Happy 4th, Y'all!

via Scalzi.

Back from DC

Next time we go to DC, I think we'll start planning it a little earlier. We knew this was coming for a long time, but we put all our mental energy into what to do with the baby, and not much thought into our actual trip. So, basically, we were winging it. The only fixed point in our trip was that Monday would be spent at a conference.

Sometimes that worked really well, sometimes not. Here's what didn't work well:

Walking. We are not so young anymore, and don't walk much in our ordinary lives. So we ended up sore and tired fairly quickly. At one point we looked at the map, saw the distance to the Metro, and decided that a taxi ride back to the hotel was totally worth ten bucks. If we had it to do over again, we would have hopped onto a monument bus tour first thing and used that to get our bearings and see the major monuments.

Not checking hours. Because of our schedule, Saturday and Sunday were our major days for sightseeing. But at least two of the things we really wanted to see were closed on Sunday. Which would have been nice to know on Saturday, when we went to the Smithsonian, which is open on Sunday. Doh!

Here's what did work:

Wandering around. We ended up right by the White House purely by luck, and went to the Remnick Gallery because we wanted somewhere cool to sit down. The Sam Maloof dining set in the upstairs gallery looked quite comfortable, but we opted for some cushy benches. Still, it was one of the highlights of the trip, and totally random. Wandering is rough on the feet, though.

Yelp.com. Specifically, their mobile apps, which let you see reviews of local restaurants, attractions, etc. Yelp led us to the Blue Duck Tavern, which we would have walked right by, and to El Chalan, which we never would have found. Both were fantastic meals.

The iPhone. Maps, maps, maps. And a camera. And restaurant reviews. And news. And email. And boredom killer. I'm not saying I wouldn't want to do a big city without the iPhone, but I certainly felt more comfortable having it. And it was great being able to watch video of the baby whenever I missed her, which was a lot.

Home Again

I didn't see much news while I was gone, but I imagine it was just all Iran, all the time, right? I mean, what could push that off the front page?

Milestones

They're not all sweetness and light. Our 4 year old niece, for example, has long had a wonderful imagination, but she's only just now begun to realize that she can apply that imagination to try and get things she wants. Yeah, she's been telling silly stories, and exaggerated for dramatic effect, and sometimes her answers to "so, what did you do this weekend?" stretch the limits of plausibility, but it's only in the last few weeks, that we've had to start checking up on her when she says, "My mom said it was okay."

Just this weekend, our little girl reached a similar milestone. I came into the bathroom just as Christie was enforcing the "no standing in the bathtub" rule. As soon as Chipmunk saw me, she said, "Dada?" in this questioning voice that, I swear, translated as, "Do I really have to do what the crazy lady says?"

The answer, of course, was "Yes, your mother is right." I'm thinking of getting it as a tattoo. Might save time.

And then there was last night. She woke up crying in the middle of the night, and after a suitable period of time, I came to get her and help her get back to sleep. I started to pick her up, then saw her pacifier on the floor. So I left her in her crib and bent down to get the pacifier. "Dadaaaaaa!" she screamed, with all the sense of betrayal she could possibly muster. She might as well have just ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped on it.

Clearly, she's coming along right on schedule.

John Hodgman Questions President's Nerd Cred

Very, very funny. I particularly like the reaction of the crowd when he asks Obama if he's the Kwisatz Haderach.

Father's Day

This morning was a big ol' brunch, then my ladies napped while I folded laundry and watched Mythbusters (which is really about my ideal Sunday afternoon, oddly enough), then it was off to the sprayground for some very, very wet fun. We were way too beat to cook, or to go out, so we ordered delivery from our favorite Mexican place, via Tiger's Takeout. i really can't say enough good things about them. I've got my pick of great restaurants, the service is prompt, and they keep you updated about the status of your order at every stage.

Now they just need an iPhone app.

As far as my thoughts on Father's Day, I'm too tired for anything particularly deep, but it was a little weird having my first Father's Day after being a dad for more than a year. I'm completely used to being a dad at this point, but the suddenly public nature of that relationship was a bit discomfiting. In spite of having a blog where I spill my every trivial thought, and my tendency to gush about my daughter to anyone who will listen, I am basically a fairly private person, and I've never been comfortable as the center of attention. The way I coped was to focus as much as possible on my little girl. She's the reason for the season, as the saying goes.

With all apologies to my gamer friends

Not sure how ethical it is to tell you about a comment that is subsequently removed by the author, but I just had my masculinity impugned by some troll that followed me home from a comment I'd left on a post at a feminist web site. Of course I am the all powerful admin, so I can see the blogs this guy follows and know his hometown, but I still can't tell if he was trying for ironic and missed, or trying for stupid and hit. Whichever it was, he obviously thought better of the comment, which I applaud.

But the site emails copies of any comment to me, so I did see it, and I saw his blog, which is entirely devoted to role playing games, and mostly seems to consists of bitching about the GMing. Two words, oh troll of mine: Glass houses.

Signs that you might be a furniture geek

1. You get excited when you hear that Thomas Moser is doing the keynote at a conference, and feel bummed that you can't make it.

2. You realize that the conference is being held near an Ikea, and wonder if you could gatecrash the keynote while your wife is shopping.

Note on #2: I said, furniture geek, not furniture snob, so no sniffing at Ikea. That being said, I would much rather own Moser furniture than Ikea furnture. I just can't afford it. So if you're independently wealthy, and wondering what to get me for Father's Day, here are just a few ideas. That rocking chair is a steal at $3,200.

Boing Boing: Twitter reschedules maintenance to avoid clobbering Iranian dissidents.

Iran

I can't stop checking Andrew Sullivan's blog to see the latest news from Iran. It's got that "holy shit, we're watching history" sort of feel to it. What's grim about revolutions, of course, is that sometimes nothing happens except for a lot of young people dying. But sometimes they change the world. Here's hoping this is one of the latter, and not the former.

Been there, done that

When babies attack: Labor pain is just the start.