Caption contest update

The caption contest is running well. I've decided to give folks until 8 pm EST on Wednesday to get their proposed captions up, then I'll fold them into a poll for voting. And, remember, there's no limit to the number you can put up (though don't go too crazy).

To the streets!

Last fall Owen and I went down to check out the anti-war protests by the White House. Here we are with the Treasury building in the background. Owen was particularly interested in the drumming and the group "Breasts not bombs," which seemed to be a pro-breastfeeding, anti-bombing collective. Owen was certainly into their views on breastfeeding, but was unsure about their views on bombing, having less first-hand experience of that.

Caption Contest!!

I've really tried hard to think of what kind of a caption to put to this picture. Is that a pirate look? Is he trying to make prank calls? I'm blanking.

So, I invite you, loyal readers, to come up with a caption. Post one, or more, potentional captions in the comments below.

After a few have come in, I'll post an online poll so folks can vote on which one they like best. There's no formal prize, but I won't object if you want to put "Inaugural Winner of Kaiserstrasse Blog Caption Contest" on your resume (though anyone who wants you to get a job should).

Movie trial run

Here's a movie from last year (I'm not sure when last year). I believe that you'll need Quicktime to view it, which is a free download here. If you can see it, note what I can only imagine is a very severe case of nipple confusion at the end of the video (and no, you will not see an actual nipple, but thanks to all the folks coming from a Google search run awry).

Update: The movie link isn't currently working. I'm hoping to make it work when Owen goes to bed. I'll post an update to this update if it works.

Update II: We're live! Or I hope we are. If you click on the picture above and don't see a movie after a little bit, please send me an email to let me know that.

Owen over time

My brother told me that he was recently looking at a picture of Owen from a while back and, at first, didn't recognize him. I thought a picture collage of Owen would be interesting to see how much he's changed over his 21 months.

The top left picture was taken this past summer (I think), the top right picture was taken last winter/spring, the bottom left picture was taken election day 2004 (right before hope died), and the bottom right picture was taken a few days ago.

Mother and child redux

I like this photo because you can see some of Bridgette's Baby-y-full belly. 

Mother and child

B and Owen cuddled up when Owen was starting to have a toddler moment this morning. Aren't they cute? 

Ghetto blog

I was looking at some other blogs today, and relooking at the layout of this one.  I'm becoming convinced that this is a ghetto blog.  Owen deserves better.  So, over the next few weeks, as time permits, I'm going to try to improve the layout, links, and other parts of the page. 

 

Of course, if you have any thoughts about what you'd like to see here (other than more photos of Owen), please email me and let me know.

The last few days

As you can see below, there are some new pictures posted here. Sorry to have been silent the last few days. I had a great night last night watching the Rose Bowl (and, as you can see here, that dude from Slate was right about what would happen (for another interesting Rose Bowl article from Slate, click here) with a guy from my office down in Dupont Circle, and I'm grateful to B for watching Owen so I could go. Today was a whirlwind in Court and a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, but the evenings look clear for blogging for the foreseeable future (with a brief exception for Tuesday the 10th).

Nothing to see here

Owen is obsessed with the plug for the lights on the Christmas tree. Particularly where it connects to the wall. Here, he was trying to explore the plug, while fooling me into thinking he was just looking at the tree. It didn't really work.

Also, judging by the look on his face, he may have been pooping. 

The best part about New York City

It's probably hard to tell from this photo, but Owen and I have taken to dancing together. I'm going to try to get B to take a movie of it this weekend and see if I can post that on the blog. We dance to "New York City" by They Might Be Giants. Normally the dance involves a lot of bopping and spinning, but there are some good dips too.

When the song finishes, Owen points to the iPod player and yells "City!"

We also dance to the Violent Femmes, particularly Add It Up, American Music, and I Held Her In My Arms, but I sort of minimize that because of the, ahem, adult themes. I'd like to find some children's punk for us to dance to, but so far I can't figure out a way to search for such a thing on iTunes. 

Not now!

Owen has a complicated relationship with hats. 

If only I were a girl . . .

then it'd be ok to try to make a basket throwing like this.

Seriously though, we gave Owen a basketball hoop for Christmas and it's stunning how naturally he shoots. It's like he's been coached to shoot that way. Very cool. 

It's not what it looks like

I would never let Owen pick his nose with a fold out screwdriver.

Especially not after the last time.

This is just Owen and I enjoying a morning strawberry smoothie together (thanks for the Christmas Blender, Terry!). Bridgette may have given him the screwdriver.

programming apologies

Sorry there's been nothing up in the last two days.  I took a holiday break on Monday and had to work late last night, then dash to a church meeting which got me home at close to 11.  I may not be able to get much new content up tonight, but I'll try.  Thanks for your patience.

Owen's people

This was taken last summer when Owen got a visit from one of his most loyal fans, Candice and her man Jonathan. Doesn't he look happy? 

I will allow you to entertain me

Mark was trying to point something out to Owen. Owen was not impressed.

(in case you haven't seen them in person or picture lately, this is Mark and his wife Stephanie with our son. And we were very close by, so we weren't worried about having Mark hold Owen) 

Another favorite

This one is a few months old, but I love it. Owen's grown out of letting me put him on my shoulder's for the most part, but we had a pretty good run of a few months over the summer were he was really into it. 

The other bowl game

Of course, the only bowl game of consequence happened last Wednesday, but I understand there's another bowl game coming up this Wednesday. I'll watch that one as well. I'd pull for Texas even if I didn't think they were going to win--conference-mates should get some loyalty--but I was really pleased to see this article on Slate about why the hype over USC is unwarranted. Check it out at this link.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone! I'm not going to spend too much time blogging today, but I did want to wish everyone a happy new year and report that Owen and I (and to a lesser extent Bridgette) will be eating black eyed peas for luck in the new year (no, not these, although this is very catchy).

Also, when I was a kid, my Uncle Tom gave me a book called the Hodgepodge book which contains a lot of American superstitions and folklore. I was really captivated by the book, but have been unable to find a copy later (it's apparently out of print). Here's one person from Amazon who had some details about the book, but I've not been able to use them to find the book (there's a different, lamer book by the same title that is easy to find; folks looking for the book I'm talking about have formed something of an online community in the comments section of the lame book on the Amazon page):

I found out that the book that most of us recall from our youth is actually called: The Hodgepodge Book - an almanac of American folklore" and was written by Duncan Emrich. It was published by Four Winds Press and copywrited in 1972. Good luck in your searches.

It would be difficult to overstate how much I loved that book.

Anyway, this book said that you should spend part of New Years Day doing things you hope to do in the new year. So, I'm trying to spend a little time blogging, some time being very nice to Bridgette (I took Owen this morning so she could sleep in), some time playing with Owen, some time reading with Owen, and some time working out.

I hope you have a happy new year! Celebrate the day in a way that makes you happy.