Limelicker parties with college-age girls........

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a 'date party' with Mrs. Lime. She's the alumni advisor in her sorority and she was supposed to go to the party to keep things in order. I tagged along to help out with checking the guys for any contraband (i.e alcohol).

We went over to the sorority house, where the kids would be boarding the bus to go to the party. Of course, most of the kids showed up relatively drunk. They had a pre-party at another location and drank alcohol over there before they even showed up. Also, some of them were drinking on the way over to the party, though I do think that they did a pretty good job of having sober drivers from what I saw.

When the kids got on the bus, Mrs. Lime was checking the purses for any alcohol while I was patting down the guys to make sure they didn't have anything they were sneaking in their pockets. Predictably, I didn't find much of anything and Mrs. Lime only found a couple of things. After everyone was loaded on the bus, we quickly realized why. There were half-empty beer cans and alcohol bottles scattered all over the yard where the line to get on the bus had been. Everyone saw the searches going on at the bus, so they drank what they could and tossed the alcohol aside before they got to the front of the line.

One note I did make as I was patting the guys down was that it seemed like every one of them had a monstrous phone/PDA in their pocket. I don't think there's a single college kid who doesn't text message on a regular basis. The cell phone companies must be making a killing on that stuff.

When we got to the bar, it looked like an old Elks' lodge bar. Run down décor from the 70s with a few tables. The DJ had set everything up and the parquet floor was ready to go. The already-drunk kids were ready to go. I saw things on that dance floor that would have made 95% of their parents blush. I honestly don't remember doing anything like that at a dance, but it should be noted that I only went to one dance before college, so I likely wasn't the party veteran that most of these kids are.

For most of the party, I stood back in the back of the room and just observed. There was one point where a couple had a blatent disregard for the fact that people were all around them when they were engaging in a moment of pretty passionate kissing/grabbing. I could see that there were a lot of wide eyes at the tables surrounding them, making for a pretty funny moment.

At another point, I noticed a girl that came back and grabbed her bag. She was smiling awfully big and gave a glance at another girl who was following her around. The second girl smiled back and followed her towards the bathrooms. My people-reading radar popped up right away. I went over to Mrs. Lime and told her that I thought she should keep an eye on those two and that they were up to something. Mrs. Lime watched them go outside initially and didn't think much of it. After they were outside for a minute or two, they went into the bathroom. Mrs. Lime followed them in just in time to see the girl with the bag handing out small bottles of booze to a couple of her underage sorority sisters. Mrs. Lime dumped out all of the booze, much to their disapproval, and sent them back to the party. Mrs. Lime came back to enquire about how I knew that they were up to something. Thank God for my poker people-reading skills. That poor girl likely thought she was unlucky to have an advisor walk in, not knowing that her hubby tipped her off on the scheme.

After three hours at the party, we herded the loud bunch back onto the buses and took them back to the sorority house. Mrs. Lime spent a bit of time checking on a couple of party casulties and then we headed back home, having stayed up WELL past our bedtime.

Self-indictment.........

Last night, Mrs. Lime and I headed out to eat with her dad and Kali 1.7. When we got to the restaurant, Mrs. Lime went to put Kali in the high chair. Kali balked and wanted Mrs. Lime to hold her. She sat down with Kali in her lap rather than putting her in the high chair.

Immediately after that, Mrs. Lime said, "I can't figure out why she wants to be close to me. All I did was cuddle with her all day."

A broad smile came over my face and Mrs. Lime began to smile a bit as well as though she knew that I was about to point out the obvious. It didn't take much mental match to do 1+1=2.

"Ever think that might be the reason?", I said.

Mrs. Lime dismissed my comment and we went on with the meal. Later on when the main course came out, Mrs. Lime again went to put Kali in the chair and Kali started to throw a fit. Mrs. Lime initially moved to pull her back, but I mentioned that she needed to be put in the chair. Kali threw a crying fit for a couple of minutes (though Mrs. Lime likely felt like it was for an hour) and then she stopped and began eating as though nothing adverse had taken place.

God bless moms. They always are concerned about the welfare of their child at each and every moment. But someone forgot to tell the 19 month old child that love shouldn't include taking advantage of the mom's emotions. Kali doesn't care that she's tugging on the emotions of Mrs. Lime when she throws a crying fit. She's got one thing in mind and that's getting what she wants. It's relatively innocent right now, but I'm sure the manipulation attempts will increase in quantity and quality in the years to come. I'm guessing that Mrs. Lime will become less and less concerned when the tactic starts being abused. It will soon become Kali crying 'Wolf!'.

"Shake, shake, shake......Senora! Shake your body right!"

"Work, work, work......Senora! Work it all the time. Jump in line, rock your body in time! OK, I believe you!!!!!!!!!!"

What happens when you mix one part Kali 1.7 and one part Dancing with the Stars? One minute of non-stop dancing!!!!!!!

(Apologies for the shaky video. Kali won't dance unless I dance with her. As a result, I filmed the video while dancing.)

Kali dances the night away!

Note that Kali even makes sure to applaud the dancers and orchestra when the dance is complete. Very well done.

Shoe Man.........

I bought some new shoes Sunday at Niketown in San Francisco. I like flashy shoes of all sizes and shapes and these were no different. They were white running shoes with a black Nike swoosh on the side. The entire bottom sole is neon yellow. The idea is that the shoe stands out when you're a runner and every time you lift your foot, a car can easily see the neon yellow and know you're on the road.

I told Mrs. Lime along with my sister and her husband that I was know as 'Shoe Man' at work because of all the different shoes I wear. I told them that my co-workers would notice the new shoes. I'm happy to report that no less than 9 of my co-workers have already commented about my shoes. The 'Shoe Man' retains his crown.

Wine me a river..........

Yes, I'm back and ready for a full week of work. It was difficult to go out to Sonoma County, CA for the weekend. All of that wining and dining was an arduous struggle. I've never had so much wine in a two day period as I did this weekend. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.

Now, I sit back in a 6'x8' cubicle working the daily grind of testing web applications. In my head, I hear fruity descriptions of every wine I tasted this weekend. I'm sure that will fade away as the week progresses.

**sigh**

Wanted to pass on thanks for the donations........

As I noted a couple of weeks ago, Mrs. Lime's mother passed away. Their family set up a scholarship fund for female physics students in her honor to try to encourage more women who are pursuing a physics degree.

I wanted to thank everyone who has donated thus far to the fund. As I write this blog entry, the scholarship fund total has reached the $10,000 mark in donations. We're overwhelmed by the response from friends and family and are excited about the possibility that we'll be able to make a great impact in the life of someone pursuing a physics degree. It's absolutely wonderful.

Yes! No! Yes! No!

My mom came into town last week to take care of Kali 1.7. Kali has a new favorite word......"No". Kali says the word in a calm manner, so it doesn't seem terribly negative. My moms said that Kali "says 'No' cutely". Spoken like a true grandparent.

With that said, in recent days, Kali isn't even using the word to actually say 'No'. For example, Kali loves to have a cup of pudding or some pretzels for an evening snack. Now I KNOW that she loves these two snacks. But of late, this is usually how the discussion goes when trying to figure out what she wants for a snack..........

Me: Kali, do you want a snack?

Kali: SNACK!!!!

Me: Do you want some juice?

Kali: Juice!!!! No.

Me: How about a fruit cup?

Kali: Fruit!!!! No.

Me: Would you like some pretzels?

Kali: Pet-sul!!!! No.

Me: How about some pudding?

Kali: Pudding!!!! No.

End result is that she expresses excitement for each option, followed by a 'No'. So I just end up selecting one and hoping she likes it. I usually can't go wrong with any of the above choices, but I can't wait until we get this little communication issue worked out.

Could you play that back again?

There are moments in life where you say things off the top of your head that you can easily replay and realize how silly you sounded. I have been lucky enough to have several of these moments in my own life. Today was my mom's turn. Her computer has gone AWOL on her and I need the system restore disc to fix it. She hasn't found it yet, so I suggested that she call Dell Support to get a new disc.........

Mom: "Well, I called the Dell support people and the guy said that they can't even sell me a replacement disc because it's out of warranty. He said I'll have to take it to Circuit City or something."

Me: "Well, you better start looking for that disc."

Mom: "Your dad said he'd look for it but hasn't found it yet. The Dell guy obviously wasn't any help either."

Me: "That disk is priceless. It's like a computer on a disc."

Mom: "NOW you tell me that."

Me: (laughing) "Oh, now it's my fault that you can't find the disc?"

Mom: "Well, I hate men because they give you the run-around and don't help at all........."

Me: (laughing even harder) "So now it's the men's fault?"

In summary, the line of logic was......

Dell guy can't help due to expired warranty + Dad can't find the disc + I didn't tell her to save disc = My mom hates men.

I wish I had this conversation on tape. It was comedy gold.

I'm obviously a heartless conservative......

I heard stories today in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike about a few thousand residents who remained in Galveston, TX during the storm. The prediction center and the federal government warned over 2 days before the storm that everyone should evacuate the town and anyone ignoring the order would be risking 'certain death'.

Now, there are several hundred residents who are battered, bleeding, and covered in mud trying to get off the island. And of course, they're complaining about the 'slow response time' of the federal government and the Texas National Guard. I'm obviously a heartless bastard, but when does responsibility shift to the individual over the federal government? Methinks these people made a horribly bad decision and have now decided to complain about their situation while the rest of the nation says, "Why in the hell did you stay there in the first place?"

Stupid people are a hinderance to our country.

My American Idol..............

Kali 1.7 has taken on a new career in recent weeks. She's pretty sure that she's a singer. However, she takes on that career in an interesting way.

First, she's quickly learning to sing like Mrs. Lime. What I mean is that she takes on the song by simply humming or babbling through the words that she doesn't know in the song and then every few phrases, you'll hear her actually sing a correct word or two.

Second, Kali has learned to associated volume with higher pitches. When the pitch of the song gets higher, most people adjust their pitch to match those higher notes. Kali doesn't change pitch. Instead, she continues to sing the same note, but she sings it much louder when the pitch of the song goes higher. The result is that Kali sings the same note or two the entire song, but the volume of her singing varies drastically depending on the pitch of the person singing the song.

In other words, she's grasping the concept of changes within the song, but the actual performance leaves a lot to be desired. But the raw talent is there and I have no doubt that she'll eventually be a pretty good singer, recreational or otherwise.

Obama/Biden are between a rock and a hard place......

With no nod to my preference in the upcoming presidential election, I don't envy the position of the Democratic ticket at this point. They have a tough road ahead of them. With the Republican ticket consisting of a war veteran and a self-proclaimed 'hockey mom' with a special-needs child, there's a lot of things that the Democrats could say that may not necessarily be offensive, but could easily be taken as being offensive.

Say something about the qualifications of Palin to be VP and you're likely to be accused of being sexist for attacking a woman.

Say something attacking the Republican ticket not being the best ticket for advancement of special-needs people and you're likely to be attacked for making this a personal situation and the implication could be made that you're not sensitive to the fact that Palin has a child with Downs' syndrome.

Say anything about patriotism and you're likely to get read the riot act about how much blood, sweat, and tears that McCain spilled for his country.

I wouldn't be shocked to see attacks from the Republican ticket each and every day detailing the latest way that the Democrats said something stupid. It may not be because they actually did say something stupid, but they have to have the dance skills of a professional dancer to avoid saying the wrong things in this election. There's just way too many traps to avoid.

Great minds think alike...........

My wife kept saying, "You go, girl!" during the Palin convention speech last week.

Funny thing just happened during the Palin/McCain appearance here in Kansas City. After some fiery rhetoric during Palin's speech, someone in the crowd screamed out, "You go, girl!!!" in the audience, much as my wife had last week.

I'm thinking "You go, Girl!!!" should be the new campaign slogan of the McCain/Palin ticket. Her presence seems to have that kind of effect on people.

Rough weekend............

Unfortunately, Mrs. Lime's mother passed away over the weekend. She had been sick off and on for 9 years. While it's a terrible situation, I prefer to think about the things that she was able to see and do over the past few years, given that she could have easily passed away nearly a decade ago.

1. She was able to come to our wedding. She was very excited about planning the whole event and was so excited when it finally came together. On our wedding video, the videographer went around to the various guests to let them give use well-wishes. When they got to Mrs. Lime's mother, she started crying tears of joy while saying, "I'm just so happy!". She summed it up very well.

2. She lived to spend 18 months with her granddaughter. Kali 1.6 received tons of love (and gifts) from her Grandma during their short time together. She was so happy to have a granddaughter to brag on. Mrs. Lime has a baby picture of her mom in our house that Kali regularly points to and says 'Be-be Ga-ma'. We have plenty of picture of Kali and Grandma together when she gets older. For now, Kali 1.6 loves to point to a picture of her Grandma as a baby and I'm sure that's just fine with Grandma.