Bill Roper's Journal

Christmas Shopping

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:37:39 GMT

I saw an ad in the paper today from American Science and Surplus talking about their telescope sale. Now Katie has been wanting a telescope, but what I actually needed was a really cheap destroyable telescope. And along with all of the good scopes, they had one that fit the bill perfectly.

Elsewhere in the store, they had a Curious George kaleidoscope.

daisy_knotwise has informed me that it is time to stop buying Katie Christmas presents now. Of course, she still wants a yo-yo. :)

Dancing Queen

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:55:40 GMT

Before daisy_knotwise left for her massage, she came up to put Julie down for her nap. I'd deliberately left the office door open, knowing that, so Julie wandered into the office while Gretchen was making her a bottle. And then Julie pointed at the guitar. So I picked it up and played "The House at Pooh Corner" for her while she spun around dancing until she was too dizzy to stand up, then picked herself up and spun around some more.

Julie just woke up from her nap. After I made her a bottle, she came in and pointed at the guitar again, so we just did some more singing and dancing. And now she's reading one of Katie's new Curious George books.

And all is right with the world. :)

Meanwhile, Back Around the House...

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:43:56 GMT

Apparently, Katie and Julie are being too much for some of the people we know to handle. While we're working on improving their behavior, overall we tend to think it's pretty normal for two bright, active children, one of whom just turned three; the other of whom is only 18 19 months old (as of today).

daisy_knotwise is pretty much fit to spit nails. I sympathize entirely.

They're young. We're trying to teach them how to behave, but it's a work in progress.

If you'd rather we weren't around with the girls, that's fine. Let us know. We'll be somewhere else instead.

Who Comments Here...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:24:29 GMT

The answer is behind the cut tag. :)

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Wonders

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:10:56 GMT

I think this song is done. I sang it in the circle at Chambanacon at least.

On the other hand, I reserve the right to revise and extend. :)

Words and Music: Bill Roper
Copyright 2009

Wonders

(Chorus)
I want to live in a world full of wonders.
I want to look for the man who can fly.
I want a ring that can grant all my wishes,
Want to wear it as I soar through the sky.
I want to be the man who’s faster than lightning.
I want to travel on a teleport beam.
I want to be the man that villains find frightening
And know that heroes are just what they seem.

But the world outside my window
Is a darker place than I want to see.
The men who write the spin know
And they tell you you’re a fool if you want to believe.
Still I think that sooner or later, we’re gonna have to find some new dreams
If we want to fix a world that is coming apart at the seams.

Now I’m looking for some wonders
When wonders aren’t that easy to find.
I add up all the blunders
And I run around in rings till I’m losing my mind.
So I’m searching through the systems and doing what the data demands,
‘Cause we’ve got to get a grip on the wonders we hold in our hands.

(Bridge)
We’ve more than any race
That’s lived here in this place –
More power than the pharaohs could command.
At work, at home, at play,
We make miracles each day
And write the name of man across the land.

Now the dark side of the Earth
Is shining with the light made by man.
The world has given birth
And now it’s just a matter of deciding we can
Take the wonders we have mastered and the wonders we have yet to behold
‘Cause I want to see that wonderful world before I get old.

I want to live in a world full of wonders.
I want to live in a world full of wonders.
I want to live in a world full of wonders.

Back From Chambanacon

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:52:36 GMT

I got back from Chambanacon around 4 PM this afternoon, just before Jeff, Carol, Sam, Bonnie, Jerry, Harry, and Valli arrived here for dinner. Dinner was a rousing success.

And Chambanacon was a fine time too.

But I'm really tired. :)

Off to Chambanacon

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:59:27 GMT

In a few minutes, I'm going to pack up the car and head off to Chambanacon. daisy_knotwise is going to stay here with Katie and Julie as she'll find it more relaxing. :)

Probably especially relaxing after we just wrangled the girls through lunch at Five Guys (Motto: "Way too many french fries!")...

Speaking of Fry's, I'll be stopping there on the way out of town. We'll see if the crowd has thinned out yet.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:52:04 GMT

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Thanksgiving

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:14:23 GMT

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and -- in theory, at least -- not being at work.

In practice, I'm looking at this merge which is up to 39% complete after running for nearly 24 hours and thinking I may end up pushing a key on it sometime before I head down to Chambanacon.

We'll see.

Back In Town

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:34:12 GMT

jeff_duntemann and Carol arrived in town this afternoon and joined us for dinner. Katie and Julie were delighted to see them.

Jeff and Carol survived despite this.

Parts On Order

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:22:24 GMT

I found a place on the web where I can order the parts to fix (probably) the DAT player, so the parts are now ordered and should be on their way soon. Actually, it's just one part, but I bought two of them so I'd have a spare, since this particular part tends to go bad just from the DAT player sitting unused. *sigh*

And then, I should be able to do these transfers.

Hardware Blues

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:07:55 GMT

So I went down to the basement to try to transfer some old DAT tapes to the computer. Neither one of the DAT decks appears to be working correctly. *sigh*

I've found a part number for one of them, at least.

Ba Da Da Dum Snap Snap

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:12:47 GMT

samwinolj, Bonnie, Jerry, daisy_knotwise, and I headed down to the Loop today for the previews of The Addams Family, the new musical starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. Gretchen's capsule review was "Well, it won't be a classic of the American theater, but it was a fun way to spend an afternoon." And that's pretty much true.

There's a structural problem in the second act that's caused by the leads not being the romantic leads in the show, with the result that a number that should be very near the end of the act ends up being pushed substantially too early. (In my opinion, of course.) This leads to a relatively weak number just before the end of the musical, but I'm really not sure how to fix it. On the other hand, that's what tryouts are for.

There are a number of current references in the show, most of which were pretty funny, one of which falls in the politically polarizing category and resulted in a brief halt due to applause. I'm not convinced that applause is what you want there, because it disrupts the timing pretty severely. We'll see if it survives, I suppose.

Although the show is not supposed to be drawn from the old TV show or the movies, but from the original cartoons, they did have the good sense to license the TV theme. We even had a cameo by Cousin It.

And Uncle Fester, playing the role of Dr. Exposition, does his best to steal the show. And he gives it a very good try.

Gretchen, meanwhile, observes that it appears that all new Broadway musicals are required to have someone fly. She blames Cats.

My pithy observation was that Morticia may well be the role that Bebe Neuwirth was born to play: "Sybil on the Half-Shell".

Of course, after such a show, we find ourselves trying to figure out how to cast it with members of SpaceTime Theater. We concluded that daddy_guido and I would engage in a death match to determine which one of us was Gomez and which one was Uncle Fester. After that, we discovered we would run into an acute shortage of women. And I suggested importing catalana to play Morticia, as she can both sing and dance.

Though it's difficult trying to cast a musical when half of the cast doesn't want to sing. :)

Cleaning Up the Finances

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:44:07 GMT

I went through a bunch of old credit card statements today, because ISFiC wanted to know how much they owed me for the storage locker that has been being billed to my card. Suffice it to say that I can now pay my property taxes.

And my next installment of property taxes. The good news about having money sitting out there like this is that you're not tempted to spend it. I think of it as a payroll savings plan. And if I'd had the money invested over that period, it would be worth a lot less. :)

The hole that it leaves in ISFiC's books when it comes out, however, will be a sight to behold. Apparently, we managed to avoid paying me back for three years.

Bedtime Update

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:07:20 GMT

Tonight's Reason #385 For Why Katie Cannot Go To Bed Now:

"My feet are too big."

I pointed out that Daddy's feet are even bigger and he was planning to go to bed shortly.

Interestingly, it seems to be quiet now. Maybe too quiet...

Equipment Glitches

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:26:31 GMT

I wandered over to the studio computer while doing laundry to send kriel an MP3 that he'd asked for. Naturally, the computer refused to boot up.

I eventually reset it to boot to the last known good configuration and managed to get it up and running. And the MP3 is in the mail. :)

Rassen frassen hardware...

Three Years Old

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:47:16 GMT

Katie turned three years old today. Because I had to go to a Capricon meeting tonight -- which meant missing dinner with daisy_knotwise, Katie, and Julie -- we went out to Red Robin for lunch. There, they brought Katie a little chocolate sundae and sang their happy birthday song for her. Katie was delighted.

On the way home, we stopped at the bakery and picked up a small cake, because there had to be candles some time. Katie insisted. :)

And Katie had a decent haul of presents. Julie gave her the "Melody Time" DVD that Daddy had picked out, while Mommy and Daddy gave her several Dr. Seuss books and a box set of Curious George books. And there was much reading as a result.

But not when the cake was present, as you'll see.

	Katie's Cake Katie turned three today, so there was cake. Note that we have three candles on the cake. This is because Mommy put them there before Daddy lit them.
	More Candles And after Katie blew out the candles, she insisted on putting two more candles on the cake. We were as bemused by this as Julie was. Toddler shui, we call it.
	Let Them Eat Cake Yes, it's cake. I'm eighteen months old. I'm making a mess. You expected something different?
	Concentrating On the Cake On the other hand, Katie is making much less of a mess. She did insist on having the top layer of whipped cream frosting removed before she'd eat the cake. More toddler shui, I guess. :)

Eighteen Months Old (With Pictures!)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:28:39 GMT

Today is Katie's birthday, about which more later. But before I get around to that, I owe pictures dating back to the pre-WindyCon 36 era. Like, for instance, November 1st, the day when Julie turned 18 months old.

	The Desirable Computer Julie is eighteen months old today and would like to play with the computer. She's not quite sure what she's going to do when she catches it, but she'll figure it out.
	Helping With the Laundry Let me just move this basket of dirty laundry. It'll look much better over there.
	Sisters Of course, there is no such thing as a picture taking session that doesn't include a photo of Katie. And wonder of wonders! I got them both to look at the camera at the same time!
	I'm Reading Julie is -- like Katie! -- greatly interested in reading. Unfortunately, the book is upside down, but I don't think that matters much to her. Yet.
	The Top Bunk Sometime in the next six months or so, Julie will be sharing a room with Katie. There will then be a substantial discussion about who is sleeping in which bunk. I'm betting on Katie in the top bunk, but I could be so wrong...

Bemused

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:17:14 GMT

I'm bemused. Or fascinated. Or something like that.

I went to create a new view using Remote ClearCase, because I needed to replicate an old view of mine that's created using the unusable-from-here standard ClearCase client. Since I just wanted to copy an existing view, I figured I'd get the available view list in the creation process and pick the one that matched my old view.

So in the drop list that resulted, I find something called "bills_crappy_code_view".

I'm not sure if the person who created it thought that I'd never see it or simply didn't care. In either case, it makes him not nearly as bright as he thinks he is.

I wonder who that belongs to. I suppose there's a way to find out who created it...

Update: Yes, yes, there is. And now I know.

Hamburger Happy

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:10:49 GMT

The Five Guys at Randhurst showed up as "now open" when I checked their website this morning. I took advantage of this by heading up there for lunch.

It's more expensive and more food than I should have on most days, so I probably won't go there that often. But it certainly tasted good! :)

Back From WindyCon

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:52:53 GMT

WindyCon is done for the year. I think things generally went well, but am a bit too tired to say anything else coherent at this point.

Maybe tomorrow. (But since I still haven't posted about Saturday and Sunday at OVFF... :) )

Let's Do the Time Warp Again

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:29:02 GMT

Having finished conferring and hobnobbing with my colleague in India, I am now going to join my wife in bed. *sigh*

Well, at least I'm officially on convention time now, because I am not getting up early tomorrow morning...

Just a Trim

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:58:16 GMT

daisy_knotwise has decided that it is time for Katie to have a haircut. Given that she'll be three years old next week and hasn't yet had one, I suppose she's correct. I especially suppose she's correct given how little Katie likes to have her hair washed and brushed.

But I recall how my father used to cut our hair. One false move and it was time for a crew cut.

I'm hoping Katie didn't squirm too much.

The Perversity of Inanimate Objects

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:51:53 GMT

Because it is two days until WindyCon, I should have expected that the hard drive in my main home machine -- the one with all the interesting data on it, including the Girl Genius presentation that I spent two hours working on last night -- would pick this moment to fail. *sigh*

Fortunately, that hard drive is part of a mirrored pair, so I've recovered the presentation from the working drive and will shut this down in just a minute. Then it's off to Fry's to buy another drive to replace the dead one.

I didn't have the hour to spare, but I surely don't have the data to spare.

The Pie Is Not a Lie

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:51:11 GMT

I went to Sam's Club and the Jewel to pick up supplies for dinner, as I'd requested Superburger as being really, really easy to chew. And fried potatoes. Also really, really easy to chew. But we were out of onions and low on potatoes, so first to Sam's for those. I would have picked up more ground beef there too, but they were out, so I'll grab some tomorrow so we can make meatloaf. (Chorus: Really, really easy to chew!)

I also picked up several birthday presents for Katie -- a selection of Curious George stories, three Dr. Seuss books in a bundle, and the classic Disney music DVD -- as we're at T-minus seven for her third birthday. Those all remain safely hidden in my trunk for the moment.

When I called daisy_knotwise to let her know that she'd need to thaw the remaining ground beef in the freezer as I'd struck out on fresh, I asked her if there was anything else she wanted from the Jewel other than buns and Julie formula.

"Yes," she replied. "I want something wonderful, but I don't know what."

So I promised I'd look. And on the way there, I realized what the correct wonderful thing would be. So when I walked into the Jewel, I started to head toward the bakery section, except the wonderful thing was sitting on the display right as I walked in.

Pumpkin pie. I picked it up and dropped it in the cart. I made sure to pick up more pressurized whipped cream, because I didn't want to run out in mid-pie, along with the other Superburger ingredients to replenish what we were about to use up, and the Julie formula.

When I got home, I announced to Gretchen that I had found the wonderful thing and produced the pumpkin pie. Not at all to my surprise, she concurred.

So later in the evening, we cut up the pie, giving a small piece to Katie, a fair sized piece to me, and a big piece to Gretchen, as I warned her that Julie would mug her for part of her pie.

Boy, did she! Eventually, she was grabbing the remains of the pie out of Gretchen's dish and chowing down on it. And Katie also requested more pie. So Gretchen got more pie and got Katie another small piece.

And there was much pie. And it was good.

And there is still one large piece left. :)

	The Desirable Computer Julie is eighteen months old today and would like to play with the computer. She's not quite sure what she's going to do when she catches it, but she'll figure it out.
	Helping With the Laundry Let me just move this basket of dirty laundry. It'll look much better over there.
	Sisters Of course, there is no such thing as a picture taking session that doesn't include a photo of Katie. And wonder of wonders! I got them both to look at the camera at the same time!
	I'm Reading Julie is -- like Katie! -- greatly interested in reading. Unfortunately, the book is upside down, but I don't think that matters much to her. Yet.
	The Top Bunk Sometime in the next six months or so, Julie will be sharing a room with Katie. There will then be a substantial discussion about who is sleeping in which bunk. I'm betting on Katie in the top bunk, but I could be so wrong...