Monday, March 8, 2010

Comings and Goings

It's a cool and cloudy Monday. A reminder that it's still winter despite last week's sunshine. I was glad that my dad got to enjoy a bit of that spring feeling, since he was visiting last week. He came partly because he's unable to join my mom on her Easter visit, and partly to babysit while Jon was away. By "babysit" I mean babysit all of us. I'm still a wimp when it comes to single parenting during Jon's trips. Luckily, these trips have been infrequent of late. And to be fair, this was a long stint: Monday-Friday. With my days beginning at 6 and bed times at 8:30.... well, that's a long time to be without reinforcements.
So my dad took pity and came down to play. And play we did! I tried to pack in all the fun things we never do during a typical week. We went to Jungle Quest one day, and the zoo the next day.


Dad even took Anna on the "circle of fun": they go on a walk to a great local playground, lunch at McDonald's, ice cream at Sonic, and pass by another park on the way home. Jon's parents came with dinner one evening, and the rest of the time was filled with home improvement projects that we save up for dad's visits. My father is a very handy guy. Among other things, he worked on Isaac's drop-side crib such that it's now a never-again-drop-side crib. Mommy now sleeps better at night.

We were all sad when Grandpa left, but happy to see Daddy come home. Isaac celebrated by suddenly becoming a full-fledged walker. At 6:00 p.m. on Friday a light went on in his fuzzy head and he started taking steps in groups of five rather than one. He's quite satisfied with himself. Meanwhile I desire to put a little helmet on his head. So far, no concussion-inducing falls but I know they're on their way. I am always amazed that children survive this stage without permanent brain damage. Then again, maybe they all have brain damage and we just don't notice because they all have it.

So while we humans survived Jon's absence with aplomb, our TV receiver decided to throw a fit and die. My attempts to reset and revive came to nothing, and the conversation with the help desk was unsuccessful on many levels:
Me: I've tried resetting the box, but it does nothing. The record light is blinking and it's making a weird noise.
Them: Is it plugged in?
Me: Yes. It's receiving power. The record light is blinking and it's making a weird noise.
Them: Try resetting the power strip.
Me: Hello? It's receiving power. The record light is blinking and it's making a weird noise.
Them: Try plugging it into a different power strip.
Me: Okay, but I don't think you understand. It's receiving power. The record light is blinking and it's making a weird noise.
Them: Try plugging it in somewhere else. 
Me: Uh, okay. But I feel I must tell you that it's receiving power. The record light is blinking and it's making a weird noise.
etc. etc.

So we should be receiving a new box soon, although it was too late for yesterday's Academy Award ceremonies. I've watched at least part of every show for over 20 years, until yesterday. Apparently I didn't miss much, but it's the principle of the thing. It's my only must-watch-television-event, and it has to be watched live.
At least Avatar didn't win best picture. Jon (and David Brooks) noted the similarity between Avatar and the horrid Fern Gully. Yes, this plot has been recycled more than once, but the similarity between these two particular movies is striking. And very very sad. If you're going to spend that much money on a movie, shouldn't some of it go to writing plot and dialogue? Just sayin'.

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