January 04, 2006
(Explanation for readers unfamiliar with Texas football. Aggies are alumni of UT's big in-state rival, Texas A&M University. Their slogan is "Gig 'em, Aggies" and many of their shirts usually depict the Texas Longhorn with broken horns. This is a nice show of in-state solidarity by a respected rival).
Update: What a fantastic game. Final score -- Texas: 41, USC: 38.
Hook 'em Horns!!!
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September 18, 2005
The work week can't start soon enough.
I can't even remember what we did yesterday we've been so busy. And that was with one kid out of town with the Boy Scouts.
Today started at 8:00AM with getting the other two kiddoes ready for church. Sunday school at 9:45 and church at 11:00. Second son received his third grade bible from the church. Made it to the neighborhood pool at noon to learn how to clean the pool and operate the pumps. Straight from there to a two-hour soccer practice in the 100 degree heat. Home to mow the lawn, change the air conditioning filter in the attic, and adjust the sprinkler heads. Dinner, then bed for the kids. And now, at 9:38, my first break of the day. But I have to take the dog for a quick walk before the rerun of Friday's Battlestar Galactica comes on at 10:00.
I am beat.
Update: Oops. BSG isn't on until tomorrow. Tonight was South Park.
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August 01, 2005
I like the sound of that: The Lost Weekend. It has a kind of mystique to it.
My weekend included the following:
Saturday - Cub Scout bike ride, three hours of yard work, swimming and dinner with family friends. Kids to bed late.
Sunday - early music rehearsal with church band, performance in church service, baking a cake for oldest son's birthday, shopping, trip to see the Fantastic 4 (much better than the bad reviews it got, btw), sleepover birthday party for oldest son.
And it spilled over into today: handyman appeared at 8:00 this morning to put in some floor tiles, I worked a full day, and had to get eldest son to a church youth activity this evening at the same time my daughter was starting her birthday party at the neighborhood pool. It is now almost 11:00PM CDT and I am finally unwinding.
This is just a sample of our summer to date.
Based on the pace we've been keeping up around here, together with the prep and fallout of the house move, I think we'll look back at this and call it The Lost Summer.
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July 27, 2005
Today was the 14th anniversary of my marriage to the most wonderful, beautiful, intelligent woman that I could ever hope to link up with in this world.
Here's looking forward to the next 14 years, and more.
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July 12, 2005
I wonder if Pixy will put up a shot of his new digs?
Update: The picture looks all washed out since I couldn't get the lighting right. I'm no Photoshop expert, so I just jacked up the brightness and added some blue to restore the sky color. The perfect lighting for a house picture will not exist, unfortunately, for another 7 months or so. I figure that at around 3:00 in the afternoon late in the month of February will be just about right. But I couldn't wait ;-)
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July 07, 2005
I hope to get some pics of the new Lanius Lair up soon.
Forecast: continued intermittent blogging.
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June 30, 2005
Don't expect much content around here until the end of next week or so. Assuming Comcast gets us hooked up on time, there should only be a two-day Internet blackout (on the 4th and 5th).
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June 26, 2005
(Via Utterly Boring).
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June 13, 2005
Remember the potential money pit? During the fateful inspection, My Lovely WifeTM ran into a realtor and a couple looking at the house being inspected. When she mentioned our contract, the couple said they (a) were aware the house was under contract, (b) lived just down the street, (c) were about to put their house on the market, and (d) wanted to check out the other houses currently for sale in the neighborhood to help them decide on a price.
My Lovely Wife, being the friendly and talkative soul that she is, got the couple's phone number, "just in case something turns up in the inspection."
Long story short: we sold our house only a few days after we took the sign down to the same buyers who had made an offer on it. And we bought the house from the couple my wife met during the inspection of the first one a few weeks before they put it on the market.
The newer house has everything we were looking for, and reminds us a great deal of our perfect-in-every-way-but-size current house. It has clearly been well-maintained and updated (in line with our tastes, even!) We'll be moving in during the first week of July, so if the postings around here are somewhat sparse, you'll understand why.
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Good job with the new house - and enjoy it! June 07, 2005
Now if you don't believe me and my almost fourteen years of wedded bliss, just ask the holders of the world record for the longest marriage.
Via Pack News.
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June 03, 2005
Stone dead.
Definitely deceased.
Bleedin' demised.
Passed on.
No more.
Ceased to be.
Expired and gone to meet the maker.
Stiff.
Bereft of life.
Resting in peace.
Pushing up the daisies.
Their metabolic processes are now history.
Off the twig, kicked the bucket, shuffled off the mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile. IT IS AN EX-DEAL!!
We instructed our agent tonight to send a notice of termination of the purchase contract to the sellers of the "dream house" upon which we recently made an offer (accepted by the sellers). We're still in the initial option period, so we're only out the small option fee and the cost of the home inspection that took place yesterday. The inspection (done by a neutral inspector we hired, i.e., not recommended by either of our brokers) revealed several flaws, each of which would be reasonable to encounter in a 25-year-old house, but all of which together indicate a long-time lack of maintenance.
We're talking basic home maintenance here: fixing leaks, monitoring drainage, replacing rotten wood, addressing minor plumbing issues, making sure improvements are done without compromising the house's structural integrity. That, and the fact that in a termite-infested neighborhood they never had a standard annual termite inspection and as a result have six active infestations in the house. They should have done the termite inspections and adjusted or replaced gutters to prevent water damage and drainage problems as responsible home owners with any sense of pride in their home.
But they apparently didn't have much pride of ownership in their house until it came time to sell. And they want a premium price for an un-updated house with some serious underlying flaws. We could have put all those flaws aside if we had gotten the smallest amount of relief on the price and agreement to perform a detailed repair punchlist.
No deal, though, since we had unreasonable sellers, represented by an a$$hole of an agent, who refused to replace the rusting gutters and rotten wood, or to do a complete termite treatment on the house (with six active termite infestations). They wanted to spot-treat the termites and "repair" the rusted gutters. We've seen those kind of "repairs" done on houses that were being sold before -- essentially bandaids. Or clown makeup.
And we know what we're talking about, as we have performed the basic repairs and improvements necessary to keep our house sound during the 10 years we have been here. Not only that, but we have updated it, so that it looks modern, not dated.
We had already stretched ourselves on the offer price -- the new house was listed at well over the highest selling price per square foot for homes in the neighborhood over the last year. We had signed a contract at a price per square foot just about 20 cents per square foot less than the highest recent sale based on the potential we saw in the house (it's on a corner lot along one of the most desirable streets in the subdivision and has a great layout and perfect configuration of bedrooms, bathrooms, living areas, and storage. And a nice pool, to boot).
Oh, and did I mention that our offer on the house is the only one the sellers have received over the last seven months?
After their agent came back offering a band-aid repair and no monetary relief, he really iced the deal when he told our agent, "tell the Laniuses we are doing the honorable and generous thing." What's honorable about a cosmetic repair that doesn't address the underlying years of neglect??!
Idiot. F**k head. A competent agent doesn't inject emotion like that into a deal. Or only does it under explicit instructions from the principal. So we have essentially told them to go f**k themselves with their "honorable generosity" and are taking our house off the market. At least until another house with the right amount of space opens up in our neighborhood again.
Oh, and the kicker? We received an almost full-value offer on our house in the middle of the house inspection and had to decline it.
Better to ride this roller coaster and get out now than to suffer in a Money Pit.
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May 30, 2005
I'm sure a lot of people are eating similarly, enjoying some time outdoors in the late Spring weather, and spending time with family.
While we enjoy the freedom to do these things, let's remember the reason for this holiday.
Happy Memorial Day.
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May 22, 2005
I took Friday off last week, to celebrate the kids' last day of school and to get some more work done on the house. We have now listed it, and our realtor will (we hope!) start showing people through on Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed, and make whatever imprecations
Boring domestic stuff below the fold.
more...
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May 18, 2005
The reason?
We are listing our house for sale tomorrow. We have our eyes on another house in the neighborhood with more space for the family and are currently negotiating the purchase contract. The larger house has been on the market for about 6 months, and we have been making some final updates to our house during the same period of time and praying that the other one will come down in price. (It has finally come down to the range of price-per-square-foot that is appropriate for our area).
The work around here has really peaked, with me replacing our deck and staining it this past weekend, landscaping during lunch hours, re-sheetrocking the hole in our garage wall where the previous owners had driven their car, and generally making the house sale-ready. (We need to sell to afford the larger house).
So I'm not making any promises about posting regularly anytime soon.
I do promise to update if anything exciting happens regarding the buying/selling.
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April 11, 2005
In order to make the most out of the 10-hour round-trip drive, we left Plano early and visited the USS Texas and San Jacinto Monument.
(More in the extended entry).
more...
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April 10, 2005
This weekend, I went to Houston with my eldest son, C. (age 10), to visit the Battleship Texas, San Jacinto Monument, and SpaceCenter Houston. We did a camp-in at the SpaceCenter for Boy Scouts. I'll have a photoblog or two up early in the week.
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April 04, 2005
Subject: Star Wars
D. [8 y.o. son] spent 30 minutes in his room with E. [5 y.o. daughter], teaching her about Star Wars with his ships and your action figures. Now they are watching Return of the Jedi, D.'s choice since E. would like the Teddy Bears.
S.
I know I've done my job well to pass the SF torch to another generation.
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February 14, 2005
Salad -- baby spinach, romaine lettuce, tomato, red onion, and red bell pepper tossed with light Italian vinaigrette dressing.
Entree -- 2 sirloin steaks, grilled (with salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary) garnished with a grilled, peeled, and heartily-sliced red bell pepper and accompanying garlic/rosemary mashed potatoes.
Dessert -- fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries served in frozen dessert bowls with a dash of cream.
Wine -- "Twenty Bench" Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley.
There was a lot of red in the meal's presentation, appropriate for the day. We got the kids in bed early enough to enjoy the meal and each other's company in peace. Yay!
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January 19, 2005
Meantime, we have the Cub Scout pinewood derby this weekend, so we are simultaneously engineering what we hope to be winning cars. The boys did all their own cutting, and a fair amount of painting (I've had to pitch in on some coats of paint during my lunch hour to make sure they are adequately done in time for Friday's check-in).
Unfortunately, all of this has been very boy-centric and our girl has been watching a lot of Barbie videos (ugh - better than Bratz, at least) and spending time occupying herself in her room. In fact, today my wife found her dancing - gyrating really - on her bed without a shirt on. When told to put on her shirt, she answered, "that's OK, I'm a boy!"
Ai yai yai. We all NEED the weekend to get here soon so we can get this craziness behind us.
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January 13, 2005
Diapers are nothin'. In fact, we were doing backflips when our youngest was finally out of diapers/pull-ups. Instead, just wait to experience going through the Hefty bag full of stuffed animals collected by all your kids over the years, deciding which ones go to Goodwill, and which ones get to stay in the attic for future grandkids. You'll watch that scene in Toy Story 2 where Jessie gets dropped off by her girl with a whole new perspective.
Or wait until your child starts getting uncomfortable being seen with you in public (my oldest followed me at a distance of 10 feet through Fry's Electronics a couple of months ago). Sure, it's a necessary part of maturing, starting to establish one's independence, but it's tough.
My middle child, an 8-year-old boy (all boy!) reached up to hold my hand tonight in the parking lot as we walked into the grocery store. He still does that every now and then. And every time he does it, I wonder is this the last time??
Two weeks ago my little girl asked me to take her training wheels off so she can learn to ride a "2-wheeler," as our kids put it. She'll be the third child I've taught (and she's learning much faster than the two boys ahead of her did). As I was running backwards down the sidewalk with my hands positioned under her handlebars helping steady her when she needed it, I realized this is the last time I'll be teaching one of my children to do this.
It hit me really hard -- She's my baby, but she's not talking like one any more. She's growing up into a graceful, beautiful, smart, charming girl. Watching her play soccer for the first time this year made me realize just how big she's gotten. When did that happen??! When did her brothers get so tall? If the oldest is approaching the teen years, that means middle age is close behind for me, and after that ... ? -- Not ready to go there yet.
I can understand why only children get so easily spoiled, as every moment becomes a potential poignant moment. But when you have more than one, you kind of get spoiled yourself knowing there'll be another chance, another way to relive the moment. But after you've lived the moment with the last one, what next?
Driving lessons, I suppose, coming up in five years for the oldest child (which is about how long ago he was learning to ride the bike without training wheels).
It always seems lowbrow to quote rock lyrics to make a point, but there was a Rush song I didn't like very much when it came out, but now I completely identify with it. Focus especially on the last two verses:
Time Stand Still
I turn my back to the wind
To catch my breath,
Before I start off again
Driven on,
Without a moment to spend
To pass an evening
With a drink and a friendI let my skin get too thin
IÂ’d like to pause,
No matter what I pretend
Like some pilgrim --
Who learns to transcend --
Learns to live
As if each step was the endTime stand still --
I'm not looking back
But I want to look around me now
See more of the people
And the places that surround me nowFreeze this moment
A little bit longer
Make each sensation
A little bit stronger
Experience slips away...I turn my face to the sun
Close my eyes,
Let my defences down --
All those wounds
That I can't get unwoundI let my past go too fast
No time to pause --
If I could slow it all down
Like some captain,
Whose ship runs aground --
I can wait until the tide
Comes aroundMake each impression
A little bit stronger
Freeze this motion
A little bit longer
The innocence slips away...Summer's going fast --
Nights growing colder
Children growing up --
Old friends growing older
Experience slips away...
I think I'll excuse myself to go get a beer and read a book now, if you don't mind...
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