Kali 1.9 gets a new play friend..........

Tonight we'll be headed out to pick up Tinkerbell 0.1. Kali 1.9 and Tinkerbell will likely spend most of Kali's formative years together. I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty of pictures with both of them in the coming years.

Mrs. Lime once again gets to take on the role of potty training the latest addition. She potty trained Nova 8.8 over the course of a month or so. Should be interested to see how Tinkerbell takes to the training.

Hell hath no fury.........

Kali 1.9 is generally an extremely well-behaved kid. She rarely causes many problems outside of being a bit demanding at times, but how many 21 month old kids aren't demanding and self-centered to some degree? However, there are rare times when Kali just doesn't wake up well from a nap and that can cause some big issues.

Yesterday, Kali had a big day. One of my friend's daughters was over at our house for the day to play with Kali. They had a great time playing together. Mrs. Lime set up a big tea party and they basically were stuck together at the hip for most of the day, with Kali wanting to do everything that her friend did.

Around 4:00 PM, Kali laid down for a nap. At 5:30, I woke Kali up because I didn't want her to sleep too late as her bedtime is 8:00 PM. She was NOT happy about it. Some heavy duty screaming and crying ensued, with every other word out of her mouth being 'NO!' for the rest of the evening. I did manage to get her in to put some ornaments on the Christmas tree, but even then, she was very much on edge. Hopefully she got a good night's sleep and is much more happy this morning.

Fool's gold at a poker table..........

I held my monthly poker game this past Saturday. No real excitement for our family, as Mrs. Lime, her dad, and I managed to be the first three players out of the tournament. I was actually the first one out. I happened to lose in a situation where I was an 80% favorite when I put my chips in the middle. That was unfortunate. Only thing that was more unfortunate was that I often put my chips at risk with the worst hand that evening.

I honestly made a fundamental play mistake. I had three players at my table that I had never played against before. Not only that, but one was in high school and the other two were in college. Early on, it was relatively apparent that all three of them were aggressive and relatively inexperienced. They knew how to play the game, but were very beatable.

When you see players like this at your table, you want to get their chips before someone else does. At the same time, there's a cardinal rule that must be acknowledged. You cannot and should not bluff a player who doesn't know when it's a good time to fold. It's much more likely that you can bluff a player who respects your play than a player who doesn't know when to consider the possibility that the other player has a better hand. I made several very good bluff moves on the new players that would have worked against more experienced players. The problem is that the newer players didn't have enough experience to know that I might be representing a good hand. My hand and my chips went down hand after hand. Nothing seemed to work.

So, let this be a lesson to anyone else bothering to listen. If you are playing against an aggressive, inexperienced player, you're better off waiting for a good hand to take their chips than thinking you can bluff them out of a pot. They'll likely call and you'll be the one looking like an inexperienced player.

More puppy pictures........

Snowflake 0.1 (her kennel name) is back with more fluffy cuteness. She's 5 weeks old in these pictures. She's ridiculously adorable (with inherent personal bias noted).......

I'm healthy!!!!!!!

Just got a letter from my life insurance company over the weekend. On the initial health check 2 years ago, for some reason a slight borderline blood pressure reading caused me to get the second best level of premium rather than the best. Mrs. Lime was there when the nurse read it off and was shocked when the nurse said it was borderline and didn't qualify it as normal

A month or two ago, Mrs. Lime and I took the retest. I evidently passed with flying colors, as they gave me the lowest premium level available! Woo-hoo! If the life insurance group says you're healthy, you're doing pretty well. Even better is that they can't test me again as long as I pay on this policy! So I'm going to head out tonight and eat a bucket of fried chicken to celebrate! Yea!!!!!!

Testosterone gone wild...........

Mrs. Lime had 'volunteered' me to be an official at a charity flag football tournament that was held by her sorority. Who knew how seriously some people take this kind of thing?

In the second game of the tournament, I actually physically restrained a guy and tossed him from the game. I got the feeling early on that the two fraternities playing in the game didn't like each other. My suspicions were confirmed when a player ran up to a player on the other team and chest bumped him while yelling in his face. I actually had overheard previous to the game that this aggressive guy was a Marine. Against my better judgement, I stepped in and wrapped the guy in a bear hug and guided him to the sidelines and told him to 'stay there'.

On the other sideline, there were a couple of guys still mouthing off when I returned to the field. So I then had to warn them to knock it off. Even better, that team had a guy in a tie and sweater vest who was actually their coach and was barking plays from the sidelines. It was totally laughable, though I obviously couldn't laugh since I was the official.

My 9 years of softball officiating experience came in awfully handy. Thank God for the ability to deal with those situations in a calm manner.

I'm so dizzy, my head is spinnin'.................

As regular readers have noticed, Kali 1.9 is a big fan of 'Dancing with the Stars'. As soon as that theme music starts, Kali is focused on only one thing.......dancing! As soon as the music starts for a dance, she'll head over to the nearest person looking for a dance partner.

When Kali first started dancing, she was mostly just running around aimlessly. After awhile, she moved to spinning in circles to the point where she now knows what 'dizzy' means. Of late, she's added in some hip action to spice up her dance routine.

Last night, I noticed that the results show was going to be on at 7:00 PM, so I turned it to the proper channel. Little did I know that there was a recap show preceeding the results show. The recap show had nothing but dances for an hour. Kali didn't know it was the same dances she watched the night before, so all was good.

I was dragged to my feet almost immediately as the first dance began. We did the whole dance and applauded the dancers when finished. Since this was a recap show, I only had a moment of rest before I was being dragged back to my feet for a second dance. Once we finished the second dance, we clapped again and then I sat down. The show went to a commercial. That creates a problem.

We're a DVR family who ususally doesn't watch shows live. That includes Kali, who normally watches 'Dancing with the Stars' without commercials. So when the commercials hit, Kali ran over and vented on me. She yelled 'Dancing! Dancing!' and pointed to the TV. She assumed that since 'Dancing' wasn't on, that I must have changed the channel. I needed to save the situation quickly. So I did what any father in that situation would do. I hit the rewind button and played the first set of dances again. This achieved two things.......

1. Dancing was back on and Kali was happy.
2. By rewinding the show back a bit, I would be able to fast forward through all future commercial breaks.

We did 'Dancing' for the next hour non-stop. I have no idea how that girl remained standing through all that spinning. She's obviously going to be the one to ride the Tilt-A-Whirl (or any other spinning ride) with Mrs. Lime when we go to amusement parks. Regardless, the night was saved and there was much rejoicing. I'm already saving up for the dance class bills when she gets a bit older.

Five kinds of stupid in there........

My task was simple. Take an envelope into the local supermarket. Purchase postage for the envelope and then pick up milk. The postage situation was done in less than a minute. I found the milk and headed up to the cash register.

I went into the express line. The sign said '12 items or less'. In front of me in line stood a slob of a man with at LEAST 50 items in his cart. I could tell right off the bat that the cashier was pretty peeved that this guy was in his express aisle. Worse yet, after a few minutes of checking out, the guy decided to tell the cashier that he wanted a carton of cigarettes AFTER the rest of the items were scanned. I guess telling that to the cashier in advance never occurred to him.

The cashier was obviously irritated and told the guy that the cigarettes were at another counter. The guy responded that they told him to ask for them at checkout. So the cashier called a sack boy over to retrieve the cigarettes. Sackboy came back a minute later with a PACK of cigarettes. The cashier sent Sackboy back to get a carton instead.

A eco-friendly lady behind me (she had soy milk) leaned in front of me and loudly said, 'Do you know what we're waiting on?'. She obviously said it loudly to make sure she thoroughly irritated whoever was causing the delay. I just shrugged my shoulders, trying to avoid saying 'Yes, it's the MORON in front of me!'. The slob obviously heard her comment and looked down the line and said he 'was sorry for the confusion'. I continued to stare at a spot far away from the cashier, hoping to avoid saying 'You should apologize for the fact that you can't count to ten!'.

Meanwhile, for some unknown reason, the slob in front of me wrote out a check for the amount currently listed on the display, which did not include the carton of cigarettes yet. Sackboy arrived with the carton of cigarettes just as the slob was handing the cashier the check for the wrong amount. So the cigarettes were scanned in and we had to wait while the slob wrote a new check and voided out the old check.

I was thrilled when it was finally done and I could buy my $4 worth of milk and leave the joint. It was an exercise in self-control, but I thankfully came out of the supermarket without offending anyone.

Veterans' Day........

Honestly, now that I'm working for the federal government, I notice Veterans' Day far more than I otherwise would. I get the day off of work, so it's easy to recognize. I watched 'Saving Private Ryan' the other night for some reason. That movie provides the perfect example why we should take a day out of the year to honor military veterans. War is a necessary, but brutal endeavor. I'm thankful that we have so many people in the United States who are willing to serve their country and make the ultimate sacrifice if needed.

Political positives.........

I thought I'd get this post out of the way. I actually saw a couple of things that I saw that Obama was doing that I actually was happy to see, so I thought I'd go ahead and voice my approval fully knowing that I'll likely hate some of the economic blunders that he's expected to make in the coming months.

1. Full stem-cell research. The religious right has gone extremist-nutty in trying to defend their opposition to this kind of research. I really see no downside. Many people will benefit from the expansion of stem-cell research.

2. Close up Guantanamo Bay prison. Yes, there are a lot of nasty people there, but they deserve to be put on trial rather than being held just for the sake of holding them. Sure, some may go free, but that's the way things work. It should also put the U.S. in a positive light internationally.

3. Get rid of old Democrats who are committee chairmen. When you've got 3 guys over 80 years of age as chairmen of a committee, something is amiss. Robert Byrd is 90 years old and doesn't even chair all of the meetings in his committee. It's fine to have an 80+ year old legislator, but keep them out of the leadership roles. They don't have the stamina to do that kind of a job effectively.

Oh, and a note to the Republicans as they prepare for the upcoming elections in 2010 and 2012. My main affiliation is to the Republicans. The reason is that, last I checked, we were 'conservative'. There should be one plank in your platform: Cut costs and balance the federal budget. You'd be shocked how many people would actually support a candidate that would make that his top priority.

Movies gone wild....

The red carpet was rolled out on Friday night. Kali 1.8 went to her first movie in the movie theater. We got there nice and early and picked out a good seat where she had several feet of open space in front of her to roam around during the movie. Kali was a big fan of the seats in the theater. She'd say 'up' and 'down' as she flipped the seat up and down. Who knew that the simple action of sitting down in a movie theater would be so educational?

Before the movie, Kali played peek-a-boo and said 'Hi' to a nearby girl that was her age. They kept each other entertained for the 15 minutes that we had to wait. They smiled and waved at each other, both acting somewhat shy while still interested in each other. Once the previews started, Kali wanted to keep playing with her friend, but we let her know that the movie was starting and she had to sit down. After a 30 second protest, she settled down.

While Mrs. Lime and I aren't even sure how it happened, somewhere in the early moments of the previews, Kali starting raising her finger to her mouth and was telling us 'Shhhhhhhh!'. Mrs. Lime and I were obviously interrupting her movie experience and she was having none of it. We acquiesced to her wishes and stopped chatting.

We went to see Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa. It was actually a pretty good show. There were several animals that were in performing acts in New York City and they decided to escape and go back to Africa, where they were originally born. The movie was about them acclimating back into the old environment. Toss in a few butt and fart jokes for the kids along with some jokes for the adults that the kids didn't get and you've got a good family movie. Kali watched the movie very closely, though she did move from seat to seat during the movie. I think she was pretty impressed with the size of the screen.

At the end of the movie, the credits had dance mix music along with the characters dancing on the screen. Pandemonium ensued. The kids in the theater all jumped up and started dancing in the aisles. Kali was running around in circles, smiling the whole time. She was tossing in a spin here and there. She started to get a bit dizzy from all the dancing. She looked less like a dancing queen and more like a drunken sailor, but it didn't faze her a bit. She had a blast.

Last night, Kali and I sat down to watch her favorite movie (The Little Mermaid). Kali pointed to the couch and told me to 'sit' and then she climbed up on the couch next to me. As the movie started, I had something wet hit my hand. I turned over and saw Kali saying, or should I say spraying, 'Shhhhhhh!'. I'm guessing we won't ever have to teach her the value of silence during a movie. She's already telling me to be quiet before the movie has even started.

Vacation on the DMZ........

I'm normally not a huge fan of passing on a multitude of links, but I saw an article that was so different that I just had to share. An American took a trip over to South Korea and visited the DMZ between North and South Korea. There's some extremely surreal pictures in this article...........

Trip to the DMZ

I found this interesting election day tidbit.........

First off, great to see a big turnout of the electorate in the election yesterday. While the candidate that I supported didn't win the presidency, I think it's wonderful to see increased participation in any form. People need to be involved in politics because it does affect them.

I found this information out of yesterday's election to be extremely interesting. For those that are unaware, there were gay marriage bans on the ballot in California and Florida.

In California, white voters were 51% opposed to the gay marriage ban. Black voters were 70% in favor of the gay marriage ban.

In Florida, white voters were 60% against the gay marriage ban. Black voters voted 3:1 in favor of a gay marriage ban.

In summary, while the massive African-American turnout of yesterday's election helped push one discrimination barrier aside, it appears that same influx of African-American voters rolled back a discrimination breakthrough on the gay rights front. The same-sex community may rue the day that they supported Barack Obama. They got a liberal candidate into the Oval Office, but they lost their right to get married due to the influx of supporters for that candidate. That's a bitter pill to swallow.

Election Day musings..........

Saw this conversation over at a message board...........

Poster #1: I'm not worried about Obama winning the election. I'm worried about the giant meteor heading towards Earth.

Poster #2: No worries. Obama has promised to evenly distribute pieces of the meteor to all U.S. citizens and illegal aliens.

Election Day!!!!

GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!!

The big one only comes once every 4 years. It's always an exciting day, though recently it has turned into Super Bowl-like proportions with the closer races in 2000 and 2004. I do think that the polling data put out in recent weeks has had some issues in regards to polling weights and that some of these states will be much more competitive than most believe. Either way, Election Day is always a lot of fun and I'm guessing today will be no different.

Kali 1.8 practices for Halloween.......

Kali 1.8 is all ready to go for Halloween. She's been practicing with Mrs. Lime. Last night at dinner, she demonstrated her ability to say "Trick or Treat!" multiple times. I'm sure she'll come home with a huge stash of candy and then we'll have to find other people willing to eat most of it. She'll get to enjoy a couple of pieces of candy, but any more candy than that would likely send her bouncing off the walls.

Halloween also means another birthday for Mrs. Lime 29.0 (Yes, she's 29 again so don't bother asking). Between her mommy time with Kali and the upcoming puppy arrival, I'm not sure she could be having more fun than she is right now. Of course, she has to deal with me, but she seems to manage well enough. She's by far the best wife I've ever had and I don't see anyone knocking her off that pedestal in the next 40-50 years. I'm sure we'll raise a glass of eyeball punch in a toast tonight for her birthday. It only seems appropriate.

Where'd the glow go?

Last night, Kali 1.8 learned a new word thanks to her daddy's misfortune. That word is 'broken'. I turned on my laptop computer last night to find that the backlight on the monitor had gone out. So while the monitor is displaying properly, there's no 'glow' behind the screen to allow you to see what you're doing. In addition, the cost to replace the monitor is roughly as much as a new computer.

(insert visual of Kali raising hands to her sides with palms up while saying 'Broken!')

Thankfully, I could use a flashlight to light up the screen enough to where I could save off all the pictures, videos, documents, etc. that I had not already backed up. After I did that, Kali and I were off to drop our hard-earned cash on a computer I'd rather not buy right now.

Kali, per the usual, enjoyed her trip to the electronics retail store. They always have big, colorful pictures and lots of fun noises that peak the interest of a 20 month old child. She went from shelf to shelf, looking at stuff. She knows she'll be in trouble if stuff gets taken off the shelf, so instead of pulling things off the shelf, she just tries to touch every single item she can.

Meanwhile, I tried to find the best bargain priced laptop that would suit my needs. After 10-15 minutes of looking and a $600 price tag, I was headed home with a replacement. I'll likely spend a couple of days just configuring the PC and getting rid of a lot of the pre-installed junk that I don't need. Hopefully, I'll be able to get my PC experience back to normal once that's complete. Hopefully this one doesn't doesn't break down anytime soon.

More pictures of the new arrival..........

Here are some updated pictures of our new horse we just purchased. Right now, she's only a 3 1/2 week old horse, so she's got some growing to do. Here's a good look at her white coat with a few brown spots.........



She's checking you out............

Another one is added to the fold...........

We traveled about 60 miles south of Kansas City yesterday. We visited a farm in that area. As a result, we've added the following to our family.........



She's only 3 weeks old, but she'll grow to be roughly 150 pounds. The owner informed us that her grandfather was 220 pounds, while her dad is around 160 pounds. The breeder gave them names to keep track of all 10 puppies in the litter. We haven't decided yet if we'll keep the name 'Snowflake' or not. We can pick her up as early as November 23rd, so we've got a month to prepare ourselves for the new arrival.

Kali 1.8 loved seeing all the puppies, but she was even more excited to play with the mommy of the babies. The mom came right up to Kali and let Kali pet her. She also gave her a couple of licks, which Kali thought was awfully funny. I'm sure that Kali and the new puppy will have a lot of fun playing together.

Training session bullet points........

Some random thoughts from a training meeting that I attended last week at work.....

-Note to those that fall asleep in the darkness of a meeting using a projector: Don't fall asleep if you're apt to snore while sleeping. I don't think I need to tell you why.

-There was a strange guttural sound that kept happening every 5 seconds or so. It was bugging me to the point of distraction. I finally figured out that one of my co-workers has some sort of involuntary reflex which causes him to make a small sound with his throat every 5 seconds. Learn something new every day.

-If you're the trainer, never start the class by saying 'This material can get pretty boring to read out loud, so I'd appreciate questions during the class to initiate discussion and keep things interesting'. Any trainer who thinks that the lack of questions is the reason his class gets boring likely should be told to look in a mirror. It's not the students that are the problem.

-I went through at least 5 cans of pop during that meeting. It was the only way I could stay awake through that hill of information being read to me.

-My first verbal response to a question posed by the instructor was 'Ford Mustang'. Note that the question was not 'What car do you drive?'.

-When an off-site training class adjourns early, that evidently means to most people that their work day is complete, even if they haven't worked nearly enough hours. I didn't get the memo. I got back to the office to do a couple of things and found that no one else in the class came back to work. I've got to pay more attention.

-Fact: Failure to properly control air-flow and room temperature in a meeting can result in increased rates of sleeping amongst meeting participants. Know how to use the thermostat.

-When you adjourn a class after 6 hours of instruction and you ask 'Are there any questions about the material covered today?', the lack of any questions is probably not a sign that you did a great job of instruction. It's more likely that everyone is so bored out of their mind that they're looking for the quickest way out of the meeting room.

Translation needed..........

Last night, Kali 1.8 was having a snack and some water in her high chair. I was watching TV on the coach when Kali suddenly spoke up.

Kali: A PILL!!!

Me: What? Tell Daddy again.

Kali: A PILL!!!

Me: Uphill?

Kali: (pointing at her PJ's, which were obviously wet) A PILL!!!

Me: (laughing) OH! Did you SPILL your water?

Kali: (smiling and nodding affirmatively) A PILL!!!

It takes me awhile, but eventually I'm able to figure out what she's saying.

Economic boom?

Amongst all of the bad news in recent months economically, it appears that our neck of the woods may have just hit the property jackpot. We just found out that the Mormon Church is going to build one of their Temples about a mile or two from our home. I've done some research on the internet involving other towns where a Mormon temple was build. The average property value in the immediate surrounding area has risen at rates of 50-75% within a few years of the temple's completion. The dramatic increase has to do with the influx of Mormons who want to live near these temples In addition, the retail industry in those same areas have seen 25-50% growth of profits.

The temple won't be completed for at least four years, so we've got a while to wait. Thankfully, we're at least paying for our mortgage knowing that it'll be relatively valuable down the road.

Hollywood bound.........

Kali 1.8 was wearing a light blue dress last night. You'll find out why this is relevant later. Mrs. Lime had to go to a meeting, so I decided to run with Kali to the local Target store and pick up a few things. I let Kali know that we were going to go. That prompted an excited 'running around like a chicken with your head cut off' response along with her screaming 'Go! Go!'.

I told her that she needed to put on her shoes. She screamed 'Shoes!' and ran off in search of shoes. Kali had a choice of two shoes......

A) A pair of white sandals that would go nicely with her dress
B) A pair of pink crocks that really didn't match her outfit at all

Of course, she selected the pink crocks. After that, I reminded her that she needed her purse. She screamed 'Purse!' and ran off to get a purse. Of course, she came back with a pink fuzzy purse likely because they matched her pink crocs so well. I also told her she needed a barrette for her hair. She screamed 'Barrette!' and went to get a barrette. Kali had a choice of two hair barrettes.......

A) A blue bow that matched her blue dress
B) A multi-colored bow that didn't match anything she had selected up until this point

Par for the course, she selected the multi-colored bow with the intention likely that there were so many colors in the bow, that it HAD to match something that she was wearing. Finally, with her wardrobe complete, we were off to the store.

The ride was uneventful as she didn't chatter much during the drive. I parked the car and went around to get Kali out of her car seat. I was shocked to find that she had added one more accessory to her look. She had pulled a pair of black and white sunglasses out of her purse and was wearing them. When your daughter puts on her sunglasses and is generally behaving herself, you have little choice but to go with the flow (ignoring the fact that the sun had already gone down). So, I took Kali out of the car and she walked through the parking lot IN THE DARKNESS in her sunglasses.

It was all I could muster to keep from laughing while I told Kali how great she looked in her outfit. Once we got into the store, everyone we passed was getting a big kick out of Kali's look. She spend 15 minutes in the store showboating her look. She was so ridiculously proud of her purse, sunglasses, bow, etc. Who was I to tell her that none of it matched and that it didn't go together at all? She was in her element and she might as well have been a movie star walking down the red carpet. It was fabulous.

It's here!!!!!

The best day of the year (outside of the national holiday otherwise known as my birthday) has arrived! Today is the official opening of college basketball practice sessions! While I write this post, there are literally thousands of college basketball players who will have their first day of two-a-day practices with many more to come.

In just two weeks, exhibition games will commence.

In a month, the preseason tournaments will begin.

I'm giddy with anticipation!

M-I-Z.......Z-O-U!!!!!

The disappearing family trick..........

Mrs. Lime and Kali 1.8 are in Baltimore this week. Mrs. Lime had some continuing education classes. As a result, I'm on my own for the weekend. It's somewhat strange to be alone in the house when you're used to the organized chaos that a mini-me brings to your surroundings. I managed to get several things done around the house, which was nice. But there was also a few times when I thought, "OK, now what do I do?".

I used my time last night to watch a couple of movies. I watched Borat, which is warped, yet very funny. I also watched 'Monster', which is a movie about a female serial killer who was executed for her crimes in 2002. If you haven't seen the movie before, I highly suggest watching it. It's extremely well done. I'm not sure I've ever felt sympathy and anger on that level about a person. It's a pretty intense story.

I'm getting off work a bit early today and heading over to play golf with some of my neighbors, so that should take care of my afternoon. After that, who knows. Probably take time to pick up our house a bit. Without Kali around, the cleaning might last more than a few hours.

Section 60........

I watched a documentary on HBO last night about Section 60 in Arlington National Cemetary. That is the section that is currently designated for Iraq/Afghanistan war dead. Some things that struck me about it........

-At one point, they had completed a memorial service and the workers were coming in with a backhoe to fill the grave. They dug a hole right next to the grave being covered, which it quickly became apparent was to be the next grave for the next service. They accomplished two tasks in one, though it was a stark reminder at the quick rate of burials on that day.

-Several times, a family member would lay down on the grave while touching the stone and take a nap. Others would bring lawn chairs and take a nap in the chair. It was somewhat odd, though I certainly understand the reasons they'd do that.

-The graveyard became a form of family when there were a lot of people in the area. Family members would walk over to other mourners in the area and ask them about their loved one. It appeared to be a form of therapy for both sides, whether they were listening or talking.

-The varied backgrounds of the war dead served as a testament to the great nature of our society. Every form of religion was accounted for in the graveyard. If only our enemies were as accepting of others, we'd likely not be in this prediciment.

-At one point, two widows in their 20s who had been chatting had noticed an older lady who was crying over a gravestone. After the lady left, the two of them went over to look at the stone. The grave was from a WWII soldier who had died in 1987. The two women quickly realized that the pain of their loss during this war would not go away anytime soon.

-Several of the families made comments about how difficult it was to have a family member who gave their life in combat only to hear some people in America portray their loss as being in vain because they disagreed with the Iraq/Afghanistan war. I don't think some people realize just how hurtful their comments can be to those who bear this burden.

-A class of high school students brought some things to the graveyard to place on the graves. Each student had researched the acts of one soldier buried in the area. One girl came up to the grave of the soldier who she had researched only to find his mother at the grave. The girl gave the mother the memorial piece. The mother thanked her and told the girl about her son. The mother eventually began to cry and commented that this was a lot for the student to handle. The student responded 'No, it's fine'. The mother smiled and was obviously impressed by the support of the student.

-Christmas is quite a sight at Arlington for those who haven't seen it before. Wreathes are laid at every gravestone. In Section 60, one mother and her two daughters decided to add a bit more to the season. The two young girls (probably around 8 years old) grabbed a bunch of candy cane ornaments. The girls went to every grave and placed a candy cane on the wreath. They would say 'Merry Christmas!' at every single grave while placing the candy cane.

It's a great documentary and those who have HBO should watch it if you get a chance.

Halloween arrives in the foyer.........

We put out some of the Halloween decorations around the house yesterday. We have an animated butler that we call 'Lurch' who stands near the back door for most of the year. Kali 1.8 always waves to him and says 'Hi' when she passes by him. She seems relatively unfazed by his scary appearance. However, that all changed yesterday.

While Mrs. Lime and Kali were at the library for reading time, I took the free time to get out a lot of the Halloween decorations. That included moving Lurch to the entry foyer and plugging him in. Also, I put up an animated witch who screams and cackles. Kali came back and saw the figures in the doorway. She was OK with them......until the motion sensor set them off.

Suddenly, Lurch was breathing and talking with moving eyes. The witch began to cackle and scary music played. Kali got scared and put a choke hold on my neck. She also clawed at my neck with her fingernails and started shaking. She was REALLY scared. We went back to the living room to watch them from a distance. She kept pointing at them and saying 'Uh-oh' and 'witch'.

Eventually, we worked out a nervous compromise. Mrs. Lime and I went in and touched, kissed, and hugged the witch and Lurch so Kali would know they were OK. While she didn't totally buy into it yesterday, she was blowing kisses to all of them on the way to bed. She's OK with them at a distance. I'm sure she'll get better as the days go on. For now, we've turned them off so they don't get too scary.

When did that happen?

So I think the office feels a bit sheepish this morning. I'll explain.

Yesterday, one of the ladies in my office sent out an e-mail to the entire group saying that they were planning a baby shower for one of the ladies in our office who is 7 months pregnant. There was only one problem.......no one even knew she was pregnant before that.

It's a bit of a touchy situation. The lady is overweight. I actually suspected that she was pregnant a couple of months ago, but was I going to be the idiot to go up and congratulate her on a pregnancy that may or may not exist? Hell no!

Her cube is right next to mine. Yesterday, people were coming over all day to congratulate her on the pregnancy. At some level, she had to realize that most of the people didn't know she was pregnant and weren't willing to take the risk before now to ask her if she was pregnant for fear they might offend her if she was just putting on a few pounds.

Back to your regularly scheduled office gossip...........

Am I forgetting something?

Mrs. Lime was working last night, so I was in charge of Kali 1.7. I had to attend a meeting for the fraternity alumni board. So I filled up my sparkly purple diaper bag with snacks, diapers, and toys. I told Kali to put her shoes on, to which she screamed, "SHOES!".

I then told her to put on her jacket. "JACKET!!!!"

After Kali had on all her gear, I reached down and grabbed the bag and Kali and I headed for the garage exit. When we were halfway to the exit, Kali, out of nowhere, yelled out, "KEYS!!!".

I laughed. "Yes, Daddy needs keys for the car."

I then had a moment of realization. I hadn't picked up the keys. They were still on the table right next to where we got Kali's jacket. She realized that and was now hinting in a very 19-month old transparant way that I had forgot them on the table.

This just in........I'm old and my daughter is far too smart.

Another one?

Uh, yeah. I'm a year older today. This makes 34 years of relatively uneventful living for me.

Kali 1.7 is now closing in on her 2nd birthday. In a few years, she'll be in school. PTA, here I come.

I remember when I was in high school and I thought that the year 2010 seemed like it was ridiculously far away. It's now only 15 months away.

I remember 1994 when Mizzou's basketball team was undefeated Big 8 champions and nearly made the Final Four. It's been a long 14 years since that last championship. On the bright side, the football team is in a position to compete for the national championship.

I remember when the Royals won the World Series in 1985. How could I know then that we'd spend the next 23 years failing to make the post-season.

I remember when the Chiefs won their last playoff game in 1993 when Joe Montana was at the helm. 15 years later, and we're not even close to a position to win a playoff game.

In summary, my child is growing like a weed, I'm getting old, and most of my sports teams I root for are terrible. Here's to hoping the next year ends some of those trends.