My kids are Growing

It's weird. They are turning into cool, sophisticated little people.

I have nothing else to say today except, look at how cool they look.

Also, the last pic is one with me and the kids in our continuing series called: "Max's Back." (For some reason many of our best photo's are take from the backside of Max's perspective. Dunno why, it just seems to happen. It may be that he sees the excellent things before the rest of us...)

--tomb

Apologies for Technical Ineptitude…

So apparently I am a Twidiot. A gigantic Twidiot, in fact.

Basically, I found out that Twitter was enabling UK Vodaphone (finally) for SMS and Text updates (like the rest of the proper world.) So in my excitement, I went into the “admin” functions of my Twitter account. Upon delving these depths, I found a little function that lets me see EVERYONE who has been sending me direct messages.

Didn’t even know I could do this.
Didn’t even know that people were talking to me/mentioning me directly.
Didn’t even know that I could’ve nay—should’ve been responding in some manner.
Didn’t even know how to respond (until this morning, actually.)

How Rude of me!

HEY—folks @Twitter.com? How about an Effing-Tutorial for us Dumb-asses in the world? Dammit.

In any case, I am using my blog to apologize for my Twidiocy. (Yes, MY BLOG…Many of you know how I like to keep the “temple of my mind” as sacred ground, so I MUST be serious about this.) I will also attempt to respond to all my friends and RadioTiki Listeners (btw: not mutually exclusive descriptors--since all my RadioTiki peeps at are siblings of my soul.)

I only did the mentions from 2009. So, if anyone “said” something to me on Twitter in 2008, I am sorry—I had to cut it off somewhere.
Additionally, I will “stem the tide” of my rudeness by being a bit better on the tweet-response time. I am not a celebrity in any way at all. However, quite a few Listeners to the show have honoured me by following my inanity. The least I can do is provide some inane content.

From Twitter, the evidence for your perusal:
Mentions of @_tomb

1.)wdonohue@_tomb Could be Twitter, could be BT network lag. At least you're not on Deutsche Telekom
tomb: Actually I am on Deutsche Telecom everytime I use my 3G card on the laptop. All the adds are in German--and they are Naughty!

2.)dltabor@_tomb Do you mean @thewholeworld? It has been on here for a while. ;-)about 16 hours ago
tomb: I was too busy following @life_the_universe_and_everything. It's a much better read. :)

3.)wdonohueyou should follow @EMSL, @_tomb, and @hjarche.
tomb: Very kind of you to recommend me, but as I have demonstrated, I am an idiot.

4.)javinchi@_tomb TMI?7:31 PM Mar 6th
tomb: Yes. But, then this has always been part of my problem and my charm. :)

5.)DLGroover@_tomb Ok, so I've heard awesome things about london style curry, but where can I pick some up in the states? Also, WTF is a kebab.5:28 PM Feb 27th
tomb: UK Kebab = Fully Loaded Gyro in the USA. I am NOT the person to ask about Curries over here. I do not understand the national obsession with what essentially amounts to "spicey stew" that you must have over rice or its a mess.

6.)SirBob@_tomb on behalf of Nottingham, we would like to welcome Tiki!12:28 PM Feb 5th
tomb: I LOVE Nottingham. I stay at the Hilton by the big shopping mall and I can walk to "ye olde Trippe" for dinner and many pints! Woo! (I have been temped by the "Robin Hood Experience." Should I?)

7.)DLGroover@_tomb Be sure to link to your morphine-fueled bloggings on your twitter! Also, glad the surgery went well.5:11 AM Jan 28th
tomb: Last round of surgery, the Morphine was a disappointing muse. I wasn't nearly as insipred as I was back in September. However, I was quite annoyed that it stops "other functions", temporarily.

8.)jesscapps@_tomb Glad it sounds like it went well. Freezing over here-literally. :)1:54 AM Jan 28th
tomb: Total success on the surgery. It's April 2nd and I can run, climb, hike, ride a bike. It's awesome. Only weird thing--I can't bend the one leg enough yet to put a sock on like normal person. Gotta stretch that tendon some more.

9.) wdonohue@_tomb Oh, you mean the *joint* resurfacing. Should still get a guarantee, though. They may say it's Teflon, but you can't see it, can you?10:05 PM Jan 26th
wdonohue@_tomb Hope you got a guarantee on that resurfacing - if they just threw some hot patch on there, it's gonna start peeling before spring.10:03 PM Jan 26th
tomb: Just like Chicago in the Winter--first warm day and a truck goes over my noew hip and it pops out, creating the mother-of-all-potholes!

10.)brandonmhorn@_tomb I think there's apps out there that allow you to update everything at once...just saying (I'll look into it for you :)
tomb: please do, but--send me a private email--I will give a a preview copy of my blog about social networks that I am co-writing with UK-Friend who lives in the states.

11.)mostlybob@_tomb Tom, Tommy, Tom! good to see you. :-)7:50 PM Jan 19th
tomb: Bawb, Bawbby, Bawb (phonetic spelling of the Boston Twang.) Brill to be back. Sorry it took 3 months to get back to ya.

12.)DLGroover@_tomb Holy shit, the first new RadioTiki since October! Tom, you need to get on top of these things, shamelessly plug it on twitter! YGFR!5:44 PM Jan 18th
tomb: We really are trying to do it more often, but...it seems that Saturdays work best for the International version. You'd be suprised how hard it is to schedule a Saturday. As it is, we can almost never count on Brad as he is sporting event-junkie.

13.)jesscapps@_tomb - Boo! You poor, poor soul. What ever shall you do. I shant bare(bear?) to think!3:44 PM Jan 16th
tomb: It gives me a warm-fuzzy feeling inside just to know that you were thinking about me. It goes miles toward changing my glum dispositon. :)

14.)brandonmhorn@_tomb are you sure its not your settings? Seems you should be able to get the feed at least.
tomb: Definitely was Vodaphone. Because--now I "should" be getting it.

15.)jeffedsell@_tomb Good to see you on Twitter! (R. Daneel here.)3:11 PM Jan 12th

16.)DLGroover@_tomb Looking forward to the new show, also twitter updates!6:28 AM Jan 12th

17.)brandonmhorn@_tomb nice! thanks for the update.11:03 PM Jan 11th
tomb: Answering 15-17--well, you can see how well I've screwed up this little experiement. :)

brandonmhorn@_tomb Listener bhorn appreciates the inane. That's why he tunes in to Radio Tiki every 1...well 2...no, actually 3(???) months. J/K.
tomb: 'Nuff said. Said well, too, I think! Cheers.


--tomb

A few of my favourite things...

Doing one of my favourite “Tommy-Things”, right now. These are things that are just for me, sort of special, certainly peaceful and provide me moments of introspection. I’ve hinted and/or explained a couple of these things in the past, such as in my blog-piece about happiness and riding trains through the English countryside.

This particular “Tommy-Thing” sounds a bit bourgeois, but I promise you it is not. It only happens when I have to travel for business. Biz-travel occurs more frequently than I’d like, but as it’s necessary I try to enjoy the bits that I can. While it is true that I have shouted the virtues of the English-pub in this very blog, and my love of Real Ales has been clear for years, I do have an…affinity for the perfectly-made-Vodka-Martini, a couple of olives, served frosty cold in a pleasant hotel-bar.

That’s what I am doing right now, writing my little blog, Kettle-One Martini inches from my laptop.

I will edit the piece I wrote last week on Social Network Sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and perhaps post all these together. For now…Martini, and a little bowl of bar-peanuts, mixed with really spicy-cheeto-esque things.

UK "Snow Proud"

Recently I had some time off work for surgery and recovery. I wisely used this time to compose some sort of new entry for the ol’ blog. Got some good ones too. However, Monday February Second, 2009 came along and brought with it the biggest snowfall in the UK for 20 years.

6 inches in some places.

In any case, it shut the country down for the day, so…I have abandoned my original piece entitled “Tom’s Unified Field Theory of Facebook, Twitter, and Blogging—or Social Networking Site Commonality Needed, or I will Die Trying.” Look for this later in the week.

Instead I offer to you my report of the Great London Snowfall of 2009 and why I am proud of my adopted country.

First of all, many of you may know that I am from Chicago, born and raised. So, 6 inches of snow is not a problem for Mid-westerners. (Unless it happens in September or October.) We look at it, the kids play it in, I complain about all the idiot drivers and we get on with life. However, Chicago and other similar cities in America, are equipped to handle the snow. Chicago’s snow removal budget last year was $18.5 millon (£12.8 million, 14.2 million Euros.) Here in the UK, the snow stops everything. Admittedly, this snow came at the morning Rush-Hour. Even in the states, 6 inches would cause a big problem during the commute. But our problem here was based on the lack of tooling to deal with it. But—bless their hearts, they tried. Gritters (Salt-trucks) were sent out, councils reacted slowly (as they would in the states.) The media went crazy. They even sent reporters to the Motorway overpass for the gratuitous video shot. You know the one—a reporter, bundled up in the biggest NorthFace Parka possible, fur-lined around the head (it was perhaps 30 degrees F. but no matter) standing on the bridge/overpass showing the traffic down below, one lane jammed, one lane eerily empty. The coverage begins with “As you can see I am standing on the M 25 Motorway where traffic is backed-up for over 15 miles…”

They learned this from Chicago and New York. It’s good TV, it works.

The most impressive thing to me was the overall reaction of the English People. It started with those who tired to get into work. If you left early enough, you succeeded. However, upon arrival you found that nobody else really made it. One then became stranded in London or wherever else, as it were, because one certainly wasn’t going to go back on the train or motorway--that would be madness. So instead, one begins to wander about in the snow, in the city, in the very quiet peaceful city. The buses stopped running for they found that they could not go up even the smallest of hills. The trains also stopped because—who knew that the tracks would have to be plowed? Taxi’s were also a no-go. All 5 London Airports simply shut down. This type of silent awe that swept across the country would NOT have occurred in the states. This much is certain. We could learn from this part. Of course, we don’t get “quiet” cities with our snow. We get GIGANTOR Snowplows!

As mentioned above the media was in its glory—but in a good way. Still cliché, but good. The BBC was putting people on the air to read their on-the-spot-composed poetry about the glory of snow and “snowdays”! I supposed this is understandable, because it just doesn’t happen here. At my children’s school, they had never seen a “snow day” in their entire lives. Many of the teachers could not remember having one either—even as kids themselves. SkyNews provided instructions for building a snow man! At the houses of Parliament, there was a verified snowball fight. (caught on film.) There was sledging (sledding) in Hyde Park. A few intrepid souls even took out their cross-country skis and tooled around.

All in all, the Brits handled the disastrous snowfall like they do with most other disasters: A shrug, a sigh, and they get on with it. These are the same people that, when their subway was regularly bombed in the 70’s and 80’s—they simply climbed up the stairs and walked to the next station, and then got back on.

The USA has Snow Plows. The UK is doing just fine, thank you very much.

--tomb

A Brief Treatise on Happiness

Because they are often fleeting, I realize that moments of true happiness should be treasured. These times should be recognized and respected. We sometimes take happiness for granted and only remember it in it's absence. Yes, I know this is how we define it, and that's how the concept of "perspective" works. I know, I know, but...my point here is shout to everyone: appreciate happiness when you notice it. It may not be there in a few hours, days, or weeks.

Yesterday I noticed it.

I promised myself and the universe at large that I would jot it down for the record. I quickly made note of my happiness so that even in hindsight, it would not be affected by my mood (which is not that great today, I might add. But, I have successfully captured yesterday's moment for posterity.)

So, today I follow though on my promise.


Disclaimer: The happy thoughts and opinions expressed below occurred to me on 15 October 2008 09:17:34 on a train bound for Glasgow. They are my own and not intended to tell anyone else how to be happy. I just felt the need to share and preserve.





Enjoy. I hope that you find and save some happy-moments of your own. Remember them when you are not.

1. Autumn is arriving in the Northern Hemisphere. The smell and the particular angle of the sunlight at this time of year always inspires some good cheer in me.


2. Surgery on my leg not only went extremely well, but I am apparently healing from the event very quickly. The complete absence of pain in the joint is a bit spooky, but a true source of relief and pleasure.


3. Foggy misty Rail Journey from London to Glasgow. Flatlands slowly changing to green and rocky hills. English countryside fading to Scottish wilds. Wonderful.


4. Riding in First Class, too. (Which I sprung for personally, no miles, no promotional trickery. Just a little treat for recovering from above mentioned surgery. Feels good to do that for yourself, once in awhile. Sort of like chicks and “Spa-Days.” Ha!)


5. The Spinners doing “Rubber-band Man” on my MP3 player, the full 7 minute version. It is impossible for anyone who listens to this tune to not be completely happy, possibly even inspired to boogie, just a little bit. (And of course, want to giddily distribute office products. “Thanks, Crab-man.”) UPDATE: My random-play function followed this up with XTC’s “King for a Day.” I am truly living a charmed-hour.


6. Viki, Tuesday. Enough said.


7. Alexandra can do back-flips nearly at will and completely enjoys herself while doing so. I took her to the park near our UK home and she spent 90 minutes doing just that. Giggling and smiling the whole time.


8. Max has 3 plastic dinosaur models/puzzles. He not only can get these really, really, complex little puzzles put together, but then loves to take them apart again. After re-assembly for the umpteenth time, he pretends he is their Dad. He teaches these plastic dinosaurs to read, write letters and words. (He helps them hold the pencil, of course.)


9. Max has announced that the dinosaurs actually have TWO Dad’s. Himself and me. I am honoured.


10. Complicated one here: Alex is having trouble deciding whether she will be in the Olympics for Trampoline or Gymnastics. She thinks that perhaps she will do only floor exercise for Gymnastics and fully compete in Trampoline. She also thinks this is a good idea because the USA doesn’t have a good trampoline team, but she trains in the UK. Her foresight in this impresses me, despite it being a bit premature to plan for the Olympiad. While her enthusiasm buoys my happiness, but I am not holding my breath for her to make the national team...I mean, she goes once a week for two hours. She doesn't even like to practice. I am proud of her, just the same.
    

--tomb

These Boots are Made for...oh god no, forget it...too cliché. This is about Rubber Boots. There.

We walk through a cathedral of giant oaks, maples, ash, rowan. The air literally hued green from the canopy of trees high above. The ground squishing, oozing under each of our steps as we trudge along our chosen path. The recent rain has made everything wet, droplets fall around us soaking all...all but our wonderfully protected feet, that is!

Yes, I have discovered the joy of Wellies! Woo-hoo, for Wellies, people! My feet were warm, dry, and had that super-human-bouncy rubbery feel with every fall of my foot.

I felt quite the adventurer as my son and I rambled through the local woods near our house. We carried on, nary a care for where our feet happened to tread. For they were completely encased in Road Grade Dunlop Rubber and PVC! We could go anywhere, walk through anything. Mud. Streams. Gravel. Tall Grass. Exotic and exciting, it was akin to being a jungle explorer. I half-expected young Max to turn to me, a look of dread in his eye and say:

“Too bad the Hovitos don’t know you the way I do, Belloq!”

And of course my snide reply would be,

“Yes, too bad. You could have warned them about me…if only you spoke HOVITOS!” (and then I would laugh manically.)

(For the record, Max has not seen Raiders of the Lost Ark Yet, and is not Indiana Jones. Nor am I any sort of grandiose, deifically-inclined, French Archaeologist. This little scene is merely in my head.)

But, back to my Wellies.

These are knee high rubber boots that very popular here in the UK, but do honestly look a bit silly to wear at first. In a country that gets a fair bit of rain, the people here have devised all sort of means to “get on with it” despite the weather. Certainly you are familiar with the ubiquitous British Umbrella Fetish. They always have one. There are also quite a few people who manage to produce waterproof jackets seemingly from nowhere the moment it starts to drizzle.

So then, Wellies are for going about your business, whatever it may be, without care for the muck on your feet. You are completely sealed away from all moisture. They are quite warm too. One is supposed to tuck one’s trouser legs into the boot. This effectively seals off the inside and is part of the “insulation factor”. OK, not super warm but comfortable.

In some of my older posts, you have read my lauds of glory for the many Public Foot Paths here. Well, in order to more fully enjoy the experience, you got to have a pair of Wellies to do it.

Think about how often you have found your self out for a walk/stroll/high-speed chase and you spent a great deal of time looking down to make sure you did not get your shoes too dirty. With the Wellies it doesn’t matter. I walked carefree through a known sheep pasture. Normally, this would have been a minefield requiring deft reflexes and nerves of steel. But—I had my Wellies on! Sure I felt a “softer bit of turf” occasionally, but it wasn’t on me. I didn’t care where I stepped.

When we returned home, I put the boots in the backyard and turned on the hose. In moments I had a brand new looking pair of Wellies.

The bonus that I alluded to earlier is the ENTIRE boot is made of rubber, even the soul and the heel. So, as you walk on more solid ground, you get a little bounce-back feeling that is energizing. (There is a Cloth Liner magically affixed to the inside so as to avoid that Rubber-on-skin problem. Unless you are into to that sort of thing. You know who you are.)

Currently I am actively searching for Raw Sewage to trudge though with impunity!

So, you might be asking why Big Rubber Boots are called Wellies? Well, blah, blah, blah, something to do with the duke of Wellington, and a Victorian fashion craze, Beau Brummell dandies, fops, etc, etc... Look Here.

The come in thousands of colors and designs. Bears, flowers, sports logos, camo, punk chic...and of course olive green! You name it, and it's available as a rubber boot.

I am telling you now, Get yourself a pair of these things! The freedom is worth it. When I have them on, I am unsoilable.

Unless, of course, water somehow manages to get into the top of the boot. In which case I will be wearing two small bathtubs on my feet.

--tomb

Alexandra is Nine!

Nine years ago, the universe bestowed upon me that most pleasurable of life’s challenges—a daughter. I use my little space today to wish her happiness on this anniversary of her arrival on the planet.





Today she is nine.



Alex is beautiful and bright.
Fiery and funny. Complex and Cuddly.

Revels in attention,
Yet shy when she notices she’s been noticed.


Alex is activist and active.
Weird and wild. Interested and interesting.

Winces (whines) at injustice,
But occasionally incorrect about cause or intent.


She negotiates every judgement, and doggedly seeks answers to her questions.

All of them.

She loves music, she loves animals, she loves books, she loves us.
And we love her.