Banal Minutiae

This is a place for Grant, Gretchen, Claire and Charles to keep track of what's going on in our lives and keep our friends and family updated as well.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Happy Birthday Charlie-boy!


Charlie had his first birthday party on Saturday! We had to wake him up from a great nap in order to hose him down for the big shindig. Little guy was pretty crusty from breakfast, so I had to plunk him in the tub before everybody showed up. He was a little groggy at first, but soon warmed up after people arrived. We had a few family members and friends watch Young Master Charles enjoy his first cupcake ever.

Everyone else dined on barbecued sausage and smoked salmon (thanks Grandpa Steve!). It seems like just yesterday that Gretchen went into labor and we rushed to the hospital, only to wait 18 hours for the birth. You too can re-live the magic!

Happy Birthday little dude!

Labels:

Friday, February 23, 2007

Pho Shizzle!

Labels:

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Tech Support in the Middle Ages

Labels:

Monday, February 12, 2007

The Lowdown on the Birthday Girl


Item! Claire turned 5 this weekend! She celebrated with a VERY exclusive party, that included all her friends, at Portland's new hot-spot, C2 (AKA the Children's Museum). She dined on pastries from the kitchen of the newest culinary sensation...Mommy. After the FĂȘte, guests were whisked away by their handlers in strollers and SUV's with tinted windows!

On Sunday morning, the birthday girl was spotted at Wong's King Seafood, enjoying a brunch of Dim-Sum with her brother Charlie! Rumors are swirling that the young cutie enjoyed a feast of shrimp cakes and mango pudding!

Not to be outdone, the five-percent-of-a-century-old topped off the weekend by scarfing down fresh Hood Canal oysters delivered by none-other than Grandpa and Grandma! We'll keep you up to date with the latest breaking news on the young starlet!

Labels: , ,

Charlie Barlie

So Charlie is getting ready for his first birthday. The little dude is turning into quite a personality. He is definitely a different creature than Claire ever was. Where Claire was a good sleeper, Charlie has..um...been a little more challenging. Whereas Claire was pretty quiet, Charlie screams for attention...or food...or a hug...or to get him out of bed.

One thing about Charlie that's really cool is his little verbalizations. He's got a little evil laugh when he has gotten into something good. Kind of like Jon Stewart's version of George Bush's sh*t-eating chuckle. He also has a high-low peep that he does.

Pretty soon he's going to be walking - and that's when the fun is really going to start.

Labels: ,

Weight Update

222.5 baby!

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Football on Muscle Relaxants

Labels:

Thirty Things You Didn't Know About Alton Brown



#1. Alton Brown grinds his own peppercorns. With his teeth.

#2. Alton Brown's chili cheese fries are healthier than raw carrots. Even after he adds the bacon and lard.

#3. Alton Brown brushes his teeth with wasabi and gargles with pickle brine. But still his breath smells like lemon merengue.

#4. Alton Brown can boil a three-minute egg in thirty-seven seconds.

#5. When Alton Brown was born, he collected the hospital slop they'd left for his mother and made it into an zesty, appetizing goulash. The dish fed the entire maternity ward for a week.

#6. In the first, as-yet-unaired episode of Iron Chef America, Alton Brown single-handedly defeated an all-star team of Bobby Flay, Cat Cora, and Hiroyuki Sakai. The secret ingredient was 'whimsy'.

#7. Alton Brown doesn't reduce sauces. He demoralizes sauces.

#8. Alton Brown prepares his fugu blindfolded, with one chopstick and a plastic spork. Alton Brown ain't afraid of no chump neurotoxin.

#9. Alton Brown's blender has four speeds: 'stir', 'mix', 'frappe', and 'plasmify'.

#10. Alton Brown can split a pineapple in half using only his pinkies. For coconuts, though, he has to use his thumbs.

#11. Alton Brown knows where capers come from. And he grows his own, on a Chia pet in the pantry.

#12. On Rachel Ray's show, she shows people where to eat for less than forty dollars a day. When Alton Brown eats, people pay him.

#13. Alton Brown slices ham so thin, it can only be seen using an electron microscope.

#14. Some knives can slice through a tin can and still cut a tomato. Alton Brown's knives can slice through a Pontiac, and still cut a tin can.

#15. Grown men have been known to weep for joy in the mere presence of Alton Brown's vinagrette. His hollandaise sauce can kill a man from sheer ecstacy at forty paces.

#16. Alton Brown can eat just one Lay's potato chip. If he ever bothered to eat food he didn't make himself, that is.

#17. Alton Brown once got carried away slicing carrots, and julienned his cutting board. Undaunted, he sauteed the splinters in olive oil and spices -- and they were delicious.

#18. Every Burger King Alton Brown has walked into has immediately closed forever -- try as they might, they simply can't 'do it his way'.

#19. Alton Brown can pair a wine with any food -- including hot dogs, ice cream, raw eggs, Alpo, sawdust, and soylent green. It's people!

#20. Alton Brown's cakes don't rise. They ascend.

#21. Some meats are so tender, they seem to melt in your mouth. Alton Brown's meats are so tender, he's had entire turkeys vanish into thin air.

#22. Alton Brown's no saint. But if his chicken Kiev cures one more kid's leprosy, the church will reconsider the evidence.

#23. Alton Brown doesn't whip potatoes. Alton Brown's potatoes whip themselves, if they know what's good for them.

#24. Alton Brown's other car is the Wienermobile.

#25. Alton Brown's show is called 'Good Eats', because 'Multiple Shuddering Mouthgasms' didn't play with the network's target demographic.

#26. Alton Brown's freezer operates at minus-twenty-seven degrees. Kelvin.

#27. Alton Brown once prepared shrimp gumbo for a cooking competition, using only salt, water, canned Spam, and a packet of Arby's 'Horsey Sauce'. He took second place. He would have won, but one of the judges was allergic to shellfish.

#28. Alton Brown can fit three hundred and forty-two cookies on a standard-sized baking sheet. Without any touching.

#29. When Alton Brown slices onions, the onions cry.

#30. Alton Brown was once asked to participate in a blind orange juice taste test. He was the only person able to successfully identify the brand, style, vintage, temperature, pH level, distance to the orchard, age of the grove trees, and the names of the workers picking the fruit. Including the one who needs to start washing after bathroom breaks.

Labels: ,

A little fun with stick figures



You can see I have a very distorted body image.

Labels:

Catching up on some pics

You would cry too if you were trying to crawl in a tutu


A chilly day at the zoo


Mmmm...pasta (or is Charlie an alien?)

Remember, you can click on any picture to get a larger version!

Labels: , , ,

Friday, February 02, 2007

How Microsoft would (re)design the iPod Package



A great video, actually created as an in-joke by Microsoft, and a reminder to those of us who are in marketing and advertising. Bonus points for using one of Claire's favorite pieces of music, Breakfast Machine from Peewee's Big Adventure.

Labels:

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Hon, maybe we should lay off the aromatherapy...Charlie's showing too much cleavage.