physics_mike's Xanga

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Tue, 20 Dec 2005 13:47:45 GMT

Man! Haven't been here in ages.

The Christmas lights on the house are starting to look really good. Maybe it's becuase it's actually the Christmas now - as opposed to back in August when I put them up to see what the Little Woman would say when she drove home at night.

There's something I'm dying to try now that I have an automatic garage door opener. Since my driveway is on a slope, if I back way back into the back of the garage at night, and then the next morning get in the car, open the garage, and punch it, I wonder if I can catch air into the street. Bet the neighbors would love that. A lot better than painting my lawn orange anyway, or building my own Trojan horse in the back yard, or piling up snow in the street to see what people will do, or putting a "No Hunting" sign in my front yard, or.....

Time to teach the Little Clone how to play hockey....

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 10:22:08 GMT

It's been forever since I've been in here. The new job is pretty busy, but enjoyable. I do have more time to go home and wrestle with the boys, do yard work, work on the house, shoot cans off the fence in my backyard, drive the neighbor to the emergency room, and yell at that annoying chipmunk that's been eating my lawn. I guess the neighbors are getting a bit
annoyed that I run out into my driveway at 6am every morning in my underwear shouting "Get off my lawn you lousy rodent! Get out! Leave me alone!" Days are getting colder though; might have to put on boots. I might have to challenge the neighbor boys to some street hockey. Of course, every time I do something like that, somebody gets hurt. If they would just play by the rules, I wouldn't have to beat them up!

The teaching is fun. I always hear the same question from my students. "Is this going to be on the test?" I usually look up at them with a grim look and wide eyes and - with my best impersonation of the emperor from Star Wars - say, "Oh.... I'm afraid so...... Oh yes! You will be tested on this.... and... if you fail..... you will die....."

The days are getting colder. I guess I'll have to start wearing pants to class. The mini-skirt just isn't keeping me warm enough.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 16:45:54 GMT

Been a while since I updated this thing.

I'll be moving in about two weeks to start my new job. The little woman and the hatchlings have already moved on ahead of me to our new house. Great house! I had a chance to take the day off yesterday and visit the family.

I noticed that my three-year-old son has become rather crazy in the past few weeks that they have been away. For example, if I pick something up off of the floor - anything - he will run up to me with wide eyes and very excitedly say, "Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!" Yesterday I found a used band-aid on the living room floor. It must have fallen off of a finger between the ages of 2 and 5 years old. It was about a day old; the blood had already turned a dark brown. As I'm holding the band-aid between my thumb and index finger, the three-year-old runs up shouting, "Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!"

While I didn't eat it at the time, I bet he would have gotten a kick out of it if I actually ate the band-aid. My kids are nuts, and I don't know where they got
it from......

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 14:38:41 GMT

Today is the boy's birthday. He's been talking about it for months. Today's going to be cool because we get to go to Toys'R'Us to pick out a birthday present. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. I'm looking forward to seeing what we get!
Birthdays are great when you have kids; it allows us adults who've never grown up to live vicariously through our kids and get a bunch of really cool stuff around Christmas, birthdays, and any other special occasions that we can come up with.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Wed, 30 Mar 2005 11:36:42 GMT

The little woman is completely hooked on this new television show, "Supernanny." Seen it? I hate it. The fact that people's kids get that far out of hand depresses me.

However, I've got my own idea for a similar show starring..... well.... me. A family who can't keep their kids in line gives me a call (just like Supernanny). I show up at the house and observe for a day or so (just like Supernanny) mostly so I can see what they got in their fridge. Then I dramatically announce that I have the solution to their problems (just like Supernanny). I pull out the cell-phone and chat a bit with the guy on the other end. About 30 minutes later an olive green truck shows up. We load the kids into the truck and haul the whole lot of 'em off to military school leaving the parents in peace. End of story. I'll stick around the house for a few more days to clean out the fridge and watch their TV, then leave.

I figure we can bang out about six or seven families in a single episode.

Monday, March 07, 2005

Mon, 07 Mar 2005 16:53:06 GMT

My boy goes to pre-school. Today, he was the "razzle-dazzle" person, which means he was the special person of the day who got to be at the front of the line, pass out snacks, help the teacher, be the first one to taste the paste, etc.

Another benefit of being the "razzle-dazzle" person is that he gets to bring somethig in for show-and-tell. Most kids bring in their favorite toy, a picture they drew, a certificate from their parole officer, favorite foods, and - on rare occassions - weapons.

Last night, my boy climbed into my lap to say goodnight, and he said, "Papa, I want to bring you for show-and-tell tomorrow."

With kids like mine, I'm the "razzle-dazzle" person every day.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Wed, 02 Mar 2005 13:17:45 GMT

I've got two interviews coming up - my top two choices. The competition will be fierce, and I still can't believe I'm on the short list for these positions. Even worse is that a week before on interview, I've got to give a talk at a national meeting which will be attended by faculty of my top choice. If I screw up the talk, nothing I do at the interview will matter. It's like having two interviews for the same job. Yick!

Do you think the guy who invented Velcro was stuck on himself?

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:04:55 GMT

Got back from Spring Hill this weekend. Good trip. Always wonder if we are getting through to the kids. Russ made some pretty good comments during the small group sessions. I hope the guys were paying attention. Also had a lot of fun tubing, but they wouldn't let me go down shirtless. They wouldn't accept the argument that I was a mature adult capable of making my own decisions. I guess I look younger than I am.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Tue, 15 Feb 2005 17:22:21 GMT

I always feel like a cretin when I walk into a coffee shop and order..... coffee.
Everyone else is ordering grande-lowfat-decaf-latte-mochachino-with-a-flavor-shot and I'm just ordering....
coffee. Then they start asking me the hard questions like which flavor? which size? room for cream? I usually just say, "I'd like a regular coffee, please." Then everyone behind the counter is looking at me like I've committed some cardinal sin of the coffee shop. I can almost hear their thoughts as they roll their eyes and get me my coffee.....

"Redneck!"

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Sun, 13 Feb 2005 14:22:28 GMT

The kid was sick today, so I missed church and the snow/mud bowl against Trinity. This is a serious disappointment. I wanted to go badly. I'm really looking forward to the Spring Hill retreat. It's a great opportunity to really connect with the kids.

The youth staff appreciation last night was really cool. The parents outdid themselves. Thanks guys!

Need to finish a proposal for another experiment. I really hate these things. I never work harder a lousy four-page paper!