Peanuts

• A couple weeks ago, we watched "Secondhand Lions" with the kids. It's the first "grown up" movie Matthew has watched. He was fascinated, and full of questions. "Why is she a bad mother?" "Why do some people want to get money so badly?"
  
• Rachel has become a bit of a tortilla snob here in San Antonio. It's true: fresh tortillas made without preservatives are distinctly tastier.
  
• I gave 3 talks in 3 days in San Jose. Two of the talks were for OSCON. It was tiring, and I was glad when it was over. Public speaking no longer scares me, but it's not something I have a natural flair for. I submitted two talks figuring that my odds were better of getting one accepted that way, but they wanted both and I was foolish enough to comply. I was too busy preparing to see the rest of the conference, which is a shame. Then again, OSCON always seems like it has less of a soul than PyCon, even as the latter has grown in size.
• Melissa, "reading" a sign: "'Today is the best day ever!' Right?" I think she starts every morning with that thought.
  
• Melissa: "Mommy, my vest is upside down!" [Rachel rights it] "Thanks, Mommy! You are a superhero!"
  
• Isaac was Most Upset that Rachel left him (_left_ him!) to go visiting teaching. He howled for a while, until I put on a Baby Einstein video. Then he was so happy that he pooped.
• Rachel fixed her macbook. Too bad, I was having fun specing out replacements.
• Rachel got me "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in posession of brains must be in want of more brains.
• Matthew, reading Twitter over my shoulder: "Is that what you call a Facebook?"
• My friend Ellis introduced us to the Seafarers variant of Catan. I like it. It makes sheep less worthless in the mid/late game. (Which means brick takes that honor instead.)
• Rachel keeps cutting my Bionic Commando session short so she can play FFXII. How am I supposed to finish at that rate?
• Isaac _really_ likes cheez-its.
• Isaac found a starburst in the living room. He couldn't unwrap it, but that didn't stop him: he was a very happy baby boy chewing on it and occasionally spitting pieces of the wrapper out.
• Rachel is out of town and I don't have a library card here yet, but Matthew does. He felt very important being The One In Charge of checking out the books.
• "Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s" arrived Thursday. (I wait until they're cheap.) Matthew and I rocked Metal Health, Holy Diver, and We Got the Beat with the volume up _far_ louder than Rachel would have approved. Some time in the last 6 months Matthew's sense of rhythm emerged, and he can get through the bass parts on Easy well enough that we can stumble to the finish line. This is what every dad waits for.