One of the boys in Hailey’s day care class bit her on the arm because she would not move. Hailey is going to learn Toddler-Fu!
Tuesday March 30th, 2004
Monday March 29th, 2004
Computer Outsourcing
If you are a manager or CEO or CIO or in charge of deciding the fate of your IT infrastructure, and you are considering outsourcing to CSC, I offer you this service.
I offer to strike you over the head repeatedly with the “Hammer of Enlightenment” until you come to a more sensible decision.
There is no charge for this service.
Sunday March 28th, 2004
Friday March 26th, 2004
Parents
An old, yet interesting, article originally published in The New Yorker discusses Judith Harris’s hypothesis and observations that a child is more influenced more by her peers than she is by her parents.
…her article was accepted, and in the space below her name, where authors typically put “Princeton University” or “Yale University” or “Oxford University,” Harris proudly put “Middletown, New Jersey.” Harris listed her CompuServe address in a footnote, and soon she was inundated with E-mail, because what she had to say was so compelling and so surprising and, in a wholly unexpected way, so sensible that everyone in the field wanted to know more. Who are you? scholars asked. Where did you come from? Why have I never heard of you before?
This article was a precursor to her book The Nurture Assumption.
To me, it seems that in order to satisfy this hypothesis and influence the type of person Hailey becomes when she is older, I would need to influence the type of children that are in her peer group. The only problem is that I have always hated the medaling parent who stereotyped and excluded people based on their looks, family, or last name.
Saturday March 20th, 2004
Hailey’s Swag
Now you can buy Hailey gear and merchandise from the exclusive and private Shop Dustacio store. No really. Choose the t-shirt or the lunch box. Each is under $20.
Friday March 19th, 2004
Not So Much
Brianna and I took Thursday and Friday off. We wanted to complete the yard work.
Our plan was to buy the supplies and get most of the work done before the weekend. Instead, we ended up running errands most of the day. The pets went to the vet, this required separate cars since Natasha would make an appetizer of Gizmo. My car was dropped off twice, once for tires and once for a state inspection. We went by Lowes and bought plants, we still need more mulch.
While waiting for my car to get its inspection, we stopped by Toys R Us and bought Hailey a “SwingAlong(TM) Castle.” We had to select by looking at the box and guessing the maximum size that would fit in Brianna’s car. I think this is as big a box that can ever go back there. The box claimed twenty minute assembly, I think it took us about half an hour. Hailey really loves climbing on this thing. For her it is always over, not around.
Wednesday March 17th, 2004
Our Third Year
Three years ago today, on a St. Patrick’s Day that started off foggy and wet just like today, Brianna and I said I do.
Monday March 15th, 2004
Toil, and More Toil
Friday morning, four cubic yards of dirt are delivered to my driveway. I drove home for lunch and put plastic sheeting on the dirt so I could have topsoil and not mud.
On Friday night we met my parents in South Austin for some Chinese buffet. Our main mission was to borrow my dad’s truck in exchange for Hailey so we could get some yard work done.
Hailey enjoyed the Chinese place but not for the food. There was so much going on around her that she couldn’t concentrate on food. First, there was a man behind us in a cowboy hat. Hailey couldn’t stop staring at him and his family. Then, the waiter brought Hailey a helium filled balloon that she played with until she knocked over my mom’s tea glass. Hailey was brave enough to try a California roll but she didn’t like the rice.
Once we had the truck Brianna and I made our first of at least four trips to the home improvement warehouse. On our first night we bought: gloves, landscape edging, six bags of mulch, air conditioning filters, trash bags, a water filter for the refrigerator, and a new solid rubber tire for my wheelbarrow.
On Saturday morning we woke up early and went back to the home improvement warehouse to buy plants and shrubs and more mulch. We also got started on the yard. At about one or two it started raining and we had to call it a day. So we went to get Hailey from my parent’s house.
On Sunday morning we pawned Hailey off on Sanna and Elizabeth and we got back to work. We had planned on doing the front and back yards but could barely finish with just the front. By Sunday mid-morning we were back at the home improvement warehouse to buy more plants, and more mulch. We finished with the front yard and I started the very hard task of moving the remaining dirt to the back yard. Nightfall prevented my from finishing.
On Monday morning while I was at work Hailey coned her Great Grandfather Roscoe and Great Uncle Ralph into moving the rest of dirt into the back yard.
As you can see from the before and after pictures, the yard looks good.
Tuesday March 9th, 2004
On the Farm
On the farm there are cows, chickens, a cat, and a dog. There is a pond, or a fish tank. There are no ducks. I saw a post in the local newsgroups about young female ducks for $15. I decided that my mom and dad need some ducks to go on that farm.
The post described these ducks as young runner ducks. They didn’t require a pond. They only needed a fresh supply of drinking water. Further correspondence revealed that the ducks were social animals and that I should consider getting at least three so the ducks wouldn’t be lonely. I arranged for four ducks, all female, and all younger so we won’t have to worry about eggs for a while.
When my mom first brought chickens home the chicks were small, about the size of a hamster. All ten would easily fit in a small moving box. My duck provider said these ducks were younger, she said they would fit in a cat carrier. Naturally, I thought I knew what a duck looked like, Hailey’s bathroom has rubber duckies all over the place. All ducks are small, yellow and squeak if you squeeze them.
The plan: pick up the ducks after work, go by the house and get Brianna and Hailey, drive out to the farm and drop off the ducks.
Reality: the ducks are bigger than I expected. They are the size of our cat with a much longer neck. Two ducks will just fit into a banker box. Rubber bands must be used to make sure the ducks don’t push off the lid. Both banker boxes fit on the back seat of my car safely snuggled between the side panel and the car seat.
The ducks look like the ducks in the illustrations of the children’s book The Story About Ping except they are not yellow. There are two dark green ducks, and two mostly white ducks. They have long necks, large wings, and webbed feet. I do not think these ducks can fly. The ducks are quite vocal when they are unhappy. The ducks were very unhappy to be stuck in a dark banker box in the back of the car. Ducks smell badly. Imagine the smell of the penguin cage at the zoo. Now imagine that my car has just become the penguin cage. I rolled down all the windows, called Brianna and told her she would have to meet me. I’m going straight to the farm.
It is now 4:50 pm, I am at 183 and Mopac. I need to go south, way south.I have smelly, loud ducks, a stick shift, open windows, and traffic. Mopac isn’t moving. From the back of my car I hear quack-quack-quack, NPR and and the AC on max seems to calm them down a little. After an hour of bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic, and quack-quack-quack, I am in South Austin and can finally accelerate out of 2nd gear. I am confident that any minute the ducks will break free from their containers and I will have to fend for my life at 60 MPH on highway 290. I reach back and put my laptop across the two lids just in-case.
At the farm we arrange to use one of the chicken coops as a new duck home. I spread some hay in the corner for a roost, we put some food and water down and then let the ducks out of the boxes. They are not hurt but they are not happy either. They walk together in a mob. They look like penguins or bowling pins or a mixture of both.
After about five minutes of quack-quack-quack the alpha rooster, who looks like “little Jerry Seinfeld” comes strutting from the back of the yard to the front of this duck coop to investigate. He struts back and forth with frequent cock-a-doodle-doos. The ducks do not seem impressed.
In theory, Sassy is a dog. She barks and she chews on bones. In reality she is about the size of a 5lb bag of sugar or a medium sized city sewer rat. She thinks that she rules the yard. She came running over to see the ducks as soon as she heard the quacking. She would look through the fence from the front, then run around to look through the fence from the back. I can’t wait to see how she acts when the ducks are turned loose to roam the yard.As night fall approached and “little Jerry Seinfeld” deemed the situation was safe, the other chickens began to come near the ducks.Eventually as it got darker the chickens went to their coop which is on the back side of the duck coop and settled in for the night.
The ducks found their water and their food and seemed happy. Once again it was quite in the country
Monday March 1st, 2004
Brusha Brusha
I was playing with Hailey and her reflection in the bathroom mirror when she noticed her toothbrush…
