360 about three weeks ahead the PS3 andWii . Grand Theft Auto IV will have exclusive download content only on the 360. It's using money instead of quality to win, and that amounts to being a cash heavy bully in my eyes.

Eventually I bought my Playstation 3 post-Christmas 2007. I loved it. It was a way cool system. The familiar Sony style controller, sleek looks, a few free Blu-ray DVDs on the way, and backward compatibility to the PS2 games. (Which is no longer in the current PS3 models.) And eventually, Rock Band, which is another topic that carries a similar theme.

Oh yeah, and I had to return my PS3 to Best Buy within days due to a manufacturing defect on the plastic shell. Meanwhile, Xbox Live has seen the arrival of a fair number of cool board games to be played online.

Bugger.

Be seeing you.

Intro and Turning Two

So my little girl turned two this past weekend.

Her birthday proper was a busy day for us. Install of new phone and ISP from AT&T; lawn mowing; work annual event; block party to stop by; and get things ready for her party on Sunday. We managed to get all that done and get the kids proper naps, a bath and in bed on-time. Parenting is crazy, mad, busy stuff. And no, I won't trade it away.

But every now and then I plan on putting up a little of my life and time here on this blog. Sometimes it will be about the parenting life. Other times it will be about my geek life - games, movies, etc. Nothing about work life, though. Not much about politics either.

So who am I? A person who has had fortune smile much more often that frown. My wife Sasha is the organizational force of the family and yet also the party person, too. She kicks major keister and is a fantastic woman that I love very much.

The kids are Alya and Marcus. Alya just turned two and is an energetic little squirrel that enjoys puzzles and animals. I know I'll be the bad guy when she starts wanting more pets in the house. Although I suspect that she would take good care of them, since she is such a good help around the house already.

Marcus is ten and a half months old and will not be content in the shadow of his sister. He's getting ready to walk and already crawls around the house looking for where the action is happening. He doesn't have the patience for reading that Alya has, but we're working on that more and more.

Then we have the three cats BSersox, Bushido and Shinobi. All Burmese and each one different in attitude and personality. Unfortunately, they are not engaged with the kids as of yet. I don't think they've realized that the kids will be their best source of fun in the coming years. However, once the kids are in bed the cats are happy to snuggle up with us while we watch a little tv or play a game before going to sleep ourselves.

So Alya's two and she's just the joy. One of the best things about this girl is her ability to share. While opening her presents yesterday, she was happy to let little Adam J. help with the opening process. And when Kaede R. came to check out some of the books, Alya handed her one of the new ones for Kaede to look at and read while Alya continued opening. Such a good little one and I'm very proud of her.

Well that's it for now and I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes forward.

Be seeing you,

Jon