Friends

Grilled up some burgers this weekend… being a bit of a novice when it comes to herbs and spices I did some searching around on the web for burger recipes. Found a bunch, didn’t use any of them. But I did use them as a reference for what kinds of spices and approximate amounts. The result was some of the tastiest burgers! Very yum! Not quite perfect… but close enough that a little experimentation aught to zero in on a near ideal burger.

Daisy and Megan came out… and brought Megan’s boys. I hadn’t realized how many things in our house are within reach of little hands and might either suffer from or be dangerous when picked up by little ones. I also hadn’t realized that everything is a toy… the garden hose, empty planter pots, post-it note pads, TV/DVD remote controllers, DVDs… everything within reach. Guess I have a lot more cleaning, straightening, reorganizing to do. At least I have some time. Once the beanlettes are born it will still be a while before they are self ambulatory.

Also spent another thousand dollars having a leak fixed. A little pocketbook pain, but considering that the leak was at the back corner of the house… and water was all the way out to the street… it needed attention fast. Turns out a T junction under ground had burst completely apart… resulting in a full blast (estimated at 80psi) of water running for DAYS. The next water bill is going to hurt a bit.

And today is the first day of week 22… Beanlettes should start reacting to loud sounds and soon will have regular sleeping and waking rhythms. Eyebrows and eyelids should be fully formed by the end of the week. And Meli is beginning to show signs of nesting… it’s cute.

Change of plans for next week… found out Friday that there is a last minute opening in the ITSQB certification class… so I'm going this year after all. The up side is that I don't have to worry about the possibility of the next class being less conveniently located and maybe needing to be out of town for a week leaving Meli alone with a pair of babies…
The down side is a significant reduction it time to finish the current test cycle and less time to study.

I'm really impressed that our company is spending the money for us to do this… especially since it does more for our individual resumes than it does for the company. But the VP seems to like having his QA engineers certified, it's probably worth the expense to him just to have a higher sense of confidence.

Now though… studying  ISEB, ASQF, and ISTQB material.

between commute time... and waiting for a phone call for two hours... rather than twiddle by thumbs I opted to rework the leter to my sister. It's probably as well formed as it will ever get...

( Catharsis )

As Meli and I prepare for the arrival of our babies I find myself thinking a lot about my own family and childhood. Mostly about my Mother, Sister, and the maternal side of my extended family. (I have nothing to say to my father, and his family long ago told me that I was damned to an eternity burning in hell for my failure to be a ‘good christian’ so I’ve no desire for any dialog there either.) So I decided to write some letters. Mostly for myself, a means of sorting out some of my family issues. Having started writing I then decided I would post the letters. Not because any one really wants to read through them, not because I want any kind of validation. But making these thoughts public helps. Simply writing them down and then deleting or throwing them away is less satisfying, it would give the words a transience that negates the cathartic value of writing them in the first place. So today, a letter to my mother. Other letters may follow.

( Catharsis )

Meli was feeling a bit nervous about the belly-fruit yesterday evening. They were being less active and she was uncertain if she should worry about it or not so she called the advice nurse. Drink a Coke they said… in other words, get the beans hyper on caffeine and sugar so that they squirm around a lot… the idea being that if you can’t feel them moving it could be that they are just relaxing… get them all hyper spazzed out, on the other hand, and you’re certain to feel them. And if you still don’t feel them, then it’s a problem.

Also… Got Meli’s laptop this morning. Decided to go ahead and get the initial setup done and charge up the batteries. I also figured that an extra computer would make some of today’s work easier. Would have, except that it appears you can not manually add entries to the Arp table in Vista Premium. (WTF) Still… is shiny, is fast, is password protected. And it even has a fingerprint scanner built in (isn’t that just geeky cool)

One Prius or two 2009 Honda Fits.
I’m leaning towards the Honda Fit. Meli’s Nissan is nearing two hundred thousand miles, a Fiat is not functional as a ‘family’ car, and the SVX is pretty much a wash at this point. So if we went with the Prius our regular drivers would be a new Prius and a Maxima that’s on the verge of becoming expensive to maintain… or we could go with two Honda fits, once we get rid of the SVX, we would have two new cars and the Maxima as an emergency backup. The Fit doesn’t get the gas mileage of the Prius, but it does have more interior room, important when considering the space needed for twins, strollers, diaper bags, and who knows what else. I’m also a bit tickled by the idea of identical twin cars to go along with identical twin boys.

Got the bed out of the nursery and down to the garage, the desk is all taken apart and moved downstairs as well. All that’s left is a few odds and ends, two boxes of ‘stuff’ and the TV cabinet. On the other end… it’s going to take a bit more effort to make enough room in the garage for the old dining table. We don’t plan to keep it there, we just need somewhere to put it until we get rid of it. Not that I have any idea how I’m going to get it into the garage even once I have space for it, that thing is BIG.