Tech

Today was a sad day we didn't see coming.  We watched the last episode of season two of "The Bad Batch," and we couldn't believe it.  One of our favorite characters, Tech, sacrificed himself to save the entire team.  Not since that episode of "Rebels" with Kanan Jarrus have we been so devastated!  It was a super heavy episode, one of those half-hour blocks of television that just leaves you anything but uplifted. In fact, somewhat saddened, depressed, and angry at the Empire, which I suppose is that fuel that drives us to really want to see season three, where the Bad Batch gets back at the Empire in a major way.

It was a quiet day, although we're all busy doing Easter preparations.  I've been going down to Sandy Springs to get dresses for dancers, but this time no shawarma.  All business today!  I got down there and got stuck in all kinds of traffic on 400, but such is life when we live in Georgia.  It is so different now, and that's a funny thing to say because that's what the previous generation said about the area too.  I think of Doc Brown in "Back to the Future," talking about Hill Valley area when he remembered, "I remember when this was all farm land as far as the eye could see."  I'm kind of there now, remembering pieces of land for what they were, areas covered in trees or pastures.  Now there are more and more housing developments and Georgia is getting a bit more crowded.

A lot of people are moving to this state, and that's because living in states further north or on the west coast is becoming unaffordable due to various reasons, so they have all moved here in this direction.  It's been called an "exodus."  And yeah, and because of that, this state will change because the people who move here evidently haven't learned a thing, and sure enough these states will become just as overcrowded and unaffordable.  There's your real virus there.  But this is our home state, and certainly our home church, so here we stay.  Maybe if we start a campus in Namibia, we could go off and do the children's ministry there.  

Anyway, we had a quiet day today as we prepare for KidPak and Easter and everything else.  It's going to be a huge week next week.  Tonight we read, and we prayed together before bed, getting a good night's rest without worry of setting the alarm too early.

Willy the Squirrel

So we have a definite squirrel problem at this point, whereas last year we had a friend arrangement.  This year, however, these rodents are attempting a hostile takeover of our back deck.  Yet we are in fact the apex predators here and despite the amount of mercy that's been shown, there's clearly coming a time where something's got to give.  They're eating up all the birdseed, and there are four of them.  We've tried different amusing methods, but the fact of the matter is that they keep coming back relentlessly and ruining things for everyone.  I'll say it again:  squirrels ruin everything.

Except for Willy the Squirrel.  We noticed him some time ago, a squirrel with just one eye.  He's pushed around by the others, and when we do see Willy, we show him some kindness that the world probably does not.  We named him this because of "The Goonies," although we don't go so far as to call him "One Eye Willy."  We do call him Willy though, and when we see him, we make the announcement and everyone goes through our Squirrel Combative Warfare Invasive Rodent Logistics Strike team (or the S.C.W.I.R.L.S. team) training.

It's been a busy day.  I've been to Sandy Springs, then Oakwood, then towards Jefferson, and then back to Oakwood and of course back to Gainesville in Forsyth County.  All Easter production stuff, of course.  Maddie had taekwondo tonight, so I was over there too for a bit, although back to work again for a few other tasks while Maddie was busy kicking people.  The good news is that the car is back, and it seems to be working okay.  And stopping okay too, which is important.

Oddly enough, Mom made a delicious ham sandwich for lunch today, one I could not indict for any reason.  It was that delicious, and it seemed rather pointless to indict a ham sandwich anyway, perhaps because it would be a waste of time and resources that could be spent somewhere else, and additionally it would be insulting to the millions of people who don't mind a ham sandwich that much.  I mean, I was okay with a turkey sandwich too.  But some people are so obsessed with their hatred of ham sandwiches that I kind of want to have more of this ham sandwich just because this is America, and I'm supposed to be free enough to eat whatever sandwich I want.  And anyway, these ham sandwich haters fail to see the bigger picture, or actually many of the bigger pictures really.  So here we are back to hating each other again rather intensely, versus coming to the understanding that there can be all kinds of sandwiches as viable lunch items and that if we work together, we can have a pretty decent and balanced menu that is nutritious while being also rather tasty.  I'm not sure where things go from here, but I happen to like ham sandwiches and I was okay with not eating a ham sandwich too, so long as I didn't have to worry about the the federal sandwich police controlling what I say about mayonnaise, toppings, or what kind of bread I like.  That seems to be where we're at though.  All I'm saying is that we should have left that ham sandwich alone.

Tonight we watched "The Mandalorian," and there were no ham sandwiches in it, but there was a pretty fun battle against pirates.  A well-trained squad of Mandalorian versus uncoordinated pirates sounds like it would be more of a one-sided battle, and yes, indeed it was.  But it was fun to watch.

We read some more tonight, and we said our prayers.  We're certainly praying for this nation.

FCY United Night 2023

 

FCY United Night was here again, which is a gathering of the Georgia campuses to the Gainesville location, where Maddie immediately met up with some friends from Braselton - and from taekwondo too.  

There were over 700 students there, and everyone was here for the rides, prizes, games, worship, and of course Maddie was no way on earth going to miss hearing from Uncle Reggie!

She wore her Forward shirt from last year, the one he signed for her backstage after all was said and done.  It was a really great night indoors and a great service.  It was going so well that the students didn't leave until much, much later than planned.  

Outside, Maddie was going on rides with friends, eating slushies, and at the very end, she was doing that target shooting game with me a few times, and yes, of course I won.  I won fifty percent of the time I played tonight, me against fifteen other players there.  I'm just a trick shot with that thing.  Anyway, the first time I did it, I was sitting next to a mom and her infant, so I was glad to let them pick a prize.  The last time, the last round of the night, I was next to Maddie and I won.  So I let Maddie pick a plush animal - she picked a cow that on the way home, we named Chaz Remington.  Rather formal name, isn't it?

Anyway, it was a fun night.  We're super busy with Easter, and there's this business with the car too.  We're enjoying the car rental though!

Tonight we had time to read - that's about it.  We'll catch up on television shows tomorrow.  But joining the plush entourage was Chaz Remington, reading to hear another story from the Discworld, which we're moving on with one page at a time.  We said our prayers together afterwards, and yeah, it was a late night - we got to bed quickly!

Blobby the Blobfish Returns

Ah, Blobby the Blowfish is back.  Maddie has apparently created this piece of artwork today at school, and I'll go ahead and tell you of the magnificence of this masterpiece, just it hasn't really sunk in yet.  For before you is a photo of a rendered image created with strokes of inspirational chalk pink, circling around there on the ground and confronting the viewer with a powerful and almost confrontational moment that draws attention to the sublime emotions contained right there before you.  This is high art, friends.  Blobby the Blowfish is not just art on the ground, but rather an experience!

Okay, anyway, these were some pictures on Maddie's phone, photos she took at school with friends out at the playground area.  She's wearing her slam dunk t-shirt that she got the night of March Madness at FCY.

My goodness we're busy with Easter.  And Weird Science and Summer Xtreme and Forward... lots going on.  We got a script done for this weekend and it's another video game skit at KidPak for "Level Up," a modified skit from a while ago.  This one features Dr. Mario, who we'll create by adding a lab coat to our existing Mario costume.  I was going to get the head mirror - and yes, I had to look up that.  What's the thing that Dr. Mario wears on his head?  What's that round thing on a black head band that doctors wear?  It's called a head mirror.  It's a little on the pricy side, because there aren't any easily accessible prop versions.  And who still wears these anyway?  I'm not sure if anyone does, but I remember seeing these on television doctors all the time at one point.  Anyway, Dr. Mario is for this new generation, and on stage he'll not be wearing a head mirror, I think.  But the skit should be fun.  Also, I have to go find a version of Dr. Mario on the Switch, because I have never played it before.  I was telling others at the office about it, and someone had a Switch, and yes, suddenly they were playing it.  It looks interesting - might be fun!

The car is getting repaired.  It's pricy.  That's the price of having this car, even though we didn't actually want this car to begin with.  While it's getting repaired, we rented another car, and it's the latest Toyota Corolla, which I pulled into the garage tonight, and Mom and Maddie love the look of it.  It's a nice car - we're Toyota people, I guess.  It's funny because we're driving this luxury car, and instead we prefer the compact car. 

Moving on, it was a good day, although Nana's health is a question mark at the point.  The doctor is wanting a further update with her, as there is some dizziness and some heavy breathing.  But it's not urgent, at least that's what we're being told.  The tests will further determine whatever may be the case, but we'll see as we move forward.

Tonight we closed out with prayer, and reading of course.  It's been a good day, but it's a busy season right now.

Sandy Springs to Sulphur Springs

We were a little bit of everywhere today, and as you can see above, we were at Nana's place at one pint.  She's not doing too well currently, with a dizziness and heavy breathing, but that's going around the people are saying, and it's part of that spring arrival with pollen and weather changes and so on.  Nana's equilibrium has historically been on and off, but this time it seemed a little more so, so much that the assistant that came down to help her with a shower was concerned and called a nurse.  The blood pressure was good, and Nana was tired.  The nurse was going to come back later with a stethoscope, but the real diagnosis will come tomorrow when the doctor arrives - it's a visit the doctor was making anyway, so that should be okay.  Nevertheless, it's something to keep an eye on.  Otherwise, the visit was friendly and pleasant.  We changed her sheets and got her some apple sauce, part of our routine when visiting.  Mom hung up her clothes that were done with the laundry, so that was good seeing the laundry was done.  

So another part of the journey today was this!  No this location precisely, but the actual food itself, which is called shawarma.  Until 2012, I had never heard of shawarma before, a food item from the Middle East or perhaps the Mediterranean - I'm not sure.  Anyway, the end credits of "The Avengers" features the heroes of the movie seated quietly and dining on shawarma.  And ever since then, it's been a kind of Marvel property of its own.  It took the restaurants by surprise, that summer seeing a huge surge of people interested in ordering this food item simply because Tony Stark mentions eating it at the end of a popular movie.  So I always wanted to try it, and I've had that tucked away for eleven years or so.  Mom and I had run an errand today, and on the way back north, we stopped by the Jerusalem Bakery to pick up some shawarma, and it was delicious.  Worth the wait!  We got some falafels too, and some lentil soup with lemon in it - all good!  We looked around afterwards, and there were all sorts of Middle Eastern groceries in the place, and it was fun looking through their products.  We were both super full by the time we were done though!

We were down in Atlanta because we had to solve a big dancer costume issue for the upcoming Easter production.  Mom spotted some costumes online though, so we went down to the shop we visited three times last year, and sure enough they had what we needed.  We picked these up quickly and without incident, once again having to make that trip to Sandy Springs.

And from Sandy Springs we went to Sulphur Springs.  Well, eventually.  But tonight Maddie stayed home from taekwondo, because she was just not feeling that well from the allergies.  She informed us that she's forgotten to take medication the last few days, maybe three, and there was a lot of sinus pressure and the usual runny nose from that sort of thing.  In other words, nothing you'd want to have going on while attempting to spar with someone else in taekwondo. 

She stayed home to take a rest, and we all needed a little rest I suppose.  Maddie got her homework out of the way, and then the three of us sat down once again to watch the last four episodes of "Sulphur Springs," season three.  We had to get it all wrapped up, as it is slightly addictive.  Each episode is just 23 minutes long or so, making it easy for one to say, "Just one more, okay?"  So we watched them all again, and just like that, we're done for another year.  It was definitely a step down from previous seasons, but it was still fun.  The actors are certainly getting taller though!  

We closed out the night with reading from Discworld, and prayers too of course.  Maddie got a good night's rest tonight after a shower and her own devotional time.  It was a decent day - hopefully everyone is feeling better tomorrow.

Vernardos Circus

Maddie took this awesome picture above at the circus.  Yes, the circus!  We were back at the circus, and it was a return to a place of wonder and childhood nostalgia.  Weeks ago, we got tickets to go to this circus in a brand new tent that was set up in a parking lot in Dawsonville, and we heard of this group of performers that made up "Vernardo's Circus."  We haven't really been able to go to a circus in years, so this was an easier decision.  Indeed, we were wanting to go all the more when we knew it was a smaller sized traveling circus.  

We got there about 3pm today, an hour earlier than start time because there was a pre-show for those that arrived ahead of time, and that's when Maddie got to see an actual sword swallower, which is just crazy.

Our seats weren't the best, but we could see pretty much everything there.  Maddie and I got lemonade, popcorn and some cotton candy.  In fact, there was extra cotton candy there at the end, which was nice for Maddie.  

The three of us really enjoyed the performances.  Maddie was taking pictures with her cellphone throughout, and I have to say the individual talents of these performers was on par with any other circus event we've seen.  These were genuinely talented people, and the entire performance just felt like a trip to an authentic circus, complete with ringmaster, high-flying acts, jugglers, clowns, and a whole lot of talent.

If and when this circus comes back, we'll get tickets again.  The event was sold out and the Big Top was packed, the crowd truly amazed at all they got to see.  We had a great time, and it was just a wonderful thing getting to go to the circus again.  It felt like being a kid again!

Of course, that's not all that happened today.  We had KidPak in the morning, and this was the service that featured Chun-Li again.  Maddie was in her costume, and fit right in this video game themed series.  It was a great message about fighting the good fight of faith, and the skit was a lot of fun.  I was just happy to see Maddie as Chun-Li again!

She got to do some stuff with he bo staff, and there were kids in the audience who cheered, which is fun.  Also, she had a kid in the lobby recognize her from her online appearances on KPTV, which was fun.  Maddie's a celebrity now, eh?

Why not celebrate afterwards with a game of Chocolate UNO?

After a couple of rounds of real UNO, they all tried the chocolate version... but for some reason, eventually all the playing cards vanished... maybe because we kept eating them...!

It was a great, full day.  Big rainstorms came late tonight, we could hear them coming as we sat down to watch another four episodes of "Secrets of Sulphur Springs."  Season three was released - all of it - and we lacked self control, sitting down to watch one after the other.  We'll probably finish up the series tomorrow, in fact.  It's been good!

We read tonight of course.  Rincewind has had another casual conversation with Death, a more optimistic one in fact, and the wizards have set sail on a giant piece of fruit.  All normal things on the Discworld, right?  Anyway, afterwards, we prayed and it was time for some shuteye.  The rain is pouring down, and spring is really here.

Peter Pan

 

Tonight we returned to the Pearce Auditorium to see the Gainesville Ballet once again, our first trip back there in some time, but a good one as we had tickets to see "Peter Pan."

We sat in our usual spots in the front row of the balcony, and in some ways it was just like old times.  Of course, Maddie wasn't on stage performing, instead seated beside us to watch the performance.

It was a really nice time.  The performance was just the way I remember with various degrees of talent from all ages of dancers.  The stand-out moments included a very fun Captain Hook and Tik-Tok the crocodile, which added a lot of humor to the stage.  But there were a lot of "oohs" and "aahs" when Peter Pan flew in.  I was not thinking they would do this, but Peter Pan's character was suspended on wiring, and sure enough soon after file in Tinkerbell.  And later on, joining the flight were Wendy, John and Michael too, and too enough all of us were of to never Neverland!

We had a nice evening together, and it was all part of a pretty nice day that started out with the usual Team Edge practice in the morning.  Maddie had some homework, and there were definitely some things to do with Easter and the production.  Unfortunately, we've had a few setbacks there with costuming, but Mom was looking into some alternate plans, which might have us driving down to Sandy Springs again to visit a dance fashion warehouse once more.  

In any event, we had a good day.  We read, and we said our prayers.  Tomorrow's going to be a good day too!

Free Chapel Dove

Mom took this wonderful picture of a cloud formation that looks like a beautiful and ginormous bird, and look where it's heading too.  That's where she was - we've been working hard at KidPak and the church in general, trying to get Easter together, and it's coming along, although not without challenges.

We had storms tonight, or super early Saturday, and lost another Bradford tree branch at the front of the neighborhood.  Those trees have been pretty weak, and of course there's the smell - the blessing about the frequent rainfall of late has been lack of pungent odor from these trees, and maybe the pollen count is lower for all I know.  Nevertheless, Maddie's got her allergy medicine lined up because as she said, "If I just miss one day..." Well, the results are not good.  There's a bit of coughing, snorting and so on throughout allergy season.  We're hanging in there, but the rain has been helpful in at least that regard.  Elsewhere, the rain has had a terrible effect, particularly in Mississippi this evening, where things were perfectly dreadful.

Taekwondo tonight was good, and Maddie had a great time as always, always with so much to say afterwards on the drive home.  We stopped by the gas station for our obligatory free drink - I'm supposed to get one per day.  We've saved up all these points that will expire soon, so there's also this race against time to use the points up frivolously on things like roller grill items, soft drinks in bottles, chips, and maybe some ice cream soon enough.  I missed taekwondo tonight, pretty much because I was grocery shopping the entire time.  We were severely behind on that, not going shopping for quite some time.  So I picked up a lot of our fruit, vegetables, fish, and all the other items.  I always try to pick up something a little different not on the list, and so I spotted some Wagyu beef for later too.  

We had a funny moment tonight getting home, deciding what to watch.  We've loved the series "Secrets of Sulphur Springs" and season three starts this weekend, so tonight we started out thinking we'd just watch a few episodes of season two to catch up... only... we watched all eight episodes back to back.  Yeah, true story.  It was such a welcome rest and a break from all the Easter and KidPak and Forward and Summer Xtreme and so on.  We all just sat on the couch in a vegetative state and enjoyed a fun show together.  All of it.  The episodes are pretty short, comparatively.  But still, it seems quite extravagant to watch eight of them in one night.  Nevertheless, that's what we did, along with some dinner of course and popcorn, and dessert too.  It was a full night.

We've been busy.  We're doing a lot with Easter.  Mom is making costuming and Dawn is over here frequently, including today, getting things together for her dancer costumes for Easter.  The clock is ticking.  I've got things set up for Sunday, and some other things for Easter too - it's going well.

It was late - obviously - when we went to bed, but we did read a little bit from the Discworld.  And then... it was time for sleep.  At least for a little while before the storms rolled in...

It's a Bundt!

A local bundt cake company came around, one that deals exclusively with bundt cake and they left us all this bundt cake as a donation, so of course we were all having these slices of super rich bundt cake.  It was really good, but that might be the problem with it - it was too good to eat any more of, as it was so rich.  But what a concept:  bundt cakes.  And why is there a "d" in it?  Actually, the real question I've learned, after a bit of research is, why is there a "t" in "bundt"?  The answer may have to do with a story that goes back in time to an unfortunate association with another company that sympathized with Germany during the Second World War.  But all that aside, the only thing that Mom and I think of immediately when seeing or hearing any bundt cake at all is this:

"It's a bundt!"  We both say that immediately, imitating the movie every single time.  Every.  Single.  Time.  This movie has an incredible impact on the bundt cake, I think.  Anyway, the cake was good and I was grateful.

We had taekwondo tonight, and that was nice.  Maddie is in leadership and helping to instruct the younger kids as they move along with classes.  Wasn't too long she was right there with them.

Moving on:  we squeezed in an episode of "The Mandalorian" tonight, the fourth one of the season.  Also watched the analysis afterwards which confirmed that yes, Ahmed Best portrayed a jedi knight in that scene and yes, that's awesome.  It was a late night - Maddie had her small group, which typically runs about an hour and a half, so we were up pretty late.  We said our prayers tonight after reading a quick bit from the Discworld.  The plush entourage enjoyed hearing it, and then the herd roamed down the hall to Maddie's bedroom where we all said goodnight as usual, and also "you smell" like always... always funny.  It was a good day though.  The temperatures are starting to get warm, and we're gathering props for Easter - Mom has been making some pretty cool stuff.  Lots and lots of work to go, and things are getting more and more busy!

Boomshakalaka!

Tonight we had a return to "March Madness" at FCY, and they asked me to help by being a guest host to watch and comment on the proceedings.

 

I was not a judge, but I was looking up some of the quotes from NBA Jam, an old basketball game from my generation, the very one that originated the word:  "Boomshakalaka!"  I got to do some of that tonight, and it was pretty fun.  There was also an ice cream truck - Maddie got her traditional Spiderman ice cream, while I went with a chocolate cream bar that was delicious and get this - they had pineapple pizza there.  Yes, I love pineapple pizza.  I'm one of those people.

Anyway, Maddie had a great time tonight, watching the festivities.  There was a three-point contest, and after that a few words from Pastor Hamilton, and after that the air show, a slam dunk competition.  It was not quite as high-flying and death defying as last year, but it was super fun.  Maddie stood along the side amongst the cheering crowd, with her friends, and ready go have a bit of fun afterwards.  

It was a nice night, of course.  We got home, and Maddie decided right there and then that yes, we have time for the latest "Bad Batch" episode, which had some pretty intense bits to it.  It's been a great show, and we really are hoping for the redemption of Crosshair. 

Maddie and I are big fans of Crosshair.  Maddie was talking about her hope for his return to the group, and I think that's one of the central hopes of all "Bad Batch" fans.  It's been a good show, now in these recent episodes really upping the stakes and getting fairly dark and intense in parts.  Down with the Empire!

We said our prayers tonight and we read from teh Discworld too, still Down Under on the Lost Continent of XXXX.  It was a geek kind of night.  I'm raising a complete geek.  We'll have to do some taekwondo tomorrow to build up some of her athlete cred!  

Anyway, it was a good night.  The slam dunks were fun to watch, and the weather straightened up just in time.  It was a good day.

Chun Li Returns

 

Maddie tried on her Chun Li costume again, and it still fits!  That means we can have her as Chun Li this weekend in our new "fight the fight of faith" skit.  Mom took a few pictures of her and sent them to me, so now I can get really going on the latest skit for the weekend.  However, today was a day for working on the "Weird Science" booklet, and meetings about Easter too.  Then there's this thing tomorrow night... there's just a lot going on lately.  Easter is coming soon though, which will be fun to bring some great things out from the basement:  our Hoppy Hollow village for instance.  And the EGG TREE!  Yes, the Lone Egg dangling from the tree will now have company as we hang all kinds of other colorful eggs upon the tree.  And there's a wreath that Mom made too, which looks nice.  We've got all that to put out, plus a few new flags that Mom got in the mail just today.  There's a big flag to go on the pole that has the American flag on it usually, and a smaller garden flag too.  We'll put those out this weekend, I'm sure, and get this place ready for a Hoppy Easter!  Even if we're not actually here in the house much that weekend, it will still be a good weekend.

We didn't have any classes tonight, so we did train under the tutelage of Jackie Chan by watching "Shanghai Knights," our third consecutive Jackie Chan movie.  Yes, there'll be more as we move forward! We enjoyed the movie, once Maddie was able to get her homework done and out of the way, which didn't take as long because she had an open calendar tonight.  Soon, that calendar is going to be much more full as we approach Easter.  Mom is already working late into the night on sewing costumes and making decorative props for the dancers.  

We had a good day today.  Maddie and I spent some time reading, and we said our prayers tonight before heading to bed.  The weather has been chilly lately, but we're about to see a nice spring-like warming trend!

Free Ice Cream Day 2023

 

It's the first day of Spring, but we kind of forget about that because it's also "FREE ICE CREAM DAY" at Dairy Queen.  After taekwondo tonight, Maddie and I were over there at Dairy Queen taking advantage of a free cone for each of us, one that was quickly devoured in the car.  It was 36 degrees this morning, on the first day of sprint.  Yeah.

One funny story from Maddie's experience with Robo-Mason, the android baby.  She got a 100 on her assignment, by the way, but Saturday night she woke up at 3:30 am, which is technically Sunday morning but whatever.  The baby was crying, and Maddie tried a few things to get the baby to quiet down.  These did not work, and the baby kept on crying and Maddie was pretty tired.  So she did exactly the thing that every parent shouldn't do:  she piled up a bunch of pillows and blankets on top of the baby.  That's right, she smothered it.  Her teacher had a great laugh about that one!  The rest of the weekend, it was clear that Maddie was hyper-alert, sure to take care of this autobaby, and her teacher could tell.  So yes, she got a 100.

So today I was up there getting my passport in Cleveland at their post office.  We hurried back, because we wanted to drop by and see Nana on the way home, which we did.  She was doing okay, except for perhaps the laundry issue, which we saw to right away.  She seems in good spirits.  We brought her grapes and some contraband candy, which she greatly appreciated.

Tonight we got home and it was a little late for watching much, particularly because Maddie had homework tonight too.  So we kept it brief, read for a while, and then said our prayers.  We've got blankets on tonight, hiding beneath them all and doing our best to keep warm.  First day of spring?  Brrrrr!

Minecraft Morning

Ah, here's Maddie at church this morning, wearing her Sunday best.  She's the one in the green.  It's such a funny costume, because first of all, there are no arms.  What's up with that?  I guess when the only thing your character does is explode, there's not much time to think about having arms.  Anyway, the morning was a solid one, a morning where we talked about building on the solid rock, about not letting sin creep in.  We used a lot of cardboard boxes for the game segment, where teams tried to build the tallest tower.  Between service, we build a pretty good castle, which you can see me inside, working on next weekend's slides.

Oh no!  There's the Creeper again!  Just like in the game, in your face, and kind of scary for some reason.  The skit and the message went really well, with a guest appearance by Steve, and a pretty fun day overall with great videos.  

What was fun was Maddie carrying around and caring for Cyborg Mason this morning.  We bought a baby carrier from Goodwill just so he could sit there and cyber-sleep in my office, dreaming of world domination with the rest of his techno-babies.  Maddie took very good care of Mason though, and more than once people were curious as to who this little baby was.  

After church, we got home, and Mom had an amazing meal prepared, mahi mahi and shrimp and all kinds of delicious food.  We ate, and then we played some games because why not?  Maddie and I went bak to the LEGO Star Wars game, hanging around Tipoca City, or as I like to call it, "Tapioca City."  The Kaminoans would probably not appreciate that.  Of course, the city is completely gone now, so there's that.

Anyway, we closed the day out by watching "Shanghai Noon" together, which Maddie barely remembered.  But as we were watching Jackie Chan movies lately, this one only seemed right to watch next, especially because we were just watching Owen Wilson as a cowboy in the "Night at the Museum" movies.  Next is "Shanghai Knights" of course.  Maybe Tuesday.

We said our prayers tonight, and Baby Mason shut down at 4pm by the way.  No countdown or explosion either, unlike a Creeper.  No Fanfare.  No little musical number where a robotic disembodied voice sings verses of song about how "you survived."  Maddie was anxious for 4pm to get here, to relax when the baby powered down.  She did well with Mason though.  She had him at church, and of course there were a few people that initially thought it was a real baby.  That is, until its eyes started glowing red and a proximity alert went off.  Just kidding.  

Back in the Discworld tonight, back in Australia and also almost done with the devotional.  We went to bed on time and were ready for bed, Maddie more than ready for a full night's sleep!

Cyber Mason

We had a somewhat busy day today, of course, mainly because we had our Big Ol' St. Patrick's Day Celebration at Nana and Ye-Ye's house this afternoon.  We started out visiting Nana at Manor Lake though, and as you can see, Cyber Mason was there too.  In fact, just as this android will be in all the pictures from today, he was also with Maddie the entire day.  He needed attention from time to time, and Maddie was quick to aggressively rock Mason to sleep, or change a diaper, or feed it imaginary food.  The cybernaut child sort of makes this happy noise when all done, and we can have peace again.  Nana found it amusing, of course.  Things seem to be better here, settling in more for her.  She seems more content.  Maddie wanted to go see her again, and that was nice, as she had an option to stay home, certainly because of the auto-infant.  But she came along, and we were there to remind the folks there to do laundry and make sure Nana was okay there, which she seemed to be.  She seemed content, and not the restless Nana that we knew a lot of earlier.  We dial the phone and get her in touch with her brother each time we're there - the call is a simple one, but they laugh and she smiles and they talk with one another across the pond.  The same questions and the same things are said, but it brings her joy.

Ah, here's Joey the Porg with a few other porgs, all of them investigating this Life Model Decoy of a baby named Mason.  Clearly, they have their suspicions, probably based on the fact that this baby is actually some sort of surveillance tool and/or a ticking time bomb ready to release an EMP strike, and send the Western Hemisphere back about two hundred years where we're all hunting for our own food again.

Until then, here's Maddie with green make-up on, ready to head over to the St. Patrick's Day party and Nana and Ye-Ye's house.  It was fun - there was the usual assortment of corn beef, potatoes and cabbage too.  Plus there was a gluten free cake and Mom's marzipan potatoes, along with other tasty themed treats. Everyone wore green and then some, and there were all kinds of great music tunes on the radio - they had found a station where there was pure Irish band music from across the pond.  Great stuff!  In the car, we've been listening to this band we heard at EPCOT, one called "Off Kilter."  Also listening to more Ceili Rain too, the CD with the classic song, "That's All the Lumber."  We had a nice time over there - it was a great afternoon.

Ah, here's a photo of Maddie at the Senior Center there in Dawsonville.  It's a self-portrait with RoboMason, who looks poised to strike at any moment.  Or at least poised to need a cyber diaper change.  We got home from our party, and it was late enough - Maddie knew that this technological terror would wake her up in the night at some unexpected point, so it made sense to get to bed a little earlier tonight.  

Still, before bed, we made time to watch a movie I've been hyping up this week, one that Maddie finally saw called "Supercop."  It's a Jackie Chan movie, but I love it because of Michelle Yeoh - this was the first movie I saw her in, and of course it was amazing.  Maddie enjoyed the movie, and I suspect we'll be watching more martial arts movies for a small season.  But of course the big reason for wanting to watch a Michelle Yeoh movie was because of her big win at the Academy Awards earlier this week.  Such a great moment for Asians, and for geeks too!

It was a good day.  We ended it with some reading from our devotional, and from our Discworld adventure on the lost continent of XXXX.  It's moving along, and we're enjoying one more great story with Rincewind.  We said our prayers tonight, and after that, it was time for a good night's rest.  At least for two of us.  The third one was awake somewhere after 3am by an evil robot baby.

McCreeper

You have to wear green on St. Patrick's Day, right?  So here's Maddie wearing her new green outfit, a Creeper costume from the game "Minecraft."  And given that it is St. Patrick's Day, we'll go ahead and call this one a McCreeper.  Has a nice ring to it!  And here's my choice of clothing for the day:

Little known fact:  Steve's last name is O'Miner.  Irish Minecrafter all the way.

Actually, here's Maddie's clothing choice for today at school.  She's a big fan of plaid, and the green plaid works here, avoiding any reason for anyone to pinch her!

 

And this is what Maddie wore today.  She had her green Edge shirt on for taekwondo, and so did quite a few of the other students, so there was a good bit of green out there on the floor.  To add to the festive nature of night, Master Edge had some rollicking Irish songs in there, particularly some fantastic tunes from the Dropkick Murphys.  It was a pretty awesome night there.

But you're probably wondering about the baby there.  Yes, that's Mason, Maddie's weekend homework assignment.  Mason is an artificial baby programmed to monitor kill act like a baby, which in this case means crying at random moments to signify need for a diaper change, or perhaps, as you see above, a session of feeding.  What's wonderful about this is that Mason wakes up in the middle of the night, and yes that means 3:00 one night, and 1:30 another night.  So it's a small baby-shaped electronic torture device!

Still, Maddie gets a lot of commentary when carrying around Mason, and I'd like to say we're proud grandparents.  Yes, I'd like to say that.  But Mason's eyes don't ever close, and he sort of creeps us out.

Anyway, it was a good St. Patrick's Day, all things considered.  Mom was making her delicious marzipan potatoes again, which look like real potatoes, but they're brownies wrapped in marzipan, covered in a layer of powdery cocoa.  We were listening to our Chieftain records, and even some Ceili Rain as we had our Lucky Charms and later on, corn beef.  Tomorrow we'll be going to see the grandparents for a bigger Irish celebration, but on the day of, we had some fun doing some of the normal things usually done on March 17th.  

We watched "The Mandalorian" tonight, and after that we were ready for bed.  At least until the LMD baby awoke to be "fed."  In fact, he's secretly collecting data and while everyone's asleep, probably wandering around the house sabotaging electronics and preparing the region - along with all the other terminator babies - for a full scale invasion.

We read tonight from the Discworld, and then from our devotional too.  It was a good day today.  We said our prayers, and at least two of us had a good night's rest this evening!