Dirkus Maximus

At 11:46 last night Pacific time, my sister-in-aw Lucy gave birth to our new niece Emma Rose Thibodeaux. Emma was 7lbs, 2oz. We don’t have any pictures yet, but we’re sure they’re coming soon. Welcome to the world Emma!

Happy anniversary to us! As of today, Wes and I have been married for 12 years.

I’d like to toss a HUGE thank-you out to Je’aime. He agreed to watch the kids for a little bit while Wes and I ran out to try and enjoy a little “us” time. YOU RULE.

So what did we do? Well, we started with a nice steak dinner at The Marina over on the Camden causeway right across the harbor from our neighborhood. I guess it was just too cold for anyone else to go out, as we pretty much had the entire dining area to ourselves the entire time. The food was good, the view was awesome, and the wait staff was on the ball. Dinner was great.

After that, we checked to see if there were any movies playing in the E-City area worth watching. Seeing as I wasn’t real keen on watching “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeekuel” the answer was “No.”

So what did we do? Well, I gotta tell you, I’m a real ladies man. I know how to really show my wife a good time. We went out to the Wal-Mart!

Seriously though, Wes had been talking about needing a new jacket and her gloves were looking pretty sad, so I got her one of each. We also went hunting for wal-creatures for peopleofwalmart.com, but we didn’t have any luck catching one with my camera. Maybe next time.

Friday was Adriana’s 8th birthday, and we’ve been busy all weekend long. It started Friday afternoon with a little cookout at my house, with cake and presents. My mom gave Addy a DS Lite and a game for her birthday, and that was pretty much all she wrote. She was nose-down in that for the rest of the evening. To see pics from that, and the rest of the things we’ve done this weekend, click on through… (more…)

Cake and ice cream at Dirks house! I’ll update with pics later.

The kids and I finally visited a place we’ve driven past a zillion times and had always been curious about. The Recycled Reader is freakin’ awesome. If you’re looking for a good used book store, this is the place. It’s dirt cheap too.

Happy 4th everyone! I hope everybody made it through another year with all 10 digits intact!

We went up to my parents house for dinner this year. We had some pork ribs and some fresh corn on the cob, good stuff! After that, we headed on home to catch the fireworks. We didn’t really do anything in the way of explosives this year ourselves, due to low funds, but the show down at the waterfront made up for it. We trespassed just a tiny bit and watched the show at the waterfront from right ON the water, a couple hundred yards from the barge they were using. The show was right over top of us, and they barely set the barge on fire at all this year!

After the show, we walked home while people in the neighborhood shot off their own slightly illegal fireworks and the guys on the bage fired off the few mortars that were too stubborn to fire off during the show and needed the “encouragement” of getting hit with a road flare. When we got home, we lit off a few dozen sparklers, and I tried to get everyone to write their names in the air with them on long exposure pictures. You can see pics of everything after the jump! (more…)

Since the fourth of July falls on a Saturday this year, Canon gave me a floating holiday to make up for having a “day off” when I would normally be off anyway. I took it today to get some things done around the house. I changed the oil in my car, pulled a nail out of one of my tires and patched it, gave Wes’ car a once-over, cleaned out our fish pond, and took care of a few other things around here. Then Wes and I stopped by some old fella selling fresh produce from the back of his pickup truck on the side of the road and got some fresh sweet corn (a baker’s dozen for $3, can’t beat that!) and had some steaks on the grill.

My car is still sporadically making that whirring, not-quite-grinding noise from the area of the alternator and idler pulley. I took it to toyota yesterday morning, and of course it stopped making the noise the second I headed in that direction. Seeing as there’s no way to diagnose a funny noise when there IS no funny noise, I had to turn around and go on to work with it anyway. And of course, it started making the damned noise again the moment I headed home. The really messed up part about this is that the only reliable source for parts is Toyota directly. Autozone et al don’t have the parts yet because the vehicle is fairly new and it isn’t being made in large numbers. This means I get shafted by Toyota for parts. Care to guess how much they want for an alternator? How about SIX HUNDRED AND FIVE DOLLARS. I’m not sure how much an idler pulley is, but if the alternator is any indication, that wouldn’t be cheap either. Plus the bastages want an $85 diagnostic fee just to stand around point and grunt at my engine and isolate which of the two is failing, or if I’m completely off and it’s something else entirely. I have no idea where I’m gonna pull that money from, but I suppose I’ll just have to make it work. Wish me luck!

We had a good time this past weekend, with a trip to KDH on Saturday and the Mother Of All Halo Parties on Sunday. A friend of ours who used to work with us at Canon, Marie, is staying with us for a little while right now too. The more the merrier, right?

I didn’t get a chance to do a live broadcast from the Halo party, much less actually stop to take pictures. If anyone else there did, please hook me up, so I can post them here! I did get some pics from our trip to the beach though, and of course I borrowed the new D10 for the trip.  Gallery of pics after the jump, and I’ll add linkage to a video I put on youtube when I get home (Youtube is blocked here at work)

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Addy and Grandpa getting down

This past Sunday we had my folks over for a old-fashion get together of sorts.  My parents came over with their insturements (mom on guitar and dad on the banjo) and attempted to rock out, with all their old time gospel favorites.  Only for out first attempt at it….not so much! Dj and Andy where also on guitar and Ashley and Addy where backing everything up with the maraca’s and the tamborine. I have finally learned why mom was never in a band, she gives new meaning to the words “Does not play well with others!” We finished up the day with smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and chocolate cake.  All in all it was a good day, save for the one depressing thing, that Ashley’s hamster, Hammie died just as my parents where arriving.  So before we could begin the festivities we had to give Hammie a grad send off to that great big hamster wheel in the sky.   We will try to do this again next weekend,(everything except for the dying hamster thing) who know’s maybe after a little practice this time it may sound like music!

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Andy’s teacher has been making them write a poem every day this week for their homework. Most boys would rather dig a ditch than do something as lame as right a poem, right? Well I was pleasantly surprised by what he was able to come up with.  Leave him a comment and let him know what you think. This is Andy’s poem titled

My Betta
Fish, Fish, his name is Fish,
he swims around inside his dish.
All day long he sits right there,
he does not blink, he does not care.
Around, Around he swims all day,
he does not work, he does not play.
Slowly round the bowl he swims,
with blue and green and purple fins.
He swims into his deep, dark, cave,
in his bowl there are no waves.
A solitary life he leads,
cause no friends is what he needs.
Betta is his special name,
Aggression is his claim to fame.
Though beautiful he may be
do not put another fish with me.

 

 

IT'S FREE STUFF! HOORAY FREE STUFF!

The thumb drives Wes and I won came in sooner than expected! They even came in a special box labeled “Beloved Version” and stuff. They’re also freakin’ XBOX HUGE. Thumb drive my ass, more like arm drive. But hey, I can’t bitch too much, they were free and the box even says they’re “Readyboost Emhanced”[sic] so I can use it to speed up the craptop. Not too shabby, I guess. Pics of the unboxing after the jump. (more…)

A while back MSI, a computer and computer parts manufacturer, put on a contest where you could win a free laptop if you post a picture of yourself and your loved one.

Well, we didn’t make off with the laptop, but we did get in under the wire to get a pair of free his and hers USB thumb drives! Yay us!

We took the kids to Chesapeake City Park to run some energy off today, but Addy decided to take it a step further and make sure she got some bed rest for a bit. She was climbing on the big climbing rock at the back of the playground, when she lost her footing, and took a tumble from about 6 feet up. She chipped a bone in her ankle and she’s going to be on crutches for a good part of this week. Please feel free to post a get-well message for her here, and I’ll make sure they get to her.

So, my kids were playing at the park, and they found a ceramic angel figurine that someone left behind. That’s odd enough on its own, right? It gets better. Tell me, when you think of little angel figurines, what musical instrument are they normally holding? A harp, right? Yeah, not this one.

Click for cross-eye 3D version of this image

That’s right, my kids found an angel statue with an accordion. Seriously, WTF? Is this Weird Al’s patron saint or something? “Our Lady of the Insufferable Squeezebox?” It appears to have been mass produced in a mold, so apparently there’s some kind of demand for these things somewhere. Maybe every artist ever has been wrong, and when we get to heaven instead of and angelic chorus accompanied by harps, we’ll be greeted by the sound of a choir of angels with accordions, making a racket like the sound of one thousand cats simultaneously giving birth to pine cones.

If this is your figurine, feel free to drop a line in the comments so that I can A) give your your angel back and B) get you mental help.

OK, all together now... Awwww...

Today marks eleven years of having to put up with Wes(SMACK) I mean of wonderful marriage to my wife Westly Anne. We’re gonna go have a nice quiet steak dinner at the Texas Steakhouse out in Greenbrier tonight.

Later that evening…

Wes Says: Well, just got back from having us a quiet evening out.  The Texas Road House was most excellent!  The food and the service were very good.  We even managed to land a baby sampler plate of a few of the side dishes for free.  I would defenitly recommend their chili!  Next stop was at Greenbrier Mall to walk off most of our dinner.  We also managed to pick up a couple of gifts for each other.  I got a new pair of walking shoes.  DJ got a new guitar book from the bookstore.  All in all it was not a bad evening.  The best gift of course was given to us by DJ’s Mom.  She kept the kids for us for a few hours so that we could have a nice quiet dinner together, for the first time in like over a year.  Thanks again, Mom!

Welcome to 2009! No fireworks or IED’s this time around, I’m sure the neighbors were glad for the financial constraints we’re under this year. We had a nice quiet New Years eve, picking out pictures for the Huge *ss Frame in the living room. We change out the pictures in the frame every year at New Years. We print 17 photos from the year past on my old photo printer, and take the old pictures from the year before down and put them in Wes’ “Memory Box” that she keeps up in the closet. I’d show you what we put up, but SOMEONE (evil eye towards the kids) decided to pour an orange soda into my trusty old SD300 and seriously damage it. I managed to get it taken apart and cleaned out for the most part, but the LCD screen on the back was a complete loss. I’ll have to see how much the part costs on Monday when my vacation ends and I go back to work. I’m not sure when I’ll have the money to actually order it either. I’d like to just take the Canon Loyalty Program option, and upgrade to an EOS Rebel XTi, but I can’t spare the money for an LCD screen this pay period, much less the $300 for the Rebel.

So, what about my predictions for the New Year? The economic slump will hit a plateu (Well, an inverse plateu… an inverteu? Is that a word?), but will continue till the third quarter; After that there will be a long, slow recovery ahead as both consumers and banks start taking credit, loans, and mortgages more seriously. Wait about 8 to 10 years, the whole cycle will repeat again. I also forsee the political fuss over the new administration dying down as everyone realizes that the New Boss is the same as the Old Boss, with only superficial changes in policy. Hopefully the blind ultra-partisan kuckleheads who are driving around with “PALIN IN 2012″ stickers on their SUVs (yes, I’ve seen them, as scary as that is) will see that a Democrat in office ain’t all that bad after all.

New Years Resolutions? To work diligently on getting all our debits paid off, and try to lose some of this extra blubber around my midsection. The neat thing is that the two goals play together real well, as being broke as shit tends to reduce the amount of eating you do.

Feel free to leave your predictions and resolutions for the new year in the comments!

Dec 25, 00:30 – WOOOOOOO!! It’s Christmas Day! I’m posting this at 00:30, so if you watch close you might get a glimpse of Santa delivering presents! I’ll update this tomorrow morning when we start opening presents, and maybe take the time to list the kid’s haul of goodies before we head north to Va to let their grandparents spoil them rotten.

Dec 25, 00:47 -  It has come to my attention that my living room is about as brightly illuminated as the ^%@#ing batcave. Oh well.

The Next Day…

Oh man. What a busy day that was. After opening presents here, we went to Wes’ parents house to open more presents there, then to my parent’s house to open even MORE presents. Andy got an electric blanket, several LEGO sets, a boxed set of Captain Underpants books, and lots of clothes and stuff. Along with another ton of clothes, the girls both got tons of stuff; Webkinz dolls, Littlest Petshop playsets, Addy got like… 4 art sets (not that she’s complaining any) and a Cabbage Patch doll, and Ashley got a gumball machine (“I GOT TOM SERVO!”) and a ton of books. Wes got a copy of the I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER book, a copy of The Tales of Beetle the Bard and a new jacket. I got some new work clothes that I desparately needed, and a full size guitar!

I just wanted to put a giant THANK YOU out to all the people who got us and the kids stuff for Chrstmas. Thanks, and have a happy new year!

Don't worry about heating oil, all these candles will keep us warm!

Wes is another year older today! Leave your birthday wishes in the comments!

I know, I know, I haven’t written in a while. I have stretches where I think “Man, I should blog this” but never do. Anyhow, Just wanted to check in with some random bits of news.

• Thanksgiving went well, all both of them. We did Turkeyday at my ‘rents house, then did the Saturday after at Wes’s ‘rents house. Food was delicious at both. Wes and Ashley both came down with a funky stomach bug Sunday, but I’m not sure what they ate that I didn’t; mainly because I ate some of EVERYTHING.
• My Dad’s birthday is coming up, and I still have no freaking clue what to get him. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery for a retiree who likes to chill out in front of the TV most of the day with the Travel Channel and Maury? Maybe I could get him out of that chair once in a while with a Wii, or a refurbed PS2 with DDR…
• I managed to score myself a pretty sweet little set of photographic strobes second hand from The Lance. This, combined with the crazy K-Mart “Focus” tripod with roughly eleventy thousand points of articulation I got at a charity auction at work, and the Yashica Model A Twin-Lens Reflex camera I bought some time ago from Liz, and I almost have a studio. Now I just need some cheap 120 B&W roll film, some developing hardware and chemicals, and I’ll be all set to start screwing around with photography old-school style.
• We put up our Christmas tree. We ended up calling the old artificial tree out of retirement for this year. The kids really had their hearts set on a real tree, but finances dictated otherwise. The base on it was busted all to hell, but some duct tape and a tree stand from the thrift store up the street fixed that. Duct tape: Making your holidays better, one festive silver strip at a time.
• No mass-produced crappy ornaments for the tree this year! With three schoolage kids, we now have more than enough handmade ornaments to cover the whole thing in hand-crafted goodness. This year’s tree includes classic favorites such as “Snow-Bob Square-Man”, “The Scotch Tape Angel”, “Pirate Claus” and “The Christmas Yetis”
• Addy had Wes rolling a couple days ago. She asked Wes if they could have coffee and donuts for breakfast, Wes said “No, why do you want coffee and donuts?” Addy replied in a very matter-of-fact tone “I want to practice being a cop.”
• A while back some friends of ours, Barb and Greg, had to take their kids and nothing but the clothes on their backs and leave their home back due to mold. You might remember me saying something about it. Well, they’re trying to see if ABC’s “Extreme Home Makover” can do anything to help. I’m giving them a hand with the video portion of the application. I also put them in for the FM99 Christmas wish fund. They’ve figured out how to get things right. The bad news, it’s the worst possible outcome. They’re going to have to pay off the entire mortgage and an equity loan before they can even THINK about tearing down the house and rebuilding. The nice thing is that the City of Chesapeake is giving them an exception to tear down and build a new place even though they’re on less than three acres (there’s a zoning law against it) and a contractor they’re friends with is willing to build them a home and only charge them for materials; the labor will be pro bono. But now they’re stuck. The insurance won’t cover anything but two sheets of drywall that were damaged by some rainwater at some point, totalling $500 for materials and labor to repair that. Never mind the rest of the freaking house, right? You can read their whole story (and how to give them some help) at http://www.smitheieio.com
• Wes and I will be handling the portraits at the Canon ITS Holiday Gala this year. She’ll be working crowd control, and I’ll be snapping pictures at a furious pace. I think I might fall back and use the 50D this year, though I am kind of tempted to try and sneak the 5d Mk II out for a night on the town. Don’t count on me shooting my own version of “Reverie” on it though.
• The 2007 Toyota Yaris hatchback has enough room in the back to haul just under a quarter of a cord of firewood if you put the back seats down. She also wallows around corners like a drunken sow and has the stopping distance of a fully loaded coal train with that load.
• Wes still can’t start a fire in the woodstove without the aid of half a phone book worth of paper, a large barrel full of pinecones, and a blowtorch. On the other hand, I finally broke my month long streak of one-match fires today and had to resort to using a second match. I will teach her one day, I swear.

That’s about it for now. Check out some pics of the strobes I got from Lance and the Christmas tree after this link… (more…)

Happy thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone’s having a great day and is busy stuffing their faces with large amounts of turkey with all the fixin’s. Speaking of Thanksgiving dinners, I know a story that starts with one…