AT&T: Stop Reminding Me You're Expensive
Okay, these monthly text messages from AT&T; drive me crazy.
Let me inventory all the ways these are annoying:
- They seem to come at the worse times. I was having a busy day at work and got this interruption. Thought it was something important. It was a text message after all. But, no, it was a billing notice.
- No human intelligence has been encoded into the scheduling of these. Can you believe I got one of these on Christmas Day? Yeah, Merry Christmas to you too!
- The language is arcane. Get rid of the cruft and make the wording something that seems natural.
Okay, that’s enough. I just needed to say that.
3 o’clock beer, sitting outside, watching the kids play in the wading pool, after mowing the lawn.
Tyler Mowing
Tyler thought it would be fun to push the lawn mower for a while. (Note: that is our neighbors lawn mower. I was out shooting pictures of the remodel)
Remodel Update Week 3
Week three of the remodel project has been substantial. Arriving home to heavy equipment in the yard is the first clue. Most of this weeks pictures are large holes dug around our house. It’s proven to be a big inconvenience as we cannot walk from the front yard to the backyard easily now. This leaves Chase incredibly confused about where he’s supposed to do his business in the yard.
The week ahead starts some of the framing work and the excavation of the floor in the basement. The next shots from the basement should be interesting! I love how the light comes in from outside in the basement already. I’m also pretty excited about the large windows we’ll have in the basement. I think the space will feel really nice.
We lost about 3 days this week due to rain. Everyone agreed we didn’t want large holes in the yard filled with three feet of rainwater.
Standing Desk Trial
I’m taking a trial run at a standing desk. If I like it I’ll see about something more nicer than a box of paper and an upside down recycling container.
Saturday at Science Museum
Tammy had her 2nd photography class today. Last week I went with the “Dad standby” and we went to the Zoo. Today we went to the Science Museum.
Multi Ping Pong
We had a Ping Pong Tournament at this years Olson Family weekend. I took video of a bunch of the matches and didn’t know what to do with it. So I took my new copy of Final Cut Pro X and put nine of them in one video.
Construction Excavation
I came home tonight and was excited to see the first significant work on the excavation around the house.
This digger was in the front yard getting its work done.
We have two really big holes that will have forms put in them for the concrete around the egress windows.
It isn’t often that you get to check out the exterior wall of your basement.
The toys are parked in the yard for the night.
I couldn’t help myself. 😀
Saving Plants
My Mom came to the rescue of more plants. This week the excavation starts on the remodel and the side of the house is going to get dug up. A lot of Hostas and others had to be moved or destroyed. Mazie helped loading the rescued plants into Grandma’s car.
Open Eye Backyard Puppet Show
Last week Mazie and I had a delightful evening sitting in Garrick Van Buren’s backyard watching a puppet show. This is the 3rd year that the Van Buren’s have hosted the Open Eye Figure Theatre and we’ve made it every year. This year Garrick commented to me that he had counted over 100 people. That’s great, and I hope that Open Eye continues to do this Driveway (or in this case Backyard) Tour.
Before the puppet show starts the puppeteers give a little introduction to the theatre and the puppets. They have a simple stage and are accompanied by an accordion player. Every year there is always some water moment where water will fly from the puppet area into the audience. It’s a lot of fun for everyone involved.
This years show was The Amazing Cow Boat
Taking a bath will never be the same for audiences after seeing the all-new The Amazing Cow Boat! Told through a giant pop-up book with puppets, songs, and surprises, the show is the story of Charlie who, while taking a bath, sails away in his imagination in search of treasure. Traveling in his boat that amazingly is also a cow, he encounters pirates, mermaids, a whale, and an orangutan.
While I was sitting there watching the puppet show with Mazie in my lap, I took a moment to look around at all the other families and their kids collected in this neighborhood enjoying the show. It all seemed so right and so good. We need more things like this.