I feel like I’ve been productive in what little free time I have – we splurged on a new laptop with our tax refund, so I sold our old one on ebay, as well as our old digital camera with the half-wonky screen; made and hung a swing on the tree out front last weekend, made a raised-bed garden out back which is showing initial signs of success with tomatoes and an assortment of other sprouts coming up.  My hops are coming back this year, let’s hope for success on them.

I’ve got a keg of hefeweizen sitting in the closet, waiting a few more weeks for Brian and Sonya’s wedding, plus 3 bottles of Mirror Mirror in the garage fridge to enjoy sometime in the distant future.  As Brian put it yesterday, we’re living in times of some of the best beer availability.  It’s an obsession, tracking new special releases, what might be available in Reno or not, tasting sessions with friends, stowing ultra precious bottles away to age or wait for the right occasion.  I love it.

My other favorite thing besides beer (coffee) also has developments to report – Grandpa Dave sent us a big drip coffee and espresso machine recently that we just put into service.  It’ll take a few pots to figure out just the right grind, amount, and setting for the perfect cup, but the iced espresso I had earlier put me into this weird “tired from antihistamines but feeling heart palpitations from the caffeine” state that I didn’t like very much.  I’m reaching equilibrium now, both substances wearing off a bit.

On other fronts, we seem to be battling sickness on a regular basis.  We thought Lola’s ear infection had passed, but more recently she had such a bad cough that it kept us all up most of the night, so we took her in.  She was diagnosed with asthma and put on a daily steroid mist treatment that’s not much fun.  And her ear was still infected, plus a hold in her eardrum.  She seems well enough, but we’re to see an ear-nose-throat specialist next week and get this all figured out.  Sid’s mostly well, except for some mystery diarrhea the last couple days that we have no clue about.  Me, just allergies kicking my butt with everything in bloom this time of year, thus the aforementioned antihistamines.

EcoReno continues to keep us busy, although we could certainly use more business.  We’ve more or less decided our biggest impediment to raging success right now (besides the generally poor climate for business everywhere) is location.  We get virtually no drop-in serendipitous walk-in traffic, so we might be looking at moving at some point.  We’ll see.  The people who do shop with us really do love our store and our merchandise, we just need more of them.  No big news otherwise, we just keep chugging along, looking for ways to grow and succeed.

My work continues to plod forward in a dismal situation – the library’s budget cut 36% means doing more work with a lot less.  No layoffs for now, but lots of vacancies that means everyone’s working harder.  Our hours are being cut at the end of next month, and my schedule will change, so the child care situation will need to change as well.  And then again in a few months when Sid’s sitter goes to nursing school.

Well, I guess I’ve been a computer hermit long enough.  Time to open a cold one and relax on the deck I hosed off earlier today.  Days off are good.

As long as I’m here, I guess I’ll give a quick roundup of all things us.  Not that there’s much.  I seem to have lost that nagging feeling in the back of my mind, urging me to get new pictures posted, keep this site viable.  EcoReno dominates my spare time and psyche, every spare moment I think about what’s on our calendar today, tomorrow, this weekend.  I do pretty well keeping work stuff off my mind when I’m not at work, except for the occasional day lately (and by lately, I mean the last few months) when I wonder if my job is in jeopardy, if I’m going to end up working at a different location, on a schedule that conflicts horribly with the rest of our lives.  When I’m not thinking about the store, I’m addicted to keeping up on all the other blogs, Twitter feeds, and other web-based crap.  Go, go, go, story of my life these days.  At least the weather seems to be getting nice again, so that means less bundling up, Vespa weather, and sitting outside once in a while.  For those keeping track, the kids are well, growing, Sid had a couple ear infections recently, and Lola’s doing great in most respects.

A few pics of late, I can’t be bothered to actually put them in an album.

Oh for crying out loud.  The battery on the camera died before I could get them loaded on here.   Must be a sign that I should do this proper, in the albums.  Soon.  Stay tuned.

I’m here to tell you about what happens when a four-year-old cumulatively loses about 4 hours sleep in a weekend.  We had people over on Friday and Lola was up late being the life of the party.  Then Saturday, we went to dinner at friends and she stayed up late with her DG who was babysitting.  So last night, the trifecta was completed and Rayna and Kelly came over for dinner.  We were determined to put Lola down and hour early, at 8pm, because she didn’t even get a good nap.  We started at 8.  Over the course of the next hour, we bargained, scolded, spanked (yes, we spank, but it’s pretty rare and really just for these most hellish occasions), coerced, and generally fought with our daughter.  She wants Dada, she wants Mama, she wants milk, she’s cold, she’s hot, her head hurts.  One thing after another, the games get played.  And Dada gets more and more frustrated and pissed off.  The screaming reaches a crescendo and another round of spanking.  Eventually, Lola got so upset she threw up in her bed.  And then on her floor while we were stripping the bed.  Great.  We took away her little Christmas tree.  Finally, after what felt like hours of battle, she settled in and went to sleep.  Let us never schedule a weekend like this again.

In other family news, we’re gearing up for the holidaze, the (real) tree is up, stockings are hung, and “we’ll tell Santa if you’re naughty” threats are tossed around casually.  I can only think of two things that might comprise my list, so I should really be thankful for all I have and don’t lack.  EcoReno is joining in – Morgan’s building a trash Christmas tree to show off during the CalAve merchants‘ annual Holiday Stroll (in which we are participating).  Winter is a mere two weeks away according to the calendar, but we have yet to see any real snow, and people are still riding bikes outside.

Library work is its typical self, but we’re circling our wagons for yet another cut to the budget.  People are now getting concerned about layoffs, but they are still telling us that’s the last possible option.  I’m feeling pretty solid and lucky to be able to feel that way – we’re seeing more and more people we know, or one degree of separation away, that are impacted negatively by the state of the economy.  If someone could please turn things around, now would be a good time to do it.

Been drinking some interesting beers lately.  Between two friends, I secured three bottles of The Abyss this year, as well as some Hallertau, and one precious bottle of Palo Santo.  As long as we’re talking festive, Morgan and I got a chance to go out to a movie recently, saw the new James Bond movie.  A little disappointing as a Bond movie, acceptable as a movie, and enjoyable as an opportunity to go out for an evening.

Not much else to report really, so I’ll sign off here.  I’ve got some EcoReno blogging to do too, so take a look there if you’d like.  We did just buy a new camera since the old one started failing, so I’ll have a whole slew of new photos of kids and holidays and stuff to post soon, but for now, check out this cool website.

So, on to some updates. Not only do we now have a fancy contact form around here for easy, um, contact (sans spambots thieving email address), but we’ve got new pictures of Lola, Sid, sledding day, and a video of Lola and I sledding (low quality/2MB version, hi quality/12MB version)

Besides sledding, recent activities include a Foo Fighters concert, crying it out with Sid, and well, that’s about it I suppose. No major crises or catastrophes, no major purchases or acquisitions, just average February I guess.

Almost forgot, a new Lola video to behold. Crazy girl.

So, Portland was a great time had by all. I figured out a key difference between the cheap (think Motel 6) motels and expensive (Marriott) hotels. They gouge you for everything in the latter because they can – the business travelers and rich folks who typically stay there can drop $10/day on wifi without being too worried about the bottom line. The frugal types look for the most bang for their buck in choosing lodging, so the cheaper places offer as many freebies as they can to get your business, from internet to continental breakfast. That’s why there were no postings from Portland – we did spring for one day’s wifi but the rest of our access was in brief visits to Maggie’s apartment and writing was not in the cards.

We did have a grand old time, from the little carnival set up for the Rose Festival to the Body Worlds exhibit at OMSI. Our zoo visit got rained out, but the Portland Children’s Museum proved a worthy substitute for a little while. We ate well, from Rock Bottom Brewery to Kell’s for breakfast. Saturday Market was nice too, despite the rain, and I picked up a bottle of Rogue that I’ve never seen before to drink on Father’s Day. A longer visit would have been nice, as would the absence of rain the whole time, but genuinely, a great trip, and Lola was a great traveler both ways and throughout our stay. Photos are coming soon, I promise.

In other news, perhaps most notably of all, we’ve (more or less) sold our house!! After initially deciding that perhaps selling to a friend wasn’t best and telling Jack as much, his other options didn’t pan out, we reconsidered, and we’ve come to a good agreement. As long as the appraiser and inspector agree, we’re good! Next up, confirming that we definitely want the other house, putting in a offer and closing that deal.

Finally, a bit of social commentary by Marc…what the hell is going on this country? Three stories that make me feel like North Korea or East Germany are our models for justice. Airport fiasco, beer-providing mom doing time, and teen sex ruins kid’s life. Whatever happened to letting the punishment fit the crime? Link one really steams me, as a parent I can completely put myself in that woman’s shoes. She’s a former Secret Service for cryin’ out loud. If it happened to her, it could happen to any one of us. If our country wasn’t so dang big, I’d swear off flying completely.

The other two stories are similar in our tendency to just lock people up. Did the mom do wrong? Of course. Fine her, put her on probation, make her pick up trash by the roadside, send her to parenting classes. Two years in jail? I’m sure that’s good for the family. And the kid in Georgia…I’m sure a former honor student and athlete will be better off in society having done time for the crime of oral sex. Can’t vote, nobody wants to hire him or rent him a house. Ex-cons don’t have it easy, and while I don’t necessarily think that they should, this kid’s life is probably shot because he did something that goes on every day in every city in the country without penalty. What a load.

And just so as not to end this post and launch the weekend on a completely down note, two of my aides at work just gave me a $10 Starbucks card just because I’m a nice boss. Sure can’t beat that.

In neighborhood news, our long-under-construction corner Starbucks finally opened yesterday.  And there was a line in the drive-through today.  Hopefully this won’t mean the demise of our friends at the Purple Bean, but if the quality of their drinks continues along the lines of our last two visits, they’re in trouble.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my little Purple Bean, but S’bux makes some good java and that last Americano from PB was nasty.

Not really our neighborhood, but I’m pretty sure I saw a dead body in the Eldorado parking lot yesterday on my way to work.  Police were there and there was a sheet over it so it wasn’t gory or anything, just a bit unusual.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a corpse out in public like that before.  Haven’t seen anything in the news about it.

Also of note, our wacky weather continues.  Looks like it might be back on track today, but we had snow yesterday.  I’m ready for warm weather, my facial hair is gone, let’s get on with it already, ‘k?

More breaking news at work: we’re finally a wireless hotspot at the library!  It’s been a long time coming and we’re WAY behind the curve in the library world, but if you need a connection, come on down and say hello.  And what a perfect time for our old laptop to lose all ability to power up, so I guess I won’t be trying out the wifi anytime soon.

OK, well, I feel like my threshold for what is interesting/significant enough to merit writing about here has lowered to an unacceptably dull level, so I’ll wrap it up and try to refrain from such mundane news in the future.  With any luck, my next post will be about the selling of the house, fun times with Grandpa Dave later this month, and the move into a new (as yet unfound) house.

Went with Paige and DayDay to see NOFX last night at the New Oasis. Wow. Sold out show (~1000 people), never seen that before. Taps ran dry, bartenders couldn’t come close to keeping up, steam poured from open doors into the cold night, the sheer size of the crowd was incredible. They were really good and fun to see. I’ll admit I’ve seen better shows, but they just command such a big energetic crowd, have good songs, and enjoy themselves. Sorta-celeb sighting: a couple of the guys from 7 Seconds in the crowd (steve and troy if you’re curious). Now that’s punk.

Couple of interesting reference questions at work today:
How much does US currency weigh, and how many bills would be in a pound of them? See the seventh fun fact for the answer. Address for ABC? How tall is the Empire State Building? I love my job when I get to answer these kinds of questions.

In Lola news…a bit of sickness going on again. Lots of coughing, a brief sighting of thick green snot this morning. She generally acts well, but symptoms are there. Invest in cold medicine. This on the heels of a minor bout with pink eye which it appears the antibiotic drops have put a quick end to.

One fun link for you, and I’ll end with a plug for the book I’m reading. Really enjoyable book – a collection of columns from the RGJ, historical Reno stuff. It will make you look at our city in a whole new light, and have fond memories if you’ve lived here forever. If you’re interested, let me know, I’ll have a loaner copy available.

For starters, Day 2 of Morgan’s employment was today, and Lola got to stay with neighbor Sommer and her baby Ranon. 10am-2pmish, and all went well. Hurray! On a less festive note, we had to make our first parental visit to urgent care over the weekend. Blood in the diaper makes one a bit uneasy to say the least. So far, they think it’s a urinary tract/bladder infection, but the jury is still out. Her bouts of unhappiness seem less than they were on Sunday, and we’re hopeful that another week of bubble-gum flavored medicine will be sucessful.
Before I digress too much, let me get the blogaday business out of the way. A funny little blog with funny little drawings on index cards to illustrate funny concepts. See: Indexed and enjoy.

News item that doesn’t concern me much despite my newfound affinity for soy milk.

For a taste of culture, take a look at the newly redesigned site of our friend Erin, recently relocated to Basel, soon to come back for a holiday visit. Her first stop? The Double-Dutch battle, we’re hoping to be there too.

And finally, a brief announcement – I’ve been bombarded by comment spam lately, so I turned off comments here. Too bad, you were all just starting to come out of the woodwork a bit.