Addicting Game

Be careful, this game is very addicting. See if you can beat my high score.


Also, you've really got to try Hashi!

Such Great Heights

We were at a child's birthday party recently when I observed Caroline having this interesting conversation with a stranger:

Caroline: Wow, your daughter is very tall. (sizes up stranger) Well, you are tall as well so that explains it.
Stranger: Well her dad is very tall.
Caroline: Oh really? How tall is he?

At this point the stranger is very uncomfortable and pauses, looking up toward the sky as if imagining her husband or hoping the answer is written on the ceiling. After an incredibly long pause, by which time Caroline is surely wishing that she had not put this woman on the spot, the stranger replies:

"About 5 foot 9" Caroline and I both politely nod as if 5'9" is indeed tall for a man. I was not aware until this moment that some Americans have no concept of height.

October... duh!

Caroline thinks the purpose of the online journal is to post anytime she says something ditzy. OK, I can go with that.

So my new coworkers are entertaining in the sense that they will spend half an hour arguing over something that can be looked up on Google. I was telling Caroline about one such occasion. My new coworkers' names are not really Manny, Moe, and Jack, but since I don't actually know their names at this point, we're going with those names.

Manny: How many sides does a hexagon have?
Moe: Eight.
Jack: No, an octagon has eight sides, a hexagon has six.
Moe: Actually, you're wrong. "Hex" means eight.
Jack: I'm sure about this. I play fantasy nerd games, and we use hexagons on our maps.
Manny: Nevermind, I'll look it up. How do you spell "hexagon"?
Jack: H-E-X-O-G-O-N

OK, 10 minutes later they still aren't sure. I am telling Caroline this story at dinner and she says "Don't they know the root of words? 'Oct' means 'eight', like an octopus has eight tentacles... and then there's October... duh!"

Um, Caroline... October is the tenth month, so I think that example is only going to further confuse my coworkers!

Random updates

Lots has been going on lately. We finished getting our house ready for sale, and it went on sale Feb 1. We got an offer on the very first day! These things can fall apart before the closing, so I'm not getting too excited yet, but having an offer surely beats not having an offer.

Our new house is still coming along. They've added gutters, shutters, coach lighting, a front door, bathroom hardware, electricity, outdoor grill and fridge, and probably a ton of other things I haven't noticed since I first put up pictures. I did add a few pictures in the gallery. We should close sometime in the second week of March.

My last day at Traq was Feb 2. I worked there for a year and a half. I started a DBA contract this week. Starting a new job can be pretty slow, but that doesn't really translate to low stress. I try not to talk about work stuff on here because a) it's boring, and b) there usually isn't anything interesting to say that I would want to put in such a public place. I did some really cool stuff at Traq, especially lately, but I didn't feel that it was developing any skills that would further my career.

Andrew is doing great. He can roll over and get up on hands and knees now. He even rocks back and forth, but so far, he isn't crawling. Won't be long now. He has also sprouted two lower teeth. His eyes are still as blue as ever. I'm really hoping they stay that way because they are really striking. He is a big kid, too.

My good friend Barrett's wife Michelle had a daughter this week and they named her Megan. We're eager to meet her.

Grant's 4th birthday is coming up. We plan to have a party, but there are no specifics yet, other than it will feature Lightning McQueen and Mater.