Saturday, January 29, 2005

Must See Movies

Here's my list of Movies I Must See in 2005 (and some I might rent).
--------------------
This is my list that I'd love to see on the big screen:

-Robots.
-The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
-Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
-Batman Begins
-War of the Worlds
-Fantastic Four
-The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
-Sahara

Here's my list of movies I wouldn't mind seeing, rental or otherwise:

-The Producers
-Underworld: Evolution
-The Legend of Zorro
-The Brothers Grimm
-Zathura
-The Pink Panther
-Serenity
-Stealth
-Mr. and Mrs. Smith
-The Cave



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Friday, January 28, 2005

Whatta night.

Elizabeth is officially a cheerleader groupie. Yesterday she participated in the school cheerleading clinic, which they offer every year. This was her second year participating. (Third? I can't remember if she did it in kindergarten or not.) Today all the cheer clinic girls performed at the school pep rally. So Elizabeth was all excited, and we wound up attending the basketball game tonight. Wowza. We arrived early, to watch the JV game, since one of my carpool kids is on the team. I, the perpetually frazzled spouseless mom, arrived all flustered and not-together. Got to the admission table, found I'd left my cash in the van. I left the kids with a friend who happened by, and took off running for the parking lot. Got halfway across the parking lot, missed a curb, and totally bit it right there in front of God and everyone. I'm thirty years old and I skinned my knees. Revisiting your childhood? Not so much fun. I'm pretty sure I ruined my jeans too. But I hobbled back inside for the game. We were heading for our seats, when the JV cheerleaders spotted us, and asked if Elizabeth could hang out with them and cheer for a while. You would have thought the child had won a trip to Disneyworld. She was just beside herself. They gave her a set of pom poms and made sure to do cheers that she knew from the cheer clinic. Of course I took pics. She wound up staying for the whole game, then hanging out with the Varsity cheerleaders for the next game. I did give them an out. I slipped over and told them that if she started getting annoying/in the way, to tell her that her mom was calling her and I'd keep her in our seats. They were all, "No, she's great!" These are just the NICEST pack of girls you will ever run across - total opposite of every cheerleader stereotype. I love them.

The JV kids won, it was great.
Then all of our friends started arriving for the Varsity game. This was a biggie, against a team that has beaten them every time. So the coach promised to shave his head if we won. We won, and everyone went wild. What fun. The coach (who is also Elizabeth's gym teacher, and her friend Allie's dad) will be all kinds of bald Monday morning. The kids had the time of their lives and are already begging to go to the next game. Will do.

I'm hoarse from the screaming. My knees hurt from my tumble in the parking lot. My thighs hurt from my sprint across the parking lot. And my hiney hurts from sitting on the back of a folding chair all night, which was the only way we could see. But it was worth it. Whee!


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Where were you 19 years ago?

Nineteen years ago.

The Space Shuttle Challenger was lost shortly after lift off.

I was in 8th grade walking back to class from a restroom break.

I ran into one of my teachers in the hall. She dropped the news to then.

I don't remember if we had a TV in the class, or if our teacher went and got one, but I'm pretty sure we just watched TV the rest of the class - and possibly the rest of the day.


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Our Last Name

Huh... I was just Googling myself (shut up!), and found the meaning of Bayer:

From Ancestry.com:
What does the Bayer name mean?
Last Name: Bayer

German, Scandinavian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): regional name for someone from Bavaria (German Bayern). This region of southern Germany derives its name from that of the Celtic tribe of the Boii who once inhabited this area. They were displaced in the 6th century ad by a Germanic people, the Boioarii or Baiuarii, whose name is derived from that of their Celtic predecessors.


Cool.

--edit--
I just remembered, that's not my ancestral name at all... When my grandfather and his brothers immigrated to the United States, they changed their surname from something much more Polish-German sounding to Bayer. My mom's maiden name is a good solid German name too!






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New Book I'll Be Reading

I picked up a new book from my local library today.
Then I check my email and find an interview with the author in the DRIN newsletter!

And permission to use it!
(Notice I added the book to my AllConsuming bot in the right sidebar too.)

I read the author's first book in his mom's universe: Dragon's Kin. That was a good read.

Here's the interview excerpt:
---------------------------------------

The following material is being reprinted from the Del Rey Internet Newsletter. To subscribe to this free, monthly e-newsletter, visit http://www.delreybooks.com.


An interview with Todd McCaffrey, author of DRAGONSBLOOD


Del Rey: Your mother, Anne McCaffrey, has been writing about Pern for more than thirty-five years, creating some of the best-loved classics in science fiction. It's probably inevitable, unfortunately, that some people will ascribe your authorship of this novel solely to your being her son. How would you respond to those people?

Todd McCaffrey: I'd say to them, "Read the book, then let's see if you still feel the same way."
DR: Did you feel any trepidation about trying to fill Anne's literary shoes? How did you deal with the pressure of coming up to her high standard?

TM: Yes, I did feel a lot of trepidation. However, I've been researching for Mum for over twenty years now, and reading her for longer.

As for dealing with the pressure, it's very difficult. It helped that I was the editor's contact for DRAGON'S KIN--I was relieved to see that not only were my words being edited, but so were Mum's.

DR: Is DRAGONSBLOOD a passing of the torch from mother to son, or will Anne continue to write novels and stories set on Pern?

TM: It wasn't intended to be a passing of the torch. I think writing more Pern novels is strictly up to Mum. But she'll be seventy-nine this April, well past the point when other people have retired, and I don't see why she shouldn't rest on her vast accomplishments if she wants.

DR: What was it like to grow up with a famous writer for a mom? Did you always have the ambition to be a writer yourself?

TM: Fame is strictly relative. More people didn't know Mum's works than did. In science fiction and fantasy circles, Mum didn't really break out as a "famous writer" until the publication of DRAGONSONG and "A Time When," in the mid-70's--and she'd been writing since 1953.

I earned my first typewriter at the age of thirteen by teaching myself touch typing so I could write my stories. That said, I didn't want to be a writer. I wanted to be an astronaut (doesn't everyone?), but I expected to be writing as a sideline.

Read more.



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Thursday, January 27, 2005

Oh.

That's a Decepticon background? Okay. [shrugs] I thought it was a grid too. I don't get the whole Transformers thingy - I'm a whole other breed of geek. (Buffy! Angel! Now and forever, I'm Joss' bi%&h.)

Tales from the mommy side. GOT to potty train Catherine. This is insane, I'm just sick to death of changing diapers. I've been doing it nonstop for nearly 8 years now, and the novelty has worn off. Alexander and Catherine were both potty trained by now, I just can't seem to find the time to get to it. Okay, I'll start in the morning. No, seriously.

I'm off for Nashville in about five weeks, for Creating Keepsakes Convention. I'm absolutely over the moon about it, since I'm traveling down with two of my best girlfriends to spend three days there. Three days of scrapbooking classes (we're each taking eight classes), shopping the vendor fair, and hanging out with friends, sans kids. Bonus? We're staying at the Opryland hotel. Whoop! Kevin is the wonderfullest guy in the world for letting me go. He rocks, and gets many many brownie points.


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Yay! A mention!

The Mysterious Cloaked Figure mentioned and linked to us in his post commenting on his love for all things robots. He recognized the background from The Bayer Family Blog as blatantly stolen from the Transformers!*

Yay! He wins the prize (wait - that's another movie...)


*Truthfully, I don't remember where I picked up that background. Grabbed it from a TF website somewhere along the way while surfing Transformers-realated content... And I liked the Decepticon purple better than the Autobot red.




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Monday, January 24, 2005

The Bayer Family Website

Click Each Link for information on each family member and scrapbook pages that Rubi made about them.

Kev Rubi Elizabeth Alexander Catherine

Other Scrapbook Pages

These links will eventually show up on one of the sidebars.



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Productive Monday

I spent the last of the cash I had on hand on groceries.

Rubi figured our taxes up this morning and, while she was at work, I took them in to our tax guy for a quickie refund. We'll have our check tomorrow!


Woo-hoo!



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Sunday, January 23, 2005

Sunday Brunch for January 23, 2005

Today's Sunday Brunch:
"I can think of nothing more boring for the American people than tohave to sit in their living rooms for a whole half hour looking at myface on their television screens." -Dwight D. Eisenhower

1) What sitcom have you seen every episode of? AfterMASH
2) What sitcom makes you laugh until you cry? Emeril
3) What sitcom do you wish had not been cancelled? Full House and My Two Dads.
4) What sitcom do you wish they WOULD cancel? All of them.
5) Who is your favorite sitcom character, either past or present? Andrew Keaton from Family Ties (the new baby near the end of the series).


Okay... Now my real answers!

1) What sitcom have you seen every episode of? Probably none. I'm not that fanatic.

2) What sitcom makes you laugh until you cry? Friends did. Family Guy.

3) What sitcom do you wish had not been cancelled? Family Guy (it's coming back later this year - yay!), Dinosaurs. Benson (Gah! - Who won the election?!?).

4) What sitcom do you wish they WOULD cancel? Most of them.

5) Who is your favorite sitcom character, either past or present? Chandler from Friends was good. All of the Family Guy cast. Homer Simpson. Alf (really). Benson.

Rubi needs to answer this one too.






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Friday, January 21, 2005

Edward J : 1967-2005

One of my best friends from college passed away early Wednesday morning.
Edward J, his radio name, taught me most of what I know about computers
and was my mentor in the radio business;
even though both of left radio shortly after college.

This is his obituary from the Evansville Courier and Press:
"Edward James Shovers, 39, of Indianapolis, passed away on
Wednesday, January 19, 2005, at St. Vincent's Hospice after
a long battle from complications of multiple sclerosis.
He was a technical writer for pharmaceutical companies.

More recently he was the creator and Web master for
the Tri-State Multiple Sclerosis Association Inc., www.tristate.ms.
He graduated from the Evansville Day School and
majored in communications at the University of Southern Indiana.
He is survived by his wife, Patricia of Indianapolis;

his parents, Alan and Susan Shovers of Evansville;
brother, David of New York City;
sister, Audrey and brother-in-law, Dan Abenhaim of Raleigh, North Carolina;
and two nephews, Jason and Jonah Abenhaim.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the
Tri-State Multiple Sclerosis Association, Inc.
or the Evansville Chapter of Hadassah will be most appreciated.
Funeral services will be private. Ziemer Funeral Home East Chapel is handling arrangements."


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Wednesday, January 19, 2005

International Weblogger Day

Huh... whaddaya know.
A special day for celebrating webloggers!

Do we get a cookie?

Great {sarcasm drips}... another day I have to plan something for.



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Monday, January 17, 2005

His & Hers Music Meme

I totally stole this idea from The Happy Husband:
--------------------------------
Random his and hers Questions:

Open your playlist in Winamp and randomize the list. What are the first five songs in the randomized list.
Kev:
1: Stargate SG-1 Theme
2: Queen - One Vision Instrumental Mix by kevbayer
3: The Bomb/Jack's Protest (Stargate SG-1 Soundtrack) - Joel Goldsmith
4: Evanesence - My Immortal (New Mix)
5: Myth, Faith, Belief (Stargate the Movie Soundtrack) - David Arnold

Rubi:
Violent Femmes - Blister In the Sun,
Dido - White Flag,
The Ataris - Boys Of Summer,
Curve - Chinese Burn,
Jewel - Intuition

What is your favorite song?
Kev: One Vision - Queen
Rubi: Uh. Hmm. I don't know. Lemme open that playlist again. Stupid Thing by Nickel popped up, and that one's pretty good. [shrug] I don't really have one in particular, sorry.

Favorite artist?
Kev: Queen
Rubi: I'm on a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy kick right now, so I'll say them. It'll probably change tomorrow. It was different yesterday.

Favorite musical genre?
[Kev] Movie Scores
[Rubi] Pop.
Contemporary Christian. Lately swing. Recently country, but that's thankfully over.
(No kidding! –Kev)


More His & Hers posts to come (hopefully!).





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Sunday, January 16, 2005

Turns out... not so nerdy?!?

I am nerdier than 12% of all people. Are you nerdier? Click here to find out!

88% scored higher (more nerdy), and 12% scored lower (less nerdy).
What does this mean? Your nerdiness is:Not nerdy, but then again maybe not all that cool either.

However, there's my loser score:
I am 82% loser. What about you? Click here to find out!

And then there's my Weird Quotient:
What is your weird quotient? Click to find out!

Of all the weird test takers:
73% are more weird,10% are just as weird, and 17% are more normal than you!


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Tales from the mom side.

I second Kev's [sigh] regarding Ed. I can't believe he's so nearly gone.

Life here continues at it's usual frantic pace. I've been meaning to post an Alexander story that he's sure to kill me for when he's older. I looked over at him a few weeks ago, to see him watching TV contentedly with his hand shoved down the front of his PJ pants. He wasn't...doing anything, it was just resting there a la Al Bundy. I told him to get his hand out of his pants. Without even looking up, he pulled his hand out. Along with a post it note. I have no words.

Elizabeth's building a volcano for a school project. The kids had dinner in front of the TV tonight, since the kitchen table is covered with assorted upside down flower pots, wire mesh, and clumps of Sculptamold. But doggone it, the first round of messy crap is done. Second round of messy crap happens tomorrow morning, under Kev's supervision, as I'll be working. (Yes dear, I said you. I'll show you what she still needs to do.) Thankfully, she's doing 95% of the work herself, so I've been able to just get her pointed in the right direction and leave her to it.

Still waiting on the contractor to get started on the house. There's lots of phone tag but no actual process. Frustrating.


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[..sigh...]

Five days off in a row!!
Woo-hoo!
I took off Tuesday for my mom-in-law's birthday.
Wednesday and Thursday were my regular days off.
I took off Friday so Rubi could go to a concert with her mom and sisters.
And I took off Saturday so Rubi could go to her monthly "crop" (read: 9-hour scrapbooking party).

Today is my first day back to work. It's been uneventful so far.

In fact, everything "interesting", happened while I was off work.

-A supervisor and dispatcher had an "incident". Both have suspensions pending.
-I found out a dear friend of mine from college (though I only talk to him about once a year since he's lives out of town) is dying and has been given two weeks (!?!) to live.

I spent much of Friday making contact with old college friends to pass along that info and start a notification chain for people I don't have contact information for anymore.



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Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Back From Date

We had fun!
Good movie, lots of junk food (all free, thanks to the gift certificate!).
And no kids!

Sleepy now...


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Date!

Rubi and I are finally go out for a "date" tonight!

I can't remember the last time we got to go out just the two of us... Usually we're either with the kids, or with friends and their kids, or at one of our parents house.

Tonight we are going to a local theater chain to see a movie we've been wanting to see for awhile, and, really, the only thing that looks good that's out now. Well besides The Incredibles, and we've already seen that.

Rubi's sister Sara is coming over to sit with the kids while we're out. Thanks Sara!

We got a gift certificate to the movies for Christmas, and we're using that tonight. We probably won't have to spring for more than a couple of bucks to get popcorn and slushies.



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Sunday, January 09, 2005

Sunday Brunch for January 9, 2005


"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own natureinto his pictures." -Henry Ward Beecher

1) What color (or colors) is your home painted on the interior? Mostly a dull-white. The playroom is Blue and Yellow.

2) What color (or colors) is your home painted on the exterior? White siding, brownish fake-rock, and ugly green shutters that seem prominent throughout the neighborhood. We didn't pick the colors. The house is a fixer-upper.

3) If you could paint your car any color with no loss in value,what color would it be? Plaid.

4) Do you paint your fingernails and toenails? Uh... No.
What is yourfavorite color for each if you do? Flourescent green.

5) Have you ever played paintball? No.
Have you ever wanted to? Yes. I think it would be really fun if my dispatch center could start a team. My brother-in-law used to play on a team (the Swarm), and they won many tournaments nationwide.



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Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Snow Storm Damage Estimates

Insurance Adjuster's Estimate: $2500
Contractor's Estimate: $9800
Looks on their faces when they read the other's estimate: Priceless





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Monday, January 03, 2005

I want one!!!

This is just too cool!


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I'm a book (quiz)

The name of the rose
Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose. You are a
mystery novel dealing with theology, especially
with catholic vs liberal issues. You search
wisdom and knowledge endlessly, feeling that
learning is essential in life.


Which literature classic are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


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Snow Storm 2004!!

Here are a couple of pics from the "Snow Storm of 2004" that Rubi mentioned. We got a record 22.3 inches of snow. The talking heads said it was the worst snow storm since 1918. We even had thunder and lightning during the storm.

This first pic was taken by Rubi leaning out our front door on the first night of the storm.


And this pic was taken a few days later of some of the interior water damage from melting ice and snow on our roof.


Posted by Kev using Hello


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Roll Out!

I just took another quiz.

rodimus prime
You are: Rodimus Prime! You are the new leader of
the Autobots, you apear at the end of the movie
and destroy Unicron, the devourer of worlds!
You were the autobot destined to light the
darkest hour. You're courageous, reckless and
you stand up for your firends!


Which transformers, the movie character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


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Yay!

Rubi is finally posting!


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Sunday, January 02, 2005

Ten reasons...

Why I adore Kevin.

1.) He is the most devoted husband and father you will ever find.
2.) He's got the most beautiful blue eyes. Which he was kind enough to pass on to Catherine. Lucky, lucky girl.
3.) He really, really thinks I'm just a stunner. Even after three babies, ten years and the inevitable sag, weight gain, and crankiness that those things bring on.
4.) He's so, so good at his career.
5.) He's an amazing kisser. Just take my word for that, because I have no intention of sharing. Shoo. Find your own hottie.
6.) He's so thoughtful. Not just in a "ooh, he brought me flowers on our anniversary" kind of way, but every day, and every minute. Example: He heard me say I wanted to try a craft project involving paint cans. Christmas day, two of my gifts were cleverly wrapped in paint cans.
7.) On a related note, he worked so hard to make me NOT feel like a giant jerk on Christmas, because I procrastinated on my Christmas shopping, then got snowed in and wound up unable to get him ANYTHING. I still suck, but he was so nice about it.
8.) He does laundry. And does it well.
9.) His mustache and goatee. I love them.
10.) He married me. Me. He's an incredible husband - all my friends talk about how wonderful he is. He's truly a husband to envy, and he picked me. I have to question his judgement a bit, but I'm ever so grateful.


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I'm here, I'm here!

[Dashes in, waving frantically] Sorry, sorry. Yes, I'm alive, just insanely busy. And would you look at that. So many things happening here, and Kev hasn't mentioned a one.

Did you see the news? Because we were on it. We live in Evansville, and got clobbered by a history making snowstorm. Newsguys said we haven't had this much snow since 197...8? 6? Mid 70s, anyway. The PTB declared a state of emergency, everything closed, blah blah. We managed to dig out enough to travel around town to our respective parent's homes for Christmas day, although the trip out to my parents house was a bit iffy.

After all that, we came home and went to bed. To be awakened at 2AM by a persistent, nearby dripping. Looks like our house didn't weather the storm very well. What I like to refer to as "oodles and s&%tloads" of snow came in under the eaves somehow, and started melting as soon as it warmed up enough. It melted through the attic insulation and down inside our walls. And did nasty, brown, sagging, drippy damage to a large portion of our bedroom ceiling. And the playroom, kitchen, and laundry room. (Room? Not so much. Alcove? Maybe. Anyway.) Most of the gutters outside are also ruined, thanks to the weight of the ice that filled them. Thank the good Lord for homeowners insurance. The contractor and claims adjustor have already been here, in preparation for a parade of various workers who will rip out the wall, ceiling, and carpeting in our bedroom, and do lesser repairs on the other damaged parts of ceiling. Whee.

Had the best NYE in years, as it was spent with my darling husband. Normally on that night, I'm lying alone in bed at midnight listening to the neighbors fire rifles into the air while Kev is at work fielding frantic 911 calls from people reporting gunfire in their area. This year was spent with good friends, amazing food, fun board games, and champagne and kisses at midnight. Ahh, bliss.

Off I go again, to count down the minutes until said darling husband comes home.


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Now Homespun

The Bayer Family Blog is now a part of Homespun Bloggers.

Now if I can just Rubi to post more often... :-)

Actually, that's kinda my fault. I had her join up as a "contributor" to this blog, but then neglected to show her the various ways to post here. Plus she's been so busy that she joined up and promptly forgot her log-in information.

She should be set up now, except I've yet to show her how to post pictures using
Hello.



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Well Duh...


A Quiz I just took at BlogThings.


You Are a Religious Republican



You make up the conservative, Christian, dedicated core of the Republican Party.

You believe it's important for religious people to stand up for their beliefs in politics.

And for you, this means voting your conscience - which almost always means voting Republican.

Your pet causes include the sanctity of life, school vouchers, and prayer in school
.




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Blog Chalk

I've added a BlogChalk to the sidebar. It supposedly helps search engines index this website.
This is my new blogchalk:
United States, Indiana, Evansville, English, Family, Kids. :)


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