A thousand words are worth a picture

Ah another slow day at work means another day finding cool technology stuff online.

Thanks to Wordle I was able to analyze all of this year's posts on the blog and find the 100 most commonly used words I have used in posts. Not only does it create a New Year's resolution to limit the use of the words 'just', 'really', and 'little' - it also summarizes an interesting year.

What did you do on your Xmas Vacation?

I organized my life.

After being away for six months, I had a lot of crap to go through. Although I did not have an incredible urge to repaint the entire house like when we returned from France, I did have an awful lot of stuff end up in the basement. I'm not sure if it was because Patrick had moved everything from the messy side of the basement to the only clean room in the house (on the other side of the basement) or what - but I had to organize.

This picture is just one output from that process - the gallon jar that most households throw all their loose nails, screws, and washers in. I instead had the idea of actually organizing them - I know, Martha would be proud. I think the weirdest thing is that now boxes 1-50 are now on my iTouch - so in the event of a last minute trip to Lowe's and us wondering if we have a certain screw - the answer is just a flip and pinch away.

Ain't she fun

Although I will probably get grief for this post, I'm hoping I do this out of order, and she won't see it.

Yes, that's my mother. No she was not on too much vicodin - just filled with the Holiday spirit. No, this was not her usual response to having a basket on her head, I think she was surprised that I had my camera so handy. Thank you, Sony.

Xmas at the Smith's

 

Ah, aren't they all cute - pictured are my niece Kelly, nephew Andy, and his new wife Jessie. Although I suspect the smile from Kelly was probably due to her upcoming trip to Maine to see the love of her life, it was still a lovely Xmas. Until of course we realized that we had dogs at home that were probably screaming to be walked and had to run out the door.

Panatone French Toast

 

Family tradition has it that Xmas Eve is at Wade and Patrick's with all the Smith's. It's actually pretty low key relatively speaking - and it's nice to see everyone hang out for a couple of hours. Nothing special with the food - just the usual sandwiches, cheese, desserts, etc.

While at the bread store I did pick up a boule? of pannetone - think a sweet bread with bits of fruit things in it. It's an Italian thing. Since we had some left over, I took it over to Mom and Dad's for french toast, which was really quite good.

Ryan's Present

 

Always trying to think of new and fun Xmas presents for the nieces and nephews, Patrick (unknowlingly) gave me this idea for Ryan - go build your own remote control car at Ridemakerz at Castleton.

The big thing for me was the fact that you actually got me to go to a mall during the holiday season (Wade Xmas shopping is about 97% online), but we went during the week before Xmas and it wasn't too bad - thanks George.

So once you pick out your car body, you can customize all sorts of things (e.g. tires, rims, decals, etc.). And then once that's done you register your car online. Honestly, quite a bit of fun.

Xmas in Bradford

 

Back to Bradford for the first time in a long time for Xmas.

As usual we brought the dogs along (Obie and Winston), since this is their one of the few times out of the year that they get to go crazy outside. Considering there were tons of strange young kids running around, they did really well coping.

Always fun to be out in Bradford, and we're not there nearly enough - although I'm not a fan of all the snow. And the new kitchen looks fantastic.

New Puppy

 

OK, not ours - but Tim and Andrea's new Vizla - otherwise known as an Egyptian hunting dog. Cute little thing, ain't he?

Of course, Patrick and I don't think they are prepared for the pains of puppyhood (heck, we're not ready for ours) - but it's better to learn that with a puppy who grows out of it quicker than an actual human one.

Bazbeaux Pizza Night at Mom and Dad's

 

Since all of you have recently gone through the annual holiday experience, you can appreciate how hard it is to get the whole family under one roof. I'm not complaining (OK, maybe a little), but finding a date to do a pizza night with my parents, my siblings, and all their children is a very long email thread.

Fortunately we were able to find a date before the holiday really took off. Nothing much of note to report. My brother Tim has again confirmed that he is burning in hell by again hiding Baby Jesus from the Nativity scene (the shadow box frame was a great idea). My mother continued to be a food pusher like any good Jewish/Italian grandmother. And we all made fun of niece Kelly for counting down the days until she is reunited with her beau in Maine

Puppies !!!

 

Yep - they're here !!!

Venus gave birth to 7 . . . no wait . . . 8, 8 little wet ratlike things - I mean puppies. They're really cute now and make really cute sounds, but they were a bit ugly at the beginning.

So starting at the beginning . . . from a previous post you'll know that Venus is a dog we're fostering from the Humane Society for Hamilton County. Venus' previous owners gave her up for adoption a few months ago, and a few week after she arrived, the staff saw that she was pregnant. Since there is 0 chance for her to get pregnant in a shelter, she was partially full with pups when she was released by her owner. Regardless, we've had Venus for two weeks now - thinking that she was going to blow as soon as we got her - but she took her time.

On Friday morning I got up to take a shower, and by the time I was done, Patrick had run into the bathroom to say that "puppies!" Despite our original plans for her to give birth in the extra bedroom, Venus had other plans and gave birth in our bedroom. By the time I got slightly dressed, she had given birth to one puppy and another was literally on its way. She had one pretty regularly every ten minutes and stopped at 7. In the middle of all this I called Andrea, and she came over.

It's a pretty painless process (well, painless for us) - Mommy does basically EVERYTHING. I mean she eats EVERYTHING, cleans up EVERYTHING - if you're getting my drift. I think she didn't stop licking until a week later.

So I went to work, and Patrick moved the new family into the extra bedroom. My sister came over to visit a couple of hours later and said, "Hey, can you guys count? There are 8 puppies here." Apparently one was a little bit slower than expected, and she was born in the other bedroom.

But they're all doing well - making those puppies sounds, nursing, etc. Mom is a bit hormonal and let Winston and Obie know it in no uncertain terms. She basically runs outside to go to the bathroom and then straight back upstairs.

Venus

On the ever increasing road to 'Crazy Dog People', Patrick and I are fostering a pregnant American Pit Bull Terriet, named Venus.

Her previous owners had turned her into the Humane Society (for Hamilton County), and it was after a month or so the staff realized that she was indeed pregnant. Knowing that giving birth in a shelter is perhaps not the smartest, safest, or easiest process for mother or pups, our friend Rebecca asked if we could help out. So after a few tussles with pecking order with Obie and Winston (Obie is still Omega dog - shock, Winston still doesn't care as long as he's fed regularly), the family has settled in nicely and await puppies.

A little OCD before the Holidays

Nothing quite says "Holy Crap" more than to come home from Ireland and find the one room of the house you thought was organized (east side of the basement) a complete disaster. Granted it wasn't anyone's fault (we had to move out the other side of the basement, which was a disaster for the new furnace). But it was definitely the motivator to organize ALL the boxes in the house from top to bottom - Martha would be so proud.

To give you an idea of how insane it was, at one point I collect ALL the nails, screws, small metals tools, etc that had been collected in various jars and drawers throughout the house, and organized them in a small drawer filing system. The pictures of each drawer are now sitting on my iPod touch, so the next time we're at Lowe's and about to buy another small bags of screws, I can prove where and how many we actually have.

It doesn't end there - all the books in the house have had their barcodes scanned and entered into the MacBook. Every rubbermaid huge plastic container has been indexed and contents photographed. I think it's make anyone with OCD a little weepy.