avablog

Leah is a nightlight freak.  I like it dark. I saw this product on Boing Boing this morning and thought it looked like a really cool way to enable Leah to stumble into Ava’s room in the night.  It uses LEDs, which is nice, and has a dimmer switch and a 6′ cord!  Pardon me, […]

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We got beat last night five games to none.  Sounds pretty bad, and it is as far as out team rank goes.  But I think we played better last night than we have so far this year.  We took the other team the full hour; they were all young college guys (no girls on their […]

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Huge, huge entertainment industry news.  Keep an eye on how this changes the face of Apple’s video content offerings at the iTunes music store.

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This blog has killed whatever small urge I ever had to learn how to crochet.

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I walked to work this morning, since Fridays are the days Leah stays home with Ava, and those two are usually still dressing and getting breakfast by the time I have to head out the door. For all its bluster and low, gray clouds, the morning was warmer than one might expect for the middle […]

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Kevin’s home sick with strep today, so I thought I’d give him something to read while he sips his Edel Pils and browses the ‘Net. Get well soon, dude! (And save me an Edel Pils!) A while back he asked me to take some pictures of this house that’s being renovated across the street from […]

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I really dislike shopping for cosmetics. When Leah adds an item of makeup to my shopping list, it’s pretty much assured that I’m going to screw it up somehow. When I go shopping, I’m used to buying items with simple, typically one- or two-word identifiers: “Soap;” “Bread;” “Extension Cord;” “Lightbulb.” So when I see a […]

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Last night we had our first dodgeball game. I play on a team with some people from work and some of their friends and spouses. It was fun to let loose some aggression in a controlled environment. We did OK. The play format is five games in an hour, though last night we ran long, […]

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There is absolutely no way in the world to ever get used to stories like this.  It was bad enough before I was a father, but now…the thought of something like this befalling my wife and daughter is bone chilling.  You hear about these homicide detectives with  30 years in who’re able to chomp on […]

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Via BoingBoing: A group of researchers have used a functional MRI to map out the parts of the brain that respond to brand identity, showing how Pavlovian conditioning generates response to a brand-mark. If you’re like me, you’ve spent at least a couple minutes considering why logos like the Nike Swoosh or the Coke can […]

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So all y’all recall the conversation I was having with my friend about Christmas letters, yes?  Well, I did receive hers in the mail right before the holidays hit.  As expected, it included a picture of her with her new husband.  Very cute.  The letter itself was a page and a half, single-spaced, pretty small […]

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There’s a woman in my office who’s having a birthday today. Her cube is right down the hall from mine, so I’ve been dealing with all sorts of noise and general raucous behavior this morning. When I strolled back in from lunch, I took a peek into her cube and noticed her desk was cluttered […]

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I got an e-mail from an old friend today asking for my snail mail address so she could include me in her Christmas card mailing (don’t let the irony hit you in the arse on the way out). I dutifully replied with the address and a request that she not send me a Christmas card; […]

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Here’s the portion of the show where I’m branded an ingrate. And / or a curmudgeon. But first, some background. I quit writing by hand — that is, with a writing implement held in my hand — when I left high school. I can state without exaggeration that I have not handwritten anything more than […]

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“Tannenbaum?” Whatever. We got our Christmas tree up and decorated last weekend. I have to admit, it turned out much nicer than I thought it would. We showed up to our usual tree lot a bit late this year, I guess, because pickings were pretty slim. Frankly, it took some real vision to select the […]

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I have very, very vague memories of going to see Santa when I was little. I don’t recall dreading the experience, but I know there are kids who do. The wailing child on St. Nick’s lap is as prevalent a Christmas meme as “It’s A Wonderful Life” reruns and mistletoe. I came across this image […]

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I was at Walgreens the other day and couldn’t resist their sales on extension cords and Christmas lights. You know how when you see one of those houses that’s been covered to the last square inch with Christmas lights and other holiday paraphernalia? Now I know how that happens. Walgreens was selling 80 ft. of […]

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My parents, and my mother, in particular, did a good job of instilling in my brother and me the importance of giving to those in need. The idea was never crammed down our throats, but it sunk in over the years as we watched them go about their various philanthropic pursuits. More than any time […]

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Halloween just ain’t what it used to be. It’d be great to have the kind of time I used to have to put together a nice elaborate costume, but that just isn’t going to happen these days. The good news is that we only live a couple blocks from one of the greatest stores ever: […]

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From today’s news: A woman who said she heard voices in her head tossed her three young children off a pier into the San Francisco Bay, authorities said. Rescuers had found one body, and the other two children were feared dead. The mother, Lashaun Harris, 23, of Oakland, was booked on three counts of murder, […]

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