AN ONLINE JOURNAL_
by Clake and Klake
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Thursday, August 30, 2007
[untitled secret track]
posted by clake at 2:52 PM (0) comments
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Saturday, August 25, 2007
Plake = 15 weeks old
posted by clake at 9:02 PM (2) comments
Plake will be 15 weeks old on Monday, and he is growing quite big. We took the time to take some pictures this morning, and here are the results of our efforts. These photos don't reflect the true frequency of his smiles, he generally has a big dopey grin. However, his smiles are usually accompanied by full body failing, which creates some very blurry portraits for people who refuse to use the flash. I would also like to apologize for how he looks like a Gap ad. He can't help it that his parents dress him like that.
Plake has discovered rolling onto his side. This keeps the pinned hand in his mouth with less effort, and allows his shirt to stay dry when he spits up.
He is watching his dad do "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and contemplating spitting up.
He is watching his dad do "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" and thinking about spitting up.
Poor devil thinks he's in Depeche Mode.
Now he seems to think he's in Wham.
Having soaked one shirt, Plake prepares to take on the next contender.[MAIN PAGE]
Friday, August 24, 2007
Plake Recuperation
posted by clake at 4:16 PM (0) comments
I spent Wednesday and Thursday home from work taking care of my baby, who was sent home from daycare in the care of my wife on Tuesday with a fever associated with the sniffles. Poor, little Plake really was quite unhappy to have the sniffles combined with fever. He'd been a bit grumpier than usual over the weekend, too. He wasn't his usual, sweet self. A doctor visit on Wednesday morning confirmed a very mild fever and ruled out ear infection, so the little guy just had a bad cold. By Thursday morning the fever was gone, and he did a lot of sleeping and eating that day, waking up in between to play and giggle like the disarming little fellow Klake and I have come to know these last three months.
It's nice that all the fortitude we had to muster to spend our time with a fussy, sick baby paid off in the form of adorable smiles and fun interactions with Plake. He is so very interested and curious. Klake taught him "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" last night and he thinks it is hilarious.
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Sunday, August 19, 2007
Plake-o
posted by clake at 7:45 PM (0) comments
It's time I wrote another post on the ol' blog, updating everyone on the status of our little baby, Plake. First of all, boy has he grown! That boy is three whole months of big, boy, kid. He looks around, gibbers and jabbers, grabs things with his little grabbin' hands, puts things in his mouth, and has formed genuine, real, big-boy opinions of things in his world - such as: "I hate tummy time!" and "Mommy and Daddy are the coolest people on the planet, hands down! It is not even close!"
Klake is currently playing some burpcloth peek-a-boo in an effort to get him to stop griping about being tired. But of course he's tired; it's getting close to bedtime. We have a fairly successful bedtime routine in place, with the three B's that form the foundation of most bedtime routines: bath, book, bed. Also, there's the last feeding as well, so it's bath, book, boob, bed.
Well, I had best be off to prepare a bath for Mister Plake. Tonight we hope to delve into the deeper subtext of The Pokey Little Puppy.
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Monday, August 13, 2007
Of Tea and Technology
posted by clake at 10:17 AM (1) comments
I was seeking cheaper trade routes for acquiring my tea on the ole Internet, when I saw this customer review on Amazon for Bigelow Earl Grey Tea:
I love this tea so much! It makes me feel just like Captain Picard when I drink it. I like Captain Picard. I want to be just like him (except not bald because that's kinda not cool). Anyway, I like to heat up this tea in my microwave oven, and I say to it "Tea, Earl Grey, hot" and it's just like I'm talking to the replicator on the Enterprise! It even beeps! It's so cool. It makes me feel like I'm really in Star Trek. The only problem is that I can't talk as cool as Captain Picard so I sound kinda dumb when I say it. But I still do. When I buy this tea from the store, I like to ask the clerk to get me "Tea, Earl Grey, Bigelow". I think that's pretty funny. I make sure to use the English accent because if I didn't it wouldn't be right. Then I sit in front of the TV, and say "engage" as I press the button on my remote! I LOVE this tea!I certainly hope this person was being sarcastic. I'm imagining some guy driving to the grocery store in his Dodge Neon - on which he has installed a homemade "deflector dish" made of cardboard and tinfoil. He approaches the counter to check out with a box of "just like Picard" Earl Grey and a loaf of whichever bread he imagines Scotty would most likely approve of, and makes futuristic sound effects when he slides his card to pay.
Update, 15 August 2007: I added a link to the Amazon review, for those who may not believe this is real, or those who wish to click the button to let Amazon know that this review was helpful to them.
Also, Klake is very happy for this person, who enjoys his tea and his imaginary Star Trek universe.
Additionally, this causes me to wonder: for every misguided kid trying to emulate those crude and self-destructive fellows on the show Jackass, how many similarly-impressionable people are instead modelling themselves after Jean-Luc Picard, in every way a gentleman and an amazingly capable leader?
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Sunday, August 05, 2007
It is true!
posted by klake at 9:16 AM (3) comments
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Saturday, August 04, 2007
EFF 1-50
posted by clake at 10:43 AM (0) comments
After an unannounced month off, Randy the Cat returns with this strip-format humor-drawing. Also, thank you to Aeryk and Kate for the stylish Randy the Cat onesie. I know it will give me great pride and amusement to clothe my infant with an image of Randy walkin' in his winter underpants.
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Friday, August 03, 2007
Start Wreckin'
posted by clake at 12:26 PM (2) comments
You may be happy to learn - as I was when Klake sent me a link to this post on the Scientific American blog - that remastered episodes of the original Star Trek series are being syndicated nationwide. Around here, they're being run on the local Fox affiliate at midnight on Sunday nights/Monday mornings, and they may be running at similar late-nite, weekend time slots in your neck of the woods.
"Remastered," you may ask, "what for you remaster my Star Trek show?" Well, I'm not sure exactly why, aside from because they can. I'm sure part of it is in order to make the series more saleable for nationalwide syndication, as modern viewers' patience for cheesy special effects has waned. I'm partial to the way things looked originally, and I don't like the idea of people messing around with the visual style of something once it has already been widely viewed and become well-loved by fans. (Think of the swarms of flying robots and other debris cluttering up the frame in the exterior Mos Eisley scenes in the "remastered" version of Star Wars. Yes, George Lucas, just because I loved your original Star Wars* films doesn't mean I was in any way attached to the look or feel or pacing of the thing.) But the SciAm blogger paints a pretty optimistic picture of the endeavor, and it sounds like the team working on this project is conscious of the importance of not getting carried away. My wife and I are really looking forward to watching these.
In a somewhat related bit of interesting whatever, while doing a completely unrelated web search on the University of Iowa's website, I came across this scan of the cover of a program for what is purported to be the first ever Star Trek convention. It turns out that the Special Collections Department of the University of Iowa Libraries houses the M. Horvat Collection of Science Fiction Fanzines. It is fascinating that this exists, preserving what nerds with mimeograph machines were up to from 1935 through 1990.
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In other news, Klake and I watched the "School Reunion" episode of the new Doctor Who series and enjoyed it greatly. It was so good, it's odd to think it occurs just a few episodes after the shitbomb that is "New Earth". Highlights:
- K-9 returns for one episode!
- Also, a reunion with Sarah Jane Smith, which I would be more enthused about if I was at all famillar with her period of Doctor Who companion-dom in the 70's.
- That watcher guy from Buffy as the evil headmaster.
- The Doctor says "Correct-a-mundo!" and then immediately regrets it.
- Mickey figures out that his role in the current Doctor Who universe is analogous to that of K-9, "I'm the tin dog!" Mickey, however, doesn't have a frickin' laser beam attached to his head.
- K-9 says "affirmative" with a bit too much inflection for a robot. Would a robot consciously play the word "affirmative" for laughs.
Also, a new website called Galaxy Zoo allows you to help British scientists classify galaxies. Much like Seti at Home, except Seti took advantage of your computer's downtime, whereas Galaxy Zoo exploits the unused processing power of your own, organic brain.
*The original version of this post mixed up Star Trek and Star Wars in this sentence. This was fixed by Clake on 7 August 2007. (Thanks for keeping me honest, Aeryk.)
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Well, were you watching for the changes???
posted by clake at 8:49 AM (0) comments
"Alright, this is a blues riff in B, watch me for the changes and, uh, try and keep up."
I like to say this when I'm around a bunch of guys who are all holding musical instruments. It conceals the fact that I know nothing about music. Sometimes they actually call me on it and start playing a blues riff in B. I then cover up my ineptitude at singing by blaming them for not watching me for the changes.
"I cannot sing with a band that will not at least try and keep up."
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