... the IT man in LibraryLand
So this weekend has seen a grand day that shall go down in the annuls of history. Why it shall be spoken of in conversations for decades to come and shouted from the rafters for all eternities!
Well it will at least be noted as: "Oh yeah, that's good".
It was the occasion of oneself and Hulk's first expedition sans Salsa Girl which would allow her some relief from our annoying antics. It was a major undertaking as one left the house, festooned with all of the various paraphernalia that is required for the happy keeping of Hulk.
The choice of excursion was the regular collection of one's 2000AD comics (the home of Judge Dredd) from the newsagent that has been gracious enough to keep putting them aside for one for the past several decades and can endure a bi-monthly collection schedule as opposed to the rather stringent fortnightly that most establishments demand.
So there I was with nappy bag, carry harness, emergency bottle and finally one's own modest excursion bag for the holding of one's newly acquired comics hitting the road on a great trek North and learning much about automobile travel and small humans. It seems that direct sunlight can be quite distressing for the little ones, especially when it is in their eyes directly - as one discovered upon turning into a more exposed street and finding ones aural capabilities under sudden cacophonous assault.
In any case one short stop and adjustment of light blocking gauze later we were on our way again and one of us returned to snoozeville.
After that drama collection was no great hassle, although Hulk does have a no stopping rule when being carried which makes awaiting service at a counter a tad difficult.
Soon enough we were back in our vehicle and bound for a quick visit to Legion3, Madmog, and their little one. Some awesome daddy-led feeding and snoozing ensued and the stay stretched out until we returned home to Salsa Girl who had found out that she may have missed our annoying antics after all.
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Oh, there was another Grand part to the weekend as the Big J mandate had Hulk and myself supporting the Swans in juxtaposition to The Great Sandro who was following his childhood team.
Justice and good prevailed on the day and both Hulk and I were quite chuffed in our red and white.
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Stephen King's Wind Through the Keyhole
I finished this one the other day on one of my innumerable train sojourns now that I am well and truly back at the coal-face.
The Wind Through the Keyhole is a return to the story of King's Dark Tower. The Dark Tower series being one of one's favourite things in the world. Therefore I looked upon this with a lot of anticipation and a little trepidation.
It turns out that I had nothing to be worried about. I found it a welcome return to the world of the Dark Tower - as book four and a half - and thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in the story - or should I say stories. With this novel I think Steve has hit upon a good way to express his past decades fascination with formats and structures of writing. The story within a story within a story format works a treat here and my only disappointment is that it all ended too soon.
I give it four and a half stars and now worry that I am sorely tempted to re-read the final 3 books of the series.
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The Wind Through the Keyhole is a return to the story of King's Dark Tower. The Dark Tower series being one of one's favourite things in the world. Therefore I looked upon this with a lot of anticipation and a little trepidation.
It turns out that I had nothing to be worried about. I found it a welcome return to the world of the Dark Tower - as book four and a half - and thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in the story - or should I say stories. With this novel I think Steve has hit upon a good way to express his past decades fascination with formats and structures of writing. The story within a story within a story format works a treat here and my only disappointment is that it all ended too soon.
I give it four and a half stars and now worry that I am sorely tempted to re-read the final 3 books of the series.
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The Tiger's Tenth
So Thursday last was the momentous occasion of The Tiger reaching her decade milestone.
One marked the event by providing a feast of special premium food, ample lap sitting opportunities, and copious brushing.
The downside of this - and here I Caution you - was that, continuing to this day, The Tiger has unmet expectations for an ongoing continuance of such pampering. One has already received several gouging reminders of one's failure to attend to the grand dame in the now mandatory manner.
So the end result is that these days, when I'm cautiously limping about the flat I'm constantly thinking of ways to make The Tiger's second decade better than all that has come before. Such is the price of loving companionship...
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One marked the event by providing a feast of special premium food, ample lap sitting opportunities, and copious brushing.
The downside of this - and here I Caution you - was that, continuing to this day, The Tiger has unmet expectations for an ongoing continuance of such pampering. One has already received several gouging reminders of one's failure to attend to the grand dame in the now mandatory manner.
So the end result is that these days, when I'm cautiously limping about the flat I'm constantly thinking of ways to make The Tiger's second decade better than all that has come before. Such is the price of loving companionship...
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Hulk Buba and the Forty Aunties
So the other day Salsa Girl and I packed up Hulk and her travelling requirements into the faithful vehicle and made the long trek southwards to visit one's workplace for the requisite showing off of cute new child.
Having listened to the tales her father had been spinning during her short life so far Hulk made sure to delay our departure - with feeding requirements and nappy changes - until there was no chance of encountering mean Auntie Supervisor Grand Chief K who makes daddy do all that hard work for no reason at all.
The downside of our delay was that our entry changed somewhat from the carefully orchestrated small group then meeting group to more of an everyone at once the moment we come through the door kind of thing. I'm told that the mass cooing could be heard suburbs away.
Young Hulk was quite blasé about being handed around from Auntie to Auntie, enjoying stays in the arms of the likes of: Auntie The Administrator, Auntie Big J, Auntie Lord of the Small Fries, Auntie Nurse Janet, Auntie Shirl, Auntie Alltogether Heather, Auntie Miss Amanda, Auntie Groovy Spirits, and sundry others in the parade of Aunties. I'm pretty confident from the empirical evidence before my very eyes that Hulk out-cuted Auntie Bomber Babe's recently acquired grand daughter.
Anyway after a reasonable stay there - and finding a disappointingly low snack level in the workroom we decided to head on to my spiritual home branch for a much less crowded meet and greet.
Upon arrival it was Auntie Days of our Libraries who monopolised the holding - so much in fact that Uncle Mr Prada didn't even have a chance for a hold of his own and had to stoically insist that he didn't need to prise Hulk from Auntie Days' arms as he wasn't affected by Hulk's overwhelming cuteness.
After that visit was over we had ourselves some cafe lunch and then made the long journey home to spend most of the evening trying to calm an inexplicably overstimulated Hulk.
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Having listened to the tales her father had been spinning during her short life so far Hulk made sure to delay our departure - with feeding requirements and nappy changes - until there was no chance of encountering mean Auntie Supervisor Grand Chief K who makes daddy do all that hard work for no reason at all.
The downside of our delay was that our entry changed somewhat from the carefully orchestrated small group then meeting group to more of an everyone at once the moment we come through the door kind of thing. I'm told that the mass cooing could be heard suburbs away.
Young Hulk was quite blasé about being handed around from Auntie to Auntie, enjoying stays in the arms of the likes of: Auntie The Administrator, Auntie Big J, Auntie Lord of the Small Fries, Auntie Nurse Janet, Auntie Shirl, Auntie Alltogether Heather, Auntie Miss Amanda, Auntie Groovy Spirits, and sundry others in the parade of Aunties. I'm pretty confident from the empirical evidence before my very eyes that Hulk out-cuted Auntie Bomber Babe's recently acquired grand daughter.
Anyway after a reasonable stay there - and finding a disappointingly low snack level in the workroom we decided to head on to my spiritual home branch for a much less crowded meet and greet.
Upon arrival it was Auntie Days of our Libraries who monopolised the holding - so much in fact that Uncle Mr Prada didn't even have a chance for a hold of his own and had to stoically insist that he didn't need to prise Hulk from Auntie Days' arms as he wasn't affected by Hulk's overwhelming cuteness.
After that visit was over we had ourselves some cafe lunch and then made the long journey home to spend most of the evening trying to calm an inexplicably overstimulated Hulk.
.
The Caring Profession
So today we finally got around to attending the MCH centre for Hulk's week four checkup made extra exciting by attempting to walk to the centre during a force 10 hurricane. Sadly nothing reportably exciting occurred during our journey.
The session itself included the legislatively required amount of poking, prodding, measuring, and general inspection designed to induce maximum upsetness in a young baby.
Hulk, of course, came through it all with flying colours being very advanced for her age.
For myself, however, it was a different and far more traumatic story.
In the middle of a calm discussion about Hulk's measurements various, the Maternal Child Health nurse looked me directly in the eye and then hit me with this:
Luckily one was able to gather myself together and soldier on through the rest of the appointment.
I should point out that Salsa Girl damned herself by her reaction - resolutely staring out the window and not making eye contact with me.
Afterwards Salsa Girl treated my shock - and her guilty conscience - by having us go to delicious lunch at a nearby Cafe.
And anyway it was far too windy a day for anyone to try wearing a hat...
.
The session itself included the legislatively required amount of poking, prodding, measuring, and general inspection designed to induce maximum upsetness in a young baby.
Hulk, of course, came through it all with flying colours being very advanced for her age.
For myself, however, it was a different and far more traumatic story.
In the middle of a calm discussion about Hulk's measurements various, the Maternal Child Health nurse looked me directly in the eye and then hit me with this:
"She's small now but her head could suddenly balloon up, particularly if one of the parents has a big head... you know maybe has difficulty buying hats..."I was gobsmacked and immediately wondered if she'd been reading about my famous Hat Party. The trauma of my lifelong futile search for headgear that would suit my only slightly above average head size came flooding back.
Luckily one was able to gather myself together and soldier on through the rest of the appointment.
I should point out that Salsa Girl damned herself by her reaction - resolutely staring out the window and not making eye contact with me.
Afterwards Salsa Girl treated my shock - and her guilty conscience - by having us go to delicious lunch at a nearby Cafe.
And anyway it was far too windy a day for anyone to try wearing a hat...
.
Father's Day Fun
So on the momentous occasion of one's inaugural Father's Day one was lucky enough to be gifted special dispensation from one's beloved Salsa Girl to have a select couple of gamers around for an afternoon of gaming.
Of course this young man's thoughts turned to the Commands and Colors (sic) series of games and hence the invite went out to Badger and Young Jim who both eagerly accepted.
We engaged in slightly more than an afternoon to complete two close and fun games. Unfortunately we did alter the course of history with William the Conqueror doing rather a lot less conquering than expected under the guidance of Young Jim and yours truly - it was rather reminiscent of the debacle we had when Poland stopped the German invasion dead in it's tracks. Anyway there were snacks and tactics and tense dice rolls and lots of fun. We'll have to do it again next year. Or sooner I suppose.
Speaking of occasions today happens to be the awesome occasion of Salsa Girl and I having embarked upon our grand adventure two years (and a leap day) ago. Of course Hulk has now joined us to make it a family undertaking for the next 18 years and beyond of further adventure - the downside being that there's not a lot of opportunity to make celebratory cake while we're still adjusting ourselves to the Hulk-focused lifestyle.
Time seems to have gotten quite late so I'd best head off to bed now and make a start on my daily four hours of sleep. You'll hear more from me later.
.
Of course this young man's thoughts turned to the Commands and Colors (sic) series of games and hence the invite went out to Badger and Young Jim who both eagerly accepted.
We engaged in slightly more than an afternoon to complete two close and fun games. Unfortunately we did alter the course of history with William the Conqueror doing rather a lot less conquering than expected under the guidance of Young Jim and yours truly - it was rather reminiscent of the debacle we had when Poland stopped the German invasion dead in it's tracks. Anyway there were snacks and tactics and tense dice rolls and lots of fun. We'll have to do it again next year. Or sooner I suppose.
Speaking of occasions today happens to be the awesome occasion of Salsa Girl and I having embarked upon our grand adventure two years (and a leap day) ago. Of course Hulk has now joined us to make it a family undertaking for the next 18 years and beyond of further adventure - the downside being that there's not a lot of opportunity to make celebratory cake while we're still adjusting ourselves to the Hulk-focused lifestyle.
Time seems to have gotten quite late so I'd best head off to bed now and make a start on my daily four hours of sleep. You'll hear more from me later.
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