I clearly need to get it together and post mo...

October 31, 2004 by Seraph in Cortez

I clearly need to get it together and post more often! First and foremost...Happy birthday Betsy, and happy Halloween! This is a favorite time of year for Robbie and I, even though all of our pumpkins have rotted, and I think we'll have to make a last minute run to pick up some more.
My mid-terms have snuck up on me, and I'm trying to cram in some studying today between church and trick-or-treating. Isa has dressed up as a witch for the various parties this week, but anounced this morning that she wanted to do the fairy princess thing again this year for trick-or-treating! Sigh...more pink.
We had a lot of fun with Adam, Jamie, Sam and Emma yesterday at the Zoo. Isa love running around with Sam. The only problem is that she is now so comfortable there, that when the crowds are small she wants to run off in every direction!
Robbie actually admitted this morning that he missed his school kids on the weekends. I think that leaving his class may become the hardest part of moving away from Portland after graduation. I did point out that that sentiment would probably make the parents happy!
Well, much love, tricks, and treats to everyone!
P.S. Sadie, all our love and thoughts to you and Anna. As great a lady she is, we promise that we'll keep you! Would you like us to send on Mr. Pletcher?

It was a great day yesterday

October 31, 2004 by Adam in Family

It was a great day yesterday. We puttered around in the morning then headed to the zoo to meet up with Seraph, Robbie, and Isabell. It was occasionally a little drizzly, and it poured down rain just as we left, but it really kept the crowds down. What people were there were mostly kids dressed up in costume for the Halloween Zoo event. Sam was happy that he returned with a bag of candy and toys, keeping him entertained for the drive back.

The kids liked the various exhibits quite a bit. Emma alternated between amazed and frightened for a couple animals. When we went to feed the birds, they swarmed us and climbed on Emma's stroller. She didn't like that too much and had to be held. I took a great picture of Robbie the Bird Man, covered in colorful tropical birds.

The other animal Emma had mixed feelings about was the elephants. There was one where we could get close to and we watched it eat some hay. At first she wanted to climb into my jacket, saying "Scary." I wasn't sure I heard her right, so I asked "Scary?" She replied. "Scary. Uh-huh. Bye-bye." After a little, though, she calmed down and had fun watching the elephant pick up hay with its trunk and feed itself. When I asked Sam which part he liked, he picked the alligator, which mostly sat still in the water waiting to be fed.

The rest of the evening was fairly quiet. I drove over to Fry's and picked up a printer. Our current one is lousy at photgraphs, so hopefully this new one works a bit better. It was crazy busy, though. Ordering online and spending a few bucks for shipping makes more and more sense. The kids watched a little Shrek and went to bed later than normal. Hopefully Sam's recent bout of sleeping in will balance nicely with daylight saving's time today. In theory I woke up at 5 am, though my brain was telling me I had slept in a little.

I think we'll do a little shopping this morning, then head home. It's been a good trip, though I do miss our little abode.

Well, we're up in Portland

October 29, 2004 by Adam in Family

Well, we're up in Portland. It was a fairly uneventful morning, except that I think I'm coming down with a cold. Lots of Advil, caffiene, and food seemed to help. Judy's entertaining the kids, Jamie's off at the store, and I'm puttering around with the computer.

I think we'll try to do OMSI or the zoo tomorrow, depending on how people are feeling. It would be nice to do a little Christmas shopping too, though I'm not sure if I'll really get the time to do that too.

Anna and I broke up today, unexpectedly for b...

October 28, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Anna and I broke up today, unexpectedly for both of us. I understand if you want to choose her even though you're my family- she's a great lady. I think we're doing fine, considering, but still not really sure what it means in the long run.

Other than that, the weather is beautiful, my programs are going well, and work is good.

It's been a somewhat weird work week for me, ...

October 28, 2004 by Adam in Family

It's been a somewhat weird work week for me, with all day meetings yesterday and today. Dave and Kirsten stopped by after work yesterday as well, entertaining children and having dinner with us. Emma in particular really loves those two, doing a funny little floor wiggle dance when she first saw Dave. There was also a full eclipse of the moon last night, so Sam and I stood on the balcony and discussed astronomy. Plus it was pretty cool looking.

I'll be heading off-site for all day meetings today, possibly coming home late. To be honest I'd rather hang out with my family than spend yet more time with work folks. We should be off to Portland tomorrow, which excites me greatly. Should be lots of fun.

It's almost here

October 27, 2004 by Betsy in Betsy

It's almost here. If you have made your trip to JoAnn Fabrics or Kmart for the uncreative you better get cracking. Will has changed from a farmer to a plumber. Part of his latest fixation with the plumber who works for me. He even has his own shirt with plumbers logo. I haven't decided on my costume yet but it will come to me. Happy Halloween.

I spent a delightful half hour or so at Adam ...

October 27, 2004 by Sue in Wielesek

I spent a delightful half hour or so at Adam and Jamie's after work, being generally entertained by Sam and Emma. Emma, like all my grandkids, has a wonderful sense of humor - or maybe humoring me, as we spent quite some time looking for pigs, cows, cats and dogs (complete with appropriate noises) in my purse. Had long phone visits with Jenny, who went up to Portland for a concert over the weekend with Jeanny and ran into Fred Swank, now back from working for the Sheriff's department in Florence and working in the Sheriff's office in Eugene. And to think we knew that boy when he smuggled fireworks in from Washington! Also talked with Sadie, who sounds fine!

I went to Sam's parent-teacher conference today

October 26, 2004 by Adam in Sam

I went to Sam's parent-teacher conference today. Well, to be honest I sat in the car with a sleeping Emma while Jamie went in to talk to the teacher. Evidently he's a bright funny kid who's doing quite well in school. He's made a couple good friends in school - Caden and Mattie. Caden is his "basketball coach" and Mattie and he take turns teaching the other how to be a boy or girl. I think "being a girl" involves jump rope, though I'm not quite sure what "being a boy" entails exactly.

Outside my window is a bed of bright yellow l...

October 26, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Outside my window is a bed of bright yellow leaves and endless rumpled students crushing them on their shortcut to class. I love the mornings here. I just finished my third interview this week, one for the North Adams Transcript, one for the college's publicity stuff, and then for the student newspaper. The student journalist was appropriately muckraking, the college journalist appropriately positive and easy-going, and the North Adams journalist was so lonely in his first week away from Philly that I quickly sucked him into my group of twentysomething friends here. So it's been an interesting week.

We all had a pleasant Sunday, somewhat uneventful

October 25, 2004 by Adam in Family

We all had a pleasant Sunday, somewhat uneventful. I took the kids to the library and movie store in the morning, returning with various Dinotopia books and movies. We also found a paper airplane book, which resulted in a long playtime of airplane building and testing. Emma also demanded that I read her library books immediately, several times for each of them.

Jamie managed to get out of the house a couple times, once to visit my mom and another to go for a walk with her friend Victoria. Sam became a gardening maniac and we weeded, dug, and pruned for well over an hour. Hopefully I can keep up this level of enthusiasm and get a new flower bed put in for next year.

One of the most anticipated games, Half-Life ...

October 24, 2004 by Adam in Adam's Games

One of the most anticipated games, Half-Life 2 is going to be released soon. It's also one of the rare big games that's being distributed electronically as well as on CDs. It's a massive download, over a gigabyte easily, and encrypted as well. I'm downloading it at the moment and once it's "released", I can pay my money and get it unlocked to play it.

It's an interesting way to do things and hopefully one that happens more often in the future. All the waste of cardboard boxes and CDs seems a bit silly when all you want to do is get it on your computer anyway. Interesting times.

Emma is beginning to learn how to use a mouse

October 24, 2004 by Adam in Emma

Emma is beginning to learn how to use a mouse. She's been obsessed with a computer game that Sam used to have. She calls it "aminals", because it has singing animals in it. Very cute.

Sam spent the night at my dad and Yayoe's hou...

October 24, 2004 by Adam in Family

Sam spent the night at my dad and Yayoe's house, something he decided to do mostly on his own and has been strangely excited about all week. They mostly hung out at their house, playing Battleship, doing some art projects, and reading a bit. Jamie and I had an unusually quiet evening and morning. We ended up doing a fair amount of outside work. I took in all the patio furniture, cut down an offending plant, and cleaned up the tomatoes.

We're tentatively planning a Portland trip next weekend, though we'll see how it goes. It would be fun to see Seraph and Robbie's place and generally take it easy for a couple days.

My favorite time of the year approaches! It ...

October 22, 2004 by Betsy in Betsy

My favorite time of the year approaches! It started simply enough with me getting out my coffee mug with the witch on the side and has progressed into full blown decorating! I even have a garland of pumpkin things around my office door. I was a bit leary of the set up as Mike has the kids Halloween weekend and they don't have school on Friday. Our Beggars night is Thursday and I thought they would be with him but he changed his mind and so the kids and I will be going Trick or Treating!!!! Patrick is going as a killer rabbit and Will is going as a farmer. It will be great fun.

Sweet, sweet mocha Friday

October 22, 2004 by Adam in Family

Sweet, sweet mocha Friday. I'm feeling energized and ready for work, of which there seems a lot these days. Jamie and I went out to dinner last night, a rare treat. Dinner was late, but really tasty. I was worrying that the kids might be missing us, but they barely noticed our arrival. Dave and Kirsten did a great job entertaining them, one of the few people that Emma will actually let watch her without endless crying.

We're trying hard to plan for a Portland trip next weekend. Seraph and Robbie - drop me an e-mail if you're around to be visited with. This weekend is likely to be quiet. I think we'll be putting away our patio furniture for the weekend and that's about it.

Today is the beginning of the Service Week th...

October 22, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Today is the beginning of the Service Week that the student service council and my office have worked so hard on. I know that one-day events are important in context of the greater office of community service and the students' awareness of the work that we do, but it seems so silly to spend all my energy on a week of projects that don't actually expand our relationships with community based organizations. Nevertehless, I imagine that we'll do well with the winter clothes drive and the benefit concert. My back and hands are tender from shoveling hay from a barn at the Rural Lands Foundation a few days ago. It will be good to go there on Halloween and see the product of all our efforts to make a haunted barn.

I'm finding my feet in cultural theory this week, but haven't slept or eaten for five days because of it... I forgot that learning could be this intense. This too shall pass. I hope to get out both alive and with what I'm looking for.

The week is slowly moving along

October 20, 2004 by Adam in Family

The week is slowly moving along. I've been braving the dreary weather on my bicycle and entertaining the kids indoors due to the rain. Last night we had "dancing in our underwear" hour in the basement, along with a vicious pillow fight between Sam and I. Emma learned how to do sommersaults last night, much to everyone's entertainment.

I've been getting into the Fall's t.v. shows. Lost is on tonight, my favorite new series. I watched the Farscape finale Sunday and Monday night, which was a great ending. Tonight I'll watch the new Battlestar Galactica series which is also looking really good. Though Buffy and Firefly may be gone, there's a host of new shows that have popped up.

Jamie and I also voted, so we're feeling good about our civic duty. Now it's just nailbiting until November 2nd. I've become a politics junkie, visiting political blogs like Daily Kos every few hours. electoral-vote.com is another one, seeming to determine my mood as the graphs go up and down. What odd times we live in.

I heart service course requirements

October 20, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

I heart service course requirements.

Hi guys, I have two baby gates

October 18, 2004 by Sue in Wielesek

Hi guys, I have two baby gates. Does anyone need one? I also have great worker guys. They put in a brick "patio" around the big oak tree at the office. The office is looking really nice. I'm buying a Dell laptop; Adam, someone named Travis will be e-mailing you a quote. Love to all.

Isn’t it interesting that Williams demands co...

October 18, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Isn’t it interesting that Williams demands community service as part of your CV to get into the school, but only pays for a part time staff member (Rev. Spalding) and a one fourth time staff member (Matt Boyd) to administer community service on campus? As an Americoprs volunteer, the college doesn't have to pay for me.

Strangely, the college can pay for eighteen assistant coaches.

Harumph.

Emma called me by herself this morning

October 18, 2004 by Adam in Emma

Emma called me by herself this morning. I didn't think anything of it at first, as Jamie will often call me up and put Emma on the phone. We exchange a few words and I say "hi" a lot. This time, there seemed to be a really long delay before Jamie picked up, so I ended up started working again. After a couple minutes, I heard Jamie say "Hello?" and she explained that Emma somehow managed to hit the quick dial button for me.

Somehow I suspect this is just the beginning of things to come.

It's been a very wet weekend, one of those wh...

October 17, 2004 by Adam in Family

It's been a very wet weekend, one of those where we barely left the house as we'd probably get soaked to the bone just stepping out the door. We did manage a few useful things over the course of the weekend. Saturday night we went over to my dad and Yayoe's house for some good dinner. Sam and I raked the front yard in the rain. There were a few grocery trips hidden in there as well.

Emma was up around 7 am this Saturday morning...

October 16, 2004 by Adam in Emma

Emma was up around 7 am this Saturday morning and Jamie decided to leave the poor girl with me. We played and played for a long while, then decided to make a movie together. It turned out pretty funny.

Emma continues to get new teeth. I think there's three that are slowly coming in. She's been sleeping better for the most part, though she was up a ton last night.

It's the end of a Friday and I'm very much lo...

October 15, 2004 by Adam in Family

It's the end of a Friday and I'm very much looking forward to the weekend.

Sam ran his Jog-A-Thon this morning, running an amazing 11 laps (nearly 3 miles). This was after he'd hurt himself this morning when he wacked his face against the foot of our bed. I haven't seen it yet, but Jamie describes it as "cool". I expect we'll have to give him an eyepatch and have him say "Aarg!" a few times to complete the image.

We're going over to my dad's for dinner tomorrow and generally puttering around the house. I'd very much like to have some quiet time to myself.

Alex and Carolyn arrived safe and sound yesterday

October 15, 2004 by Seraph in Cortez

Alex and Carolyn arrived safe and sound yesterday. I met with them, Robbie, and Isa after I finished up at school. We went to ice cream and later to dinner. Isa decided that their hotel was cool and wanted to have a sleepover. (What's that saying Mom? Independent as a hog on ice?!) When I talked to Carolyn this morning they had already hit Toys-R-Us and were going to go swimming!
Funny comment from a man I work with. He was listening to me take a call, and afterwards asked if I was from the mid-west. When I asked why he said that only his mid-west family said "m-bye" on the phone! I guess some language traits get passes down forever!
Lots and lots of love to my amazing family!

Myst 4 seems fun so far, though the puzzles a...

October 15, 2004 by Adam in Adam's Games

Myst 4 seems fun so far, though the puzzles are mind numbingly hard. Sam's been getting in on the action, doing the simpler puzzles and enjoying the general ambiance. The areas are so pretty and the music so pleasant that it's easy to forget how much your brain has to think just to get to the next area. There's a few things that annoy me - hunting through a dark screen for a lever to pull, for example. Still, it's classic Myst and fun for the whole family.

Well, Isabell and I had a long wonderful and ...

October 14, 2004 by Hanni in Hanni

Well, Isabell and I had a long wonderful and busy weekend together. Seraph brought her to Eugene Friday morning and I took her back yesterday. We did a lot of learning and play projects. In fact we never took time out for a real nap, only resting time while we read books. Of course we made our trip to the library Saturday morning for the Children's Hour, but Isabell decided she rather look at books and bring some home. We visited our wonderful park every day and of course the highlight was our trip Sunday on the hayride to the pumpkin patch with her Grandma Susi. And Isabell got to spent the the rest of the afternoon and the night with her at her house. Sue even cancelled an appointment with a client the next morning because she promised Isabell before hand that she would take her for a hot chocolate in the morning, and Isabell never forgets. What we don't do for our grandchildren. Friday night I told Isabell that I had to take time out to listen to the debates and promised her that I would take her for a lang walk afterwards. It was pouring buckets after the debates, but there was no backing out. We put our rain gear on and walked four times around the block, while Isabell told me about all the animals that people eat and what other food items they provide. I have no idea how she even thought of that topic, but she never quit talking about it until we got to the front door.

Isn't the skirt Jamie Sim is wearing too dres...

October 14, 2004 by Sue in Wielesek

Isn't the skirt Jamie Sim is wearing too dressy to clean the toilet in, shorter than Jamie would wear, and why the heck is it the woman's job to clean the toilet anyhow?
Talked with Sadie last night...she was sounding as though her job is interesting. Her analysis of the last debate was insightful - she said Bush's closing was good. Love, the old and getting older, Mom

I fiddled around with Sims 2 a bit

October 14, 2004 by Adam in Adam's Games

I fiddled around with Sims 2 a bit. Putting our Simoleans to good use, I added on to the house and dumped all the baby stuff in there for use for the next kid. I changed the hairdo of one of the twins as it was simply too hard to keep them apart. The birthday party went fairly well. After all the guests had left, Jamie was busy cleaning the toilet after the rest of her family went to sleep. At least she was thinking the party went well.

We'll see how long I stick with the Sim Millers. Raising children, even virtual ones, seems like a lot of hard work.

Oh, Seraph, I love your post so much! I'll be...

October 13, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Oh, Seraph, I love your post so much! I'll be voting for your birthday present and agitating all I can (unfortunately, as a federal employee, it's not much). I got to talk to two of our non-traditional babies on the phone last night- Emma said hi and Sam counted from 1 to 29 for me.

This morning I helped coordinate student volunteers to assist 20 6th and 9th graders taking an assessment exam. All of them had special accomodations, and despite the short notice scramble to get Williams kids, it worked out beautifully. I also got to talk to a cool kid from (in his words) "the North Adams projects". He lives a block away from his aunt, though- sniff.

I'm starting up a winter clothing drive, a task daunting because I am doing it solo (for now). Campus dorms, a dozen churches, and a few schools to coordinate with... but it's a beautiful, beautiful week, and I'm feeling good about the work.

A weekend brightened by a sleepover with Isa

October 13, 2004 by Sue in Wielesek

A weekend brightened by a sleepover with Isa. Isa, Hanni and I met for lunch on Sunday, and then went out to Lone Pine Farms and the pumpkin patch. We rode the hay wagon with lots of other kids, parents and grandparents, picked out pumpkins, fed the goats, and played in the playground.
It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and for a fleeting second I felt that wonderful feeling of contentment and peace which was such a part of my life when Dick was alive. I know it's out there and will reappear eventually. Isa was really good!
Saturday afternoon I went to mass as part of a Sweet Sixteen
(everybody mixes cultures here!)celebration for the daughter of a Latina friend, and on Saturday evening Jamie and I went to the reception. Lots of pretty girls and handsome young men, families, cute little kids, and a general fiesta state of mind.
It's 7:00 and time for me to go home. Many hugs to all, and
don't forget to vote. So far in the debates, Bush reminds me of a second rate attorney who knows he's second rate.

I couldn't help myself

October 12, 2004 by Adam in Adam's Games

I couldn't help myself. I ordered Myst: Revelations, which should be arriving in a few days. I hear the puzzles are mind bogglingly hard, but the atmosphere and music are stunning. I've been wanting a game that Sam can play on his own for awhile, perhaps with a few hints from his dad.

As it is, he'll either play FPS games or build houses in Sims 2.

The colds that gripped our household are slow...

October 12, 2004 by Adam in Family

The colds that gripped our household are slowly fading. Sam's cough still lingers a bit, but hopefully we'll be healthy soon enough. Jamie dropped off the kids this morning while she worked out. Emma pretty much ran the show, deciding where we were going around campus. I also showed off my new cubicle, which Sam decided was fairly cool.

Robbie and I had a nice aniversery near Mt

October 12, 2004 by Seraph in Cortez

Robbie and I had a nice aniversery near Mt. Hood with Raven and Cheikh. It was nice just to relax by the fire and play Scrabble.
School is back in full swing and I'm learning to live in the libarary again. Other than Fridays and weekends I don't feel like I'm home much.
I've decided that all I want for my birthday is a new administration. Please vote! I had just read an article about how the republicans were trying to make it difficult for new people, perticularly minorities, to registar. Sure enough shortly after Robbie and I sent in our forms so that we would be registared up here, Robbie received a notice about all sorts of additional information they wanted (two days before the registration deadline none-the-less)!
Sigh...unfortunately posting what I'd like to be my second birthday wish, if my first does not occur, would probably get me thrown in jail by the FBI, who no doubt monitors this site because of all of the radical, non-traditional, babies we're raising! Peace and love to all!

How many members of the Bush Administration ...

October 11, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

How many members of the Bush Administration are needed to replace a light bulb? The Answer is TEN:

1. One to deny that the light bulb needs to be changed.

2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed.

3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb.

4. One to tell the nations of the world that they are either: "For changing the light bulb or for darkness"

5. One to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for the new light bulb.

6. One to arrange for a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a stepladder under the banner "Light Bulb Change Accomplished".

7. One administration insider to resign and write a book documenting in detail how Bush was literally (in this case) "in the dark".

8. One to viciously smear #7.

9. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light bulb-changing policy all along.

10. And finally one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.

The kids and I managed to get out to Amazon p...

October 11, 2004 by Adam in Family

The kids and I managed to get out to Amazon park this morning, gearing up for the cold and having a pretty good time. Emma had a hard time taking turns with Sam riding his tricycle. After an hour or so, they started getting cranky and we headed home. Jamie and Angie went out on a walk and traded recipes, having a good time together.

The rest of the day was mostly spent in the basement playing. Sam watched Star Wars on DVD while Emma napped. We had Kirsten and Dave over for a couple hours. They did a great job watching the kids while I rested and Jamie made dinner. Dinner was an incredibly yummy tamale pie, time consuming to make but well worth it. Then it was the usual bath, bednight snack, making my lunch, and reading to Sam. Ah, what a weekend.

I think Emma's cold is finally getting better

October 11, 2004 by Adam in Emma

I think Emma's cold is finally getting better. She's only a little sniffly and slept really well last night. Every day that goes by I'm amazed at how much she's grown. Her ability to communicate is incredible at times, even though she only knows a hundred words or so. She's really good at adding in facial expressions, impromptu sign language, and simply grabbing our hand and putting it where she wants it to go. Fortunately she also has a great sense of humor and likes just being silly. Emma's also really sweet, hugging and kissing just about anything that moves.

We survived the toddler ages with the twins

October 11, 2004 by Adam in Adam's Games

It was a pretty good day yesterday, though we...

October 10, 2004 by Adam in Family

It was a pretty good day yesterday, though we didn't do anything exciting at all. The morning was a little overwhelming, as I entertained kids nonstop until noon or so. We did have a bit of fun at snack time with them making funny faces at the camera. Even Emma was pretty good at it.

After lunch, I slowly started getting into the swing of things. We played a made-up like Pictionary game that everyone could play. Emma was really good at recognizing pictures that Jamie would draw, even getting things like car, star, and ball without any problems. Sam got everything right except "electricity", though he came up with "electrocution" by himself. It's one of the fun games we can play as an entire family.

Jamie went off to a "Sweet 16 celebration" for the daughter of the woman who helps clean our house. She said it was really interesting, more like a wedding in the feel of things. I had the kids for the duration and managed to feed and distract them for the most part, though Emma cried for a half hour or so.

Hopefully today we can get the kids out of the house for awhile, though I'm not sure what we'll do exactly. It would be neat if I could get Sam on a hiking adventure, even with all the rain. We'll see how it goes.

The Sim twins are driving me nuts

October 09, 2004 by Adam in Adam's Games

The Sim twins are driving me nuts. I had hired multiple nannies to help out, but they were less than useless, not bathing the kids and wetting themselves (the nannies, not the kids). I dismissed them and took a lot of vacation time to spend some quality time with the children. It's doing better. I taught Emma to talk and Tess to walk (or the other way around - I can't keep them apart). Hopefully we'll get potty training for the both of them. They also grow up fast. I think it's something like three or four Sim days before they're a kid. Crazy.

Now it's time to spend some quality time this morning with my real family. I better right click on Emma and select "Teach Emma to Talk" or something. Oh, and check Sam's hunger levels while I'm at it.

Mocha Friday, posting from my new cubicle

October 08, 2004 by Adam in Family

Mocha Friday, posting from my new cubicle. I'm still getting used to the new setup, though my family pictures and plants help ease the transition. It was a beautiful bike ride into work, the crisp air of Fall and the sun rising over the valley. I'm looking forward to this weekend, even though I don't think we have anything particularly exciting planned.

The kids and I have entered into a weird ritual after work this week. They both really want to play on the computer (Emma with her Pooh and Sam with Far Cry or Sims 2). I find myself sandwiched between them, helping one or another. What's strange is that Sam has been ignoring the computer for months and Emma never really got into it until now. I suppose they really are my children.

Sadie's been e-mailing me questions about database development for her new job. It's nice to hear that she's getting herself a "real" job. Even more importantly, she seems to really like it.

Last night Jamie made some tasty pizza for dinner. When we all sat down, she started pleading to eat in the living room and watch the Surreal Life. If you haven't seen it, it's basically about all these washed-up celebrities from ten or years ago that live together. MC Hammer and the guy from Webster, for example. In any case, we all piled into our chairs watching the train-wreck-like qualities of Cory Feldman trying to find a date for a Playboy bunny (one of the other members of the cast). Bizarre.

I've moved into my new cubicle here at work

October 07, 2004 by Adam in Adam

I've moved into my new cubicle here at work. No longer do I get a window seat and I'm instead deep in cubicle territory. It's not all bad, though. I think I have a setup where all my plants can survive. My cubicle neighbor has agreed to put in a half-height panel so that I can see through his cubicle opening to the outside world. All my pictures of family and various Dilbert cartoons have been reapplied to the walls. My various computers are stashed away in whatever free space I could find. Now I'm just waiting for my phone to move over, which should be tomorrow sometime.

I think it'll work out.

I absolutely love the layers of performance a...

October 07, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

I absolutely love the layers of performance and reality in Adam's reporting of your Sims life. Keep up the bazzarro lives.

Ah, you know my theory that we have four seas...

October 06, 2004 by Sue in Wielesek

Ah, you know my theory that we have four seasons here, Rain, Spring, No Rain, and The Season Before It Starts to Rain, when we all scurry about madly trying to get done everything which can't be done when it's raining. The Polk Street house exterior has been repainted, a brick patio laid under the solar eve, and a new lawn put in. Everything is done at the office except some bulbs planted on the other side of Centennial. I'm trying to encourage general beautification on Centennial; it would be fun if everyone planted daffodils, like Junction City.

I just have to add how ironic I find it that ...

October 06, 2004 by Jamie in Adam's Games

I just have to add how ironic I find it that Adam takes so much time from his day in the real world to manipulate Pseudo people based on his actual family. Have my anxiety and control issues pulled him over the walls of mental health into my own emotional prison? Oh well, At least we are together!

The Sim Millers are doing well

October 06, 2004 by Adam in Adam's Games

The Sim Millers are doing well. Tess and Emma turned into toddlers overnight. How quickly these children grow older. I also figured out that the trick to surviving twins is to have a nanny over full time. There was an odd game bug sort of thing that involved babies and nannies protruding from Sim Adam. Amusing, though weird.

Now the two critters are wanting constant attention, otherwise they splash around in the toilet. Soon the Sim days ahead will involve potty training, teaching kids how to talk, and getting them walking. If only real children had point and click interfaces.

As an aside, Sam asked Jamie the other day "When you wanted to have a baby, did you play in bed with dad?" He was present when I right-clicked on Sim Jamie and chose "Try For Baby". It was pretty tame, mostly the two characters moved around under the covers. I remember the story my dad told about how his parents bought him mice to teach about the birds and the bees. Now we have computer games. Strangely I don't recall a large green diamond above my head with fireworks shooting out of it when Sam was conceived.

Emma's still sniffly and I've been battling h...

October 05, 2004 by Adam in Family

Emma's still sniffly and I've been battling headaches myself. I did the mocha and Advil cure this morning, which seemed fairly effective.

I'm also getting ready for a cubicle move here at work. I managed to get a view of the window, though it's about twenty feet away and I'll be looking through a couple people's cubicles. Hopefully my plants will survive the transition.

I got this email from Isa (dutifully written ...

October 05, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

I got this email from Isa (dutifully written by Hunni) months ago, but just came across it again.
I thought you would all like it.

Dear Aunt Sadie:
"Tell her I love her," "Snake and Wolf."
Isa wants me to tell you about the time our house burned because of a fire.
"Flowers."
Isa wants me to tell you that she has been playing, and in Portland she likes to play with her dress up clothes and play in the park fountian. She has also been reading a lot of books.
She wants to make sure your contacts are ok and that you've been fixing your hair.
Love Isabell

In response to Raven's thoughts about leaving...

October 04, 2004 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

In response to Raven's thoughts about leaving the states to escape American politics, I think depriving the US of its best citizens would be terrible for the democratic struggle. Additionally, nobody can escape American politics. Mwa ha ha.

Work is intense. It's like, sooo intense.

We had fun seeing everyone this weekend, the ...

October 04, 2004 by Seraph in Cortez

We had fun seeing everyone this weekend, the family exhibit, jenny curling Isa's hair, and Jamies mushrooms and garlic were well worth the trip! Isa is excited about going back next weekend (and so are Robbie and I). We are planning on going to Kah-Nee-Ta with Raven and Cheikh, though the details are still coming together.
I just finished my first class of the new term - color theory, and will momentarily be heading off to the students "luch with the president" (of the school that is). We love and miss everyone!

I think Emma's getting better, though it's ha...

October 04, 2004 by Adam in Family

I think Emma's getting better, though it's hard to tell. Sleep time is pretty rough, and she's still up tonight even as it approaches ten o'clock. Hopefully they'll manage to get a full night's sleep tonight.

The day itself was fairly uneventful. I played with kids nonstop it seems. Sam spent a lot of time with the neighbor boys while Emma and I chatted with the grownups. My dad came by and I unfortunately didn't have as much time to spend with him as I would have liked.

We did accomplish a number of small house projects, not to mention throwing a dinner party for everyone last night. It just sometimes feels like I need a weekend to relax from my weekend.

Sim Adam and Sim Jamie finally decided to tak...

October 04, 2004 by Adam in Adam's Games

Sim Adam and Sim Jamie finally decided to take the plunge and give parenthood a try. Since Jamie has reached the Mad Scientist peak of her career, she got lucky and managed to bring the dead to life (flowers anyway). It brought in a huge monetary bonus which clinched having children. We had moved into a new big house in preparation, so with real-Sam's prompting, we had kids.

It didn't start out very well. Sim Jamie threw up a lot. After a few days, though, she was happily painting portraits and enjoying the sunshine with her big belly. She also ended up eating and sleeping more than usual until we heard the exciting news . . . she was having twin girls. Soon enough the two babies magically appeared out of thin air and reality set in.

The first thing was to call a nanny, as two babies are ten times as much trouble as one. Most of the time was spent sticking the babies on the floor whenever anything needed to be done. So far, I've named one Emma and the other Tess. Hopefully the Sim Miller household will survive.

WHAT DOES FAMILY LOOK LIKE PHOTO EXHIBIT: Tha...

October 04, 2004 by Yayoe in Yayoe

WHAT DOES FAMILY LOOK LIKE PHOTO EXHIBIT: Thanks for coming to the exhibit. It was a huge success with tons of favorable heart warming comments. Brian Lanker, Pulitizer Prize winner, and father of Julie coburn, came to the exhibit today and said he liked it! Hurrah. The exhibit will go to Celeste Campbell Senior Center next week.

Meadville, PA...here we come! We're off to see Dorothy from October 7-12th! The fall leaves should be beautiful. We'll be back in touch when we return!

It was an exciting day yesterday, and an exci...

October 03, 2004 by Adam in Family

It was an exciting day yesterday, and an exciting night as well. It started normally enough, a delicious breakfast served by my lovely wife. There was lots of playing with kids and an outing to get food for dinner. A bit after noon, Josh arrived to hang out with us while Dave went to the football game. He and Sam had a great time playing together. They started by building a huge pit in the sandbox, then filling it with water until the walls collapsed. This was repeated several times. Afterwards, Sam got a shower and they went into the basement to play a wacky game called Clone Bandits. After that, they started inventing their own games, most of which apparently involved throwing stuffed animals at each other.

Around five, Seraph, Robbie, Isabell, and my mom came over for dinner. It was really nice to see them all. I had forgotten how much I missed talking to Seraph and was excited to hear about how well school was going for her. Isabell charmed Emma, though it took some doing as she's been in a pretty cranky mood. After a yummy dinner and ice cream, everyone faded away and we cleaned up and got the kids to bed as best we could.

Emma had a tough night. She was up for a long time with Jamie, then I took her for a couple hours in the middle of the night. She let me know that she wanted to play Sims 2 by saying "Kirsten", who is one of the Sims in the game. After that, it was a lot of Pooh games, looking at the moon, then finally to sleep. A few hours later she threw up and I was on assistant clean up duty with Jamie. It's now sneaking up on 8 am and everyone's still asleep.

Hopefully today will be calmer. I don't think we have anything planned other than taking it easy.

Emma's got a cold

October 02, 2004 by Adam in Emma

Emma's got a cold. She's been goopy and sniffly since yesterday, trying hard not to feel miserable. Mostly we follow her around with a box of tissue and remark on the pitiful faces she makes.

Emma also recently discovered the joy of computer games, and her Pooh one in particular. She'll happily watch anything Pooh-related for long stretches of time. Unfortunately she can't quite control the mouse, so I'm stuck clicking on things. I'm getting really sick of the repetition, though I suppose it's vaguely educational. She can almost say "opposites", one of the parts of her Pooh game.

Sam had Jamie in hysterics the other day while they were all driving to school. Sam would tell Emma to do something really crazy like "pretend your feet are on fire and put it out." Strangely enough, she would. We've already started spelling things around her as our secret grown-up code. Otherwise we could never talk about baths and ice cream without Emma getting excited.

It was fun having Robbie,Seraph and Isabell a...

October 01, 2004 by Hanni in Hanni

It was fun having Robbie,Seraph and Isabell at my house last weekend. Saturday morning Seraph and I painted the back of my house and Seraph also washed the front posts that were only dirty and didn't need any paint. Isabell decided she wanted to help, so we gave her a small roller to paint. She did beautifully until she started to paint the white trim with the dark house color.That's when Robbie thought it best to take her to the library for the childrens hour.After we did our outdoor chores Seraph got on the computer and I folded laundry, when I heard Seraph screaming.Well she found her grades, 3.9, which she can really be proud of.Congratulation Seraph!!We are all proud of you!

Well, it looks like Mount St

October 01, 2004 by Adam in Family

Well, it looks like Mount St. Helens just erupted. It looks like it's not going to be quite as bad as the one from the 80's. Fortunately Seraph and Robbie will be down in Eugene for the weekend, so hopefully they'll miss most of the excitement.

I don't remember seeing any ash in Eugene after the first eruption, but Jamie was further north at the time. There was quite a bit of ash all over everything.

Hopefully Jamie's parents aren't stuck cleaning their cars and houses over the next week or so. Could get messy.

Now Sadie, if only you could get those prof

October 01, 2004 by Seraph in Cortez

Now Sadie, if only you could get those prof.'s to wear Uncle Sam hats and beards! It sounds as though you have that great nack of cordinating all things important that was passed down from Yayoe!
Robbie has been chugging away with his kids. He has different music that he listens to depending on what group he has that day. He needs upbeat pop music for his mellow tue/thur kids, and lots of Enya for the more active Mon/Wed/Fri group. It think he really enjoys that commute time to himself.
I've started working at the student supply store. I'm scheduled to work about 10 hours a week. So far they say I'm a quick study, but I really think they are hoping to get in some responsible people before several of their seniors graduate this year. It's all good though - and we're all happy with our min. wage raise this new years!
We had Raven and Cheikh over for dinner and to watch the debates last night. We're going to try and get together for all of them, each of brings in very different views of the mid - to radical - left. I have tried to expand my views by watching the republican commentators afterwards, and trying to be open minded.
What is rather fringhtening to me is the number of my contemporaries who are saying they may move out of the USA based on the out come of the elections. I mentioned to Raven that it felt like we would be running away from the problems instead of staying and fighting for change. But, she made a strong point in that it's hard to fight against your own citizans - who don't want to change.
Anyway, enough rants from me....

I somehow managed to get close to nine blissf...

October 01, 2004 by Adam in Family

I somehow managed to get close to nine blissful hours of sleep last night. Jamie kicked me out of bed, probably due to snoring, so I spent my morning hours in the quiet guest bed. After the last few days, getting so much sleep is quite nice. I could almost skip my Friday mocha . . . not!

My bike is in better shape, with the back brakes working again. It felt nice to get that taken care of. I played with the kids quite a bit after work, with lots of sandbox time for Emma and pretending to be a stormtrooper for Sam. I'm very much looking forward to the weekend ahead of us.