my journey, destination unknown
A few months ago, Uncle Jeff posted a bunch of photos from a flamingo parade. People took the iconic pink plastic creatures and decorated them. I thought this sounded like a great fundraiser for our eclectic little city. I search for a place to buy these guys in bulk, but apparently the original company had…
On our car trip to Washington, DC, Chloe called into talk to Robbie Schaefer at XMKids. She chatted and chatted and told him that she was heading to DC to go see her dad and to see Ralph at the XM rumpus Room. Chloe then said that Ralph is our “favorite artist.” Robbie was not…
As I’ve written before, one of my favorite places to visit is XM Radio in Washington DC. The building is a very cool brick building, giving off the feel of old factory space (I haven’t found a history of the building, but one page suggested that it had been a printing company. Along with that,…
Wow! We got back from Texas on Wednesday night. We didn’t even unpack the car. Thursday, after classes, we headed right up towards DC. (Thankfully gas was to be found along the way.) Why such a turnaround? A couple of months bag, I noticed that Ralph’s World would be playing in MD/VA this weekend and…
I took this photo less than two months ago. Tomorrow that dial will read 106,000. That’s 6K miles in a month and half! Yikes! I should have been a long haul truck driver. I can drive and drive. It runs in the family. The only problem is that I can’t even parallel park my Subaru….
The weekend of Austin City Limits is over, and I am starting to catch back up. The girls enjoyed being back at the festival this year and loved the free ice cream from HEB! We saw some great kids’ bands and some cool “grown-up” ones too. One thing we noted is that since the kids’…
First obstacle. Even at 9:30 on a Friday morning, I-35 was stopped. My kids were very impressed with the Texas Exit and had no clue people even drove like that — we didn’t. We did cut through the Denny’s parking lot and onto a road that my iPhone said would get us (and everyone else…
Yesterday evening, Chloe started banging on the piano, so Phil showed her a few basics. Chloe spent much of the evening trying out different key combinations and starting making some nice music. She came to me and said that she had the strategy and would like to take piano classes! Barbara told her that sometimes…
Rollercoaster, going to ride you to the sky! That’s been our week. Thursday: Back to routine – Latin, swimming, gymnastics, normal. Friday: Revolving door of kids in the house. Fun, but not relaxing. Saturday: Mad dash to make something for the neighborhood International Dinner. You know, me the chef. Cough, cough. At least the kids…
Camille participated in Radio 8 Ball: a musical divination format where questions are answered by picking songs at random and interpreting the randomly chosen song as the answer to the question, like picking musical tarot cards. The show will air in Seattle on Camille’s tenth birthday, but will also be available by podcast. Camille’s question…
Yesterday morning, I worked for a while, looked at the photos from Tuesday that I had been too sick and tired to deal with, then packed. I got the girls up and we went to pay the car’s hotel bill. By the time the car was all loaded and we hit the road, it was…
For our final full day in DC on this trip, Camille really wanted to go to the National Postal Museum. Located off The Mall across the street from Union Station, this a museum we have been to a number of times when in DC for an XMKids Rumpus room show. I could tell there was…
We had a slow start to the day — I spent the morning working and the girls did a little bit of homeschooling (once they woke up). Then we headed out to the “suburbs” to go to the National Zoo. Note that this is tongue-in-cheek, even more ridiculous than someone in midtown Atlanta saying that…
Living in the city is NOISY! Firetrucks, helicopters, beeping horns, and even a marching band in the alley between our apartment and the Ritz next door (we went out to see and it looked like an Indian wedding or some celebration that involved lots of drums…). Last night I chose to sleep with the windows…
We arrived in DC on Friday morning. Thankfully, there is a driveway at the apartment building, since there is no parking on the street during the week. We unloaded the car from there, then moved it. To the Ritz next door. Yes, the car has five star accommodations while we live in grad student quality….
The day started out well enough. Camille went to Latin with books and pencils; Chloe got to swimming with goggles, swimsuit (top AND bottom) and a towel. I sat down to work with iPhone and computer and review documentation. Good enough. After classes were done, we headed home, packed the car, picked up Moe’s, went…
(Forgive me for being so quiet here. It is my deadline week for work, we’re getting ready to go to DC for a while, and I’m just starting to see the light….anyone care to cook us a healthy meal? We are sick of frozen pizza.) Camille is doing some amazing stuff with logic and math…
Google welcomed the latest addition to its family yesterday, Google Chrome. It is purported to be: a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier. . Generally, my working habits are slow to evolve when faced with a new technology. I fight against the new features…
I came across this article E-book ‘will not threaten paperback’ today. But Stephen Bury, head of European and American collections at the British Library, said the book lover and pleasure reader would not give up the traditional paper book for an electronic gadget. I paused to consider. Are there other electronic devices that have mostly…
On Saturday morning, Chloe and I went to the book festival. Tonight, we walk down to the Labor Day Concert down at the lake. In between, I have stayed home. Not cleaning, not working, not doing (much) busy-work. Instead, I took the time to dream. To reflect. To consider the future. To read. And I…