Professional Pictures

So a few weeks ago we took the kiddos in for their 9 month and 3 year photographs. Here are some of our favorites. I did not realize the ratio between Payton and Kade until afterwards...sorry Kade. The ones of Payton just came out so great this time around...which is ironic because she was the one in a bad mood while Kade was in a great mood...

Anyway, here are the shots we got at Portrait Innovations. Which by the way we really like a lot. They are pretty cookie cutter wrt the selection of backdrops/settings/props and such but the service is always pretty good (except during the holidays), the photo quality is always really great and the prices are very reasonable...unless you buy more than you actually need...which is what we tend to do ;-) Enjoy.

Groundhog Day (Day 4)

The kiddos are all tucked in but Jen is still not home. I consider the assignment over ;-) Minus the one incident with Payton (apparently Grandma Judy's kiss helped - today the bruising was not very noticeable) the long weekend was actually not all that bad. It was great to get to play with them so much...I didn't "miss" work in the slightest. In fact, I really am not looking forward to going back tomorrow...shocker. I better keep my trapper shut before the Mrs. gets any more ideas ;-)

Today was pretty uneventful. We stayed at our house the entire day and still managed to keep our sanity. Kade and I even got a few little projects done around the house...like finally hooking up the DVD player to the upstairs TV. All in all an uneventful day.

Tonight the Mrs.'s flight was delayed, so she is getting back a little later than expected. That in and of itself was not all that troubling since I was not planning on any help tonight due to her already planned late arrival. The one issue is that Mrs. Detroit missed her connection so she will now have to spend the night up in Fort Fun and head back to the airport tomorrow. Something which I am anticipating will impact my day tomorrow even though that has not been brought to my attention yet. Additionally, it meant that I had to go down and clean up the basement and make the spare bedroom for a guest (don't worry Mrs. Detroit, I don't mind at all...). I guess in the end its a good thing I was not successful at buying the Mrs. her homecoming gift, as it appears that won't be necessary anymore ;-)

Finally, tonight Kade and I were tracking Jen's flight across the country on the internet. He absolutely loved watching the little bubble move across the screen. He asked several times to "go see where mommy was". Her flight took the northern DEN approach so it pretty much went over "the house". As such, before we went to sleep Kade peered through our big window in the stairwell and "looked for mommy's airplane". We couldn't find it so instead he waved up at the night sky and said goodnight...

Groundhog Day (Day 3)

I am way to tired to post tonight. Payton was up 3 times between 1 and 2:30am, Kade woke up screaming that a monster was in his closet about 3am (can you say monster's inc?) and then he got up for good at 6am. Overall, today was great with one major exception. The basic gameplan today was to get out of the house...so, in the AM we went to Zach's and played for a while. Then in the evening we went over to the Zup's for dinner (fresh swordfish). playtime and a bath. So I guess I cheated today...drafting off of other families ;-) Oh well, I figure all's fair in love and war.

Oh yeah, about that major exception. Payton took a huge digger on the hardwood floor today. One second she was standing at the kid table holding on to the edge and the next she wasn't. Unfortunately, the first thing to hit the floor was her face...ooohhh! I am thinking that a shiner is in her immediate future which is just wonderful seeing as this is her first major injury ... and it happened on my shift. Kade's first big digger happened on Jen's shift so that makes us even. I guess we will need to have another kid just to figure out which of us is a worse parent....seeing as we are both tied for last place right now.

Lucky for me yesterday we stopped and bought a big bag of Peet's coffee...it has been the only thing keeping me going today. Let the stomach-rot begin...or continue I guess...

Groundhog Day (Day 2)

So I am not going to bore everyone with the daily rundown. Basically in the morning we went to the grocery store and then the Library. While Payton was napping Kade and I played a lot of the "ghost game"...where we both get under a big blanket and make varying noises and tickle each other. After dinner we took a field trip over to the mall to get some ice cream and to stretch the legs. Sad that I have already gotten tired of our house after just two days...I guess we really need a 5K sq ft home ;-) Finally, the kids are in bed (what else do you need to know)!

Things that I have learned so far being a Mr. Mom:

• Jen often gripes about being around food all day and the associated temptations. My answer today: While at the grocery store we bought two boxes of Girl Scout Cookies and plowed through half a box by the end of the day.
• It is impossible to not spend money. I just went to the grocery store for coffee and walked out spending $20 (cookies included). Then when we went to the mall for ice cream, I ended up spending $25 (ice cream included). That damned Radio Shack.
• A messy house is a happy house. Note the two pictures above. Kade and I did put everything away at the end of the day...but during the day it is absolutely not worth the effort.
• Hot Dogs and Chicken Nuggets rule supreme. Both Kade and Payton gobbled theirs up today.
  
• You can not shop for lingerie with two kids. I wanted to get a little homecoming present for the Mrs. but it was just not in the cards for some reason - poor Vickie's ;-)
• Curious George evokes a lot of emotions from a 3 year old - pics below.
  

Mr Mom signing off...

Groundhog Day (Day 1)

Unfortunately today started out early...very early...about 4am. Jen had to get up early and head out to the airport to meet Ritz-bitz for the outbound to San Fran. On a good note, the MI friend finally got on a flight to Denver (3rd times the charm) making it a foursome for the girl weekend....oh yeah, that call came in about 4:20 am - to let us know that she was on the plane...lucky me. Then about 4:30 my nose decides to explode into a geyser of blood...ah, it must be winter time in CO. Then around 6:30 Kade makes his morning appearance to watch a little Curious George on the bed with Daddio. Then about 20 mins later Payton decides she has slept long enough and thus starts the day. Not the optimistic start I imagined last night...but no SOS flares going up yet. Seeing as everyone is now awake, I called Jen to make sure that she got to the airport ok. You see, she is driving the beast which is still spewing coolant since I need the car for the weekend. Last night I showed her how to put more coolant in the truck in the event that it goes dry and the temp spikes. I am not sure she really appreciated the lesson but now we have two certified master mechanics in the house.

Breakfast was also not heading in an auspicious way. Both kids basically pushed their food around their plates and snubbed their noses at me. So I says to myself "Self, I am not biting on this bait". I simply took the food away and figured we were now condemned to an early lunch (with multiple meltdowns along the way). After breakfast we played for a little while and I got the phone call from Jen saying that all four girls got on the San Fran flight (they are all flying standby) so at least that part of the journey was finally over. Finally, I got Payton back down for her morning nap around 9..hey, something is starting to look normal.

I took a quick shower and got Kade dressed and lunches packed. Once Payton woke up we all bombed down to old-town for Friday sing-along. Things are starting to look up. Both kids are in a good mood, I have everything I need ready and we are on time! We get there and meet Ellen/Megan/Laura at the Mercantile. The kids all have a great time and so we head over to the Spicy Pickle for some lunch (you see this is the normal mommy Friday AM routine...so being a good Mr. Mom, I took one for the team today). Lunch was surprisingly good with both kids eating a lot of food..."Self, you are smarter than a dumb bass" (since I passed on the bait earlier). The ironic thing is that Jen called me on my cellphone, let me know she was there and asked to talk with Ellen...I am not making this up...5 secs with me and 10 mins with Ellen...I am starting to wonder where I sit in the relative hierarchy. Apparently Mr. Mom's are the lowest class of Moms...relegated to be the secretary of the bunch. In all fairness, Jen had a question for nurse Ellen and not friend Ellen. Apparently Mattie has a bit of pneumonia and Ritz-bitz had some questions. Anyway, it was a nice morning...everything running smoothly thusfar. Oh, did I forget to mention that both kids pooped at lunch and there is no changing table in the Mr. Mom's bathroom...

Then we get home and settle in for some good old fashioned time killing. We all head to the basement and played with Kade's new whiteboard/chalkboard easel. That lasted a little while and finally around 2 I got Payton down for her afternoon nap. Kade and I then proceeded to watch Monsters Inc (not on the top 10) to pass a little time since he has officially given up napping altogether. Payton takes a wonderful nap (~2 hrs) and then we all play for another hour. Then we start dinner and both kids eat really well again (Campbell's Dora Soup rocks the catbox or cashbox or casbah...). By about 6:30 the wheels are starting to come off the wagon...so we head up and take baths - something they both absolutely love. That kills some more time and by 8:00 both kiddos are out cold....VICTORY! Seeing that I am totally exhausted, but reveling in my successful first day I decide to watch two TV shows recorded on my media PC and journal the day...now it is almost 11:00 and I am starting to realize my plan is fundamentally flawed. I should be in bed seeing as there is a very real possibility that both will be up by 6 or earlier. I think tomorrow we will try and head over to the grocery store (I need coffee) and then head over to the Library to return the movies we rented last weekend. Apparently its supposed to be cold tomorrow and snow...maybe there is hope for Mr B's beloved.

I can not wait for day two of Groundhog Day ;-)

It's been nice knowing all of you - or at least most of you ;-)

Tomorrow at 5:30am, Jen is officially leaving to start her 4 day mommy vacation. She is heading off to our old stomping grounds in San Fran with 3 other friends. I hope that she has a great time 'cause I sure as heck am going to be having fun! Well, at least that is what I keep telling myself. Just the thought of 4 days of uninterrupted time with my beautiful two chillens...ahh, pure bliss. Or at least that is what Jen tells me happens during the day ;-) Something inside me senses that she might not be telling me the whole truth....but I guess I will discover that on my own this weekend. I am hoping to try and find a little time in the evenings to update you on how Mr. Mom handles each day...or at least send out the SOS...

The first Payton Sayings!

School/Class Update: So lately school has been going awesome. Kade is not crying at all anymore and he is genuinely happy to go to school and see his teachers. He still asks me to "smash snow in the truck" along the way but that is getting hard as it is rapidly melting these days. The new twist in the story is that we enrolled Kade in a new class this week. He had his first dance class today (companion class to his gymnastics class - Rolie Polies) and these are the "no mommy" type of class. So naturally we were a little nervous about the separation. Well, Jen took him and he never looked back. He marched right into class, didn't cry when Jen left and apparently did very well listening to his teacher. Looking like he might just be getting over that separation anxiety after all...

Payton Sayings: Much to the chagrin of Jen, it is official (still a little rough but definitely there) ...Payton is saying "da-da" first! Payton also loves to put her hand up to her ear and pretend like she is talking on the phone. She usually does this when one of us is on the phone and she just blabs along with us. Its too cute...and mildly disturbing that she is already a phone gabber...hopefully by the time she is racking up huge mins on the phone...service will basically be free.

Kade Sayings: These are starting to pick up in frequency ;-)

• "Why, Why, Why"....yes it has officially started.
• The other night we all loaded up into the car and drove over to see a close family friend who is in the hospital. Along the way Kade asked me why the road was so bumpy. As usual it came in the form of a couple dozen "why" questions, but in the end I ended up explaining to him that the elements (water, sun), the weight of vehicles on the road and the freezing/expanding soil all worked together to buckle the road. And there there was silence ;-) As I sat there basking in my moment of triumph over a 3 year old...the silence was suddenly broken. Kade just said "So what you mean is that the road is bumpy"....I guess he got the last word after all.
• Lately Kade has been doing more than a few boneheaded things around la casa. Unfortunately for Jen and I, it is often hard to really punish him with a straight face as he has also gotten into the habit ofimmediately saying "Oh, I screwed up" with a little twisted face.
  

Mr. Cangemi...are you there? Are you alive?

Recently one of my good friends, Mr. Cangemi, decided that he had dealt with the Euro's long enough and was determined to move back to the states. Not that I can blame the guy...being that close to cheese eating surrender monkeys is enough to drive anyone to the brink. By far the best move of his trip was to drive down to Paris and hang the US flag during the Tour De France...nice show Mikey (I will have to see if I still have the pic somewhere). Anyway, in his desperate escape from the mandatory socialist injections, he decided to move back to Crapchester (a.k.a., Rochester, NY)...nice move Mike. Here are some recent pics of Oswego which is only ~50 miles down the NYS Thruway. Now I am sure that CherkyB is drooling right about now seeing as this would have been the ultimate test for his beloved.

Land Ho!!!!

V-Day or should I say V-Week: So this year V-day really turned out to be closer to a week. The festivities began with Jen and Kade attending a "Fancy and Formal" event. It apparently was a lot of fun although I know very few details. It definitely included food and dancing and that is pretty much all that matters to Kade. Check out the first picture of him dancing at the event. Then the real enchilada came to town...the true day of reckoning. Well, it started out craptacular with Kade getting up about 5:30 and running a huge fever. He ended up being sick all day which scuttled the plans to go out as a famdamily for lunch. Oh well, at least Jen had a special dinner planned for the family...it started with two appetizers: the worlds best chips and salsa from Whole Foods and some great fried potstickers. Then we moved on to the main course which featured crab stuffed shells. {She did not let me take a picture as she knew it would end up here and she wasn't ready for that}. We knocked off some white wine with the whole dinner...overall it was an amazing dinner. Oh, did I mention that Kade was sick? Yeah, both he and Payton ended up having chicken nuggets about 40 mins before dinner was ready so they didn't end up having any ...oh well...their loss. Anyway, then we put the kiddos down, watched some TV and ate desert. It was the most incredible bread pudding I ever had. It was made with banana bread (I think) and then topped with Hershey Kisses and caramel. It was really great. Just for the record I ended up getting Jen a scrap booking book a card and a box of hand selected chocolates. She appeared to be happy so I will take that! Kade was happy to get his gifts...although by the end you could tell that he was expecting more. I guess this is to be expected since both December and January turned out to be open season for gifts (x-mas and two b-day parties). Finally, a few days later, Jen had all of Kade's friends over for an impromptu V-Day party. Apparently it went off smashingly but seeing as I was too busy being bored silly at The Company...I will never know. I included a bunch of photos from VDay, the party as well as a quick one of Megan and Kade doctoring Laura ;-)

Kade Sayings: So over the past few weeks since the last installment of Kade Sayings I have gathered a few more gems:

• I was working in the living room the other weekend picking up the myriad of kid toys strung out through the house. Suddenly, Kade came running in from the kitchen and hugged my leg and said "I love you so much daddy!". Well, I guess we will see how long that lasts ;-)
• Then a few days later I am heading off to work. He sees me putting on my jacket and walks slowly over to the door. Seeing as he was not too happy about my departure I leaned over and gave him an extra hug before leaving. This time he quietly said in my ear "I will miss you so much daddy". Twice in one week...oh the blessing.
• Lately Kade has taken a real fondness to throwing and dropping (forcefully) just about anything that has the ability to dent tables and little sister heads. Being the concerned parents that we are we send him to time out a lot on this one. But the hard part of this is usually trying not to laugh while sending him to timeout. Not because throwing things is funny...but because every time he does he says in this really funny voice "Ga-Donk!" He has been saying that a lot lately.
• Finally, the other morning Kade and I pulled the early duty while Jen slept. About a half hour after Kade got up, sleeping beauty decided to join us (Payton not Jen) so she started to roll around in her crib. Seeing as how Kade LOVES to run to Payton's room and climb into her crib when she wakes up (and sometimes when she had not...grrrrr), I asked Kade if he wanted to go get Payton up. He tore off in a hurry and I didn't catch up with him until just outside her room. Then we go in quietly and he proceeds to start climbing the railing. When he sees her, out of the blue he says "Good morning princess". It was too funny.
  

Land Ho: For the past 9 weeks, we have been unable to see the ground due to that pesky white stuff which has stopped fallin' ever since the CherkyB went out and bought that $2500 snowblower rig. Well, thanks to his generous offering to the snow gods, we can finally see the ground in our front yard!! Shiver me timbers matey!!!

Rob's Top Ten Movies

As promised I have worked up my top-10 movies. The list is skewed to more recent movies since this is based only on what I have watched and the fact that a lot of the older movies have a tough time competing with the latest movie making technologies. I will try and make the list more complete with a "Critics Corner" post link for each movie. I expect this to change over time seeing as I am sure I have forgotten dozens of movies worth consideration and I suppose better movies will eventually be made (although I have not seen too many great movies come out lately). Of course, this may require me to watch a few of these again, just to freshen up my perspective ;-) In order of preference......without further adou:

1. A River Runs Through It (1992 - IMDB Link). First, it is a great fly fishing movie - one of my main passions! A wonderfully told story of watching a loved one fall deeper and deeper into trouble despite everyone trying to help. Who of us have not experienced this frustration in life?
   
2. Band Of Brothers (2001 - IMDB Link - technically a mini-series but I don't care) Simply the best war "movie"! At ~12 hrs, it dives deeply into the individuals of Easy company/101st Airborne during WWII. Accurate historically.
   
3. Cinderella Man (2005 - IMDB Link) - A personal walk through the great depression - a lesson for all of us.
   
4. Office Space (1999 - IMDB Link) - A modern day Dilbertization! Very funny.
   
5. Saving Private Ryan (1998 - IMDB Link) - Bar none, best depiction of the D-Day landings. The "mission" is an interesting twist which pulls in the human element of a passive teacher becoming a great warrior and witnessing his internal turmoil along the way.
   
6. October Sky (1999 - IMDB Link) - An instant classic in my mind. A true story with great inspirational value.
   
7. We Were Soldiers (2002 - IMDB Link) - Historically accurate depiction of a key battle early in the Vietnam War. Good at personalizing the human side of war (including their families at home).
   
8. It's A Wonderful Life (1946 - IMDB Link) - No need to comment further.
   
9. Memento (2000 - IMDB Link) - One movie you may have missed...a continual series of twists and turns make this riviting.
   
10. Poltergeist (1982 - IMDB Link) - The first horror movie my parents let me see. I saw it in Rhode Island when I was 7...it is a movie I will never forget ;-) It will likely fall from the list but it deserves some time at the top!
    

Honorable Mentions:

• Why We Fight (2005 - IMDB Link) - not too well known documentary. Objective look at the issues associated with the strong links between a standing military and a profit driven defense industry. Simply makes you think...some argue this is not a good thing ;-)
• Caddyshack (1980 - IMDB Link) - "On your death bed, you will receive total consciousness. So I got that going for me...which is niiice"!
  
• The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957 - IMDB Link)
• Apollo 13 (1995 - IMDB Link)
• Happy Gilmore (1996 - IMDB Link) - "Talk about your all time backfires" will live in my vocabulary forever!
  
• Black Hawk Down (2001 - IMDB Link)
• Tora Tora Tora (1970 - IMDB Link) - an original for the ages but the special effects are from the 70's.
  
• Good Will Hunting (1997 - IMDB Link) - teaches us to all look deeper and get past the facade...
  

Happy Birthday Grandma C

Today is Grandma C's birthday... so click HERE for your big Happy Birthday Fish!

Hope you have a great one and watch out for all those bubbles...you never know where those are coming from ;-)

"Best of Pics"

Since my last real post was a little on the political side of things I decided to pull out a few of the pictures that I really liked from our visit to Washington DC. The first picture on the left was taken through the metal bars at the White House. While this picture is probably taken by every person who visits DC it is still an awesome sight to behold. The first picture on the right is of the Capital taken from the back entrance steps of one of the Smithsonian museums (I think National Air and Space but this may be wrong). It was just a great setting that we happened to stumble upon. The stark contrast of the blue sky and green trees and the perfect lighting really made the Capital rotunda stand out. I can't imagine that too many people have captured this angle.

The second picture on the left is from the Korean War monument. Beyond the fact that the quote "Freedom is not free" is a personal favorite of mine...if you click on the picture and look closely at the reflection you will see that right underneath the main words (in reverse) are the stats of the US and UN wounded in the conflict. That one was on purpose - and I imagine that many others have a similar photo. The final picture on the right was taken by Jen and I believe it is from the new WWII monument on the Mall. While this is not an "artistic" picture...it captures a great historical quote which all should read and remember.

I will post the V-Day aftermath tonight hopefully ;-)

Good night and Good luck

No - not the recent "Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy" movie.

This one is for all the men out there. Good luck tomorrow with Valentine's Day...may all your offerings to the romance Gods be fruitful!

The truth is often funnier than fiction...

Just a few days ago a very funny thing happened. The funny thing was: the liberal left hotshots of the recording industry all got together and patted themselves on the backs for being better and smarter that you and I - an affair they like to call "The Grammy Awards". Maybe the event is not quite as obscene as watching the utter waste of $$ at the Oscars, but in the end it was hosted in L.A. after all - confirming their gravitational pull away from mainstream America.

Anyway, seeing as I believe that these self-obsession orgy's are not worth the time away from my family, I chose to vote with my remote...and move on. Well, much to my surprise the next day I see on the top of Yahoo that the Dixie Chicks had won "Album of the year". So I says to myself "Self, when did the Dixie Chicks release an album?". Now backing up, I must explain that I was very interested in the original rhubarb the DCs started back in 2003. If you were in a coma...it basically goes like this:

From Wikipedia: "During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, several weeks after their Grammy success, the Dixie Chicks performed in concert in London. On March 10, 2003, at the Shepherd's Bush Empire theatre in London, Natalie Maines, a Texas native, said between songs, "Just so you know, we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas"."

From there radio stations stopped playing their songs, record sales plummeted and Al Goreleoni got up and came to the defense of the DCs (and got a chance to say some dumb things along the way):

"They were made to feel un-American and risked economic retaliation because of what was said. Our democracy has taken a hit," Gore said. "Our best protection is free and open debate."

Huh? Apparently our potential 43rd President felt that in a TRUE Democracy we the stupid American sheep should not have the right to stop buying their music if we disagree with their comments....I say again...huh?

Bush replied to the DC statement like most American's felt:

[T]he Dixie Chicks are free to speak their mind. They can say what they want to say ... They shouldn't have their feelings hurt just because some people don't want to buy their records when they speak out ... Freedom is a two-way street ... I ... don't really care what the Dixie Chicks said. I want to do what I think is right for the American people, and if some singers or Hollywood stars feel like speaking out, that's fine. That's the great thing about America. It stands in stark contrast to Iraq...

So that is about the gist of the 2003 incident.

Anyway, fast forward to Feb 12 2006, I am still pondering the question "Self, when did the Dixie Chicks release an album?". So I am forced to go online and actually look for the apparent masterpiece that they released (which apparently even Jen had not known about...which is odd seeing as she likes DC music). After a whopping 15 mins with "The Google" I fund out the following:

• The Dixie Chicks released their album "Taking the long way" in May 2006.
• As of Feb 12, 2007 it was ranked #24 on the Country top albums
• As of Feb 12, 2007 it was not in the top 100 of the Billboard top 200 albums
  
• Seeing as it is not even on the Billboard top 200 album list I can not confirm how long it was on the list or how high it went on the list
• It has gone double platinum.

Compared with this:

• Another country act Rascal Flatts was still on the Billboard top 200 album list at number 22 and that album was has gone triple platinum...apparently a little more popular.
• The soundtrack to "High School Musical" has been on the Billboard top 200 album list for 56 weeks, peaked at #1 and has gone quadruple platinum...apparently a lot more popular.
  

Clearly the "top album of the year" does not have anything to do with actual sales or popularity. Ok, that is fine...so then what? Oh yeah, this is a liberal left popularity contest! Who better to nominate than the Bush-kicking DCs whose most talked about single on their latest album is titled "Not ready to make nice". Well good for them. Apparently if you kick a republican President, pay dearly for it and keep you head in the sand long enough, eventually the liberal elite will kick you some free publicity to try and jumpstart your dying career...BRAVO...pure and naked politics have infiltrated the "Grammy's".

Critics Corner: Da Vinci Code

A year or two ago I read the Dan Brown book and it was an easy read. It was quick paced and left the reader with a sense of journey through the streets of Europe in an age old conspiracy thriller....good stuff (same with Angels and Demons). Unfortunately, if you read the book then you have already seen the movie as this is literally a direct translation of the book. The movie is done fairly well, but as usual the book is always better than the movie. When reading, you can imagine things the way you want vs. seeing Tom Castaway Hanks as the leading symbologist in the world. Another example, when reading the book at least I always picture Jen as the beautiful, smart heroin vs. some blah Audrey Tautou person...but hey, that's just me (it must be close to valentines day - getting warmed up). Anyway, ultimately there are no surprises in this flick so this one ends up being the cliff notes version of an already easy book to read.

Unfortunately for Ron Howard (who also directed Cinderella Man) I often only rate movies high on my scorecard if you can watch it more than once...this is not that type of movie. Heck, I was even bored the first time through...ok, this may have been partly due to the fact I was sick and it was late at night. But in the end, while this is surely a good rendition of a good novel, it does not invoke a deeper understanding of anything and does not leave you wanting more. Alas, not in the Cavitation top ten. But the book is definitely near the top 10 for novels ... and yes - I have read more than 10 novels ;-)

Ten Things To Buy New and NOT buy new

Last week I ran across two MSN articles outlining the 10 things you should and shouldn't buy new. Flogger likely saw this too as she tends to cruise Lifehacker as well. [Article 1 and Article 2]. Here are the items the author listed with some thoughts added:

Things to buy USED:

1. Books: Only if you are not looking for something in particular
   
2. DVDs: This is a good one...just make sure there are no scratches. Even the second hand ones at the movie store chains are a bit overpriced if you ask me.
   
3. Kid Toys: This is a great one...especially right around the holidays when everyone is clearing out old toys
   
4. Jewelry: Not so sure about this one...I guess that would depend on the level of quality.
   
5. Sports Equipment: Amen. Every spring I see at least 20 weight sets out on the curb at those tag sales.
   
6. Timeshares: Hmmm...not sure.
   
7. Cars: Depends on the deal. Not sure a thousand here or there is worth the potential aggravation but anything over $5K under what you could get on the lot is probably worth the risk.
   
8. Software: As long as it is legit ;-) Many pirate or bogus versions running around.
   
9. Office Furniture: If you are a home office kind of person. Not sure how that mahogany desk would look in the living room ;-)
   
10. Hand tools: Who couldn't use a few more cheap screwdrivers.

Things to buy NEW:

1. Laptops: Maybe. If you can fix/upgrade computers then this may not be true.
   
2. Car Seats: Absolutely - never trust your kids safety to anything less than the best.
   
3. Plasma TV: Makes sense since these are damned $$$ to fix.
   
4. DVD players: These are so cheap...why not buy new. Heck, the same is true for VCR player - yeah we still have VHS rolling around our house for the kiddos.
   
5. Vacuum cleaner: I hate all vacuum cleaners so who cares.
   
6. Camcorder: Camcorder technology is moving so quick that new is almost a requirement...like the Elura-100 :-)
   
7. Shoes: Huh? Do people really buy used shoes?
   
8. Mattress: Gross - is this something we really need to point out? I hesitate to list other things that fall into this category (underwear, toilet paper, toothbrush, etc).
   
9. Wet Suit: Huh? Maybe Jacque Custo cares about this one...but not me.
   
10. Helmet: A repeat of car seat in my mind (go ahead and add things like airbags, Kevlar jacket, pepper spray, fire extinguisher, etc.)

Add your DOs and DON'Ts own in the comment section!

Superbowl Sunday - Where are the Giants?

Da Bears: Much to my chagrin, Superbowl Sunday came and went with no sight of the Giants. Oh wait, Eli was in the Manning skybox but that is not quite what I was looking for. There was a funny article about the Eli angle post super bowl...basically he was lost and ran into Grossman....gee, imagine that Eli and Rex lost at the super bowl :-)

"Just like his entire football life, here was Eli again, trying to find his way while following in the footsteps of his big brother."

Anyway, we had a really nice time watching the Bears struggle at the Zup household. Joe just got a new HD LCD TV so the game looked really sharp minus the fact that it was Rex choking instead of Eli. Here are some pictures which should make Grandpa Russel a happy little camper.


Speaking of the Giants...here's the latest off-season coaching shuffle:

Head Coach: Still Tom Coffin....oh wait I mean Coughlin. This one means I will need to endure one more year of watching him throw his arms up in the air like he is a victim...stop it and coach!

General Manager: Replacing Ernie Accorsi is Jerry Reese. Reese served as the team's director of player personnel the past four years. It looks like he may be a good change - younger blood with a talent for scouting...key at the GM position. Source: http://www.nfl.com/teams/story/NYG/9932325

Offensive Coordinator: Replacing Huffnegal is Kevin Gilbride. Gilbride was Eli Manning's quarterbacks coach the last three seasons which means he at least understands what Eli can and can not do...which is something that the offensive coordinator SHOULD know. Hopefully this will result in more play calling tailored to his talents....a.k.a., run the damned ball. Oh yeah, Tiki is retiring...oy vey. Source: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007701190441

Quarterback Coach: Cowboys quarterbacks coach Chris Palmer is leaving to backfill Gilbride and reunite with his former boss - Tom Coffin. We will see if Palmer can pull a miracle like he did with Romo...only time will tell on this one. Source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/16567998.htm

Defensive Coordinator: Steve Spagnuolo, the Philadelphia Eagleslinebackers coach the past three seasons, was hired by the Giants on Monday to be their defensive coordinator. This in my mind is a great move. The Eagles have an aggressive defense which the Giants desperately need also. Hopefully he can also help Gilbride come up with an offense game plan to beat the Eagles next year. Source: http://www.topix.net/content/ap/2335348445140448279022284591700504943557

Making Valentine Day Cookies

Valentine's Day Cookies: Another family tradition in the Cavitation household...the coveted Valentine's day sugar cookies! This year we were using Ellen's recipe and they came out wonderful...thanks Ellen.

<< Kade and Mom getting started

>> Payton getting in on the action!






<< Kade had to try a few along the way

>> Kade admiring his own creations.






<< Getting Dirty

>> Job well done.

Critics Corner: Cinderella Man

First off, the fact that Jen and I are just now getting around to watching a movie that has been out for 2 years is a true testament to life with children. Anyway, we finally got around to watching Cinderella Man Friday night after putting the kiddos to bed. We only got about half way through the movie when we decided that we should call it a night. This was hard on me...as those of you who know me know that I can NOT stop watching any movie (even the crap on TBS)....they are all mind candy to me. But even my once great movie mojo has slowed as a result of the kiddos and the unrelenting knowledge that come 7am there will most likely be a flying seat bomb awaiting me.

As I was saying we stopped half way through the movie - about the point where he starts to turn a corner by winning the $250 fight. [I am assuming that by now everyone on the planet has seen this movie so I will not be spoiling anything for anyone.] The movie up to the half-way point had been stunning - and ...pardon the pun... quite depressing. The depiction of the great depression as seen through the eyes of a blue-collared hard working family was by far and away the most impressive part of the movie. The boxing simply provided a vehicle to tell this amazing story of the 30's. I actually left the halfway point in total awe of the magnitude of the strife overcome. The scene where their kid is terribly sick and they have no way to treat him...that crystallized it for myself (and I think Jen too). I can not imagine being put into that situation. I think JB handled it the same way most men would have...do what you have to to take care of your family....job 1.

So all day Saturday I was pondering the absolute magnitude of the great depression. Ultimately I don't think that most of us young pups will ever really know of such basic necessity or to feel the pain of fighting for basic survival...or at least I hope not anyway. But I do hope that the lesson of the great depression is not lost on any of us either (thus my passion for history). This type of empathy is fundamental to being a good Christian. Without understanding the possible depths of strife, it would be insurmountably more difficult for us to help others in the right frame of mind. Additionally, I think that the lessons of the great depression are essential to being a good person, a good mother/father and a good spouse. It strips your mind of the fuzzy clouds we all seem to get caught up in...it strips it all down to the bare essentials, the central core of need vs. want. At the end of the day there is no way that this movie does not in some manner make you a better person. Thus I highly recommend that you watch it (again).

Finally, we watched the second half of the movie on Saturday and it was thrilling to watch JB's comeback. The gravitational pull of his resurrection amongst the common/struggling man should all make us want to stand up and fight! While I found the second half entertaining...it really was the first half that cemented this movie in my all time top ten. Even if you detest boxing...this one is still worth watching.

I guess that means at some time I will also have to list my top ten movies...

New Picture Gallery Link

Please note the new link on the left sidebar which will take you to a separate blog post with links off to all the photo galleries which Jen has been putting out there. Just figured it would make sense to put it all in one place.

Financial Fitness for GenX (and Y and Z)

Financial Fitness is a tricky subject to tackle since no one really wants to lift up their pecuniary skirt and reveal their "Asset-backed Securities". :-)

Jen and I continually wonder if we are doing "enough" financially. In fact, we just had this conversation over a wonderful dinner at Enzio's last night (date night without the kiddos and half price bottles of wine!!). It always seems like we are doing the "right things" so in general we think that we are doing ok...but at the end of the day you are always left looking around saying..."What are they doing?". The odd part of today's society is that you can't tell shinola from appearances. There are always those couples you look at and say..."wow, they have their financial house in order" but you just never know. Once you get to know some of these people you start to find out that the old axiom of "you can't judge a book by it's cover" is absolutely true....many of them are in debt and don't appear to care.

I ran across this simple article this week which kind of provides a basic set of benchmarks against which you can assess your financial health. Now this does not tackle the specific subjects of retirement or college saving accounts but those are subjects for another day. This is more geared towards snapshotting you current profile...and to me was very helpful even though they are very generic. The examples listed are not mine...they are from the article...but I have included our approximate score just in case other gen-Xers want to compare and discuss:

1. Liquidity Ratio (I am only using checking+savings here)
Formula: Liquid Assets / Monthly Expenses --> Article: $68,070/$6,892 = 9.9
Target: 3-6 months (our score ~9)

2. Housing Payment Ratio
Formula: Monthly Housing Costs / Monthly Gross Income --> Article: $825 / $7585 = 10.88%
Target: Less than 28% (our score ~22%)

3. Solvency Ratio
Formula: Total Assets / Total Debt --> Article: $265,570 / $146,654 = 1.81
Target: Greater than 1.0 (our score ~2.2 including 401K and home)

4. Savings Ratio
Formula: Savings per Year / Annual Gross Income --> Article: $18,000 / $91,000 = 19.78%
Target: 8-25% depending on age (our score ~22% including 401K contributions)

5. Debt to Income Ratio
Formula: Annual Debt Payment / Annual Gross Income --> Article: $9900 / $91,000 = 10.88%
Target: Less than or equal to 30% (our score ~20% - mortgage and loans)

So at the end of the day, I guess we are falling within the guidelines...which supposedly means that we are doing "OK". The real test will be when I plot these 5 metrics through time. If they are all heading in the right direction that would materially mean that we are continuously improving our financial health. We will see how this works out ;-)

Good luck to all the gen-X,Y and Zers out there...it seems that the things are getting more difficult with every generation.

Some new video

New Video: I downloaded the latest video from the camcorder and cut out some of the newest footage to share. The first is some footage of Payton making her fish faces. The second is of Payton playing in her new exersaucer. Sorry, but for some reason I can not find the footage where Kade was pushing her...I will have to look some more for that. The last one is of primarily Kade. I was trying to take some footage of Payton playing with the kitchen but Kade just wanted to see himself. So I turned the LCD around on the camcorder and let him figure out what was going on...typical Kade action ;-)



G'night.

Stand Tall Poor Penguins And Don't Listen to those Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys!

I got an email from a long lost friend this morning: Mr. Farr (ok...not that Mr. Farr...instead it was the Farzad kind). Actually, it was not much of an email either ... it was really just a link to a website with the following two words "Volcano! NOT!". While it was great to hear back from my long lost friend...it raises the (not-so) important conversation of global warming...which of course, we should further explore here at the Cavitation ;-)

First, you really should read the article...as the author really-really-really wants you to believe that this is of great importance to YOU. After all, it removes ALL doubt on the debate of global warming...uh, kind-of-sort-of. But don't fret gas-guzzling chowda heads out there...I will make you feel better with just a simple wave of my magic "reasonable man wand".

To start lets hit a couple of the high notes of the Gerard Wynn-Alister Doyle article (a.k.a. GWAD...seriously you have to click on the link) :

1. The first word in the GWAD article is "Paris"...are you laughing yet. Insert favorite P.J. O’Rourke quotation here (which I know CherkyB will enjoy):

   "The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don’t know."

   ....enough said....oh wait please let me add one more...“cheese eating surrender monkeys"...ok, now I can move on.
   
2. The first ppg of the GWAD article is air-tight...

   "The world's top climate scientists said on Friday global warming was man-made"

   Wow, I guess we should all drive our vehicles in the ocean to make man-made coral reefs and start using bikes! Oh wait - we all must remember that the first paragraph is always written for those boobs who never get past the little words.....must...press....on...
   
3. Oops...there in the fourth ppg of the GWAD article...I am starting to sense a crack...

   "it was 'very likely' -- or more than 90 percent probable -- that human activities led by burning fossil fuels explained most of the warming in the past 50 years."

   Uh-oh, hold on...latst I checked 90% doth not equal 100%...but then again I have not taken any of the "new math" courses which apparently Kade and Payton will need to endure...
   
4. A little later:

   "Possible signs range from drought in Australia to record high winter temperatures in Europe."

   ...did anyone bother to ask Australia about this? Only 10 seconds with "The Google" resulted in the following statement from the Austarlian Government's Bureau of Metrology website "Drought is also part and parcel of life in Australia"...and oh by the way, the site then goes on to describe the other 6 major droughts in the past 100 years. Score one for GWAD. [Sidebar: Oh the irony. You see Mr. Farr lives in Minnesoter with a high temp of 0F over the next 3 days! And add to that, the fact that CO set a record low today in this continuing hellishly cold winter. Finally sprinkle on top a few whining NM and TX folk complaining about their measly foot of snow. OK, so lets give him the benefit of a doubt...maybe he has just taken too many of those Polish classes at UM-Duluth to see the freezing breath in front of his icicle ridden mustacio (no offense Swabowski's)]
5. We move on...later ppg:

   "February 2, 2007 may be remembered as the day the question mark was removed from whether (people) are to blame for climate change"

   ...does anyone else see the work MAY....confusion setting in...trying to understand how GWAD could have started so strong and ended up here... Then there are other strong statements further down like:

   "it is 'more likely than not' that greenhouse gases have made tropical cyclones more intense"

   ...powerful stuff.
   
6. And the best for last:
   

   " "Faced with this emergency, now is not the time for half measures. It is the time for a revolution, in the true sense of the term," French President Jacques Chirac said."

   I am not even going to go here...The French Leader calling for a revolution...good stuff indeed! Has the French Revolution been scrubbed from todays curriculum also?
   
7. The rest is pretty much just Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey drivel pointing out that the USofA is bad...very bad.
   

Now getting back to the "Volcano" reference. A looong time ago in the USofCA, Mr. Farr and I were sitting down at work over a large cup of joe (and maybe holding some cards in our hands...ala BIG-DOS!). We began discussing the vaunted topic of Global warming. After a lot of chatter it always came down to two things in my mind:

• First, a volcano eruption emits more greenhouse gases than all of mankind put together. Don't just take my word for it...even the crazy green Canucks agree:

  "A single violent volcanic eruption can rival or exceed mankind's ability to pump out greenhouse gases, according to Catherine Hickson, a volcanologist with the federal department of Natural Resources Canada in Vancouver."

• Second, a long time ago, in a reality far far away... there were these things called ice ages. They were not caused by greenhouse gases...but instead they were primarily caused by the wibbly-wobbly earth herself. For those of you who's only experience with the term ice age is in reference to the movie...let me jog you noggin. I guess the liberal-left has succeeded in stamping that out of most elementary school curriculum. Believe me, our kids will understand this with "crystal" clarity ;-)

Having said all that, I do think that we as individuals need to be more concerned about pollution seeing as no one really wants to walk around in a haze (well, I guess with the exception of JimmyH). I just get fed up by the GWADs of the world who have sold down the river of insanity and bought into the craze called "global warming" just to make a living. As I told my friend Mr. Farr...if you are serious about helping out, I would recommend that you find a way to stop the next volcano eruption. And for the GWADs of the world, who are paralyzed from the neck up, I would add a recommendation that they find their local active volcano and jump in seeing as their big heads would likely plug the biggest global warming threat for a while.

In parting, I promise to contemplate how I can best reduce pollution...as I bomb around in my 1996 Dodge pickup spewing coolant at a lean 12 MPG.......

It's time for a new poll

So a while ago in this blog we were discussing a very important "matter". Do you get heavier or lighter when you fart? Since we now have polling technology at our disposal I figured I would turn this one over to the experts - feel free to conduct your own experiments :-). So here is your chance to let us know where you "stand" on the issue (I prefer to stand as far away as possible).

What happens when you fart / pass gas / cut the cheese / make bubbles / butt burp / trouser cough / etc.?
	You get lighter.
	You get heavier.
	Depends on how much "stuff" gets caught by your shorts
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Poll Results

Cavitation Poll #1: Moral integrity test in the can...