belvedere rides again
Viv called me twice at work yesterday. The second time just to tell me she loves me. I can’t wait to see my kids.
I finished reading The Gothic Tales of the Marquis de Sade and I have to say, I wasn’t that impressed. Maybe something was lost in the translation from French to English, but the stories although sordid are just rehashing of stories you already know with some sexual weirdness thrown in. I guess it’s groundbreaking based on the time period it was written, but I didn’t think the writing was anything special at all.
I met Marty for dinner at PJ’s in Cherry Hill to discuss the PHP/JavaScript/MySQL help he needed for his project. Marty’s a great guy and although we were there to discuss the project, the conversation ran the gamut from what green frogs sound like to Ike Reese as a commentator on the Eagles’ preseason telecast (we both agree he sucks).
On the way home, I noticed a call from the kiddos on my caller ID on the crackberry. I called just in time before the kids were hitting the hay. I talked to Bubs and told him about the books I ordered for him. And then I read Viv a princess story (the stories I would tell her each night before bed – basically stories made up about her being a princess with a flying horse named Belvedere). That made my day again.
I got home and got to work on the eMaint SSIS package and discovered a lovely MS bug with the flat file importer wizard. I put a workaround in place and I will cross my fingers, otherwise I will have to add another step in the process to (get this) import the flat file into excel and then into a staging table in the SQL 2005 database. The issue is a false failure for truncated data. Hopefully something that MS plans on patching in SP2.
While working on the geekery, I followed the Phils game on ESPN gamecast. Hamels struggled at one point, but corrected himself and finished strong. Thankfully with the win over the Nats, some help from Braves and Mets loses, the Phils took over 2nd place in the East and gained a game on the Mets. This weekend’s series against the Buccos puts up against some good pitchers, I hope we stop the rash of strikeouts.
After the Phils game, I put in 12 Angry Men with the intentions of most likely falling asleep during the film. Well, that didn’t work, because the movie was so darn good. Henry Fonda was amazing.
What was interesting for me was that I sat on jury duty once in Dekalb County, GA and was selected for a drug possession/intent to traffic case. The judge ended up throwing the case out, so we were not asked to render judgment. Although I agreed with the judge’s decision due to a lack of evidence, I knew the defendant was guilty. I would have voted that way. I was wrong to think that way. Although this opens a Pandora’s box of arguments about our criminal justice system – it is what it is. And on jury duty, you are deciding a person’s freedom or fate in some cases, it’s hard to follow your duty and not just your heart/gut at the same time.
- Chew-toy
- Why Firefox is Bad for the Internet – interesting, but I still think FF is a superior browser and well, I hate ads. I allow ads for sites that I visit, for example, my friend Vodkafish’s site hockeyfights.com.
- To Catch a Predator : The Reunion Special
- SketchFu – draw and share
- Bad Banter – holy crap Paul Stanley – “You people are DYNOMITE!”. But I think my favorite is Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme using my favorite Louis CK insult, “eat a bag of dicks”.
- Boogeyman’s Hockey Fight Camp – “one time at hockey fight camp …”
August 17th, 2007 at 10:15 am
You are such a great Dad, I need to tell you that more often.
Yay to SketchFu!
August 17th, 2007 at 11:06 am
I’m glad you got a chance to talk to your kids. Are you going to set up a webcam at some point so they can see you and vice versa?
August 17th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
But the movie about the Marquis de Sade was really good. With my favorite guy, Joaquin Phoenix. It’s called Quills, have you seen it?
August 17th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Christy – hey thanks anmiga
corky – oh yeah, we’ve got that going on. I have an iMac and Dana has a MacBook, the kids love the iChats
Cindy Lou – haven’t heard of that movie, but I just added it to my library list.
August 17th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Hey – thanks for the SketchFu. Now I feel inferior on the computer too. I think I’ll go hid in an artistically challenged hole.
August 17th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I love your daughter! She sounds absolutely adorable!
I am sad the book isn’t good. It was on my list of books I wanted to read, but since I don’t get a lot of time to actually read, I will probably cross it off for now.
I actually saw 12 angry men. I think we had to watch it in some class I took. Otherwise, I never watch movies so it must have been in a class. I remember getting very drawn into the whole movie and getting upset at the characters at certain points.
August 17th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Open Grove Claudia – now you know how I feel like all the time.
tori – that’s only because of her adobableness
I was reading the wikipedia entry on 12 Angry Men and I thought the camera work was really cool, especially the technique of using tighter and tighter angles and smaller lenses on the camera as the film progresses to make the viewer feel the cramped confines of the jury room.
August 17th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Are you on Goodreads yet? You should join!
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/277945
I LOVE the name of your daughter’s flying horse. Belvedere! You’re such a great Dad.
August 17th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Tink – I am and I added you, Chris from Stumbling Over Chaos is on there too
August 17th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Awww…Viv is so cute. Im sure you can’t hear that enough!!
Sketchfu is pretty awesome, yo. Not as cool as Bearforce1…but cool all the same.
August 17th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Amanda – never ever ever.
which begs the question is there anything as cool as Bearforce1.
August 17th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
I know this has nothing to do with your post but I see y’all discussing it in the comments. So tell me, what the fuck is Goodreads? I’ve had two invites and I don’t know what it is at all. What is it??
August 17th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Aw, Princess Viv and Belvedere are lucky, lucky.
August 17th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
You said crackberry…LMAO!! I’m glad that you are getting to talk to your kids often. I know its not the same as being there, but every little bit helps both you and them. I have my very own Princess…maybe she should have a flying horse…I hadn’t even thought of that one. Only it’s name won’t be nearly as cool as Belvedere. (wasn’t that a tv show in the 80′s?)
August 18th, 2007 at 8:15 am
I really hate jury duty for the reasons you mentioned. I’ll avoid it next time any way I can.
August 18th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Sounds like it was a very good day.
August 18th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
For some reason I initially read the name of the book you just finished reading as “The Gothic Tales of Mister Magoo!” Now, THERE’S a book I’d want to read.
I wish Mariel could have a play-date with Viv. I think they’d have a riot!
August 20th, 2007 at 9:01 am
mamatulip – it’s good shit, if you read lots of books (and I seem to remember some sort of widget on your blog indicating your current read) it’s for you. you should join, all the cool kids are doing it.
Jay – yeah, I miss brushing her hair while I tell those stories
April – yep, there was a show called Mr. Belvedere in the 80s, my stories are much cooler than that guy
Bud Buckley – I actually really liked jury duty, but now if I had to server, I would just be stressing about all the work I wasn’t doing
Chris – to quote Ned Flanders “indeedly doodly”
Craig D – let’s get to work on writing that book…stat