Blue and Gold

Stardate 60022.7
Blue and gold banquet was tonight. It was a lot of fun. The usual Hawaiian theme, with Subway sandwiches and the cake auction. In previous years our cake fetched $35 or $40, so this year I wanted to do better. April came up with the idea for a pirate ship, It took two attempts, but the end result was pretty good. It was sold for $185, and when I thanked the family that bought it, the guy said he was willing to pay up to $500 for it. It didn't get the highest bid, $230, but it was third highest and easily beat the previous years combined.

Last week the Tigers went to the Ott Planetarium, and the Bears went bowling. Patrick scored the highest at 175. He bowled three spares in a row, and four total. The week before April ran a music belt loop achievement. The idea is to show the kids various types of music, like rock, country and western, classical, etc. She put Rossini's 'William Tell Overture', a track from 'Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl', Billy Ray Cyrus, and quite a few more. The main theme from Star Wars not only grabbed the Tigers interest, every cub scout in the room came rushing over. It got them excited, but the sad part is one mother told me that's why she doesn't allow that music in her home. Another mother told me a little later that that was the point of the music. I'd have to agree.

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Star Trek Light Dimmer

Stardate 60022.3
"Computer, lights off."

http://www.vossystems.com/productstartrek.htm

This is an almost useful product. It makes more sense than the Clapper.

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Supplemental 60022.6: I found a PC mod to make your system look like a NX-01 warp core...
Meet the PC mod that looks like a Star Trek warp core

Mardi Gras

Stardate 60022.0
Today is Fat Tuesday, or in French Mardi Gras, otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday. There are various traditions such as eating King Cake, or pancakes. This is so that you get rid of the 'rich' ingredients such as sugar and butter. King Cake is a New Orleans tradition, and I am sure most of you have not heard of it. It is basically a ring of bread (similar to the bread in cinnamon rolls) with sugar on top colored yellow, purple, and gold.

I've always wondered if there are any local traditions?

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Reality.sys not found. Universe halted.

Stardate 60021.5
Anyone remembering the days of MS-DOS will get a chuckle out of the title.

Monday was the shooting at Trolley Square. I worked there as a teenager in the early eighties at Hickory Farms. My mother worked there until the store closed. I have not been there in years. It's a tragic event. But I have a little issue with the coverage, and with coverage of any event of this type. It just seems that there is more coverage than actual information to cover. Jon Stewart of the Daily Show was making fun of the hours long broadcasts on the death of Anna Nichol Smith, even showing a clip of Lou Dobbs saying he would not mention her on his show. It just seems overkill. I went on the local TV web sites for information on it Tuesday morning. There was a little more information, but not enough to fill two hours of TV broadcasts. The local NBC and CBS affiliates had links to the pre-empted shows. I clicked on the CBS one, Innertube. It took me to Innertube.com, which is the site for Countrywide Tire and Rubber. Oops. They meant CBS.com/Innertube, but that link doesn't worl.

Tuesday I was supposed to do the Scout achievement, but we found out Sunday Patrick's championship game was the same time. The den leader was ok with switching. This was good, because the game was intense. Patrick was nervous going in. The other team was undefeated, and they were the only team to beat our team. Both teams played their hearts out. The refereeing was not well done. Patrick and one other player got one minute suspensions, and Patrick was out for another minute after getting slammed into the wall. Needless to say, he's got a few bruises. The other team got the final goal with twenty seconds left in sudden death overtime. Most of our team came off with tears streaming down their faces. That gives the idea of how hard they tried. The coach of the other team made a point of telling them how well they did, which I appreciated.

I was having trouble with my neck Monday and Tuesday, and by the end of the game the spasms were almost unbearable. I took Wednesday off to go to the doctor and get some muscle relaxants. April made me stay away from the computer. So I caught up on some re-mastered TOS Trek on the DVR, and took Thomas to the dentist for a cleaning. His baby tooth fell out during the cleaning. Not the way I would have wanted to spend Valentine's Day. I did get M&M candy and plush dolls for the kids, and a card, candles, and massage oil for April. The oil may be as much for me as her.

Currently Reading: "The 7^th Guest" (I think I read this before)

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2 pound math

Stardate 60020.8
Rachel dropped out of advanced math. She sort of gets it, but twenty minutes one day a week just is not enough. She does have the basic idea of how to solve for x.

Patrick is upset after he got on the scale the other day. Thomas saw him, and of course did likewise. Thomas is 2 lbs lighter than Patrick. This does not make Patrick happy. He takes after me in that respect; I was always light. In college I weighed somewhere between 135 and 140 lbs. He constantly sneaks candy, so I am surprised he does not gain a lot of weight.

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SAINTS WIN SUPERBOWL!

Stardate 60020.5
The Colts won, I know, and the Saints were knocked out two weeks ago. That's one I was glad I was not there. The rain looked bad. It was a good game, and I was rooting for the Colts.

Playing Barbarian Invasion again. I am the Romans now. It's a strategy game, so you get to build things like walls and buildings. You get confirmation when the building is complete. I like the one for aqueducts; it simply says 'What did the Romans ever do for us?' The Romans are the only ones in the game who can build them.

Currently reading: "The Last Kingdom" by Bernard Cornwall.
Weight: 210 lbs

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Books

Stardate 60020.1
Erica is reading 'The Winter King' by Bernard Cornwall. It looks interesting, so I might pick it up at the library. I've read almost all of his 'Richard Sharpe' series (although I have yet to watch the BBC movie that I have), and I really liked them. It's a little ironic that we do a Jeopardy game at work, and the final jeopardy question a week ago was about Aurthur. I didn't get it. The clue had references to a story written in 600 AD, and Monty Python starts in 932 AD, so I over-analyzed and missed. The Battle of Baden Hill is on Barbarian Invasion, and it took place in 399 AD, so I had plenty of information to get it right.

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