Entries Tagged 'Family' ↓

Apple has a new feature for the iPhone. See a song on iTunes that you like? Click and turn it into a ringtone! The only problem is that you have to pay 99 cents for the song, and then another 99 cents for the privilege of making it a ringtone. Who is the ad wizard who thought that one up? Or was that one for the "We'll give it a shot and see how many people actually do it before the bad press gets too overwhelming" pile?

Naturally this has started up a flurry of "How to get free ringtones for your iPhone" articles, which in turn has spawned articles for "Get free ringtones even if you don't have an iPhone."

Over a year ago I simply got a phone that actually supports MP3 ringtones (a Motorola v360, to be specific). And then it was a simple matter of getting them on the phone. Easy easy. My ringtone is Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day…") as sung by David Gilmour, of Pink Floyd. The uber-cool thing is that my 5 and 3 yr olds can now both sing that song, referring to it as the song that Daddy's phone sings.

I suggested that my 5yr old sing it for her new kindergarten teacher, but then it dawned on me that her teacher would probably have no idea what she was hearing.

You have to be pretty geeky to optimize the placement of cheese on a sandwich, right? Then again, you never know, you just might uncover a conspiracy!

Posted for the benefit of my brother, owner of several Subway franchises, who for all I know could actually be the guy described in the story :). Let's see if this gets him to hit that "Add comment" button at the bottom of the post…

After watching High School Musical 2, a commercial came on the Disney channel for something called The Jonas Brothers. "Ug, I hate the Jonas brothers!" said K.

"That's not very nice," I said. "Why don't you like them?"

"They're like a yogurt poster."

"That might be the most unusual simile I've ever heard. Why are the Jonas Brothers like a yogurt poster? I feel like the Riddler from the old Batman shows. Riddle me this, Caped Crusader! Why are the Jonas Brothers like a yogurt poster? Answer! Because there is a B in both, and an N in neither!"

I never did get a straight answer about the yogurt comment, something about a commercial they were in and how her friend Emma does not like them either. I just couldn't resist the Frank Gorshin reference, how often do you get to make one of those?

Over the weekend I was at a local seafood place picking up dinner, when I noticed on their very large menu board behind the counter that all the meals did, in fact, come with "Freedom Fries." As in, instead of French fries. Remember? Because the French aren't nice to us, or something. I hadn't heard that expression since, what, the day it was suggested and then laughed out of existence?

I figure that the owners of the place had to be pretty zealous in their patriotism to get the sign changed in the first place. It wasn't whited out or hand written, it was a legitimate part of the sign. That's fair.

But the real question is now, six years later when it's little more than a joke too old for even David Letterman to tell, would you keep it up there? Too expensive to change back? Have they forgotten that it's there? Or are they still just that zealous about their patriotism that they refuse to say the word French?

My oldest started kindergarten this week. Last night we were at an open house for the parents, where we snuck under the chained off section of hallway to go take a look at her classroom. Among the typical array of crafts, books, and educational materials was….a signed picture of George W. Bush, hanging on the wall.

What's more troublesome, the political statement being made…or the educational one? Don't worry about learning how to form a complete sentence, kids! You can still be president!

🙂

For no real reason this weekend, on the ride over to the inlaws, I asked my daughters, "Ok, now, which princess married Prince Charming, and which one married The Prince?" (It helps if you know that, in Snow White, the prince is only ever referred to as, "The Prince.")

"Cinderella," they said.

"Which one did Cinderella marry?"

"Prince Charming."

"Ok, which one did Snow White marry then?"

"Prince Charming."

"I thought one of them married The Prince."

"They all did. Ok, ok, Daddy, ok, wait. I know them all. There's Eric."

"Ok, he was with Ariel."

"And Phillip."

"Sleeping Beauty."

"And Aladdin of course."

"Right, of course, he was with Jasmine."

"And Prince Charming married Cinderella. That's all of them."

"What about Snow White?"

"Prince Charming."

"I thought Cinderella married Prince Charming?"

"She did."

"And so did Snow White? Can she do that?"

"Daddy! They were two princes different charming."

Two princes different charming? I think I broke her brain.

Just got off the phone with a guy named Duane. First time in my life that's ever happened. I've never even been in the same room with somebody that has my name, nor the same team or anything. The closest I'd ever come, before now, was when somebody I worked with was working with a vendor who had a rep named Duane. I'd walk down the hall and hear the guy say, "Hey Duane, it's Adam" and I would turn around every single time, only to discover that he was talking on the phone.

It was a bit freaky. I don't know how people named Dave or Brian do it. I was once on a team with 4 Davids and found them all in the same cube at the same time. I said "Dave!" and they all turned around. Stuff like that's funny to me :).

One of the great things about being a parent of toddlers is discovering that there are new episodes of Sesame Street on your Tivo. The combination of modern humor coupled with the nostalgia of what you remember from your own childhood is such a wonderful combination, you find yourself getting into the show just as much as your kids do.

Tonight, for example, Kerry and I sat down to watch…not America's Got Talent, but Sesame Street. Seriously. They'd done a skit called "Meal or No Meal", a takeoff on the Deal or No Deal gameshow, that was just hilarious. Out comes the host puppet, looking exactly like Howie Mandel, complete with earrings, bald head and goatee. But then it gets even better – when the guest comes out and tries to hug him, he jumps away from her exactly like the real Howie Mandel (a known OCD sufferer) does. And when the "baker" (rather than "banker") calls (who, by the way, is played by Cookie Monster), the Howie puppet plays it exactly like the real one does: "Sadie? I have good news. The baker likes you."

Who knows, maybe you have to see it for yourself. But the humor is most definitely geared for the parents as much as the kids.

Driving Katherine home today, I thought she was particularly loud in the back seat. "You don't have to yell," I told her, "I'm right here."

"But Daddy," she said, "That's how my voice is being today. It's yelly."

Got a call this morning at work from my screaming wife that the baby took his first steps! 5 of them, to be specific. He'd taken two for me over the weekend but I'm counting those more as "momentum" then actual steps, as he was reaching for me at the time, and the second one was more of a "put your foot down before you fall on your face" sort of thing. But 5 steps is definitely a milestone!

"And did you scare the crap out of him when you screamed?" I asked my wife.

"Yep. He didn't know what he'd done. Ok, I have to go call more people."