Thursday, October 21 2021

Dear Journal,

Thursday, how about it? As far as mornings go, it doesn't get much cozier than this. There's drizzle on the windows. A thick wall of grey clouds dims the morning sunlight. Marissa has the right idea - she's taking a nap on the couch until Miles wakes up. Ziggy snuggles underneath her arm and Minnie sprawls out above her along her shoulder. We call this type of nap a Ziggy-Minnie sandwich, and it's a real delicacy. It's hard to stress about anything when you are sandwiched between two lazy corgis on a drizzly fall morning.

Yesterday night, I had plans to catch up on work. I wanted to get the kids to bed, rip through my queue of chores, and celebrate a hard day's work on the couch with a beer and some Youtube videos. I wanted to get to bed early. But personal things came up that demanded our attention. I didn't do much cleaning, nor relaxing last night. My chore queue looks exactly like it did yesterday, and my body feels like a punching bag.

I'm doubling down on these plans tonight. Tonight, I'm cleaning the kitchen. I'm finishing my chores. Come hell or high water, I'm going to end up on the couch watching YouTube videos about football or spiders. And if you don't like it, you'll have to pry the remote and the beer out of my cold, sore, punching bag hands. I don't know where I'll find the energy, but I'll start by looking at the bottom of this coffee pot.

Sip. Happy Thursday, everyone. In case you couldn't tell from today's banner image, Rodney has another loose tooth. His bottom tooth - right beside the first one he lost - is hanging on by a bloody thread. Rodney bravely let Marissa take a few tugs at the dinner table, but the silly little tooth wouldn't budge.

Congratulations to Rodney. You might remember he swallowed his first loose tooth. I just hope we can actually retrieve the tooth this time around. That will certainly make for a cleaner transaction with the tooth fairy.

Are we a tooth fairy family? I don't remember. Marissa strongly advocated for being a Santa family, but I think the last time we discussed our family policy on myths and traditions, we decided to nix the tooth fairy. It's weird enough as a kid that blood and teeth are falling out of your mouth. Why do adults feel the need to make it even weirder with the added element of a tiny fairy that sneaks into your room? I'd much rather sit Rodney down and say "your body is starting to eject teeth because your head is growing, but you will be financially compensated for your pain and discomfort. Here's a quarter." No fairies, magic, or sneaking around involved.

Speaking of pictures, where is the gecko? Shouldn't I be flooding the Internet with adorable pictures of our new lizard Ducky? We learned yesterday that poor Ducky missed her flight out of Memphis. She had to spend an extra night in the FedEx headquarters. The breeder assured us that Ducky will be fine in her temperature controlled box, but we can't help but feel bad for Ducky. I wish we could tell her that her tiny, cramped shipping box is temporary, and when she arrives on our doorstep, she'll have a sprawling terrarium mansion waiting just for her.

We just learned that Ducky arrived in Madison early this morning. It feels like a great day to open up a new pet. And if anything, the extra day she spent in shipping just gave her mealworms an extra day to fatten up on the fresh potato I left in their box. Ducky, you are going to live and eat like a lizard queen. You'll have your pick of mealworms, super worms, and fresh cockroaches.

I had a good, full work day yesterday. I capped the day off with a 1-on-1 with my boss. I asked questions about what our industry was like in the late nineties and early two thousands, and he happily regaled me with his best stories.

"My friend had a Sun box, and he invited me over to check out the Internet," Scott said. "I typed in the word cars and I couldn't believe it. It took about five minutes for the computer to render all the results, but it was like a whole new world was opening up."

Scott had another great story about the industry. He told me that he was managing hardware for a company in the early two thousands, and they had a few old computers to get rid of. He got a message from two interested individuals trying to start a new business in San Jose.

"They called themselves 'YouTube'," said Scott. "They had this really dinky website with about a dozen or so videos. All the videos were short, like twenty to thirty seconds, and the resolution was terrible. I thought this is never going to take off, but I was just happy I could sell them our old computers."

Scott's crummy computers had their work cut out for them. YouTube exploded in popularity. Scott came across the company again, only this time they were buying out the office space where he worked. "They were growing and needed the space. We were just a small shop, and we were happy to go somewhere else," said Scott. "I think it's pretty cool that we helped them get their start. I can say that at one point, YouTube's entire edge was running off my old junk!"

We got on the subject of other hobbies that competed with our shared interest in computers. I shared with Scott that when I was little I wanted to be a doctor.

"My parents bought me this anatomy model, and you had to assemble all the organs and set them up in this transparent frame. I think it was called the Visible Man." After a quick google search, we tracked down the model on ebay.

In the end, the Visible Man frustrated and discouraged me. I remember that I couldn't fit all the organs into the snug plastic frame, so I had to take out the liver and the kidneys in order for everything else to fit snugly in the abdominal cavity. "But then I got to college and it became clear that biology and medicine just weren't for me. My brain didn't work like that, and the visible man was like a warning," I concluded.

That's what I got today. Thanks for stopping by today, have a great Thursday everyone.