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Apparently, daddy is no comfort at all after the scary thunder wakes you up. Only mommy can help with that (and she'd better not try handing you off to daddy after that initial cuddle).
I'm not taking it too hard.
I'm not taking it too hard.
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It's Kim's birthday today, and in lieu of a cake she asked me to make her the decadent Quiche Lorraine recipe that we got from Cooks Illustrated a few years ago. It's absolutely delicious, with multiple yummy cheeses (some in the crust) and home-cooked bacon bits and a custard made with more half & half and sour cream than egg. It comes out looking pretty, too:
Meanwhile, we've been mostly focused on our pregnancy recently, so we haven't said much about our cats lately. They continue to be adorable, and they're growing up quite nicely. Here are a couple of pictures of the three of them lounging on the radiator together:
(From left to right, that's Nia, Callie, and Polly. Little Callie is almost as big as her sisters now!)
The cats' latest achievement around the house is the discovery that various cupboard and closet doors around the house can be opened if you maneuver your nose and claws just right. Kim woke up this morning to find the linen closet door open (a first!) and the three catnip toys that we keep there scattered around the hallway, all completely soaked with kitty drool.
Oh, and in case you've wondered, we did finally get rid of that fallen tree in our yard. The neighbor called a friend with a chainsaw, and we took the thing apart and left it on the curb for the city's yard waste pickup. (Though in fact, someone randomly drove by later and picked up a lot of it for firewood.) It came out pretty thoroughly, too: the split in the trunk went low enough to break through the main roots, so we don't even have a stump!
Meanwhile, we've been mostly focused on our pregnancy recently, so we haven't said much about our cats lately. They continue to be adorable, and they're growing up quite nicely. Here are a couple of pictures of the three of them lounging on the radiator together:
(From left to right, that's Nia, Callie, and Polly. Little Callie is almost as big as her sisters now!)
The cats' latest achievement around the house is the discovery that various cupboard and closet doors around the house can be opened if you maneuver your nose and claws just right. Kim woke up this morning to find the linen closet door open (a first!) and the three catnip toys that we keep there scattered around the hallway, all completely soaked with kitty drool.
Oh, and in case you've wondered, we did finally get rid of that fallen tree in our yard. The neighbor called a friend with a chainsaw, and we took the thing apart and left it on the curb for the city's yard waste pickup. (Though in fact, someone randomly drove by later and picked up a lot of it for firewood.) It came out pretty thoroughly, too: the split in the trunk went low enough to break through the main roots, so we don't even have a stump!
Kim and I recently agreed that our "We should paint first" excuse not to unpack our many boxes of books had ceased to be viable. For various reasons, painting didn't happen this summer, and we don't foresee it in the immediate future. So at long last, we finally buckled down today (Eek! Yesterday, now!) and got everything unpacked and sorted.[1]
It feels really good to have a wall of our books to look at rather than a wall of empty shelves with various junk scattered around them. Honestly, it's done wonders for making the living room feel welcoming. And of course there's the obvious benefit: we can finally reach all of our books when we want them!
[1] We decided at the last minute to go ahead and shelve all of our fiction together, rather than splitting out the sci-fi/fantasy as we have in the past. As for non-fiction, we beat our heads against it for a while and eventually settled on some reasonable categories. But we were awfully close at one point to calling![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ukelele and asking for advice on the Dewey Decimal System.
It feels really good to have a wall of our books to look at rather than a wall of empty shelves with various junk scattered around them. Honestly, it's done wonders for making the living room feel welcoming. And of course there's the obvious benefit: we can finally reach all of our books when we want them!
[1] We decided at the last minute to go ahead and shelve all of our fiction together, rather than splitting out the sci-fi/fantasy as we have in the past. As for non-fiction, we beat our heads against it for a while and eventually settled on some reasonable categories. But we were awfully close at one point to calling
ukelele and asking for advice on the Dewey Decimal System.Ten years ago today, Kim and I got married. That's an absolutely amazing and scary and remarkable thought. There have of course been bits of tension and frustration along the way, and at times we both suspect the most surprising thing is that we've managed to find someone who can put up with our, er, "endearing quirks". But on the whole, this "life partners" thing is still working out astoundingly well for us and we're both unshakably convinced that the other is awesome. We still grin like newlyweds entirely too often, too. We're tremendously fortunate.
Kim, I love you! Here's to many more great decades to come.
Kim, I love you! Here's to many more great decades to come.
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You might have thought that I'd be reasonably net-connected during a "Science Fiction and Open Source Software Convention", but no. There were a few issues with the Penguicon wireless, but really I just had more interesting things to do with my time. A few especially memorable tidbits:
- Tom Smith's music is a lot of fun.
- Great panel with four authors (Tobias S. Buckell, Jim C. Hines, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Steve Piziks) discussing the Google Books settlement. Take home messages: Authors like the goal but loathe how Google pursued it; the process behind the current settlement had massive flaws that may get the whole thing thrown out; one cause of the mess is stupidly extended US copyright law.
- I played (and won) a game of Munchkin with Eric S. Raymond (among other people).
This was my first con, so a fair bit of the experience was just getting oriented to how the whole thing worked. (Important hint: Figure out which panel/event rooms are small, and get to those early.) I went to a lot of nifty panels and other cool stuff (as well as some less nifty and/or cool bits), and I kinda sorta met some neat people. All in all, a positive experience, and I think I'll have an easier time getting into the swing of things at my next con.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, I sadly never made it to an Open Filk night to sing my Silmarillion song. There was always something else fun at the same time, and they'd always wrapped up by the time I was free. Maybe next con. (I'll have to polish up a backing track a bit more next time, anyway: Audacity seems great for that, so thanks, minorninth!)
This weekend, Kim and I are going to Penguicon, a "Science Fiction and Open Source Software Convention" near Detroit. I've never actually been to a con before, so it should be a fun experience. This one's a little unusual with its "open source" aspect, but Kim figures that's a plus for me: if there's a time when the sci-fi side of things doesn't match my interests, I can go hang out with a bunch of Linux geeks and pretend I never abandoned them for a Mac. :) (I've still got at least some open source cred, since I've contributed a few bits of code to Firefox in the past.)
Any advice for how to have an enjoyable con experience? (I wonder if I should try to perform my Silmarillion-inspired Simon and Garfunkel parody at one of the Open Filk nights. Hmm.)
Any advice for how to have an enjoyable con experience? (I wonder if I should try to perform my Silmarillion-inspired Simon and Garfunkel parody at one of the Open Filk nights. Hmm.)
Ten years ago last night, I proposed to Kim at the end of our last Mudd Occasional Ball. It's a bit scary to think that it's been that long. Definitely one of my better decisions. :)
And while I'm on the subject of ten year anniversaries, let me take a moment to put in a brief plug for our ten year college reunion coming up on May 2-4. For those of you who went to Claremont schools, we'd love to see you if you can make it (even you're not class of 1998, you've got plenty of friends who were, right?).
And while I'm on the subject of ten year anniversaries, let me take a moment to put in a brief plug for our ten year college reunion coming up on May 2-4. For those of you who went to Claremont schools, we'd love to see you if you can make it (even you're not class of 1998, you've got plenty of friends who were, right?).
For those who have been wondering, Kim and I have successfully made it
to California. Our new apartment seems great: it is near my new job
at the Claremont Colleges and features lots of trees and a babbling
brook behind the back porch. While I'm settling in here, we've got
movers bringing most of our furniture and stuff from Chicago (they'll
show up in about a week) and Kim is driving the car across the
country. She'll be here on Sunday (I couldn't ask for a nicer
birthday present :) ).
My classes start in about a week and a half, so getting ready for that
is occupying much of my time. I'm doing my best to figure out how to
teach introductory physics to people who aren't necessarily excited
about the subject (and how to teach them everything they'll need to
know without going so fast that they don't actually learn anything).
It's a challenge, but it's going to be a lot of fun.
to California. Our new apartment seems great: it is near my new job
at the Claremont Colleges and features lots of trees and a babbling
brook behind the back porch. While I'm settling in here, we've got
movers bringing most of our furniture and stuff from Chicago (they'll
show up in about a week) and Kim is driving the car across the
country. She'll be here on Sunday (I couldn't ask for a nicer
birthday present :) ).
My classes start in about a week and a half, so getting ready for that
is occupying much of my time. I'm doing my best to figure out how to
teach introductory physics to people who aren't necessarily excited
about the subject (and how to teach them everything they'll need to
know without going so fast that they don't actually learn anything).
It's a challenge, but it's going to be a lot of fun.