Surf and Tough

The little guy tells the big waves to bring it. (Actually, we’re coastally deprived where we live; Reed was getting fired up for the family swim hour.)

Assembly Man

I’ve read all of Anne Lamott’s non-fiction books—curiously, I’ve not picked up a single one of her novels—and so I had get her most recent one when I learned it was out. Some Assembly Required is her journal into grandparenthood, one that she unexpectedly entered into when her son Sam announced at age nineteen that he was going to be a father. Lamott and Sam chronicle his child Jax’s first year of life, and this book takes the familiar neurotic, touching, and hilarious twists and turns you’d expect given the source.

Falling Down the Rabbit Hole

I’m not going to try to pick holes in Rabbit Hole, nor am I going to pull a rabbit out of the hat as to how it could have been better. It was an appropriate sad movie for me since I was cheerless—chair-less, as you’ll soon read, is a different matter—having spent the better part of two days embedded in the couch in a sickly state. And because of my lethargy, I can’t summon the energy required to write a decent review. All you have to know is that it got decent reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Check it out, but not because I told you to.

It's Electric!

Revenge of the Electric Car is the sequel to the 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? The first film looked at the market forces and executive decisions that led to thousands of new electric cars being purposely destroyed by the companies that built them. In director Chris Paine’s follow-up effort, he examines the resurgence in interest in electric vehicles from both the manufacturing and consumer sides.

This is a relevant film for our community. We have been designated as an EV (electric vehicle) town, with the goal to have hundreds of electric vehicles on the road in the near future. To that end, charging stations have been installed around town, including in the parking lot of the eco-friendly friendly building at which I work (see above).

I think you’ll get a charge out of this film. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

Broken Trust

Trust is a film by Ross-from-Friends-turned-director David Schwimmer, and I have no idea how it ended up in our Netflix queue. The film has its flaws and is not for the faint of heart—viewers are confronted with the lurid crimes of online predators—but it might one of those films that’s worth seeing for those of us who have children who’ll be of the texting and on-line chatting age someday soon.

Beni and I spent many moments watching the screen through the fingers covering our eyes and with averted glances, but we agreed that those moments of discomfort were important reminders of the need for eventual frank discussions with our children and careful vigilance of their phone and computer habits.

Easy (Bake) Like a Sunday Morning

Today is Earth Day. It’s also the day Olivia decided to get down and dust off her Easy Bake Oven perched high atop her closet shelf. In honor of the day and Mother Earth, we swapped out the oven’s energy-wasting high-watt light bulb for an efficient compact fluorescent—thanks, Michelle Bachman, for your Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act!—as the heat source for the chocolate-chip brownies.

The brownies may have taken 12 hours to bake, but they were delicious!

The Voice-less

Reed must have missed the memo about singing being a necessary component of a choir concert. He stood proud and tall (and somewhat distracted) in front of an audience of the preschoolers’ families, but he sang nary a note the entire time.

Buy a Vowell

Sarah Vowell is an American treasure. Her voice is distinctive—in print, on the radio (as contributing editor for This American Life for a number of years), and in person (I was at a reading of hers at a local university five-plus years ago). I’ve read all of her recent books, and now I’m getting around to reading her earlier ones. Assassination Vacation, in which she travels around the country with her sister and nephew to research the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and William McKinley, ranks in my top five of all-time favorite books. In fact, I read it to Olivia before bedtimes a couple years ago when she was beginning her Lincoln scholarship.

Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World, is a collection of Vowell’s essays that constitute her second book. I admire Vowell’s ability to infuse wit, even humor, into discussions of the unjust and unfortunate moments of our nation’s history. Her essay retracing her ancestors’ journey on the Trail of Tears is both heart-wrenching and -warming, and that distinctive style is the same one she employs throughout her three most recent books. I look forward to becoming completely Vowell literate later this year—all I have left of her works is Radio On: A Listener’s Diary.

Live for the Elmo-ment

Kevin Clash is the puppeteer behind Elmo, the adorable furry red monster of Sesame Street fame. He and Elmo are the stars of Being Elmo, a wonderful documentary that swept the film festival circuit a year ago. Puppeteering is often treated as a bit of a joke in movies—see: Being John Malkovich and Forgetting Sarah Marshall—but this film shows that it’s serious business, much to the benefit of children and parents everywhere.

I watched this today with Reed and Olivia, and we were mesmerized by what Clash and his fellow puppeteers do. I’m certain that you’ll also find the story of Kevin’s childhood and career trajectory equally mesmerizing, and I recommend that you see this in the near future—especially if you, your children, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren were ever enthralled by Sesame Street or the Muppets. If not, maybe this trailer will convince you of this film’s excellence.

Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away

We try to acclimate our kids to the Pacific Northwest—one of our favorite regions to visit—by sending them outside for hours when the rains fall on our town in America’s heartland. Reed practically begs to go outside on the prospect of precipitation. His favorite activity is to mix together the mud in an area in the front lawn. He calls his gooey creation peanut butter.

Write On, Q

Cousin Quintin made the trip with his parents to visit for a couple days. They’re getting ready for their move in July to a nearby city, and so once they settled on a place to live and the details of my brother’s job earlier in the week, the three of them were able to kick back some before their trip back to their current residence in Kentucky. We all made a trip to the children’s museum, where the cousins brought paint to glass pane to create a Pollock-esque masterpiece.

Answering Bell

The food product picture above—Taco Bell’s latest gastronomic contribution—may or may not have been consumed by someone in our family who may or may not go by the name of Beni.

Bunny Grab It

The kids partook in the UU’s Easter egg hunt this morning. (No, the eggs are not filled with fair-trade coffee beans, social-justice bumper stickers, or peace signs.) Afterward, the two worked off their sugar high by hopping around in our backyard, but they paused long enough for us to capture this picture.

Egg-stasy on His Face

Reed took a break from the thrill of gathering Easter eggs at his preschool by showing just how thrilled he was to have gathered so many eggs.

Our Sweet(s) Son

Dear Reed,

No joke—today is your third birthday. (Sorry, you’ll have to get used to those “jokes” over the course of your lifetime having been born on a day of and for fools.) Your smile warms our hearts, your laugh makes us laugh all the time, and your energy is infectious—and hard to match. Please forgive us if you develop type 2 diabetes later in life from all the sweets you had in your youth. Just remember that the slushy you had before your cake breakfast and afternoon doughnut party was a special treat for your special day—most days you only get a cake breakfast and doughnut dinner. (Kidding! See my warning about the foolishness that occurs on this day.)

Aside from the sugary treats, we got you a personalized dinosaur-themed stool to commemorate your stepping up in age.

Love,

Daddy