The daughter continues

My daughter is now eight years old. Looking back, I realize I never announced her arrival in my blog. I wasn't very consistent back then, but still, such an event should warrant a line or two.

Anyway story time.

She was born at 2:20 in the morning, and a couple hours later I went home. It was helpful that I already worked nights, because I wasn't tired in the least. I made the detour to pick up some Paulas Donuts, and remarked that they were for my daughters birthday. The girl behind the counter asked "oh, how old is she?" and I merely replied, "Three hours"

But instead of requesting donuts for her birthday, she always wants cupcakes instead. :(

The old ones

Alright, the internet is just so convenient, but at the same time it's designed to funnel everyone into about five different web sites, then pummel them with ads. It's insidious. 

I miss the old internet.

Go back, before social media, before upvotes and user generated content. When you wanted to use the internet, you had to have some manner of skill, a degree of tech literacy. If you wanted to put something on it, you needed even more skill. It was an entry exam: you must be this tall to ride, and the content and discourse showed it. 

Perhaps I've become a snob, but when you look at the level of discourse online you quickly see that perhaps not everyone should have their voice amplified.

Perhaps I'm just nostalgic. Honestly sometimes I find myself chasing that high from my early days, when I went from a small town outside a swamp in upstate New York, and found the entire world on my desk.

And another one

I knew he wasn't exactly in his prime, but we lost another good soul. My grandfather died 20 years ago, but I think the tar from all the smokes it what was holding him together in the end, while being the reason he passed so much younger than his peers. But lately it seems the rest of his generation is in a hurry to catch up.

The marathon

So my kids decided last week they were going to watch all nine of the main Star Wars movies. They hadn't seen them all, and they were going to lose the opportunity once tax season ended. But rather than just passively watch, they turned the living room into the Satellite of Love and roasted all nine.

The Phantom Menace: "The real menace was the writing team"

Attack of the Clones: "If the bounty hunter works for Dooku, and the clones are from the bounty hunter, then who's army is it?"

Revenge of the Sith: "They didn't put that scene in the game" (When a freshly minted Darth Vader met younglings)

A New Hope: "This smells like 70's"

The Empire Strikes Back: "Couldn't Obiwan's ghost tell them where to find Luke?"

Return of the Jedi: "How are the teddy bears winning?"

The Force Awakens: "Why is she good at everything right away?"

The Last Jedi: "So during the slow speed chase where they're running out of gas, they ran away to Vegas and got arrested for illegal parking?"

The Rise of Skywalker: "Half the movie takes place during the opening crawl. The other half is placeholder text that's basically [INSERT SCRIPT HERE]"

Smell in the air

I could smell it. I went outside, and it was warm. Oh, we have warm days during winter. Sometimes it's downright balmy. But this time I went outside and the air smelled different.

It's a weird fishy smell that only happens when the wind changes. When the atmospheric currents begin dumping air up from the south instead of down from the north. I don't know why it's a fishy smell, or why it only lasts the first day. I just know that's my cue to get the winter stuff put away and dig out the bikes.

Spent a couple hours cleaning out the shed while I was at it. So much stuff crammed in there.