Thursday, August 30, 2012

Family Values

I am a Cleveland Indians fan, as I'm quite sure I've mentioned before. I've introduced both kids to baseball by taking them to see the Columbus Clippers at the beautiful Huntington Park. I've introduced them to the Tribe watching STO in the evenings. Happy has really taken to both baseball in general and the Indians specifically. He can look at a player on the TV and tell me the player's name, and cheers for the player to do well (e.g. "Hey, it's Michael Brantley! Get a hit, Michael Brantley!"). So I decided it was time to take Happy on a pilgrimage: we went to Progressive Field for his first live game.

All in all, I think Happy had a good time. In the bottom of the first inning, Jason Kipnis hit a home run, which really thrilled Happy until the fireworks went off. We were sitting in the bleachers at the time, and they exploded just behind us. Happy is terrified of loud noises, so he got really freaked out. After that, he'd root for our batters by shouting, "Get a LITTLE hit!" because if they got a big one, the fireworks might go off again. It got to the point that every time the ball was hit in the air, he'd gasp, cover his ears, and cower. I felt bad for the poor guy. We made it in our seats through three, then went to the Kidsland for a while before leaving around the middle of the fifth.

I kinda wish we'd have been able to stay longer. But, someday I know he'll outgrow his fear of noises, and we'll go back. And maybe by then, the Indians will be playing better. Oh yeah, and maybe they'll have stadium mustard at the condiment station under the bleachers. I owe the Indians a really stern email...

UPDATE: Oh, and if anyone from the Indians happens to wander by this blog, your suggestion form is ridiculous. Not being able to handle parentheses, dashes, apostrophes, commas or even NUMBERS for crying out loud, is completely inane. I'm sorry that the comment I left for you looks like it was written by a third grader, but I was left no choice.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

After-hours Call

I'd like to thank the group, Taxpayers for Westerville Schools for the 9:30P call last night, which woke our kids. I'd also like to complement them on their character. I left a post on their web site last night expressing in polite terms my dissatisfiaction. My comment was never approved, I can only assume it was summarily ditched. That's a lot of integrity they're showing. Well done!

I'd like to add for those with a defective sarcasm detector that I'm really quite angry about this episode, and their handling of it was very poor.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Pro Tip For the Men

Here's a tip just for the fellas. Cologne is not a marinade. You don't need to sit in a vat of it for an hour or more in order for it to perform its function. Cologne is more like saffron. A little goes a long way. Seriously gents, if you've gotta use a cubic yard of cologne to cover up your stench, perhaps you ought to take a bath. You know, with water. And soap.

This rant is dedicated to the 20-something dude who ignored the unspoken "skip a seat in a non-crowded theater" rule to sit mere inches from me so he could be "one seat closer to the middle." He arrived just as previews were starting, so I didn't have a chance to move. His musky malodor was so heinous that even now, an hour after parting ways, my nose still burns and I'm somewhat queasy. Blargh.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Minor Home Upgrade

For some reason or another, the only upstairs room without a ceiling fan has been the kids' room. It's the hottest room in the summer, hotter than anywhere else even when the AC is running. We've been meaning to add a fan for some time, and finally got around to it. We hired an electrician by the name of David Krohn, who did excellent work. If you're in Central OH and need electrical work done, I'd highly recommend him. We had a couple of good discussions prior to the work being done to flesh out what needed to be done, he showed up promptly, worked quickly and professionally, and the finished product works great. Oh, and his price was very, very reasonable.

I'd link to Mr. Krohn if he had a web site, but I can't find one for him. If you need electrical work done and want to contact Mr. Krohn, drop me a note, either via email or by responding to this blog post, and I'll send you his contact information.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Slow Work Day Means Kitchen Time

Work was slow today, so rather than bill hours for work I wasn't doing, I spent time in the kitchen. Among other things, I made the above Eisenhower strawberry pie and some cinnamon rolls with the left-over pie crust. The pie tastes much better than it looks. I'm terrible at crimping pie crusts, but since this was only the third pie I've made, I can use the excuse that I need more practice. If you want to try it yourself, you can find the recipe here. The recipe is provided by the nice folks from whom we bought the berries. They have a very nice pick-your-own farm the next town over. We took the kids out Wednesday after work/daycare and had a merry old time. If you're in Central OH, stop by their place and pick some fresh berries. If you're farther afield, find your local berry farm and pick enough for your own pie!

Saturday, April 28, 2012

When Faith Meets Hockey

One of our little morning rituals with Poet is to sing "Rise and Shine" to get her out of bed. It's something we've done for years, and both kids have picked up on the words. Sort of. Poet's version sounds like somthing a hockey fan might say:

Rise and shine, and give God your goalie, goalie...

We've never had the heart to correct her :)

Monday, April 23, 2012

My New Favorite Food Trick

Got a microwave, a potato and a mandolin (or v-slicer)? Congrats, you've got potato chips! I really, really like this idea because a) it's very cheap, b) it's very quick c) there's no grease/oil so they gotta be healthier, amirite? and d) you can control what goes on your chips. For instance, my mom is trying to avoid salt, so she can make hers with little or no salt. I happen to like vinegar on my chips, but I don't keep salt & vinegar chips in the house since Amy doesn't care for them, but now I can make them on demand. A few notes before you try:

  • Don't get greedy and try to make too many all at once by crowding the tray. Leave some space between the potato slices.
  • You don't have to use russets. I used a waxy-ish red and my chips came out fine. Others who commented on the article used sweet potatoes.
  • I salted my chips before I nuked them, I think that worked out pretty well
  • Don't slice the chips too thin. They'll shrink a fair amount during cooking.
  • Yes, you really do need to use parchment paper. I tried other surfaces, and I had problems with sticking. The nice thing is that you can reuse the parchment paper for a couple of batches.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go make another batch or two.

... or ten.