Why you should always look inside the toaster

Photo evidence of what happens when a certain young gentleman puts a clothespin in the toaster.

Caffeine Free

To complete a really old post (I started a few months ago and it's been way too long since I wrote).

I think it’s time to reduce my caffeine intake. On Wednesday I drank 6 diet cokes and actually had the jitters and couldn’t sleep that night. This can’t be good for me.

Update (present day): So now I’ve been diet coke free for more than a month. I drink one small cup of hot tea in the morning and rarely a regular coke. Turns out decaf irish breakfast tea tastes a lot like the regular stuff. And no more jitters or insomnia. Does this count as a New Year’s resolution?

New year, new O

Owen is 18 months old now, which among other things, means that we now leave the pediatrician's office without having the next periodic checkup already scheduled. What else is new with the Young Gentleman?

He's a boy, so we knew pyromania was in his future at some point. We haven't gotten the "mania" yet, but perhaps pyrophilia: Owen managed to char a clothespin by sticking it in the toaster. Cunningly, he did this while the toaster was unplugged, in the pantry. Thus his move was only revealed the next day, when toast time produced an unusual amount of smoke and burning smell.

I was in London for a couple of days last week. Thanks to red-eye flights and my early departures for work in the morning, two days of meetings lead to almost four days away. When I got out of the car Thursday evening, I could hear him across the driveway banging on the window in excitement. So it seems he's developed enough perception of time that 96 hours away is different than 12.

And admittedly, it was good for my ego to receive such an enthusiastic welcome home. But lest I think I was too wonderful, within minutes, Owen turned to my shoes, specifically, removing the laces. And while that was interesting, trying to put the laces back in the shoes was absolutely engrossing (as in, in the teen years, receive-a-lecture-about-manners-because-you're-ignoring-all-the-human-beings-around-you engrossing). You can tell when he really is concentrating. First, he starts huffing and puffing (all the firing neurons are hogging the oxygen, I guess). Then he starts talking to himself (no clue where he gets that from; maybe Kerry or a former roommate of mine could offer some insight).

Shoelaces

Whom do you love?

We're with Scott and Carlie in Austin for Christmas. Two related stories from our Texas Boxing Day:

1. Owen woke up early on the 26th and began calling for Mommy. When that didn't work after a dozen tries, he called for Daddy a few times. When that didn't work either, he called for Santa.

2. Owen was hanging out with Uncle Scott while I spent a few minutes gathering up dirty clothes. When the Young Gentleman caught sight of me with the basket of clothes on my hip, he brightly smiled and happily cried, "Laundry!"

Inspiration

From Overthinking It, a pop culture blog, 40 inspirational movie speeches in two minutes.



I laughed out loud when I first watched it and was pleased that I recognized the majority of the sources. (Oh man, I just laughed out loud again, watching the video to make sure the embed worked.)

William, Overthinking It may be for you. You might want to start with The Philosophy of Batman: Schopenhauer Edition.