Why Michigan's Awesome, part 3

Do you know how long it's been since I shoveled?  As of this writing, about an hour-and-a-half.  Before that, about five years.

We would say that we longed for the days when we were sick of shoveling while we lived south of the Mason-Dixon line.  True to our word, we shoveled without complaint.  I even widened our sidewalk path.  (Mom would be proud.)

The only reason we came in before EVERYTHING was cleared was because we were tired.  I only regret not having the energy to go to the gym and do my cardio for the day.  Shoveling for thirty minutes should count for something toward my intended forty-five on the treadmill.  Right?

Checking just now, I noticed another inch of accumulation.  It's slowing down, but we'll probably have to do some clean-up work in the morning.

Phoebe's going to freak!

Pie Day!

Child labor laws be damned!

Pidge was working right along side two accomplished pie crust fluters (flautists?) this morning.  She was in charge of sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on top of the fluted pies.  (She would then lick her fingers and have to be escorted to the bathroom to wash her hands.)

Our church's mission board assembled nearly one hundred apple and pumpkin pies for their annual fundraiser this morning.  Pidge and I were there at nine o'clock and got right to work.  I think they were surprised to have a man volunteering to cook for something other than Chili Night.  (Stay tuned for coverage on that!)  They were delighted to have Pidge there.

So fun!

Quatro, We Hardly Knew Ya

As a LEGO enthusiast the basic 2x2 brick (in white) is quite familiar to me.  It's a staple of the LEGO system.  We Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOLs to those in the know) couldn't imagine the world without it.

It's younger (if larger) brother would be the the 2x2 DUPLO brick (in green).  These were introduced as a bridge into the LEGO system for younger kids.  The ingenious hollow studs allow DUPLO bricks to connect with LEGO bricks so that a child that has just moved into the LEGO system doesn't have to abandon his or her old bricks.  (We all did though.)  Phoebe Darkness has a good set of DUPLO right now that she enjoys building and sorting.  (Why do toddlers love to sort?)

The youngest sibling is all but forgotten.  Introduced in 2004, QUATRO was designed for children as young as six months.  Above is a 2x2 QUATRO brick (in red).  It connects to DUPLO bricks and is made of a softer plastic than LEGO and DUPLO's ABS.  It also sports rounded edges for more infant friendly play.  Despite various awards the QUATRO line was discontinued in 2006 as part of The LEGO Group's restructuring.

I picked two tubs of QUATRO up on EBay for a song about a year ago.  Darkness enjoys building with these as well although I don't think she's caught on to the idea of integrating her two systems yet.  I'm sure that once she's old enough for the classic LEGO system the QUATRO bricks will be shunned.  Dad will hold onto them though.  Bricks that are four times the length (and sixty-four times the volume!) of a regular LEGO are just to cool to get rid of.

It's a Major Award!!!

I've been culling the herd that is my Transformers collection lately. EBay (or Feebay as I call it) is a terrible option when it come to this sort of thing. You've got to photograph your item, write a description for it, set the auction rules, decide how much to charge for packing and shipping the item, and then hope the item sells or else you'll have to relist the item. If it does sell, you'll probably need a PayPal account to get your money.

Then the fees kick in. You will be sent a bill for an "insertion fee" (EBay gets paid just for hosting your auction) and a commission. EBay gets paid a percent of the winning bid plus the listed shipping and handling charge. I guess EBay observed less ethical sellers' practice of listing items with low starting bids and ridiculously high shipping and handling cost and said, "We want in on that!" Instead of encouraging sellers to lower the shipping and handling charges, EBay is forcing reputable sellers to increase their charges to cover EBay's cut!

What if the buyer never sends the payment? You're still getting billed. You have a bunch of holes to jump through in order to get the charges removed. Then you have to relist the item!

RAGE! RAGE! RAGE!

Then I found Crave. Crave is awesome. I had gotten about four paragraphs into my open love letter to Crave when I realized that's not what I wanted to write about. (HIGHLIGHT. DELETE.) A few months back, I was asked to complete a survey to help improve Crave. To encourage user participation, we were bribed with a prize drawing.

Ta-da! Today a package from Amazon.com was unceremoniously dropped on my porch. And what a package! 24 x 15 x 4 inches. It's the kind of box you'd ship half-a-dozen, unfolded Sunday news papers in or maybe an autoharp.

The contents: Transformers Kre-O Optimus Prime. Hasbro has decided to partner with Oxford Toys (a company known for their Asian market LEGO knockoffs) to bring Transformers models made of building blocks that are "compatible with major brands". With this kit (the largest of the initial Kre-O offerings) you can build a semi and trailer, take it apart, and rebuild it as Optimus Prime and a battle station. It even comes with little mini figure versions of three Transformers and two humans.

I'm bringing this to visit my in-laws next week. We'll build (and rebuild) it as a group as we celebrate Thanksgiving and my birthday. Once we return home, I'll begin excavation for the high security trophy room necessary to house my awe-inspiring prize. I will lead semi-annual tours for pilgrims wishing to pay their respects to Optimus' blocky, non-transforming image.

Thank you, Crave! I never knew I had it in me to compose nearly five hundred words as an ode to an oddly proportioned box containing a quirky toy with shaky ethical origins.

Taco Tuesday!

In case you didn't know, our church is awesome. 

Once a month we host a free community dinner.  Anyone is welcome.  We even advertise in the local paper.  Donations are accepted and, as it turns out, we're able to at least beak even most of the time.

Even with Mthr. M-G unable to attend, Pidge Darkness was very excited about the idea of tacos at church.  She said, "That is going to be so funny to me." 

We both had a great time.  We met some older members of the parish that attend the earlier Sunday service.  Pidge had no trouble conversing with them and I had to do little-to-no "translation".

I'm very happy and proud of my girl for how comfortable she is in her new church home.

My Daughter, the Space Explorer

We've created a monster; a monster named Pidge.  Continuing the unintended theme of things Mthr. M-G loves, we have Voltron: Defender of the Universe.  This imported, dumbed-down, Americanized, early eighties cartoon features a legendary robot comprised of five robot lions.  These lions are piloted by the Voltron Force.  The youngest and smallest of these brave pilots is Pidge.

Mthr. M-G was allowed a limited time to watch TV each day.  (There go my in-laws setting a good parenting example.)  Mthr. M-G and her sister always made sure Voltron was in that block of time.  Years ago, when the in-laws were cleaning out there attic, the adult sisters made sure there Voltron toy was saved from the donation pile.  It stands to reason then that Mthr. M-G, now with a daughter of her own, would return to those days of her youth by sharing Voltron with her family.

In short, Phoebe Darkness is an addict.  This morning she declared that she was Pidge, I was Keith (the mullet-wearing leader of the Voltron Force), and that Mthr. M-G was Allura (the beautiful and brave princess-cum-Voltron Force pilot).  The van was the green lion, and Mercutio was declared a space mouse.  When we got to her day-care worker's house the game continued.  Darkness' friend was told to refer to Darkness as Pidge.  I had to explain the game to the worker.  She said that she had a girl a few years back that would only respond to the moniker Bob.  That went on for six weeks.

I'll keep you up to date on Pidge's situation.

Catching Up

I've written about Mthr. M-G's love of zombies before. Heck, I've written of her our love of AMC's Walking Dead.  Well, we still love it.  I even settled for following the St. Louis Cardinal's post-season glory over the Internet while we watched the show on our not-DVR-having cable service.

I forget how, but be somehow managed to miss both airings of the show the last two Sundays.  Mthr. M-G put her foot down tonight.  We watched the highlights for the last two episodes on the official site and committed to staying up to watch tonight's episode.

Wow.

If you're not already, watch this show.

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Mercutio's not happy about it either.

What's Cookin' With That Diet of His?

Some of you may be wondering what I could possibly be concocting with the above foods.  Maybe it will help to look at the individual items in a little more detail.

• two 40 ounce jars of Jif Creamy Peanut Butter (sorry Harriet)
• one 14 ounce can of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (could we even have holiday desserts without this stuff?)
• a 13 ounce jar of Nutella (it used to be so European, now it's everywhere)
• a 6 ounce container of Dannon Naturals Coffee Yogurt (Mthr. M-G is SO happy the sell this in our town)
• a dish containing 1.3 ounces of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Colors (now with natural food coloring!)

Altogether, that's 7.2 pounds of food!   That's a lot.  Imagine carrying that around all the time.  I mean ALL the time.  Grocery store, work, school, home, bed, shower: doesn't matter.  ALL the time.

"Why would one do that?" you may ask. 

I don't know, but a week ago to day I was carrying that much extra weight.  Today, I'm not. 

It's a heck of an image.

Why Didn't He Post Something Today?

Because these goblins aren't gonna slay themselves.

I don't Farmville, or Empires and Allies.  The casino apps on Facebook hardly hold my attention.  It took Wizards of the Coast and there Heroes of Neverwinter app to make me "one of those people".

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to clear the woods of kobolds . . . .

Regret

Look at Darkness.  You can tell she's not happy with her situation.  Perhaps she's regretting playing with that pen for the last five minutes.  Probably not.  I may just be projecting.

I had a fantastic idea for a one-off web comic this morning.  It was topical what with Daylight Saving Time ending earlier today.  It was uncomplicated and wouldn't have taken more than forty-five minutes to photograph.  It may have taken me thirty minutes to write and post.  However, as you can see, that didn't happen.

Instead, I waited quietly for Phoebe to fall asleep while I played Heroes of Neverwinter.  Once Phoebe was down, Mthr. Monkey-Girl was home and I didn't want to spend the time away from her playing with toys.  Then we watched the Packer game.  Then it was Darkness' bedtime.  Then Mthr. M-G and I watched a couple episodes of Doctor Who . . .

Now it's nearly midnight and today's great web comic didn't happen.  "Why not do it for tomorrow?" I hear you saying.  It won't work tomorrow.  Trust me.

I know I'm getting much more worked up about this than it deserves, but that's how it is.

Regret sucks.

Do what you can to avoid it.

OUT!

Why Marshall's Great, part the first

KIDS' KINGDOM

There is an awesome, community-built, playground five blocks from our house.  We've been there half-a-dozen already. 

Phoeb-a-loo will often ask to go and play at the "castle".  Today we walked to Kids' Kingdom and played hide-and-seek.  While walking there and back, Ms. Darkness complained of her tummy aching.  Funny how the time there passed with nary a complaint.  On the way home, we enjoyed the river walk.

It's so fun living in a city where we can walk outside while the sun's up and live to tell the tell.  I guess we can get rid of these radiation suits.

Why Michigan's Awesome, part 2

Biggby Coffee

Formerly Beaner's (ah, inadvertent racial slurs), this East Lansing based coffee franchise is wonderful.  In southwest Georgia any coffee chain is difficult to find.  Our little town had a nice distributor of fair trade coffee with an afterthought of a shop.  It was nice, but there's something about the transcendent nature of a chain that's comforting.  As I travel about my new stomping grounds, I'll occasionally see a big B (clever name, huh?) and smile.  "I could go for a grande Nutty Irishman," I'll think.

Of course, I don't act on it.  I'll need a job before I can do that.

More to come . . . .

Why Michigan's Awesome, part 1

Culver's

Since the home of the Butterburger is Sauk City, Wisconsin, being near a Culver's is a taste of home.  A taste we've been away from for five years.  It's good to be near one again.

Tennessee got one franchise in Murfreesboro about a month AFTER we left.  Georgia is still devoid of the greatest dispensary of fat-guy-food ever.  Poor Georgia.

Phoebe has adapted quickly and now recognizes a Culver's location by sight as we drive by.  Poor Phoebe. 

Actually, she makes better choices when we go for a treat.  She gets the corn dog (38% less calories than a cheeseburger and 33% less fat), white milk, and applesauce.  Those are HER choices by the way.  Of course, she does get a dish of custard with her kid's meal . . . .

Meet Phoebe Darkness

I don't get it. My daughter has decided she should be called Phoebe Darkness.

I don't get it.

Tonight Mthr. M-G, "Darkness", and I were invited to a banquet for the high school women's swim team.  GO LADY REDHAWKS!! We were introduced to the room and Phoebe loudly declared, "I am Phoebe DARKNESS."

Needless to say she was a hit with the high school girls.  She even got to take home a balloon.  Red?  No.  White?  Are you kidding?  Only a balloon as black as the tortured soul of its new mistress could come home with Phoebe Darkness.

Tomorrow she and I will be listening to Disintegration and practicing our glowers.

Welcome to NEWvember

Ahoy!  As you can see, Phoeb-a-loo was decked out a pirate last night.  Not just any pirate.  Phoebalicious was adamant that she was, in fact, Izzy for Disney's Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  This is the first year she decided what she was going to dress up as.  An interesting side note, we had all of those costume pieces on hand.  What does that say about us?

Oh wait!  Someone just pointed out that there's an elephant in the room.  I guess I wasn't aware.  Okay, so I've been failing big time on the update front.

This is a new month.  We're living in a new house.  (A new state even!)  Mthr. M-G is in a new church.  Today I'm renewing my my commitment to updating this blog daily.  I'm also restarting my weight loss journey.

The new button in the sidebar links to The Hacker's Diet homepage.  The Hacker's Diet is a no BS approach to losing weight and maintaining a health weight.  I think of it as weight loss for nerds.  It doesn't offer a "magic formula" for getting skinny.  It lays out a system for applying what we all already know.  Eat less.  The system is all about data analysis.  Nerd heaven!  Best of all, it's free.  I'll be posting my daily weigh-ins via that snazzy button.

Also, I'm in the middle of a MASSIVE update to the Phoebe photo album.  Check out the old (sorry, it can't all be new) button in the sidebar.

UPDATE: The photo upload is complete.  There are 349 new pictures of Phoebe in the album.  Enjoy!