• The World According to Clarke

    Tuesday, October 31, 2006

    Trick or treat!


    The rain held off for the most part and we had a great time trick or treating tonight. Annette made costumes for all the kids this year. Maria was a butterfly, Chris was a penguin, and Ben was a refrigerator. Ben's costume was particularly elaborate this year. They spent a lot of time on it, and it turned out great. It even had a "treat" drawer for him to hold his candy stash.

    Blogger isn't letting me upload a picture. I'll try again tomorrow.

    Monday, October 30, 2006

    No fear...


    Took the kids to the haunted Halloween village at Sharon Woods last night with Chris' Cub Scout den. Instead of your typical haunted house with ghosts, vampires, witches, and skeletons the haunted village is mainly centered around the legend of Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane, and the Headless Horseman. I figured the boys would get a kick out of it, but I was a little worried about Maria and how she would handle it--but Annette was out of town so Maria had to go with us.

    It turns out I had nothing to fear. Maria found the concept of a headless horseman truly hilarious and couldn't stop giggling whenever she saw him.

    Sunday, October 22, 2006

    Camping in winter...why?

    This weekend the entire family attended Cub-O-Ree, a Cub Scout camping event. "Camping? But it's almost November? Why would you do that?" you ask. I couldn't agree more!

    I am a child of the technology era. I work in technology. New inventions, gadgets, and devices that make life easier and more comfortable are a GOOD thing, in my opinion. I think this is why camping is not for me. Take, for example, the furnace and the matress. These are all good things that have improved life and helped society move forward. When we camp, let's look at our chosen downgrades...

    The furnace--->sticks and logs. Once you are sleeping, a campfire doesn't do you much good. You can't put it IN your tent. You certainly don't have the control offered by the thermostat. And you can get burnt.

    The matress-->sleeping bag on the ground. No contest here. I love my matress. It's soft and warm and always the same. The ground is hard and wet and cold, and there are unpredictable roots and sticks that add to the discomfort.

    I'm not saying there's nothing good about camping. Sitting around the fire, singing songs, telling ghost stories, making smores--these are all great things that I enjoy. But then let's hit the hotel!

    I'll even give you the occasional summertime campout. The temperature is much more comfortable, everything doesn't get cold and wet like it does during fall/winter camping. Once when we were dating, Annette and I saw a meteor shower while camping--tons of beautiful shooting stars. It is one of my favorite memories, and I never would have experienced it had we not been camping. And you can take a very affordable vacation away from home by camping.

    But camping in 35 degree temperatures in the crowded back field of Garfield Junior High in Hamilton--20 minutes from my house? Not for me. Annette tells me that my negative attitude rubs off on the kids, and I know it's true. I feel guilty about it, but I can't seem to help it. When I don't sleep well, I'm very irritable--and I'm not a very good actor.

    Ben and Chris both seem pretty into the Cub Scout thing, so I have a feeling I better try to learn to enjoy it--there will be many more cold-weather campouts to come, I'm sure. Since my camping issues all seem to revolve around sleeping, perhaps proper camping gear would help. A better sleeping bag...an air matress that actually keeps it's air throughout the night...an RV with satellite TV? :)

    Sunday, October 15, 2006

    Mareeu

    Annette and Ben went camping with the Cub Scouts this weekend (brrr) and Chris spent the night at his friend Ben's house, so Maria and I got some quality daddy/daughter time in on Saturday. She has been learning to read in kindergarten and is really enjoying it. Before bed, she read me a book about colors. Then, I tucked her in, said goodnight, and turned out the light. As I was headed out of her room she said "Hey Daddy" and we had the following conversation...

    "Hey Daddy, why doesn't my name end with a U?"

    "Hmm?"

    "Why doesn't my name end with a U? It says 'uh', like 'bus'?

    "Well...(pause)...some letters make a different sound depending on how they're used."

    "Oh...that's dumb."

    And honestly, I couldn't disagree with her. The spelling rules in the English language really don't make sense. I before E except after C. Why only after C? And what about "weird"? I don't speak any other languages, but I wonder if their rules make more sense. If a 5-year-old can figure out it's dumb, why couldn't the developers of the language?

    Thursday, October 12, 2006

    Discount Dugout

    With Annette being a stay-at-home mom, we try to be fairly frugal--but it's still fun to eat out. One website that has enabled us to do so more often is the Discount Dugout. Each week, 1530 (WSAI) and several other radio stations offer a limited number of gift certificates at half price. For example, I bought $50 worth of Izzy's gift certificates for $25 and got to fatten up on double the yummy potato pancakes. This week, one of the stations is offering $50 of Cold Stone gift certificates for $25. I'm all over that one! If you check it out, be sure to try out all 8 radio stations--each one offers a different deal each week.

    Monday, October 09, 2006

    Reggae Run


    As part of my effort to lose some weight, Kyle and I have been running during lunch at work. It's not nearly as much fun to run without some kind of goal in mind, so we decided that we would start participating in some actual running events. We did our first one this weekend--the 5K Reggae Run. The course takes you through a beautiful (but hilly) area of Cincinnati and ends in Ault Park--where there is a reggae band and lots of food and drink booths waiting for the participants to celebrate (I realize this defeats the purpose of running for weight loss...). We had a good sized group--Annette & me; Kyle, Tresha, and Trei Lewis; Cassie; and Lisa K. We all survived the course and had a great time--it definitely made me want to train harder and try to improve my time.

    Friday, October 06, 2006

    No, it's not a porn site...


    I recently discovered a music website that I have been visiting a lot--www.strippedmusic.com. The concept of the site is pretty simple--bands and singers playing stripped-down versions of their songs (basically the same as MTV Unplugged back when MTV played music). The quality of the music is very impressive. So far I have been particularly impressed by the Carrie Underwood songs, and well as those by The Fray.

    Amazing Technology


    Dianne posted this on her blog a few days ago. Sharp has developed a tri-directional display which, depending on what angle you look at the screen from, displays a different picture. Check out the photo--those are mirrors on the right and left. Dianne mentioned the implications for multi-player gaming. My first thought was that it would enable me to watch sports. I can imagine a Sunday afternoon with me sitting on the left side of the TV watching the Bengals, Annette in the middle watching a chick flick, and the kids on the right watching a cartoon. Pretty cool--family togetherness for the 21st century. Click here for more details.

    Tuesday, October 03, 2006

    Analyze this...


    I'm sure I dream, since Annette tells me I talk in my sleep. However, I very seldom rememeber anything about my dreams. I wake up and remember that it was, for example, a bad dream--but the details always seem to vanish almost instantly.

    Every once in a great while, though, I remember a dream vividly. Last night was one of these times. I dreamed that I was a contestant on American Idol. The weekly theme was 70's music. Ryan Seacrest introduced me and I sat down at the piano (which is odd, since Idols never play instruments and I don't know how to play piano) and performed "Dust in the Wind". I finished the song and the camera panned to the judges, who instead of Randy, Paula, and Simon were the three owners of the company for which I work. I woke up before they had a chance to give me their opinions, but I could tell by the looks on their faces that they were not impressed.

    Is there a deeper meaning? Or was I just having flashbacks from watching "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" on Friday night (Ted "philosophizing" with Socrates..."all we are is dust in the wind, dude")?