Family Life

The other night after dinner Joel (4) wanted to know what was for dessert. This was accompanied by broad hints that candy would be an appropriate answer.
Normally I’d defer to Debbie for that kind of decision. She has a pretty firm grasp on how long it’s been since the kids last had candy, and thus [...]

I learned to program on a computer like this one. It’s a Texas Instruments TI99/4A, popular in 1981. My high school acquired a lab-full of these, and I signed up for the very first class. I programmed in BASIC, which was about the only programming language available to home computers at the time, and in [...]

I was washing my four-year-old’s hands for dinner tonight when he cheerfully said,
- “Daddy, I know a new trick that you don’t know.”
- “Really Joel? What’s that?”
- “I can lick my snot!”
Why oh why did I have to ask? Being exceptionally slow and not yet having learned my lesson, I blurted out,
- “So how do [...]

Ahh! It’s Friday, it’s sunny and warm, it’s Spring! What a wonderful afternoon to spend in the yard, enjoying the cool, gentle breeze, listening to birds chatter in the trees. I went out with my camera and tripod to get some pictures of the trees newly budded. From time to time clouds would pass before [...]

Debbie and I discussed the current Mexican swine flu outbreak at the dinner table last night. One of my workmates is in Mexico at the moment, getting married and going on his honeymoon. Some joker at the office has closed off his cubicle with yellow Caution tape and hung a breathing mask over the cubicle [...]