Notes from Maggie

Comic-Con Ho!

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:24:00 GMT

Why so few entries in the blog? Why will there be so few over the next week?

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go -- and this afternoon, fingers crossed, I'll be in San Diego, picking up exhibitor badges (Booth #1419) prior to Comic-Con International: San Diego.

Onward!

Jonah's July Visit to Grandma

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:58:00 GMT

It was a long day July 9, packed with incident, on the first-ever day with Jonah and Maggie just hanging out together. We began by stocking up in Appleton for the ensuing adventure and then, when we got back to Iola, we stuck the frozen foods in the (duh) freezer, the refrigerated foods guess where, and then hopped in the car for the only time we could visit the Iola Old Car Show grounds via automobile. And it was a blast. I'd handed Jonah my back-up camera, I carried mine, and we looked at Rare Old Cars. Jonah took brilliant photos (really excellent! great shots!) and noted that two license plates were identical. We talked with a man who explained that the collector plates go to the collector, rather than the vehicle -- and confirmed to me that the collector who owned a huge string of collector cars was Ken Buttolph, whom I know.

This isn't one of Kenny's cars, but I thought it was a terrific photo. Who'd have guessed that Jonah's only 7? Here's another one:

We ate ice cream cones at the food building and then drove home, where we had supper (fried egg sandwiches) and then to bed. Zzzzzz. Oh, while we were settling down, neighbor George Cuhaj came over and we lolled about chatting for a bit, with George saying he'd be opening his sale the next morning at 9 a.m. -- and Jonah and I dropped by off and on throughout the ensuing days to give George's mom a break at monitoring the garage sale (and give Jonah a chance to evaluate the many, many Hot Wheels cars on sale there).

We slept July 10 till 7:15 (actually, Jonah said he woke up at 6:58) and then got breakfast (bagel -- his with butter, mine with peanut butter) and made A Drink Experiment. We did a blind taste test on some of the bottled juices I'd picked up the night before. I liked CBOO, PERR, and GRGO and was hesitant about STKI. He liked STKI and CBOO, didn't like PERR, and was hesitant about GRGO. (Hey, I said it was a blind taste test.) Explanations will follow someday. We had three left to test. Jonah had also begun work on a puzzle of the world that covered most of a table, and we experimented with some color-mixing markers.

And the Wii was a complete hit. The basic sports it comes with kept us jumping, and he went on to try a DecaSports disc which is much more complicated, with the controllers used differently with each game. After a stretch of that (during which he concluded that, in the soccer game, it was easier to kick the ball into his own goal), we returned to the basic disc. While the basic disc it came with is, indeed, basic, the boxing was an unexpected workout (and he did better than I did). We fared badly a little equally at tennis, but he served much better than I. (And I'd had some time to practice some of the games.) I'm going to send the Maryland Thompsons their own Wii console.What with the Wii and a stint at the village swimming pool, we actually forgot to eat lunch Thursday. We just went from event to event, swimming for more than an hour, substituting for George's mom, working on the puzzle map, etc.

Friday we swam again, and the rest of Friday was a combination of helping at George's garage sale, working on the world puzzle (which we never finished but have a strategy for the next time he has an extended visit), swimming in the late afternoon, and the Wii. I put in the Simpsons disc, and he was great at it -- at least, compared to my pathetic achievements. (I never got beyond being repeatedly knocked out by the chocolate rabbits.) He got to Level 2, which has Homer and Bartman in the sewer, which is sort of a Batcave.

We realized we wouldn't finish the puzzle Saturday morning, hammered away a bit more at the Wii, had him take some photos of me (which he did excellently), and then loaded the car and away. Whee! The entire visit was something of an experiment: my first time as Host to a Grandchild (as opposed to babysitting same). I hereby dub the experiment A Success.

June 23, 1962

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:56:00 GMT

'Nuff said?

Indiana Jones and Don and Maggie

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:52:00 GMT

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was much fun in the theater: It barrelled along satisfyingly with just the right number of Eek! and Yes! moments.

And I picked up the hardcover by James Rollins, "Based on the story by George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson, and the screenplay by David Koepp."

It's nicely straightforward, an excellent reminder of the entertainment and a faithful transcription of the script as performed on screen, along with some bonuses. Such as this paragraph on Page 78, featuring the confrontation when Dean Stanforth (played by Jim Broadbent) breaks the news to Indy that he's in trouble.

Indy reminds him, "They're good kids."

Thanks!

Wii Way More!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:22:00 GMT

I took it for granted that acquiring the Wii console would be the end of problems in working out with Nintendo's gaming system. After finding that the basic games did, indeed, get me more active (if you sign on as a beginner, Bowling -- for example -- is very forgiving), I also realized that (at least the way I played them) the games provided most exercise for my right arm and little else.

Even understanding that the way I was playing Tennis was not the way that a tennis-player would play tennis, I became more interested in the Wii Fit equipment. One review I'd come across said that, for example, the hoop game could provide a full-body workout in six minutes. Hot diggety! I'll just go buy Wii Fit and go for more serious exercise.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was the "Hunt for the Wii" process all over again. Nobody had it. I tried an two-hour round trip to Appleton to check all the possible stores. Nothing. Asked at service desks for estimated arrival dates. It was first come, first served again (with at least one service-desk staffer expressing considerable hostility -- not for me, but for Nintendo). I alerted my buddies to keep an eye out for it. I set up a schedule of telephone calls with possible venues. (When does the store open? When does it unload the truck?) The Best Buy recorded telephone pick-up seemed a little crabby, as it said something along the lines of, "If you're calling about the Wii Fit, none is available right now."

So you can doubly imagine my surprise when a not-quite-casual jaunt through the Target store in Stevens Point (where I'd wound up in advance of a dinner meeting with friends) found -- with no fanfare, no store announcements, no crush of multitudes -- a Wii Fit, not where I'd logically checked with the other Wii software, but sitting happily on an endcap beside five or six other Wii Fit boxes.

Whew! The exercise is over!

(What do you mean that wasn't the exercise?)