Saturday, January 30, 2010

My New Office

So my new office is constructed out of aluminum and located in St. Louis with an exact replica in Houston. It has hydraulics cause I'm 'Thinkin I'm a cool cat!' and of course has seating for four. There are two touch screens in front of my chair, but I haven't found the ESPN button yet. Ahh yes the Level D full motion simulator, an exact replica of the airplane, except we can crash this one and it doesn't cost anything to repair.

Yes this is what brings me to St. Louis, I'm training to be a simulator instructor -- we will leave next week. We are having a blast - Claire is loving the time with both Mommy and Daddy. Mommy and Daddy are loving the 20 degree temperatures.

Yesterday a quick excursion to the Mississippi River, it was full of ice -- kind of weird looking at brown ice. And of course the famous Gateway Arch, where a couple was being arrested at the security checkpoint for an unknown reason!

Today we are headed to one of the convention centers for one of the many trade shows that are taking place, I was thinking Auto show -- but perhaps the Home and Garden Show would be a touch more fun.

Peace

Friday, January 29, 2010

Nice

We Nortons are enjoying a little R&R, well the girls are anyway. I'm 'working' here in St. Louis. Yesterday we took some free time to see some of the sights.

After a quick trip to the AB Brewery (for a history lesson and nothing else of course) we decided to repent by touring the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. It was very interesting and most beautiful. We took some great pictures that we will share later.

But for now some GREAT quotes from our tour guide:

"Nothing like a holy hand shake to tune of $4 million to show you Christian love and get your way"

"Who the H*** knows"

"They tune the pipe organs every six weeks. After a day of that we all go to the pub; even Sister comes along for several cocktails."

"Every real Catholic home in the area has a pub in the basement."

"We Catholics are very vain. Look here it's just a marble vernier." (This after explaining that just one of the main domes cost $28 million to decorate with glass tile mosaics.)

We really had a great time. Claire learned where hops come from and about vantage point architecture all in one day!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Thats It!

What do you get when you take a 24 volt DC adapter, an industrial micro-circuit voltage regulator, a little left over alarm wire from a recent project (an entirely different post). And a Daddy fed up with the Graco/Energizer affair that has us parents replacing batteries every few days?

A happy baby, thats what!
I have had these parts in my garage for several years, why I didn't think of this before is beyond me.

Doyce, any of this familiar?


Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Greatest Gift

The last Greatest Gift post referenced the Sham-Wow. I know you may be thinking this is hard to top. But my lovely Bride managed. Oh yes she did get me a Snuggie! Blue in color, it is essentially a hunk of felt with arm holes, cut like a hospital gown.

I know the commercial shows a bunch of goof balls at the ball game cheering on their team in their Snuggies, I'm here to tell you that is hornswaggle! It would simply not be possible to stand and cheer on your team without the little felt project falling right off, unless of course it was secured around your body with some sort of industrial size clip to hold it on, although it was evidently attempted successfully by the B105 morning DJ's in Austrailia.

Another hilarious feature is the way Claire's hair stands on end when I walk by as a result of the static charge that the unsightly wearable blanket creates. Claire gets a puzzled look and has to tap her head to push her hair back down. Its adorable, speaking of walking in a Snuggie, I advise against it -- I'm taller than the average white male and have to hold it up when walking to keep from tripping over the front of it.

I'm sure if Threes Company was still on the air Mrs. Roper would have switched from moo moo, to Snuggie, I'm sure the Snuggie people would have seen to it. We can make fun of the Snuggie as much as we want but the creators are laughing all the way to the bank. The funny part is you know that they knew it was a joke. But it turns out once in a while a joke ends up being a winner to the tune of 20 million units sold!

And before I go let me just tell you that to add to the ricidulousness of it all there is now an electric version of the Snuggie. Yes its true a Snuggie you plug in, its an electrified piece of felt with arm holes. And its called --- The Toasty!