Roblog

I have posted the December/January pictures to the Pictures section of my website. I plan to have the February pictures posted soon (this week).

I got an amusing email the other day from another Rob Reid. He said he and his friends went trolling for websites named after them. He apparently had found mine several years ago, since he lamented the absence of the Foxy video which has not been linked on my website for about 2 years. His quote was "Needless to say, mine [his namesake's site] was the best."

I guess I'll have to add a link back in to appease my hordes of fans. I think 1 person counts as a horde, don't you?

Today will be the first day my daughters have ever ridden in "my car." I drive what used to be Donna's 1992 Saturn SL. I suppose it is still hers technically, but I am its driver about 97% of the time. It has no air conditioning, so I really try to avoid driving it in the summer.

We just got some booster seats as a transition from the car seats they have in our primary car (2002 Honda Accord). The old car seats are in the Honda, but the new seats are in my car. I will be picking them up at a friend's house after work. They are pretty exited to be able to ride in my car.

These new seats are quite a bit different from the old ones. These aren't securely tethered to the car. They mostly are just a booster seat the girls can sit on while they are buckled in like a normal person. The seats are good from 30 to 100 pounds, so in theory they could use these seats until they don't need car seats any more.

It feels like one of the big transitions from being a baby to being a child. I hope I don't get all misty-eyed when I pick them up today. Probably not. It's just a car seat.

We ate at the Burger King in terminal D at the Philadelphia airport before we boarded our plane to go back home. The receipt says "Hope you enjoyed your stay in Philadelphia."

This seemed at first a strange thing to put on a receipt on the airport. After all, half the people in the airport are arriving and not departing. But of course people don't hang out in Terminal D if they've just arrived. They're on their way to get their luggage and leave the airport. When my family and I travel, we often stop at that Burger King when we arrive at the airport to try to arrange all of our stuff (and perhaps get a snack) before we lug everything to baggage claim.

I wonder how many of the customers are really arriving passengers? 5%? More? Less? I wonder if Burger King cares or is just satisifed that the number is low?

Potty Training is in full force at our house and has been for several long months. We seem to have turned a corner, though. Elena does not need a diaper at night, and yesterday they both took off their pants to go to the bathroom in the potty. For non-parents, this may not sound very exciting, but to us it shows that they can anticipate the event, and hold it, to actually do all the steps.

Another milestone: last night at 3:30 AM Amanda woke up (and woke me up) because she needed to go to the potty. She did, and then we both went back to bed. That was exciting for the Potty Training milestone, but not so thrilling to get up at 3:30 to participate in it.

Hence, we will start looking for some beds to replace their cribs. The cribs have been great. They are still in fantastic condition and they both like them. But they'll need beds they can get out of themselves without needing wake up their sleepy parents.

I got a new phone at work with More Features (tm), and the handset smells like coconut. That must be because the previous owner used some beauty product that smelled of coconut. It's not an unpleasant odor, but it reminds me a little of a car air freshener.

Our traveling needs have changed substantially since Rob first posted a traveling list in January of 2004. I'm tired of deciphering the scratch-outs and additions on our printed copy, so here is a list for traveling with 3-year-olds.

Travel
Airline confirmation number
Maps
Hotel Number
Helpful Phone Numbers

Travel Bag not a diaper bag!
Wipes
Snacks
Change of clothes
Pull-Ups (just in case)
Blankies
Books and toys

Sleep
Inflatable travel bed and/or Pack 'n' Play
Puppies
Pajamas
Lullaby CD
Slippers
Add Boombox for car trips

Bath/Health/Hygeine
Washcloths
Aveeno combo soap/shampoo
Desitin
Thermometer
Tylenol
Dimetapp
Clippers
Snot Operator (bulb syringe)
TempaDuck
Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Sunblock

Eating
4 Sippy cups

Clothing
1 outfit per child per day plus an extra
Socks
Shoes
Sandals
Jacket
Rain Coats

Other
1 or 2 favorite toys/puzzles/games
1 or 2 favorite DVD's

The girls got some stuffed bunny rabbits as their prize at the neighborhood Easter egg hunt this past weekend. Amanda's is white with mottled purple areas on it. Elena's is a cross-hatched pink (that can record and play back about 5 seconds of sound).

Shortly upon returning home from the hunt, Amanda announced that her bunny was named "Polkadot". I thought that was a cute name for a bunny, even if this particular bunny did not have any polkadots on it. Elena decided her bunny's name was "Fink," perhaps becuase it's a fuzzy pink bunny.

This is the first time I am aware of that they have taken the initiatve to name any of their stuffed animals. All of their other favorite stuffed animals are referenced by their description rather than a name. It's rather cute, but I"m biased.

Ugh and Blech. Today, my beloved iMac G5 crashed. At first, it would appear to go to sleep without being able to be woken up. Then, it would not boot far enough to get to the login screen (although once I got an open firmware prompt). The next step was to run the hardware diagnostics, which all indicated no problems.

So I thought I was OK; I'd just have to reinstall the system software. But when I went to do that, the system installation program would not recognize the internal hard disk. At all. It's hard to install system software without a hard disk to install it onto.

The worst case is that the hard drive is gone. That means all the files on it are gone, too. It being a relatively new hard drive, though, I'd be surprised if it were a total loss. I am hopeful the data on the hard drive is recoverable.

Donna will drop the computer off at the Houston Galleria Apple store tomorrow. We'll be without the computer for a few weeks, but it is still under warranty, so I don't expect to have to pay for the repairs (except for a nominal service fee, perhaps). They can fix the faulty Bluetooth module while the have it, too.

BTW - I'm accessing my blog from my wife's blueberry iBook, connected to the internet via the wireless Airport network and router. It's nice having a backup computer.

Just a few hours at the Apple Store is all it took. By yesterday evening, the same day that we dropped the iMac off at the Apple Store, we had a message on our phone that it was fixed. They had to replace the motherboard, or midplane as they called it. Now, not only does the computer work, but also the Bluetooth module is fully functional again (or so it seems so far).

It was all under warranty, but this experience has made purchasing the extended warranty look pretty attractive. It would extend the 1-year warranty to a 3-year warranty for about $160. We'll likely get that insurance sometime within the next few weeks.