Slithering Serpents

Charlotte has been begging for a dog for months now, but so far all she has gotten has been two catfish (the irony is not lost on us). Jake decides he wants a pet too. A cat perhaps? A bird? No, he has become obsessed over the idea of getting a reticulated python.

He is quick to point out all the advantages, the ease of looking after, the low dietary requirements ("just one baby pig a month Dad"), and the wonderful show-and-tell opportunities involving hysterical girls at school.

One wonders how discriminating the snake will be when it has to choose between a piglet and a dachshund.
Update: its been changed to a Boa Constrictor, since reticulated pythons can only be looked after if you are over 21.

UBS Christmas Party

Drinks: 3 stars
Food: 2 stars
Desert: 5 stars
Atmosphere: 2 stars
Company: it isn't so much the people that are there, it is the people that aren't - none of the contractors are allowed to come, which is most of our team :(

No live band doesn't help either.

At least those raspberries and cream and Tiramisu taste delicious :)

Colorful Cocks

In India they color baby chicks, by injecting the eggs with dye. It doesn't hurt the chicks, and the kids love it. It lasts for only a couple of weeks, until the new feathers grow out.

So instead of just little cute yellow ones, you have little cute yellow, pink, green, and purple ones. "Chicks?" asks Bright facetiously, "you mean, just the female ones?".

"No, no, not at all" replies Sruthi, 'they color the, what do you call them, um, the cocks as well."

Well, I don't know, but for some reason I just can't get the image of glow-in-the-dark green condoms out of my head. As the founder of that particular company said, "We would like to give the phrase 'rise and shine' a whole new meaning." :-)

The Mist

The Mist.

Scary. Great.

And yeah, I don't like spoiling movies by giving too much away. Go watch it.

Bloody flying lip leaves

Thanksgiving leaves flying through the air
Landing and sticking in Charlotte's hair
Stuffed with turkey stuffing, heading for my hip
Roughplay with Jake, oops, a bloody lip

High School Musical

Charlotte finishes the last of three performances of High School Musical, as part of the 2007 production by Wilton Children's Theater. She has been practicing hard for many weeks, and the last week has been busier than usual. She plays Rachel Ray, one of 5 cooks.

She really puts her heart and soul into this, and it shows in her exuberance and how well she performs. Even though she doesn't have a speaking part (mostly the 8th graders got those), she sings every word of every song with feeling, and dances her feet off. Couldn't be more proud :)

And just like Aladdin 2 years ago, the female lead has a voice like that of an angel, and the male lead can't sing to save his life :p

(click on the pic for a very large version - warning, takes a while to load)

Flying Feet

Sarah holds the pads, wrapped tightly around her hand like gloves, and positions them about chin height. I am at the gym, practicing some Tae-Kwon-Do kicks and punches. I had just met Sarah a few minutes ago, and she is being very helpful assisting me for a few minutes.

I do a few practice kicks, and then on my last one, Sarah's pad slips completely off and flies through the air! It lands way up high on the ledge near the lights, where it is stuck, until Brent gets the ladder and brings it down.

You should see the look of surprise on Sarah's face :-)

Norma

Not all moments can be highlights - today is one of the crappy ones.

3 of the people in our team are let go today, as part of across-the-board layoffs throughout the company. One especially makes us sad, as everyone got on so well with her. She is sorely missed :-(<

One moment she is there, the next, gone. Each of us wonders who will be next. Our desks become a little cleaner today as we scramble to box up what we need to take, and throw away the last few years of accumulated junk.

Rachel Nichols

P2.

Tense. Great.

You ktupid jackakk!

Warning: this makes no sense unless you were there.

Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood (from Whose Line Is It Anyway) leave us laughing our insides off at the Palace Theater tonight. From unicycle riding elephants juggling and writing poetry, to hippopotamuses getting strangled with spaghetti, from alligator wrestlers peeing their pants to double entendres, we are never left with a straight face for more than a few seconds.

The series of piano skits in styles from western (John Wayne) to roman (Clyamydia), and sci-fi (Yoda) to chick flick (chocolate), has something to tickle everyone's funny bone. Brad's sound effect of an elephant falling down the stairs covered in tambourines is outdone by the letter substitution snowboarding limousines, where every s had to be said as a k (and the image of socks hanging out of windows is forever impinged on our minds). And we will never forget how to pronounce Chickahominee.

And to finish off the night of improvisation, Brad and Colin sing a moped mechanic opera with sentences starting with letters ranging backward through the alphabet from X, and navigate across the floor shoe and sockless, and blindfolded, while 100, ok, 95 mousetraps viciously attack their toes and fingers. And other parts of their anatomy. Ouch. And double ouch.

Ooey Gooey

On our way to P F Changs for lunch (which is quite tasty, even though it arrives somewhat late, much to Leo's annoyance) one of our party steps in a huge blob of chewing gum. Guess who. Yep, Leo. He is having one of those days.

He then takes off his shoe and spends the next 5 minutes hopping around and trying to scrape it all off his heel, with Albert giving him advice, and everyone else having a good laugh. :)

The Great Wall of Chocolate makes us forget all about it of course. D-licious!

Oh, and my fortune cookie says "Be careful! Straight trees often have crooked roots." Have no idea what that means.

Novelty Factor

The exercise bike we ordered online arrives in a big box today, all 124 lbs of it. Struggle to get it downstairs, then spend the next 3 hours assembling it. Everyone has a ride on it the first day, and the kids are very enthusiastic (think "shiny new toy").

Will be interesting to see how much use it gets after a month or a year.



Update: the kids hardly ever use it now, six months later, but Sigrid is still going strong, more miles on it every month!

"Did I roll over Flat Ted?"

Looking through some drawers we hadn't checked out in ages, we find Flat Ted, a pure wool teddy bear, designed to be flat so babies could easily sleep with it. Very cuddly and warm. On Jake's zeroth birthday I had bought it for him from the hospital gift shop, to put in the crib. He's 13 now, and of course had grown out of it years ago.

Upon seeing it, he thinks for a moment, and has only one sincere question. "Dad, did Flat Ted come like this, or did I roll over and squash him one day?"

Bee Movie

Charlotte gets a phone call from a boy at school. "Would you like to go and see a movie?"
"Yes, I would love to."

She gets dressed up and is all excited. "Dad, I think this my first date!"

"Not really Charlotte. Just relax and have fun. You're only 11."