My Vacation: The Sequel... Part III

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Originally uploaded by binkygtesby.

And, another pic from the beach. Sunday, August 28, 2006. Not our kite..

My Vaction: The Sequel... Part II

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Originally uploaded by binkygtesby.

Another pic from the beach. Sunday, August 28, 2006.

Vacation: The Sequel

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Yes! Another week off coming up for me, with some good and quiet "down time." Unfortunately, I'm beginning it off with a bad head cold, but that seems to be getting better. Its Monday at 3:28PM and I've only been to the office once...

Yesterday we went to the beach. It wasn't hot, but was quite pleasant. More playground time than time in the water. The girls seemed to have fun and Super Girl (age 2.5) ran right into the water, fully clothed. The toy of the day for her was the fuzzy fellow you can see above- "Wooly Lamb" or as she now calls him, "Bully Lamb." Yes- he is in fact a goat. Click on the above pic to read more.

Here are a couple more pics of him (wait, why am I assuming he's a he... No udder?).

B.

A Question of Screening?

Yesterday morning we were cat-less again. Here is the reason why- the feline-sized hole in the window screen in the girls' room. She went out the same hole for an hour or two this evening too.

Hmmm... Does anyone with more cat experience have a suggestion? This is the third window through which that Mitsu has exited and this will start to get kind of expensive. The weather will soon be cooler and we'll have the windows shut more often but we'd like to be able to open a window or two this fall.

B.

Great Escapes

(1) Last night, someone in our family decided that she would make a hole in the screen on the bathroom window (see above) and escape into the night. At about eight this morning she was meowing at the girls and me from the front lawn. So, at least she walked from the back yard to the front yard. In my mind she was on a far grander adventure…

Then again, she left right before the heavy rain and lightening started. If only she could pay for the ripped screen...

(2) A great escape for a rainy day like today- Lego!

Q: What can you make if you take every Lego piece, big and small, in the house and spend an hour building a castle that uses every piece (well, most of it)?

A: If you’re us- this!

Goin' Digital!

Err... "Sad" news- our 35 mm film camera didn't fare well on the trip to Alberta (even though we didn't use it). I took it to A-Girl's last soccer game and discovered that it had stopped working. With a new battery it won't turn on and there's a visible crack on the zoom switch. So, I'm happy to report that we got a digital camera. Nothing fancy, but its more than we need.

Our new little friend is a Sony DSC S600 and we took her home today. Should make it easier to post...

B.

PS- A big thanks to my mom and dad for lending us their digital camera for the Alberta trip!

PPS- ===> I've added a lotto the Alberta Trip pictures on my flickr page at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/binkygetsby/

Someone's Mind is Opening

Today our two and half year-old told me that we should “keep an open mind” on something we were trying to figure out. She then went on to say that the bears on TV had been told to do that when they wanted to go to a movie. I asked her if she mean the Bernstein bears and she said yes. Good advice…

Tonight involved a first of sorts: Super Girls and Action Girl agreed that neither wanted to have the first bath tonight- I suggested that we flip a coin… Blank stares… Oh… They don’t know!

I explained what we meant by this time-honoured method of settling questions large and small. It worked. The winner (who about 30 seconds sooner protesting that she should ever again have to have a bath) was happily going upstairs bath-bound and, “the winner.”

B.

Scorecard for August so far…

Number of times the cat has escaped since vacation: 1

Number of Soccer Nights Left: 0

Goals scored by Action Girl in the season’s last soccer game: 2

Goals scored by me in the season’s last soccer game: 0

(It was a parent-child game).

B.

Alberta Trip Pictures

We have some great pictures from our trip. I've created a "flickr" photo album with some of them.

You can find it at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/binkygetsby/

B.

Letting Go of my LEGO...

Exciting news: Super Girl (age 2) and Action Girl (5) have inherited the remains of MY Lego collection. Its not that I've REALLY been holding out and keeping to myself all this time, I just really wanted to make sure that S-G wasn't going to put it in her mouth... Yeah, I don't believe that one either...

Technically, we've agreed that its all OUR Lego. That seems to be easing my pain in giving it away, even to my own daughters. They love it! They have a big bucket of "Duplo" sized mega Blocks, but seem to see the "small" (regular) pieces as a quantum leap forward. I even added the two small Star Wars sets that I had acquired in my mid-twenties to the "general population" of blocks. (There goes the plan to keep them both and sell them on E-Bay when they were both worth enough to finance my retirement...).

BTW, playing with them is as fun as giving the set to them. :-)

B.

Dinosaurs, a City, and Mountains… Oh My!

Late Friday night (July 28^th) we returned from our week-long trip to Alberta. We visited Calgary, Drumheller and Banff. Things went very well with the kids and we all had an amazing time.

We spent the first few days seeing Calgary and visiting with good friends. Highlights included the Calgary Zoo, shopping, the farmers’ market, lots of pool time and a couple of great dinners with our Calgary friends.

Our visit to Drumheller (about 90 minutes from Calgaryslow down,

be patient, and

have fun where you expect to and especially where you don’t…

B.

Meow! Meet Mitsu!

Hi everyone!
Sorry its been so long! Thanks CCC and NofN for the reminders to post.

So, summer is here, soccer has started for action girl, and WE HAVE A CAT!

Mitsu is a three year tabby. We adopted her on June 14th and I'm happy to say haven't looked back since.

She is:

• very good natured
• gentle with the girls (she bit Super Girl a couple of time, but...)
• neat and tidy (only one accident and I think that was because we hadn't emptied the L-Box), and
• a real joy for all four of us to have in the house.

She has only managed two escapes, but spends a lot of time looking out the windows. She REALLY likes tuna as a treat (heck, don't we all?).

More Mitsu stories to come as she continues to train us...

B.

Parting Thoughts on Season Two

Yes- I'm still here. Things have been very busy. I'm still tryiong to sort out the seanson finale.

I haven’t mentioned this before but my favourite place on the Web for Lost information is Jay and Jack’s Lost Podcast. I’ve been listening to it quite a bit and would recommend it. Jay and Jack are from Raleigh North Carolina and have built up a world-wide following of “losties.” It’s pretty wacky, but very well done. If you’re new to Podcasting, let me know and I’ll help you out with what I’ve learned so far.

Here are a few things about Lost that I’ve gleaned from them:

1. The Guys at the end of the Season Finale were speaking Brazilian Portuguese. I think that means it was either an Antarctic station or in a mountain somewhere in South America.

2. The schedule is out for next season apparently. Jay and Jack cited andfound.com (and the Official Lost Podcast from ABC and explained:

Next Season will begin in late September.

> There will be 6 consecutive and “mini-cliff-hanger.” These episodes will be about why Jack, Sawyer, and Kate were taken by the others.

> There will then be a TWELVE WEEK BREAK!!!!!

> Lost will return in February for a twelve week run straight to the finale with NO RE-RUNS.

It’s going to be a long, long summer…

B.

Losses: The Lost Season Finale

Wow... so much to say, so little time. Last night's episode was really engrossing and advanced the storyline to an almost unrecognizable point.

I have to admit I wasn't riveted the way I was with Season One Finale, but I didn't walk away (or roll over and fall asleep) unsatisfied.

1) Desmond is back (or was back at least). Yay!
2) Zeke's name is Tom.....? He doesn't look like a Tom...
3) Michael and Walt will probably turn back to try to rescue Jack, Sawyer, and Kate.

Question: what language were the guys in the Antarctic research station speaking?

More later....

B.

Spring has Sprung!

As we’ve all noticed, Spring is with us! The girls are loving playing outside in the sunshine and seem better for it. Biking seems to be the big project this year. At two, Super Girl is starting to pedal on a tricycle. Action Girl is able to take off and zoom on her two-wheeler with training wheels. Five is fun.

My dad made a really great soccer net for them (under-six size) and we’ve been playing with it quite a bit. We’ve also had the (kiddie) pool out as well. The girls are absolutely in love with dandelions (again this year). I’m not sure what that says about our flower beds, but dandelions are certainly low-maintenance perennials.

Rodents- we’ve got ‘em. So far the squirrels whose territory surrounds us have been joined what looks to be a rather large mouse living in the flower bed on the west side of the house. So far, we haven’t had a situation like our neighbors (three home invasions by squirrels last summer) or our cousin in St. Louis with his ongoing Racoon insurgency.

B.

My Abandoned Projects

Here are some things I had hoped to do but never made time for, later thought better of, or just plain forgot:

(1) Writing a TV script for a drama about a small-town child protection (child welfare) office, its clients, and staff.

I’ve gone back and forth between making it a sitcom or a drama but it’s really better suited to a drama. Ideally, I’d like for it to follow a couple of social worker, a child who comes into foster care, and at least one family who’s just trying to raise their kids and escape their own stuff/issues/childhoods…

(2) Doing a coffee table picture book on the remaining one-room school houses throughout my province.

Actually, what I mean is the buildings. None are in use as public schools. The survivors are this amazing mix of derelict old buildings that won’t last much longer, private houses, and small community halls.

(3) Going back to school to do my Ph.D.

Not very bloody likely... Maybe if I could place our kids in suspended animation for 3-4 years. I don’t care what anyone says, cryogenic freezing for that long is bound to have side effects. Also, its hard. I'm not even sure where to put the periods- is it Ph.D. or PhD.?

(4) Changing my car’s oil and filter myself.

I actually can do it (I have done it with Dad), but:

A) The good folks at my local Toyota dealership do a better job,

B) They treat me well and overlook my lack of automotive knowledge, and

C) They have freebies like travel mugs and ice scrapers. Tomorrow, I may walk away with a "free" flashlight (after I pay for the oil change and whatever else needs to be done).

(5) Staying in touch with far flung friends and family.

Unfortunately for many people far away (and very near) I do not do a good job at staying touch. E-Mail has helped, but this is the only project I’m listing that I haven’t totally given up. Hey this is a start, right?

B.

Cat Question

As some of you may already know, we will soon be getting a cat, much to the delight of Action Girl and Super Girl (in fact here is Action Girl's drawing, offered as proof).

It’s been 18 years since my last cat er… passed on, so I am starting from square one. Given my allergies, I have to admit that I’m probably starting from further back than that… Our plan is to adopt a fully grown tabby.

So, here’s my question: what is the most important thing the four of us need to do to have a happy cat that we too are happy with?

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

B.

Lost: Why, Mikey, why?

I think I’m still in shock after this week’s episode of Lost- “Two For The Road.” If you haven’t seen it yet and have to catch up first, stop reading (this means you, North of Nain :-).

What the…? Michael shot Anna Lucia , Libby, and then himself? Man, I did not see that one coming at all. I guess the implication is that this is what he had to do in order to get Walt back from the others. Here’s what I think: For some reason “Zeke’s” band of others (the medical staff) want Anna Lucia dead because of her killing Goodwin. They also appear to want Michael to convince Jack that he can and should fight that group of others.

Also, I think as we start to try to understand the world’s most convoluted and exciting plot line its important to remember that THE OTHERS BROUGHT DOWN THE PLANE! There is no other possibility as both Ethan and Goodwin were “ready” for the main group of survivors and Anna Lucia’s “tailies.” You needn’t look any further than that for proof.

Needless to say, I can’t wait for next week. I’m a little frightened of what the next episode will reveal as:

1) Libby: Will she die? I liked her character and don’t want to see Hurley hurt. It’s nice to think that the guy that doesn’t look like the captain of the football team can end up with the really hot chick (kind of like my own life).

2) Mr. Ecko: It looks like he takes quite a fall. The kind of fall that can lead to an actor having to find another job (except for flash backs). Too bad, I like him. He still scares me, but I like him.

3) Anna Lucia: Crap… I don’t want to lose her either. Realistically, the writers have put so much time into her character development that I don’t see this being her death being all that likely.

B.

Lost flashbacks & back stories / "The Others"

Here are some Lost flashbacks/back stories that I'd really love to see:

- Henry Gale (not the real Henry)

- Henry Gale (the real Henry, rest his soul)

- Desmond (the Scottish hatch guy)

- Claire's baby (for the life of me I can't think of his name)—okay maybe this one is a stretch, but what is a day in his life really like?

- Libby (sooo many questions)

- Danielle Rousseau (might reveal just too much, though)

"The Others:"

I have to admit that I'm really stumped about the others. I accept that the people in the medical hatch (where Claire was taken by Ethan) are basically involved in running the experiment on the survivors. They are the same people that intercepted the raft and confronted Jack with the torches...

But, who are the people that had been opposing the survivors from the tail section? What's with their burlap/sack cloth clothing and bare feet? Why did they steal the children?

I'd suggest that there are two possibilities:

1) They are the same others from the medical hatch who are dressing up/down when they go to steal "tailies"?

2) Or, are they an earlier group of survivors? By this, I’d suggest another set of experiment subjects…

There seems to be a lot of speculation on the web about there being two groups of others. Makes sense, I guess, as much as anything does on that show.

B.

Lost: the Maps!

With a new episode on this week (yay!) I wanted to keep my promise to post the two version of the map that Locke saw in black light on the blast door. (Click to link to full-size versions.)

Here is the screen capture from the actual episode:

Source:
http://www.lost-media.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&album=1024&pos=529

Here is the now-standard transcription of the text (including the Latin) done by people with far more free time than I'll ever, ever have (but I'm okay with that):


Source:
http://www.thetailsection.com/gallery/thumbnails-23.html

At first, I wasn't sure I wanted to read these but I'm glad I did. They pose many more quetions than they'll ever answer. Question: do you think they reveal too much about the island?
B.