http://www.notival.com/ en-US Copyright 2010 Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:00:28 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss The Squid came home the other night with something that she had only heard about in rumors and stories. To her, it was a myth of the mightiest proportions. She had, for the first time in her life, received a Certificate of Perfect Attendance at school. It was for not missing a day in the first six weeks of class. We were all very excited by it, and last night I took her for a celebratory dinner at her new favorite place to eat - Souper Salad. This was really a pretty big deal, since she normally misses 8-9 days per semester. Of course, the streak is now in jeopardy, since I received a text from her this morning and she thinks she is getting ill. Still, it's quite the accomplishment for her. I think I will frame the certificate. :) Halloween is this weekend. There's almost too much going on to know what to do. I'm sure we will manage to manage. After this weekend, we're done til Thanksgiving. And that signals the start of the end of year 'no time to do anything' season. http://www.notival.com/2009/10/perfection.html http://www.notival.com/2009/10/perfection.html Misc Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:00:28 -0600 Yesterday, the squid took the written test for her driving permit. 'Written' is perhaps not the right word. It was done on a computer with a touch screen. I had to take the test on a piece of paper, but I doubt that has been done much in the past two decades. She has been learning to drive at home, under my tutelage. So far, so good. She passed the written test, so now we can begin the actual driving portion of the learning. It's a regimented program that we are following, and I intend to follow the book pretty closely. I took the morning off to go to the doctor this morning for a check-up. Had not been in a couple of years, so figured it was about time. Pretty much a routine physical. Turn, cough. They took some blood. I don't know if it is my doctor, or Texas, or what, but the nurse and then my doc asked when my last tetanus shot had been. If it has been so long you don't remember, they will give you a booster. They are apparently trying to get all the adults immunized as they come in. So, I also got a shot in the arm this morning after they took the blood. They also took my picture as part of their new system. The whole thing is managed in a database now. It was all installed about two weeks ago, and they are still getting used to it. Which is probably why I was there for about two hours even though I was the second person in the door. I suppose the tetanus shot was a good idea, as I have a propensity to walk around barefoot a lot. http://www.notival.com/2009/10/milestones.html http://www.notival.com/2009/10/milestones.html Life Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:53:51 -0600 In theory, I am on a softball team. I have been on this increasingly mythical team for over a month now. In that time, however, we have played a total of one game. Ninsi is on two softball teams, and has managed to play a total of three games, I think. The requirements for a rain-out are to lax, in my opinion. It wasn't raining last night until late, and last week it did not rain after about noon. At the rate we are going, we will be playing into December. We already have games through the middle of November. We haven't even been able to have a practice because of the rain. Going to try again this Sunday though. Not a whole lot else going on. The college football season is shaping up quite poorly. I have a little more hope for the pro level. I don't think Washington is going to manage to do anything this year, but that isn't unusual. The Squid will be getting her driving permit as soon as she finishes reading the handbook. Probably one day next week. Then I'll start the real meat of her driving lessons. I'm not really looking forward to that. Sixteen is way to young for a person to start driving on their own. I have come to this conclusion slowly, over the last 15.5 years. NASA did slam a satellite into the moon last night. At least we have that going for us, because it is pretty freaking awesome. http://www.notival.com/2009/10/rain_out.html http://www.notival.com/2009/10/rain_out.html Misc Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:13:14 -0600 A week ago today was our first softball outing. We had a fantastic first inning. Then pretty much fell apart after that. We lost, 10-12, but that's okay. The team as a whole learned a lot. We learned so much that we have already secured our first victory! We are now 1-1. Granted, that victory comes from the team that pulled out of the league, so we won the forfeiture, but it still counts. Our next game is tonight at 6:30. Should be nice and muggy since the rain came through today. I learned at noon today that I will have to take the last two weeks of the year off work. They are furloughing all contractors for the final two weeks of the year to save money. I was planning to take the last week off as vacation anyway, so the furlough itself is not to big a deal. The bigger issue is how many more places are they going to try to cut? The Squid is running for student council President. I told her that maybe she was aiming a bit high since she's new to the school and would be running against Juniors. Maybe she should try for a different position. She said she didn't care about winning, just wanted to beat a specific other girl. Maybe not the best excuse, but whatever. http://www.notival.com/2009/10/baller.html http://www.notival.com/2009/10/baller.html Misc Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:47:32 -0600 Sat down with the Squid and started the driving class this week. We've only done one hour so far. Once we complete the next five hours, she will be eligible to get her permit and we can begin the in-car instruction. I hope that we can complete that by next weekend. It would be nice to get her permit by the time she is 15 1/2. We have had a ton of rain over the last week. It has rained every day for a week straight now. Overall, I am a fan of the rain. It makes the grass grow, and I don't have to worry so much about getting sunburned. On the other hand, I can not mow the yard while it is wet, and I can't really play golf when it is raining. So there are downsides to it as well. Most of our stuff is put away from DragonCon. Now we have the two month stretch to Halloween. I know the Squid is wanting to create a new costume for herself, I don't know about Ninsi. I'm content to go with something I already have, though if I could find the right pattern, I can think of a couple things I would like to try. Otherwise, we are settling down for a couple months. This is the easy time of the year with less going on before the major holidays. Except for the fact that Ninsi is back in school two nights a week, and she is playing on two softball teams. So she's not taking it easy. In need of a zoot suit. http://www.notival.com/2009/09/driven_2.html http://www.notival.com/2009/09/driven_2.html Misc Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:53:18 -0600 Back from DragonCon. We all flew back on Monday afternoon. Completely exhausted as is the norm. Had a great time just like we always do. I noticed this year though, that I took hardly any pictures at all of the random costumes. The first couple years there, I took hundreds of pictures of unknown people. This year, I took a couple hundred pics, but they were almost entirely of our group. I don't know if I've grown jaded, or what, but I am more interested in having a good time with my friends than trying to take a picture of the costumes. Now we're into the clean up. That will take a few days, and then it will be time for the Squid and Ninsi to begin working on their Halloween costumes. I don't know if I'll make a new one for Halloween or not. I like the Strobe outfit I made for the con, but it doesn't stand alone very well. Softball season is starting up, and we have a team together. With a sponsor! We have had to change leagues from Grand Prairie to Irving, so we wont actually start playing until the 24th. Grand Prairie just could not get their shit together and we wound up being the only team that was going to play on Thursday nights. We have managed two practices so far, and this is a special team that we have. I mean that in the best possible way... http://www.notival.com/2009/09/dcon_survived.html http://www.notival.com/2009/09/dcon_survived.html Misc Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:34:54 -0600 Tomorrow, we're off to the con for a weekend of fun and frivolity. And that's all I have to say til we get back. http://www.notival.com/2009/09/dcon_09.html http://www.notival.com/2009/09/dcon_09.html Recreation Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:09:33 -0600 The Squid started school yesterday as a sophomore. Most of her classes are AP. But she's in a regular English class and came home saying most of the other kids in there seemed dumb. Including the one person with whom she has more than one class. They call him 'Turtle' because he is slow. I told her to talk to someone today about trying to move into AP English, if it will work with her schedule. The only reason she isn't in that class is that she did not have the list of books to read over the Summer. There is a total of 10 kids in her Latin class. And that class is Latin I, II, and III. She may be the only one in the class at all by the time she's a Senior. Ninsi also started her new class yesterday. Which leaves me as the only one in the fam not currently in school. Maybe I should teach myself something new. Though, I am learning to build deck railing, so that should count for something. DCon = T minus 9 http://www.notival.com/2009/08/school_daze.html http://www.notival.com/2009/08/school_daze.html Life Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:02:35 -0600 I have a great disdain for Starbucks. I'm not sure exactly why. Normally, if Im driving, and someone is needing to turn across a lot of traffic that is backing up at a light, I will stop and leave plenty of room for them to cut through. But if they are trying to get into, or out of, a Starbucks, I will roll on up to the car in front of me. But not get too close, because I dont want to leave enough room for the other person to get in or out of the Starbucks. I think it started in FL with my old roommate. She was always drinking venti somethings. Annoyed the piss out of me. In other news, today the Squid is officially moving in to live with us. Like, permanently. It was her decision, and we support it completely. It will be a change for all of us. Mainly in suddenly having instant teenage girl living in the house. I'm taking off early today, and all day tomorrow in order to get everything taken care of for the start of school in just four days. She needs at least one immunization shot and we have to get her enrolled. She claims to need to go school shopping. Im telling her that since she is moving to a new school, in a new city, in a new freakin' state, that all her clothes will be new to all the kids at school. Shopping for new stuff is by no means a necessity at this point. Plus, it is tax-free weekend in Texas this weekend, and there is no way I will mess with those crowds. Id rather pay the tax that fight everyone else. That $10-15 savings is just not with the hassle. Dragcon - T minus 2 weeks http://www.notival.com/2009/08/bucked.html http://www.notival.com/2009/08/bucked.html wtf Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:55:42 -0600 I have an account on most of the major social networking sites out there. Facebook, MySpace, Hi5, etc. I dont spend a whole lot of time on them. Much less than I used to, but I do find myself refreshing it throughout the day. That being the case, I have decided to detach myself from the social networks for a while. Probably just for a couple weeks. I have a lot of things that have to get done at work, and dont need the distraction. The blog doesn't really count. It's media. But it's not a network. Not much of one, anyway. Little else going on these days. Slowly working on rebuilding the railing around the deck. Im going to take a few months to get that done because it's going to cost more than I had originally anticipated. It'll get done. Just slowly. A week from tomorrow, the Squid will be in town permanently to start school. She will be a sophomore and start school on the 24th. It will be a fairly significant change for everyone involved. Especially her; going from a small, rural town and less than 90 classmates, to a major metroplex. and a class numbering in the thousands. She'll be fine. I wont be, as she will be starting to drive in just another month or so. http://www.notival.com/2009/08/social.html http://www.notival.com/2009/08/social.html Misc Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:56:22 -0600 I mean to post more often than this. I just get distracted. Last weekend was our 5th annual Turkey in July party. We had a houseful of folk, and a metric ton of food. Everyone had a grand time, I think. Im amazed that we have managed to do it for five years running. I dont think anyone has actually made it to all five, excluding Ninsi and I. The only downside is the cleanup. And finding turkey carcass in the oven four days later. That was unpleasant. The day after the party, we went to see the latest Harry Potter movie. Then drove to OK. The Squid wishes to start school here for the Fall semester, so we ran her back up to her mom so they could spend the rest of the Summer together. School starts in Dewey a week from today. But not here for three more weeks. It isn't a done deal yet, and we are still trying to make it all happen. A few weeks ago, we had planned a family weekend to San Antonio. Neither the Squid nor myself had ever been there. We went on Priceline.com and found a hotel and had to go ahead and pay for it. We still had the hotel reserved even though the Squid was in OK, so Ninsi and I drove down to SAT ourselves on Friday and just made it a weekend getaway for ourselves. Did the Riverwalk thing and the Alamo thing, which was plenty for the two of us. Maybe someday we'll try again as a family thing and go to SeaWorld. Im not sure SAT has too much to offer outside of all that. Possible trip up to OK this weekend. I'm bout tired of all this driving. http://www.notival.com/2009/08/two_weekends.html http://www.notival.com/2009/08/two_weekends.html Misc Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:55:11 -0600 Ive been staring at code all day. It's really all Ive been doing for the past couple of weeks. Five or six hours a day staring at the same dozen files or so for a work project. I was hoping to get this project wrapped up by the end of July, but that's not going to happen. Cooking our annual Christmas in July dinner this weekend. We'll have quite a few more people this year than we have in years past. Too many to sit around the tables. So it will be buffet style. The turkey is already thawing in the fridge. Probably get a small ham to augment. I have no idea where everyone will sit, but Im not terribly worried about it. We're all friends, and I trust it will work itself out just fine. This will be the first year of attendance for the Squid. There will be a few other smaller kids as well this year. We'll probably rent a few movies and send the youngsters off to the Squid's room for the evening after we finish the dirty santa activities. The Summer is about half over, and it has been bloody hot. And probably hotter still to get. On the bright side, it looks like the kidling may be moving in and starting school here for the fall. There is still a whole lot to work out there, but it's a high probability at this point. I should know more on that this weekend, and will be sure to note any changes next time I blog. Probably sometime next week. gobble gobble http://www.notival.com/2009/07/baby_steps.html http://www.notival.com/2009/07/baby_steps.html Misc Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:12:02 -0600 The big dogs got into a bit of row the other night. Not sure exactly what set them off, but I pulled Barley off Luna and took him outside so they could calm down. Luna had some blood on her fur, but was not obviously injured anyway, so I went to check and see if somehow Barley was bleeding. I opened his mouth and he was bleeding from his gums right near the front. Something jagged was stuck there, but I couldn't tell if it was a large splinter from him chewing through the fence, or a broken, decayed tooth. Either way, we decided it had to come out. I put on a heavy shirt and some gloves so I could hold him down and Ninsi got the needle-nose pliers. Barley didnt even struggle while she made two attempts and then just pulled it out. As soon as it was out, he started running around the yard like a happy dog. Turns out it was a tooth. He had apparently managed to break it at some point and it was completely rotted. I suppose it was causing him a lot of pain in general, and suddenly having it out was a big relief. I imagine it has been bothering him for weeks. Stupid dog doesn't let us know when he's in pain. Im glad we didnt take him to the vet. It was too easy for whatever that bill would have cost, since Im sure they would have sedated him. Now, all we gotta do is keep an eye on it to make sure it doesnt get infected. Stupid dogs. http://www.notival.com/2009/07/toothy.html http://www.notival.com/2009/07/toothy.html wtf Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:25:06 -0600 Our Nation's birthday is again upon us. Fireworks, hamburgers, and horse racing. That's the plan for the weekend. In the meantime, I believe that we are daily losing more of our freedoms and independence. I try to remain non-political here, but I do believe that both of the major parties are slowly taking away our liberties. The Democrats are creating large government with too much oversight and the Republicans want everyone to fit into the same cookie cutter mold. After the Squid graduates from college, Ninsi and I may consider a move to overseas. Though, honestly, I dont believe anywhere is any better than here. It's just stupid all over. It's also incredibly freaking hot this Summer. We've already topped 105 and that was before July. Im not ready for that kind of heat for the next 2 months. I may have to take a 2nd job to just pay the electric bill for the Summer. Stupid heat. http://www.notival.com/2009/07/independence.html http://www.notival.com/2009/07/independence.html Misc Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:55:49 -0600 Tonight is Shakespeare in the Park night. An annual tradition for Ninsi and I. It is the unofficial anniversary of our first date, the second time around. Tonight we are seeing The Merry Wives of Windsor, one of the bard's 'weaker' plays. But, there's about a dozen of us all going together, so we'll enjoy it anyway. Since we have a large group, we were able to give them a group name. We are, apparently, the "Friends of Frogmore." I was an advocate of Special Patrol Group, myself, but I didnt make the reservations. The weather today was forecast to reach 107 degrees. There's no way that isn't hot. If this continues, August will be completely unbearable, and we're going to have electric bills that could bankrupt us. We could probably have some work done in the attic to make the system more efficient, but that would cost us more than the electric bill. But would pay for itself over time. So I'll have to look into that soon. Making a brief trip to OK this weekend to pick up the Squid's cousin. She'll be coming down for a couple weeks and they can keep each other company. Having two teenage girls in the house should be no end of fun. joy joy. http://www.notival.com/2009/06/frogmore.html http://www.notival.com/2009/06/frogmore.html wtf Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:26:28 -0600