When we got up this morning, we had a choice to make. We could do our normal Sunday activities, which would involve work, or we could have a bit of a family day.
Now, to be honest, family days are hard to come by, mostly because work is not only ever-present, but increasing and increasingly complex. At any given point, I’ve got at least three different sets of job responsibilities so taking time off isn’t easy. Continue reading “An Impromptu Day at the Zoo”
A few months back, I saw that The Illusionists, a touring mega magic show which happened to feature Kevin James, an old friend from Vegas, would be hitting Vilnius in early March. This was a cool bit of news. I immediately reached out to see if Kevin would have a chance to meet up for coffee while they were in town. Of course, since it was still a ways in the future, we agreed to talk as it got closer. Continue reading “A Magical Date Night”
So lately, I’ve been backing games on Kickstarter (well, games and books). I’m not even sure why, since we don’t really play games at home at the moment. Sure, I’m hoping once we move into a bigger place, and actually have a table, that will change. Plus, I’m hoping that once Monki gets a little older she’ll want to play some games and we can have some family fun outside of the TV. Continue reading “10 Gorgeous Retro Board Games Based on Sci-Fi Classics”
Sunday morning Feb 24, I got a message from a friend asking if we were doing anything that night. Seems he had some extra tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters at Žalgiris Arena and would we like them. My first impulse was to decline. We had no one to watch Monki and I really didn’t want to go alone. But then Rasa and I talked about it and said “why not take her along?” So I accepted the tickets and we suddenly had plans for the evening. Continue reading “Harlem Globetrotters”
This week was filled with a couple of firsts for us. The first first was that my friend Dove bought herself a new car and we took her old one off her hands. This is our first car as a family and it’s a pretty big deal for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it means Rasa gets to drive again. Continue reading “Drive past the cemetery, not into it.”
Well…we went 904 days without breaking the kid.
Today the counter resets.
Let me jump to the end here and say everything is fine, she’s okay (now), and there will be no lasting damage. With that said, today was a scary day.
This morning, Monki was running around, as she is wont to do. I had gone out to run an errand and had just come back home and Rasa was about to go out for an errand of her own and in that in-between time, the little one was running around and having a great time, laughing and yelling and hiding and being her normal self. Continue reading “It’s been _____ days since our last accident”
I stole this list from my friend Steve, who is the father of two girls and a boy. It’s a good place to start. I might add more as I learn more or delete some which I disagree with as time goes on. I might even change the order of importance as Monki comes into her own, but it’s certainly a place to at least open the discussions. Continue reading “A few important rules to teach your daughters*”
Well, True Believers, the time finally came. a month before his 96th birthday, Stan Lee passed away. Down the Tubes has a couple of nice pieces: In Memorium by Alan Woollcombe and Tim Quinn’s piece “How to be a Hero.” Both of these pieces, as well as many others, recount Lee’s history, his start as a teenager working for Timely Comics (which became Marvel), and how he, as no one else ever had, came to personify the field and the artform. Buzz Dixon, in particular, speaks of the man and his problematic relationship with the industry Continue reading “Stan Lee (1922-2018)”
So oftentimes I will read something I like and want to share it here on the blog. For whatever reason the mind kicks in and says “this is something which should be preserved.” So I file it away and eventually, I write up my thoughts about the link and then I set it to post. Continue reading “On Women and Speculative Fiction”
Marie Severin, who was one of the rare female artists at Marvel from the Silver Age onward, as well as an Eisner Hall of Fame member, has died at age 89. Over at 13th dimension they have a great tribute, with links to some of her past work.
I’ll kill the suspense now and tell you we made the flight.
Of course, while we were in the middle of things, that outcome was never assured. And in fact, at points, it seemed like it was highly doubtful. Continue reading “The Flight Home – July 9, 2018”
Sunday was our last day in town and we had decided to try for the Natural History Museum. It fit our requirement of being free and had the added benefit of being one of my favorite places (plus, I’m working on a story set there, so, yay, research!). But first…breakfast and then a walk to the park.
Back at Valentines Park the day before, we had seen a small play area for kids but didn’t get a chance to stop by, so we figured we could do that this morning. Monki loved it. She only recently discovered the joy of slides and swings back at home, and was getting pretty good at climbing the stairs and waiting her turn, so this seemed tailor made for her. Continue reading “Dinosaurs and Technology – July 8, 2018”
So…Remember those clothes we took to the cleaner back on Wednesday when Monki got sick in the car? It wasn’t just a wash and fold, it was actually a dry-cleaner and they said they could get them back for us Friday night or Saturday morning. Since way back then we didn’t know what was going to be happening, I opted for the Saturday morning option. Now, here we were on Saturday morning, up and ready to go out for the day, except we had to wait until at least 9am so we could make sure to get our clothes. Continue reading “Park Life – July 7, 2018”
New day, new adventure. Once again, a jet-lagged baby was up early so we had breakfast and headed out to figure out how to get into the city. We found the Ilford station and a very nice and helpful station agent explained the advantage of Oyster Cards to us as a cost saving measure and with the help of Citymapper, an app Lin had recommended, we quickly and easily made our way to Westminster Underground station. The great thing about this app is it it not only tells you what time and platform your train/bus/subway is on, but also which exit to take in order to leave the station as efficiently as possible as well as GPS enable walking routes to get you to and from the stations themselves. Truly a great app for London (and I understand they have it for other cities as well). Continue reading “Into London Town – July 6, 2018”
Legoland is located over near Windsor Castle, where the recent royal wedding had been held, and about 50 miles from us. Thankfully, due to jet lag, Monki was up early, which meant we were as well, and after a brief English breakfast at the hotel, we were off on the day’s adventure. Continue reading “Brick by Brick – July 5, 2018”
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 