The View From Drew

 Much squealing and happiness and some disappointment.  Eddie didn't get his iPod, but I explained to him that Santa said it was going to be just an iPod or all the cool gifts he got.  (Eddie wanted a video iPod, like mine.)  I told him that he might get one for his birthday/communion gift this year.  Surprisingly, out of all the gifts Mikey got, he loves his Dust Devil vacuum and his shopping cart.  I'm almost done putting his train set together.

Eddie loves the MarioKart game and I have to admit it's really cool.  He also now has internet access on my old laptop.  I've told him that he can't just go on the internet any time he feels, but has to ask me or Mom or Grandma so we can keep an eye on things.

Sue got me a number of comfort items I've been lacking in recent times, like a new pair of slippers, earmuffs, and gloves.  The best gift, and I maintain this for anyone was an eBay gift card.  Rather than getting a gift card to a particular store, with eBay you can get a lot of loot for little money if you bid wisely.  My cousin gave me one for my birthday last year and I had a field day.

Mikey's still asleep so Eddie had to wait to open his presents.  So far, he's doing fine.  He had his stocking which he keeps on the door to his room to keep him busy although I almost slipped in revealing too much knowledge of one of th 

You know, the boys are doing pretty well for themselves between Santa and Sue and myself.  There was no dinosaur among the gifts, but Mikey stopped talking about it fairly quickly.  He has been talking about this bubble machine for the bathtub.  That he got.  Eddie's not getting an iPod, but he is getting his moon shoes and a USB wireless jack for the old laptop I gave him so he can access the internet.  

This story holds a special place in my heart.  I wouldn't call it my all-time favorite, but it was the very first Doctor Who story I have saw.  And it turns out I didn't even see the first episode, I only heard it.  It was in the days before New York City had cable - 1986.  kradical  had been urging me to watch the show for ages.  I decided to try it one night.  Doctor Who was playing on the local PBS station, channel 31.  You had to have some pretty good rabbit ears in order to pick up the signal.  I didn't.

I tuned in that night and part one of the episode was playing.  I barely saw anything, but I heard the dialogue and the familiar sting and theme song at the end.  I was hooked, based on the theme song alone.  I went out and bought a signal booster the next day and the rest was history.

This was the 4th Doctor I liked.  It was early on his run and he hadn't become the powerful, cocky guy he was destined to become.  By the time we got to the end of his run, I was ready and eager to see him go.  Here, while confident, he was still not perfect.  He made mistakes.  And besides, we had Sarah Jane and Harry in the story, another plus.

As we watched this, Eddie pointed out to me that the Wyrrn cocoon was simply bubble wrap.  Sadly, with the crappy reception on my TV, I didn't catch that right away.  Eddie thought it was cool and wanted to try it himself.

So, today is the first day I've been out, other than to visit doctors, in over two weeks.  I went with Sue and the kids to a harvest festival in the area.  It was a lot of fun and I managed to not tire much.  I did lie down briefly when I got home.  I've found I'm feeling and looking flush, but I don't have a fever the last couple of days.  This is a good thing, right?

I'm going to try going in tomorrow.  I have a lot of catching up to do with the kids.  One day at a time.

Eddie has been having his hair cut for years by his grandmother.  He was always afraid to go to a barber.  Well, it was turning into this moptop mess and his grandmother wasn't available to do it today, so I took him to my barber.  I needed one too.  He was fantastic.  He sat still, talked it up with my barber, John, and went back and gave him the tip once we paid for the cuts.  He looks great too.  Grandma did all right, but it was never entirely even.  Now, he's looking sharp.  I'll post some pictures today as we're going to my niece's christening.

Eddie's latest exploits in D&D are now available at the realm_of_correu.

Is it the first time your child speaks?

Is it the first time he hugs you?

Maybe it's when he graduates from high school?





















How about when he levels up for the first time?  And he rolls new hit points?  And he gains new spells?  Am I disturbed?

The first half of Eddie's first successful adventure as Elfie the Elf, Version 2.0, is now available for your perusal at realm_of_correu.

So Eddie sits next to me tonight as I'm watching Lost in Space.  It's the episode, "All That Glitters", a first season episode where Doctor Smith gains the ability to turn anything he touches to pure platinum.  Eddie's watched a few moments of the show with me in the past few weeks, but he usually walks off.  He had asked me were there color episodes as the first season is black and white and I think it puts him off.  Tonight though he sat through the rest of the episode.  He then asked if he could watch the next episode there and then and I told him that I only watch one episode a week.  He couldn't understand why I did it as I had the DVD.  I explained that when I was a kid, we didn't have recording devices for programs and you watched it when it aired.  If you missed it, hopefully you could catch it during a summer repeat (which is what I'm doing now.  Yes, I'm so lame I schedule my summer repeats too.) or if a local station picked it up years later you'd watch it then.  That made watching shows special.  Eddie doesn't think anything of watching six episodes of Spongebob Squarepants in a row.  To me, watching that much of any show in one sitting takes away from what makes it special.  I read how people plow through DVD sets of a show and I don't get the appeal for that. Then again, most people don't get the appeal of the way I do it.  I'm more for the nostagia of the old days of television.  So, I told him he'd have to wait until next week and we'd watch it together.  Who knows, maybe this will lead to a weekly ritual, something he can look forward to like I did when I was a kid.

I mentioned a few days back about how Wendy's was offering The Magic Tree House audiobooks as part of their kid's meal.  Well, our local Wendy's has run out and Eddie is missing two.  He needs numbers three and four.  I don't know the titles.  I was wondering if there were any families on my list who go to Wendy's and may have doubles, we might be able to work out a swap of some kind.

Eddie and I played our first game of Magic the Gathering today.  We actually played three games.  I've had three sets up cards since my thirtieth birthday when I got them for a gift.  I never found anyone interested in trying them.  We divided two sets and are keeping the third for when either one of us needs to add to a depleting deck.

Eddie needs to work on the idea of strategy.  He doesn't know how to think ahead, but rather how to react to situations.  We played with open hand cards and I walked him through his options.  He's getting the rules down pretty quickly though.

So, Eddie just rolled up his first D&D Basic character.  He's playing a chaotic Elf.  I'm going to come up with a few NPC characters for him to start out and if he likes the game, we'll invite his cousins to play with him.  He's not the swiftest Elf, nor is he the strongest.  And to make matters worse, I asked Eddie what his character's name is - Elfie.

Elfie the Elf.

Sigh.

Well, if he gets into this and has dorky D&D friends, he'll never tell them the story of his first character, I'm sure.

Then again, who knows?

Eddie has started developing an interest in fantasy.  He will shortly play his first game of Dungeons & Dragons, albeit modified for his age range.  I was wondering if there are any book series for second graders that have such fantastical elements, or if there were ever any Dungeons & Dragons prose produced for his age.  He currently loves reading The Magic Tree House series.  Thanks.

So, I took the boys to Wendy's for lunch after our weekly trip to the library.  I was very surprised when I got the boys' kids meal and found a CD inside each one.  The CDs are audiobook readings of two of the Magic Tree House series of books.  What a great idea for an item inside the kids meal.  But then, Wendy's has always been a little more imaginative with what they put inside their meals.  They were the first to offer more healthy side dishes for the kids meals.  Anyway, we listened to the first two chapters of one of them on the ride home.  Now I want to track down the other two or four in the series.  I'm not sure how many there are, but I think it's just great that Wendy's did it.  Kudos.

Well, looks like the folks at Scrabble are winning.  They disabled the Scrabulous game on Facebook.  I understand that they had to, but you know if they were smart, they'd work something out with Facebook and Scrabulous to continue the game under their name.  It got my interest in playing the actual game going again and I play often with Eddie.  I'm looking forward to getting a game together with some local friends soon.

Geek Patrol:  What say you to me bringing the game down to the next gathering and we play as we watch?

So, I'm sitting here at the laptop and Eddie is watching Back at the Barnyard.  One of the characters, Otis, is trying to become a wrestler.  They are trying to come up with a stage name for him.  One of the characters suggests Poopie Mc Hits-A-Lot.  Eddie and I burst out laughing.  After a few moments, Eddie's laughter subsides, but mine continues to build.  Eddie looks at me and says, "It wasn't that funny."

So here's one of the pictures from yesterday's outing with the graduating class.  I don't know why Eddie looks so upset in the picture.  He was having a great time.  There's another picture but he looks even more upset.  I'm waiting for one other teacher to send along some pictures he took.

In other news, Eddie seems to have a new virus.  He's getting headaches, fever, and a sore throat.  I asked him if he kissed any of the girls, but he insists he didn't.

Spent yesterday at the Putnam County Memorial Park, a nice area to picnic and swim.  It features a tank and helicopter used during the Vietnam War and a memorial to each of the services in the United States.

Today, with the weather being so iffy, was spent getting things done.  Went to BJ's and did the bi-monthly shopping.  Dukes of Hazard fans can get the first four seasons for under $20 a season.  I love the randomness of their sales.  The one we go to, in Yorktown Heights, still has a few under $20 B5 sets.  I don't remember the seasons.

We got home and I installed a new curtain rod in the kitchen and the proceeded to clean out the entire sink/stove area as if I were those two women on the How Clean is Your House? show.  It was nasty, but I now have a sparkling kitchen, complete with a nice safe place for my ipod dock/radio so that I can listen to my ipod without having to move the damn thing around as I'm cooking.  I washed the windows and organized the shelving better over the kitchen sink.  All that's left to do is to tackle the overcrowded hutch and install a new lock and handle on the door out to the patio.  That's for Wednesday.

All in all, a good weekend and the good start to a summer off.  I'm in tomorrow as the undergrads are getting their report cards and I'm in Tuesday as the graduates will be in for a BBQ, a reward for them behaving and not pulling pranks on the traditional senior prank day.  I'm bringing the boys with me as the kids have never met them.  Eddie is really looking forward to seeing them.

Sue's mom just let her know that she's not going to be up to taking care of the boys on a regular basis after this school year.  This has been something she's been wanting to do for awhile and considering the health scares she's had, I wish she had.  In any event, we're grateful for all she's done for us the past seven years with the Eddie as I'm sure Sue's brother feels the same with his three kids, the oldest being thirteen.

This is putting us into full Pooh thinking mode as we have to come up with a plan for the next school year.  Mikey's still too young for pre-school and we'd like to avoid daycare, but that may not be feasible.  Fortunately, Sue works only four days a week and I do have a great deal of time off during the year.  Mikey will start preschool in 2010 and we're looking into a full day arrangement, two or three days a week.

I'd ask my mom to help, but she's not the most reliable.  I have one sister who has older kids, so that's a possibility for a day or two there.  My brother and other sister are or will be dealing with their newborns, so that option is out.

For us, it's not about the finding of childcare, it's the sadness in that Sue's mother has to admit that it's too much for her.  We're hoping that perhaps when Mikey is settled into whatever the situation is going to be next year, she might be able to do a day or two from time to time.