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Snow country for old men
We’re back from our midweek getaway, and we’ve learned a valuable lesson: Vermont is too far to drive for just one day. But still—what a day it was!
The Wildflower Inn
Dinner
Skiing
Ethan’s one-horse open sleigh
He’s so heavy!
His Royal Highness
Hold me, like you did by the lake on Naboo
A few years ago Penny and I stayed at a little bed and breakfast in Vermont called the Wildflower Inn. I was working on a story for my American Adventurer column, which was just getting off the ground at the time, and we used the inn as a launching pad for snowshoeing and crosscountry skiing on the Kingdom Trails network.
We had such a great time that we decided we should go back again—maybe even make a family tradition out of it, once we actually started a family. Flash forward to 2008 and here we are, baby in tow, heading off to the Wildflower Inn for a little midweek romantic getaway for three. Snow country, here we come!
My ears are burning
Every few weeks it seems I get an email from someone hoping for news about Rise of the Hidden Sun. As far as I know, though, this is the first time someone has blogged about me.
I just stumbled over a blog post by Josh Roberts, multi-talented writer/producer/designer of the very excellent independent adventure game Rise of the Hidden Sun… It’s a very ambitious freeware project that suffers a bit from an on-again, off-again progress. After a long hiatus, development on the game resumed in 2007 and the artists in Josh’s team churned out some really impressive artwork, but now according to his blog post production seems to have ground to a halt again… Josh is obviously very determined to see the game of his dreams realized. He’s also a talented writer with a kick-ass concept for a game. Yet even he has problems in finding and maintaining the help that is necessary to create this mammoth project, at least with the kind of quality he aspires to. I’ve been there myself a few years ago… Anyway, I hope Josh will find a way to keep his project going. Rise of the Hidden Sun is a game I’m very much looking forward to.
It’s pretty flattering to know there are people out there who I’ve never met who are looking forward to my game. ‘Course, most of them will have lost interest by the time I actually do get something done. But still, flattering! And it does make me want to dig in and keep trying.
Neither rain, nor sleet, nor hail, nor snow…
… can stop Ethan from sleeping through our daily walk.
(Let the record show he was very warm and dry underneath all that snow.)
Adventures in babyspitting
In hindsight, things were perhaps going a little too well. Ethan had already downed an entire jar of carrots, green beans, and peas, plus a healthy dose of apple sauce, when I decided to push my luck and introduce a little mango-yogurt smoothie into his life.
He took one sip, then two, and then a third… before at last deciding, “No thank you, daddy, I think I’d rather spray it all over your face and shirt.” Nothing gets the day started right like being spit upon by a sassy little infant.
Still, a whole jar of mixed vegetables! Meal-time victories are so few and far between these days, I can live with the occasional mango smoothie shower.
Quitt Romney
This just in!
Mitt Romney will either suspend his presidential campaign or withdraw completely from the presidential race, The Associated Press has learned.
I guess his wife convinced him to stop wasting the family fortune. Buh bye, weasel.
Thursdays
Ever since Penny went back to work two days a week, our moms take turns watching Ethan on Mondays, and I get him on Thursdays. I don’t have the day off, though—I work from home. Which means I spend a lot of time typing away at my desk while peering over my laptop to see what Ethan is up to. It’s the ultimate in multitasking. Here’s how a typical morning goes.
Phase 1: I’m working. Ethan is exploring. Trouble is brewing.
Phase 2: Ethan discovers the bookshelf. Oh look, Serenity!
Phase 3: Chaos.
Phase 4: Then comes lunch.
Phase 5: And “clean up.”
I wouldn’t trade my Thursdays for anything!
Weekly Weigh-In # 4: 187 lbs.
Sigh. There was a time when adding a little exercise and reducing my snack intake would have just sizzled all the fat right off me. Turns out, that doesn’t happen once you hit 30. Damn metabolism just slows right down. So, yeah, I believe this is what they call “reaching a plateau” on my weight-loss plan. At least I didn’t gain any, because honestly this wasn’t my best week. Stress at work, sickness at home, rainy days preventing some of my usual exercise, and cheesy fondue goodness (totally worth it, though) for the Super Bowl all conspired against me.
It’s time for a renewed sense of determination. That means losing the nightly snack for a while, and maybe hitting the drab, dreary, and germ-infested Fitcorp next to my office (seriously, the place is gross) a couple times next week. I will get the scale moving in the right direction again, damn it!
But for now, current status is still… Jek Porkins.
Immunity challenge
Penny was so sick over the weekend that she briefly considered going to the emergency room. Ethan has a runny nose and a nasty cough. And me, I’m fighting with all I’ve got to “outwit, outplay, and outlast” this evil little cold/flu/plague-thing that has infected my happy home. I can feel it knocking at the door and peering through the window, though. It’s coming for me, and I am helpless to stop it.
