A Few Items About Alisa

I've noticed a few times in the last months that Alisa resembles my brother, Todd. Now that her hair is growing longer and a curl is developing, this is even more true. Many times a day now I'll look at her and notice my brother in her.

Also, Alisa has started to show an interest in books (other than just eating them.) She really loves the Darumasan Trilogy, as does Leia. Today she was looking through Omen, a children's book of masks from Japan. She flipped through the elephant, panda, lion, monkey, apple, etc. When she got to the pig she immediately pointed to it and exclaimed, "Dada!"

Stick a Fork in Their Ass

I hope the world court takes action against Bush. It shouldn't be hard to figure out what to do now, Mr. Obama. Investigate and prosecute them yourself.

Updated: OK, the cynic in me came out tonight. It now seems entirely plausible that the media circus in the US wouldn't cover the most horrible crimes brought to light. I don't think most of the public would care what the rest of the world thought of them for defying international law.

Life is So Short

The girls are starting to act like toddlers instead of babies now. They grow so fast. The time for being a baby is fleetingly short.

Leia is starting to get into everything. Today the contents of the changing table were strewn across the floor. She also become very intent on different things - particularly paper. She was sitting on one side of the family room floor with a mound of toys in front of her. Alisa and I were on the far side of the toy hillock. Behind me was the bag we use to carry gear to and from day care. Inside the bag were two pieces of paper. Somehow she had seen the paper and knew it was in the bag. She spied the bag behind me and started to scoot across the floor. Every time she came to a toy she would grab it and push it aside, clearing a path behind her. If it was a light toy like a block, chuck it over the shoulder! Soon she came to me and started nudging against me like she does when she want me to pick her up. The second nudge, however, was a push. Get out the way! She pushed herself around me and got to the bag. Bam! A split second later she was chewing on the paper. Tenacious.

Alisa loves her stuffed animals. She likes to be surrounded by them. Miffy, Princess Kumachan, Ms. Hop-n-feffer, Valentine Bear, Hakkekkyuu, Gomachan and Bu. They are, in order, a bunny>, a teddy bear princess, a big bunny, a talking white bear, a giant white blood cell, a white baby seal and an orange rag dog. Gomachan is by far her favorite, with Miffy a close second. Hakkekkyuu is a distant third. Then there's the giant hepatitis virus. She's not so fond of that one. But give her a pacifier and Gomachan and she's asleep in 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, I'm physically falling apart. Sick. No exercise. No sleep. At least I'm still eating well. Tonight was asparagus sauteed in chicken fat topped with sunnyside up eggs and slivered parmesan cheese. I think I should have fried the eggs in butter instead of chicken fat; but, otherwise it was pretty good. And it only took about 10 minutes to cook the whole dinner, from opening the fridge to serving the food.

Purge

Whomever is complicit in these acts should be thrown in jail. Obama seems to keep be doing less than required to illuminate the horrible crimes committed in the US' name at Guantanamo and other places. If that's so, he should go down in flames as well. Ethics and law should triumph any notion of political expediency.

Learning to Share

Alisa learned how to pass a ball back and forth last night. It was really cute seeing her play with the ball for a few seconds and then offer it to me so that I could play with it. When I showed joy at playing with the ball she would smile so wide. We passed it back and forth for a couple of minutes. It was really nice to see her get pleasure from sharing a toy.

Self Willed Steps

Leia tried to initiate steps on her own for the first time tonight. She's growing rapidly. At least she finally seems to be getting rid of her cold. Its been pretty much since December that she's been sick.

Alisa is becoming more demanding, requiring quite a lot of attention. But who can resist that smile?

Its Alive

The Chocolate Factory is born. I'm putting together a team now. Its weird; but, this is the first time where the team I'm trying to achieve includes marketing and customer care. Its also nice to see some of the best people in the company ask to be on the team. This is going to be fun.

Intelligent Design

Pizza and beer.

Imagine That

336/400, this makes you extremely progressive.

For a person who feels that nationalism is universally a force of evil in the world, who could have imagined?

Random Stuff Happening

Lots of stuff going on at the Wilde abode.

Leia finally has her teeth coming out. They move so slowly. Alisa has eight teeth and she's starting to spring out some more. Leia has only recently had her first two teeth sprout and they seemed to stall as soon as they broke the surface of the gum. Poor girl, she wants to eat solid food so badly but just isn't getting any teeth.

On the flip side, Leia is starting to walk! She still needs prodding by pulling her forward a little bit; but, she clearly lifts one foot at a time and sets it in front of the other. She walked about three meters today. Alisa hasn't made any progress on this front.

At work, it looks like The Chocolate Factory project is really taking off. After a few months of evangelizing I'm starting to hear my own words being passed down to me from the CEO and other executives. OF COURSE, its their idea now; but, who cares. Its my wording and goals and it getting real traction. The best part is I'll be responsible for implementing it. Funding is also lining up; but, in this tough economic environment that funding is certainly at risk. This is going to be so cool!

Annoying

Its very annoying that the only Miyazaki collections available are English-only. Watching the Japanese with subtitles is very different. Even the script is different, and with some shows its much better as subtitles.

To Be King for a Day

Put on delusions of grandeur and imagine you were sworn in as POTUS. What song would you have play at the inauguration?

My goal would be to cause Conservatives to go spastic as much as possible. So probably "Back in the U.S.S.R." by the Beatles. All those conservatives who used to secretly be hippies would have flashbacks to bad trips.

Scotch Blogging: The Peat Monster

I need a little diversion between meetings with India, and I definitely need something to bolster me through the next meeting with the India management team in 45 minutes. This calls for another Scotch Blog.

Tonight we're drifting a little bit from the intended wares. This is not a single malt. No, its a double malt. That is, there are two malt vintages in this bottle. An Isley and a Speyside. But with a name like Peat Monster, how could I not give it a try?

The color is very pale for a scotch, suggesting that there isn't a lot of age to this liquor. Bringing the glass up to the nose you cannot miss the smoke. Smoky. Very smoky. Hot dogs over a campfire smoky. Underneath is a little leather and a hint of citrus. Not much could cut through this smoke, though. Plus, I've got a cold and my nose is out of whack tonight.

The taste: peat. And more peat. Yes, this little number earns its name. Its not so monstrous if you're used to peaty Isleys like Laphroig; but, this one isn't for the scotch newbie. Share it only with friends who appreciate such stuff. Beneath the peat is a strong smokiness and the leather comes through in the aftertaste. The smoke and peat stay with you a good couple of minutes after swallowing. And the youth of the scotch is just as evident in the taste as in the color. Its not harsh by any means, just a little nibble on the palate. I'd guess that the average age of the two malts is less than 15 years.

The verdict: 2 glasses. I would prefer a run-of-the-mill older Glenfiddich; but, if you're into the heavy peat and smoke you may give this as much as a 3.5. If you do buy a bottle save it for scotch lovers, who will appreciate the novelty. Those who prefer bourbon or other liquors should probably just give it a pass.



Update: This scotch has given me hankering for another Bruichladdich. So I went to check out the Bruichladdich web site. You gotta love a place that lets you buy your own cask.

Two Parties No More

There are many ways the two party system in the USA fails its citizens and the world. With the Republicans on the ropes, many people are daring to dream they will be out of power for a long time. My fervent hope is that they actually implode and are no more. Its not that a one party system would be better even if it were the Democrats - it would undeniably be worse. Rather, it could give rise to new political parties and establish new lines of demarcation between the parties. Today's issues of what separates a Democrat representative from a Republican representative is just to fuzzy and not aligned with differences of opinion in the electorate.

Going Mobile

Yesterday Leia figured out how to move. She ended up moving a couple of meters by frog hopping across the floor. Her main goal was to reach a cardboard box that was way out of reach. Usually we keep all paper objects away from her because she just tries to eat them (and usually succeeds in eating small parts of them.) This time we let her chew for a while on the box as a reward for her hard work. Also, given that it was a relatively sturdy box it didn't come apart even when drenched in her saliva, so it was a bit safer.

It looks like the crawling lessons earlier in the day worked.