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October 31, 2007

The numbers are in

Just got back from one of the neighborhood after parties. I heard a few neighbors had 250 trick or treaters. We have stairs to climb which eliminated at least 100. Andy counted 150 but a few kids may have taken 2 treats.

Kudos to LB for passing out wine juice boxes to the parents on the trick or treat route. Her astronaut uniform with diaper and duct tape took number one costume award at her own party. Margi came in second place dressed as Dick Cheney in hunting gear and toy shot gun. Nice touch.

We had a few friends, neighbors and relatives over for the pre-party which made the evening all the merrier. Karsten led the pack knocking on all the doors. Britta and I could barely keep up. Britta didn't have the same stamina as Karsten and when we walked by our house again she said she was ready to go home. Still, I was impressed with Britta. She walked up to every house and used her manners with "happy halloween! trick or treat!" and most importantly, "thank you!." Last year I had to wheel her from house to house in her stroller and the only thing she would do was hold her bag out hoping someone would notice her and give her some candy.

I'd say definitely this was one of my favorite Halloweens, and I only got one candy bar.

Happy Halloween (again)!

Posted by jana at 11:07 PM

Happy halloween!

Karsten art directed our cat-themed pumpkins and Andy carved. I roasted the pumpkin seeds and Britta watched. Team work!

Posted by jana at 12:16 PM

October 30, 2007

Britta's "other family"

Last week we were driving to Blockbuster to get a movie for our family movie night. Karsten wanted a Spiderman movie but I wouldn't let him get it (rated PG-13). Britta asked him, "do you want Spiderman? My mom and I will get it for you." Karsten said, "yeah!" I said to Britta, "I'm your mom and I said we can't get Spiderman." Her answer, "My other mom will get it for him."

Andy's comment, "Britta's other mom sounds a lot more fun."

And now this week Britta is supposed to bring photos of her family to preschool. They are learning about families. Britta spends a lot of time talking about her sisters, "DeLissy", "DeLooney" and of course we can't forget "Sheep Baby." I am hoping since Karsten also had Teacher Linda for preschool she'll know that Jana is her only mom and Karsten is the only sibling.

Posted by jana at 10:03 PM

Musical Tofu Buys a CD

I rarely buy cds. If anything I may buy a track on itunes (and now Amazon) here or there but I probably shell out for a full album only every 5 years.

And contrary to my LastFM profile I actually listen to more music than Def Leppard or the Beatles. I just prefer to allow other people to pick my music. I especially love Pandora where I only have to enter in a few names of artists or songs I like and the site picks great music for me.

But something happened a few weeks ago. When Greg was in town a few of us randomly went to see the movie Once. I immediately fell in love with this movie that is a musical but isn't a musical. Finally I broke down and bought the soundtrack. It is a good one to listen to while working. I may have to buy the DVD when it comes out which is even a bigger deal since I buy DVDs even less often than I buy CDs.

The movie was about passion, motivation and creating. I think the last time I bought a CD and DVD (actually VHS!) was for the Big Night which was also about passion, motivation and the creative process. I have found my weakness for music and movies.

Posted by jana at 4:52 PM

October 10, 2007

pizza politics

Tonight at the pizza parlor Karsten suddenly shouts out, "George W. Bush!"

Me: "What?"

Karsten: "He is the worst president EVER!" He shouts this very loudly in the restaurant. I look around, don't see any glaring Republicans so I prod.

Me: "Why?"

K: "He spent all our money! He started a war and the soliders haven't eaten for days."

This is some of the rhetoric I decided was worth teaching Karsten (although I don't recall mentioning soliders not eating for days but I do like the drama it conjures). I started planting these ideas in his head during a car ride a few weeks ago and am giddy they are sticking with my 6-year-old. Tonight I tried adding more to his spiel, using words like "unconstitutional" and "preemptive" but he just looked at me.

Andy: "Don't you want the grandparents to keep babysitting? You'd better not teach him these things."

I'll consider it. That would suck if the grandparents didn't want to babysit their liberal six-year old grandson.

I wonder had my dad preached more trickle-down economics while I was a wee one would he have turned me right-winged? I mean seriously, I did grow up during The Royal Reagan Administration and look how I still turned out. I see missed opportunity on his part for sure. There's no hope for me now, but I do see bright and liberal futures for my kids... or will my liberal brainwashing turn them into rebel republicans?

Update: I just saw this in the NYTimes and I want to cry. The kids are our future. (via Andrej)

Posted by jana at 10:19 PM | Comments (1)

October 9, 2007

"New to me" chairs

I can't stop blogging tonight. We were on a "Scurrying for Burien" scavenger hunt this weekend for a charity event. On the hunt we found ourselves in the Goodwill. We didn't find any clues there but I spied these chairs. They wouldn't fit in the car during the scavenger hunt but Andy was nice enough to pick them up for me today.

$4.99 each.

Posted by jana at 9:21 PM

"See Dad Surf" shirt

Here's the shirt I finally got around to making using a photo of Andy windsurfing. I sewed it on Saturday right before guests were about to show up. I was quite confident it would take me 5 minutes or less to sew. That was the estimate until I sewed the shirt together... twice. I was just so confident that my seam ripper was tucked away downstairs hidden. Regardless I did finish the shirt in about 10 minutes.

Ten minutes is also the amount of time Karsten wore the shirt before breaking open his lip on the playground today and bleeding all over it. The shirt is in the wash as I type but I may be adding some strategic patches or something to cover the blood stains.

Posted by jana at 9:09 PM

The engagement

The nice thing about having a blog is that I can go back and look up important information -- like when did Karsten first talk about getting married? I wanted to know if Britta was more romantically advanced than Karsten was at 3. It turns out she is.

We had some friends over this weekend and Britta announced to me, "I'm going to marry Liam." Then someone decided Britta and Liam should hug to really confirm their love. Or at least Britta's love. They got into a little hugging match where Britta would say, "another hug!" Their final hug was a crushing embrace that nearly knocked them both over.

Britta has good taste. Liam has pretty blue eyes and the most kissable checks. Even Andy had to pinch them. And if you're wondering, Liam is a younger man by a few months.

Posted by jana at 8:39 PM

Picnik test

I finally checked out this new online app called picnik.com. Sure I could do the same thing in photoshop but let me tell you, picnik makes it easy. And fun.

I had to take a screenshot of this example because the fancy filters are for premium account. I'll be investigating the premium account.

Here's the original photo so you can see how much I changed it.
Update
Turns out the premium account is free right now. I just didn't hit the "share" tab to discover this until after I'd written this post.

Posted by jana at 1:23 PM | Comments (3)

October 5, 2007

For young artists: activate your artist skills

From friend Amy Tucker, founder of Xeko

Dear Xeko Agents and FOX (Friends of Xeko),

XEKO and National Geographic are searching for artistically-inclined and adventurous Xeko Agents!

Help us FLOOD National Geographic's offices with INCREDIBLE Xeko art!

Draw, paint, or sketch your favorite animal from Xeko Mission: Costa Rica and enter to win an eco-expedition to Costa Rica or other fabulous Xeko prizes.

Visit http://xeko.com/contest for an entry form, full contest rules, and to access the Xekopedia.

Pass this along to young artists and Xeko Agents between the ages of 6 - 14. Invite your schools, clubs, and friends ... The more the merrier!

Entry deadline is October 31, 2007.

Activate your artistic skills and get inspired by the wild and wonderful animals in Xeko Mission: Costa Rica!!!

Posted by jana at 11:16 AM

October 3, 2007

You know you may have given birth to a future band geek when...

A few weeks ago my mom hosted a family gathering. One of the relatives said to me, "Karsten sure is friendly. He told me all about his school. How they're the wildcats, how he's a basketball star and that his nickname is Troy."

What? First of all, his school is "the huskies", he doesn't play basketball, and Troy?

"Oh! That isn't Karsten. That is from High School Musical. He has morphed into Troy Bolton after watching the DVD"

So when Karsten stars in a musical about a basketball star becoming a singer, I won't be surprised.

Interestingly though I don't think Britta will be a band geek. I really have no proof of musical talent or lack of but I think I impose my own vision of myself on to her. (I couldn't play the triangle to save my life). Yesterday she brought home a beautiful painting from preschool. My dad was in awe, "we have a little artist on our hands." My thought was, yeah, of course.

Then I spoke with the daycare lady. She said "I didn't think Britta could sting up those little beads to make a bracelet but wow, what amazing fine motor skills!" My thought was, no big surprise there. She's my girl.

However I'm starting to worry that I'll miss some talent that Britta has if it isn't something that I excel at. There is a danger of me just thinking of her as my mini-me for sure.

As for my other kid, I'm still wondering how he came out of my womb.

Posted by jana at 9:39 PM | Comments (1)

2 new products!

1. Freeze-dried eco burials
Something I never considered: "human remains inside those coffins can pose a hazard since they may contain toxic metals and other substances that can seep into ground water."

2. Heat-sensitive wallpaper
Surprisingly cooler than I would have imagined. I wonder how eco-friendly it is? I read that Napoleon may have died due to arsenic poisoning from wallpaper during his exile.

Posted by jana at 9:31 PM

October 1, 2007

UW looking for...

A friend of mine forwarded me this. I know nothing beyond what is written below. Some of that I can't even decipher either but I figure enough of you geeks reading this would probably understand.

Company: University of Washington
Job Title: Senior Applications System Engineer
Description: The University of Washington (UW) is proud to be one of the nation's premier educational and research institutions. Our people are the most important asset in our pursuit of achieving excellence in education, research and community service. Our staff not only enjoy outstanding benefits and professional growth opportunities, but also an environment noted for diversity, community involvement, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty.

The Office of Information Management has an outstanding opportunity for a Senior Applications System Engineer.

This senior computing systems position will provide senior-level systems design, development, programming, implementation, consultation, maintenance and support for the eFECS Project, a University-wide faculty effort and cost share management system. This position will be part of a team of 3-4 senior developers and will collaborate with other developers and development teams working on related administrative applications.

Project responsibilities may require functional supervision of other technical staff members. Must be able to lead, organize and influence positively and effectively.

Successful candidates must interface and collaborate productively with system end-users and have the flexibility to take on broader responsibilities such as business analysis and project management when necessary, as well as develop technical estimates, manage workload toward agreed upon milestones, and negotiate priorities in a deadline-driven environment.

Relevant Technologies and Skills:
ASP.NET, C#, object-oriented design principles, agile development methodologies, Visual Studio Team System & Team Foundation Server, enterprise-wide object/relational databases, MS-SQL, Javascript, XML, web services, accessibility.

This position provides an opportunity to work for an organization that embraces technical excellence, professionalism, mutual respect, individual empowerment, excellent relationships, and exceptional technology. As an employee you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of the benefits for this position, please see http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/benefits/forms/benefits.glance.professional.pdf

Requirements:
* Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in business administration, computer science or related field.
* Four years experience performing progressively more complex and responsible IT tasks spanning all phases of systems development.
* Extensive experience and demonstrated skills and knowledge in the following technologies: ASP.NET, C#, object-oriented design principles, enterprise-wide object/relational databases, MS-SQL, ASP, Java, JavaScript, COM/COM+, HTML, XML, and scripting languages.
* Knowledge and experience architecting applications.
* Project definition, planning, scheduling and implementation experience.
* Demonstrated excellent written/oral communication skills, user liaison skills, and personal interaction abilities.
* Demonstrated ability to work independently with minimal supervision, as well as part of a project team in a cooperative effort.
* Demonstrated ability to quickly learn and apply new technologies.
* Demonstrated ability to develop creative solutions for business, academic, and research needs.

Desired:
* Application systems development experience in a major research university setting.
* Experience transitioning from legacy/mainframe to RDBMS and web-based systems.

Condition of Employment:
* A satisfactory outcome from a criminal background verification may be required prior to hire.

The University of Washington is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206.543.6450 / 206.543.6452 (tty) or dso@u.washington.edu.

Posted by jana at 10:35 PM | Comments (1)