Christmas Eve

So tonight Abra and Thalia made cookies for Santa, and we put them out along with some carrots for the reindeer. Abra made very sure that we had nine carrots out, so that we didn't forget Rudolph. Then they hung up their stockings and I tucked them into bed and read them "'Twas the Night Before Christmas."

I explained to them that they had to be in bed for Santa to come and do his work, so they are in bed, quiet as doormice.

I expect that to last at least another 6 or 7 minutes. But it'll be a good 6 or 7 minutes!

Update: Dec 25th, 7am: So the girls went to bed without a peep, and in the morning we heard them talking in their room, but they didn't run out to our room or downstairs or anything. So I went into their room to check on them, and they were both lying still under the covers, their eyes wide open, staring at me.

I asked them what was going on, and Abra said "you told us last night that we had to stay in bed, or Santa wouldn't be able to finish his work."

heh, heh. The power of the Santa threat!

Vote early, vote often!

OK, here is a preliminary list of songs that I have thrown into a playlist for the wedding reception:

Wedding Playlist

(hit 'back' when you are done looking....)

Take a look and give me feedback via the comments link below. Things you like? Things you don't? Things I've forgotten? Note that the playlist is already about two times too long, so major cuts will need to happen....

Note also that Brenna has not yet weighed in on the list, so blame me entirely for any bad choices and/or glaring omissions!

(Plus, if you give me feedback, it'll tell me if anyone is actually reading this darned thing...)

Happy Birthday to Thalia!!

OK, well, actually her birthday was a while back, but here's a video from Jan from the birthday party!

(Have faith... it's a big file and takes a while to load...)


Cast of characters:

• First up (sideways): Jan
• Gabbing while filming sideways Jan: Abra
• Thalia: Thalia
  
• Holding Thalia: Marsha
  
• in Background: Brenna
• not there: me

Thanks, Jan!

SongFest @ 602 Monroe

The Top Three songs:

• Row, row, row your boat (Abra and Thalia)
• My ABCs (Abra)
• Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (Thalia)

So darned cute!!

Good, good kitty

So it turns out that the laptop was covered by insurance, and the data on the hard drive was safe, and so in only a few days I was back up and running with a new laptop.

Almost like a free laptop upgrade.

Good job, Pearl!

Evil, evil cat

Last night, Pearl knocked a glass of wine over onto my laptop.

Zot!

No more laptop.

sigh.

The Night-time is the Right-time...

...to be a cat.

So last night I wake up at 2:30am to the sound of Pearl standing outside the bedroom yowling and playing with a squeaky mouse.

Squeak! Meow!! Squeak! Meeyowww!! SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!!!!

So I get up and grab the squeaky mouse and stick it in the drawer of the nightstand. I tell her she can have the squeaky mouse back in the morning, and I go back to sleep.

At 2:35am I wake up again, this time to the sound of the nightstand drawer slowly being pulled open...

The Tango Situation

Tango is not a happy little cat. She and Nelson are not getting along at all, and little 6 pound Tango amazingly enough is the aggressor against the 16 pound Nelson. The conflict is definitely between Nelson and Tango -- Healy seems to have figured out for the most part to stay away from her, and she doesn't go after him so much.

And the conflict seems to be getting worse. If she comes in the room, Nelson will growl and try and run away, and she will chase him down. A pretty serious fight starts to brew at that point.

So we've gone back to separating them. Tango stays upstairs, the others stay down here, which I hate since it gives her very little interaction -- it seems like I've banished her to solitary confinement. She probably doesn't mind being separated from the other cats, but I know she misses human company and the ability to roam. When I open that door upstairs, she definitely wants to come down.

So that's where we stand right now. Not sure what to do. When everyone moves in, this isn't a very feasible permanent situation. If anyone has some good ideas, I'm all ears....

Pearl, put away your toys!

So these Lisowski women that are coming into my life are great in so many ways: loving, kind, funny, smart, sweet on the eyes, all that good stuff.

Tidyness, however, is not their strong suit. And I didn't realize just how ingrained that was in their household until I started noticing that Pearl likes to fish stuffed animals out of the girls' playroom and drag them downstairs, leaving them strewn around the house.

Hmm.

*sigh*....

Well, there you have it.

When you score 39 points and lose, that just ain't good. Particularly when you have what is supposed to be one of the best defenses in the country.

That was not the game I expected. I thought it would be an uphill battle for Michigan to win the game, but I certainly didn't expect two stout defenses to let the scoreboard light up like a defective pachinko machine. HELLO, SAFETIES???

My predictions? Not so good. My mood? Even worse. But you have to give the credit to the Buckeyes and, particularly, to Troy Smith. He can't graduate fast enough for my taste.

Yes, there's talk of a rematch. And if the BCS shakes out that way, Michigan has another shot. But I don't think that's right. Ohio State shouldn't have to beat Michigan twice in a row for the championship; or, put another way, Michigan shouldn't have to simply earn the split to be crowned champion. That just doesn't seem right. But maybe we're going there -- who knows? In any case, Ohio State won yesterday and I've gotta tip my hat to them.

Doesn't make me happy, though. Grrrr...

Bo

i've never been one for "heroes" that i don't know. my heroes have always been family, friends, the people who i know, the people who i have seen firsthand reaching out to others, doing things to make the world better, etc. so i can't call Bo a hero. but I will call him an icon, an image of many of the things that i love about michigan football, and a symbol that invokes many special memories and thoughts.

and i'm really feeling a bit sad about this now as it hits. i will always have the memories of bo beating Woody Hayes (yes, I followed Michigan that long ago), winning big 10 championships, firing Bill Frieder, and repeatedly kicking off to rocket ishmael BECAUSE DAMMIT HE CANT RETURN IT THREE TIMES IN A ROW, CAN HE? those memories won't go away, will never go away. but i will miss him the next time I drive up to A2 for a game, and won't be able to tune in and hear the crusty old bastard on the radio hollering about Notre Dame, or OSU, or some other something that he needed to rail against. The man bled maize and blue, and was a michigan man until the end.

I'm gonna miss Bo. Go kick Woody's ass up in the big Big House in the sky, my man.

Michigan - Ohio State Game Predictions

So the game is tomorrow. I've been keeping my head down and trying to ignore the hype, but there's no avoiding it now. So I may as well weigh in with some silly predictions of my own. It seems the thing to do when you have a blog. Taking a page from Brian Cook at mgoblog (the best michigan sports blog on the net), I'll break it down to my fears, my hopes, and my predictions.

Five things I do not want to see

• Troy Smith repeatedly breaking containment. Let's face it, Smith has played great against Michigan over the years. I think Michigan's defense is playing faster and more "athletic" than in past years, but I still worry about containment.
• A Michigan defensive back slipping while defending Ted Ginn. That dude is scary fast; slip = touchdown.
• Michigan receivers playing dropsies on 3rd down. Please catch the ball, boys.
• Seeing Garret Rivas attempting lots of field goals. The red zone offense has sputtered a lot; we need touchdowns, not field goals.
  
• Henne throwing passes to linebackers. This has happened much less this year than last, but still happens.
  

Five things I would love to see

• Steve Breaston making plays on kick returns. Set the offense up well, Stevie B, short fields are wonderful things.
  
• David Harris stuck to Troy Smith like toilet paper stuck to one's shoe. Harris has played like a monster this season, we need another big game out of him.
  
• A (successful) long pass to Mario Manningham early. Gotta stretch that OSU defense and show them (and me) that Mario is healthy.
• A 100+ yard game out of Mike Hart. If he gets going, and the receivers can stretch the defense, I will feel much better.
  
• Consistent pressure from the defensive line alone. If we can pressure without blitzing, that frees up the linebackers to shadow Smith and cover the short stuff.

Five predictions

• Mike Hart has a good, but not spectacular, game. 80-90 yards or so.
• Two sacks by the Michigan defense.
• A special teams touchdown. Not sure which team gets this, though.
• A couple of trick plays by both teams. OSU's works; Michigan's doesn't.
• Final Score: 24-13, Ohio State.
  

The Mod Squad

So tonight I come home from work and all of the sudden Pearl, Nelson, and Healy are all milling about around me, and all I could think of was "Oh my god, its the feline Mod Squad."

Tuna Therapy

So for the most part the cats are settling in. Except for Nelson and Tango. Tango is very aggressive towards Nelson (well, towards everyone, but she seems to have it for Nelson something fierce). And Nelson gets pretty upset and scared and there's a lot of hissing and growling and spitting and even a few catfights involved.

So tonight we started tuna therapy. There I was, sitting on the kitchen floor, hand feeding four cats pieces of tuna fish. Healy and Pearl happily chowed down, and Tango came in, too, warily. Nelson almost decided he hated Tango more than he loved tuna, but even he joined in. He wasn't thrilled she was there, but he tolerated it if it meant he could get tuna. So we will keep doing tuna therapy and see how it goes.

I'm earning a degree in feline psychology...

Michigan - Ohio State Week is Finally Here

And so, we come to Ohio State - Michigan week. With it being the #1 vs #2 matchup, this week may well be insufferable in terms of media hype, and living in Ohio is going to make it that much more annoying for me.

But let me set the game itself aside for a minute and think about the bigger view. This has been one of those special seasons for Michigan, regardless of the outcome of the game. The annual gallows humor joke is that Michigan always starts the season 2-1, but this year we started 3-0, and the destruction of Notre Dame was thorough and convincing.

Brady Quinn is thoroughly convinced.

Everything that had typically gone wrong in the past seemed to be coming together. Mike Hart stayed healthy. Chad Henne played smart. Mario Manningham played lights-out, and when he got hurt, Adrian Arrington stepped up. And when the offense sputtered, the defense was there to carry the day. And carry it they did.

Advantage: Defense

And so Michigan is undefeated heading down to Columbus. Games like this are why I simultaneously love and hate college football. There's nothing like this in the pros, nothing that can combine the rivalry, the atmosphere, and the stakes. At the same time, my heart can't take too many of these. I remember 1997, sitting in Michigan Stadium watching an undefeated #1 Michigan team play #4 OSU, and I spent most of the breaks in action with my head in my hands wanting to throw up. And we won that game! Yes, I stress out way too much over these things.

In the end, though, it's where you want to be. #1 vs #2, with the chance to play for the national championship. And that's where we are. And regardless of the outcome it's been a great season to be a Michigan fan. Go Blue!

Astrophysical Cats

Nelson and Healy write my latest lecture on Galaxy Formation...

...and then collaborate with Pearl on string theory research:

The Cold War

OK, so after a week of mixing, the cats are settling into a routine. They tolerate each other most of the time, although a bit warily. Tango still seems (and may always be) the most aggressive at defending her territory -- she's charged Nelson and Healy at various times, leaving them very startled and bewildered. Even Pearl went up to a sleeping Nelson last night and, out of the blue*, beat him mercilessly over the head until he ran away in surprise and shock (and believe me, no cat in the history of catdom can express surprise and shock the way Nelson can). The boys are a bit confused by all this, and spend a lot of time together presumably watching each others' backs.

Hmm, women prone to aggressive outbursts on unsuspecting males, who end up retreating into their own space. Nature has common threads across all species, I guess...

*OK, I'll admit, she was probably very frustrated with me that I wouldn't let her near the roast beef I had just cooked.

Tricks and Treats

The trick is that I missed Halloween with the girls. The treat is that Brenna sent pictures (courtesy Jan, I think -- thanks Jan!). Abra was a pink unicorn; Thalia was a green dragon. Pink unicorns and green dragons sound like something out Dumbo's nightmare, or the aftermath of overly fermented pumpkin juice, but here they are in all their glory.

and of course they proceeded to beat the living bejeesus out of the spongebob squarepants pinata to get to the candy inside:

There's a new sheriff in town....

So a few years back, Pauli got Nelson and Healy some fuzzy toy mice that made squeaky noises. For the most part, the boys left them alone unless they were high as a kite on cheap catnip.

Well, Pearl took to them immediately. In fact, I had to hide them from her last night since she was playing with them and making them squeak nonstop at 1:30am.

So I come home from work tonight and find this watersoaked squeaky mouse lying on its side in the upstairs hallway making very faint continuous squeaky noises. Near as I can tell, she drowned it in her waterbowl, and then dragged it through the house. At least I hope that's all that happened. The surviving squeaky mouse is understandably concerned...

It's Dead, Jim

Healy stares in horror at the carnage

First Contact!

The door is open, and the cats have met. Remember the situation: Nelson and Healy are 15-16 pounds each; Pearl and Tango are 6-8 pounds each. So I was a bit worried that the boys would intimidate the girls a bit.

I needn't have worried.

The boys followed me up the stairs, very cautiously, and were milling around in the hallway (well, Healy was milling, Nelson was hanging back). Pearl came out of the bedroom walking towards Healy (picture right; even though Pearl looks bigger, trust me, she's half Healy's size), who was completely surprised. But thankfully not aggressive. That was about as close as they got, then Healy backed away, making little meowing noises. But all seemed okay.


Then Tango came out of the other bedroom, and started growling at Healy. Healy instantly backpeddled, running into Nelson, and the two boys cowered around the corner. My big babies!

So I walked downstairs, and Nelson and Healy started following, until Nelson got this look on his face like "Hey, what are we doing, there are girls up there!", then turned around and ran back upstairs. Healy came downstairs, and is now sitting at the stairway making confused meowing noises.

Cat dynamics are amusing to watch...

Contraband Cats!

City of Cleveland Heights Ordinance 502.02 says

Only two dogs or cats, or a combination of one each, are allowed per dwelling.

Uh oh.....

The Door

OK, I think Pearl at least is getting antsy to roam the house, and clearly Nelson and Healy want to know what's going on upstairs. There has been communication through the door (well, heck, who couldn't hear Healy sitting at the door yowling to shake the house down?), and here is Nelson trying to figure out who exactly is upstairs.

I'd let them start to mingle now, but the batteries are dead on my camera. I'll get new batteries today, and try the grand experiment tonight. Stay tuned....

Let the hissing begin!

So the drive was as you might imagine. For the first half hour or so, I got to listen to this*, but then the cats settled down and, other than Chicago traffic and rain the whole way, we made it back ok.

Pearl and Tango are upstairs, and Nelson and Healy are downstairs. On several occasions last night I heard hissing coming from the doorway that seperates them, which I suspect was Healy and Pearl getting to know one another.

* That's Tango, by the way, but Pearl was doing it too...

The winds of change blow quickly for a 4-year old...

Last night, Abra gave me a coffee mug she had made for me at preschool. It said "I love my daddy", and it had a picture she had drawn of our new family. She did a good job, too -- in the picture, I clearly look like I've had about 17 cups of coffee already. She gave me a big hug, we had a hallmark moment, it was beautiful.

This is me after the aforementioned 17 cups of coffee:



And yet not an hour later I found myself yelling up the stairs "Abra, for the last time, get back into bed -- I do not want to hear or see you again until morning!"

This parenting stuff is going to take some getting used to.

In a few days, the invasion begins

On Thursday, I'll be driving home from Brenna's house in Wisconsin with her two cats, Pearl and Tango. A 500 mile drive with two cats should be quiet and relaxing, right? RIGHT???