I rarely know what I want to blog about and today I'm still rowing that boat. I saw bedroom slippers on the floor and they made me think of the Spanish word for slippers - pantuflas. Say it! Isn't it funny to say? Yes, yes it is funny to say.
Living in a semi-bilingual home is quite an experience. Sometimes I think of the Spanish word for something before the English word. I know that on more than one occasion I have thrown out Spanish words or phrases in conversation at work. My coworkers just laugh at me or look at me like I'm stupid.
Raquel and I speak Spanish to each other almost exclusively. So much so, that tonight she said something to me in English and I couldn't understand her because I'm trained to think that she's speaking Spanish to me. That poor girl must be all kinds of confused. Paraguay has two official languages - Spanish and Guarani. Languages change over time and are influenced by many things. Paraguayans have transformed their Spanish and Guarani into a sort of platonic relationship that has almost created a new language of its own called Jopara - not quite Spanish nor Guarani in their purest forms but related to both. Often its a Spanish word that gets conjugated according to Guarani rules becoming a new word.
As I said, Raquel must get all kinds of confused. She throws out Guarani words to me sometimes and English words to her parents and here in the house she'll mix English and Spanish in one sentence. The kids just roll with it all and seem to understand.
Now go ahead and say PANTUFLAS - you know you want too!
Monday, February 01, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
100th day of kindergarten!
I had mentioned recently that Lourdes will be celebrating her 100th day of school soon. Today we bought two bags of Hershey's Kisses and Lourdes counted out 100 of them for her to bag up and take to school for the celebration. I think she still needs a little work on her counting skills when it comes to large quantities, but I'm sure it will come along. I had her organize the candy in rows of ten and we tried working on counting the established rows by tens. She did pretty well at counting by tens and by the time we were done she understood that putting just one candy in the next row didn't increase the tens yet.
I think her favorite part was eating some of the extra candy!
I think her favorite part was eating some of the extra candy!
 |
| From Sluggo is YoYo |
Saturday, January 30, 2010
DQ Blizzard
The Rivermen have a promotion with Dairy Queen that if the Rivermen score 4 goals in a home game, everyone is given a coupon for a free Blizzard at Dairy Queen. Well tonight Derek Armstrong of the Rivermen scored a "natural" hat-trick (three goals by one player in a game is a hat-trick, a "natural" is a hat-trick where the player scores three goals in succession with no other goals scored in between his goals). In fact, Armstrong went on to score a fourth goal, giving the Rivermen a 4-0 lead and giving the fans a free Blizzard.
I started thinking the Rivs were going to not only get a win, but possibly even a shutout!! Well the Houston Aeros threw a monkey wrench into the works. They scored a goal in the third period. I can live with that. Then they sored again. Okay, 4-2, let's close this out. Then again! 4-3! This can't be happening! Oh no, another goal - tie game!! So the game goes into overtime and no more goals; this one will be decided in a shootout.
First up for the Rivermen, Derek Armstrong- he shoots, he scores!! Wow!! All Rivermen goals scored by the same guy. Unfortunately that was the only shootout goal by the Rivermen and the Aeros got three so the Rivs lost 5-4.
A lady behind me said "Well at least we get free Blizzards!"
Her friend said "Yeah, but they'll taste like defeat!"
I started thinking the Rivs were going to not only get a win, but possibly even a shutout!! Well the Houston Aeros threw a monkey wrench into the works. They scored a goal in the third period. I can live with that. Then they sored again. Okay, 4-2, let's close this out. Then again! 4-3! This can't be happening! Oh no, another goal - tie game!! So the game goes into overtime and no more goals; this one will be decided in a shootout.
First up for the Rivermen, Derek Armstrong- he shoots, he scores!! Wow!! All Rivermen goals scored by the same guy. Unfortunately that was the only shootout goal by the Rivermen and the Aeros got three so the Rivs lost 5-4.
A lady behind me said "Well at least we get free Blizzards!"
Her friend said "Yeah, but they'll taste like defeat!"
Flora from Paraguay
Let's face it, winter can be pretty blah! So I dug up these pictures of plants around my mother-in-law's house in Paraguay.
Spring is only a few months away!
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Bless you
Teddy just hit 19 months old yesterday. It's really neat to see him growing and changing. He's been chattering for a while now, but most of his words seemed to be gibberish to most people including me most of the time. But now, some things are starting to be more intelligible. If you happen to sneeze around him you're likely to hear a very clear "Bless you!"
I know several posts have mentioned New Super Mario Brothers, so why change now. When Luigi loses all his lives, he is given another five lives and he proudly announces "I'm back!" Teddy has heard this so many times that he chimes in as well.
I think his favorite sentence now is "No Mommy!"
Teddy is quite helpful, or at least tries to be. He helps Raquel with some of the housework. He often will take my empty coffee cup to mommy for a refill. When I arrive home from work, he comes running to greet me and he immediately pulls a chair out and pats it motioning for me to sit. The routine is that I sit down so that he can help take my boots off. After the boots come off, he wants to help remove the Velcro blousing straps that help keep the pants tucked into the boots (tucking the pants into the boots will be mandatory later this year). He gets extremely upset if he's not allowed to help.
Hopefully he will continue to be a helpful little boy.
I know several posts have mentioned New Super Mario Brothers, so why change now. When Luigi loses all his lives, he is given another five lives and he proudly announces "I'm back!" Teddy has heard this so many times that he chimes in as well.
I think his favorite sentence now is "No Mommy!"
Teddy is quite helpful, or at least tries to be. He helps Raquel with some of the housework. He often will take my empty coffee cup to mommy for a refill. When I arrive home from work, he comes running to greet me and he immediately pulls a chair out and pats it motioning for me to sit. The routine is that I sit down so that he can help take my boots off. After the boots come off, he wants to help remove the Velcro blousing straps that help keep the pants tucked into the boots (tucking the pants into the boots will be mandatory later this year). He gets extremely upset if he's not allowed to help.
Hopefully he will continue to be a helpful little boy.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Colds and cold
After a reasonably warm weekend with lots of rain, it has turned cold again which brought snow. I know that cold temperatures don't cause colds, but it sure seems that colds come with cold temps. So now Teddy has a head cold, Lourdes has the slightest of colds, and I feel a little run down. Hopefully a little rest and over-the-counter medicine for all will keep things in check and let us all recover.
Teddy actually had the croup at the end of November. The good thing about that was that we now know what it is and how dangerous it really can be. Infants and small children have small windpipes and croup is an inflammation of the windpipe caused by a viral infection. This inflammation causes difficulty breathing and causes a barking sound when they cough. Usually croup will go away in a few days, but a severe case can require breathing treatments, steroids, and hospitalization. Teddy was close to being admitted. We didn't realize how distressed his breathing really was. Now we know what to look out for and what actions we need to take. For more information on croup, check out kidshealth.org.
Teddy actually had the croup at the end of November. The good thing about that was that we now know what it is and how dangerous it really can be. Infants and small children have small windpipes and croup is an inflammation of the windpipe caused by a viral infection. This inflammation causes difficulty breathing and causes a barking sound when they cough. Usually croup will go away in a few days, but a severe case can require breathing treatments, steroids, and hospitalization. Teddy was close to being admitted. We didn't realize how distressed his breathing really was. Now we know what to look out for and what actions we need to take. For more information on croup, check out kidshealth.org.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Greg is a pusher
One time Greg and I were in his BMW and we came across a guy struggling to push his stalled vehicle to a side rode. Greg and I dutifully got out and started pushing to help the gentleman out. It just so happened that the side road had a bit of an incline to it but it was no challenge to the three of us. The man thanked us and we got back into Greg's bimmer and were on our way. I remarked about how easy it was and that I barely had to push. Greg looked at me incredulously. Turns out I barely had to push because Greg was doing all the work!
Good times, good times! Another time we were going to the mall in Greg's bimmer to buy a wedding gift for a friend. On the way back from the mall, I had an unfortunate gas attack. Something so foul that even the deepest bowels of hell itself couldn't produce the equivalent eked out of my bottom. Greg almost had to pull over due to retching. I'm sure Greg can't tell the story without throwing up in his mouth a little.
Another time I had the pleasure of driving the bimmer. I think I needed to run home to get something and Greg was gracious enough to let me borrow it. On the way to my house, a squirrel darted right out in front of me and I had no time to react. There was the sickening thud of flesh and bone against steel. Yes, that squirrel committed suicide by bimmer.
I don't know why Greg ever got rid of that car.
Good times, good times! Another time we were going to the mall in Greg's bimmer to buy a wedding gift for a friend. On the way back from the mall, I had an unfortunate gas attack. Something so foul that even the deepest bowels of hell itself couldn't produce the equivalent eked out of my bottom. Greg almost had to pull over due to retching. I'm sure Greg can't tell the story without throwing up in his mouth a little.
Another time I had the pleasure of driving the bimmer. I think I needed to run home to get something and Greg was gracious enough to let me borrow it. On the way to my house, a squirrel darted right out in front of me and I had no time to react. There was the sickening thud of flesh and bone against steel. Yes, that squirrel committed suicide by bimmer.
I don't know why Greg ever got rid of that car.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Productive day, lazy afternoon
I spent some time today paying bills, going through the week of mail, and filing federal and state income taxes. Once that was all done, it was time to be lazy. We played Super Mario Brothers on the Wii for a while making it into World 8 and then lounged in front of the TV. But it wasn't mindless TV, it was some Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel while playing MegaBlocks with Lourdes and Teddy. After the kids were in bed, it was time for some quality time with the wife - playing Super Mario Brothers on the Wii. We made it to the first fortress and defeated Kamek and were able to save our progress.
Now it's time for bed.
PS Rivermen defeated Chicago on Saturday night - awesome game!!
Now it's time for bed.
PS Rivermen defeated Chicago on Saturday night - awesome game!!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
100th day of school
Lourdes is closing in on her 100th day of school and they will be celebrating this on 1 February. All the students in her class have been asked to bring in 100 of an item. The teacher has even provided a small plastic bag to take the 100 items to school. The bag has some pictures of suggested items, like buttons, paper clips, jelly beans, Cheerio's, and Hershey Kisses. I asked Lourdes what she would like to take and she replied "Butt Kisses!"
Friday, January 22, 2010
REF YOU SUCK!!
Rivermen lost 3-2 in a game where two goals scored by the Rivermen were disallowed by the referee, one with less than a minute to play. The ref got an earful from the crowd on the first one. The second blown call had the crowd beside itself and the chants of "REF YOU SUCK!!" rained down for a long time. As the ref left the ice, a paper wad and a "chuck-a-puck" foam puck also rained down on him.
Now to be fair, being a referee or umpire (or whatever your sport calls the official in charge of rule enforcement) is a tough job. And sometimes the fans see (or think they see) injustice when in fact they have a different perspective. The ref is often in a better position to make the call and has training on the rules. For example, a hockey ref has an obligation to whistle a play dead when he loses sight of the puck. The first disallowed goal fell in to that category - a pile of players blocking the refs view of the puck so he had blow the whistle. No goal for my team. I hate that it happens like that, but I'm sure my team has benefited from that type call at the other end as well.
The second disallowed goal tonight I'm going to have to go right now with the "REF YOU SUCK" crowd. I'll have to see if there are any replays and I'll have to read what the local sports writer writes. But for now, once more "REF YOU SUCK!!"
Now to be fair, being a referee or umpire (or whatever your sport calls the official in charge of rule enforcement) is a tough job. And sometimes the fans see (or think they see) injustice when in fact they have a different perspective. The ref is often in a better position to make the call and has training on the rules. For example, a hockey ref has an obligation to whistle a play dead when he loses sight of the puck. The first disallowed goal fell in to that category - a pile of players blocking the refs view of the puck so he had blow the whistle. No goal for my team. I hate that it happens like that, but I'm sure my team has benefited from that type call at the other end as well.
The second disallowed goal tonight I'm going to have to go right now with the "REF YOU SUCK" crowd. I'll have to see if there are any replays and I'll have to read what the local sports writer writes. But for now, once more "REF YOU SUCK!!"
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Darn you Mario, and the Wii you rode in on!!
When I got home tonight, one of the neighbor kids was over playing New Super Mario Brothers on the Wii with Lourdes. I played a little before eating, and with the boy's help we made it through the final stage of World 5. I had supper and the neighbor went home. After supper, Lourdes and I played more and we managed to make it to the end of World 6 after I managed to find a shortcut that let us bypass several stages in that world. Then Raquel took over for Lourdes and we managed to get through that final stage and in to World 7. We made it to a stage that if you win, you can save your progress. It took lots and lots of tries, but we finally made it. We basically played about 5 hours of Wii. Is it wrong to do that?
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
When it rains, it freezes
Yucky weather today - freezing rain. It was quite bad for a while. We put out ice melt but it just melted small pellet sized holes in the ice. It was very slippy and one had to walk like a penguin to avoid falling.
Ever notice that when you really need to buckle down and focus on something you seem to get more interruptions that keep you from the important task or tasks? Especially when you're shorthanded! I needed to do some fine-tuning on our network switches at work as we are going through the initial phase of a security certification. I wanted to look at the configurations of the switches to prevent some simple findings. For example, every network device has to have a warning banner at the log-on screen kind of like a "no trespassing" sign. So I wanted to make sure every switch had the appropriate warning banner. Every time I started, something would come up that couldn't be ignored and there wasn't anybody else to handle the issue. A company came by to pick up a storage pod that one of our contractors had used. That was a good hour in the freezing rain. A person called with a computer issue that diverted me for a little bit. Someone else complained about a radio not working properly. A contractor needed help troubleshooting an alarm system that uses our fiber and copper infrastructure. Several other minor interruptions happened as well.
Long story short (too late!), I was finally able to check about seven or eight items per switch stack on nearly 30 switch stacks. I was surprised to find that several switch stacks needed the tweaking. We've had major infrastructure changes over the last year that involved moving/rotating switch stacks. We reconfigured the switches during the moves (updated firmware/software) and somehow overlooked some items. I need to update my cheat sheets for my people on configuring our switches and implement some preventive maintenance/security maintenance checklists.
When it rains, it pours. When it rains when it's really cold, it freezes.
Ever notice that when you really need to buckle down and focus on something you seem to get more interruptions that keep you from the important task or tasks? Especially when you're shorthanded! I needed to do some fine-tuning on our network switches at work as we are going through the initial phase of a security certification. I wanted to look at the configurations of the switches to prevent some simple findings. For example, every network device has to have a warning banner at the log-on screen kind of like a "no trespassing" sign. So I wanted to make sure every switch had the appropriate warning banner. Every time I started, something would come up that couldn't be ignored and there wasn't anybody else to handle the issue. A company came by to pick up a storage pod that one of our contractors had used. That was a good hour in the freezing rain. A person called with a computer issue that diverted me for a little bit. Someone else complained about a radio not working properly. A contractor needed help troubleshooting an alarm system that uses our fiber and copper infrastructure. Several other minor interruptions happened as well.
Long story short (too late!), I was finally able to check about seven or eight items per switch stack on nearly 30 switch stacks. I was surprised to find that several switch stacks needed the tweaking. We've had major infrastructure changes over the last year that involved moving/rotating switch stacks. We reconfigured the switches during the moves (updated firmware/software) and somehow overlooked some items. I need to update my cheat sheets for my people on configuring our switches and implement some preventive maintenance/security maintenance checklists.
When it rains, it pours. When it rains when it's really cold, it freezes.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
15%
What is 15%?
Perhaps a decent tip for good service at a restaurant...
Maybe the return on an investment...
Or how about the amount of your income you are stashing into your retirement fund...
Could be those things and more. For me 15% is none of the above. I've had this blog since July 2003. I've never been very good at the upkeep of this thing. It's often hard to post - I've even posted about how difficult it is to blog on a regular basis. In fact, I didn't post one single time in 2009, causing me to tumble from Dan's Blogroll. I was tempted to blog a few times last year and just lost the urge. As the year wore on it became a personal challenge to not blog just so I could say I didn't post in 2009.
Now, 2010 I have posted every single day, even a couple posts on one day. The 20 posts this month represent 15% of the total number of posts on my blog!
Okay, so what to post about today has been solved. Maybe tomorrow I can post about how long it took me to come up with the idea for this 15% post.
Perhaps a decent tip for good service at a restaurant...
Maybe the return on an investment...
Or how about the amount of your income you are stashing into your retirement fund...
Could be those things and more. For me 15% is none of the above. I've had this blog since July 2003. I've never been very good at the upkeep of this thing. It's often hard to post - I've even posted about how difficult it is to blog on a regular basis. In fact, I didn't post one single time in 2009, causing me to tumble from Dan's Blogroll. I was tempted to blog a few times last year and just lost the urge. As the year wore on it became a personal challenge to not blog just so I could say I didn't post in 2009.
Now, 2010 I have posted every single day, even a couple posts on one day. The 20 posts this month represent 15% of the total number of posts on my blog!
Okay, so what to post about today has been solved. Maybe tomorrow I can post about how long it took me to come up with the idea for this 15% post.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Another exciting day, another exciting post!!
I'm a liar! Not a very exciting day overall. We did get some laundry done, Raquel cleaned the basement a little, and I changed the filter on furnace. Lourdes was counting down all day to watch iCarly to see Freddie and Carly kiss. We also played on kongregate.com. There were a couple games I found quite interesting - Music Catch and Red Remover. Don't blame me if you check them out and lose 10 hours on the computer.
I also read a little on the computer today. I try to follow Peace Corps volunteers in Paraguay. One guy just got assigned to a small town very close to my in laws' home. My wife has lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins in his town so I left him a comment about how to get in touch with us and maybe we can help him from afar. Volunteers have to stay with various host families for the first three months in their site before they can get a place of their own. Sometimes it can be really difficult for them to find a suitable place so I figure that my wife's family can help if he wants.
We played a little Mario on the Wii this morning and a little this evening. Teddy wants to be so much more grown up and when Lourdes didn't want to play anymore, she gave him the Wiimote. The only problem was that he kept hitting pause!
Back to work tomorrow after a four day weekend. Sometimes life is really rough!
I also read a little on the computer today. I try to follow Peace Corps volunteers in Paraguay. One guy just got assigned to a small town very close to my in laws' home. My wife has lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins in his town so I left him a comment about how to get in touch with us and maybe we can help him from afar. Volunteers have to stay with various host families for the first three months in their site before they can get a place of their own. Sometimes it can be really difficult for them to find a suitable place so I figure that my wife's family can help if he wants.
We played a little Mario on the Wii this morning and a little this evening. Teddy wants to be so much more grown up and when Lourdes didn't want to play anymore, she gave him the Wiimote. The only problem was that he kept hitting pause!
Back to work tomorrow after a four day weekend. Sometimes life is really rough!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Mario, WalMart, Taco Bell, and Eli
Today was a mostly relaxed day. Lourdes, bless her heart, has been going through her terrible twos for the past four years. She was sent to a five minute time-out that actually seemed to work for a change. I'm trying to get back to time-outs because yelling doesn't seem to work, just gets me madder, and is a bad influence/role model for the children. By the way her acting out was minor overall, but needed correction because it involved tossing things at her little brother.
Sometime after the time-out, we played some Mario on the Wii until it was time for Lourdes to take a bath so we could start getting ready to shop. While she bathed and Teddy napped, Raquel and I actually played on the Wii. Raquel had not played Mario Brothers on the Wii yet, but loves playing it on the Nintendo DS. She's probably going to addicted to it now.
We eventually got ourselves together and made it to WalMart for the weekly shopping. I wandered off to look at guy things while the rest of the family shopped. Turns out that Teddy was completely grouchy and as I went to look for them I could hear a kid/baby crying. I hoped it wasn't my offspring, but it was. I took Teddy for a walk in the store hoping it would blow off some steam but I think it only served to make him more determined to be cranky and not want to sit in the cart. I don't blame him, but it makes everyone on edge.
We made it out of there and hit the Taco Bell drive thru for supper. After getting home, unloading groceries, and eating, I took off for the movies to see The Book of Eli. I really enjoyed it and there was a big twist at the end - turns out he's an ALIEN!! Just kidding! There was a big twist at the end that I thought was clever. I'll leave it to you to either see the movie or find someone on the internet to reveal it for you. I'm wondering if there are plans for a sequel because they definitely set the very end for that option.
Okay, enough is enough - it's bedtime!
Sometime after the time-out, we played some Mario on the Wii until it was time for Lourdes to take a bath so we could start getting ready to shop. While she bathed and Teddy napped, Raquel and I actually played on the Wii. Raquel had not played Mario Brothers on the Wii yet, but loves playing it on the Nintendo DS. She's probably going to addicted to it now.
We eventually got ourselves together and made it to WalMart for the weekly shopping. I wandered off to look at guy things while the rest of the family shopped. Turns out that Teddy was completely grouchy and as I went to look for them I could hear a kid/baby crying. I hoped it wasn't my offspring, but it was. I took Teddy for a walk in the store hoping it would blow off some steam but I think it only served to make him more determined to be cranky and not want to sit in the cart. I don't blame him, but it makes everyone on edge.
We made it out of there and hit the Taco Bell drive thru for supper. After getting home, unloading groceries, and eating, I took off for the movies to see The Book of Eli. I really enjoyed it and there was a big twist at the end - turns out he's an ALIEN!! Just kidding! There was a big twist at the end that I thought was clever. I'll leave it to you to either see the movie or find someone on the internet to reveal it for you. I'm wondering if there are plans for a sequel because they definitely set the very end for that option.
Okay, enough is enough - it's bedtime!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Late start + overtime shootout = not much of a post
The Rivermen started 30 minutes later than normal due to another event happening. The game was really exciting with the Riverman coming back from being down 3-1. They were able to tie the game, force an extra period, and win in a shootout.
I'm beat and want to get ready for bed.
I'm beat and want to get ready for bed.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Boom Boom Pow
Teddy loves music and loves to dance. I think he has some pretty slick moves for an 18 month old toddler! Here he is dancing to Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas:
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Dick, Jane, Mario and Luigi
I've mentioned before that Lourdes is starting to read and is doing a good job. She read another Dick and Jane book to me this evening that was much longer than the some of the previous ones. She only needed help with a couple of words and read the whole book in very short order. I'm very proud of her progress. She's also using little tricks to help her figure out words that she doesn't know like looking at the illustrations to get clues.
After she read to me, we played a little New Super Mario Brothers on the Wii. I mentioned earlier this week that Lourdes is a clever Mario Brothers player. She's also quite skilled in moving around, jumping and shooting. We played for almost an hour and got through several stages, but alas didn't get to a stage where we could save our progress. So we'll have to do it over again next time. Since we have a long weekend, I'm sure we'll make a lot of progress.
What's in store for the long weekend? I've already mentioned the Wii and yesterday I mentioned seeing a movie. I think I also mentioned going to a hockey game on Saturday. No other hard and fast plans at the moment.
Okay, time for bed!
After she read to me, we played a little New Super Mario Brothers on the Wii. I mentioned earlier this week that Lourdes is a clever Mario Brothers player. She's also quite skilled in moving around, jumping and shooting. We played for almost an hour and got through several stages, but alas didn't get to a stage where we could save our progress. So we'll have to do it over again next time. Since we have a long weekend, I'm sure we'll make a lot of progress.
What's in store for the long weekend? I've already mentioned the Wii and yesterday I mentioned seeing a movie. I think I also mentioned going to a hockey game on Saturday. No other hard and fast plans at the moment.
Okay, time for bed!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
