Personal: September 2006 Archives
September 30, 2006
We finished the dots today. :) All in all it wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it might. It was a lot of painting and a lot of work, but I think the result is well worth it. As Jenny says, nobody can accuse us of failing to stimulate Ollie visually. ;)
September 29, 2006
Yes, another day of dots completed. We've finished all the "low-hanging fruit", so to speak, so things are kind of slowing down. That said, we're two large circles away from finishing two walls entirely, which is exciting, and the door and window/closet walls should be relatively easy.
September 28, 2006
I jest, of course; I didn't paint any dots while Jen was out of town (it really is a two-person job), so tonight was night 3 of dot painting. I think it's going along quite well. A couple more days and I think we might be done.
September 17, 2006
So Jen and I have spent more time on the nursery; four more photos in the gallery. I've mismeasured some of the dots, so it won't be exactly the way dad drew it, but I still think it looks really great so far.
The big circles made out of small dots aren't nearly as bad as I had worried they might be; just put a small nail in the middle of the circle and measure out the radius of the circle in a length of string, one end tied to the nail. Do the four "compass point" circles (E, W, N, S) first, then just use a tape measure and the string to divide out where the other circles should be. (For example, once you've done the "N" and "W" circles, measure the distance between the nearest points of each; in our case this was 29 inches. Divide that in half to give 14.5 inches, and put a dot [we'll call this the "NW" dot] there. Measure from that dot to either the N or W dot--in our case about 14 inches. Divide by 3, giving 4.33 inches; pull the string out until it crosses the tape measure at 4.33 inches from one of the existing dots--that's the center point of your next dot. Do the same thing 4.33 inches from the other existing dot, and that's the last dot in that quadrant. Multiply by four and you're done. It's easier than I'm probably making it sound. ;)
Anyway, Jen came up with the nail, and the measuring idea was mine, so it's a good thing we're together; either one of us might have had a lot more trouble alone. ;)
Anyway, I think we're making good progress--this represents probably 10 hours of work so far.
September 15, 2006
Y'all (oh yeah, I said it) better be impressed by the latest photos of Ollie's room, because (as my dad warned us), those dots are kind of a pain in the ass to paint. ;)
Although the big circles made out of 3" circles will be way more painful, I'm sure. Still, I think it looks very cool even partially done. My wife and dad are both geniuses--one for coming up with the idea, the other for designing it and putting it on a 12"×12" grid so we can easily paint it.
September 11, 2006
Riley and I have a new bedtime ritual. I take my allergy pills, then he hops up on the vanity and I pour him a glass of water, which he drinks while I'm brushing my teeth. He hops down when he's done, I empty out the glass, and we all go to bed.
I know a lot of cats like fresh water, but he has no interest--whatsoever--in the running faucet. He wants a glass of fresh water. It's pretty amusing, although I think Jen finds it funnier that I will actually indulge him. ;)
September 9, 2006
Yeah, so these things seem to be monthly, so here you go for the month of September. ;) I'm just kidding... or am I?
Anyway, last weekend was lots of fun. Sandy flew in from Florida (between all kinds of crazy business trips: we appreciate the stopover! ;)) and hung out all weekend. We went to the Botanical Gardens, and also a nearby collection of animals who had been rescued. Many of them had been people's pets, which makes you wonder about humanity (I mean, who thinks a bobcat would make a good pet?) I did feel bad for the coyote, Martha, though; she had grown up on a ranch with a family and dogs to play with, and now she's stuck in a small cage with no entertainment at all. She just paced back and forth, back and forth, and she really reminded me of the poor dogs at the Humane Society, the ones who keep hoping their family will come back and find her again. Some kids came by while we were watching her, and the way she perked up was kind of heartbreaking. The vultures were kind of cool, though, especially since it was feeding time (yum, rats!). Jen was a little squicked out by that, though.
Anyway, like I said, it was lots of fun. We went to see The Illusionist at the Alamo; I really liked the movie. It was all stylish early-1900's Vienna, and magic, and love, and an ambiguous ending (I love ambiguous endings), and Jessica Beal's te-herr-ible "Generic Euro" accent didn't detract too much, seeing as she didn't have all that many lines. I liked Edward Norton's role a lot, though, and Paul Giamatti did a good job too. Anyway, if magic and intrigue in Imperial Vienna sounds interesting, you should definitely check it out. We hit the Texas State History Museum as well, which had an interesting exhibit on Braggin' (It's not braggin' if it's true!), including a Cadillac covered in rhinestones (the glitteriest car I've ever seen) and an actual, working, VW Beetle made from wrought iron (which was amazingly cool). All in all a fun visit, with a very nice mix of activities and full-out lazy relaxation. My kind of holiday weekend. :)
Lately work has been madly busy. We have a major deadline Monday (I've been working 10- and 12-hour days, highly unusual for us), and another at the end(ish) of October, and somewhere in there we're moving offices. Well, I say "we", but I'm not moving offices, because I already did. I packed up my office at work, including my work PC, and brought it home, and I now work from the dining room 4.5 days a week. (The other half day I have to be onsite for meetings etc.) Working from home is, in a word, delightfullyawesome. It's definitely nice to have separate work and home PCs--easier, at least for me, to keep the two activities separate and be able to "leave" work even though I'm still here. I feel more productive, able to concentrate better; I couldn't imagine working in a cubicle farm again. A private office, maybe. ;) The lack of commute is really, really nice. It does take some discipline, but I guess I don't really find that all that hard to manage.
This weekend we're just kind of chilling. USA Baby was having a huge sale, so we picked up a full-body pillow for Jen and a car seat/stroller system. We also took down the popcorn ceiling in the nursery (which is terribly messy, by the way; there's fine white dust everywhere), I primered it today, and will be painting it tomorrow. We need to do the polka dots soon as well, just to get that room totally done and ready.
Ollie is really active lately, and he's pretty strong. It's very weird (in a cool way) to feel him kicking or punching. Today Jen said she tapped her stomach and Ollie immediately kicked her there, so she may have invented a new game. ;)
Charlie is finally back down to his ideal weight, but Cara managed to put on five extra pounds in the meantime. The dieting never stops here, man; we just take turns. ;)
Anyway, aside from Sandy's visit, my life is all about work and Ollie, so not much else to say. I hope all you guys are having a good time of it. :)
