Sunday, November 21, 2010

TGIM?

Not the most relaxing weekend ever.

First, windstorm from earlier in the week blew a couple of pieces of soffit (sp?) into the yard--you know, those metal pieces that go under your roof overhang--and also messed up our fence in two spots.

Those were to be my Saturday jobs. Except, there was snow and it was bloody cold.

Daughter's turn on Friday to bring home the "baby" for the weekend--they have several of these dolls, which are realistic-looking babies which are designed to teach students what it is like to look after a baby of their own. If it cries, it either needs feeding, burping or changing, or it just needs to be reassured that mom is nearby.

My daughter had a wrist bracelet attached which is sensed by the baby, and the bracelet is too tight for her to take off and give to someone else. (Same as a hospital bracelet). There is one "babysitter" bracelet as well that someone else can wear so they can take over her duties for a while.

Not much sleep for her this weekend. Some justice in that, perhaps--she was definitely the more challenging of our two when it came to miserable nights with little sleep when they were babies. Still, she's sick, I'm still nursing a two-month sinus/cough thing, and wife just had surgery on Wednesday. Much fun.

Then there was my son--new job on Saturday morning, and he wanted to be up bright and early to be ready to go. Tough to be alert when sister's baby has been crying loudly in the next room every couple of hours, but he did have earplugs.

But wait, there was a power outage at 2 a.m. So wife and I are trying to figure out this stupid battery-powered travel alarm clock in the middle of the night, and just as we're about to fall back to sleep fake baby starts up again. Waking up in the morning to a cold house and no lights wasn't fun. Son did get off to work though, and it went well.

At least today didn't suck--but it was very cold out there doing some of those repairs. Going back to work almost seems like a break.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Quick takes

1. One of the few readers left for this blog has something pretty cool happening right now--it's not every day you get to watch your child compete on Jeopardy. I'll be tuning in tomorrow night (Friday) as well.

2. When is it too early for Christmas music? My daughter thinks the day after Halloween is the starting point for her love for Christmas music to find expression through her computer playlist, her saxophone playing, and pretty constant whistling as she wanders through the house. I've always told her it's fine after Remembrance Day, so we're there now anyway.

3. Dear forward writers for "classic" novels. I'm one of those strange folk who has a hard time skipping pages when I read anything, and I've got a suggestion. Spoiler alerts. You might think that we're just rereading the book for the 12th time as we prepare yet another thesis on Victorian literature, but maybe, just maybe, I'd like to watch the plot unfold without knowing how it all ends. Perhaps save that part of your brilliant analysis for an afterword.

4. Ever wake up with something in your head and you don't know where it came from? Got the weirdest inspired idea ever around 4 a.m. last night--with the right help and guidance I think this could make an awful lot of money, and the window of opportunity before someone else thinks of it is probably no longer than five years, but I doubt I've got the energy or wherewithal to make it happen. I can't bring myself to give it away here, but trust me, if you understand rabid sports fans, you'd agree with me.

5. Did you know that Remembrance Day observances are the only school ceremonies that are mandated by law in Canada?

6. The gay wedding was very nice, and the whole weekend tons of fun. I may even post a few pics at some point--I'll definitely be posting some on facebook soon.

Off to go scramble to catch up with my marking since the deadline to submit my grades is imminent. More later.