terror in a onesie

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

These photos looks like we lived at the beach this year. That’s not far off the mark, actually.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

There are not enough words to describe the awesomeness of my trip to Atlanta to see U2 and visit with friends. The show was full of awesome. A friend of a friend said that Bono was the best worship leader that she’d ever had and I’ll have to second that. I think the show was specially tailored to show off their “We’re all about that love and peace business.” side. Here’s the set list:
Breathe
Put on Your Boots
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
Stand By Me
Stuck in the Moment (acoustic)
No Line on the Horizon
Magnificent
Elevation
End of the World
The Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (very wacky remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Amazing Grace
Where the Streets Have No Name
Ultaviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

I loved every minute of the show but I was/am a bit taken aback that my favorite song of the show was “Ultraviolet.” It’s never been a particular favorite of mine but the song combined with the light show and the smoke was really eerie, interesting and moving. My other highlights of the show was Danielle nearly pinching my arm off during the remix of “Crazy Tonight” and her leaning over to tell me that the name of the song “MLK” was “MLK” and then my reply that I knew that because I’ve been singing it to my children at bedtime for the past five years and then the lady behind me giving me a funny look because of it. And the dancing and the screaming of the “Woo!” There was much “Woo!” screaming. I had a blast.

Danielle and Kat and I also visit Ikea on Tuesday where I proceeded to buy the place out. I love me some Ikea. If my house ever burns down and I have to start over from scratch, I’m doing everything in Ikea because it’s so cool.

While Mom was here this past weekend, we redid Liza’s room with some of Ikea purchases. She’s now in the big girl bed and doing really well with it.

More pictures to come once we get the new light fixture hung.

I also got a ton of books as birthday gifts:

All of them are awesome! Thanks to everyone who bought me a new book! It’s gonna take me a while to get through them all but I’m so excited about each and every one. The bonus awesome goes to Fahmida for the book she made of our trip to Japan. It’s made me so homesick to go back.

And lastly, if you’ve made it this far you deserve a cute kid photo:

They thought they were hiding in the shower. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that if they are shrieking at the top of their lungs, they are pretty easy to find.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

Because you are all desperate to know what I’m doing at all times, here are the talks I’m scheduled to give at the Dragon*Con SFF convention this weekend. If you stop by any of the panels, come say hi!

Creating Dragon*Con TV
Friday 4:00 PM, Hilton room 204
Join the folks who write, and produce Dragon*Con TV; now a popular video podcast. You watched, you laughed, you relate – now come see how they do it.

(How we do it: we all get together and frantically make jokes in an attempt to fill the dead air.)

What’s Wrong With Gravity: The Pioneer Anomaly
Friday 5:30 pm, Hilton 203
Pioneer 10 is being dragged towards the Sun & we don’t know why! Is the slow down because of the probe itself, or, is something wrong with gravity?!

(I swear, I didn’t put either that extra comma or the ending exclamation point in the original description.)

Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow: 7th Annual Recruiting Session & Bake Sale
Saturday 4:00 pm, Hilton Crystal Ballroom
Professional EGs discuss methods of taking over the world for fun & profit while avoiding common mistakes made by film & TV villains.

(It’s a Q&A-type panel where I also get to explain how I’m going to take over the world using biology.)

What The Cast – Live!
Sunday 10:00 am, Hilton 204
Brian, Crispy and Patrick (also of Dragon*Con TV) bring their chaotic and hilarious “What The Cast” back to Dragon*Con.

(I’m in there as well, honest.)

Quantum Encryption – Is It the Perfect Encryption Technique?
Sunday 5:30 pm, Hilton 202
Encryption has long been an arms race: every new cipher leads to better code-breaking tools. Have we finally reached the end of that arms race?

(Hint: no, and no.)

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

…wonder no more:

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

We had an unexpected trip to Arkansas this past week due to a death in the family (that’s for a later post), and while we were there Eli and Liza discovered the joys of ponies and make up. Luckily for me it wasn’t all at the same time.

Click on the pony for more photos.

Click on the lipstick for more photos.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

Our trip to the beach.

Stay tuned! I might accidentally post something else next week.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

The English translation on signs does not necessarily tell the whole story.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

Drink Boss Coffee, or Tommy Lee Jones will cut you.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

Bubbling is preeminent.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

Hello Kitty wants you to be pretty.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

Fruits has power.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

The large towns in Japan are very blind-friendly.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

My theory of barbeque restaurant signs must be extended.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

Unborn babies are very noisy.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

Tokyo is just like New York.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

English makes everything better.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

This past week has been c-r-a-z-y! We went to Kansas City to visit Andrew and Joy and we had a great time! Eli and Sam played nonstop from the moment they woke in the mornings until we carted their tired butts to bed. I hatched evil plans to send Eli to Kansas City by himself in another couple of years — I’m sure Andrew and Joy won’t mind.

We got to see and play with the newest Granade. He’s a cutie and already quite the talker.

We also visited the T-Rex Café. We were all a bit overwhelmed by the noise and the sites but Liza learned to roar like a dinosaur while we ate dinner. We took turns taking the boys around the restaurant to see the fish and different mechanized animals.

I wanted a picture of everyone but we got separated and then it started to rain so we headed for home.

On Saturday morning we went to Kindermusik class. All the kids, even the big ones, got into it.

We played games.

We jingled.

The class was a lot of fun and reminded me that I wished our Kindermusik here in Huntsville were better.

While I was packing our suitcases, Liza decided a diaper from the stack would make a great hat.

We had so much fun and we were sad to go but we had to get back home for soccer practice and the first day of school.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

Physicists have something to be ashamed of.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

Toilets are really complex.

Originally published at Live Granades. Please leave any comments there.

Pocari Sweat’s taste matches its name.