One Dad's Life

Better Than Real

My wife likes to watch the same movies and TV show episodes over and over.  While I DO love to watch movies, once each is generally enough. Once is enough, that is, except for one kind of show or movie:

Animation.

That's right, cartoons.  I'm not even talking about that whole culture of animation intended for adults, well except for Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill, The Simpsons, and perhaps Ren and Stimpy.  I'm talking about the usual kids cartoons. 

In fact, the number one movie I'm wanting to see in the theater right now is Monsters vs. Aliens.  It's a cartoon.  I have little interest in anything else, except for possibly the new Star Trek movie - which could be argued is a cartoon, too, even though it is live-action.

Still, my favorite form of cartoon is the cartoon short - the kind that used to be shown before feature films, or on Saturday mornings.

When my oldest daughter was a youngster, I loved LOVED LOVED watching Rug Rats with her.  I'd be that guy sitting on the couch, laughing out loud and repeating all the things that Angelica said. ("You babies are so dumb I can't believe you lived to be ONE!") In fact, it may be entirely true that I used my daughter as an excuse to run off and see the Rug Rats movie in the theater!  There was even a giant robot involved, which was totally cool.

For whatever reason, I moved on from the Rug Rats to Power-Puff Girls (which I called "Powder-Puff" just to annoy my daughter), to Cat Dog (a creature that had a dog on one end, and on the other end a cat), and then on to Jimmie Neutron:Boy Genius.   Jimmie Neutron is everything I wanted to be as a kid.  Here's why:

1. He had an enormous under-the-house laboratory.
2. His parents had no idea he had an enormous under-the-house laboratory.
3. He could create ANYTHING is just minutes, whether it was a robotic dog complete with weapons-grade lasers, or a spacecraft out of old car parts and a few inner-tubes.  Genius.
4. Despite his incredible mind and skills, he was extremely kind to his well-below par friends.
5. Did I mention the enormous under-the-house laboratory?

Seriously, how much cooler could this cartoon get?  Answer: not much!  I should really get some of these DVDs!

Still, my favorite series of cartoons - by far - is the most timeless: Looney Tunes.

100 years from now science will have created a critter that is one-half dog and one-half cat welded together back to back, or will have duplicated most of the inventions of Jimmie Neutron (which much of the comedy revolves around).  However, 100 years from now, people will still laugh at Sylvester trying to get the Tweety Bird, or Yosemite Sam trying to shoot Bugs.  It's a timeless struggle!

Despite my disinterest in watching most movies more than once, Looney Tunes makes me laugh over and over ... and over... at all the same scenes.  No matter how many times Daffy Duck's beak flips up in his face (boing-oing-oing-oing-oing), or Wile E. Coyote plunges off a cliff to his certain death (and miraculously walks away), or Bugs aggravates Marvin Martian, or Porky Pig sings opera, I giggle like a 1-year old with a Jack-in-the-Box.

Fortunately, some of the thousands of Looney Tunes episodes are available on DVD.  So far, I have all that have been released, which is a total of 24 DVDs of Looney Tune goodness.  Isn't modern technology great.  Looney Tunes whenever I want, not just on Saturday morning like when I was a kid.

Life is good!

Christmas Doll House - Part 2

Today's post is a continuation of yesterday's, where I posted five (5) photos of the doll house my wife, the MacGyver of Craftiness, built this past summer.  Well, now it is decorated for Christmas (though not as much as our real house), and here are some more pictures for your enjoyment.  Be sure and check out yesterday's, if you haven't seen them as well!

All photos taken with a Nikon D60 dSLR, 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 lens, SB-600 flash, and LumiQuest LQ-107 softbox mounted on the flash head (on camera).  I adjust the flash compensation and exposure to try to duplicate what the house looks like in our room under the normally dark room lighting.

This is the front porch of the house, complete with working lights. The window on the left is the living (showing the lighted Christmas tree inside).  The window on the right is the kitchen.  All of the wreaths were made by my wife.

Another shot of the living room, seen through the window in the first picture, and in another view in yesterday's post. (Go check it out, sometime!)

Another shot of one of the upstairs bedrooms (third floor), complete with its own Jack-in-the-box!

A detail shot of the second floor balcony.  Be sure to check yesterday's photos for some more overall views of the house.

Have a very Merry Christmas Eve!

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If you are interested in seeing what my wife and I do outside of work, home, musicals, photography, blogging, and all our various and sundry events and hobbies, please come to the 7:00PM Contemporary Christmas Eve Service tonight at Christ Memorial Lutheran Church, 5252 S. Lindbergh Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63126.  Dianne (MacGyver of craftiness) is the worship leader, and I lead the band!  There will be music, drama and video!

If traditional style Christmas Services is more your cup of tea, then you will not find a better place to be than the same place, but at 10:00PM.  The music in this service features a full orchestra and choir. You will not be disappointed!

Christmas Doll House

By now, you are certainly aware that our home decorating for Christmas knows no bounds.  This past summer, my wife (who I referred to as the MacGyver of Craftiness yesterday) built a wooden doll house that is REALLY for her, but that the kids play with.

The doll house has been mentioned a number of times on this blog, and even has been in the corner of several pictures....but not many close ups.  I've received numerous emails asking for more photos on the dollhouse so today is your lucky day!  My wife, Dianne, and the two girls have decorated the doll house for Christmas.  Here are a couple of photos of the decorations.  All photos taken with a Nikon D60 dSLR, 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 lens, SB-600 flash, and LumiQuest LQ-107 softbox mounted on the flash head (on camera).  I adjust the flash compensation and exposure to try to duplicate what the house looks like in our room under the normally dark room lighting.

The house is fully electrified and lighted! This is how the house normally looks in its corner of the dining room, lit by its own lights and ambient Christmas lighting in our house.

The snow covered roof-line and the Christmas lights on the eaves!

A shot of the living room, with it's own lit Christmas tree, decorated by my wife, and stockings, garland, and gingerbread house.  All made by the crafty missus.

This is a detail shot of one of the bedrooms in the attic area.  This is a little table that is setup - and it has it's own gingerbread house, too!

This is a little better view of the front of the house, complete with wreathes (again, made by Dianne) and some of the other decorations. You can click on this shot to get a better view of the decorations and all the detail Dianne put into the house.  Check out those window frames and all the lighting! ...and is that a chocolate cake on the kitchen table?

Tomorrow, more photos from the doll house, so hurry back!  Also, if you are new to the site, continue reading for many more Christmas tradition pictures!

Christmas Traditions - Christmas Music

Every year for Thanksgiving, my wife, daughters and I, all pile in the "One Dad's Life" car and make our way to the Kansas City area.  Dianne's family is mostly in that area, and we spend the Thanksgiving holiday with them.  For us, this event marks the beginning of the Christmas season for us.

One of our traditions, and one I am sure my kids will remember their whole life, is that we do not play Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. This is a hard and fast rule in my house!  Unfortunately, the rule is broken by the fact that my wife and I are in charge of the contemporary music at church and so we need to be selecting (by "selecting" I mean my wife finds stuff and asks if I'd like to do it - my answer to this question is not really that important, actually) and rehearsing music for the Advent and Christmas season at church.  We don't really let this count.  There is still no CASUAL listening of Christmas music allowed, ok?

So, every year we come back from Kansas City sometime on Friday, depending on all of our rehearsal schedules and such. (This year, Rebecca needed to be back in St. Louis for a 4:30 rehearsal of a Christmas song and dance show she is in).  So, our tradition, and something we look forward to immensely, is to play Christmas Music all the way back home to St. Louis. This is our Christmas season, official kick off.  There really should be the firing of a starting gun, or the cutting of a ribbon, or the drinking of some eggnog or something.

This year, for the first time, I had an iPod (a technological marvel that the REST of my family had long before me!), and I loaded up a LOT of our Christmas Music on that little guy.  I made a playlist of 784 Christmas songs - yeah, we have a lot of Christmas CDs - and put it on shuffle for the way back.  On previous years, we selected 7-8 Christmas CDs that we'd cram in a CD case (along with music for the way TO Kansas City, non-Christmas, of course) and listen to these one at a time on the way back.

Most of the Christmas albums we have were purchased by way of opportunity.  By "opportunity" I mean that we saw them in the store and they looked good.  So our collection is relatively random.  This year, despite the huge number of Christmas CDs we have, it has come to my attention that we are missing a great number of "classic" CDs!  Impossible, yet true!  The first that we noticed was when my niece was singing a song that Dianne remembered from Mitch Miller.  The song was "Must be Santa" and was on "Holiday Sing-Along with Mitch Miller."  Well, I rapidly corrected this oversight with a quick purchase from Amazon.com.  However, in conversation with my friend Tim at work (HI TIM!), I realized to my horror their may be MORE.  EGADS!  So, here is a list of a few of OUR must-have CDs (meaning they usually made the cut for that KC trip).

YOUR job, is to provide in the comments what your must-have Christmas albums are!  Easy, right!  The benefit to me, is I can figure out if these are in fact albums that WE must have as well.

Here's my list (all links in this post go to an Amazon listing for the albums mentioned for your convenience!):

1. Yuletide Soiree - Yeah, I know you haven't heard of this one unless you are my sister, but it is a great collection of all the old classic Christmas songs like "Rudolph", "Jingle Bell Rock", "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", etc.   It also comes with a cookbook and party planning guide! Wow!
2. Amy Grant - Home for Christmas - I personally think that Amy Grant is the Christmas voice of our generation, though Diana Krall is possibly a close second. This, I think, is the first Christmas CD from her and we have performed many of the songs in these arrangements ourselves, as well!
3. Amy Grant - A Christmas to Remember - Hey, I said she was THE voice for Christmas, right?  This one is also great.
4. Point of Grace - A Christmas Story - Four part harmony and great arrangements along with some truly great original songs.  We have also performed many of these!
5. Burl Ives - Have a Holly Jolly Christmas - Need I say more? Be sure and click on this one for the song list, at least, and imagine Burl Ives singing!  He was the voice of the snowman narrator in the stop action animation classic Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer. 
6. Liona Boyd - A Guitar for Christmas - This Canadian classical guitarist is one of my favorites, anyway, and there is something about Christmas songs being played on a nylon-stringed classical guitar. Every year around this time, I want to buy a nylon-stringed, classical guitar just for the Christmas songs. So far, I've resisted. So far.  Also, as I was making this link, I discovered there is a sheet music transcription of this album! Oh, the pain!

So there you have it - a, by no means complete, list of some of our essential albums.  We have probably a hundred more Christmas CDs (not to mention vinyl), but these ALWAYS made there way into our playlist.

Now it is your turn - tell me in the comments section what Christmas albums you can't live without! Which ones are YOUR classics?  What am I missing out on? Let us all know!

Have a great weekend!

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If you are a blogger, visit my December post on the St. Louis Blogger's Guild website for helpful ideas on sharing YOUR Christmas traditions through your blog!  Click here. Now.

It's All Going to the Birds

If you've been reading "One Dad's Life" for a while now - and honestly, I can't think of any good reasons why you shouldn't be - you know that I am a man of MANY interests.  Many.

So many, that one time I tried to list them, and it took two whole posts.  Yep.  As you know, my posts aren't usually the briefest posts, either.  That's why it probably won't come as much of a surprise to you to learn that last winter,  I suddenly had the urge to get a hummingbird feeder.

I didn't mention this urge to anyone, because I had a similar urge once to restart my stamp collecting hobby and that was met with some derision.  Fortunately, my employer offers free counseling.  In any case, eventually I realized this urge wasn't going to go away, and since the price of entry was very low, I picked up a hummingbird feeder and a really cool cast-iron hook to mount the feeder on our house.  The hook has these neat bird designs on it and everything. It was destiny!

Eventually, during a productive frenzy I had while the rest of my family was in KC, I hung up the hook and feeder at the end of May.  As hobbies go, this was pretty easy.  I made some nectar, cleaned the feeder a couple of times a week and waited for my feathery customers.

Unfortunately, compared to many of my hobbies, you would probably say that this one turned out to be a dismal failure.  Oh sure, I participated just fine.  I regularly changed the nectar and cleaned the feeder.  The problem is...no hummingbirds came to visit.

None.

In fact, I don't think so much as a gnat came to visit.

After many months of this, God spoke to me.  He said something along the lines of "Gregg!"  This time around, he sounded just like Bill Cosby doing that "Noah" sketch! I looked around and said, "what?"  Then my wife said, "what?"  I shushed her. This is my story. I knew that disembodied voices almost always meant that God was talking to me...or I was being paged.  However, the only people that knew where I was were my family (all present) and God.  God doesn't need to use the pager. Thus, I was leaning towards God doing the speaking. I'm pretty good at logic.

"Maybe you should try feeding the finches!" the voice said. It was loud. I'm pretty sure my wife heard it, too.  We were in the bird feeder aisle at Lowe's.  Convenient, no?   So, we purchased the feeder...and a stand...and some thistle seeds.  Finches like thistle seeds.  The voice didn't say that, I just looked it up at Lowe's.

We set up the feeder, and almost immediately the first finches arrived like they had been sent. Wow.  I looked at the hummingbird feeder and shook my fist at it. "Why can't you be more like the finch feeder!"  I talk to inanimate objects like that.  I also like Teddy Bears.

The hummingbird feeder was so cool looking, too. It was all antiqued and just stylish, not like those garish red plastic ones.  How could the birds not love it?  So, I decided to do some research on how to get hummingbirds to my feeder. My research told me that hummingbirds essentially liked garish red plastic feeders. My feeder had subdued red flowers on it, that were quite pleasing to the human eye.  Hummingbirds don't care what the human eye is pleased by, my research additionally told me.

I didn't want to replace my feeder, because of its coolness and all, but I also wanted to try to attract hummingbirds.  I had the whole fancy hanger and everything and was ready to watch the birds out of my bedroom window!  So, we decided to try hanging strips of garish red vinyl on and around the feeder.

This Saturday, it worked!  We got our first hummingbirds!  I was so happy!  I've been fascinated with small, colorful Missouri birds since about the time I had those urges to get the hummingbird feeder!  I was delighted!  I also noticed that our finch feeder was PACKED most of the time.  How exciting! The finches were starting to fight over the food.  I decided I didn't want finches fighting outside my window.  That wasn't the cheerful, pleasant kind of bird sounds I had been hoping for at all!

So, after a brief consultation with Dianne, we decided to purchase another finch feeder on Sunday. We've always loved those birds! (Well, since that episode in the store, at least). Now, we frequently have 7-8 finches at a time on the two feeders.  We are the finch Mecca!

So, if you are a finch or a hummingbird, come on over!  Have we got the place for you! We're even thinking about installing a pool for you. If you are a finch or a hummingbird, life is good for you at the "One Dad's Life" household!

I Know What You are Thinking - When Will He Grow Up?

The other day, I posted the following on twitter:

Am I the only 40+ dad that wants to decorate his home office with these?

Sure, other dads may dream of rich mahogany paneling and velvet tapestries, but I'm looking for Mario, a bunch of brick blocks, mushrooms, and those spiny things!  (Plus Princess Peach) However, it's apparent that at least at the time of that posting, I was in fact the only 40+ dad looking to decorate with those decals. 

No one responded. Not one.

I was shocked. Have all the rest of you forgotten how to play?  I suppose you are going to tell me next that you don't have mullet wigs and suction cup dart guns in your desk at work, either.  What's the matter? Are you afraid to play? Are you chicken? 

Isn't the point of going to college to get a decent job so that you can do all that fun stuff you wanted to do as a kid...without your parents telling you it was bedtime!  LIVE A LITTLE PEOPLE!

I did spot one glimmer of hope, though.  I came across a guy on twitter last night that has a real live Super Mario Bros. arcade game in his basement.  That's probably just as cool, if not cooler, than having your own Kiss pinball game!

So to answer the question of "When will he grow up?"  I don't know.  It seems unlikely to occur at this point.  You're talking to a guy that has Micky Mouse as a wizard, the Taco Bell chihuahua, A.L.F., a skeleton with a tie-dye shirt, Opus, and Scrooge McDuck stuffed animals sitting on his desk!

Growing up is over-rated. Admit it. If you don't I'll give you an Indian rope-burn until you cry "uncle!"

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Readers of "One Dad's Life." Yesterday, we received some scary news regarding "motherofbun", a regular visitor of this website.  Please read the post below for more information and please show her some support, if you haven't already! Thank you very much. - Gregg

Hobbies

Is it possible to have too many hobbies?  I'm not talking about things you may be interested in...I'm talking things you actually make an attempt at doing.

A few weeks ago, I casually mentioned to my wife and parents how I was just thinking of resurrecting a hobby that had long been on hiatus.   This casual thought, though something I was looking forward to, was met with immediate laughter and derision.   I believe it was my wife, who I call Dianne, who laughed the loudest.  She said, "And when exactly are you going to be able to do this?"  She could have added "Mr. Smarty Pants", but she didn't.  I think it was implied, though.

Mean Dianne.

Well, it was a fair question.  However, I still kind of wished I hadn't brought the whole thing up! So, I'm soliciting help from all of you. Here is a list of hobbies that I'm either currently involved in, or maintain an interest in...even if they have been on hiatus.  Some of the items, I don't even know whether to group them together or not!  As a result, the numbering scheme may be somewhat chaotic.

In no particular order:

1. Photography. Presumably the initial excuse for this blog.  I seriously need a DSLR!  I miss shooting with my film cameras, but digital is so cheap...and instant gratification.  Still, the point and shoot digital just doesn't cut it for me.  Along with this, I've been working with The GIMP - a photo editing program that is open-source.  So far, I can follow instructions in photography magazines written for Photoshop.  The GIMP is free.  Beat that!
2. Video Games.  I love Nintendo!  X-box is a distant second.
3. Cooking.  I'm a cooking Daddy! Yes, we have the Cooking Mama video game in the house.
4. Stamp Collecting.  This is the one I mentioned that was met with laughter and derision...currently on hiatus.  I have no idea how many stamps I have.
5. Lawn and Gardening.  I've already mowed the lawn this season...so there! I frequently combine this with #1 and take pictures of the garden.
6. Reading.  Slowly plowing through the book list on the right...and more.  I actually read "For One More Day" in two evenings.  It's short.  And good.
7. Listening to our CD/record collection.  It's big, but not huge.  It contains well over 2000 albums.  I know exactly how many, but I'm not telling.  I bought three new CDs at The Record Exchange last night.   I love that store! I think I may actually need an iPod to take parts of it with me.  I'm the only one in my family without one! Also good with #25.
8. Guitars.  Actually play them every week. In public.  I have never really been any good at them, though.  I'd love to learn! Guitar hero is coming once school is out.  We'll be getting it on the Nintendo Wii (see #2) with a second guitar.  Also the new Aerosmith Guitar Hero will be purchased.  I'm saving up sleep.
9. Keyboards/synths.  Ditto #8, but can actually do OK on keyboards.  I would love to get more into programming synths.  I'm pretty good at duplicating keyboard sounds.  I love Kurzweil.
10. Blogging.  The newest hobby. I'm putting it out there for the people.
11. Travel.  I have stamps in my passport!
12. Piano.  Have an actual piano.  I play it every day!  Kuhlau Sonatinas, Mozart and Bach are my favorites on piano.
13. Pipe Organ.  Specifically, German Baroque Organ.  I love to play Bach.  It makes my brain happy! I've been lucky to have real actual pipe organs around to play. I'd like to design our next one.  I have books and everything.
14. Going on house tours in historic neighborhoods.  I have no interest in living in a newer neighborhood.  Our dream would be to live in a mansion facing Lafayette Park in St. Louis.  For now, the 40's Bungalow is just fine.
15. Driving.  If I won the lottery, I'd spend the first 6 months just driving around the country.
16. Violin.  OK, I got one to play with my daughter while she was learning. That didn't work out so well, and now she has grown to where she uses a full-size violin...the one I had!  Duh!
17. Model Trains.  Been on hiatus a long time.  Still love them, though! Choo, choo.
18. Chess.  Another hiatus item.  I even like just looking at Chess sets.
19. Drawing.  Another hiatus item, although while on vacation in 2007 (at Disney) I learned to draw some Disney characters.  That was cool!
20. Doing Musical Theater (on the music and/or tech side). This has taken up a significant amount of time in the past couple of years.  We don't do small things!
21. Astronomy.  I have a 10" mirror telescope.  I really need to bring this to an area with less light pollution for maximum effect!
22. Tropical Fish.  On hiatus, but each of my daughters has a Siamese Fighting Fish on our kitchen counter. They are in bowls. (Dianne thought it would be important to mention this.  They are not just flopping around on the counter.)
23. Target Shooting.  Rifles so far.  On hiatus, too.  I'd love to get a pump pellet pistol and shoot in our attic with one of those traps.  I'd also like some handguns for "plinking" but without a good place to shoot, forget it.  My wife's a better shot than me...and I practice!
24. Wine.  I collect the labels, too.  However, due my time constraints, I actually have my wife doing this part of the hobby for me! It's outsourced.
25. Walking.  Also, working out as in weight lifting, etc.  This portion is currently on hiatus.  I do walk, though.

So, what hobby am I missing?  Over the next 25 days, I plan to elaborate in exacting detail, everything I know about each of these 25 topics!  Aren't you excited?

Hey,  where is everyone going?  Come back!

It's just a joke! I was kidding! I'll just do regular posts!  Seriously!

Hey!  Hello!!!!

Rats.