Family Tool...Again....
For those of you looking for a nice ‘web presence’ that doesn’t require much (if any) technical knowledge, I mentioned FamSpam a while ago. I ran across another one called Sampa today. Sampa seems to have the same underlying goal of ‘connecting’ families but not requiring grandparents and aunts to sign up for things like MySpace or FaceBook…or whatever….
Anyway, Sampa’s free.
Just thought I’d pass it on…
Why I Drive the Festiva...
The short answer is: “It proves that I can still kick Jet Li’s ass”. (Don’t know who Jet Li is? Click here)
The long answer is:
I have a theory that even the strangers I run across ever single day of the week are rooting for me to succeed. They want things to go well for me, I think. Either that, or just the opposite. Now that I think about it, being indifferent to me may also be an option (hmmmmm…). However, I’ll continue with my theory and let you be the judge…
A little background for you: I had to go into the city yesterday for an appointment. I always take the train into Chicago because fighting the traffic is just not worth it. I park at the train station and this is the scene:
(Yes, the left-most car that is cut off in the picture is another Lexus)
So, I’m rockin’ out the Festiva…again. The muffler is essentially shot on that baby these days, so that grabs a person’s attention when they don’t notice it as I drive by on its looks alone. Lately, I’ve been affectionately referring to the “Festiva” as “the garage”. We don’t have a “traditional” garage to put things in, so when we have something that we can’t throw away, but don’t want in our condo, we put it in “the garage”. So far there’s a 27" TV that needs to go to the city dump and a stroller in there.
Oh yea…and neither windshield wiper has worked since early-December. To be more clear, the driver-side one quit working in November. The passenger-side one fell off in December. No…I’m not kidding. (Sidenote: I have another theory having to do with “tough love” and the Festiva which relates to why I refuse to fix anything that goes wrong with it until it dies, but that’s a story for another day)
Let’s face it…this car is a huge pile. I know this. You know this. Everyone knows this. The thing that’s awesome about the Festiva is that the it is such a huge pile, that it seems to actually brighten up the day of almost everyone who comes into contact with it. I believe everyone thinks it’s hilarious that someone would actually drive this thing. They see it and just smile thinking of the poor bastard that needs to be in there. You look at them, smile, they smile back, and…for a moment you are One…connecting with complete strangers…thinking the same thought (“Why the hell would anyone drive that car?”, etc). The world is at peace, right there at the stoplight on the Lake Cook/Old Skokie intersection…
There is no contest between me and the person in the next car, I obviously have the inferior of the two. With that, I become the ultimate underdog. Every American loves the underdog. You’re not American if you don’t secretly root for the underdog. Rocky, Rambo, Mel Gibson when he fought Jet Li in Lethal Weapon 4…all great examples of what I’m talking about. I become Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon 4 every time I wake up my neighbors by starting the Festiva. By successfully making it to & from work in the Festiva each day, I prove that I can still kick Jet Li’s ass, and that makes everyone a little happier inside. How awesome is that?
So, that’s why.
Well…that…and because it’s incredibly inexpensive.
Finally, it feels like Spring!
Here’s a video I took today at the park of Vivianne and her friend, Isabel. Isabel is 9 months old and Vivianne will be 12 months old on Monday :-) It was so nice outside, everyone was out and about enjoying the weather.
(sorry about the poor quality of this video…don’t know what happened)
Having fun at the park, again!
We took Vivianne to the park again this morning. It was so nice out, not quite as nice as yesterday, but anything above 40 degrees feels like summer to us!
Vivianne's Daycare Birthday Celebration
Here’s a picture of Vivianne at daycare with her little friends having cupcakes! Can you pick out which one she is? She looks an awful lot like her partner in crime, Jacob…
Starting A Tradition
We thought it would be neat to start a tradition for Vivianne’s birthday. So we bought a table cloth, which we will use for her birthdays, and some fabric paint. The plan was to let her put her hand in the paint so she could stamp her handprint on the table cloth (she would repeat this each year on her big day). After three attempts, we finally got something that resembled a handprint! Thomas says, no big deal, it’s already got character:-)
12 Month Appointment
Vivianne had her 12 month doctor’s appointment on Wednesday.
She weighs 20 pounds 12 ounces (just below the 50th percentile)
She is 27.5 inches tall (5-10th percentile)
She has a large head (75-90th percentile)
She’s a happy healthy one-year old!
Vivianne's 1st Birthday Party
We celebrated Vivianne’s birthday party today. We think she had a good time:-) Pretty sure she enjoyed her cake…
If your interested, I posted a few pictures on the flickr photo page.
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