• 10.0 TEDx Talks, Raleigh

    If you don’t know what TED Talks are, they are 15-minute talks on Really Important and Inspiring Topics, meant to quickly educate and inspire you. They have been going on for quite a while. Bill Gates famously released mosquitos at one talk, and explained his plan for extracting energy from...

  • 8.5 Carcasonne

    8.5 Carcasonne

    I got Carcasonne for Andrea for Christmas based on three factors: it was one of the “classics” that has several expansion packs available; everyone at Games Galore recommended it; and it claimed to be a ‘great game for two players’. It was a steal, too, even with the...

  • 9.0 High Fidelity

    9.0 High Fidelity

    Jammed with wit, Ferris-Bueller-protagonist-as-narrator-style, and a running alternative-music subtext perfect for those of us reared on the late-70′s punk rock thingee. GREAT supporting characters, too, including John’s ever-present sister, Jack Black (whooop!), and extended cameos by...

  • Vegan options in downtown Raleigh

    I am so happy to be “working in the city”. One of my greatest delights is perusing the various and sundry gastronomical venues. Here’s a rundown…...

  • 9.0 Scritti Politti: The Last Time I Looked

    My mancrush on Green continues with this, from the B-side of the Boom Boom Bap single. Check him out gettin’ all schizo and...

  • 9.0 Incubus – Dig

    Chase what’s important to you in life. Play this while you do it. Sometimes optimism is alright! :> Other times, sarcasm does the trick, ala Cracker’s Teen Angst. Here‘s an interview with Cracker dude David Lowery, where he gives a nod to Kurt Vonnegut for his “irony and...

  • 8.5 VH1′s Nocturnal State, etc.

    OK, I guess I’m officially getting old, to be interested in a show on the “more mature” music video channel. Or am I just incurably immature for watching music videos at all? Age is so confusing these days. Is 40 the new 30? And 30 the new 20? Or do we all just remain...

  • 9.5 Battlestar Galactica finally starts up again...

    9.5 Battlestar Galactica finally starts up again…

    If you have been following the torrents, BSG was really fun at first. Almost the whole first season was available before the show premiered in the US (it had been shown in the UK first). So we were pulling down huge gulps of it, and it was delicious. But it’s been a long time since...

  • Dec
  • 06
  • 2009

Poetry flows…

Posted by m In Art, Daily Life | No Comments »

Wren’s recent poetry assignment turned out this gem…

	I looked in the corner and there sat fear, small and hunkered,
	His big, googly eyes darting around the room, not missing a thing.
	I heard him, quietly, slowly mumbling to himself, staring blankly at the wall.
	When he stood up, his eyes darted toward me and stayed on me.
	He slowly strode across the room with big steps.
	Although his head was facing straight, his eyes stayed turned to me.
	I felt a little bit sorry for him, 
	But when he shut the door without a sound, I got the chills.
  • Nov
  • 17
  • 2009

Girls ham it up

Posted by m In Art, Daily Life | No Comments »

The girls have been whipping up creative little plays for us ever since they had a “dress-up bin” from which to pull costumes.  Here are scenes from “Little Dead Riding Hood” (with the Prevost clan) and “The Noodle Master” (with the Dobbs clan).  Best entertainment around!

  • Nov
  • 18
  • 2008

Reiley’s epic play

Reiley did a great job performing in a 2+ hour epic play at church over the weekend. The play was written by one of the leaders of Reiley’s acting troupe, and spanned the entire history of the Bible, CNN-style. Our friend Keith is another of the leaders and he designed the stage. Creativity flows!

If I ever get any time (ha!) I’ll try to post some video…

  • Feb
  • 26
  • 2008

The Ultimate PDA

I bought the kids a moleskin yesterday – the ultimate PDA! Now all their great artwork scribbles will be preserved! The only rule was that they have to share their work. Win-win!

  • Oct
  • 08
  • 2006

Raleigh Chalk-a-thon

Raleigh had a fun event a couple weekends ago, where local artists were assigned sections of downtown roadway and sidewalk, given a theme (urban renaissance), and a bucket of chalk! Every section had a milk jug next to it, and you’d vote with your change for what you liked best. Our neighbor Kim earned a couple bucks from us with her entry, we liked it.


Kim's chalkwork

And it wasn’t limited to the artists – anybody could grab chalk and mark up one sidestreet, until it overflowed with creativity. The girls made some nice contributions:


Wren's chalkwork Reiley's chalkwork The street

  • Sep
  • 30
  • 2006

Building Together

We got a kit to build a small brick house using a sandy gluey mortar, and spent a couple summer weekends on the back porch and kitchen table laying bricks. It was great family fun. We were all into it and worked together off and on until it was done. Our final creation!



  • Jan
  • 14
  • 2006

modo madness

Mom and Grammy were out shopping. I was at home with the girls and started playing with modo. The girls thought it was the coolest thing ever. And it is, because they could sit right down and use it! I only gave them 10 minutes each, and here’s some of the silly stuff they made by deforming some of the canned objects…

reiley's racing chair Wrenny all of us

  • Nov
  • 29
  • 2004

New Old Pictures

Posted by m In Art, Chatter, Daily Life | No Comments »

I cleaned up the header of the blog a little, stuffed a little thumbnail of a random bit of artwork from the girls in the upper left corner. The art’s really old and there’s only a few to start. I will add more over time…

  • Jan
  • 31
  • 2004

This is DiscLand

I won’t say much about the girls’ creation known to the world only as DiscLand, except that:

  • yellow = pee
  • brown = poo
  • pink = throwup
  • red = blood

    Enough said? :P



    DiscLand


    Wrenny's DiscLand

    Reiley's DiscLand