This is currently my favorite song, not only because Finn likes it but because she habitually skips the number 4 whenever she counts by herself.
For the adults in the audience, there’s this:
Thanks to Tim and Sue for having us over this afternoon for fun in the backyard! The morning started out being overcast and rainy, and we were worried their party would be cancelled, but as we got closer to their house, the clouds opened up and revealed blue sky. We changed Finn into her swimsuit and she happily spent the next four hours splashing, laughing, and having fun. There were other boys her age to play with, water balloons to throw around, bubbles to blow, and chips to snack on, which made her vibrate with joy.
Because she only got a half-hour nap in the car on the way up there (entirely Papa’s fault), she didn’t react well to the news that it was time to leave, but she sang songs to us quietly on the car ride home. After we got some dinner, I took her for a bike ride around the neighborhood, and we stopped at the playground across the street, where she giggled and laughed on the swing and raced me down the slide until it got dark.
Flickr seems to be chopping the last 20 seconds or so of this video off, so I’ll try to reload it tomorrow.
I don’t think any video could make me any happier.
Mama has been rocking a 5-year-old Motorola 551 for way too long now, and the replacement battery is nearing its end of life (when it deigns to charge from the wall plug at all). Last Saturday we paddled through the rain to the Apple Store to see if they had any iPhone 4‘s available for her birthday present, but I was unaware that they were so scarce right now. We left empty-handed. I was also going to see about replacing my MBP battery while we were there, but the throngs of people in the store (avoiding the downpour like we were) made that impossible too. At home, I jumped online and ordered a phone, which should be here sometime in the next three weeks.
As mentioned earlier, I took Jen out to dinner Sunday evening at le Petit Louis, a french bistro up in Roland Park, while our kindly neighbors watched Finn. What can I say? My bride was beautiful, the food was delicious, and the atmosphere was perfect. Happy Birthday, baby. Returning to our neighbors’, Finn was happily playing on the slide, while her counterpart had already melted down and gone upstairs for night-nights. She’s completely gotten over her initial fear of the slide, and now spends most of her time at the playground in a constant loop: up the stairs, down the slide. Up the stairs, down the slide.
Tuesday afternoon I went to store.apple.com, picked out a refurbished 15″ MacBook Pro with as many bells and whistles as I could afford (newest processor, RAM, widescreen display, fast video card), squinched up my eyes, and clicked the “buy now” button. It’s been a long time coming, and it took a lot of convincing myself that this was really necessary, but having a laptop that actually has a usable screen, working optical media drive, and functioning battery will be a huge improvement. FedEx says it will be here on Thursday, which is faster than I’d hoped for. I still need to pick up a Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter to run an external display, but a colleague at work tells me there’s a supplier online that has them for considerably less than the $40 Apple is charging.
Lots to discuss about the weekend, but little time to get it down right now. Highlights: Heading over to Ellicott City to spend time with some old college friends, meet some new friends, and have barbecue on the back deck. Also, dinner at Petit Louis with my bride on Sunday, where we noshed on some outstanding French cuisine. More details this evening, hopefully.
I got a Facebook notfication that Massive Attack and Thievery Corporation are on tour together, which is basically a concert full of WIN. unfortunately they are only playing at select small venues, none of which are within a 5-hour driving radius of our house.
I made the mistake of listening to both the local forecasters and the National Weather Service, who all claimed we’d see thunderstorms after 1PM this afternoon but neglected to notice the HUGE FREAKING STORMFRONT that swept through the area early this morning, soaking our lawn, our parched garden, and the Scout, which was parked topless in the driveway.
At least the power came back on after blinking out while we slept.
Jon Stewart asks the very prescient question: How exactly can Republicans be for deficit reduction and extending the Bush-era tax cuts?
Best line of the whole clip: “THE DEFICIT WANTS TO SKULLFUCK YOUR MOTHER!”