Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Best laugh I've had in months

Someone sent me this video and I had to watch it several times to get the whole thing, but it is hilarious. I am not talking about the actual events on the screen but the voiceovers. I can actually see this happening somewhere in Glendale. The scene being Movses Bakery on Glenoaks makes it that much more real. Enjoy.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Weekend @ Bernie's

This past weekend I had the kids all to myself. MLW was out of town and there was anxiety as to whether I could handle them by myself. Basically, I had:
  • Friday drop-off and pick-up
  • Saturday Soccer
  • Sunday ... ummm, something

    My anxiety was mostly about Sunday. If there's a plan, I can rally the troops and pass the time until/after the event. But when I have to come up with the activity ....

    Glad to report that all went well. Even Sunday was a breeze, because the girls didn't want to leave the house. PERFECT! Walk around in PJ's all day, eat, play together, no problem. A little snag, when dad goes stir crazy in the afternoon and needs to leave the house.

    So I finally coaxed them out with promise of ice cream "because they were bari/pari". We go to Montrose and have our ice creams (coffee for me), draw pictures, play with straws, etc. Basically, half an hour of me just sitting on my ass and them playing nicely in the store. Then we walk back to the car, cross the parking lot, climb into the car, then S says "peepee ouneem". Now, I'm trying to determine/negotiate whether she can hold it until we get home. No go.

    So we climb out, cross the parking lot, and get back into the store. Bathroom's in the back and at least it's clean and large. S pees, while G stands there without touching anything! Amazing!!! Buuuut, when S is done, G wants to sit and pee. Mind you, she's 2 and isn't potty trained, but she has to copy everything, and there's no way I can talk her out of it. I got her situated on the seat and she pees her 3cc's of "yeah, das right. I can pee" pee.

    As I said, no major issues. Just a little frustrating when you have this plan in your head and don't get to do it on your timetable. I have learned to just go with the flow. Do I care if G wants to pee, too? No. Are we late for something? No. Is she going to hurt herself by peeing? No, unless she falls in the toilet (which would be funny).

    Very boring story, but I wanted to get back in to the blogging groove. I hope to spice it up a little more soon.
  • Friday, September 11, 2009

    Lost, again!

    So I got caught up on Lost, all the way to the beginning of Season 5. I figured I could watch the episodes on abc.com. BUUUUUT, they don't have ALL the episodes from season 5 on their site; only the last few of the season.

    Damn!

    Saturday, August 1, 2009

    FOUND!

    I found out that I can watch Lost on demand on Netflix. We already have the basic subscription for one DVD out at a time, but they let you watch some stuff on-demand, even when you have a movie out. What's even better? No commercials. Great business model, guys!

    So screw ABC. Now my browser has a Netflix bookmark.

    Thursday, July 30, 2009

    Lost

    So I'm not totally up on pop culture, but who can blame a dad of 2. But I was well on my way to becoming totally with-it. How? Well, I'll tell you my secret. For the past couple of months, I've been catching up on Lost. That's right! The ABC series that has been on air for about 5 seasons.

    abc.com has a viewer where I could watch all the back episodes of Lost whenever I desired. I had seen most of the episodes from season 1, but season 2 and onward were totally blank.

    So there I am, being a great consumer and watching the 3 minutes of total advertisements from Tylenol, Aquafresh, Target, and Jack-in-the-Box with my almost-daily dose of Lost. Then today, I go to catch up on Season 3, episode 6 and what do I see? Nothing!!!!

    Only season 1 and 5 are now available. No apologies, no site under construction, nothing! Is this how ABC treats loyal freeloaders? I even participated in a couple of surveys they threw at me, just to be nice and give something back to them. Man, that's cold.

    I'm hoping that it's only a programming error and someone will fix it soon. But if it isn't, please tell me where I can get the remaining episodes of season 3 and 4. This is how companies encourage piracy. If you left the episode up on your site, made people register, offer them other shows they may like, and basically use them as marketing extensions, we would all be happy.

    But, NO! You have to go and yank that stuff off the site and now I have no way of watching it other than a) buying the DVD's (not gonna happen) or b) watch a pirated episode off BearShare or the like.

    Still can't believe it.

    Friday, July 24, 2009

    Yo quiero sanity

    It is the summer of celebrity deaths. It started about a month ago and it has not relented, much like the heat in LA. Ed, Farrah, MJ, then it was off to the animals; Billy :P Most recently the chihuahua from the Taco Bell commercials.

    What the hell is going on? Don't we have enough newsworthy events in the world that the death of a rat-dog makes the cut at NPR? Yes, everyone needs a little human interest story now and again to feel grateful about our lives. As MLW says every time there's news of sick children/people, "eencher gahn". But I don't need news of a dead rat-dog to make me feel good.

    So NPR, please stick with Susan Stamberg reporting on really stupid human interest stories - and I can't believe she was anchoring Morning Edition for all that time - and leave the animal deaths to Fox (no pun intended).

    Don't get me started on Susan Stamberg. Story for another time.

    Thursday, July 23, 2009

    Fatherly bias

    Glendale offers swimming classes in the summertime to residents - for a nominal fee, I might add. We signed up both girls for several sessions. S is pretty good for her age (4.5) and is in a class with 6 and 7 year olds. She still has to work on her technique, but she can actually swim 10-15 feet, unassisted.

    I watched the class go through its routine, and I was proud of S's confidence and comfort in the water. I'm sure my pride was even more pumped when I noticed one of the boys in class swimming as gracefully as an anchor, while my princess seemed to glide through the pool like a dolphin.

    It's the little things that make you appreciate what you have. I won't trade that for anything.

    Thursday, July 16, 2009

    Whatevah!

    I post with a little trepidation. Mostly, because I fear some might think this a farce, but I assure you that what I'm about to say is true. I started watching Whatever Martha, and I like it! I realize that this is yet another way that MSLO traps people in its web, but I don't care. For those who don't know the show, it's basically MST3K where it's all Martha, all the time.

    There are people out there who think Martha is this godlike person. Alexis and Jennifer bring her down to earth and point out that she's human just like us. Well most of us. These girls are funny only because they make fun of Martha. Period. They are not comedians and I bet they would be totally boring to hang out with.

    OK now you know what kinda shows ArmoDad is watching nowadays.

    Saturday, July 11, 2009

    Back again?

    I can't believe it's been over 6 months since my last post. It's certainly not from lack of material. There is so much fodder just walking around the neighborhood. Mostly, it's lack of time and mental focus that has prevented me from putting finger to keyboard.

    I am really enjoying the summer so far. We've been to the beach with the kids several times. We bought a 10x10 canopy with UV protection so the kids can hang out under it. It's a bit awkward to put up, but it does a great job. Even comes in a wheeled tote bag.

    I hope to have more time to pound out a couple of funny posts in the near future.