Basement accompli (almost)

We are now a pseudo-hardwood floor installation in my future office away from having a finished basement. Carpet was installed in the rec reoom area today, with toys from the family room hot its heels. The in-laws were fortunate enough to arrive today as well, so my father-in-law had the pleasure of helping me move a couch, a chair, and an as-yet-unpacked media table into the basement.

Tomorrow will probably involve assembling the media table and finding out which ends of the coaxial and cat5 cables in my wire closet go with which ends out in the rooms. Oh, and peeling the eldest off the ceiling down there. Between getting a new playroom and the arrival of his Oma for a brief visit an outsider would be convinced the kid is mainlining pixie stix.

Salvelinus fontinalis

That’s the brook trout, folks. An appropriate name for a new blog by a fisherman/high school science teacher who used to work for the state Department of Fish and Game.

Currently operating under the alias ‘Vandalhooch’, the author of this new blog is a frightfully intelligent individual. Did you ever have a kid in your high school science classes who would:

1. sleep through most of class
2. wake up to the noise of the teacher asking a question of said napper
3. answer the question correctly
4. return to napping

without missing a beat? I witnessed such a feat from Vandalhooch as I sat behind him in Chemistry class. I would feel damn near unarmed in a battle of wits with him.

I look forward to some good stuff from his blog.

A “Mr. Mom” day

My better half is playing host to something that causes fevers and achy joints, so I’m playing Mr. Mom this morning.

So far I’ve fixed breakfast for the eldest (an everyday task, actually) and folded the laundry I started last night. Soon I’ll hop in the (temporarily renamed) Dad’s Taxi for a trip to the eldest’s Tae Kwon Do lesson.

Who know what other fun the day will bring?!?!

I just love electronic medical records!

Electronic medical records definitely speed things up; like, say, exposure of patient health information.

Don’t get me wrong. I think electronic medical information is, in general, a Martha-Stewart-style Good Thing™. When I travel to Colorado Springs and do something boneheaded, it would be mighty useful for the folks in Erica’s ED to have access to my medical records back here outside the District. The problem is limiting the access to those folks, and only for as long as they need it.

A little something for the parents

The kind of thing you should keep to yourself…

18 Body Tricks

18 Tricks to Teach Your Body from Men’s Health (via the [non]billable hour)

Mortified

adj., the way I feel 300 pages into Wallace’s Consider the Lobster with a list of words I need to look up!

If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to crawl into bed with my Compact OED for a little remedial vocabulary lesson.

Books to Read

Since I’m listing books I’ve read, I probably should list books I’m going/would like to read too. If you have a suggestion, feel free to add it below!

Currently 8 In the Pile (Mentally and/or Literally–it’s certainly not a queue):

• A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments by David Foster Wallace. I have to see if I’ll like Wallace in stuff other than Consider the Lobster
• Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer
• A Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. Believe it or not, I don’t think I’ve read this one. Heard plenty, but made it through high school and college without having to crack it open.
• The Book of Daniel, E. L. Doctorow. If it could engross Bookman, why not?
• The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain
• Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford
• Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn. I heard a bit about this one on the radio over a year ago, and it showed up on Bookman’s list of books with which he intends to save his nephew. While I may disagree with my kin on the matter of his beloved F. Scott Fitzgerald I’ve yet to be let down by something he’s recommended before it has been ruined for me by high school.
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I admit, I want to read this because of the hype. In large part, I want to see how the author handles an autistic narrator.

You might also check out my list at del.icio.us; it’s probably more current.

Today’s quote

“Portland’s a great town for beer and bookstores, which there’s more to life than, but only moderately.”
    Tim Bray

Did they run these by anybody?!?!

From Independent Sources, the top (or bottom) 10 unintentionally worst company URLs.