For the Children

Carma and I have decided (at least tentatively) to make the ultimate sacrifice for our children.

We are planning to take them to Disney World in December.

Now, we've watched the brochure DVD (that made Carma wish we had a girl so she could be a princess) and have decided for sure to go to the Magic Kindom and the Disney Hollywood Whatever It Is Called.

We are planning on four days in the area, and are very seriously considering doing the Universal Studios parks the remaining two days instead of the other Disney stuff. We don't think Epcot 1) looks very interesting and 2) would hold much interest for the younger demographic in our family.

The Animal Kingdom...I don't know why, but I harbor a negative bias towards it for some reason that makes me not want to go there at all. Not that it's ever done anything to me, though I must say I never really liked The Lion King. And I hate zoos. So, maybe that's it.

Anyway, I guess one of the main reasons for this post is a call for anyone with Disney/Universal/Orlando experience to give us any tips, tricks, or ideas you may have to help our trip go smoothly.

Many thanks in advance!

Last Resorts

To quote Mr. Mark Newman  of the Weekly Christmas Letter "I've said before that Sprite is the default drink. No one 'chooses' it, but you get it because there is no other good option. ... It's just never a first-choice drink...you drink it because it's there."

I find this interesting, I would actually put Sprite about 4th on my list of soft drink choices (behind Coke Zero, regular Coke, and any type of Root Beer). But the interesting thing is that I have a similar theory, only instead of Sprite- I feel the same way about Denny's restaurants.

My usually quote regarding this (told to poor Carma way too many times) is, "Nobody ever goes to Denny's. You just end up there."

Really. I mean, I can't even remember the last time I even ate at a Denny's. Even if you see one, there's usually a Perkins or IHOP or anything more preferable nearby. I seriously wonder how the chain even continues to exist in the first place. 

Floundering Fantasy

I've heard a quote that says something to the effect of: "Only one person in the world is interested in your fantasy football team, and that person is you." Or, stated slightly differently, "No one wants to hear about your fantasy football team."

Well, I'm not here to tell you about my team exactly. Just bear with me.

Carma and I have been playing in fantasy football leagues since 1999. While she doesn't have the patience to last through the super-long fantasy baseball season, she still enjoys football leagues, which is totally cool.

However, the last couple of years, she hasn't been able to participate in the draft for her teams- leaving me with the responsibility (with a few minor instructions given) of drafting her team in addition to my own. And inexplicably, last year she finished with a much better record than I did, and is well on her way to repeating that feat this year as well.

So far this year, her team is undefeated (3-0), while my team is winless (0-3). She's scored the 2nd most points in the league, I've scored the fewest. This week, we play each other, and despite some roster changes she'll have to make due to byes, she'll probably beat me anyway. Honestly, it's a bit humiliating.

If I was the one drafting both teams, how did one go so poorly, and the other so well? And why is it my team that has to stink? And why for the second year in a row?

Maybe I'll have her draft for me next year.

Sheer Genius

Bravo, Apple. Bravo.

For iTunes addicts like myself, Apple has essentially just put their hand in my wallet (and many other wallets and purses out there) and made themselves comfortable. Somehow they managed to do this while keeping me perfectly happy and content.

So, last week or so, iTunes version 8.0 came out. This version has several new things (including HD shows), but I'm taken in by a new feature called Genius. Genius essentially has two functions: the Playlist, and the Sidebar.

The Playlist may make your own carefully constructed playlists in iTunes obsolete. All you have to do (on the computer, or your iPod or iPhone) is select one single song, and Genius will automatically create a playlist of 25 songs out of your library for you. The songs are usually deemed related by genre, year, and even tempo. This almost makes it too easy. Not to mention addictive and possibly dangerous.

All this time I've been trying to organize my music, I now don't have to spend. Why do I need separate playlists for "Grunge" and "Mellow" and "Hard Rock Workout"? Now all I have to do is pick a song, press the Genius button, and I'm set. Gone are the days of 200 song playlists- no one listens to that many songs in one session anyway. So yeah, wow. I'm totally cool with this.

Now, the double-edged sword strikes. On your iTunes library you can now have the Genius Sidebar. The Genius sidebar allows you to click on a song, and it automatically shows you all the closest matches to that song that you don't already own. That's right.  It uses your library against you, not unlike those photographers who use your own cute kids against you.

"Oh look at that. You remember this song, right! Yeah, I knew you'd like it. It's only $.99. C'mon, for old times sake. You know you want it."

I mean, really. The Genius Sidebar found They Might Be Giants songs that I didn't know I didn't have (or even knew existed). I didn't think that was possible. Add this to the fact that I've been stagnating in my music, looking for some fresh tunes to listen to. I have no defense against this.

So Bravo, Apple. Bravo. 

Enjoy my wallet until my wife cuts me off.

Movie Banter

The following is an actual conversation between me and Nico while dueling with lightsabers:

Nico: "I cut you!"

Me: "No! My name is Inigo Montoya. You kill my father, prepare to die."

Nico: "No! You killed my father!"

Me: "Nico, I am your father."

Nico: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

After stopping my laughter, I realized I wasn't sure if he was quoting Return of the Jedi, or Toy Story 2.

State of the Blog Address

My fellow readers,

It gives me great pleasure today to report that the blog is stronger today than ever before.

*waits for applause to die down*

The following statistics are tracked by SiteMeter (a cool and free tool for Bloggers).

Since April 28th, the Lincoln Blog has had 763 visits, which is about 4 per day. I want to thank people for their continued patronage. I know there's a lot of blogs out there, thanks for reading mine.

I extend a special welcome to the international visitors, I've had visits from Brazil, Costa Rica, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia. I have no idea why you care, but thanks for coming.

Locally, we've had visitors from at least 22 states. We'll work hard on getting all the others represented!

What I find very interesting is how people come to this blog. Some people have it bookmarked and check periodically. Some follow links to it from other blog sites (thank you for those links). Some even track it via the "Follow Blogs" feature on Blogger, or via a third-party site like Bloglines.

One of the more weirdly captivating things for me is seeing how people got here that didn't mean to. Among the last 100 visitors, 10 of them arrived here because they Googled some combination of "smoking cigarettes and watching captain kangaroo", which was not only the title of one post, but is also the catchy chorus in a song sung by the Statler Brothers called "Countin' Flowers On the Wall". Apparently since this is a post title for me, it rockets my blog post up to #3 on the Google charts for this search. I can only imagine how disappointed all those people were to find the post had nothing at all to do with the song (other than the song was stuck in my head that day).

At this point, I also want to comment that I've got a lot of links over to the left. Don't be afraid to click them. I don't make money on it or anything, but just fun stuff I thought I'd share.

I'd also like to invite Bloggers to use the "Follow This Blog" link on the left to list yourself among the daring, bold, and perhaps trend-setting people who are brave enough to consider themselves dedicated readers. No pressure though.

Thanks again everyone, and happy reading!

Now With 75% Less Verbage!

I admit, I often have a hard time deciding what to write about at times. Not that I have a lack of topics, quite the opposite. I just don't choose one. Which is probably why I usually end up writing mish-mashed posts that include several topics on my mind. To me, it often seems like these little things aren't "worthy" of their own topic/post, usually because I only have a little to say.

I'm re-thinking that position now though. Maybe little posts are OK. Perhaps even cute and cuddly. It would probably allow me to write more often. I need to realize I don't have to write a novel everytime, and it doesn't have to be well-formulated.

But it doesn't have to be super short either. Just so you are warned.

Great. I think we've made great progress today. Now get off the couch and start writing.

Back to School, With a Vengance

Hey yo! Fall fever is here, even if the true official fall is yet to begin. The wait for cooler weather is always a long one for me.

I figure instead of boring you with too many details about all that's transpired, I'll just give a bunch of quick hits. Feel free to hit back, but remember that you comments may be used against you in a court of law.

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Statistics

So, after 4,700+ miles the kids and the Grand Neuf returned home. Some unofficial statistics from the Tour:

• 9 fish caught by 2 boys
• 2 stomach bugs caught by 2 boys
• 5 large dogs weighing a combined 700 pounds visited
• 400 of those pounds transferred to 2 boys' clothing in the form of dog hair
• 87 cheeseburgers eaten
• 238 nickels spent at Nickel-a-Play
• 4 uncles, 7 aunts visited
• 19 pit stops while driving, 7 of them too late
• 3 days of diarrhea among 2 boys
• 22 bug bites on the eldest boy
• 2 tubes of hydrocortisone used
• 1 oil change
• 5 rounds of Putt-Putt
• 12 of 20 DVDs watched, most repeatedly
• 2 trips to a doctor's office
• 1 tooth lost due to collision, gravity (Nico)
• 2 very tired parents who are glad the trip is over

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Back into the Groove

A return to structure has been difficult, especially since the boys have essentially gone without any real regimented daily routines for a month or so. Back to bedtimes, and hard wake-ups. Back to making lunches, and complaining about the lunches that are made. But more importantly, back to SCHOOL.

Or, in Nico's case- going to a new school. We've been trying to prepare him all summer that he was going to go to Big Boy school (a Pre-K 3 year-old program). And this week it started, though not very well. Carma and Nico had a "practice day" where she got to stay with him for 2 hours- during which time he never really warmed up to anything or anyone. The real first day, Wednesday, I dropped him off much to his dismay (and pleadings, tears, and screams). Yep, adjustment is difficult for all of us- I was pretty sad about the whole experience myself.

Fortunately, he's warmed up a bit. We drop him off a bit earlier now, as he has a good friend he knows in the early care. He was happy yesterday, but sad today (though at least not crying).

Thurman on the other hand is doing well. He got the teacher he wanted, and has three of his friends in his class. His only complaints revolve around lunches (doesn't want to eat fruits) and the walk to aftercare after school.

The nice thing about this year (so far) is that our morning drop-off routine no longer includes using the car (or dealing with street-sweepers or cross-town buses!). Even better, both boys are now at the same aftercare, making pick-ups so so so much easier. Hurrah!

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Free Time

So, I was back in NJ without spouse or children for 10 days. What did I do? (Other than miss my wife and children?) I clearly neglected my blog in that time. There's a reason for that: I'm boring when I am by myself. Really! It's a wonder I ever got married.

My "accomplishments":

• Packed up our kitchen for a cleaning project
• Assembled a file cabinet
• Filed files into the cabinet
• Played some video games (Rock Band, Call of Duty 3)
• Cleaned my children's room
• Watched a couple movies
• Watched a few Mets games
• Had a fantasy football draft
• Went to work
• Went to church
• Had three meetings/activities cancelled
• Got a haircut

In my own defense, I was limited since I didn't have a car. But yeah, I'm pretty boring.

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Future Plans

We're all about the future! Well, we have a lot planned for it anyway.

October: Carma goes to DC (I think)

November: Greg goes to Rhode Island (um, yay?) Carma and Nico go to San Diego.

December: Carma goes to Australia. Possibility of family going to Disney World.

Ok, so Carma has a lot planned at least. :)

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Sporting!

So, the Mets are in a pennant race. Football has started. Fantasy baseball is in the playoffs. Fantasy football has begun. Is the U.S. Open over yet?

In the real world, Thurman begins soccer today. Practices are on Fridays at 6, with games on Saturdays. Just more routine to incorporate. Unfortunately, most of his games conflict with TaeKwonDo, which Nico will still go to. It'll be interesting to see how Nico fares at TKD without his big brother there.

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Politically Charged

Not really. But I'm trying to do my due diligence and listen/watch the DNC/RNC speeches. Thankfully they are all on iTunes and I can watch them on my phone during my commute.

Now, I've also been listening to General Conference addresses on my commute as well. Let's just say that the two are not on equal footing, and it's often a jolting transition from one to the other. I've noticed it's a lot easier to spot empty rhetoric from both parties after listening to the Lord's Apostles.

Is it too late to campaign for President Monson?

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That's all I got for the time being. I hope everyone is well and making their own seasonal transitions successfully!