Eberron

We had our first new gaming session in a while. Our game master is doing a really good job.

Getting Ready for Returning to Work

Just another day.

G4

Son and I needed to get out of the house for a bit to let GPop be alone. GPop had fallen out of a tree onto his bottom, and he needed the time to salve his ego and hit coccyx.

I decided we'd drive up toward Grandma's and see if we could find any cemeteries with gravestones of any of my ancestors from the area. It was a great surprise to find an old church cemetery, sans church, that had a lot of stones with names I recognized.

I found a large obelisk stone with the name Rev. Caleb Ballinger. I thought I recognized the Ballinger name, and sure enough, when I got home, I found that it was my great-great-great-great-grandfather. Neat!

Po-TAY-to

We hadn't been home for four hours when a shirtless, very sweaty guy that I didn't recognize came knocking on our door.

Sweaty Guy: Heh heh... I just bought some steaks from a guy on a truck. Heh heh... I realized I don't have any potatoes. Can I borrow some? Heh heh....

GDad: [Utterly sincerely] I'm afraid we don't have any potatoes.

Sweaty Guy: Heh heh. OK. [Wanders off to the north.]

I watched him approach a house about a hundred yards away. The people in the house chatted with him for a second, then I saw their open garage door close and Sweaty Guy walked away. GPop and I decided to alert the sheriff.

Home Again

Now the 29 hour day...

Off to Paris

We're on a day trip to Paris today. We'll be taking a Segway tour. I think the tour is in English mostly because the spelling irritates the French.

Today's Agenda

Today, we'll be visiting Westminster Abbey and Kensington Palace. Son will be picking up some gewgaws from the Jewel Tower, and we might hit Harrod's.

Foto Sunday

Son as a Cyberman. We were at Doctor Who: The Experience.

The King Was in his Counting House

Son and I went to the Jewel Tower today. It was a 14th century structure used to hold the king's personal possessions.

The Eye

We rode up in the London Eye today. We chatted with a couple from Houston and saw the sights.

Tower Bridge

Saw the Tower Bridge today.

Answered

There is really only one answer to any question that begins with, "How creepy would it be if I..."

And if you don't know the answer off the top of your head, it is most succinctly expressed as, "Very."

Toronto

We've been in the Toronto Pearson airport for over an hour, and we've yet to hear one of those security announcements.

---
Nous avons été dans l'aéroport Pearson de Toronto pour une heure, et nous avons encore à entendre une de ces annonces de sécurité.

In the Airport

Off to Canada, England, and France.

Zero Degrees Longitude

About this time tomorrow, then adjust for the time zone differences, we'll be about a mile north of Greenwich observatory.

Four Word Movie Review - Transformers III

Not going to see.

Four Word Movie Review - Harry Potter VII-2

Great movie. Nice coda.

Four Word Movie Review - Green Lantern

Nonstop action and abs.

Foto Phriday - Dryad Edition

GPop was trimming some trees and went all pareidolia yesterday. He pointed out the recently deceased dryad, and claimed some responsibility for its demise. I assured him I would share his dastardly deed with the intarwebosphere.

Click to embiggen.



And in answer to your question, white pine.

Foto Thursday

World's dumbest getaway vehicle.

Data Point 2

Another first generation immigrant, whose name I didn't catch, was in the elevator with me today at about the same time of day, which again should be very busy. We got all the way to the lobby without any stops.

This doesn't change my observation about Jerry, but I now have additional data. What to do? What to do?

Single Entendre

Near a display of Harry Potter merchandise.

Big Gay Al: [points at merchandise] I'd love to get my hands on Daniel Radcliffe's wand.

GDad: You mean Harry Potter's? It's right here.

Big Gay Al: I know what I said.

Stormin'

Is it too much to ask for a little weather control? The storms were pretty violent.

The Game

We're probably going to be starting up The Game again. I'm not sure what I want to play.

Foto Saturday - Restaurant Edition

A local family-run Italian restaurant (not famiglia-run) has a kids' menu and a box of crayons for the puzzles and such. At GPop's birthday, we asked for the crayons, and since the placemats were paper, we used them to make ART.

Behold!

Licensed and Insured

Perfect score. 

The Fainting Couch

I am sitting in the lobby while son takes his driving test.  In a few minutes, I will have a licensed driver or a distraught teen.  In either case, I suspect ice cream may be in our near future.

Foto Phriday

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I think I mostly feel a sense of awe at the tone-deaf marketing. ("Hmmm.... Let's appeal to girls by MAKING IT PINK!") If you are colorblind, the camouflage has a bright pink theme more often associated with B@rbie than with the topic at hand.



UPDATE: As a friend pointed out, given my success rate with predicting what things will be popular and what things won't, it's likely that people should buy stock in the company that produces this toy.

Phycic

The misspelling in the title is intentional. There was an episode of Corner Gas where the local news rag had a headline proclaiming "HANK IS PHYCIC!"

I got in an elevator the other day with Jerry, a first generation immigrant from China. We nodded, but he was on his cell phone, so we didn't chat. I was prepared to stop on several floors, since we are near the top of the building, and it was time for early birds to start heading home. With an increasing sense of amazement, I watched as we passed all the other floors and got off in the lobby.

The thought ran through my head that Jerry was like one of those little good luck charms people keep on their keychains, but then I realized that I could not say anything of the sort, because of possible issues with A) height, and B) concerns that "lucky" and Chinese tied together could be some kind of stereotype that I am not privileged to use.

It occurred to me then that in an alternate world where psychic powers existed, there could be some powers that the owner may never know he or she had. For example, the power to make elevators pass by floors other than your destination. If you always travelled to the floor you wanted, you may never know that other people get frustrated by the times when an elevator stops at several floors between destinations. Other people who are on elevators generally complain when it happens, but are silent when it doesn't.

I could consider the possibility that my passive psychic power is that batteries in complicated electronic devices tend to drain quite a bit faster when I'm around than when I'm not. Or the one that I once convinced several of my friends that I had - the ability to turn off street lights around myself.

Happy Birthday, GPop

We met when he was just a lad of 21.

All the Modern Inconveniences

Fortunately, I get up before my alarm on most days. Today, though, I slept through when it SHOULD have gone off, but I did get up five minutes later.

I'm old.

Independence

Neighbor Rusty shoots off fireworks every Independence Day. Neighbor Kath (Kath is Mrs. Rusty, and Rusty is Mr. Kath) is British. Of course, at every Rusty Show, I shout, "Take that George III!"

Puzzling

We decided to attempt one of those 3D puzzles at GPop's parents. We're about a third of the way done.

Fun in the Sun

We are celebrating summer birthdays at GPop's sister's house today. Happy birthday, all.

Foto Phriday - Topic Revisitied

When you're swimming in the sea,
And an eel bites your knee,
That's a moray!

Click to embiggen.