Biking Statistics 2010

Dismal.
Last year big miles. 2875
This year not so much.
620 by mid-July and nothing after that.

The culprit? Work.

And that's enough of that.
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Don't look at me, try the usual suspect

Tonight I walked into the living room to find it in its usual disarray. Legos, chairs, blankets and general kiddie crap strewn all around, and no, we have not caught up from the Christmas onslaught. Unfortunately one of the items on the floor was a difficult 100 piece puzzle that DaGirl and I had put together last night.

DaGirl was sitting at the coffee table putting another puzzle together and DaBoy was about six feet behind her. When I look at DaGirl and asked her if she had spread the puzzle across the floor she looked at be with big brown eyes and frowned.

Before I knew what was happening her thumb popped up and was discreetly pointing to her brother behind her. When my gaze focused on him he was kneeling amongst a pile of Legos, looking at me with a goofy smile, and waving like a loon.

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"Pretty Girl"

Tonight was a lazy night. We didn't want to mess up the kitchen any more than necessary so we ate out at a fancy burger chain. We were seated near the hostess station that was being staffed by three people, so plenty was going on for DaKids to watch.

At one point while we were eating DaBoy's eyes were wandering and one of the hostesses noticed him and said "Hi" to him as she walked passed.

His face went blank and he just stared at her back.

After a few seconds of staring I said to DaMom "I think we've lost him to the pretty girl." Another 5 or 10 seconds pass while he's still staring at her and he quietly announces "Pretty Girl." DaMom and I burst out laughing and his trance is finally broken.

Later when DaMom and DaGirl are in the restroom, DaBoy is peering at her backside again and says "Pretty girl over there."
DaGoof: Are you going to say goodbye when we leave?
DaBoy: Yep (with a bobble head nod)
DaGoof:: What are you going to say?
DaBoy: *shrugs*
DaGoof: Say "Goodbye Pretty Girl"
DaBoy: Goodbye Pretty Girl

I continued coaching him right up until DM and DG's return and we got up to leave. I carried him over to the station and said " go on say it." Unfortunately she was busy looking over the seating chart with someone.
DaBoy: very quietly "gbye retty grl"
DaGoof: Say it again louder.
DaBoy: Goodbye Pretty Girl.

She didn't notice him with all the noise in the restaurant and I didn't want to press my luck with him flipping out so I just turned and headed for the door, grabbing a balloon on the way by. The Pretty Girl may not have noticed but one of the other hosts did as he was opening the door for us and he asked "What did he say to her?"

I told him and he went back inside while we stopped at the bench outside to tie the balloons to DaKids wrists.

Not a few moments after the balloons are tied off and we were heading for the bookstore does Pretty Girl come outside and say "goodbye little guy."

DaBoy stared right back and said again "Goodbye Pretty Girl." He was so dumbstruck we had to drag him away from the storefront while he had an ear-to-grin repeating "Goodbye Pretty Girl."

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Wheel Drought

Well doesn't this bite?

Nearly 6 weeks and no riding (sans the mini trips with the kids in the trailer).

Is this project over yet?

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This Museum

Tonight at bedtime while DaGirl was lying in bed she made the following proclamation:

DaGirl: This place is like a museum.
DaGoof:: What?

DaGirl: Museum.
DaGoof: Museum? What's like a museum?
DaGirl: This place is like a toy museum.
DaGoof: A toy museum?
DaGirl: Yeah!
DaGoof: You have entirely too many toys, eh?
DaGirl: uh-huh

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So there....

Today while outside in the yard DaGirl and DaBoy were playing with the water table and being their usual selves while DaMom was sitting in a chair in a shady spot on the other side of the yard reading a book.

DaGirl ventured over to the Dogwood trees, placed a chair next to one, and proceeded to try and climb the tree. When she looked up to see if she was going to get into trouble she saw DaMom looking at her and said "You're not supposed to be watching, you're supposed to be watching your book!"

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In the Genes and not in the Manual

Once upon a time when I was a wee lad I did something I shouldn't have and to this day I am reminded of it by my mother. It happened before my memory started kicking in so I must have been 4 or younger. I don't remember why I did it but it must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Much like the lamp incident, when my kids break stuff my mother tells this tale:

I stuck gum in the tape deck of the stereo. It took my father quite a while to clean it out but to his credit he got it to work again.

How does an incident that happened 30 odd years ago relate to something in the present day?

DaBoy stuck some change into the CD player of the car, moments before we left on a two hour drive to Aunty K's. I wasn't sure exactly what (or how much) he put into the slot at first but I did manage to get a dime out of the dust guard. The radio still worked until I tried to place a cd into the player. It made for a long ride out and back. When we got there I went to lock the car with the key fob and.... nothing... huh?

I did what any good engineer would do, I RTFM'd and pulled the radio our to retrieve the remaining change (2 quarters). So the manual says the radio/accessory fuse is #8 under the steering column. The only problem is that fuse wasn't blown and the power door locks wouldn't work with the car off. If the car was running the power door locks would work.

WTF?

Tonight I did some more poking around and checked all of fuses under the dash. None were blown. ???
I also noticed the dome light would not work when the doors were opened but did work when the switch was flipped???

To recap: The radio doesn't work at all, the power door locks work if the car is on but not off, and the dome light only works if the switch if set to ON, not when the doors open.

I then checked the logical fuses under the hood and.....nothing. So I checked the remaining fuses under the hood and found #9 was blown. A 10 amp fuse labeled "Backup" ??? Replace that one and all is well.

The moral of this story? My son is definitely my son and wiring in the Honda is not as it labeled.

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